Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Community Health Workers (community + health_worker)
Selected AbstractsRole of Community Health Workers in Dementia Case FindingJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 10 2005Gwen Yeo PhD No abstract is available for this article. [source] Outcome Effectiveness of Community Health Workers: An Integrative Literature ReviewPUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2002Susan M. Swider Ph.D. Community health workers (CHWs) are promoted as a mechanism to increase community involvement in health promotion efforts, despite little consensus about the role and its effectiveness. This article reviews the databased literature on CHW effectiveness, which indicates preliminary support for CHWs in increasing access to care, particularly in underserved populations. There are a smaller number of studies documenting outcomes in the areas of increased health knowledge, improved health status outcomes, and behavioral changes, with inconclusive results. Although CHWs show some promise as an intervention, the role can be doomed by overly high expectations, lack of a clear focus, and lack of documentation. Further research is required with an emphasis on stronger study design, documentation of CHW activities, and carefully defined target populations. [source] Rural hospital generalist and emergency medicine training in Papua New GuineaEMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 2 2007David Symmons Abstract The present paper describes the role of the hospital generalist in rural Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the contribution of emergency medicine training to that practice. Generalist practice in Tinsley District Hospital in Western Highlands Province is described, with emphasis on emergency surgery and anaesthesia. The potential of the PNG emergency medicine training programme for preparing generalists is discussed. Tinsley Hospital served a population of 40 000 people, with 4000 admissions and 300,400 operations performed annually. Two doctors and 50 nurses and community health workers provided care with minimal resources. The doctors provided supervision and teaching for nurses, community health workers, hospital administrators and primary health carers, including on long range medical patrols. Over 16 months, doctors performed 243 emergency surgical procedures including orthopaedics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology. The generalist in rural hospitals is required to perform a wide variety of medical tasks in isolated settings yet there is no active postgraduate training programme. The Master of Medicine, Emergency Medicine programme includes rotations through the major disciplines of surgery, anaesthesia, internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology. It has the potential to train doctors in PNG for a generalist role as graduates will learn the foundations of the required skills. [source] Support for teenage mothers: a qualitative study into the views of women about the support they received as teenage mothersJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 1 2001Ank De Jonge MSc HBOV RM RGNArticle first published online: 7 JUL 200 Support for teenage mothers: a qualitative study into the views of women about the support they received as teenage mothers Aim of the study.,To gain insight into the support teenage mothers received during pregnancy, birth and their child's pre-school years and young women's perceptions of the usefulness of a support group for teenage mothers. Background.,Most qualitative studies have focused on teenage mothers around the time of the birth of their first child. For this study, women were recruited several years after the birth (median 8·5 years), so that they would have had time to reflect on the support they had received. Design.,The qualitative method of semi-structured interviews was chosen to obtain in-depth information and to allow teenage mothers' own views to be heard. Ten individual interviews and one paired interview were undertaken. Findings.,Recruitment was difficult because taking part in research was not a priority for many of the women. The study confirmed the strong link between deprivation and teenage pregnancy found in other studies, and suggested that mental health problems in teenage mothers may be more difficult to detect. Teenage women need more information on mental health and on services available to them. The fear, expressed by some of the women in this study, of becoming different from other women in their social network should be considered by health workers when establishing intervention programmes. Conclusions.,Professional bodies of health workers should lobby government to provide a minimum standard of living and sufficient child-care to combat deprivation. Former teenage mothers should be involved in the recruitment, planning and implementation stages of research and interventions. Health professionals should be aware that mental health problems in teenage mothers may be particularly difficult to detect. Key community health workers or a support group may provide information on services, mental health and education facilities available that would benefit teenage mothers. A support group may also give emotional support. [source] Preferences for Perinatal Health Communication of Women in Rural TibetJOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 1 2009Phuoc V. Le ABSTRACT Objective: To describe the most acceptable methods for educating women in Medrogongkar County, Tibet, about healthy pregnancy and safe motherhood. Design: Focus group discussions with key informants were used to develop a quantitative, orally administered random sample survey. Setting: Thirty-two randomly selected villages in Medrogongkar County. Participants: One hundred and forty-eight multigravida over the age of 18 living in Medrogongkar County. Results: Most participants reported receiving pregnancy-related information either from family members (n=85, 57.4%) or from community health workers (n=81, 54.7%), while very few reported group teaching or radio/television/videos as sources. When asked what modalities of health communication are most effective for them, participants preferred discussions with family members (n=59, 39.8%), specifically their mothers (n=34, 23.0%). Community health worker teaching (n=15, 10.1%) or group teaching (n=7, 4.7%) were reported as less effective. Conclusions: Despite recent efforts in Tibet to use group teaching, television/radio programs, and health professionals visiting patients' homes as health communication modalities, participants preferred to learn pregnancy-related health messages from their close family, especially their mothers. Future health communication interventions in rural Tibet and similar communities should consider targeting close family members as well as pregnant women to maximize acceptability of advice on healthy pregnancy and delivery. [source] Scope of practice of occupational therapists working in Victorian community health settingsAUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Lynne Quick Background/aim:,Current health policy places emphasis on community-based health care and it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of people receiving care in community settings. This study aimed to examine the profile and scope of practice of occupational therapists working in Victorian community health settings and the amount and type of health promotion activity incorporated into their role. Method:,An anonymous postal questionnaire was sent to 205 community-based Victorian occupational therapists. One hundred and one (49.3% response rate) questionnaires were returned, with 72 respondents (35.1%) meeting study inclusion criteria. A descriptive research design was used to address study aims. Results:,Results indicate that the majority of community health occupational therapists are experienced practitioners, have a varied scope of practice and report a high level of job satisfaction. Compared with previous studies, there is an increase in new graduate occupational therapists starting their career in community health settings, a greater number of part-time workers and a diversification of clinical and non-clinical roles. Barriers to practice that exist include high demand for service, limited funding and time spent on administrative tasks. Although health promotion was regarded as an important role of community health workers, a large number of therapists were not involved in this activity because of limited knowledge and clinical work taking priority. Conclusion:,Study findings have implications for occupational therapy training, and there is a clear need for input at policy level to address the significant resource allocation issues raised. [source] | ||||||||||