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Results for “Voluntary Workers”

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PubMed1996

Tuberculosis in the community: 2. The perceptions of members of a tuberculosis health team towards a voluntary health worker programme.

SETTING: A voluntary community health worker programme, in the Western Cape, South Africa, utilizing volunteers to administer directly observed therapy to tuberculosis (TB) patients. OBJECTIVE: This study describes the perceptions of health team members regarding the voluntary community health worker project. DESIGN: A qualitative, participatory research study utilizing focus groups. RESULTS: TB was perceived by the health team to be a stigmatized disease causing some patients to be reluctant to be associated with the TB control programme. Despite the project's dedicated approach to case-holding, volunteers expressed the need to develop skills in providing more comprehensive care. The volunteers appear to administer a more personalized service to TB patients and can bridge the gap between TB patients and the health agency. CONCLUSION: Sustained evaluation and support seem to be a vital tool in integrating a volunteer project into a health team approach. Its effectiveness appears to depend to a large degree on the people involved.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Morbidity in rural southwestern Nigeria: a one year follow up of voluntary health worker consultations in Idere, Oyo State, Nigeria.

There is paucity of information on morbidity pattern at the community level in Nigeria. Available literature shows that most are based on hospital data from which rates cannot be generated. In addition, the low access to hospitals in the country especially in rural areas, coupled with inappropriate health care seeking behaviour in the community limits the usefulness of information derived from hospital data. This study was aimed at determining disease patterns in a rural community in Nigeria using the records of voluntary health workers. We followed up a well-defined rural community for one year and collated records of active voluntary health workers (VHWs) who provide health care to these communities. Results showed that Malaria, upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), diarrhoea, measles and accidents were the most common ailments for which the community members sought health care. The annual morbidity rates were malaria 25.4%, URTI 6.0%, accidents 3.2%, and diarrhoea 2.7%. Rates generally decrease with increasing age, except for accidents, for which the rates were highest amongst school-aged children (5-14 years) and lowest amongst adults. Recommendations made include strengthening malaria control efforts, improving routine immunization coverage and providing health education regarding accident prevention.

Accidents↗
PubMed2002

Voluntary health workers' knowledge, attitude and practices regarding record keeping in Akinyele LGA of Oyo State, Nigeria.

Lack of basic health data for monitoring and evaluation of health services continue to affect the planning, implementation and evaluation of health services in Nigeria. This has contributed to the poor health status and inefficient health services in the country. In the primary health care management information system (PHCMIS), Voluntary Village Health Workers (VHWs) and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) are responsible for collecting information at the community/village level. Trained research assistants administered a pretested semi structured questionnaire and filled an observation checklist to all the voluntary health workers in Akinyele LGA of Oyo State in a cross-sectional survey conducted to assess their record keeping practices as well as their knowledge of and attitude towards it. Results showed that almost half of the respondents had no formal education and a similar proportion had been VHWs for between over 10 years. Over eighty per cent knew the uses of record keeping for monitoring and evaluation purposes. Their attitude towards it was positive and almost all felt it was easy to keep records. Ninety six percent keep records of their health activities and most forward them. It was observed that only 11 (10.8%) respondents had the VHW/TBA record of work produced and recommended by the Federal Ministry of Health because they were reportedly not supplied to them. The factors that were associated with record keeping practices were positive attitude towards record keeping, duration of work as a VHW/TBA, prior training on record keeping and receiving feedback on records kept. Recommendations made included periodic training and retraining of the VHWs on record keeping, ensuring consistent supply of record forms and providing regular feedback on records kept to the VHWs.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Employment status and quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVES: Recently, the conditions for disability benefits were redefined in several countries, stimulating employees to participate on the labour market as long as reasonably possible. Little is known of labour participation and quality of life (QoL) of employees with chronic diseases. This study examines the associations between employment status and QoL in COPD patients. Additionally, the role of lung function, and work-related symptoms and exposures on QoL were explored. METHODS: Secondary analyses were conducted on baseline data from a randomized control trail. Patients were categorized as: "paid-workers"; "voluntary non-paid workers" (e.g., early retired, house wives) or "disabled for work". QoL was assessed by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ). Between-group differences in CRQ scores, and associations between work-related symptoms or irritants and CRQ scores were uni- and multivariately analysed. RESULTS: Two hundred and ten patients with COPD were included [mean age 53.9 (SD 6.8) years, FEV(1) %predicted 63.5 (SD 18.5)]. No statistically significant differences in lung function between the employment status subgroups were observed. Multivariable analysis showed that the "disabled" had lower CRQ scores as compared with "paid workers" (0.52 point difference, p<0.001). The CRQ scores of "voluntary non-paid workers" were not significantly different from "paid workers". Within the group paid workers, patients with many work-related clinical symptoms and being susceptible to various work-related irritants experienced a lower QoL than patients who had respectively no symptoms, or who were not susceptible to these factors. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with COPD who were disabled for work showed equal severity of airflow limitation but worse QoL, as compared with paid workers.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMed2000

Modified leprosy elimination campaign (MLEC) for case detection in a remote tribal area in the State of Orissa, India.

A leprosy project was established in a difficult to reach area under guidelines of Government of India. The leprosy services were provided by Koraput Leprosy Eradication Project (KORALEP) and general health services by Primary Health Care (PHC). Leprosy elimination campaigns (LECs) were suggested by WHO to detect more cases in the community. A modified leprosy elimination campaign (MLEC), carried out utilizing the services of primary health care workers is discussed in this paper. Apart from the trained health workers, Anganwadi workers along with some literate people from the district were also included in the search teams. In all, 1543 cases were shortlisted from the suspects identified and on re-examination 576 cases were confirmed as active cases. Sixty percent of the cases detected were very early cases with two to three skin lesions. This could be achieved with a very brief training of health workers and involving village voluntary workers. MLEC was found to be a useful tool for case finding in such areas.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Satisfaction and change: a survey of volunteers in a hospice organisation.

Volunteers and their voluntary work play an important role within the 'mixed economy' of health and welfare provision in the U.K. A survey of volunteers working in a hospice organisation in Leicestershire (LOROS) found that most of them were satisfied with their work experiences as volunteers, and felt that they were adequately supported and valued by the organisation and its paid staff. They had become volunteers mainly through contact with friends, and a substantial minority were motivated by their own personal experiences of death. Their contact with dying patients did not cause them any serious emotional difficulties. LOROS has grown from a small, tightly focused organisation, dependent on a relatively small group of committed volunteers, to a much larger, busier, more diverse and geographically dispersed organisation, dependent upon a large pool of volunteers. These changes in the organisation had affected the way in which some volunteers experienced their work, and although they were supportive of the expansion of the organisation their sense of intimacy and belonging had lessened. Given the increasing competition for voluntary workers, the sensitive management of change is seen as vital if LOROS is to maintain the commitment of its volunteers and maintain its attractiveness as an organisation which should be supported by voluntary work.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The impact of a music festival on local health services.

A music festival was held in July 1989 near Liskeard in Cornwall. This paper comments on some of the organisational problems, and documents the workload of voluntary workers and professional medical agencies serving the festival. At least 467 of attenders (greater than 1%) sought aid, and 15 patients required hospital admission. There were two deaths and one birth at the site. It is suggested that, in addition to the services provided by voluntary agencies, organisers of mass gatherings should provide suitably qualified medical and nursing personnel on site.

Anniversaries and Special Events↗
PubMed1981

[Field study of workers with longterm exposure to calcium cyanamide (author's transl)].

"Kalkstickstoff" (calcium cyanamide) is extensively used as a fertilizer and a herbicide and also as a chemical intermediate. Its main compounds are calcium cyanamide (CaCN2) (60%) and calcium oxide (15%). In earlier times cauterized damages of the skin and the mucous membranes caused by the content of calcium oxide were common. A certain effect of CaCN2 is the reaction of intolerance after alcohol intake, which expresses as a so-called burning, a flush with redness and feeling of heat of the head, the neck and the upper part of the body often combined with tachycardia and dyspnea. Further health impairments, sometimes with fatal end, were reported repeatedly in the older literature. Convincing evidences for the causal connections between the exposure to CaCN2 and these damages are missed. They exclusively concerned farmers but not workers in the production of CaCN2. Except of the damages of the skin also diseases of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, the kidneys, the nervous and circulatory system as well as favoring of infectious complications and goitrogenic effects are in discussion. Furthermore it was suggested that CaCN2 causes a lack of reduced glutathione in the organism. On the occasion of establishing a preliminary MAC-value for CaCN2 in the F.R.G. an occupationally medical field study was performed on 65 workers of a calcium cyanamide factory with long-term exposure to CaCN2. The maximal CaCN2 concentration measured at the working places was 8.3 mg/m3. No signs of diseases or health impairments, which are possibly caused by CaCN2, were found with the medical examination in the above mentioned organs and organ systems. There also was no decrease of the glutathione content of the total blood detectable. With an alcohol load of 22 voluntary workers 1 till 7 hours after the working shift in 6 cases modest and in 7 cases weak flush reactions were observed. As result of the study an elevation of the MAC-value from 1 to at least 2.5 mg/m3 is proposed.

Adult↗