Ronald Wesonga

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Papers by Ronald Wesonga

[Review Article] Drug Use Disorder and Coping Mechanisms Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Measures: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Qeios, Feb 28, 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic presented numerous obstacles to people of different health status and capab... more The COVID-19 pandemic presented numerous obstacles to people of different health status and capabilities. There is scarcity of information on the coping mechanisms for people with substance use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic in Arab nations. This study aimed to identify behavioural mechanisms and factors associated with how the COVID-19 pandemic measures imposed among people with substance use disorders in Oman. Methods: Survey data on demographic and behavioural factors from 61 respondents out of the target sample of 73 persons with substance use disorder receiving treatment at a specialised hospital. Changes in behaviour related to substance use due to the COVID-19 pandemic measures were investigated using demographic and modifiable factors. For the specific study evaluation, the variables studied included; age, family size, marital status, employment status, suicidal thoughts, and ways of substance abuse, family responsibilities, hospitalisation tendency, and change of behaviour. Findings: On average, the participants were 16-48 years old (mean age 31.5 years, SD=6.82). The study findings show that the consumption of morphine as the main drug compared to others (OR = 0.03, p=0.003) resulted in a reduction in the odds of feeling increased effects of COVID-19 measures among individuals with substance use disorder. Furthermore, the increase in effects was significant among the participants who opted to be hospitalised to reduce drug use (OR=9.97, p=0.017) and those who took overdoses (OR=8.17, p=0.008). Conclusion: The study findings indicate that due to the measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic measures, individuals with drug use disorders switched to different types of drugs, such as morphine, to reduce the effects of the measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, people with drug use disorders who took overdoses and those hospitalised were more associated with increased effects of COVID-19 measures. The implication of the study findings is that outreach and community-based services should be made more accessible for people with drug use disorders, since this could relieve effects due to a pandemic.

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Item response theory to discriminate COVID-19 knowledge and attitudes among university students

Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Jan 4, 2024

Wesonga R, Islam MM, Al Hasani I and Al Manei A ( ) Item response theory to discriminate COVID-kn... more

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Survival of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Patients on Disease Control Programme

Data imputation: an application on wind speed data for Entebbe International Airport

The windspeed data are daily aggregated values for wind speed data for Entebbe International Airp... more

Airport utility stochastic optimization models for air traffic flow management

European Journal of Operational Research, May 1, 2015

ABSTRACT The complexity of air traffic flow management has its groundwork at an airport and incre... more ABSTRACT The complexity of air traffic flow management has its groundwork at an airport and increases with the number of daily aircraft departures and arrivals. To adequately contribute toward an accelerated air traffic flow management (ATfM), multivariate statistical models were developed based on airport utility. The utility functions were derived from daily probabilities of airport delay and inefficiencies computed using parameterized statistical models. The estimates were based on logistic and stochastic frontier models to derive distribution functions from which daily airport utilities were estimated. Data for testing and model simulations are daily aggregates spanning a five year period, collected from Entebbe International Airport.

Alcohol use among adults in Uganda: findings from the countrywide non-communicable diseases risk factor cross-sectional survey

Global Health Action, Aug 3, 2016

There are limited data on levels of alcohol use in most sub-Saharan African countries.We analyzed... more There are limited data on levels of alcohol use in most sub-Saharan African countries.We analyzed data from Uganda's non-communicable diseases risk factor survey conducted in 2014, to identify alcohol use prevalence and associated factors.The survey used the World Health Organization STEPS tool to collect data, including the history of alcohol use. Alcohol users were categorized into low-, medium-, and high-end users. Participants were also classified as having an alcohol-use-related disorder if, over the past 12 months, they were unable to stop drinking alcohol once they had started drinking, and/or failed to do what was normally expected of them because of drinking alcohol, and/or needed an alcoholic drink first in the morning to get going after a heavy drinking session the night before. Weighted logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with medium- to high-end alcohol use.Of the 3,956 participants, 1,062 (26.8%) were current alcohol users, including 31...

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