"Weathering a hidden storm" : an application of Andersen's behavioral model of health, and health services use for those with diagnosable anxiety disorder

"Weathering a Hidden Storm": An App~ication of Andersen's Behaviora~ Mode~ of Hea~th, and Hea~th Services Use for Those With Diagnosab~e Anxiety Disorder Research has primarily focused on depression and mood disorders, but little research has been devoted to an examination of mental health services use amongst those with diagnosable anxiety disorder (Wittchen et al., 2002; Bergeron et al., 2005). This study examined the possible predicting factors for mental health services utilization amongst those with identifiable anxiety disorder in the Canadian population. The methods used for this study was the application of Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use, where predisposing, need and enabling 111 characteristics were regressed on the dependent variable of mental health services use. This study used the Canadian Community Health Survey (cycle 1.2: Mental Health and Well- Being) in a secondary data analysis. Several multiple logistics models predicted the likelihood to seek and use mental health services. Predisposing characteristics of gender and age, Enabling characteristics of education and geographical location, and those with co-occurring mood disorders were at the greatest increased likelihood to seek and use mental health services.

The Clinical Translation Gap in Child Health Exercise Research: A Call for Disruptive Innovation

In children, levels of play, physical activity, and fitness are key indicators of health and disease and closely tied to optimal growth and development. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides clinicians with biomarkers of disease and effectiveness of therapy, and researchers with novel insights into fundamental biological mechanisms reflecting an integrated physiological response that is hidden when the child is at rest. Yet the growth of clinical trials utilizing CPET in pediatrics remains stunted despite the current emphasis on preventative medicine and the growing recognition that therapies used in children should be clinically tested in children. There exists a translational gap between basic discovery and clinical application in this essential component of child health. To address this gap, the NIH provided funding through the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program to convene a panel of experts. This report summarizes our major findings and outlines next steps necessary to enhance child health exercise medicine translational research. We present specific plans to bolster data interoperability, improve child health CPET reference values, stimulate formal training in exercise medicine for child health care professionals, and outline innovative approaches through which exercise medicine can become more accessible and advance therapeutics across the child health spectrum.

Health Services Library tour

Audio recording of a Library tour for University of Southampton Health Services Library located at Southampton General Hospital. Voices of members of Library staff used including Ric Paul. Prepared for the academic session 2007-2008.

Verificación del impacto de la educación sexual en adolescentes en la consulta externa de dos IPS de Bogotá

En este estudio se realizó una encuesta con el fin de evidenciar el conocimiento y la práctica de la Educación Sexual en adolescentes que acudieron al servicio de consulta externa de Medicina General en dos Instituciones Prestadoras de Servicios de Salud (IPS) de la ciudad de Bogotá, una de régimen contributivo y otra de régimen subsidiado. Se realizó un estudio observacional, descriptivo, de corte transversal, a 100 adolescentes, mujeres y hombres, a través de la aplicación de un instrumento prediseñado con un contenido de 17 preguntas donde se indagó acerca de: planificación familiar, conducta sexual, educación sexual, embarazo adolescente y conductas de riesgo en adolescentes. En relación al régimen de aseguramiento en salud que tenían los adolescentes, las diferencias encontradas en sus respuestas fueron a nivel de: educación sexual recibida, acceso a los servicios de planificación familiar de las Empresas Promotoras de Salud (EPS), presencia de embarazo adolescente y consumo de alcohol asociado a la práctica de relaciones sexuales. Tras el análisis de la información obtenida con la aplicación de la encuesta, se concluye que es indispensable crear en las instituciones educativas públicas y privadas de la ciudad de Bogotá, una nueva herramienta metodológica a través de la cual se realice promoción de la salud y refuerzo de prácticas protectoras en educación sexual para adolescentes, pues persiste desconocimiento de la misma.

Children of the golden minster: St. Oswald's Priory and the impact of industrialisation on child health.

This study explores the disease experience of children buried within the cemetery of St. Oswald’s Priory, Gloucester from AD1153 to 1857. Evidence for ages-at-death, infant mortality, and the prevalence of stress indicators, trauma, and pathology were compared between the early and postmedieval periods. The skeletal remains of these children provide evidence for child health spanning the economic expansion of Gloucester at St. Oswald’s, from a mostly rural parish to a graveyard catering for families from the poorer northern part of the town and the workhouse. Results showed that the children from the postmedieval period in Gloucester suffered higher rates of dental caries (38%) and congenital conditions (17.3%) than their counterparts from the early and later medieval period. This paper serves to highlight the value of nonadult skeletal material in the interpretation of past human health in transitional societies and illustrates the wide variety of pathological conditions that can be observed in nonadult skeletons.

Dying young: a palaeopathological analysis of child health in Roman Britain

Children represent the most vulnerable members of society, and as such provide valuable insight into past lifeways. Adverse environmental conditions translate more readily into the osteological record of children, making them primary evidence for the investigation of ill-health in the past. To date, most information on growing up in Roman Britain has been based on the Classical literature, or discussed in palaeopathological studies with a regional focus, e.g. Dorset or Durnovaria. Thus, the lifestyles and everyday realities of children throughout Britannia remained largely unknown. This study sets out to fill this gap by providing the first large scale analysis of Romano-British children from town and country. The palaeopathological analysis of 1643 non-adult (0-17 years) skeletons, compiled from the literature (N=690) and primary osteological analysis (N=953), from 27 urban and rural settlements has highlighted diverse patterns in non-adult mortality and morbidity. The distribution of ages-at-death suggest that older children and adolescents migrated from country to town, possibly for commencing their working lives. True prevalence rates suggest that caries (1.8%) and enamel hypoplasia (11.4%) were more common in children from major urban towns, whereas children in the countryside displayed higher frequencies of scurvy (6.9%), cribra orbitalia (27.7%), porotic hyperostosis (6.2%) and endocranial lesions (10.9%). Social inequality in late Roman Britain may have been the driving force behind these urban-rural dichotomies. The results may point to exploitation of the peasantry on the one hand, and higher status of the urban population as a more ‘Romanised’ group on the other. Comparison with Iron Age and post-medieval non-adults also demonstrated a decline in health in the Roman period, with some levels of ill-health, particularly in the rural children, similar to those from post-medieval London. This research provides the most comprehensive study of non-adult morbidity and mortality in Roman Britain to date. It has provided new insights into Romano-British lifeways and presents suggestions for further work.

Problems with accessibility to health services by persons with disabilities in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Purpose. To describe the occurrence of self-reported problems of accessibility to health services used by persons with disabilities in terms of social and health services variables. Methods. We performed a cross-sectional household survey designed to assess problems with accessibility to health services faced by persons with disabilities. We interviewed 333 persons in Sao Paulo city, in 2007. Variables related to the presence of accessibility problems, disabilities, gender, age, family head income, ethnicity, use of health services and others were analysed using frequencies, percentages, chi(2)-test, ANOVA and Poisson regression models. Results. 15.92% of the interviewed persons reported problems with accessibility to health services. Persons having multiple (prevalence ratios; PR = 2.91) or mobility disability (PR = 6.46) had more problems with accessibility than persons with hearing disability. Persons younger than 78 years old had more problems with accessibility; those who needed help to go to the health service (PR = 3.01) also. Conclusions. Persons with multiple or mobility disability, younger than 78 years, and those who needed help of others to go to the health service were more likely to have problems with accessibility to health services. This information could be one of the first steps to the management and/or planning of appropriate health services for persons with disabilities.

Vasectomy within the public health services in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Objective: To describe some of the characteristics of men who underwent a vasectomy in the public health network of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Methods: A descriptive study including 202 men randomly selected from a list of all the men vasectomized between 1998 and 2004 in the public health network. Results: Most of the men were 30 years of age or older when vasectomized, had completed elementary school and had two or more children of both sexes. Most of the men came from the lowest income segment of the population: 47.6% in 1998-1999 and 61.3% in 2003-2004. Although the men knew various contraceptive methods, 51.2% reported that their partners were using combined oral contraceptives at the time of surgery. Most men initially sought information on vasectomy at health-care clinics where care was provided by a multidisciplinary team; most received counselling, however, 47.9% of the men waited more than 4 months for the vasectomy. Conclusions: The profile of the vasectomized men in this study appears to indicate that the low-income population from Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil has access to vasectomy; however, the waiting time for vasectomy reveals that difficulties exist in obtaining this contraceptive method in the public health service.

Modelo para avaliação de desempenho do sistema de saúde municipal com foco nas ações da saúde materno-infantil da atenção básica por meio de indicadores sociais

O presente trabalho aborda o desempenho dos sistemas municipais de saúde, tendo como foco a saúde materno-infantil. Com o objetivo de apontar as possíveis fragilidades dos sistemas de saúde, especificamente daqueles em que a Atenção Primária (AP) é a principal ou exclusiva estratégia de atuação da gestão municipal, foi criado um modelo teórico de avaliação dos indicadores de saúde, denominado de ADS. Aplicado às cidades com população entre 14 mil e 35 mil habitantes, onde o sistema de saúde se baseia exclusivamente na política de AP, esse modelo foi construído por meio da técnica de consenso, com a formação de um grupo de 12 especialistas na área de saúde coletiva para definição e validação de critérios para análise dos sistemas. Testado na cidade de Iati, localizada no Agreste Meridional e distante 282 quilômetros da capital pernambucana, o ADS apontou fatores ambientais e socioeconômicos abaixo da média, além de vulnerabilidades da assistência materno-infantil que influenciam negativamente a situação de saúde do município. A avaliação verificou ainda desempenho insatisfatório no que diz respeito ao acompanhamento das crianças e gestantes por meio de consultas médicas (efetividade); assistência à criança (continuidade); cobertura de consultas em crianças e imunização de gestantes (acesso aos serviços da Atenção Primária); produtividade das ações realizadas pelos profissionais de saúde (eficiência) e capacidade de investigação dos óbitos infantis, qualidade dos registros e controle da sífilis em gestantes (vigilância à saúde). Também foi observada baixa alocação de investimentos em saúde em combinação com a carência de recursos humanos e materiais para prestar os serviços. Ao final da pesquisa, foi possível constatar a viabilidade de aplicação do modelo para planejamento das auditorias, avaliando o desempenho dos indicadores de saúde no âmbito municipal.

Desigualdade regional da mortalidade neonatal no Brasil

In Brazil, despite the decline in infant mortality in recent decades it still has high rates going against recommended by WHO. Being the largest percentage of infant mortality rate composed of neonatal deaths. Objective: A study was conducted to analyze the spatial distribution of neonatal mortality and its correlation with the biological, socioeconomic and maternal and child health care in the Brazilian states in the period from 2006 to 2010. Method: The study made thematic maps and correlation (LISA) for verification of spatial dependence and multiple linear regression models. Results: Was found that there is no spatial autocorrelation for neonatal mortality in the Brazilian states (R = 0.002, p = 0.48). Most of variables were correlated (r> 0.3, p <0.05) with neonatal mortality, forming clusters in the North and Northeast, with the highest rates of teenage mothers, low household income per capita, lower prenatal appointments and beds of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The number of Neonatal UCI beds remained independent effect after regression analysis. Conclusion: The study concludes that regional inequalities in living conditions and especially the access to maternal and child health services contribute to the unequal distribution of neonatal mortality in Brazil