Gadjah Mada University

About: Gadjah Mada University is a education organization based out in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Adsorption. The organization has 17307 authors who have published 21389 publications receiving 116561 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Gajah Mada & Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Determinants of cancer screening awareness and participation among Indonesian women

Abstract: Cancer screening awareness and participation may be lower in low- and middle-income countries that lack established national screening programmes compared with those that do. We evaluated potential determinants of awareness about and participation in breast and cervical cancer screening, and breast self-examination (BSE) in women using survey data from Indonesia. From the fifth Indonesian Family Life Survey (2014–2015), a total of 5397 women aged 40 and older without any history of cancer who responded to questionnaires concerning Pap smears, mammography, and BSE were included. Multilevel modelling was used to assess potential determinants in relation to awareness about Pap smears and mammography, and participation in Pap smears and BSE practice. Multivariable analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of cancer screening. Of the 5397 respondents, 1058 (20%) women were aware of Pap smears, of which 297 had never had the procedure. Only 251 (5%) participants were aware of mammography. A total of 605 (12%) of women reported they performed BSE. Higher education and household expenditure were consistently associated with higher odds of awareness about Pap smears and mammography (e.g. odds ratio [OR] of being aware of Pap smear and mammography: 7.82 (95% CI: 6.30–9.70) and 7.70 (6.19–9.58), respectively, for high school graduates compared to women with less educational attainment in the multivariable models), and participation in Pap smears and BSE. We also identified enabling factors linked with greater cancer screening awareness and participation, including health insurance, shorter distance to health services, and social participation. There are socioeconomic disparities in cancer screening awareness and participation among Indonesian women. Our findings may help inform targeted health promotion and screening for cancer in the presence of limited resources.

Family caregivers' involvement in caring for a hospitalized patient with cancer and their quality of life in a country with strong family bonds.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Being involved in caring for family members during illness is part of the Indonesian culture, even during hospitalization. It is unknown which factors influence the quality of life (QoL) of family members taking care of their loved ones. The present study aims to identify factors influencing the QoL of family caregivers of hospitalized patients with cancer in Indonesia. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was performed. Data were collected in a general hospital in Yogyakarta from September to December 2011. Family caregivers of patients with cancer were invited to participate. Regression analysis was used to determine which aspects of caring and which demographic characteristics influenced their QoL. The Caregiver QoL Index-Cancer questionnaire was used to measure the QoL. RESULTS: One hundred of 120 invited caregivers (83%) completed the questionnaire. Being involved in psychological issues in caring (beta = 0.374; p = 0.000), younger age (beta = -0.282; p = 0.003), no previous caring experience (beta = -0.301; p = 0.001), and not being the spouse (beta = -0.228; p = 0.015) negatively influenced the QoL and explained 31% of the variation (adjusted R(2) = 0.312; F = 12.24; p = 0.000). Gender, education level, and time spent on caring did not influence the QoL of family caregivers. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings identified modifiable factors such as dealing with psychological issues and lack of experience in caring that negatively influenced the QoL of family caregivers. These factors are potential targets for intervention strategies. Education and intervention programs focusing on dealing with psychological problems in cancer care might improve the QoL of both patients and their families.

Automatic Identification of Wet and Dry Cough in Pediatric Patients with Respiratory Diseases

Abstract: Cough is the most common symptom of several respiratory diseases. It is a defense mechanism of the body to clear the respiratory tract from foreign materials inhaled accidentally or produced internally by infections. The identification of wet and dry cough is an important clinical finding, aiding in the differential diagnosis especially in children. Wet coughs are more likely to be associated with lower respiratory track bacterial infections. At present during a typical consultation session, the wet/dry decision is based on the subjective judgment of a physician. It is not available for the non-trained person, long term monitoring or in the assessment of treatment efficacy. In this paper we address these issues and develop an automated technology to classify cough into ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ categories. We propose novel features and a Logistic regression model (LRM) for the classification of coughs into wet/dry classes. The performance of the method was evaluated on a clinical database of pediatric coughs (C = 536) recorded using a bed-side non-contact microphone from N = 78 patients. Results of the automatic classification were compared against two expert human scorers. The sensitivity and specificity of the LRM in picking wet coughs were between 87 and 88% with 95% confidence interval on training/validation dataset (310 cough events from 60 patients) and 84 and 76% respectively on prospective dataset (117 cough events from 18 patients). The kappa agreement with two expert human scorers on prospective dataset was 0.51. These results indicate the potential of the method as a useful clinical tool for cough monitoring, especially at home settings.