Background: Regular physical activity supports healthy behavior and contributes to the reduction of preventable diseases. Students in their social transition period are the ideal groups for interventions. The higher education period, associated with demanding changes and poor time management, results in a low level of physical activity. In this age, social media usually are a suitable channel of communication and multicomponent interventions are the most desirable. It has not been sufficiently investigated how effective a Web-based approach is among university students when it comes to physical activity in the long-term period. We combined a Web-based approach with motivational interviews and tested these two interventions together and separate to assess their impact on improving the physical activity of medical students 1 year after the intervention. Methods: All 514 first-year students at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade were invited to fill in a baseline questionnaire. Also, they underwent measurement of weight, height and waist circumference. After that, students selected a 6 months intervention according to their preference: Intervention through social media (Facebook) (Group 1) or combined with a motivational interview (Group 2). Group 3 consisted of students without any intervention. One year after completion of the 6 months intervention period, all students were invited to a second comprehensive assessment. Analyses were performed employing a wide range of statistical testing, including direct logistic regression, to identify determinants of increased physical activity measured by an average change of Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET). This outcome measure was defined as the difference between the values at baseline and one year after completion of the 6 months intervention period. Results: Due to a large number of potential determinants of the change of MET, three logistic regression models considered three groups of independent variables: basic socio-demographic and anthropometric data, intervention and willingness for change, and health status with life choices. The only significant model comprised parameters related to the interventions (p < 0.001). It accurately classified 73.5% of cases. There is a highly significant overall effect for type of intervention (Wald = 19.5, df = 2, p < 0.001) with high odds for the increase of physical activity. Significant relationship between time and type of intervention also existed (F = 7.33, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.091). The influence of both factors (time and interventions) led to a change (increase) in the dependent variable MET. Conclusion: Our study confirmed the presence of low-level physical activity among students of medicine and showed that multicomponent interventions have significant potential for positive change. The desirable effects of the Web-based intervention are higher if an additional booster is involved, such as a motivational interview.

INTRODUCTION: Health literacy is a cornerstone of prevention, while sex specific prevention of cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death of women worldwide, remains less addressed and is still more a matter of local cultural habits than guideline-directed management. METHODS: A validated multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) designed to both educate patients and help the healthcare team learn about their traditional and sex specific modern risk factors (RF) management, including opting for comprehensive personalized long term follow up (FU) was offered to all in-patients. RESULTS: Out of 130 patients hospitalized at our department (Jan 1, 2024 - Feb 24, 2024) who were offered to fill in the MCQ, 37.7% accepted to do so, while 11.5% were excluded on ethical grounds. Women (49%) were older than men, had a more significant burden of traditional RF and possessed higher levels of knowledge and interest in RFs of both sexes, while men - especially those who declined to participate without a clear reason - even stated having no interest in their female relatives' risk profiles. Men, unlike women, showed no particular interest in a personalized and tech-savvy options of FU, although they equally use hand-held devices. CONCLUSION: These results confirm the findings obtained from a similar study conducted on an all-female sample in the same setting a year ago. However, results in men were surprising for the hostility exhibited towards junior and mid-career women which was absent when approached by a senior male member of the healthcare team. This confirms that misogyny needs to be actively suppressed.

Background: The Health Information System (HIS) in public healthcare services in Serbia was introduced in 2008, with the first comprehensive evaluation of its maturity conducted in 2021. Since then, several improvement initiatives have been implemented. This study aimed to assess the extent of HIS advancement between 2021 and 2024 and to identify both the desirable and realistic future maturity status. Methods: The maturity assessment of the Serbian HIS in 2024 was conducted using the same tool as in 2021: The Health Information Systems Stages of Continuous Improvement (SOCI), enabling direct comparison between the two periods. Progress was measured across five domains: Leadership and Governance, Management and Workforce, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Standards and Interoperability, and Data Quality and Use. These domains covered 13 components and 39 single subcomponents, with their maturity stages being assessed on a 5-point Likert scale on the basis of the opinions of key informants and documented through a desk review. Higher scores indicate a higher level of development. Along with a current assessment of maturity, key informants identified desired maturity levels for the future, using the same scale. Data were presented as comparisons in total scores per domain in 2024 versus 2021, for both current and projected statuses. Results: Between 2021 and 2024, the overall maturity of the Serbian HIS improved by nearly 1 point (from 1.6/5 to 2.5/5). The same difference of 0.9 was observed between the current 2024 status and the future desired status (2.5 versus 3.4). The most notable improvements were observed in the HIS Strategic Plan under Leadership and Governance (2.5-point increase) and Business Continuity under ICT Infrastructure (2-point increase). The primary driver of progress over the past 3 years was the adoption of the national Program for Digitalization in the Health System of Serbia (eHealth Strategy) and its corresponding Action Plan, which served as a development blueprint. Conclusions: Substantial progress in HIS maturity was achieved between 2021 and 2024, driven by strong governmental commitment, international donor support, and the engagement of dedicated national professionals. If current momentum and resourcing are sustained, the projected maturity levels are likely to be attainable in the near future.

Introduction: Differences in sickness absence and productivity loss at work between men and women are recognized but need to be better understood. Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study, 10,407 employees from 37 companies in the Netherlands participated in a Web-based health risk assessment, between 2010 and 2014. Self-reported short-term (<9 days) and long-term (10 or more days) sickness absences during the preceding 12 months were assessed. The questionnaire also asked about productivity loss at work, physical and psychosocial work-related factors, and health problems. Log-linear models were used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR), with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Women, more often than men, experienced short-term and long-term sickness absence (PR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01 - 1.11, and PR 1.33, 95% CI 1.21 - 1.46, respectively) but were less likely to have productivity loss at work (more than 30%), (PR 0.90, 95% CI 0.81 - 0.99). In short-term sickness absence, gender differences were reduced by 20%, after controlling for psychosocial work-related factors, and by 60%, after controlling for health problems, separately. None of the factors mentioned above could explain a large productivity loss at work among men. Conclusions: Higher prevalence of sickness absence among women can partly be explained by psychosocial work-related factors and health problems. Further studies are needed to explore large productivity loss at work among men.

Introduction/Objective. We aimed to investigate the lifetime and periodic prevalence (during a year) and characteristics of violence against women and health status of women whose partners have been treated for alcohol dependence. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among women whose male partners were alcoholdependent and admitted to hospital for the inpatient treatment. Exposure to physical and sexual violence was measured by the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2). Mental health status was measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), suicidal risk (using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview or MINI scale), and alcohol consumption (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). The data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods. We also constructed two logistic regression models to study associations between violence and socioeconomic status, and violence and health-related variables. Results. The lifetime prevalence of physical violence committed by alcohol-dependent partners against women was 65.4%, while the periodic prevalence (during 12 months prior to the study) was 46.2% for physical, 20.2% for sexual, and 18% for both types of violence. No women were in risk of harmful alcohol consumption. Violence was more frequent against women not living in urban areas [odds ratio (OR) 2.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08?5.94, in the univariate model], and among women with moderate/ severe depression (OR 12.34, 95% CI 2.26?67.33, in the multivariate model). Conclusion. Alcohol-dependent men are very often violent toward their spouses, and inpatient treatment presents an opportunity to work with them on raising awareness on the unacceptability of violence against women.

This paper aims at presenting findings of the research that aimed at exploring the frequency of abuse targeting older persons, frequency of individual types of elder abuse, as well as the frequency of elder abuse targeting two different types of older persons. The research took place in 2016 in 9 Serbian municipalities and was designed as a cross-section study. It was conducted on a sample of 616 older persons of whom 58.1% (358) are socially less active and have some kind of support in daily life activities and 41.9% (258) are active in their communities and are socially included. The starting assumption of the research is that the frequency of elder abuse is more often in socially excluded persons than it is in socially included and more active ones. The research confirmed the correlation between the level of social activity and the risk of elder abuse and this correlation can be clearly explained by exploring other protective factors and risk factors such as income and education level or chronic diseases and disability.