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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Long COVID (LC) refers to persistent symptoms after acute COVID-19 infection, which may persist for months or years. LC affects millions of people globally, with substantial impacts on quality of life, employment, and social participation. Ensuring access to effective, patient-centered care for LC demands evidence, grounded in inclusive representation of those affected by the condition. Yet survey studies frequently under-represent people with the most disabling disease presentations and racially and socioeconomically marginalized groups. We aimed to describe a patient-engaged approach to developing a survey to inform public LC health care and to assess its implementation in terms of enabling participation by diverse LC patients in Brazil. METHODS: Survey development was iterative, achieved through an interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers including people living with LC, and grounded in 3 guiding principles: (1) evidence-based; (2) inclusive, intersectional, and patient-centered understanding of chronic illness and research participation; and (3) sensitivity to the context of health-care access. RESULTS: The product of our collaboration was a longitudinal survey using a questionnaire assessing: LC symptoms; their clinical and functional evolution; and impacts on quality of life, household income, health service access, utilization, and out-of-pocket expenses. We illustrate how we operationalized our 3 principles through survey content, instrument design, and administration. Six hundred fifty-one participants with diverse LC symptoms, demography, and socioeconomic status completed the survey. We successfully included participants experiencing disabling symptoms, Black and mixed race participants, and those with lower education and income. CONCLUSION: By centering patient experience, our novel, principles-based approach succeeded in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in LC survey research. These principles guiding patient-engaged collaboration have broad transferability. We encourage survey researchers working on chronic illness and in other contexts of marginalization and inequality to adopt them.

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Objectives: To understand the practices, attitudes, and beliefs of type 1 diabetes (T1D) providers towards school-based diabetes care (SBDC), including counseling families and communicating with schools, and explore the barriers and facilitators which affect their support of SBDC. Research Design and Methods: We conducted a national survey of pediatric T1D providers about their perceived support of SBDC, including family counseling and school communication. We used descriptive statistics to analyze results and explored differences by practice size (<500, 500-999, and ≥1000 patients) and environment (academic vs non-academic). Results: A total of 149 providers completed the survey. Nearly all (95%) indicated SBDC was very important. Though most (63%) reported counseling families about SBDC multiple times per year, few (19%) spoke with school staff routinely, reporting that was a shared responsibility among different providers. Close to 90% agreed school feedback on T1D management plans would be helpful, yet only 31% routinely requested this input. Moderate to extremely significant barriers to SBDC communication included internal factors, such as staff resources (67%) and time (82%), and external factors, such as school nurse education needs (62%) and differing school district policies (70%). Individuals from large or academic practices reported more barriers in their knowledge of SBDC, including federal/state laws. Desired facilitators for SBDC included a designated school liaison (84%), electronic transmission for school forms (90%), and accessible school staff education (95%). Conclusions: Though providers universally agree that SBDC is important, there are multilevel internal (practice) and external (policy) barriers to facilitating a bidirectional relationship between schools and health teams.

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Vaccine hesitancy has, for a considerable time, been a significant risk to global health. As an integral part of disease prevention, vaccines have become a public health matter which is often debated among the community in spite of proven scientific evidence of their efficiency. A questionnaire was designed to evaluate the perception and knowledge of a population and compare it with behavior in order to assess a demographic within a sample population of 245 individuals selected at random within the United States, Here, we aim to clarify the difference between vaccine opinion among the general public as compared to vaccination status. Chi-squared analysis was done with the categorical data showing a statistically significant result when comparing parents versus non-parents, and Asian/Asian Americans against other ethnicities. All other comparisons were statistically insignificant. When looking at participant responses, PCPs did not discuss vaccines at all with 32% of the sample. The need for PCPs to provide educational information to certain ethnicities may play an important role in public health.

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Cancer significantly contributes to global mortality, with 9.3 million annual deaths. To alleviate this burden, the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) applications has been proposed in various domains of oncology. However, the potential applications of AI and the barriers to its widespread adoption remain unclear. This study aimed to address this gap by conducting a cross-sectional, global, web-based survey of over 1000 AI and cancer researchers. The results indicated that most respondents believed AI would positively impact cancer grading and classification, follow-up services, and diagnostic accuracy. Despite these benefits, several limitations were identified, including difficulties incorporating AI into clinical practice and the lack of standardization in cancer health data. These limitations pose significant challenges, particularly regarding testing, validation, certification, and auditing AI algorithms and systems. The results of this study provide valuable insights for informed decision-making for stakeholders involved in AI and cancer research and development, including individual researchers and research funding agencies.

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Agriculture worldwide faces the need to reduce chemical pesticides and produce healthier food. In Latin America, research on the organic food sector primarily focuses on supply. Consumption analysis is crucial for providing information about customers' needs. This paper aims to analyze the Ecuadorian organic food sector, which is an interesting case for investigating the relationship between willingness to consume organic food and socioeconomic factors. To this end, 382 consumers were surveyed. The study applied a logit regression analysis to assess the role of socioeconomic factors in the willingness to consume organic food. Radar diagrams depict the percentage of respondents who checked a particular reason for choosing or refusing organic food. A cross-location comparison analysis was applied to identify differences between locations within the Central Ecuador region. Results reveal that Ecuadorian consumers' awareness rate of organic food is only 53.5%. Regarding organic food's price, 24% of consumers perceive it to be overly expensive. Based on strengthening the supervision of organic food production, various channels should be used to promote organic food consumption and facilitate the recognition of available organic food.

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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate pediatric subspecialists' practices and attitudes regarding sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent and young adult women for whom they prescribe teratogens. STUDY DESIGN: We surveyed pediatric subspecialists at 1 tertiary care pediatric hospital. Items assessed attitudes and practices related to sexual and reproductive healthcare for adolescent and young adult women prescribed teratogens, and barriers and facilitators to sexual and reproductive healthcare provision. We used descriptive statistics, χ2 tests, and logistic regression to analyze results. RESULTS: There were 200 subspecialists from 17 subspecialties who completed the survey; 77% reported prescribing teratogens to adolescent and young adult women and 18% reported caring for a patient who became pregnant while taking a teratogen. Overall, 99% indicated that it is important to address sexual and reproductive healthcare. Respondents endorsed confidence in sexual and reproductive healthcare skills, including contraceptive counseling (71%), although 29% never or rarely discuss sexual and reproductive healthcare, and one-third never speak privately to this population. Of providers who discuss sexual and reproductive healthcare, 26% never assess reproductive intentions and 36% do so less often than annually. Nearly one-half never or rarely ask about sexual activity, and 68% never or rarely assess contraceptive knowledge. Barriers to sexual and reproductive healthcare provision included available time (80%) and the presence of family or partners at clinic visits (61%). Facilitators included a quick referral process to sexual and reproductive healthcare providers (92%) and access to lists of local sexual and reproductive healthcare providers (90%). CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric subspecialists from a single institution report suboptimal sexual and reproductive healthcare provision for adolescent and young adult women prescribed teratogens. Identified barriers and facilitators may guide intervention development to improve sexual and reproductive healthcare for this population.

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In response to growing evidence of associations between harmful masculinities and adverse health outcomes, researchers developed the Man Box Scale to provide a standardized measure to assess these inequitable gender attitudes. In 2019, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the 17-item Man Box Scale and derived a 5-item short form. Using previously collected data (in 2016) from men aged 18-30 years across the United States (n = 1328), the United Kingdom (n = 1225), and Mexico (n = 1120), we conducted exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), assessed convergent validity by examining associations of the standardized mean Man Box Scale score with violence perpetration, depression, and suicidal ideation, and assessed internal consistency reliability of the full scale. We used item response theory (IRT) to derive a 5-item short form, and conducted CFA and additional assessments for reliability and convergent validity. We identified a single underlying factor with 15 items across all three countries. CFA resulted in good model fit. We demonstrated significant associations of standardized mean Man Box Scale score with violence perpetration (OR range = 1.57-5.49), depression (OR range = 1.19-1.73), and suicidal ideation (OR range = 1.56-2.59). IRT resulted in a 5-item short form with good fit through CFA and convergent validity, and good internal consistency. The Man Box Scale assesses harmful masculinities and demonstrates strong validity and reliability across three diverse countries. This scale, either short or long forms, can be used in future prevention research, clinical assessment and decision-making, and intervention evaluations.

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The data presented in this article were collected using a large-scale public survey distributed through the mail to a random sample of 4000 water utility residential account holders in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The survey collected data on a variety of water-related topics, including water scarcity, climate change, water use at home, perceptions of water sources and water quality, conservation habits, level of acceptance of two potable water reuse scenarios, and level of trust in a variety of entities. The survey also collected demographic data from respondents. Account holders received one of four survey versions, three of which provided different sets of educational material to test different motivations for accepting potable water reuse, and one provided no educational material. The survey was designed and administered using the Tailored Design Method, which involved focus groups, individual debriefing sessions, and a pre-test with members of the sample population to refine the survey instrument, and included a system of five contacts mailed out over a period of several months to maximize response rate. Mail-in and electronic response options were available, and the response rate was 46% (n = 1831). The data were compiled using Survey Monkey and organized using Microsoft Excel and RStudio. The data set featured in this article provides raw survey data plus additional variables created by grouping and consolidating answer options in the raw data. This is the first and most comprehensive set of data known to the authors on public perceptions of water resources and reuse in an arid inland community, and the authors have published open access papers based on this data set, which are linked to this paper. Water managers, planners, engineers, and utilities may be interested in using the data as a point of comparison for their own study on community knowledge of water resources and acceptance of water reuse or in examining the data for relationships not yet explored in the literature.

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BACKGROUND: Little empirical research exists about what motivates birth mode preferences, and even less about this topic in Latin America, where obstetric interventions and caesareans are some of the highest worldwide. AIM: To identify factors associated with caesarean preference among Chilean men and women who plan to have children and to inform childbirth education and informed consent procedures. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey measuring attitudes toward birth was administered to graduate students at a large public university in Chile. Eligible students were under the age of 40 and had no children but intended to have children. Logistic regression modelling was used to determine which sociodemographic factors, knowledge and beliefs were associated with caesarean preference. FINDINGS: Among eligible students, 730 responded and 664 provided complete answers to the variables of interest. Respondents had a mean age of 28.8; 38% were male and 62% female. Positive attitude toward technological intervention (Odds Ratio 7.4, 95% Confidence Interval 3.9-14.0), high risk perception of vaginal birth (Odds Ratio 1.8, 95% Confidence Interval 1.1-2.8), family history of caesarean (Odds Ratio 1.9, 95% Confidence Interval 1.0-3.8) and high fear of birth (Odds Ratio 3.7, 95% Confidence Interval 2.0-6.8) were associated with caesarean preference. DISCUSSION: Preference for caesarean birth was highly associated with positive attitudes toward technological intervention and may be related to a lack of knowledge about the realities of caesarean and vaginal birth. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-centered education on the relative benefits and risks of birth modes has the potential to influence preferences toward vaginal birth.

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BACKGROUND: Research suggested that waiting time and consultation time are associated with overall patient satisfaction concerning health services. However, there is a lack of information regarding this subject in Latin American countries, where particular aspects of health systems and population characteristics could modify this association. Our aim was to evaluate the association of waiting time and consultation time with patient satisfaction, in Peruvian ambulatory care facilities and propose a cut-off points of waiting and consultation time based on patient satisfaction. METHODS: Cross-sectional secondary data analysis of the National Survey on User Satisfaction of Health Services (ENSUSALUD-2015), a national-wide survey with a probabilistic sample of 181 Peruvian ambulatory care facilities. Patient satisfaction, waiting time, consultation time, and sociodemographic variables were collected from the ENSUSALUD-2015. All variables were collected by survey directly to patients, from the selected ambulatory care facilities, after their consultation. Complex survey sampling was considered for data analysis. In the association analysis, we grouped the waiting time and consultation time variables, every 10 min, because for it is more relevant and helpful in the statistical and practical interpretation of the results, instead of the every-minute unit. RESULTS: The survey was performed in 13,360 participants. Response rate were 99.8 to 100% in the main variables. Waiting time (for every 10 min) was inversely associated with patient satisfaction (aOR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.97-0.99), although the aOR was lower among those who reported a waiting time ≤ 90 min (aOR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.89-0.96). Consultation time (for every 10 min) was directly associated with patient satisfaction (aOR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.26-2.01), although the aOR was higher among those who reported a consultation time ≤ 15 min (aOR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.66-3.21). CONCLUSION: In Peruvian ambulatory care facilities, both waiting time and consultation time showed an association with overall patient satisfaction, which was stronger in the first 90 min of waiting time and in the first 15 min of consultation time. This should be taken into consideration when designing interventions to improve waiting times and consultation times in ambulatory care facilities from Peru or from similar contexts.

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