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The meaning of community involvement in health: the perspective of primary health care communities.

The goal of this study was to establish the understanding and appreciation of the essence of PHC principles in the two Primary Health Care (PHC) communities. The PHC communities in this study referred to the people who were involved in the operation of the phenomenon, that is health professionals working in the health care centers and the communities served by these health care centers. It was hoped that the study would enhance the understanding of the importance of community involvement in health (CIH) in health care delivery, for both community members and health professionals. A case study method was used to conduct the study. Two community health centers in the Ethekwini health district, in Kwa Zulu Natal, were studied. One health center was urban based, the other was rural based. A sample of 31 participants participated in the study. The sample comprised of 8 registered nurses, 2 enrolled nurses, 13 community members and 8 community health workers. Data was collected using individual interviews and focus groups, and was guided by the case study protocol. The findings of the study revealed that in both communities, participants had different, albeit complementary, understanding of the term 'Community Involvement in Health' (CIH). Essentially, for these participants, CIH meant collaboration, co-operation and involvement in decision-making.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Performing public health functions: the perceived contribution of public health and other community agencies.

As public health struggles to define its role within health care reform, the need to examine carefully the component organizations providing and/or supporting health care for the public appears critical. This article identifies the nature and extent of involvement by agencies other than the official local public health department in performing public health practices and functions within 63 local public health jurisdictions. Adequacy of overall public health performance is significantly related to the extent of participation of outside agencies. Outside agencies contribute over 26 percent to the total public health performance for the jurisdictions surveyed. Other agencies of government, both at the state and local level, are the predominant outside contributors to public health practice. Private and voluntary agencies are perceived as minor contributors. Little variation exists among communities in which outside agencies tend to perform particular public health activities. Findings suggest that local public health departments can maximize their impact by understanding better the nature of working relationships within multi-institutional arrangements, encouraging greater levels of collaboration and integration and acting as catalysts for increased support of public health activities.

Community Health Centers↗

School based youth health nurses' role in assisting young people access health services in provincial, rural and remote areas of Queensland, Australia.

INTRODUCTION: People living in rural and remote areas have poorer health and more limited access to health services than those in urban areas. Adolescence, generally a period of optimum health, is fraught with risky health behaviours, increasing morbidity and mortality. Increasingly, mental health problems including depression, alcohol and drug use, suicide, self-harm, sexual health, inappropriate nutrition and physical activity are key areas of adolescent health concern in Queensland, Australia. To address the health and well being needs of young people the School Based Youth Health Nurse (SBYHN) Program was introduced into State high schools in Queensland in 1998. SBYHN responsibilities include individual consultations and health promotion within the high school environment. This study was undertaken to explore the referral role of SBYHN in provincial, rural and remote Queensland and to ascertain the availability of referral services. METHOD: A self-report survey was posted to all SBYHN in Queensland. Forty-four (62%) nurses participated; 27 from provincial, 11 from rural and 6 from remote areas. RESULTS: SBYHN consult with young people in provincial, rural and remote State high schools in the areas of psychological concerns, drug and alcohol concerns and/or abuse, family conflict and/or abuse, sexual and reproductive health, social and isolation concerns and nutritional advice. However, the frequency with which SBYHN reported themselves as an appropriate source for young people to seek assistance from varied from over 90% for areas such as sexual and nutritional advice to approximately 30% for areas such as physical abuse and drug and alcohol abuse. When required by the SBYHN, referral services were locally accessible to young people less than 50% of the time. Access to some referral services was reduced because some young people do not want parental involvement in their health and the service requires parental consent. When referral services were unavailable SBYHN used phone counselling, available generalists, supported and monitored the young people until a service was available, or they accepted this as an aspect of residing outside the metropolitan areas and did the best they could. Sometimes, when a young person was reluctant to attend a recommended service or there was a long wait for an appointment, SBYHN provided ongoing support while endeavouring to persuade attendance at the recommended service. Situations like these, experienced by at least half those studied, place SBYHN in the precarious position of practicing beyond their scope of practice. CONCLUSIONS: Health problems during adolescence can be reduced by ensuring assistance and support are available for young people when and if they require it. Thorough confidential individual consultations are provided by SBYHN and young people are availing themselves of this service. SBYHN are practicing at an advanced level and need to be recognised as such. Additionally, the availability of services in rural and remote regions needs consideration. As rural youth are more vulnerable to a number of health concerns, it is imperative that services are available for them. The issue of parental consent remains a barrier to young people seeking health services and it may be timely for community debate on this issue.

Journal Article↗

Oral health in women during preconception and pregnancy: implications for birth outcomes and infant oral health.

The mouth is an obvious portal of entry to the body, and oral health reflects and influences general health and well being. Maternal oral health has significant implications for birth outcomes and infant oral health. Maternal periodontal disease, that is, a chronic infection of the gingiva and supporting tooth structures, has been associated with preterm birth, development of preeclampsia, and delivery of a small-for-gestational age infant. Maternal oral flora is transmitted to the newborn infant, and increased cariogenic flora in the mother predisposes the infant to the development of caries. It is intriguing to consider preconception, pregnancy, or intrapartum treatment of oral health conditions as a mechanism to improve women's oral and general health, pregnancy outcomes, and their children's dental health. However, given the relationship between oral health and general health, oral health care should be a goal in its own right for all individuals. Regardless of the potential for improved oral health to improve pregnancy outcomes, public policies that support comprehensive dental services for vulnerable women of childbearing age should be expanded so that their own oral and general health is safeguarded and their children's risk of caries is reduced. Oral health promotion should include education of women and their health care providers ways to prevent oral disease from occurring, and referral for dental services when disease is present.

Dental Caries↗

Social inequalities in health care services utilisation after eight years of health care reforms: a cross-sectional study of Estonia, 1999.

Fundamental health care reforms in Estonia started in 1991 with the introduction of a social health insurance system. While increasing the efficiency of the health care system was one of the targets of the health care reforms, equity issues have received relatively less attention. The objective of this study is to provide an overview of social inequalities in health care utilisation in Estonia in 1999, after 8 years of large-scale reforms. Data were obtained from a nationally representative household interview survey including 3990 respondents aged 25-74 years. Health care utilisation was measured by the telephone consultations, visits to the general practitioner, visits to the specialist, visits to the dentist, and hospitalisation. These utilisation measures were related to variables on ethnicity, place of residence, education, income and employment, by means of direct standardisation and logistic regression models. Three different regression models were applied in order to (a) describe social differences in health care utilisation, (b) to assess whether these differences can be explained by differences in health needs, and (c) to assess the independent effect of each social variable net of all other social variables. Substantial inequalities were observed for all types of health care services and according to most social dimensions. Residents of rural areas were more likely to visit a general practitioner or to use telephone consultation, but less often used outpatient specialist care or dentist care. Ethnic differences were generally smaller, with no consistently higher use by either Russians or ethnic Estonians. Large differences were observed in relation to socio-economic status (education, income, or employment), with a more favourable socio-economic status being associated with higher probability to use health care services, especially after controlling for health needs. In case of hospitalisation, however, no notable social inequalities were found. These findings suggest that important geographic, financial and information barriers to health care utilisation exist after almost one decade of health care reforms in Estonia. Further health care reforms should aim to lessen or even remove these barriers.

Adult↗

Social causation, health-selective mobility, and the reproduction of socioeconomic health inequalities over time: panel study of adult men.

This study examines how socioeconomic inequalities in perceived health were reproduced as a cohort of adult men became 10 years older, and focuses especially on the role of social causation and health-selective mobility. A two-wave panel data set collected by the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), Norway, is used, and the study is based on a sample of 9189 men aged 25-49 at baseline. Systematic socioeconomic inequalities in perceived health were observed both at baseline and 10 years later when the sample was aged 35-59. Measured as age-adjusted percentage differences, inequalities in perceived health widened during the study period, both among those who were continuously employed and between the employed and non-employed. The pattern of health inequalities was transformed as a result of numerous changes in perceived health and considerable social mobility during the study period. Compared to higher white collar, changes in perceived health during the study period were more negative among medium-level and manual occupations, and even more negative among the non-employed. Mobility between occupational classes among those employed at both observation points was not selective for health, but transitions into and out of employment were strongly health-selective. It is argued that the transformation of the health inequality pattern among those continuously employed was solely due to social causation, i.e., to more negative changes in perceived health among medium/manual occupations than among the white collar. The wider difference in perceived health between the employed and non-employed was, however, primarily a result of health-selective mobility into and out of the non-employed category.

Adult↗

Health and social factors for health visitor caseload weighting: reliability, accuracy and current and potential use.

The reliability and validity of data collection and recording for a health visitor caseload weighting system operating in a large combined acute and community trust in Bristol was examined. Client families were recruited from all participating (service) health visitors and were interviewed by a research health visitor attached to the project. The presence or absence of 28 health needs factors, selected for their known impact on health in the longer term, was subsequently compared with the service health visitor's own caseload records and with the computer record derived from them. Substantial differences were determined in the records obtained between the service and research health visitors and between the written and computerised records. Whilst the mean total score recorded for each family by the service health visitor was 2.0, the average of the differences in the total number of health factors recorded by the service and research health visitors was 1.9. Discrepancies were mostly associated with differences in interpretation of definitions, knowledge of recent events, changing circumstances and issues of confidentiality. Health factors at particular risk of being misinterpreted and those associated with other health factors were identified in order to propose a reduced factor set with greater inherent reliability and validity. At the level of the ward, the caseload weighting score, as currently defined, is highly correlated with standard deprivation indices in widespread common use. The results of this study indicate the need for users of the caseload weighting data to decide on the primary function of this data set - area-based community profiling or identification of at-risk client families in the community. This decision will inform further efforts to identify the most useful factors, tighten definitions, streamline data collection and train health visitors in their use. Interpretation of data will be facilitated by a scientifically developed scoring system. This work will assist trusts, both locally and nationally, in rationalising their allocation of health visiting activities to areas of greatest need.

Community Health Nursing↗

Health education, behavioural change and social psychology: nursing's contribution to health promotion?

AIMS: To critically review the complex processes that underpin the modification of a client's health-related behaviour. This paper also seeks to contextualize the operational differences between health-educating and health-promoting activities - as a means of rationalizing current practice. BACKGROUND: In "health promotional" encounters, there is a plethora of evidence that suggests that nurses work predominantly within a "traditional" preventative framework of practice. The prevalence of a culturally inherent biomedical framework, governing most nursing practice, tends to reduce health-related client interventions to little more than one-off, reductionist information-giving exercises. The expectation on clients to respond to and subsequently modify their health behaviour, when presented with such information, is unrealistic in most cases. Nurses are often unaware of the extremely complex human phenomena associated with modifying health-related behaviours and the resultant change processes. In nursing-related health encounters, the planned or unplanned intervention and the subsequent outcomes are mostly viewed within a too simplistic and superficial context. DESIGN: A selective review of the relevant literature. CONCLUSION: Where many nurses believe themselves to be health promotionalists, the likelihood is that they are instead more likely to be traditional health educationalists. Not that this is the main problem, in itself--but if nursing is to progress on this issue, it must first become more effective in delivering its current health education initiatives. Armed with further knowledge and understanding of their practices, health educators are far more likely to achieve a degree of success in their behavioural-change encounters as well as approach the intervention with a far more realistic expectation of outcome. Without this further understanding, it is argued that the integration of health educational initiatives into nursing practice will generally do little or nothing to change the health status of clients.

Culture↗

Perceptions of the concept of health among patients in mental health nursing.

Health has been a central concept in nursing science since the 18th century but the holistic concept of health that includes both the body and the soul, still has to be clarified. The concept of health is often unclear and represents an unreachable ideal state that can be hard to use as a realistic goal in nursing care. The aim of this study was to describe how the patient perceives the concept of health in mental health nursing. Twelve patients with experience of mental health nursing were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach. The patients described nine different perceptions that were divided into three descriptive categories: autonomy, meaningfulness, and community. All of these are important to achieve health. There is ambiguity about the possibility to influence the concept of health. Health is described, on the one, hand as a prerequisite to experiencing freedom and finding meaning in life and, on the other hand, it is believed that the search for meaning and the courage to fight and try in spite of the disease is what leads to health. The patients' descriptions are mostly about things that they need in the present time to achieve health, but health as a process with growth and potential for development does not appear that clearly. One conclusion is that mental health nursing must deliver a more process-focused nursing care where the concept of health is visibly used as a goal for all nursing interventions.

Adult↗

Occupational class inequalities across key domains of health: results from the Helsinki Health Study.

BACKGROUND: Studies comparing socioeconomic inequalities in health using several health indicators are scarce. Therefore, this study aims to compare the shape and magnitude of occupational class inequalities across key domains of health, i.e. the subjective, functional and medical domains. Additionally, we examine whether physical or mental workload will affect these inequalities, and whether these effects are specific to particular health indicators. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey data from the Helsinki Health Study in 2000 and 2001 were used. Each year employees of the City of Helsinki, reaching 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 years received a mailed questionnaire. 6243 employees responded (80% women, response rate 68%). The socioeconomic indicator was occupational social class. Nine health indicators were included: self-rated health, pain or ache, GHQ-12 mental well-being, limiting long-standing illness, SF-36 physical and mental health functioning, Rose angina symptoms, circulatory diseases and mental problems. Prevalence percentages, odds ratios and inequality indices from logistic regression analysis were calculated. RESULTS: Occupational class inequalities were found for self-rated health, pain or ache, limiting long-standing illness, physical health functioning, angina symptoms, and circulatory diseases. Physical or mental workload did not account for these inequalities. Inequalities were non-existent or slightly reversed for GHQ-12 mental well-being, SF-36 mental health functioning and mental problems. CONCLUSION: Expected occupational class inequalities in health among both women and men were found for global and physical health but not for mental health. The observed inequalities could not be attributed to physical or mental workload.

Adult↗

Health policy and mental health.

Health policy can be described as policy directed at the determinants of health, i.e. biological and environmental factors, lifestyle and the health care system. This type of policy now has become a policy objective in an increasing number of countries. In this article mental health is placed in the broad context of this policy. The central question is: can the mental health field grasp the opportunity of a growing interest in prevention and health promotion in general, as major objectives of health policy? Or will it stay more or less isolated from the mainstream of current developments? Answering this question means looking at the conditions of health policy. For health policy it is required that a definition be given of health problems and "causing" conditions. There should further be available intervention possibilities of a preventive and intersectoral character and also preventive strategies. It is stated that there is enough standardized information on mental health problems and experience with community-based research to let mental health participate in drawing up a community diagnosis. It also appears possible to construct an ecological health status model for mental health. Research on the factors in this model shows a shift in focus from risk populations to risk situations, e.g. unemployment, industrial disability, divorce and isolation. Further it is recognized that the search for causal factors is substituted by that for precipitating factors. Social-demographic factors, taken alone, are not precipitating factors. What matters is the combination of an underdeveloped coping mechanism, little social support, and prolonged stressful conditions or sudden stressful events.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Europe↗

Removing the health domain from the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004-effect on measured inequalities in census measure of health.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2004 is a summary measure of area-level deprivation in England that combines weighted scores in seven deprivation domains. IMD 2004 is used extensively by local public health departments and researchers to describe and monitor socioeconomic inequalities in health. However, the inclusion of a health domain in IMD 2004 leads to the possibility of 'mathematical coupling' where a relationship between IMD 2004 and markers of health is predicated by the inclusion of health in IMD 2004-effectively placing measures of health on both sides of the correlation equation. We explored the effect of removing the health domain from IMD 2004 on assignment of small areas to deprivation groups and measured inequalities in health. There was excellent agreement between the deprivation quintiles that small areas were assigned to by IMD 2004 and IMD 2004-minus-health (kappa = 0.895). Removing the health domain had little, practical, effect on measured socioeconomic inequalities in census measures of health. These findings may not hold for other measures of health, and in the context of socioeconomic inequalities in health, removing the health domain from IMD 2004 probably represents best practice.

Censuses↗

Preparing health professions students for terrorism, disaster, and public health emergencies: core competencies.

The recent increased threat of terrorism, coupled with the ever-present dangers posed by natural disasters and public health emergencies, clearly support the need to incorporate bioterrorism preparedness and emergency response material into the curricula of every health professions school in the nation. A main barrier to health care preparedness in this country is a lack of coordination across the spectrum of public health and health care communities and disciplines. Ensuring a unified and coordinated approach to preparedness requires that benchmarks and standards be consistent across health care disciplines and public health, with the most basic level being education of health professions students. Educational competencies establish the foundation that enables graduates to meet occupational competencies. However, educational needs for students differ from the needs of practitioners. In addition, there must be a clear connection between departments of public health and all other health care entities to ensure proper preparedness. The authors describe both a process and a list of core competencies for teaching emergency preparedness to students in the health care professions, developed in 2003 and 2004 by a team of experts from the four health professions schools of Columbia University in New York City. These competencies are directly applicable to medical, dental, nursing, and public health students. They can also easily be adapted to other health care disciplines, so long as differences in levels of proficiency and the need for clinical competency are taken into consideration.

Allied Health Personnel↗

The impact of concept of health on health behavior.

Although previous studies have examined selected factors influencing health behavior, the complex interplay of the concept of health and health behavior in persons with chronic illness has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the individual effects of six factors in the concept of health on the health behavior of Taiwanese people with chronic illness. A sample of 372 persons with chronic illness completed instruments measuring their concept of health and health behavior. Six proposed models were assessed using the maximum likelihood estimation, which is implemented by LISREL 8.3. The overall fit of the models tested in this study lends support to the assertion that the factors of the concept of health affect health behavior. Zest for life, serenity and meaning were the strongly affecting factors. These factors each accounted for 34-43% of the variance in health behavior. The results of this study support the notion that the health behavior of people with chronic illness can be predicted by their concept of health. Further research using a longitudinal design is needed to clarify the causal relationship between the concept of health and health behavior in Taiwanese people with chronic illness.

Adult↗

The value of community health nursing: a phenomenological study of the perceptions of community health nurses.

This study explores and describes the value of community health nursing from the perspective of community health nurses. The phenomenological method as defined by Colaizzi (1978) guided this exploration. Eleven community health nurses from the health department of a large urban center were interviewed for the study. The data revealed five major themes: 1) the value of activities in community health nursing; 2) the value of the purposes of community health nursing; 3) the value of prerequisites for community health nursing; 4) the value of the visibility of community health nursing; and 5) the value of community health nursing as the way to the future in health care. The findings of this study are particularly important in light of recent government interest in community health. However, if community health nurses are to capitalize upon this window of opportunity, they must clearly and forcefully articulate and make visible their value. Further research, particularly from a qualitative perspectives, could help to advance this field of practice. Research that articulates the value of community health nursing in various settings and from the perspectives of various nurses, clients, and colleagues could also clarify and promote the collective and individual value of community health nursing.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Health related quality of life and health status in adult survivors with previously operated complex congenital heart disease.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of previously operated complex congenital heart disease on health related quality of life and subjective health status and to determine the relation between these parameters and physical status. DESIGN: Cross sectional; information on medical follow up was sought retrospectively. SETTING: Patients were randomly selected from the archives of the paediatric cardiology department, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, and approached irrespective of current cardiac care or hospital of follow up. PATIENTS: Seventy eight patients with previously operated complex congenital heart disease (now aged 18-32 years) were compared with the general population. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Health related quality of life was determined with a specifically developed questionnaire (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research Academic Medical Centre (TNO-AZL) adult quality of life (TAAQOL)) and subjective health status was assessed with the 36 item short form health survey (SF-36). Physical status was determined with the objective physical index, Somerville index, and New York Heart Association functional class. RESULTS: Health related quality of life of the patients was significantly worse than that of the general population in the dimensions gross motor functioning and vitality (p < 0.01). Correlations between health related quality of life and physical status were poor. Patients had significantly worse subjective health status than the general population in the dimensions physical functioning, role functioning physical, vitality, and general health perceptions (p < 0.01). Correlations between subjective health status and physical indices were weak. CONCLUSION: Adult survivors with previously operated complex congenital heart disease experienced limitations only in the physical dimensions of health related quality of life and subjective health status. Objectively measured medical variables were only weakly related to health related quality of life. These results indicate that, when evaluating health related quality of life, dedicated questionnaires such as the TAAQOL should be used.

Adolescent↗

Racial and ethnic differences in health care access and health outcomes for adults with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate health care access and utilization and health status and outcomes for type 2 diabetic patients according to race and ethnicity and to determine whether health status is influenced by health care access and utilization. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: National samples of Caucasians, African-Americans, and Mexican-Americans were studied in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Information on medical history and treatment of diabetes, health care access and utilization, and health status and outcomes was obtained by structured questionnaires and by clinical and laboratory assessments. RESULTS: Almost all patients in each race and ethnic group had one primary source of ambulatory medical care (92-97%), saw one physician at this source (83-92%), and had at least semiannual physician visits (83-90%). Almost all patients > or = 65 years of age had health insurance (99-100%), and for those patients < 65 years of age, Caucasians (91%) and African-Americans (89%) had higher rates of coverage than Mexican-Americans (66%). Rates of treatment with insulin or oral agents (71-78%), eye examination in the previous year (61-70%), blood pressure check in the previous 6 months (83-89%), and the proportion of hypertension that was diagnosed (84-91%) were similar for each race and ethnic group. Lower proportions of African-Americans and Mexican-Americans self-monitored their blood glucose (insulin-treated, 27 vs. 44% of Caucasians), had their cholesterol checked (62-68 vs. 81%), and had their dyslipidemia diagnosed (45 vs. 58%). African-American and Mexican-American patients had a somewhat higher proportion than Caucasian patients, with HbA1c > or = 7% (58-66 vs. 55%), blood pressure > or = 140/90 mmHg among those with diagnosed hypertension (60-65 vs. 55%), and clinical proteinuria (11-14 vs. 5%). In contrast, they had better levels of total cholesterol (> or = 240 mg/dl) (28 -30 vs. 34%) and HDL cholesterol (> or = 45 mg/dl) (46 -59 vs. 38%), and African-American and Mexican-American men were less overweight than Caucasian men (BMI > or = 30) (34-37 vs. 44%), although the opposite was true for women. LDL cholesterol levels and the proportion of patients who smoked cigarettes or were hospitalized in the past year were similar among all three groups. In logistic regression analysis, there was little evidence that levels of blood glucose, blood pressure, lipids, or albuminuria were associated with access to or utilization of health care or with socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: There are some differences by race and ethnicity in health care access and utilization and in health status and outcomes for adults with type 2 diabetes. However, the magnitude of these differences pale in comparison with the suboptimal health status of all three race and ethnic groups relative to established treatment goals. Health status does not appear to be influenced by access to health care.

Adult↗

Examining emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health as determinants of self-rated health status.

PURPOSE: To determine whether individuals' perceptions of their emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health constitute elements of their self-rated health status operationalized with a commonly employed single indicator. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data. Structural equation modeling with LISREL was used. SETTING: The Yukon Health Promotion Survey, Yukon Territory, Canada, 1993. SUBJECTS: The population-based sample was made up of 742 women and 713 men between 15 and 90 years of age; 80.3% responded. MEASURES: Self-rated health status was operationalized with the "excellent, good, fair, poor" indicator derived from the question: "In general, compared to other people your age, would you say your health is...." Social, spiritual, emotional, and physical health status were also self-rated from excellent to poor. RESULTS: The model's fit of the data was acceptable. Only physical health status significantly contributed to the variance in self-rated health status (55.1% of the variance was explained). Emotional, social, and spiritual health were found to have no effect on individuals' ratings of their health status. CONCLUSIONS: Although recent conceptualizations have broadened in much of the theoretical and political discourse about health, especially in health promotion, the self-rated health status indicator measures only physical health status.

Adaptation, Psychological↗