Background The prevalence of chronic diseases in the elderly is high, and some use herbal medicines instead of, or together with, conventional medicine. Herbal medicine usage may cause adverse events. Objectives To determine the prevalence of herbal medicine usage among the elderly attending a primary care unit (PCU) of Songklanagarind Hospital, a tertiary teaching hospital in Hat Yai, Songkhla province, Thailand, and associated factors, reasons for use, principles considered before use, perceived effects, and history of consultation with medical professionals concerning their herbal medicine usage. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of elderly patients who visited the PCU. Questionnaires were used to obtain data. Results We included 204 patients who met the eligibility criteria. About two-thirds were women, with a median age of 69.0 years. Most had underlying diseases and were educated. The all time prevalence of herbal medicine usage was 60.8%. Being educated was significantly associated with herbal medicine usage. Among 124 users, 79% did not consider any principles for safe use of herbal medicine, 63% had no knowledge of possible interactions with conventional medicines, and 73% had never been asked about their use of herbal medicines by their health care professionals. Conclusions There is a high prevalence of herbal medicine usage among the elderly Thai patients attending the PCU, especially by the educated. The majority did not consider the principles for safe use of herbal medicine. Health care providers should be more aware of herbal medicine usage and should increase their role in initiating a discussion about herbal medicine usage with elderly patients.

Objective: To validate a hearing conservation program (HCP) questionnaire based on the health belief model and stages of change model (or transtheoretical model).Material and Methods: The perception levels of 145 workers who voluntarily participated at 2 companies were determined using this HCP questionnaire from April 2014 to September 2015. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to justify the final questionnaire.Results: The final questionnaire had 24 items with 5 components: risk acceptance (8 items), perceived barriers (3 items), perceived benefits (5 items), role model (4 items), and the stages of change (4 items). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of each component were 0.75, 0.64, 0.84, 0.85, 0.71, and the total Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of this questionnaire was 0.78. Workers in the factory who promoted continuous safety activities of HCP had a better score in all dimensions than those workers in the factory who did not.Conclusion: This questionnaire of 5 components was a well validated, predictable, and positive instrument for the HCP situation in manufacturing.

Introduction: High death and injury rates at work are continually reported by the Ministry of Labour, Thailand, despite the promotion of the occupational safety, health, and environment (OSHE) management system across all enterprises. To identify the gap between OSHE and workers’ perception in terms of safety climate in Thai organizations, the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire-Thai Version (T-NOSACQ) was used in this study. Methods: The content validity index of the T-NOSACQ was assessed and this tool was employed to examine workers in six manufacturing firms and a tertiary care hospital between October 2015 and December 2016. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the total dataset to justify the final questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors related to the safety climate score. Results: The final T-NOSACQ included 5 dimensions with a total of 42 items. The internal consistency of each subscale was in the range of 0.73–0.89. There were 1191 participants, including 88.9% workers and 11.1% leaders, who voluntarily responded to the questionnaire. The lowest safety climate score was obtained on the dimension ‘employees’ risk acceptance’, especially at factory A (2.67±0.45 and 2.92±0.45 for the worker and leader groups, respectively). The highest score was obtained on the dimension ‘employees’ engagement to safety, especially at factory F (3.30±0.33 and 3.46±0.42 for the worker and leader groups, respectively). Conclusion: The safety climate in both leader and workers groups can be predicted by T-NOSACQ. Thai employees exhibited a positive perception of safety engagement. However, the OSHE management system in Thailand, especially employees’ risk acceptance, should be improved.

Background Many knowledge gaps exist in the area of alcohol-related harms in children research such as the potential impact of other’s drinking and their social demography. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the effects of characteristics of household members and others’ alcohol drinking on harms to children in Thailand. Data and methods This study examined 952 parents caring for children and adolescents under 18 years of age, using the questionnaire (i.e., The Harm to Others from Drinking under the WHO/ThaiHealth International Collaboration Research Project). They were interviewed between September 2012 and March 2013. Results The study found that 15.89% of children and young people were affected by someone’s drinking in at least one category of harms. People over 60 years of age were less likely to cause alcohol-related harm to children than those aged 18 to 29 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.19, 95% confidence interval [Cl]: 0.06–0.58). Households with a binge drinker or regular drinker (≥1 time/week) were more likely to have children at higher risk of suffering alcohol-related harm in comparison to households without alcohol drinker (AOR 4.75 and 1.92, respectively). Conclusion This study found that children whose family members are young adult or consume alcohol (i.e., weekly drinker or binge drinker) were significantly adversely affected. The most common problems were domestic violence and verbal abuse. Most of the problems, affecting children, were caused mostly by their parents.

Abstract:Objective: To validate a hearing conservation program (HCP) questionnaire based on the health belief model and stages of change model (or transtheoretical model). Material and Methods:The perception levels of 145 workers who voluntarily participated at 2 companies were determined using this HCP questionnaire from April 2014 to September 2015. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to justify the final questionnaire. Results: The final questionnaire had 24 items with 5 components: risk acceptance (8 items), perceived barriers (3 items), perceived benefits (5 items), role model (4 items), and the stages of change (4 items). Cronbach's alpha coefficients of each component were 0. 75, 0.64, 0.84, 0.85, 0.71, and the total Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this questionnaire was 0.78. Workers in the factory who promoted continuous safety activities of HCP had a better score in all dimensions than those workers in the factory who did not. Conclusion: This questionnaire of 5 components was a well validated, predictable, and positive instrument for the HCP situation in manufacturing.