Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Health”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Evaluating new health information technologies: expanding the frontiers of health care delivery and health promotion.

The modern health care system is being irrevocably changed by the development and introduction of new health information technologies (such as health information systems, decision-support tools, specialized websites, and innovative communication devices). While many of these new technologies hold the promise of revolutionizing the modern health system and facilitating improvements in health care delivery, health education, and health promotion, it is imperative to carefully examine and assess the effectiveness of these technological tools to determine which products are most useful to apply in specific contexts, as well as to learn how to best utilize these products and processes. Without good evaluative information about new technologies, we are unlikely to reap the greatest benefits from these powerful new tools. This chapter examines the demand for evaluating health information technologies and suggests several strategies for conducting rigorous and relevant evaluation research.

Biomedical Technology↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health consciousness and health behavior: the application of a new health consciousness scale.

Self-consciousness has been an important trait in personality research. It seems logical to investigate whether health consciousness, involving a similar self-focusing, might operate in a parallel manner. To this end, I developed the Health Consciousness Scale (HCS), primarily by modifying items of the Self-Consciousness Scale, and also tested it for reliability and validity. My study found the HCS to contain four first-order factors: (1) Health Self-Consciousness, (2) Health Alertness, (3) Health Self-Monitoring, and (4) Health Involvement. I found these four first-order factors, along with the overall HCS second-order factor, to relate to a number of self-reported, health-associated behavioral variables. The study also included comparisons with the Health Locus-of-Control Scale and other measures.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

["Public health goals"--concepts this side of utopia? Berlin Public Health Research Organization--divided project "Goals and goal indicators for East and West Berlin Public Health"].

Objectives or targets for health have been presented by the World Health Organisation as well as a number of national health administrations. Health objectives are intended as guidelines attracting the commitment of decision makers and health professionals. As a "normative health indicator" a health objective should quantify the desired progress and give the time by which it could be attained. The article discusses general and methodical aspects which are thought to be relevant in identifying and quantifying health objectives for a population.

Adult↗
PubMed2007

[Public Health Genomics. The integration of genome-based knowledge into public health research, policies and health services].

Which consequences can be drawn from genome-based knowledge and how can it be responsibly and timely translated into policies and practice? What are recent developments in genetics and molecular biology, what are the challenges, what are the risks of these developments? Which policies can provide an acceptable balance between providing strong protection of individuals'interests and needs while enabling society to benefit from the genomic advances and empowering individuals? How can molecular medicine contribute to more effective and efficient health care services, and what infrastructures and policies can already now be implemented to assure a benefit for population health? Thus, Public Health Genomics (PHG) tries to answer these challenging questions. This integration of genomics into the aims of public health is called Public Health Genomics (PHG) and is defined as "the responsible and effective translation of genome-based knowledge and technologies into public policy and health services for the benefit of population health".

Delivery of Health Care, Integrated↗
PubMed1980

Elementary-school pupils as health educators: role of school health programmes in primary health-care.

The high proportion of children attending primary schools in rural parts of Indonesia and the low health-care cover in these areas prompted a plan to involve schoolchildren in a health-education programme. Action-oriented health lessons aimed at modifying community-health-related behaviour were designed to suit the teaching format familiar to rural teachers. The lessons involved pupils in health activities in their own homes and neighbourhoods. Evaluation of the teaching module on diarrhoea showed a substantial improvement in knowledge, skills, and attitudes of rural families regarding this illness, and indicated how a vastly increased outreach of primary health-care activities is possible through a well-designed school-health programme.

Child↗
PubMed1995

Preferred components of an occupational health service for small industry in New Zealand: health protection or health promotion?

Two hundred workers in small industry in New Zealand completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire about worksite occupational health services. The majority (71%) saw a need for these. Only 15% considered that they should include general health advice. The component with the highest approval was specialist referrals (95%), followed by biological monitoring (80%), occupational health education (77%), local environmental issues (77%) and workplace environmental monitoring (74%). General health education and health promotion ranked lowest at 65% and 55%, respectively. There was no difference between occupational groups except for general health education (P = 0.003), which the administrative group rated lower (41%) than the other groups did (66-83%). The most favoured single component in a protection/prevention service was biological monitoring (42%), and the most favoured component in a service dealing with non-work-related issues was local environmental issues (37%), with counselling and lifestyle issues the least favoured (9% each). There were statistically significant differences (P = 0.03) between occupational groups for non-work-related services. The results of the survey suggest that there is little demand for health promotion activities but good support for a protection/prevention service in small industry.

Health Education↗
PubMed1998

The relationship between modifiable health risks and health care expenditures. An analysis of the multi-employer HERO health risk and cost database.

This investigation estimates the impact of ten modifiable health risk behaviors and measures and their impact on health care expenditures, controlling for other measured risk and demographic factors. Retrospective two-stage multivariate analyses, including logistic and linear regression models, were used to follow up 46,026 employees from six large health care purchasers for up to 3 years after they completed an initial health risk appraisal. These participants contributed 113,963 person-years of experience. Results show that employees at high risk for poor health outcomes had significantly higher expenditures than did subjects at lower risk in seven of ten risk categories: those who reported themselves as depressed (70% higher expenditures), at high stress (46%), with high blood glucose levels (35%), at extremely high or low body weight (21%), former (20%) and current (14%) tobacco users, with high blood pressure (12%), and with sedentary lifestyle (10%). These same risk factors were found to be associated with a higher likelihood of having extremely high (outlier) expenditures. Employees with multiple risk profiles for specific disease outcomes had higher expenditures than did those without these profiles for the following diseases: heart disease (228% higher expenditures), psychosocial problems (147%), and stroke (85%). Compared with prior studies, the results provide more precise estimates of the incremental medical expenditures associated with common modifiable risk factors after we controlled for multiple risk conditions and demographic confounders. The authors conclude that common modifiable health risks are associated with short-term increases in the likelihood of incurring health expenditures and in the magnitude of those expenditures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Health services, health manpower, and universities in relation to health for all: an historical and future perspective.

The World Health Organization's goal of Health for All by the Year 2000 (HFA) has become a major force in national and international health policies. This paper deals with some of the historical roots of HFA and describes ways in which the major components of the health sector--health services, manpower, and universities--have evolved and should evolve in the future if they are to support the idea of HFA. One conclusion is that the changes called for in relation to HFA are not simply incremental extensions of previous values, structures, and functions. Rather a radical break with the past is often required. To expect otherwise is to misunderstand how fundamentally the concepts of HFA differ from values that have governed the health sector in the past. A second conclusion is that recent decades have seen a remarkable progression of new ideas and changes in the health sector, so much so that the changes called for by HFA are not so improbable as one might otherwise think.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2000

Effects on mortality of getting the basic health examination under the Health Services for the Elderly Act and modification of the effects by health status among elderly persons in a rural community.

This longitudinal study examines the effect on mortality of regular use of the basic health examination under the Health Services for the Elderly Act and heterogeneity of the effect according to levels of physical and mental health status among community dwelling elderly persons. Of persons aged 65 and older who lived in Otsuki town, Kochi prefecture, and completed a questionnaire survey about health in February 1991, 1,470 survivors on the anniversary of the baseline survey were followed by the end of March 1996. Regularity of getting the examination was determined by the history of use of the examination in 1990 and 1991. Mortality reduction associated with annual use of the examination was observed in both the 65-74 and the 75 and older age groups and the benefit got smaller with advancing in age. In the 75 and older age group, the benefit from annual use of the examination was restricted to persons having no impairment in physical activities of daily living and those having favorable mental health. Biennial use of the examination was associated with the same amount of mortality reduction as annual use among persons having chronic conditions under treatment in the 65-74 age group. Regular use of the basic health examination at old ages is effective and the effectiveness varies by age range and level of functional health status.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Public Health Service--Health systems agency and state health planning and development agency reviews: certificate of need programs. Final regulation.

These rules amend the Public Health Service regulations on health systems agency and State health planning and Development agency (State Agency) certificate of need reviews. These final regulations implement changes to Title XV of the Public Health Service Act made by the Health Planning and Resources Development Amendments of 1979 (Pub L. 96-79). Under the amended provisions of the Public Health Service Act, the planning agencies are required to review and determine the need for proposed capital expenditures, institutional health services and major medical equipment. These regulations set forth the minimum requirements for satisfactory certificate of need programs.

Certificate of Need↗
PubMed1999

[Health care needs and their assessment. Part 1. The role of health needs in the development, regulation and evaluation of the health care system].

The authors draw attention to the fact that higher spending on health care will not necessarily translate into better health. They advocate the importance of theoretical conceptual work and research in the field of health care and health services management. The needs-based approach is recommended as an alternative to the current models based on patient-physician interactions. The relationships between health needs, demands and health services provided should be further explored and their potential role as a basis for health policy in the Czech Republic should be addressed.

Czech Republic↗
PubMed2003

[Health promotion and surveillance in the context of health care regionalization in the Unified National Health System in Brazil].

This article discusses the limits and possibilities in the implementation of health promotion and surveillance measures, in light of the regionalization proposal contained in the Health Care Operational Norm (NOAS) adopted by the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 2001. The proposal is characterized as an opportunity to move forward in the establishment of micro-regional systems guaranteeing integral health care, in keeping with the operational capacity of the Unified National Health System in each Region and State of the country. The article goes on to analyze the contribution of various proposals for change in health practices for the development of health promotion, prevention of risks and diseases, and reorientation of individual and collective care as they are incorporated into the NOAS implementation process in various States of the country.

Brazil↗
PubMed1994

Health and health care in the English-speaking Caribbean: a British public health physician's view of the Caribbean.

People of Caribbean origin form one of the United Kingdom's most important ethnic minority groups but health conditions in the West Indies are not well understood in the UK. This review outlines past and present health conditions in the West Indies and describes the system of health care and some of the problems it faces at present. The last 30 years have seen a transition from a pattern of high childhood mortality to high mortality from chronic non-communicable diseases in adult life. Over the last ten years the severity of economic conditions undermined this progress, with the threatened re-emergence of malnutrition and infectious diseases as important health problems. Although most people in the region have access to health care, the quality and outcomes of care may be compromised by financial constraints and an unresponsive management system. Adopting modern approaches to planning and managing the health system might be one path to improvement, one to which public health professionals could make a significant contribution.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Health reporting as a contribution to modernizing public health departments: evaluation of a public health project].

The aim of the project titled "Health Reporting and regional Health Policies" was to develop regional health reports. For this reason the project supported five local health departments (Bielefeld, Essen, Herne, Minden-Lübbecke and Münster) in North Rhine Westphalia and the state health department in Brandenburg in their attempt to implement reporting on a constant basis. Considering the lack of practical orientation and models, these responsibilities played an excess burden on the health departments, who were unable to cope. The main problems have been the complexity of the object "health/health system", the heterogeneity and insufficiency of existing data, and of course the poor resources of the departments in respect of know how, staff and equipment. For this reason, the model of development and strategy of implementation was pragmatic. The successful activities of regional health reporting in North Rhine Westphalia served as a basis, which was modified for the communal level. The following statement introduces the main elements of the concept and first results of the practical transformation.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

An empirical comparison of four generic health status measures. The Nottingham Health Profile, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey, the COOP/WONCA charts, and the EuroQol instrument.

OBJECTIVES: An empirical, head-to-head comparison of the performance characteristics of four generic health status measures. METHODS: The Nottingham Health Profile, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), the COOP/WONCA charts, and the EuroQol instrument were simultaneously employed in a controlled survey measuring the impact of migraine on health status. The feasibility (number of missing cases per item), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), construct validity (correlation patterns and common factor analysis), and discriminative ability (Receiver Operating Characteristics analyses) of the four measures were investigated. RESULTS: The Nottingham Health Profile produced the lowest missing value rate. The internal consistency of the Nottingham Health Profile scales was lower than the scales of the SF-36. Combined factor analyses with data of the four instruments together resulted in two-factor solutions with a physical and a mental factor, explaining approximately 50% of variance. The SF-36 exhibited the best ability to discriminate between groups. Test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change over time could not be tested because of the cross-sectional character of the study. CONCLUSIONS: None of the instruments performed uniformly as "best" or "worst." Purely on the basis of the results of the psychometric analyses, the SF-36 appeared to be the most suitable measure of health status in this relatively healthy population. In general, the choice of the most suitable instrument for generic health status assessment in a particular study should be guided by the special features of each candidate instrument under consideration.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Information technology for children's health and health care: report on the Information Technology in Children's Health Care Expert Meeting, September 21-22, 2000.

In September 2000, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research sponsored a meeting of experts and knowledgeable stakeholders to identify 1) the special information needs of pediatric care and 2) health service research questions related to the use of information technology in children's health care. Technologies that support the care of children must address issues related to growth and development, children's changing physiology, and the unique diseases of children and interventions of pediatric care. Connectivity and data integration are particular concerns for child health care workers. Consumer health information needs for this population extend beyond the needs of one individual to the needs of the family. Recommendations of the attendees include rapid implementation of features in electronic health information systems that support pediatric care and involvement of child health experts in policy making, standards setting, education, and advocacy. A proposed research agenda should address both effectiveness and costs of information technology, with special consideration for the needs of children, the development and evaluation of clinical decision support in pediatric settings, understanding of the epidemiology of iatrogenic injury in childhood, supplementation of vocabulary standards with pediatrics-specific terminology, and improvement in health care access for children, using telemedicine.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP): a health survey in an East German region. Objectives and design of the oral health section.

The goal of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) was to estimate the prevalence of diseases, identify potential risk factors in a defined region in northeast Germany, and examine the particular living situation of this population after the reunification of East and West Germany. One of the main concerns of the SHIP design is the analysis of the relationships between dental, medical, social, and environmentally and behaviorally determined health factors. SHIP is a cross-sectional study (clinical findings and sociologic interviews). The sample was drawn in two steps: Thirty-two communities in the region were selected, and within these communities, a simple random sample was drawn from residence registries, stratified by gender and age. The final sample included 4,310 males and females, aged 20 to 79 years. This is equivalent to a participation rate of 68.8%. Data collection was completed in May 2001. The data collection and items comprised four parts: oral health examination, medical examination, health-related interview, and a health- and risk-factor-related questionnaire. The oral health examination included the teeth, periodontium, oral mucosa, morphology and function of the craniomandibular system, and prosthodontics. The medical examination included blood pressure measurements; electrocardiography; echocardiography; carotid, thyroid, and liver ultrasound examinations; neurologic screening; and blood and urine sampling. The computer-assisted interview consisted of questions on symptoms of disease, utilization of medical and dental services, self-assessment of general and oral health, health behavior and knowledge, and socioeconomic variables. The self-administered questionnaire comprised housing conditions, social network, work conditions, subjective well-being, and individual consequences of the German reunification.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Health directed and health related dimensions of oral health behaviours of periodontal referrals.

The aim of this study was to investigate attitudes and oral health behaviours of people referred to a specialist periodontal clinic. The method of Ajzen and Fishbein was used to construct a questionnaire to examine the attitudes and the influence of 'important others' associated with the oral health of a consecutive group of 214 first time attenders at a hospital periodontal clinic. The mean age of those investigated was 38.8 (SD 11.2) years. They were predominantly female (66 per cent) and from a higher socioeconomic status group (66 per cent). Significantly more of those in a high oral health behaviour group scored higher for the dental health attitudes--'clean teeth' and 'fresh breath'--and for the 'important other', the dentist. This suggested that two sets of attitudes existed--health related and health directed--and that the dentist was the most salient referent. Principle components analysis demonstrated the dual nature of attitude and suggested that family and friends were also influential 'important others'. This suggested a clash exists between lay and professional dental health perspectives. Clinicians should be aware that patients who are referred for consultations to their clinics arrive with their own strongly held attitudes and beliefs, appearing to value the advice of family as well as that of the dental health professional.

Adult↗