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PubMed1989

Changes in public support for alcohol policies following a community-based campaign.

An evaluated community action project carried out in New Zealand provincial cities used a quasi-experimental design which compared cities exposed to a mass media campaign, with and without community development, against reference cities. A major focus of the project was on alcohol policies, particularly alcohol advertising and availability. This emphasis is in keeping with an increased recognition that the appropriate role of alcohol education is to create a climate in which policies likely to shape appropriate drinking behaviours are accepted by the community. A range of complementary quantitative and qualitative evaluation techniques documented the community programme and indicated success in influencing the attitudes of the population.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2001

Structural diversity of microorganisms in chemically perturbed soil assessed by molecular and cytochemical approaches.

Until recently, our understanding of microbial community development in soil ecosystems exposed to different inorganic and organic pollutants has been limited to culturable microorganisms because of the techniques available. The discovery that most soil microorganisms are non-culturable but potentially viable and metabolically active accelerated the application of different culture-independent methods for structural diversity assessments of the microbial community. This review examines the results of recent studies on the impact of heavy metals and organic pollutants on the diversity of the microflora obtained with methods based on analyses of signature biomarkers such as nucleic acids and fatty acids. The application of these techniques allowed researchers to pinpoint reduction of microbial diversity in contaminated soil, and significant shifts in the community structure, leading to the dominance of only a few populations (species) and the disappearance of others, some of which were never isolated by conventional methods (e.g. an increase in Acidobacterium or a decrease in terrestrial non-thermophilic Crenarchaeota). Although the new techniques are not free from limitations, they allow the monitoring of the virtual impact of stressors on soil microorganisms and the direction of resuscitation of the microbial community during natural or induced bioremediation, especially when using combined approaches.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1985

Client well-being in drug treatment: a social ecological analysis.

A social ecological model of well-being, defined as subjective affirmation by clients regarding treatment experiences, was tested using county demographic data and responses of clients and therapeutic staff in community drug treatment programs registered in the State of Ohio. Multivariate analyses were conducted of a trilogy of variable constellations [Client Background, Therapeutic Proficiency, and Community Development] in relation to Client Well-Being. Findings upheld the origins of well-being in social environments and supported an evaluative focus on client experience in human service organizations.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1989

Diversity patterns in helminth communities in common gulls, Larus canus.

The parameters of species richness, abundance and diversity of the intestinal helminth infracommunities of a sample of 269 Common gulls, Larus canus, were examined over one season at Agdenes, Norway. The communities developed rapidly in unfledged gulls and the diversity parameters were of similar magnitude in immature and adult birds. All parameters were low in the early part of the season, reached maxima in June or July and fluctuated erratically or declined thereafter. Comparison of summary parameters with those from other species of gulls indicated that helminth community diversity in Common gulls is fairly typical of gulls in general. in gulls as a group, helminth communities show common features of high species richness, low abundance, few or no core species and a number of species that occur rarely and in low numbers. Expectations of particularly high parasite community diversity were not fully realised because species lists and diversity of the component community are not a very good basis for predicting diversity at the infracommunity level.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Peer sex education training and evaluation.

Human sexuality has been recognized as an important developmental, emotional, and medical concern on the college campus. The Peer Sex Education Program at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst has been developed as a model for the use of trained students in an educational, referral, and counseling role. This paper describes the program and outlines the methodology used in the documentation and evaluation of various program aspects. Aspects described include the program's rationale and background, the recruiting process, roles and responsibilities, training and supervision models, community development, and delivery of service. Categories of documentation and evaluation considered include effort, performance, adequacy of performance, efficiency, and process. These are related to consumer acceptance and satisfaction, outcome measures of knowledge, attitude, and behavior, effectiveness of referral and other functions, and effect of program on the peer educators' growth and development. The allocation of energy and resources between program development, service delivery and evaluation needs is highlighted.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Field transfer of periphytic diatom communities to assess short-term structural effects of metals (Cd, Zn) in rivers.

Short-term effects of metal pollution were assessed by transferring periphytic diatom communities developed on artificial substrates from a reference site to a site polluted by heavy metals (around 15 microg Cd L(-1) and 800 microg Zn L(-1)), located in neighbouring streams. Metal sensitivity of mature assemblages (aged 1 month) was evaluated by studying changes in diatom density and taxonomic composition 2 and 4 weeks after the transfer. Resident communities of both sites were simultaneously collected on similar artificial substrates, in order to compare short-term effects of metals within transferred communities with long-term effects observed at the polluted site. Field transfer induced a marked shift of community structure towards that of the resident community of the polluted site: diatom density rapidly decreased after the transfer, from 35,000+/-4000 to 15,000+/-300 cells cm(-2) after 2 weeks, and taxonomic composition changed. Relative abundances of species characteristic of the reference site rapidly decreased, e.g. Nitzschia dissipata and Gomphoneis minuta, whereas species characteristic of the polluted site progressively increased within transferred communities, e.g. Gomphonema parvulum, Pinnularia sp. or Fragilaria crotonensis. The structure of periphytic diatom communities could therefore be an indicator of metal pollution, with marked taxonomic changes being identified within reference assemblages after only 2 weeks under relatively low metal exposure.

Biomarkers↗
PubMed1999

Identifying approaches to meet assessed needs in health visiting.

An action research project, based in a single fundholding practice on the south coast of England, aimed to identify the health needs of families with resident children, then use the contracting system to redirect health visiting services to meet those needs. After assessing the health needs, it was necessary to assess the potential of a range of health visiting approaches that might be proposed to meet those needs. This paper explains how the approaches were assessed for use in the local area and why funding for two additional, innovative posts was deemed necessary. Despite the unsophisticated evidence base for health visiting interventions, a case can be made for commissioning particular service approaches by using a combination of survey data and results from controlled and uncontrolled service evaluations. The supportive focus of health visitor home visiting remains an appropriate use of existing resources, but the usual intensity of visiting may be insufficient for full effectiveness. To rationalize such services by targeting them only at individuals with established needs risks an exacerbation of deteriorating health trends across an area. Alternatively, augmenting home visiting with a community development approach to improve the adverse social environments in which families live may help to change the underlying factors that contribute to ill-health and prove more widely cost-effective.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Mental health consultations in the preschool daycare center.

This article explores some of the challenges to children's emotional and social development inherent in the all-day childcare programs for children aged 3 to 5 years. The psychoanalytically oriented child development community has offered ongoing assistance, information, and support to teachers, parents, and children in preschools and preschool daycare sites in a number of communities across the country. The process and results of a long-term preschool daycare consultation are presented.

Child Day Care Centers↗
PubMed2001

Canine distemper infections, with special reference to South Africa, with a review of the literature.

Canine distemper virus is a member of the genus Morbillivirus of the family Paramyxoviridae that causes severe disease in dogs and a range of wild mammals. The clinical signs relate essentially to the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems. In South Africa, infection with Ehrlichia canis and canine parvovirus may present similarly Many dogs will initially present with a wide range of central nervous system signs without any history of systemic disease. A recent South African study evaluating ante mortem diagnosis highlighted the importance of recognising clinical signs, cerebrospinal fluid IgG titres, serum IgM titres and immunocytochemistry of epithelial tissue. A 2-year retrospective evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid samples collected from dogs presented to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital indicates that distemper infection is common, and this disease should routinely be suspected in cases of diverse neurological disease in dogs. The South African dog population is specifically at high risk for the disease because of the large pool of unvaccinated, reproductively-active dogs that expose the wildlife resources of the country to risk of fatal disease. Outbreaks of disease in dogs continue to occur in developed and developing communities in both vaccinated and unvaccinated dogs worldwide, and have also been described in a wide range of free-ranging wildlife, including seals, dolphins and lions, and in endangered zoo animals. Modified live virus vaccines have contributed markedly to disease control in the dog population but have caused mortality in some wild carnivores. New recombinant vaccines are being developed that will be safe in wild animals. The pathogenesis of CNS demyelination has been compared to various important demyelinating diseases in humans and, amongst other things, relates to down-regulation of the oligodendrocyte gene coding for myelin synthesis and non-immunocyte CNS cell expression of type II major histocompatibility receptors. Early CNS lesions are characterised by demyelination and later lesions by perivascular round cell cuffing. Treatment is supportive.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Hay Bilharzia!, by Klock, Ildefonso, and Mateo-Serrano: medical images of poverty and development in Puerto Rico in the 1950s.

From 1940 to 1970 Puerto Rico underwent a dramatic change in its economic, social, political, and medical characteristics. Schistosomiasis (known locally as bilharzia) persisted throughout this period as a nearly intractable problem. In 1954, staff from the Puerto Rico Department of Health, and the Puerto Rico Field Station of the U.S. Communicable Disease Center (now San Juan Laboratories, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) created a set of black and white 35 mm slides as a tool for community education. The presentation, titled "Hay Bilharzia!" ("There is schistosomiasis here!") is organized in four major sections (Introduction, Disease Cycle, Disease Prevention, Treatment). Each section consists of two to four sub-themes, with three to eight slides each. The slides were used extensively in public schools and community lectures. This set of slides is worthy of preservation as evidence of the bilharzia control efforts and the dismal living conditions widely prevalent in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. It is also an example of the educational programs that were produced at the time to stimulate community development and health.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Promoting social health in northern Saskatchewan.

In response to concern about social health problems in Northern Saskatchewan, a Working Group on Social Health was established in 1989 in the Research and Development Committee of Northern Medical Services. The Group formulated a concept of mental health in social terms; found and interpreted indicators of the extent of social health problems; identified major determinants of social health problems, barriers to effective coping and problems in providing adequate support and services; and identified strategies and program models that could be more effective in promoting social health in this region. Indicators of problems and underlying determinants are discussed, along with strategies for change. These strategies are based on a community development model, and incorporate innovation and reaffirmation of values and ways that have traditionally given people strength.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The CEFP. Implications for public health education and training.

The 300-year history of the American academy outlines many of the contemporary pressures that are shaping the modern university. Faculty members need to balance the expectations of teaching, research, and service to amass a dossier that will lead to tenure. The academy needs to offer curricula that prepare graduates to enter the work force. Administrators need to encourage strong community ties to convince benefactors to invest in the renovation and expansion of university facilities. These pressures are especially acute in academic public health. The public health research agenda has extended from the study of infectious disease into behavioral risk and chronic disease. Schools of public health struggle to link curriculum, research, and service that will educate students, advance scholarship, and develop community interaction for the prevention of disease and the promotion of health. The Collaborative Evaluation Fellows Project provides a mechanism for the convergence and resolution of these pressures facing schools of public health.

Fellowships and Scholarships↗
PubMed1999

The ergonomics of virtual reality: human factors in developing clinical-oriented virtual environments.

Virtual Reality (VR) is usually described as a collection of technological hardware: a computer capable of 3D real-time animation, a head-mounted display, data gloves equipped with one or more position trackers. However, this focus on technology is disappointing for clinicians interested in developing virtual environments to be used in assessment and therapy. To overcome this limitation this chapter describes VR as an advanced communication tool: a communication medium in the case of multi-user VR and a communication interface in single-user VR. Two are the core characteristics of VR as communication tool: the perceptual illusion of nonmediation and the sense of community. The first characteristic of a satisfying virtual environment is the disappearance of mediation, a level of experience where both the VR system and the physical environment disappear from the user's phenomenal awareness. The second characteristic is the sense of community developed by interaction. Through interaction made possible by multi-user VR, individuals find or form groups that share interests. So, information exchange becomes the carrier for expressing self-concept and eliciting emotional support. Within this view, experiencing presence and telepresence does not depend so much on the faithfulness of the reproduction of 'physical' aspects of 'external reality'--which is also a social production, and not a primitive or 'natural' fact--as on the capacity of simulation to produce a context in which social actors may communicate and cooperate. The consequences of this approach for the design and the development of clinical oriented VR systems are presented, together with the methodological and technical implications for the study of advanced human-computer interaction.

Equipment Design↗
PubMed2004

[Integration of district psychiatric hospitals into the development of regional community psychiatry networks--the actual state. Results of a survey among medical directors of Bavarian district hospitals].

In this study, the medical directors of all Bavarian district psychiatric hospitals evaluated certain aspects of the integration of their hospitals into the development of regional community psychiatry networks ("Gemeindepsychiatrische Verbunde" - GPVs). They were asked to rate the actual quantity of cooperation between their hospitals and diverse community based services and to express their requests concerning the quality of cooperation. An estimation of possible advantages of the hospitals' integration in GPVs and expectations to future perspectives of GPV development were also investigated. The data were collected by a written questionnaire. The results of the survey indicate that a high relevance is attached to GPV: inspite of current heterogenous developments and inspite of existing skepticism concerning the feasibility of a complete GPV structure, medical directors strongly approve of seeing their hospitals actively engaged in the further development of community psychiatry networks.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1989

Perspectives of people with learning difficulties on relocation and community care.

Steady progress is being made in the UK in the deinstitutionalisation of services for people with learning difficulties. Growing numbers are moving out of long-stay hospitals and hostels into less restrictive settings. But so far little is know about how they respond to the way these policies are changing their lives. This paper presents the views of movers who were interviewed using an innovative 'visual game' technique as they went through the process of relocation. Based on findings from a longitudinal research evaluation of a local community care programme, the paper describes the methods used and discusses the choices and preferences of the movers. The implications for policymakers are clear. People with learning difficulties can make perfectly sensible, consistent and illuminating comments on their experiences, and favour options and environments that maximise their independence. The evidence from this study suggests that the policy of relocating people from hospitals and developing community alternatives to institutional living is entirely in keeping with the wishes of the users themselves.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1999

Locating the feminist scholar: relational empowerment and social activism.

Over the past decade, the rhetoric of "empowerment" has permeated the health promotion, education, and social welfare literature. Many scholars and professionals, particularly those active in the field of social intervention and community development, have found themselves struggling for location in the emancipatory process. This struggle often is characterized by a profound self-consciousness of privilege and the fear of being perceived as imposing and manipulative. This article explores the tensions inherent in the role of the scholar/activist using illustrations from the author's experience as principal investigator of the Atlantic Regional Evaluation of the Community Action Program for Children. In so doing, it discusses the importance of a relational approach to empowerment, one characterized by mutuality. A commitment to mutuality is seen as a key factor in enhancing the emancipatory capacities of empowerment-based research projects.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Feather of Hope Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society: a community approach to HIV/AIDS prevention.

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a complex and challenging issue for Aboriginal people in Canada. There is a need for HIV/AIDS prevention programs that address the specific needs of Canadian Aboriginal communities in a culturally accepted manner. The Feather of Hope Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society provides culturally sensitive HIV prevention programs to Aboriginal communities in Alberta. The community development approach used by the Society emphasizes empowerment at the individual and group level. This approach is congruent with the shift to self-determination by Aboriginal people throughout Canada.

Alberta↗
PubMed1998

A profile of six community-based HIV prevention programs targeting Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Based on a framework (i.e., research and evaluation, prevention and services, and advocacy and policy), the goal of this article is to profile six community-based HIV prevention programs targeting Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Americans, especially among men who have sex with men. These six programs were chosen based on one or more of the following three criteria: (a) epidemiological profiles of AIDS cases among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, (b) ethnic diversity, and (b) community development among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in the fight against HIV. The six programs are (a) the Kokua Kalih Valley Health Center, Honolulu; (b) the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, San Francisco; (c) the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Los Angeles; (d) the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV and AIDS, New York City; (e) the AIDS Services in Asian Communities, Philadelphia; and (f) the Massachusetts Asian AIDS Prevention Project, Boston. The present analysis reveals that five programs have their roots in the gay or bisexual communities. Two programs have existed for about 3 years (the epidemic is going into its 17th year). Major financial support for the six programs are federal, state, or county sources; private support is generally minimal. All six programs offer a wide range of culturally competent and linguistically appropriate prevention activities and services (including two national projects) targeting a diverse API population. However, gaps in services exist in the younger programs. In addition to a paucity of epidemiological, surveillance, and empirical data, most reported that barriers fall into one or two interrelated categories: (a) structural (e.g., lack of governmental or private funding) or (b) cultural (e.g., denial of risk, homophobia, fear of confidentiality). These findings suggest that HIV prevention activities and services for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans should be based on empirical and cultural data, and that API Americans should become more actively involved in social and political activities. Asian and Pacific Islander American agencies are challenged to integrate HIV with other health and social issues pertinent to the communities.

Asian↗