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Biomedical subjects

H Campbell

Publications and source records attributed to H Campbell.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Child protection in schools: an evaluation of a training course for Fife schools' co-ordinators of child protection.

The incidence of reported episodes of child abuse has risen in recent years in Scotland and the importance of multi-agency collaboration is widely recognised in achieving an effective response to this problem. We have identified that school teachers are the single largest professional group which refer children with a history of suspected abuse to child protection units in Fife. Priority was therefore given to the training of coordinators of child protection within all Fife schools. An evaluation of this training carried out approximately 12 months after the training course showed that the child protection training course for coordinators of child protection in Fife schools has been well received. Coordinators attending the training reported a number of positive outcomes both in terms of their own personal confidence in dealing with child protection issues and also on progress made with developing school policies on child protection. However, the follow-up survey suggested that the course has not generally had a major impact on teachers from the same schools who had not attended the training course. This is in turn due to the low level of effective dissemination of the course to other teachers. It is recommended that a session on how to disseminate information, knowledge and skills gained during the course be incorporated into the training course and that a further follow-up evaluation of a sample of teachers who did not attend the training course be carried out. Our experience suggests that if the training courses are based on a knowledge of the training needs of school teachers and are run by professionals from all of the various agencies involved in child protection then these courses can be successful in improving the performance of coordinators of child protection in primary and secondary schools. This can then lead to better support for classroom teachers and promote the development and implementation of school child protection policies. In addition these courses helped develop inter-agency links and facilitate a true team approach in response to episodes of disclosure of child abuse. Regional child protection committees and education departments should consider giving priority to training coordinators of child protection in schools within their region as an important element in the response to the growing problem of child protection in their region.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Inter-agency assessment of respite care needs of families of children with special needs in Fife.

BACKGROUND: In response to concern about the respite care provision for parents of children with special needs in Fife a survey was undertaken jointly by the Fife Regional Council social work department and education department and Fife Health Board. METHODS: A postal questionnaire survey was carried out of families of children with special needs in Fife and a retrospective case review of paediatric admission in two Fife hospitals undertaken to identify episodes of respite care in hospital. RESULTS: Results confirmed the considerable demand for additional respite services and the need for a variety of types of respite care provision to cater for the differing needs of families. The two most commonly requested services were a small homely respite care centre and holiday playschemes. The quality of services currently provided was generally considered to be good. The numbers of (usually multiply handicapped) children with a specific need for a health professional input during respite care are relatively few but nevertheless are an important group which often receive respite care inappropriately in a hospital setting. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the survey informed the interagency community care planning process and led to the developments of a Fife-wide family-based respite care scheme and a small residential facility in Kirkcaldy district. The latter is jointly funded by the Regional Council and Health Board. The Health Board will provide nursing support to the small residential service so that the needs of the few severely and multiply handicapped children can be better met. The project represents an example of successful interagency collaboration which was based on a joint commitment to assessing health and social care needs and planning services to meet these needs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Promotion of cervical screening uptake by health visitor follow-up of women who repeatedly failed to attend.

BACKGROUND: It is important that if cervical screening programmes are to be successful coverage rates of the target population of women are high. In the context of a well-organized programme in Fife a project was carried out to assess the impact of health visitors following up women who had repeatedly failed to attend for screening. METHODS: Ten health visitors in Fife were randomly selected and were each asked to approach 20 women registered with the general practice to which they were attached who met the study criteria. Women were asked for their reasons for non-attendance. Subsequent attendance for cervical screening was identified through the on-line cervical cytology database. RESULTS: Two health visitors declined to participate in the project. One hundred and sixty-two women were offered a visit by a health visitor to discuss their reasons for non-attendance. Forty-two (28 per cent) of the women approached attended for a smear in the following three months. Of those visited by a health visitor 37 per cent attended for a smear. CONCLUSIONS: In Fife, local beliefs and attitudes about cervical screening together with lack of knowledge of existing clinics with female staff operating outside working hours constitute the major reasons for non-attendance. In this situation, a personal approach based on providing information and individual counselling appears to be successful in encouraging non-attenders to reconsider their decision and participate in the cervical screening programme.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Evaluation of the woman's drop-in service in Benarty, Fife.

BACKGROUND: A survey of the health needs of women aged between 16 and 64 years of age in the Benarty area was carried out by the Department of Public Health in Fife. In response to the findings of this survey and in particular to the expressed wish for a drop-in service to be made available and for access to self-help groups and counselling sessions, a multi-agency project was established in the Benarty area of Fife. Two drop-in centres were set up, in a local community centre and in a primary care clinic, and were staffed by health visitors, social workers and staff from the community education department. The centres were each open twice a week for 2-3 hours on each occasion and crèche facilities were made available. The aims of the service were to provide counselling on a one-to-one basis, to establish self-help groups based on the expressed needs of women and to refer people on to the most appropriate services, if necessary. The service was established on a pilot basis and an essential component of the project was an evaluation of the service. METHODS: To evaluate the service a community survey was carried out involving a random sample of 370 women taken from the community health index, and a register was kept to record details of attendances. RESULTS: Two hundred and sixty-five women were successfully interviewed, a response rate of 72 per cent. The major finding of concern was that 63 per cent of women had not heard of the drop-in service, suggesting that the advertising of the centres had been ineffective. Analysis of the clinic register showed that a total of only 77 women had attended the two drop-in centres over a 12-month period. CONCLUSIONS: Owing to the low attendance rates, the service was disbanded after one year of operation. It is possible that these low rates may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that a large number of local social services had been developed in the Benarty area since the time of the needs assessment survey in 1991. The introduction of these new local services within this area may have met many of the needs of women who otherwise may have made use of the drop-in service. The results of the survey underline that the introduction of a new service needs to be underpinned by an effective communication strategy which is realistically budgeted and maintained over a period of time if there is to be successful penetration of the messages within the community. One successful aspect of the pilot project was the improved working relationships between the statutory health and social services staff who collaborated in the operation of the service.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Promoting breastfeeding: a view of the current position and a proposed agenda for action in Scotland.

The prevalence of breastfeeding in Scotland is the second lowest in Europe. There is good evidence that breastfeeding results in decreased gastrointestinal, and to a lesser extent respiratory infections, in the first year of life, and reduced serious infections in low-birthweight babies. Published evidence for the effectiveness of interventions which seek to promote successful breastfeeding within populations is scanty and of poor quality, although numerous studies have highlighted hospital practices which discourage and undermine breastfeeding. Changing these poor practices has been shown to be achievable and can lead to improved breastfeeding rates. Experience in other industrialized countries such as Canada, Australia and Norway has shown that substantial increases in breastfeeding are achievable through combined government and health service action over a period of one or two decades. We recommend a combination of government and health service action to promote breastfeeding in Scotland including: implementation of the International Code on Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; reviews of health professional basic and in-service training in breastfeeding management, maternity leave and allowances, and workplace facilities for breastfeeding mothers; promotion of the Baby Friendly Initiative; development of community support for breastfeeding mothers; routine collection of breastfeeding data to support annual monitoring of breastfeeding rates; and support for research on the effectiveness of strategies which seek to promote breastfeeding.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Effect of Diazinon PLUS on rapidly adapting receptors in the rabbit.

The effects of Diazinon PLUS aerosol on the activities of rapidly adapting receptors (RARs) and slowly adapting receptors (SAR) of the airways were investigated in anesthetized rabbits. The effects on both the baseline activity and the responses to stimulation by increasing mean left atrial pressure were examined. Action potentials were recorded from the left cervical vagus nerve. Aerosols (particle size 3 microns) were generated by a Mini-HEART nebulizer. We observed that an aerosol of Diazinon PLUS (1:10 vol/vol dilution in normal saline) decreased the baseline RAR activity (n = 10) significantly (P < 0.05) from 209 +/- 77 to 120 +/- 40 impulses/min. In the post-Diazinon PLUS control period, the RAR activity recovered partially to 185 +/- 75 impulses/min and decreased significantly to 131 +/- 52 impulses/min (P < 0.05) after a second exposure of Diazinon PLUS (undiluted) aerosol. Aerosols of normal saline in the control state did not produce a significant change in the RAR activity. A group of SAR (n = 8) were examined under similar conditions, and it was found that only the exposure to Diazinon PLUS (undiluted) aerosol decreased the activity significantly (P < 0.05) from 1,536 +/- 206 to 1,367 +/- 182 impulses/min. The effect of Diazinon PLUS on the response to increasing mean left atrial pressure was examined in seven RARs. In the control state, RAR activity increased significantly (P < 0.05) during elevation of mean left atrial pressure. This response was abolished after exposure to Diazinon PLUS. These findings suggest that diazinon may interfere with airway defense mechanisms by reducing the activity of RARs.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1995

Rugby injuries.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Athletic Injuries↗
PubMed1995

The quantitation of altered hepatic foci during multistage hepatocarcinogenesis in the rat: transforming growth factor alpha expression as a marker for the stage of progression.

The experimental three-stage hepatocarcinogenesis protocol of initiation, promotion, and progression, coupled with the analytical technique of stereology, permits quantitative analysis of the carcinogenic process, including the derivation of biologically based risk assessment models. The aberrant expression of the placental isozyme of glutathione S-transferase (PGST) is an efficient marker for initiated, preneoplastic, and neoplastic hepatocytes. Putatively initiated cells and their clonal progeny can be identified, enumerated, and their growth characteristics determined on the basis of their aberrant expression of this protein. A lack of suitable markers has made the identification and quantitation of hepatocytes in the early stage of progression more difficult. One characteristic of cells in the stage of progression is the evolution of relatively autonomous growth. The alteration of growth factor signalling pathways may provide one mechanism for this observation. The expression of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha) is seen in many malignancies. The initiation-promotion-progression protocol has been used to induce progression in the rat liver. The focal expression of TGF alpha was found to correlate with areas of progression in rats subjected to this protocol. The ability to identify and quantitate cells in the stage of progression should facilitate application of the Moolgavkar-Venzon-Knudson model for assessing human risk from carcinogens active at each of these three stages. Validation of this model will require determination of the number and growth characteristics of hepatocytes in the stage of progression.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

The school health service in Fife: a survey of the views of school head and guidance teachers.

A survey of a sample of primary and secondary school headteachers and guidance teachers in Fife was carried out in November 1993. It gathered information about their views on the current school health service. The findings showed that there was a high level of satisfaction with the service but there was inadequate communication between the health service staff and school staff. Teachers clearly indicated a desire to give health education matters a higher priority and issues such as smoking and drug taking by young people in Fife were specifically mentioned. Increased collaboration with health staff in delivering the health and social curriculum appeared to be welcomed. Examples of early implementation of the health-promoting school concept were given. It is important that, at this time of change in school health services, there is adequate discussion with local authority education departments. Improved communication between health services and education staff at all levels will be important to ensure a smooth evolution of school health services and to facilitate the wide introduction and development of the health-promoting school concept.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Evaluation of the Fife health visitor proactive training programme.

Proactive health visiting refers to a model of health visiting practice which involves actively seeking and meeting the health needs of a defined community. In Fife a working group was established to draw up an operational definition of this concept. Training for health visitors was introduced on a patch-by-patch basis in Fife between December 1992 and May 1993 and an evaluation was subsequently carried out to assess whether or not the proactive concept was being implemented and practised throughout Fife. The survey results suggest that the proactive training has been successful in bringing about a change in health visitor practice over a relatively short time period. With an increasing amount of health visiting work taking place in clinic settings it will be important to define the relative roles of general practitioners, practice nurses and health visitors. A number of operational constraints were identified by the survey and these tended to limit the implementation of the proactive approach. However, we believe that the initiatives which have been successfully introduced should be encouraged and supported, and recommend that this approach be more widely adopted.

Community Health Nursing↗