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Health Policy Development (health + policy_development)
Selected AbstractsDangerousness and mental health policyJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2008J. L. HEWITT rmn rgn rnt bsc (hons) pgce pgcert couns Mental health policy development in the UK has become increasingly dominated by the assumed need to prevent violence and alleviate public concerns about the dangers of the mentally ill living in the community. Risk management has become the expected focus of contemporary mental health services, and responsibility has increasingly been devolved to individual service professionals when systems fail to prevent violence. This paper analyses the development of mental health legislation and its impact on services users and mental health professionals at the micro level of service delivery. Historical precedence, media influence and public opinion are explored, and the reification of risk is questioned in practical and ethical terms. The government's newest proposals for compulsory treatment in the community are discussed in terms of practical efficacy and therapeutic impact. Dangerousness is far from being an objectively observable phenomenon arising from clinical pathology, but is a formulation of what is partially knowable through social analysis and unknowable by virtue of its situation in individual psychic motivation. Risk assessment can therefore never be completely accurate, and the solution of a ,better safe than sorry' approach to mental health policy is ethically and pragmatically flawed. [source] Knowledge and involvement of nurses regarding health policy development in ThailandNURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES, Issue 2 2010Wipada Kunaviktikul rn Abstract The purpose of this descriptive study was to explain the levels of knowledge about and involvement in national health policy development by nurses in Thailand. The study used quantitative and qualitative means to gather data about the topic from two groups of professional nurses: 2121 nurses who worked in hospitals around the country and 26 nurse leaders who were members of steering committees in nursing professional organizations. A self-administered questionnaire and an interview guide regarding knowledge and involvement in national health policy were used for collecting the data. The content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were assured. The results showed that almost two-thirds of the sample had a high level of knowledge about national health policy development but that almost three-quarters of the sample had no involvement in national health policy development. The interviews of the nurse leaders showed that some of them had been involved directly in formulating health policy but most of them thought that they had not been involved directly. The results demonstrated that it is essential that nurses understand and be actively involved in national health policy development. [source] Achieving Health Equity on a Global Scale through a Community-Based, Public Health Framework for ActionTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3 2010Laura Anderko Despite good intentions and decades of discussion addressing the need for transformative changes globally to reduce poverty and improve health equity, little progress has been made. A fundamental shift in framing the current conversation is critical to achieve "health for all," moving away from the traditional approaches that use the more narrowly focused medical model, which is intent on treating and curing disease. A public health framework for action is needed, which recognizes and confronts the complex, and often-times difficult-to-achieve social determinants of health. A restructuring of global health policy development and implementation will be ineffective unless key areas are addressed including primary education and the environment, in addition to economic considerations. A public health framework that embraces a community-based participatory approach would provide a comprehensive platform for identifying critical components that impact health, and for developing effective strategies for change. A participatory approach would encourage dialogue and problem-solving for region-specific issues among those most affected by the broader health and social justice issues, with those who create policy. [source] | ||||||||||