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PubMed2004

Community structure and seasonal dynamics of helminth parasites in Lepomis cyanellus and L. macrochirus from Charlie's Pond, North Carolina: host size and species as determinants of community structure.

The community structure and seasonal dynamics of 16 helminth species infecting green (Lepomis cyanellus) and bluegill (L. macrochirus) sunfishes in Charlie's Pond, North Carolina, was examined. One hundred and fifty-four fishes including 90 green sunfish and 64 bluegill sunfish were collected between March and November 2000 and examined for the presence of helminth parasites. Five of these species underwent significant changes in abundance in green sunfish infracommunities, 3 of which also displayed seasonal changes in prevalence. Three of the 16 species fluctuated seasonally in bluegill infrapopulations; 2 also underwent changes in prevalence. Species richness and diversity varied across the 9-mo period for both host species, whereas total helminth abundance remained constant. Analysis of component communities revealed differences in community structure for the 2 host species. Bluegills were found to harbor larger and more diverse communities. Bluegills also contained larger infrapopulations of 5 species, whereas green sunfish had greater abundance of 2 species. Interpretation of these data suggests that host species and size are strongly associated with the predictability of community structure.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Effects of community-based, videotape, and flash card instruction of community-referenced sight words on students with mental retardation.

Community-referenced sight words and phrases were taught to adolescents with mild and moderate mental retardation using three instructional methods in two locations. Words were presented on flash cards in a school setting, on videotape recordings in a school setting, and on naturally occurring signs in the community. During each session, participants were taught one third of the words in each of these conditions and were then tested at the community sites. A constant prompt delay procedure was used to promote stimulus control to the experimenter's cue initially and then to transfer control to the textual stimuli used for training. A multiple baseline across participants design was employed. Results showed rapid acquisition of the community-referenced sight words in all three training conditions and generalization from the flash card and videotape conditions to the community sites.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Mortality from stroke among women in a Swedish community, Strömstad. Evaluation of data obtained from official death certificate registers broken down to the community level.

The present paper is an example of an active way of delivering primary health care. Data obtained from the Bureau of Central Statistics on mortality, based on death certificates during the years 1969-1978, were broken down to community level within the County of Göteborg and Bohus. A significantly increased total mortality was observed among women in the community of Strömstad in the northern part of the county, as well as an increased mortality from cardiovascular diseases, especially cerebrovascular diseases. Similar observations were made for the neighbouring communities. In order to evaluate the diagnoses stated in the death certificates, records from patients who died of cerebrovascular disease during the years 1970-1979 were studied. Out of 146 women in whom cerebrovascular disease was stated as main cause of death, it was possible to draw conclusions about diagnosis of death in 140. The vast majority of the subjects had correctly been given the diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease. Based on this "community diagnosis", a special preventive program has been started in the community of Strömstad.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1994

Culture and community in the therapeutic community: implications for the treatment of recovering substance misusers.

This paper critically discusses the conceptualization and structure of the therapeutic community employed for the treatment of substance misuse in America. The predominant American model, the concept-house model, is criticized on the grounds that the therapeutic milieu of these treatment agencies is contaminated by their subordinance to the influences of the larger American society. These influences include: the predominance of the medical model, the agency as an agent of service delivery, capitalism and inequity, implicit views of human nature, and stratification of social structure. The thesis of this paper is that treatment personnel in therapeutic communities must develop increased sensitivity to the larger cultural factors which influence the construction of the therapeutic community. It is argued that problems within the American culture play a significant role in the etiology of substance misuse. Therefore, treatment personnel must be careful to avoid constructing therapeutic communities which too closely mirror the larger culture. This cultural influence in therapeutic communities functions to maintain long-term substance misuse problems within the individual and the nation.

Behavior, Addictive↗
PubMed2001

[Survey of consciousness of community residents regarding the community life of disabled persons with service dogs].

PURPOSE: Service dogs have received much attention as effective choices for promoting participation in society of disabled persons. The purpose of this study was to obtain the fundamental data to prepare guidelines regarding service dogs use in community life, by making clear the problems in terms of public health and community welfare through a survey of attitudes towards service dogs in community residents. METHODS: Study 1 was conducted as follows. The subjects were 423 community residents between their teens and seventies who participated in health and welfare lectures in 4 metropolitan areas. A questionnaire survey was conducted just after watching a promotion video about service dogs, including several items on aspects not accept, were anxious about or were unpleasant in the case of community life of a disabled person and a service dog. Study 2 was as follows. A questionnaire survey was conducted inside a supermarket in the central part of Tokyo. One group of subjects were 103 shopping customers who witnessed a shopping scene featuring a disabled person with her service dog, and the other subjects were 84 customers who were not witnessed to the scene. The same survey was simultaneously performed for impression about the shopping scene. RESULTS: Study 1 showed that 31.8% of all the respondents replied that they had some knowledge of service dogs before watching the video. A total of 20.4% (32.5% of the elderly) replied that there were places where service dogs should not enter. Concretely speaking, these included restaurants for 7.3-22.5% and medical institutions for 8.5-12.5% of the respondents. A third of all the respondents (51.3% of older persons) replied they could not endure some actions by service dogs, concretely "carrying food in the mouth" was highly pointed out by 27.3%. Zoonosis (15.3-19.0%), hair scattering (9.5-21.3%), injuries (4.4-7.4%) were also pointed out as main sources of anxiety or uncomfortable feelings. Such negative opinions were especially apparent among those aged 60 years and older. Also, 44.1% knew some disabled person. Cross tabulation showed those who had experience of taking care of a dog were significant less anxious about "vague anxiety or discomfort," and "zoonosis" than those who had not (P < 0.01). On the other hand, most of both witness (79.6%), and non-witness groups (81.0%) replied that it was heartwarming that the service dog assisted with shopping. None expressed discomfort about the presence of "service dog" inside the supermarket. In terms of carrying a commodity in the mouth, 92.2% and 89.1% in both groups replied that they don't mind, especially if safety was guaranteed for public health, and 91.3% and 95.2% in both groups replied that they had no other problems. Moreover, none of them would not entering stores. Significant differences were seldom in replies between the witness and non-witness groups. CONCLUSION: Although the respondents were extremely affirmative regarding the image of service dogs, it became clear that anxiety about public health aspects such as "zoonosis" or "utilization of medical institutions" was persisting. On the whole, negative opinions were more apparent in the elderly.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Community diagnosis of common skin diseases in the Zay community of the Zeway Islands, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Skin diseases are common public health problems throughout the world. Studies on skin problems are rare in Ethiopia. Easy and cheap methods of identifying skin conditions in the community are poorly developed in the country. OBJECTIVES: (1) To assess whether the newly developed Dermatological Screening Questionnaire (DSQ) can be used to effectively screen for common skin diseases and (2) to estimate the prevalence of skin diseases in a rural community. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the rural community residing on the islands of Lake Zeway. A locally prepared nine-item questionnaire (the DSQ) was used by lay-interviewers to screen for common skin diseases. Any respondent giving one or more positive responses, and a further 104 people who had replied negatively, underwent confirmatory diagnosis by specialist dermatologists. RESULTS: A total of 4697 people were included in the survey. Of these, 992 (20.0%) respondents screened positive on the DSQ. Out of 62.5% (N = 620) examined by dermatologists, 98.6% (n = 611) were found to have one or more skin conditions. Amongst screen negatives, 10.6% had skin diseases. Sensitivity and specificity of the DSQ was found to be 98% and 91%, respectively. The weighted prevalence of clinically-confirmed skin disease was 22.5%. Scabies was the most common of all skin conditions, followed by fungal infections. CONCLUSION: Our survey revealed that easily preventable and treatable skin diseases are common in this rural community. Nearly all those who gave a positive response to the DSQ had one or more skin disease confirmed on clinical examination. This finding indicates that the DSQ is a useful instrument for identification of common skin diseases in the community.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Kinetic analyses of Biolog community profiles to detect changes in inoculum density and species diversity of river bacterial communities.

The kinetics of response curves from Biolog community profiles for heterotrophic bacteria from a river in Nova Scotia, Canada have been analyzed to generate lag, slope, and asymptote parameters. The river water samples were treated with one of three supplements of Escherichia coli (in situ levels, 10(3) CFU/mL, or 10(6) CFU/mL) and one of five concentrations of chlorine (0, 1, 3, 5, or 7 ppm) to satisfy a full factorial design. The chlorine treatments decreased the inoculum density by up to 2 log values and decreased the species evenness. The E. coli supplements increased the inoculum density and decreased the species richness. Examination of the asymptotes did not reveal any significant effects owing to E. coli, but differences owing to the chlorine were detected. Analyses of the slopes showed a similar insignificance of the effects of E. coli and a lack of treatment effect owing to chlorine. The lag analyses also showed no significant E. coli effects, but showed a significant effect owing to chlorine. The discrepancy produced with the slope analysis (i.e., no chlorine effect) may represent an anomaly of the Biolog community approach. The use of lag phase was impaired because of the problem of infinite lags from wells that had no response, but a principle component analysis with a reduced set of substrates did suggest some influence of E. coli on the community profile. An examination of the substrates metabolized by the river water compared with pure E. coli revealed that the Biolog profiles of the river communities were not a simple summation of the component parts. In light of the lack of uniformity between these analyses, where the outcome depended on which parameter was used, caution is advised in interpreting Biolog community profiles on the basis of only one parameter.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1982

Mobilization of community resources to work with abusive and neglectful families: community organization in New York State.

This article describes the community organization experience of the Family Life Development Center at Cornell University in connection with the federally financed Resource Center on Child Abuse and Neglect which it has operated since 1975. Early on, the Center decided to concentrate its efforts on organizing local task forces on child abuse and neglect which would work at the community level to improve services for families and children afflicted with the problem. As a result, over 50 such groups were organized and they have stimulated creation of over 100 new services including Parents Anonymous chapters, parent aides, multidisciplinary teams and parenting education projects. In short, the local community organization approach enabled a small state level staff to stimulate a major mobilization of resources for child abuse and neglect at the community level throughout the state. The process began with several "trial and error" experiences in rural New York. This led to technical assistance in task force formation for a dozen more counties and finally to regional workshops on task force organizations. The process culminated with formation of a statewide federation of the local groups. The Center is now implementing the approach in New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Child↗
PubMed2003

An applied collaborative training program for graduate students in community psychology: a case study of a community project working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.

The following case study offers a detailed description of a university-organization partnership, the basis for a collaborative outreach training program between community psychology graduate students and a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth center. Students and youth collaborated over 2 semesters on the creation of a social meeting venue within an urban LGBTQ youth-operated center as part of a community outreach project in the students' course in community psychology. Semistructured interviews with the youth and the students provide first-person accounts and perspectives of the project as an effective learning tool for training students in community psychology and in working with LGBTQ youth.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

The potential role of peripheral health workers and community key informants in the rapid assessment of community burden of disease: the example of lymphatic filariasis.

Data for planning disease control programs in most developing countries is often not available because they are usually expensive to gather. This study explored the potential use of peripheral health staff and community key informants in gathering community-level data about lymphatic filariasis. Agreement between findings of health workers and those of physicians was very high (kappa 0.66-0.87) for the clinical conditions examined. The prevalence of hydrocele was found to be a good predictor of communities at risk of filariasis. Community key informants provided very useful qualitative and quantitative data on the prevalence of clinical filariasis. The need to use nontraditional health professionals in gathering data for planing control programs is discussed.

Community Health Workers↗
PubMed2002

Primary Care Trusts involving the community: is community development the way forward?

Patient and user involvement is central to current government thinking on the NHS. More comprehensive approaches to organised community participation and community development have received less support and examples of effective and genuine participation in key areas such as primary care decision-making are rare. The initiative described in this paper was established in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1995 to promote community participation in decision-making about local health services. It has particular relevance to current concerns about addressing social exclusion and tackling health inequalities since it operates in an area of social disadvantage with a significant black and ethnic minority population (6 percent). This case study is based on an independent evaluation which used multiple research methods, including interviews, questionnaire surveys and direct observation, to assess the project's practice and impact. Describes a community development approach to public participation. An emphasis on inclusive practices has facilitated meaningful involvement of minority groups such as ethnic minority residents and those with disabilities who tend to be marginalised in public debate. Argues that the project has made a significant impact on the ways in which local health services are planned and delivered

Community Participation↗
PubMed2003

Possible relationship of PFGE patterns of Moraxella catarrhalis between hospital- and community-acquired respiratory infections in a community hospital.

We describe a prospective study of molecular analysis of Moraxella catarrhalis isolated from a community hospital. Our study was designed to investigate the possible relationship of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of M. catarrhalis between hospital- and community-acquired respiratory infections. A nosocomial outbreak of M. catarrhalis was observed between September 2000 and September 2001. During the study period, 40 strains of M. catarrhalis were isolated from a total of 32 patients with respiratory infections (26 strains from 18 inpatients, and 14 strains from 14 outpatients). We compared the PFGE patterns in 40 strains of M. catarrhalis isolated from the respiratory tract of the study patients. The genomic types of M. catarrhalis were classified into three PFGE patterns (A, B, and C). Interestingly, the nosocomial outbreak of M. catarrhalis included two patterns (A and B). Of the three patterns, two patterns (A and B) were found in both inpatients and outpatients. More interestingly, two subtypes of pattern B (B1 and B4) were simultaneously found in both inpatients and outpatients. Our results indicated that PFGE with SmaI chromosomal digestion is a suitable technique to establish the inter-strain genetic relatedness of M. catarrhalis, and suggested that the outbreak of M. catarrhalis occasionally included miscellaneous PFGE patterns. The results also showed that PFGE patterns of M. catarrhalis isolates were similar between hospital- and community-acquired respiratory infections. Analysis of the subtypes suggested that there might be some association between hospital- and community-acquired respiratory infections caused by M. catarrhalis.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

A community of scholars or scholars of the community? A note on the limits of relevance.

Universities are increasingly expected to be accountable for the large sums of public money they spend. Universities in Australia are currently under pressure to turn out graduates who are technically trained for immediate entry into the work force. Universities are expected to teach knowledge and skills which are relevant to what the community needs now. If the universities accept such obligations of accountability and relevance, what are the implications for the university enterprise? Over the past decade, medical schools have attempted to spell out their purposes, writing their overall goals and then specific objectives to guide teaching in all departments. These lists of goals and objectives usually incorporate a strong orientation to meeting current community needs. One expression of these community needs is the call for 'Health for all by the year 2000', supported by all governments through the World Health Organization. Turning out graduates to provide community health care would be a relevant goal which an accountable medical school could hardly deny. What evidence is available about university responses to such needs?

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1981

A structured environment for heroin addicts: the experiences of a community-based American methadone clinic and a residential Dutch therapeutic community.

The experiences of a community-based American methadone clinic and a Dutch residential Therapeutic Community are described. Both programs, which provided comprehensive psychotherapeutic services for a diverse subpopulation of heroin addicts who lived in different cultures independently, discovered that character disordered individuals respond positively to the structured environment and confrontation group psychotherapy orientation which are characteristic of the Therapeutic Community. Both programs modified the initial non-directive model into a structured one adopting the treatment technology of the American Self-Help Therapeutic Communities.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Promoting environmental justice through community-based participatory research: the role of community and partnership capacity.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) increasingly is being used to study and address environmental justice. This article presents the results of a cross-site case study of four CBPR partnerships in the United States that researched environmental health problems and worked to educate legislators and promote relevant public policy. The authors focus on community and partnership capacity within and across sites, using as a theoretical framework Goodman and his colleagues' dimensions of community capacity, as these were tailored to environmental health by Freudenberg, and as further modified to include partnership capacity within a systems perspective. The four CBPR partnerships examined were situated in NewYork, California, Oklahoma, and North Carolina and were part of a larger national study. Case study contexts and characteristics, policy-related outcomes, and findings related to community and partnership capacity are presented, with implications drawn for other CBPR partnerships with a policy focus.

Community Networks↗
PubMed1988

Further observations on the practice of community care in Salford. Differences between community psychiatric nurses and mental health social workers.

Differences in the clinical characteristics of clients have not been found to account for the interprofessional differences in community psychiatric nurses' and mental health social workers' practice in Salford. We found the consultant-attached mental health social workers' practice in Salford. We found the consultant-attached mental health social workers, who worked closely with the specialist psychiatric team and who received supportive supervision from their professional managers, maintained stable case-loads, but the primary-care attached community psychiatric nurses, who were isolated from the specialist psychiatric team, and who received little supportive supervision from their professional managers, carried case-loads of increasing size. Failure to improve the way in which services for the mentally ill in the community are co-ordinated is likely to perpetuate the worst characteristics of life in the old back wards into the era of 'community care'.

Community Health Nursing↗
PubMed1997

Community experiments in action: developing community-defined models for reconfiguring health care delivery.

In the United States, health system change occurs as the interaction of politics and policies is played out and pushed forward by individuals and organizations taking action in their local communities and markets. This article provides context and descriptive information about a model of local health care reform that is being tested in twenty-five communities around the nation. We introduce a value-based model of community-responsive health system change, the Community Care Network (CCN) Vision. We briefly describe a national demonstration program that is testing this model between January 1996 and the end of 1998. We offer several ways of looking at the local and regional multisectoral partnerships that are attempting to demonstrate the CCN vision. We look at their composition, the kinds of actions in which they are engaged, several example challenges and responses to them, and we give several examples of schools becoming part of the health system of last resort. Finally, we present some early ideas on how the local actions described here may influence (and be influenced by) the political and policy contexts in which they occur.

Community Networks↗
PubMed1998

The influence of governmental policy on community health partnerships and community care networks: an analysis of three cases.

This is a comparative analysis of hospitals' efforts in three communities to pursue collaborative ventures to advance community health. The events occurred over a two-year period characterized by increasing market competition and national debate about comprehensive health care financing reform. The study objectives are to better understand factors that contributed to the initiation of the collaborative efforts, and factors that sustained, hindered, or thwarted these efforts. The study explores how the collaborative ventures in these three communities fared in the face of multiple and conflicting policies and the simultaneous creation of larger, competing health systems. A number of concluding generalizations address the impact of interorganizational dynamics and public policy initiatives on community health partnerships.

Community Health Planning↗