Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Community Relations”

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 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

[Present state of social participation and associated factors among middle-aged and older people--a survey in Hatoyama Town, Saitama Prefecture].

BACKGROUND: Many studies have documented that social participation is beneficial for maintaining autonomy and quality of later life. However, little is known about present state of social participation in the Japanese elderly and effective means for its promotion. PURPOSE: To establish what factor might promote social participation in later life, this study was performed to examine the present state of social participation and a number of parameters among middle-aged and older people living in a Japanese community. METHODS: The subjects comprised 1,568 residents aged 55 to 79 years, a 1/3 random sample selected from the total population of this age group in H town, Saitama Prefecture. They were requested to answer the questionnaire delivered by mail. We examined the level of social participation from four aspects: work, social and volunteer activities, individual pursuits and study activities, and analyzed possible associations with demographic, socio-economic, health-, and community-related variables by multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 964 persons answered the questionnaire (61.5% response rate). Age and gender were associated with each of four social activity domains. Living arrangements (with or without spouse) were independently associated with social and volunteer activity, and study. Educational attainment positively correlated with work and individual pursuits. Residents in a newly constructed town-region were less likely to engage in work, social and volunteer activities, and study than their counterparts living in an older town-region. Those who had a stronger sense of co-living in the community, and who would like to keep their social activity level, were more likely to participate in social and volunteer, as well as study activities and also individual pursuits. People feeling that the municipality should support social activities among residents had a higher level of study activity. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that cultivating a sense of co-living in the community among residents and maintaining their motivation are needed for promoting social participation among older residents. To what extent public support should meet potential needs of social participation remains for further study.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The present role of the local health department in environmental toxicology.

Environmental health concerns are focusing sharply on health risks associated with exposure to toxic substances. The local health department role in responding to these concerns is becoming more crucial as well as more difficult. Commercial production of toxic chemicals is increasing rapidly. Individuals are being exposed to these substances in their residential communities as well as in their workplaces. Over two dozen major federal laws exercise some control over toxic substances, but much responsibility for implementation rests at the local level. Local health department responsibility is primarily in the areas of education, services, and regulation. Education must be provided for local government officials and for those who render and receive local environmental services. Services must include surveillance to identify environmental causes of disease, documentation of disease and dysfunctions possibly related to toxic substances, and coordination of environmental toxicology services with related community activities. Regulatory activities call for careful risk assessment and risk management, accomplished in cooperation with other government agencies, universities, and industry.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed1999

Caregivers of chronically ill elderly: perceived burden.

Family members play a major role in providing caregiving assistance to elderly persons and their families. The effect of stressors on family members caring for a physically or mentally ill person has been referred to as caregiver burden. It is an important concern and will become more so with the inevitable aging of the population. Community health and home health nurses must be able to recognize those factors associated with caregiver burden to effectively render care to their clients and families. This study examined caregiver characteristics and the degree to which these variables affect caregiver burden. Although much research focuses on caregivers of Alzheimers clients, this research utilized a wider variety of client diagnoses to examine caregiver burden of those clients. A sample representing 88 caregivers of elderly chronically ill persons was obtained from various sources in the community. Demographic data about the caregiver was collected. The amount of burden they experienced was recorded using the Burden Interview (Zarit et al., 1986). This study found that there was a positive correlation between increased activities of care performed by the caregiver and caregiver burden. This included both the provision of direct care such as bathing and indirect care such as running errands, preparing meals, and performing housework. It was found that sons, as caregivers, reported significantly less burden than did daughters or other relatives. Community health and home health nurses working with families in a caregiving situation have an opportunity to reduce caregiver burden. This is done by assessment of the caregiving environment and implementation of plans for early intervention.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1998

Recruitment barriers in rural community hospitals: a comparison of nursing and nonnursing factors.

Despite encouraging signs suggesting that many rural hospitals are experiencing less severe staff shortages, the challenge of successfully recruiting nurses to rural practice settings continues to be a major obstacle. Based on a 1993 survey of 164 directors of nursing (DONs) practicing in rural community hospitals, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to cluster 21 DON-rated recruitment barriers into factors associated with nursing delivery, local community, and professional interaction. DONs, most notably those practicing in the smallest rural facilities (< or = 25 beds), reported community-related barriers such as spouse's employment as the most severe obstacles to successful registered nurse (RN) recruitment. However, upon examination conducted by using multiple regression analyses, only those factors related to nursing delivery and professional interaction were found to be statistically significant predictors of existing staff RN full-time equivalency vacancy rates. Given that barriers related to individual nursing staffs are likely to be far more amenable to change than those associated with rural environments, these findings offer encouragement to nursing administrators who are faced with the difficulties of attracting RNs to rural practice settings.

Arkansas↗
PubMed2006

The effect of adenotonsillectomy on children suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS): the Negev perspective.

OBJECTIVE: To present the Negev perspective in recent decades as to the effect of adenotonsillectomy regarding clinical and polysomnographic features, cardiopulmonary morbidity, growth, neurocognitive function, health care services utilization, and enuresis by reviewing current related literature. METHODS: All relevant published data by the Soroka University Medical Center and related community medical services were reviewed and compared to MEDLINE linked literature regarding aspects of childhood obstructive sleep apnea published through November 2005. RESULTS: Published data support a significant effect of adenotonsillectomy on the associated co morbidities: adenotonsillectomy resulted in the reduction of pulmonary hypertension, improved growth as a result of an increase in growth hormone secretion, improvement of neurocognitive function to the normal range, reduction in nocturnal enuresis, as well as reducing general morbidities, as reflected by the reduction in health care utilization. However, there are still uncertainties relating to major aspects. There is no specific definition for OSAS grading, or for generating a guideline for surgical treatment and refinement of the indications of T&A. CONCLUSIONS: Adenotonsillectomy has a beneficial effect on children with OSAS, however, further research is required before recommendations for the treatment of OSAS in children can be formulated.

Adenoidectomy↗
PubMed2006

Bringing the Life Needs Model to life: implementing a service delivery model for pediatric rehabilitation.

This article describes the use and utility of the Life Needs Model of Pediatric Service Delivery at a regional children's rehabilitation center. The model is a transdisciplinary, evidence-based model that guides pediatric service delivery to meet the long-range goals of community participation and quality of life for children and youth with disabilities. The article describes the use of the model as a tool to assist with the development of organizational culture, strategic and operational planning, the development of therapists' expertise, and the development of community partnerships. The model also has influenced human resources practices, community relations activities, and research. The model provides needed direction to service planners about the types of services that are important to provide in a geographical region, and fills a gap in outlining the nature of services that can be encompassed in pediatric rehabilitation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Homicide in childhood. Distinguishable patterns of risk related to developmental levels of victims.

To study the characteristics of homicide in childhood, a review was done of the 29 medical examiner-autopsied children under 10 years of age who died under suspicious circumstances in Cook County in the first half of 1981 (17 by homicide, 12 by manner undetermined). Eleven cases occurred in January. The city victims came from neighborhoods characterized by poverty and female-headed households, consistent with the ecological model of child abuse. Eleven victims were infants: seven female, five white. The older victims were increasingly male and black with increasing age. Mean ages differed markedly for different types of injuries, with CNS and miscellaneous injuries typical in infancy, arson and beatings in toddler/preschool ages, and gunshot and pedestrian injuries in the school years. The data suggest that there are three clinically distinguishable types of homicide in childhood--infanticide, fatal child abuse and neglect after infancy, and murder in the community--related to developmental characteristics of the victims.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2004

Severe community-onset pneumonia in healthy adults caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carrying the Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes.

BACKGROUND: Recent worldwide reports of community-onset skin abscesses, outbreaks of furunculosis, and severe pneumonia associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carrying Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes and the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type IV indicate that MRSA infections are evolving into a community-related problem. The majority of cases reported to date involve skin and soft-tissue infections, with severe pneumonia representing a relatively rare phenomenon. During a 2-month period in the winter of 2003-2004, four healthy adults presented to 1 of 2 Baltimore hospitals with severe necrotizing MRSA pneumonia in the absence of typical risk factors for MRSA infection. METHODS: Patients' MRSA isolates were characterized by strain typing with use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and SCCmec typing with use of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and detection of PVL genes by PCR. RESULTS: All 4 patients' MRSA isolates carried the PVL genes and the SCCmec type IV element and belonged to the USA300 pulsed-field type. These 3 findings are among the typical characteristics of community-onset MRSA strains. In addition, 2 of our patients had concomitant influenza A diagnosed, which likely contributed to the severity of their presentation. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, these patients represent the first reported North American adults with severe community-onset MRSA pneumonia caused by strains carrying the PVL genes.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Depauperate avifauna in plantations compared to forests and exurban areas.

Native forests are shrinking worldwide, causing a loss of biological diversity. Our ability to prioritize forest conservation actions is hampered by a lack of information about the relative impacts of different types of forest loss on biodiversity. In particular, we lack rigorous comparisons of the effects of clearing forests for tree plantations and for human settlements, two leading causes of deforestation worldwide. We compared avian diversity in forests, plantations and exurban areas on the Cumberland Plateau, USA, an area of global importance for biodiversity. By combining field surveys with digital habitat databases, and then analyzing diversity at multiple scales, we found that plantations had lower diversity and fewer conservation priority species than did other habitats. Exurban areas had higher diversity than did native forests, but native forests outscored exurban areas for some measures of conservation priority. Overall therefore, pine plantations had impoverished avian communities relative to both native forests and to exurban areas. Thus, reports on the status of forests give misleading signals about biological diversity when they include plantations in their estimates of forest cover but exclude forested areas in which humans live. Likewise, forest conservation programs should downgrade incentives for plantations and should include settled areas within their purview.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Associations between gut microbiota on carcass traits and meat quality in Neijiang pigs, Yorkshire pigs, and their hybrids.

This study was designed as an exploratory analysis to compare carcass performance, meat quality traits, and gut microbiota of Neijiang pigs (NN), Yorkshire pigs (YY), and Yorkshire &#xd7; Neijiang hybrid pigs (YN), with the goal of generating testable hypotheses regarding potential links between gut microbial composition and production phenotypes. Compared with NN pigs, YN hybrids exhibited improved carcass performance while inheriting the favorable meat quality characteristics of Neijiang pigs. The results of 16S rRNA sequencing analysis showed that the relative abundance of the microbiota was similar to that of NN pigs. LDA effect size (LEfSe) results showed that Streptococcus, Treponema, probable_genus_10 and Fibrobacter were the differentially enriched taxa in YN pigs (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis was performed on carcass, meat quality and intestinal microbiota screened out by LEfSe. The results showed that Akkermansia tended to positively associate with body length and oblique length in YN pigs; Dialister correlated positively with dressing rate and pH45min; Treponema showed positive trends with a*45min and a*24h (p < 0.05). Finally, the correlation network model preliminarily mapped associations among production traits, gut microbiota, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways for exploratory screening. Nine core microbial taxa exhibited close correlations with phenotypic indicators, which implied that these microbes might modulate metabolic pathways to shape pig performance. Overall, hybrids inherited superior parental carcass and meat quality but harbored unique gut microbial communities relative to purebreds-these preliminary correlative observations generate new hypotheses that gut microbiota may contribute to heterosis-associated phenotypic advantages, which require further targeted validation.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Systems approach to population health improvement.

Managed care organizations (MCOs) are uniquely well positioned to implement population health initiatives. In an MCO setting, populations may be clearly defined. Health care may be provided via integrated clinical care delivery systems. Centralized services such as information systems, community relations, health promotion and disease prevention support, and marketing campaigns may aid in the achievement of population health improvement objectives. However, in order to sustain population health improvement efforts long-term, continued support and allocation of critical resources are needed. For this to occur, efforts need to be integrated with the personal, social, economic, regulatory, and business objectives of all key stakeholders involved in this process. Furthermore, the process needs to continuously generate deliverables in order to allow for ongoing feedback, evaluation, accountability, relationship building and maintaining, and continuous quality improvement to occur. Hence, specific strategies may be considered from a systems perspective. The present article describes a systems approach in which a population health cycle generates health improvement outcomes that are used to provide the rationale for continued allocation of resources.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Culturally sensitive prenatal care for Southeast Asians.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the success of the Southeast Asian Health Project in terms of client satisfaction with the prenatal care and other services. To obtain additional data about Southeast Asian women's health practices regarding childbearing. DESIGN: Survey through questionnaires administered as interviews. SETTING: In clients' homes or via telephone. PARTICIPANTS: 119 women from SEAHP's case files of recently delivered clients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Interviews were conducted by four community workers fluent in Cambodian or Lao. The majority of women were satisfied with SEAHP, particularly the interpretation and education in native languages. Women were also satisfied with SEAHP, encouraging others to seek care. CONCLUSIONS: SEAHP appears to meet prenatal care needs of Southeast Asian women in Long Beach, California. More objective outcome data await analyses, but the program's approach may ensure access to and use of health services.

Asia, Southeastern↗
PubMed1977

Royce's community; a dimension missing in Freud and James?

Josiah Royce (1855-1916), philosopher of community, taught that social consciousness arises from ego-alter contrasts and is guided by taboos and, before George H. Mead, by reciprocal gestures. A major Roycean contribution was his five conditions for coexperiencing consciousness of genuine community. Related to Freud (via Putnam), Royce did early work on "identification theory" and helped midwife psychotherapy's birth in America. Contrasting with William James's basic differentiation of consciousness according to the quality of its contents (feeling, thought, and conduct), Royce preferred a norm of increasing self-agency (shown in sensitivity, docility, and initiative). The temperaments of James as artist and of Royce as rational interpreter differentiated their approaches to psychology.

Austria↗
PubMed1993

Worker notification: viewpoint of the employer.

Prior to notifying workers of risk exposure, employers should first consider and weigh the psychological, physiological, and social costs as well as the potential negative impact on labor-management relations, community resources, and the costs of false negatives and false positives. Only if the contributions of notification override and outweigh the composite costs should employers feel compelled to notify workers.

Communication↗
PubMed1976

Ideological goals of different health insurance plans.

Questionnaires sent to and interviews with managerial personnel in two types of health insurance organizations revealed substantial differences in their goals. Top policy makers, executive managers, and lower level management personnel (in all 165 people from four entities) were questioned. Although differences occurred among the various administrative levels, the commercial companies were more strongly oriented toward profit and growth and the prepaid group practice plans more strongly oriented toward service and community relations. These findings were confirmed by a study of the public statements of these organizations. The findings would seem to have relevance to the use of insurance companies by the government in implementation of any national health insurance program.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Visual acuity in a community-dwelling Japanese population and factors associated with visual impairment.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of visual acuity and investigate the predictors of visual impairment in a Japanese population. METHODS: Best-corrected visual acuity was measured in 2263 subjects aged 40-79 years randomly selected from a local community. Relations between visual impairment and possible risk factors were investigated. RESULTS: Among these subjects, 41 individuals (1.8%) were identified as visually impaired (best-corrected visual acuity in the better eye <0.5). Both sexes in the older age groups had a higher frequency of visual impairment (Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test: P<0.001). A multiple logistic regression indicated that an increase in age of 10 years [odds ratio (OR) 3.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3-6.7] and myopia (OR 2.9; 95%CI 1.4-6.0) were independent risk factors for visual impairment. Individuals with the highest level of education (college or higher) had a lower risk of visual impairment (OR 0.1; 95%CI 0-0.7) compared to individuals with the lowest level of education. CONCLUSIONS: As expected, visual impairment increased with advancing age, although the prevalence of visual impairment in our population was lower than in other surveys. Racial and regional differences and differences in study design may be responsible for discrepancies between surveys. It is noteworthy that myopia was a significant risk factor for visual impairment, although the reasons for this association are uncertain and need further investigation.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Respondent-driven sampling in a study of drug users in New York City: notes from the field.

Beth Israel Medical Center (BIMC), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), used respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in a study of HIV seroprevalence among drug users in New York City in 2004. We report here on operational issues with RDS including recruitment, coupon distribution, storefront operations, police and community relations, and the overall lessons we learned. Project staff recruited eight seeds from a syringe exchange in Lower Manhattan to serve as the initial study participants. Upon completion of the interview that lasted approximately 1 h and a blood draw, each seed was given three coupons to recruit three drug users into the study. Each of the subsequent eligible participants was also given three coupons to recruit three of their drug-using acquaintances. Eligible participants had to have: injected, smoked or snorted an illicit drug in the last 6 months (other than marijuana), aged 18 or older, adequate English language knowledge to permit informed consent and complete questionnaire. From April to July 2004, 618 drug users were interviewed, including 263 (43%) current injectors, 119 (19%) former injectors, and 236 (38%) never injectors. Four hundred sixty nine (76%) participants were men, 147 (24%) were women, and two (<1%) were transgender. By race/ethnicity, 285 (46%) were black, 218 (35%) Hispanic, 88 (14%) white, 23 (4%) mixed/not specified, and four (<1%) native American. Interviews were initially done on a drop-in basis but this system changed to appointments 1 month into the study due to the large volume of subjects coming in for interviews. Data collection was originally proposed to last for 1 year with a target recruitment of 500 drug users. Utilizing RDS, we were able to recruit and interview 118 more drug users than originally proposed in one quarter of the time. RDS was efficient with respect to time and economics (we did not have to hire an outreach worker) and effective in recruiting a diverse sample of drug users.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Statistical studies of mortality and air pollution. Multiple regression analyses by cause of death.

Multiple regression analyses are presented relating community air quality, socioeconomic variables, and mortality rates for all cancers, respiratory system cancer, respiratory disease, and external causes, for U.S. cities for 1969-1971. Socioeconomic variables included an index of cigarette smoking (by state), which was usually highly significant. Most air pollution variables were not significant, however, with the exception of the trace metal manganese, which was associated with cancers and respiratory disease. Because of the low ambient concentrations in this study, it is likely that manganese is serving as a surrogate for some other effect, such as occupational influences for example.

Air Pollution↗