Background: Maternal mortality is associated with the unmet need of family planning. Family planning has been subjected as taboos in the Muslim community with low use of its methods. Gulariya Municipality is the second largest community for Muslim. This research focuses on knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning among Muslim women of reproductive age.Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was undertaken in Gulariya Municipality. Married Muslim women of reproductive age group from 164 households were interviewed using systematic random sampling. Key informant interview was also applied.Results: The percentage of women who have knowledge on family planning methods was found 94.5%. On the means of contraception, most of the women (73.2%) knew about Depo. The attitude of the respondents was seen positive. A total of 79.3% of women were found to have practiced temporary means of family planning while none of the women surveyed were found using permanent family planning methods. Association between all socio-economic and demographic factors with knowledge of family planning methods were found insignificant at 0.05 level of significance. However, association between wealth rank and practices on family planning shows statistically significant association. Conclusions: Majority of women have knowledge on family planning, but still lack knowledge on few method like condom. Most of them found practicing family planning, despite the practice was not seen being done regularly. Language barrier seems to be influencing knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning. The research warrants newer strategies to be developed and employed to deal with the multi-disciplinary prospective of family planning among Muslim women.Keywords: Family planning; knowledge, attitude and practice; muslim women

Objectives COVID-19 resulted in older adults’ greater reliance on technology to contact friends and families. However, less is known regarding the association between frequency of varying modes of communication and loneliness among older adults during COVID-19, and current findings are mixed. Therefore, this study aimed to advance this understanding. Methods Using the National Health and Aging Trends Study COVID-19 supplement data, multinomial regression analyses assessed how the frequency of four modes of contact (i.e., phone calls; electronic and social messaging such as emails/texts/social media messages; video calls; in-person visits) during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with feelings of loneliness among older adults compared to pre-pandemic (n=2564). Results Compared to never/less than once a week in-person visits, daily in-person visits were associated with lower odds of reporting more frequent loneliness during COVID-19 versus “about the same” as pre-COVID-19 while controlling for demographics, access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), digital literacy, and health covariates. Compared to those who reported never/less than once a week contact by electronic and social messaging, more frequent contact was associated with higher odds of reporting more frequent loneliness during COVID-19 versus “about the same” as pre-COVID-19 while controlling for other variables in the model. Phone calls and video calls were not significantly related to loneliness. Discussion Results suggest that ICTs may not decrease loneliness among older adults. This paper discusses potential reasons and barriers, including digital exclusion, and provides recommendations to mitigate the negative effects of social isolation through technology for older adults.

This paper aims to introduce the existing long-term care (LTC) system in Nepal, identify key emerging issues, and provide possible policy recommendations for addressing weaknesses in the current system. Although the majority of older Nepali adults rely on their adult children for care, this traditional care arrangement is weakening for a variety of reasons. As a result, older Nepali adults increasingly seek care elsewhere such as “old age homes” (OAH), which generally meet only their basic needs. More recently, adult day centers have been established that enable older Nepali to receive help with personal care and instrumental tasks and/or health care needs in the absence of their families; however, they are primarily located in big cities and largely limited to those who can afford to pay. With a growing older population and societal changes that make familial care increasingly challenging for adult children, the Government of Nepal must foster the development of a sustainable system of LTC. This will necessarily involve building and sustaining a skilled geriatric workforce, capitalizing on the natural “villages” that have existed in Nepal for hundreds of years, and standardizing and monitoring the operation of LTC facilities. Additionally, public service campaigns to help destigmatize the use of OAH and day centers and integration of home and community-based services to make care arrangements locally could help make these newer LTC approaches more acceptable. Finally, nationally representative studies aimed at understanding the health and care needs of Nepal’s rapidly increasing older population is of utmost priority.

In November 2017, Oxford, OH joined the AARP network of Age-Friendly Communities (AFCs). The first step in building an action plan through the AARP process is conducting a community needs assessment. Scripps Gerontology Center adapted the AARP Community Survey Questionnaire and mailed surveys to a random sample of 700 Oxford residents aged 50 years and older. The response rate was 46.8%. For seven of the eight domains of livability, individuals were asked how important is it to have particular services in the community (Likert scale) and whether the community provides the services (response options: yes, no, not sure). The responses to these questions were used to calculate a perceived gap score. The purpose of this project was to identify which domains had the largest perceived gaps, then further analyze individual item gaps. The three domains with the largest gaps were transportation (50.6%), housing (47.7%), and health (46.2%). Further analysis of the 60 individual domain items provided information about the type of gap. For example, 84% of respondents found the item “affordable public transportation” important. However, of those who said it is important, 73% perceived a gap in service provision, and 64% of the gap was due to not knowing if Oxford provides it. Communities may interpret a “not sure” gap as an opportunity to restructure how they promote services to older individuals. Implications of this research include proposing different ways of analyzing needs assessment data so AFCs can make efficient and effective changes for older adults to age in place.