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Medical Policies (medical + policy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	80%

Selected Abstracts

Weight Prejudice and Medical Policy: Support for an Ambiguously Discriminatory Policy Is Influenced by Prejudice-Colored Glasses

ANALYSES OF SOCIAL ISSUES & PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 1 2009
Paula M. Brochu
This study examined the influence of affectively-based weight prejudice versus weight control beliefs on perceptions of and support for an ambiguously discriminatory medical policy: denying surgery to overweight patients. Participants read a news article describing a new policy in the United Kingdom of denying surgery to overweight patients, and reported their reactions to the policy. Results revealed that participants who scored higher on an affectively-based measure of weight prejudice that was completed 3,4 weeks before the main session were less likely to perceive the medical policy as discriminatory, more likely to agree with the policy and to support adoption of a similar policy in their own country, and recommended lower body mass index (BMI) cutoff values for denying surgery to overweight patients, whereas weight control beliefs had less of a role to play. In addition, perceptions of the policy as (non)discriminatory mediated the effects of weight prejudice on policy agreement, support, and recommended BMI cutoff. These results indicate that affective prejudice influences individuals' support for an ambiguously discriminatory medical policy, which has important implications for policy makers and researchers. [source]

Sleeping with baby: an internet-based sampling of parental experiences, choices, perceptions, and interpretations in a western industrialized context

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2007
J. J. McKenna
Abstract Mothers and infants sleeping within proximity to each other (co-sleeping) represents normal, healthy, and expectable human behaviour, especially if mothers breastfeed. Yet, western health officials generally recommend against particularly one form of co-sleeping known as bedsharing. This study explores these issues and especially highlights parental accounts of their sleep practices, interpretations, and reflections based on detailed narratives or ,ethnohistories.' The sample involves a self-selected sub-group of over 200 mostly middle-class mothers from Canada, the United States, Australia, and Great Britain. Mothers report how and why they adopted co-sleeping practices, how satisfied they are (or were) with their decisions, and what benefits they think they or their infants derived from their co-sleeping practices. Also included in the reports are a surprisingly high number of parents who think they may have saved their infant's life by bedsharing, data heretofore never reported in the literature. The formulation of medical policies, we suggest, ultimately must be informed by a full understanding of how parents actually think about and subsequently structure their infant's sleep, what their goals and expectations are, and by an awareness of the emotional factors motivating parents to choose certain sleeping arrangements over others. The results reveal that many factors coalesce, often in unique ways, under unique circumstances, family by family, to determine where babies sleep and why. We conclude that sleeping arrangements are not solely determined by medically based recommendations, but also by the method of feeding, the particular needs of a particular infant, and the needs of mothers and fathers to get more sleep. While baby sleep locations and sleep patterns change in the first year of life, nighttime sleeping arrangements almost always reflect the nature of family values and the quality of social relationships at any given time. We conclude that these factors, alongside widely known independent SIDS risk factors, must also be acknowledged and respected if we are ever to achieve an effective and inclusive public health approach to the question of creating safe sleep environments for infants and children. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The patient's vulnerability, dependence and exposed situation in the discharge process: experiences of district nurses, geriatric nurses and social workers

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 10 2006
IngBritt Rydeman MSc
Aim., The aim of the study was to obtain a deeper understanding of the experiences of the discharge process among different professionals. Background., An optimal discharge process for hospitalized elderly to other forms of care is of crucial importance, especially since health and medical policies encourages shorter hospital stays and increased healthcare service in outpatient care. Methods., Nurses and social workers from inpatient care, outpatient care, municipal care and social services were interviewed. Eight focus-group interviews with a total of 31 persons were conducted. The subsequent analyses followed a phenomenological approach. Results., The findings revealed three themes, Framework, Basic Values and Patient Resources, which influenced the professionals' actions in the discharge process. The overall emerging structure comprised the patient's vulnerability, dependence and exposed situation in the discharge process. Conclusion., In conclusion some factors are of special importance for the co-operation and the actions of professionals involved in the discharge process. Firstly, a distinct and common framework, with conscious and organizationally based values. Secondly the need to take the patient resources into consideration. Together these factors could contribute to secure the patients involvement in the discharge process and to design an optimal, safe and good care. Relevance to clinical practice:, Collaborative approaches among a range of professionals within a variety of organizations are common, especially in the care of the elderly. The role and support of both the organizations and the educational units are decisive factors in this area. [source]