Aim: This study focused on the consumption of supplements and health foods from a survey on the actual conditions of the use of complementary/alternative medicine.

Method: A consumer panel of 3227 persons living in Japan, consisting of men and women between the ages of 20 and 69 was surveyed. Participants were asked about their basic characteristics, consumption of supplements and health foods, purpose of use, advertisements used as reference, whether they cited treatments in a medical institutions, and whether they had consultations with and recommendations from doctors when using.

Results: Out of the 3227 participants, 972 (30.1%) used dietary supplements and health foods in the past month. Women and people above the age of 60 were more likely to be users of dietary supplements and health foods. The most common purpose of using supplements and health foods was “health maintenance and promotion.” There was a difference in the information in the advertisements referred to between participants who used supplements and health foods and non-users of complementary/alternative medicine.

Conclusion: Some people use supplements and health foods were used for “prevention from diseases” or “treatment for disease;” therefore, it is necessary to warn consumers of the need to consult a medical institution before consumption.

In this study, we conducted an internet-based questionnaire survey to examine the status of infection prevention behavior and mental health, and their correlation with psychosocial factors, in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. K6 was used for mental health assessment, and questionnaires on infection prevention behavior, social consideration, and sense of coherence (SOC) were used to assess psychosocial factors.

Among the infection prevention behaviors of nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mean value for each item related to “wearing a mask”, “washing hands after going out”, “using hand sanitizer” were in the 4 points range, suggesting high practice grades for these infection prevention behaviors. On the other hand, the mean scores for “pay attention to information on COVID-19”, “avoid entering crowded places”, “wash hands immediately after coughing or sneezing in crowded places”, “wash hands immediately after biting your nose” were in the 2 to 3 range, suggesting average practice grades for these infection prevention behaviors. Compared to the “non-encouragement group”, whose infection prevention behavior score was less than the mean value, the mean value of the social consideration awareness score for the “encouragement group” was significantly higher (p<0.01, Mann Whitney U test). The percentage of nursing students who might have had some kind of depression/anxiety problem (K6≥5 points) was approximately 60%. A result of logistic regression analysis suggested that a high SOC had an effect on suppression of mental health of nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the future, we will provide detailed educational guidance on infection prevention behavior to nursing students and the utility of SOC in assessing mental health. It would be useful to incorporate the results into education.

Purpose: To assess the quality of the evaluation of the actual state of pain in older adults with dementia by nurses, care workers, and rehabilitation staff at a long-term care facility.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on 176 professionals at 4 facilities to collect information on the participantsʼ basic attributes, frequency of pain evaluation, evaluation tools used, difficulty in conducting evaluations, and evaluation situations.

Results: The study included 34 nurses (29.1%), 51 care workers (43.6%), and 32 rehabilitation staff (27.4%). Pain evaluation was performed by at least 60%-80% of the subjects in all three occupations types, and no significant differences were found among them. Objective pain evaluation tools were rarely used by any occupation types. Significant differences were observed among the subjects in evaluation situation, such as stair climbing, eating, and bathing. Additionally, about half the subjects from all occupation types experienced difficulty in evaluating pain.

Conclusion: Pain evaluation was performed at a high rate by subjects from all three occupation types, but found the process difficult. The use of pain evaluation tools thus should be evaluated.