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PubMed1991

Preventing parental child abduction: analysis of a national project.

Recent data from a study indicate that child abduction by a parent is up to six times more frequent than previous estimates had suggested. Relative to parental child abductions, stranger abductions occur on a very infrequent basis. While much attention has been placed on prevention programs for stranger abductions, prevention programs for parental child abduction have been nonexistent. The present study analyzes data from a national hotline program that targeted prevention of parental child abduction. Data were collected on 86 consecutive telephone calls from parents contemplating abduction of their child(ren). These data provide information on demographic variables, level of interparental conflict/violence, reasons for contemplating abduction, and abduction plans. Data are also presented that indicate a mediation program may be effective in preventing some cases of parental child abduction. However, such a mediation program is a very difficult course of action and impacts only a small percentage of parental child abduction cases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Accidental exposures to blood and body fluids among health care workers in dental teaching clinics: a prospective study.

The authors evaluated accidental exposures to blood and body fluids reported to a hotline or to health officials at four dental teaching clinics. The authors used a standard questionnaire to solicit and record data regarding each exposure. During a 63-month period, 428 parenteral exposures to blood or body fluids were documented. Dental students and dental assistants had the highest rates of exposure. Syringe needle injuries were the most common type of exposure, while giving injections, cleaning instruments after procedures and drilling were the activities most frequently associated with exposures.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2003

Telephone counselling for adolescent suicide prevention: changes in suicidality and mental state from beginning to end of a counselling session.

Telephone counselling is an accessible and confidential means by which distressed young people can seek help. Telephone counselling services were funded under Australia's National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy between 1997 and 2000. In this study, the effectiveness of telephone counselling for young people seeking help in the context of suicidal ideation or intent was evaluated in an investigation of calls made by suicidal young people to a telephone counselling service. Independent raters measured callers' suicidality and mental state at the beginning and end of 100 taped counselling sessions. Changes in suicidality and mental state were measured using a reliable rating scale developed for the study. Significant decreases in suicidality and significant improvement in mental state were found to occur during the course of counselling sessions, suggesting positive immediate impact. Limitations of the study with respect to longer-term outcomes and the relevance of the results for suicide prevention are discussed. Notwithstanding the study limitations, the results lend support for continuing development of hotline services.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Using mass transit public service advertising to market family planning.

To increase public awareness of family planning services in New Jersey, the Family Planning Program of the State Department of Health conducted an intermediary marketing campaign using free public service advertising on mass transit. In 1986, the year of the campaign, 237 calls were made to the advertised hotline, resulting in a like number of referrals to family planning service providers. Also, 2664 new patients examined in the state's family planning agencies in 1986 cited exposure to the media campaign as the reason for their visits. The results of the campaign and their implications for other public service agencies are discussed.

Advertising↗
PubMed1999

Health care of female commercial sex workers.

This article highlights health issues related to prostitution, with special reference to the situation in Europe. Strategies aimed at improving the health care of commercial sex workers, including programs for screening for sexually transmitted infections, are discussed. Problems related to failure to follow-up, particularly of mobile (migratory, international) commercial sex workers, are considered. Other topics covered include counselling on sexual risk reduction, including medical hotline telephone services and clinical outreach work. Counselling commercial sex workers on contraception, desired termination of pregnancy and hazards of illicit drug use are also highlighted. The public-health consequences of delivering poor health care to commercial sex workers are generally severely underestimated, particularly in societies where prostitution is illegal.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects on parents of an intervention to resolve infant behavioral sleep problems.

PURPOSE: Because behavioral sleep problems affect a large proportion of infants and can result in health issues for children and their parents, the study evaluated the effects of a sleep intervention for infants from 6 to 12 months old. METHOD: For this quasi-experimental one group pre-test and post-test design, 39 eligible families were recruited through a newborn hotline. Seventy parents with healthy 6 to 12-month old infants completed the intervention. The intervention involved information about infant sleep and strategies for sleep problems in classes of up to 6 couples, chart completion, and bi-weekly telephone calls for 2 weeks. The primary outcome measures were parents' sleep quality, fatigue, cognitions about infant sleep, depression, marital harmony, and sleepiness. FINDINGS: Following the intervention, there was a significant improvement in parents' sleep quality, cognitions about infant sleep, fatigue, and depressed mood. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings demonstrated that providing parents with information and support to assist with infant behavioral sleep problems can improve parental psychological well being.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Telephone and hot lines: a tool delivering clinical care.

Telephone lines are now a widespread way of communication between patients and physicians. Nevertheless opinions about their effectiveness and efficacy are rather inconsistent. Aim of this study is to review medical literature in order to assess how and when telephone lines have been described as a good or a bad way to help health care, looking for different experiences and opinions, reviews and guidelines about the use of telephone as a tool for delivering health care. We compared what we have found, particularly about Diabetes, with our previous experience. Medline from Pub Med from National Library of Medicine has been consulted using "telephone", "hot line" or "hotline" as key words. Among the 20 thousands references found in the literature, 2051 of them we considered relevant. The most frequently recurrent topics concern pediatrics (19.2%), while diabetes is not very frequent (0.6%). Analyzing more in details, we noticed that the application fields ofhotlines are emergency management, secretary tasks, preventive health care, acute episodes and chronic conditions. Different models of telephone help lines and guidelines in training and running help lines have been found as well. Examining diabetes help lines, we noticed that they are mainly used in case of intercurrent illness, doubts about insulin dose, hypoglycemia. Parents of the youngest patients and with the shortest duration of diabetes are the most frequent users, regardless of HbA1c. Most calls came during holy-days and weekend, especially early in the morning or during the night.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Perceived credibility of channels and sources of AIDS information among Hispanics.

A total of 460 Hispanic adults were interviewed over the telephone regarding the credibility they assigned to various possible channels and sources of AIDS information. An AIDS hotline and printed information (e.g., books, pamphlets) were perceived as highly believable channels by significant proportions of the respondents. Individuals in closer contact with the disease (e.g., a physician, a counselor, a person with AIDS) were overwhelmingly perceived as the most credible sources of information. With the exception of the Surgeon General no other public figure was perceived to be highly credible by large proportions of the respondents. Although women tended to perceive the various channels and sources as highly credible in greater proportions than men, the rank ordering of the information channels and sources is the same for both genders. Credibility ratings were lowest for actors, singers, and sports figures as sources of AIDS information for Hispanics and for illustrated storybooks (fotonovelas) as a channel for the dissemination of information.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1988

Establishing a rehabilitation program for impaired pharmacists.

The Texas Pharmaceutical Association (TPA) rehabilitation program for impaired pharmacists and pharmacy students is described. Since its inception in 1983, the TPA Pharmacists Rehabilitation Program has provided assistance to impaired pharmacists and pharmacy students, as well as their families, friends, customers, and coworkers. The program uses a carefully developed intervention process designed to assist impaired pharmacists and pharmacy students in obtaining evaluation and treatment of their condition. After a referral, an appointment is made for the impaired person at 1 of 15 regional evaluation and referral centers across the state, where arrangements for appropriate treatment are made. After treatment, the Committee on Pharmacists Rehabilitation aids the pharmacist or student in reentering the profession or returning to school. Intervenors are pharmacists registered in the state of Texas who have participated in TPA's training sessions; TPA also provides an intervenor's workbook. Amendments to the Texas Pharmacy Act passed in 1983 and 1985 provide protection for intervenors who are working with pharmacists and pharmacy students with impairment problems. Referrals are made by means of a 24-hour, toll-free hotline funded by a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Other funding comes from individual donors, member associations affiliated with TPA, chain drugstores, wholesalers, and the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. A successful rehabilitation program for impaired pharmacists and students must be carefully designed and implemented, with attention paid to legal, financial, and intervention-related issues associated with substance abuse.

Drug and Narcotic Control↗
PubMed1995

Health care cost effects of public use of a regional poison control center.

Poison control centers in the United States are threatened with closure, and attempts at a cost-benefit analysis of these services have been indeterminate. The purpose of this study was to compare the operating costs of a regional poison control center resulting from public use of its telephone hotline services with those of hypothetical alternative sources of advice and care. We conducted a follow-up telephone survey among 589 public callers to the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Poison Control Center who had been managed at home without medical referral after an unintentional poisoning. All survey respondents were asked what alternative action they would have taken had the poison control center not been available to assist them by telephone consultation. We then surveyed emergency departments and physicians' offices cited as alternatives by the callers to determine their response and charges for evaluating a suspected poisoning case. A total of 464 (79%) of the callers surveyed would have sought assistance from their local emergency health care system had the poison control center not been available. We conservatively estimated that the total charges for such evaluations would be +71,900. Comparatively, the total actual operating cost of services provided by the poison control center for all 589 poisoning cases was +13,547. Most of the study subjects (429 [73%]) had private insurance coverage. Direct public access to these services probably reduces the use of emergency health care resources, thus lowering health care costs.

Emergency Service, Hospital↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Project LEAN--lessons learned from a national social marketing campaign.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation initiated a social marketing campaign in 1987 to reduce the nation's risk for heart disease and some cancers. Consensus on recommendations for dietary change have stimulated the development of a variety of social marketing campaigns to promote behavior change. Project LEAN (Low-Fat Eating for America Now) is a national campaign whose goal is to reduce dietary fat consumption to 30 percent of total calories through public service advertising, publicity, and point-of-purchase programs in restaurants, supermarkets, and school and worksite cafeterias. The public service advertising reached 50 percent of the television viewing audience and the print publicity, more than 35 million readers. The toll-free hotline received more than 300,000 calls. Thirty-four organizations joined the foundation in partnership and raised $350,000 for collaborative activities. Thirteen States implemented local campaigns. Lessons have been learned about the use of the media, market segmentation, effective spokespersons, and successful partnerships. These lessons will be valuable to others planning social marketing campaigns on nutrition and other preventive behaviors.

Diet↗
PubMed1996

[What clients want from veterinarians following the death of their companion animal. Bobby died, what now?].

The aim of this investigation is to determine whether Dutch people would appreciate support, either from or via veterinarians following the death of a companion animal. In general, clients believe both local practitioners and specialists, even though they might not have seen the animal more than once, should offer some form of support. Being called by the veterinarian in question, a few days after the death of the animal, was the option that was most appreciated. Twenty one respondents (15%) wished to be able to attend a pet loss support group or call a hotline, following the death of their companion animal. The need to have questions answered by the veterinarian and the role the respondents thought the veterinarian should play following pet loss, were significant factors determining whether use would be made of support offered to them. Other factors included in the survey, such as age, sex and social status were not significant.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Perceptions of suicide risk and the helpfulness of intervention strategies: a comparison of students and mothers.

College students (n = 132) and mothers (n = 64) listened to simulated hotline calls and rated level of suicide risk and the helpfulness of interventions. Students also rated their intent to take action in a similar situation; mothers rated their child's intent to take action. Students, more than mothers, perceived emotional problems to be associated with risk; mothers, more than students, perceived changes in behavior to be associated with risk. Students and mothers generally agreed regarding the helpfulness of different interventions, rating talking as most helpful. However, students, more than mothers, perceived social distraction as helpful. Mothers were generally accurate in their perceptions of their children's intended actions. Results suggest the need for additional research on the skills adolescents bring to crisis situations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Call 1-888-NOT-2-LATE: promoting emergency contraception in the United States.

In 1997, the nonprofit Reproductive Health Technologies Project and the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, together with the communications firm Elgin DDB, planned and executed a mass media campaign to advertise the Emergency Contraception Hotline and more generally to further awareness of emergency contraception as a last chance means of pregnancy prevention in the United State. We produced a variety of public service announcements (PSAs) including television and radio spots in English and Spanish and several print versions adaptable for newspapers and magazines as well as outdoor settings such as billboards, transit shelters, and the sides of buses. Working with local coalitions, we succeeded in placing the PSAs free of charge in six pilot cities. We also generated coverage about the campaign in local and national news outlets. We chronicle the development of the media campaign, discuss the challenges and obstacles faced, and conclude with a review of the principal lessons learned.

Advertising↗
PubMed1998

Calls to teen line: representative concerns of adolescents.

The concerns of teenagers calling a peer listening phone service have previously been documented (Boehm & Campbell, 1995; Boehm, Chessare, Valko, & Sager, 1991; Boehm, Schondel, Marlowe, & Rose, 1995). The purpose of the present study was to determine if those calls were representative of the concerns of teenagers in the area served. Calls to Teen Line from September 1933 to May 1994 were compared with responses to selected questions from the 1994 Chemical Abuse Reduced through Education and Services (C.A.R.E.S.) student survey, which was administered to a random sample of fifth- through twelfth-grade students. The most frequent calls to Teen Line pertained to peer relationships, sexuality, family problems, the need to have someone "just to talk to," self-esteem, and drugs and alcohol. Results of the survey indicated that students' biggest concerns, and the concerns for which they would call a hotline, involved family problems, peer relationships, self-esteem, and school problems. While there were some differences, it appears that the calls to Teen Line were representative. Teenagers were more concerned about relationship and esteem issues than about high-risk behaviors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Breast cancer-related inquiries by patients to a telephone information service.

The authors studied 2804 breast cancer-related inquiries that were made in 1226 patient calls placed to a cancer hotline between 1979 and 1983. One third of the inquiries concerned treatments or their side effects. Questions about rehabilitation, biology, and specialists accounted equally for another third of the inquiries. The patient-directed nature of these telephone inquiries suggests that these data may provide a particularly accurate assessment of breast cancer patients' needs for information and counseling that are being inadequately addressed under conventional medical care.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Self-help interventions for smoking cessation.

BACKGROUND: Many smokers give up smoking on their own, but materials giving advice and information may help them and increase the number who quit successfully. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this review were to determine the effectiveness of different forms of self-help materials, compared with no treatment and with other minimal contact strategies; the effectiveness of adjuncts to self help, such as computer-generated feedback, telephone hotlines and pharmacotherapy; and the effectiveness of approaches tailored to the individual compared with non-tailored materials. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group trials register using the terms 'self-help', 'manual*' or 'booklet*'. Date of the most recent search April 2005. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomized trials of smoking cessation with follow up of at least six months, where at least one arm tested a self-help intervention. We defined self help as structured programming for smokers trying to quit without intensive contact with a therapist. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We extracted data in duplicate on the participants, the nature of the self-help materials, the amount of face-to-face contact given to intervention and to control conditions, outcome measures, method of randomization, and completeness of follow up. The main outcome measure was abstinence from smoking after at least six months follow up in people smoking at baseline. We used the most rigorous definition of abstinence in each trial, and biochemically validated rates when available. Where appropriate, we performed meta-analysis using a fixed-effect model. MAIN RESULTS: We identified sixty trials. Thirty-three compared self-help materials to no intervention or tested materials used in addition to advice. In 11 trials in which self help was compared to no intervention there was a pooled effect that just reached statistical significance (N = 13,733; odds ratio [OR] 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07 to 1.45). This analysis excluded two trials with strongly positive outcomes that introduced significant heterogeneity. Four further trials in which the control group received alternative written materials did not show evidence for an effect of the smoking self-help materials. We failed to find evidence of benefit from adding self-help materials to face-to-face advice, or to nicotine replacement therapy. There were seventeen trials using materials tailored for the characteristics of individual smokers, where meta-analysis supported a small benefit of tailored materials (N = 20,414; OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.61). The evidence is strongest for tailored materials compared to no intervention, but also supports tailored materials as more helpful than standard materials. Part of this effect could be due to the additional contact or assessment required to obtain individual data. A small number of other trials failed to detect benefits from using additional materials or targeted materials, or to find differences between different self-help programmes. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Standard self-help materials may increase quit rates compared to no intervention, but the effect is likely to be small. We failed to find evidence that they have an additional benefit when used alongside other interventions such as advice from a healthcare professional, or nicotine replacement therapy. There is evidence that materials that are tailored for individual smokers are effective, and are more effective than untailored materials, although the absolute size of effect is still small.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1998

Oklahoma City: disaster challenges mental health and medical administrators.

Mental health and medical administrators responded to the Oklahoma City bombing with cooperative and overlapping efforts to meet community needs in the wake of terrorism. The major agencies assisted in the immediate rescue response, organized crisis hotlines, prepared mental health professionals to counsel bereaved families and victims, organized debriefing of rescuers, assessed mental health needs of local school children, planned for longer term treatment, and coordinated research efforts to learn from the disaster. Implications to mental health administrators responding to significant acts of terrorism are discussed.

Adult↗