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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on parents of children with hearing disabilities from Romania and has three objectives. First, it assesses their characteristics regarding use of communication technology. Second, it investigates their opinions regarding the importance of school-based education for healthy lifestyle promotion among their children. Third, it evaluates the availability for their involvement in educational activities using face-to-face approach and communication technology dedicated to helping parents to promote healthy lifestyle among their children, as well as factors which influence this availability. Design/methodology/approach: The study was performed in October-November 2015 in two schools deserving children with hearing disabilities from North-West part of Romania. Anonymous questionnaire were filled in by 182 parents. Findings: The majority of parents recognize the importance of school-based health education and more than 77 per cent totally agree that it should include issues regarding healthy nutrition, promotion of physical activity and smoking prevention. In total, 80.2 per cent of the parents declared that they are interested to participate in educational activities organized periodically at school and 66.5 per cent declared their interest in educational activities developed through communication technology in order to help them to stimulate the adoption of healthy lifestyle among their children. The availability was influenced by residence, educational level, understanding the importance of parents' involvement, characteristics regarding the use of communication technology. Originality/value: This represents the first study from Romania investigating the opinions and availability for their involvement with regard to school health education among parents of children with hearing deficiencies. The results have several implications for health education among children with hearing deficiencies and their parents.

(1) Background: Exclusive breastfeeding is not only the cornerstone of a child's healthy development, but it is also the most economical and planet-friendly way to feed an infant. This study aims to assess the current situation regarding breastfeeding in Romania. (2) Method: The authors searched five databases using the search terms "breastfeeding OR lactation" AND Romania. Studies have been limited to those published in English since 2000. In vitro animal studies, case studies, reviews, meta-analyses, book chapters, and guidelines were excluded. (3) Results: 19 studies were included in the final review. For the purpose of this systematic review, studies were subgrouped into studies on attitudes, practices, and behaviors regarding breastfeeding and the composition of human milk. This review demonstrates a slight tendency to increase interest in breastfeeding in Romania in the last years. Interventional studies conducted so far included mainly urban populations with good socioeconomic levels and a high level of education. Studies about the impact of early intervention in maternal education concluded that the level of education is positively correlated with the interest in education regarding breastfeeding. On the other hand, the Romanian population has similar characteristics to the European population in terms of the factors that influence human milk composition. (4) Conclusions: The review underlines strengths and weaknesses of the Romanian situation regarding breastfeeding and makes recommendations for future directions for research and health education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study focuses on medical students from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and has three objectives. First, it evaluates the opinions of medical students regarding their previous training as well as their needs for future training in the field of digital health. Second, it assesses their attitudes regarding digital health and their intention to use digital tools as physicians. Lastly, the interrelationship between these issues as well as the socio-demographic factors which influence them are investigated. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed during June–August 2021 among fifth and sixth year students of the Faculty of Medicine from the Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Anonymous online questionnaires were used which were filled in by 306 students. Results: Less than half of the participating students declared that they benefited from training or different practical examples during medical education regarding the use of digital tools in different medical areas, while the majority said that they would like to receive more training in the field of digital health. A total of 58.2% said that they totally agree with the introduction of a formal training in the medical curricula regarding digital health. Many students declared positive attitudes toward the use of digital tools in different domains within the medical field and intention to use digital tools as physicians; several differences were noted, including gender, year of study, type of domain, and previous training with regard to the use of digital tools in those domains. Moreover, the need for future training and the desire for the introduction of a formal training program into the medical curricula with regard to this field were stronger among those with more positive attitudes and higher intentions to use digital tools in their medical activity. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study from Romania which investigated the training, attitudes, and intentions regarding the use of digital health among Romanian medical students, and offers valuable information to guide the education of medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to assess the usual intake and food sources of choline in a group of Romanian kindergarten children. A cross-sectional study was performed among 71 children aged 4-6 years from four kindergartens from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Dietary intake data were collected by means of three-day food records. The mean (SD) daily intake of choline was 215 (32) mg/day, 22.5% of the participants fulfilling the adequate intake (AI) for children 4-6 years of age of 250 mg of choline per day. The main food sources were meat (mainly poultry), eggs, grains, cereals, and baked products (mainly bread), and dairy products (mainly milk). The results of the logistic regression analyses show that an appropriate consumption of choline/day was statistically significantly associated with the consumption of at least one egg per three days (OR = 7.5, p < 0.05), a minimum of two portions of milk or dairy products per day (500 mL milk or yoghurt, or 60 g of cheese/day) (OR = 4.4, p < 0.05), and at least one portion of meat/day (90 g/day) (OR = 14.4, p < 0.05). The results underline the need for future surveys in this field, as well as actions to encourage an appropriate diet for children, including an appropriate content of choline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Because electronic cigarettes are relatively new, data on usage patterns and factors which influence them are sparse. Hence, this study aims at assessing awareness, beliefs about electronic cigarettes and experimentation with them among university students from Romania- a country where the sales and marketing of these products are widespread. Secondly, correlates of electronic cigarette experimentation will also be investigated. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed by means of anonymous questionnaires among 480 students, aged 19-24, from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between April-May 2013. Results: The results show that 92.5% of the students have heard about e-cigarettes; out of these, one quarter (53.3% of the smokers, 25% of the ex-smokers, 5.5% of the non-smokers) have tried electronic cigarettes at least once during lifetime. The results of the multinomial logistic regression point out that the correlates of electronic cigarette experimentation were: male gender, being a smoker of traditional cigarettes, having friends who experimented with electronic cigarettes, having stronger beliefs that electronic cigarettes could help them quit smoking and being less convinced that they are used only by smokers. The explained variance was 59%. Conclusions: The results underline the importance of addressing the issue of e-cigarette use through health education programs and regulatory interventions, since e-cigarettes are a reality faced by the Romanian youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Different studies have underlined the importance of avoiding active and passive smoking, alcohol abuse, overweight, unhealthy alimentary habits and inappropriate physical activity as important components of health promotion and cancer prevention Aims. This study aims to investigate opinions regarding the role of lifestyle in cancer prevention among Romanian adults having relatives with cancer. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the "Ion Chiricuţă" state oncological institute from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It included 320 adults (160 men and 160 women) who had relatives with cancer. The participants filled in an anonymous questionnaire. Results. The results of the study show that the majority of Romanian cancer patients' relatives from our study know the relationship between active and passive smoking, alcohol use and cancer. Two thirds of participants are aware about the link between physical activity and cancer prevention, but less than half know about the risk posed by being overweight. The percentages of the participants aware about the role of diet in cancer prevention varied from one third knowing the role of foods rich in dietary fibers to 50% recognizing the risk of consuming high quantities of red meat and to 74% being aware about the protective effect of fruits and vegetables. Several age, educational and residence (urban-rural) differences were identified for several opinions. Conclusions. These data call for information and education actions, which help Romanian adults who have relatives with cancer to be aware of the lifestyle related risks, as a first step in the process of adopting healthy behaviors which protect against several types of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims. The objective of this study is the assessment of body weight and methods used for its management among junior high school, senior high school and university students in Transylvania. Methods. Anonymous questionnaires were used, which were filled in by 1598 students from Cluj and Hunedoara counties (November 2003 - February 2004). Results. One third of the girls are continually trying to lose weight and this tendency is observed starting with junior high school, continuing with senior high school and university; the biggest percentage of girls who want to decrease their weight was noticed among senior high school students. Boys are less preoccupied in losing weight, but one out of five junior high school boys and around one third of senior high school and one quarter of university male students want to gain weight. The percentage of girls who used different methods in the last year to lose weight rose from 52% among junior high school students to 57% among senior high school students, respectively to 60% in the university girls. A lower percentage of boys (around one third) tried to lose weight in the last year. The main method used for loosing weight in both boys and girls was physical activity followed by the use of different alimentary diets. Conclusions. The results underline the need to develop Romanian youth programmes, which assist the development of realistic attitudes regarding body weight as well as knowledge and skills, which allow young people to have a healthy lifestyle and to obtain an ideal body weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]