2010, año europeo de lucha contra la pobreza y la exclusión social

Boletín semanal para profesionales sanitarios de la Secretaría General de Salud Pública y Participación Social de la Consejería de Salud

La sostenibilidad del sistema sanitario desde una perspectiva de redes sociales: una propuesta para la promoción de hábitos saludables y apoyo social

The search of new health management formulas focused to give wide services is one of the priorities of our present health policies. Those formulas examine the optimization of the links between the main actors involved in public health, ie, users, professionals, local socio-political and corporate agents. This paper is aimed to introduce the Social Network Analysis as a method for analyzing, measuring and interpreting those connections. The knowledge of people's relationships (what is called social networks) in the field of public health is becoming increasingly important at an international level. In fact, countries such as UK, Netherlands, Italy, Australia and U.S. are looking formulas to apply this knowledge to their health departments. With this work we show the utility of the ARS on topics related to sustainability of the health system, particularly those related with health habits and social support, topics included in the 2020 health strategies that underline the importance of the collaborative aspects in networks.

Participación social en salud: conceptos de usuarios, líderes comunitarios, gestores y formuladores de políticas en Colombia. Una mirada cualitativa.

BACKGROUND Health sector reforms taking place in Colombia during the Nineties included policies to promote social participation in the health system, which is considered essential to its functioning. The aim of this article is to analyse the meaning and the significance of participation in health for the different social actors involved in implementing policies in Colombia. METHODS A qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study was carried out using focal groups (FG) and semi-structured individual interviews (I) of the different social actors: 210 users (FG), 40 community leaders (FG), 3 policy makers (E) and 36 healthcare professionals (E). A carried out analysis was content up of the contents. The study area corresponded to the municipalities of Tulua and Palmira in Colombia. RESULTS The concept of participation was interpreted differently depending on the actor studied: for users and leaders the concept referred to contributing ideas, presence in social spaces, solidarity and frequently, and use of the health services. Healthcare professionals considered the activities carried out by institutions together with the community as social participation, the use of services and affiliation to the health system. Policy markers considered participation to concern evaluation and control of the health services by the community, to improve its quality. CONCLUSIONS The different concepts of participation reveal dif ferences between the content of the policy and how it is understood and interpreted by the different social actors in their interaction with the health services. These different perspectives must be taken into account to develop a link between society and the health services.

The influence of individual, social and physical environment factors on physical activity in the adult population in Andalusia, Spain.

A person's physical and social environment is considered as an influencing factor in terms of rates of engagement in physical activity. This study analyses the influence of socio-demographic, physical and social environmental factors on physical activity reported in the adult population in Andalusia. This is a cross-sectional study using data collected in the Andalusia Health Survey in 1999 and 2003. In addition to the influence of the individual's characteristics, if there are no green spaces in the neighbourhood it is less likely that men and women will take exercise (OR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.13, 1.41). Likewise, a higher local illiteracy rate also has a negative influence on exercise habits in men (OR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.21, 1.59) and in women (OR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.40). Physical activity is influenced by individuals' characteristics as well as by their social and physical environment, the most disadvantaged groups are less likely to engage in physical activity.