Incremento de la salud financiera mediante la utilización de la relación estratégica comunitaria y marketing.

Debido a las crisis mundiales, la perdurabilidad empresarial se ha convertido en la primera preocupación de las organizaciones, puesto que los problemas económicos en otros países pueden generar un efecto negativo en las condiciones del mercado doméstico, que junto con el entorno empresarial complejo y dinámico en el que se deben desempeñar las empresas hoy en día gracias a la globalización, sumado al aumento en la competitividad nacional e internacional, la perdurabilidad de las empresas se está viendo seriamente comprometida. Lo anterior, ha llevado a las empresas a buscar nuevas formas de mejorar su salud financiera. Para medir la salud financiera empresarial, se pueden usar distintos indicadores como lo es el flujo de caja que está asociado con la rentabilidad, el patrimonio que está asociado a las dificultades financieras, entre otros, o a través de varios modelos de bancarrota, los cuales, por medio de un conjunto de ratios financieros, reflejan el estado actual de la organización y su probabilidad de fracaso en el futuro. Las estrategias comunitarias y el marketing permiten incrementar la salud financiera de las empresas a través de la orientación al cliente y el establecimiento de relaciones gana-gana a largo plazo con las diferentes comunidades con las que se relaciona la organización.

Utilidad de las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias y el marketing en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos

Este trabajo de grado propone identificar la utilidad de las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias y el marketing en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos, también se toman en cuenta conceptos como el marketing organizacional y relacional, estos conceptos ayudan en la investigación a determinar relaciones estratégicas entre las empresas, y el beneficio que estas le generan a las corporaciones; para así fomentar la implementación de estas estrategias en a las empresas a nivel nacional e internacional, así mismo, identificar el concepto de comunidad que tienen los clientes corporativos y como este concepto se puede adaptar al entorno que los rodea. Con el fin de entender las funciones y características de un cliente corporativo, así como su comportamiento, los objetivos específicos de la investigación son describir las estrategias de marketing en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos, determinar si existe el concepto de comunidad en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos y determinar si se utilizan relaciones estratégicas comunitarias en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos. La metodología que se planteó usar fue teórica-conceptual, teniendo en cuenta el marketing y las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias de los clientes corporativos. Llevando la investigación al ámbito de la gerencia y dirección, los resultados que se obtuvieron gracias a la investigación, ayudaran a potenciar la dirección de las empresas, donde se evalué la verdadera utilidad de las estrategias basadas en las relaciones comunitarias y marketing en los negocios con clientes corporativos. Las estrategias comunitarias y el marketing influencian de manera directa las relaciones de las compañias con sus clientes corporativos, debido a que marketing nos permite extender la relación y generar una utilidad a futuro entre ambas partes. De la investigación se concluye que las empresas que logran crear estrategias comunitarias y relaciones estrechas entre ellas, tienden a tener mejores utilidades en el largo plazo y ser empresas más sostenibles.

Establishing a community of practice of researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and communities to sustainably manage environmental health risks in Ecuador

The Sustainably Managing Environmental Health Risk in Ecuador project was launched in 2004 as a partnership linking a large Canadian university with leading Cuban and Mexican institutes to strengthen the capacities of four Ecuadorian universities for leading community-based learning and research in areas as diverse as pesticide poisoning, dengue control, water and sanitation, and disaster preparedness. By 2009, train-the-trainer project initiation involved 27 participatory action research Master’s theses in 15 communities where 1200 community learners participated in the implementation of associated interventions. This led to establishment of innovative Ecuadorian-led master’s and doctoral programs, and a Population Health Observatory on Collective Health, Environment and Society for the Andean region based at the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar. Building on this network, numerous initiatives were begun, such as an internationally funded research project to strengthen dengue control in the coastal community of Machala, and establishment of a local community eco-health centre focusing on determinants of health near Cuenca. Alliances of academic and non-academic partners from the South and North provide a promising orientation for learning together about ways of addressing negative trends of development. Assessing the impacts and sustainability of such processes, however, requires longer term monitoring of results and related challenges.

Integrating participatory community mobilization processes to improve dengue prevention: an eco-bio-social scaling up of local success in Machala, Ecuador

This project investigates the effectiveness and feasibility of scaling-up an eco-bio-social approach for implementing an integrated community-based approach for dengue prevention in comparison with existing insecticide-based and emerging biolarvicide-based programs in an endemic setting in Machala, Ecuador.

NGOs, elite capture and community-driven development: perspectives in rural Mozambique

This article examines the problems of elite capture in community driven development (CDD). Drawing on two case studies of non-governmental organisation (NGO) intervention in rural Mozambique, the authors consider two important variables – 1) the diverse and complex contributions of local elites to CDD in different locations, and 2) the roles that non-elites play in monitoring and controlling leader activities – to argue that donors should be cautious about automatically assuming the prevalence of malevolent patrimonialism and its ill-effects in their projects. This is because the ‘checks and balances’ on elite behaviour that exist within locally-defined and historically-rooted forms of community-based governance are likely to be more effective than those introduced by the external intervener.

The potential for community groups to promote sustainable living

In recent times there has been a growing recognition amongst policy-makers of the role for community-based action in contributing to the broader aims of energy policy and climate change. In this paper, we will examine the potential for existing community groups to use their influence and elements of internal cohesion to encourage more widespread understanding and adoption of sustainable lifestyle habits; both amongst their members and within the broader communities of which they are a part. Findings are presented from recent empirical work with a range of well-established community groups for whom environmental issues are not their main priority. A central aspect of the research was to explore both the current status and potential role of groups that may have the capacity to reach and influence a broader sphere of the public than energy/environment specific initiatives of recent times have been able to achieve. Representing a diversity of interests, age groups and functionality, the results suggest that the potential for more effective ‘bottom-up’ engagement on climate change and sustainable living might be given fresh impetus by these types of established community groups and their networks. An assessment of what motivates participation and membership in the groups highlights a series of factors common to all groups and a smaller number that are significant for particular groups individually. It is argued that an appreciation of motivating factors can be useful in understanding more clearly how such groups are able to survive and maintain cohesion over time. The findings also suggest that climate change action means different things for different groups, with the diversity of the groups bringing with it the challenge of making sustainable living relevant to a range of interests and different shared values.

Identification of dementia cases in the community: A Brazilian experience

OBJECTIVES: To describe the application in Brazil of a simple, low-cost procedure, developed in India by the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, for the identification of dementia cases in the community.DESIGN: Community-based dementia case-finding method.SETTING: Piraju, São Paulo, Brazil.PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five community health workers were trained to identify dementia cases in 2,222 people aged 65 and older in Piraju, a Brazilian town with 27,871 inhabitants.MEAUREMENTS: After the training, the health workers prepared a list of possible cases that afterward an experienced psychiatrist clinically evaluated, according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), criteria and the Clinical Dementia Rating.RESULTS: of the 72 cases that were clinically assessed, 45 met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for dementia. Therefore, the positive predictive value of this case finding method was 62.5%; the estimated frequency of dementia was 2%. Most of the confirmed cases met clinical criteria for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.CONCLUSION: This simple method was appropriate to identify cases of dementia in the general population and can possibly be extended to other developing countries with limited resources to be applied in health programs.

Obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions in a population-based, cross-sectional sample of school-aged children

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Relationship Between Regional Brain Volumes and Cognitive Performance in the Healthy Aging: An MRI Study Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

The presence of cognitive impairment is a frequent complaint among elderly individuals in the general population. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between aging-related regional gray matter (rGM) volume changes and cognitive performance in healthy elderly adults. Morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures were acquired in a community-based sample of 170 cognitively-preserved subjects (66 to 75 years). This sample was drawn from the "Sao Paulo Ageing and Health" study, an epidemiological study aimed at investigating the prevalence and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease in a low income region of the city of Sao Paulo. All subjects underwent cognitive testing using a cross-culturally battery validated by the Research Group on Dementia 10/66 as well as the SKT (applied on the day of MRI scanning). Blood genotyping was performed to determine the frequency of the three apolipoprotein E allele variants (APOE epsilon 2/epsilon 3/epsilon 4) in the sample. Voxelwise linear correlation analyses between rGM volumes and cognitive test scores were performed using voxel-based morphometry, including chronological age as covariate. There were significant direct correlations between worse overall cognitive performance and rGM reductions in the right orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, and also between verbal fluency scores and bilateral parahippocampal gyral volume (p < 0.05, familywise-error corrected for multiple comparisons using small volume correction). When analyses were repeated adding the presence of the APOE epsilon 4 allele as confounding covariate or excluding a minority of APOE epsilon 2 carriers, all findings retained significance. These results indicate that rGM volumes are relevant biomarkers of cognitive deficits in healthy aging individuals, most notably involving temporolimbic regions and the orbitofrontal cortex.

Understanding Research Fatigue in the Context of Community-University Relations

Community research fatigue has been understudied within the context of community-university relationships and knowledge production. Community-based research (CBR), often occurring within a limited geography and population, increases the possibility that community members feel exhausted or over-whelmed by university research —particularly when they do not see tangible results from research activities. Prompted by informal stories of research fatigue from community members, a small graduate student team sought to understand the extent to which community members experienced research fatigue, and what factors contributed to or relieved feelings of research fatigue. In order to explore these dimensions of research fatigue, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 participants, including community members (n = 9), staff and faculty (n = 10), and students (n = 2). The objective of the research was to identify university practices that contribute to research fatigue and how to address the issue at the university level. Qualitative data analysis revealed several important actionable findings: the structure and conduct of community-based research, structured reciprocity and impact, and the role of trust in research. This study’s findings are used to assess the quality of Clark University’s research relationship with its adjacent community. Recommendations are offered; such as to improve partnerships, the impact of CBR, and to develop clear principles of practice.

Real-time quantitative PCR to determine chlamydial load in men and women in a community setting

We used a PCR method to quantify the loads of Chlamydia trachomatis organisms in self-collected urine and vulvovaginal swab (VVS) samples from 93 women and 30 men participating in the Chlamydia Screening Studies Project, a community-based study of individuals not seeking health care. For women, self-collected VVS had a higher mean chlamydial load (10,405 organisms/ml; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 5,167 to 21,163 organisms/ml) than did first-void urines (FVU) (503 organisms/ml; 95% CI, 250 to 1,022 organisms/ml; P < 0.001). Chlamydial loads in female and male self-collected FVU specimens were similar (P = 0.634). The mean chlamydial load in FVU specimens decreased with increasing age in females and males. There was no strong statistical evidence of differences in chlamydial load in repeat male and female FVU specimens taken when patients attended for treatment a median of 23.5 (range, 14 to 62) and 28 (range, 13 to 132) days later, respectively, or in VVS taken a median of 35 (range, 14 to 217) days later. In this study, chlamydial load values for infected persons in the community who were not seeking treatment were lower than those published in other studies involving symptomatic patients attending clinical settings. This might have implications for estimates of the infectiousness of chlamydia. The results of this study provide a scientific rationale for preferring VVS to FVU specimens from women.

An Innovative Family Preservation Program in an African American Community: Longitudinal Analysis

This paper presents a secondary analysis of data from a longitudinal evaluation of a community-based family preservation program in Portland, Oregon, designed for and by African Americans. Families served by the Family Enhancement Program (FEP) resemble chronically neglecting families in terms of numbers of children and length of contact with child protective services. Six- and twelve-month follow-ups for FEP clients were compared to data on families served by the Oregon State Office of Services to Children and Families (SOSCF). The author found that FEP families are more likely than SOSCFfamilies to show greater improvement between the pretest scores and the posttest scores for number of days in placement, number of placements, and number of founded maltreatment reports.

Symptom-based subtypes of depression and their psychosocial correlates: A person-centered approach focusing on the influence of sex

BACKGROUND: Reducing the complexity of major depressive disorder by symptom-based subtypes constitutes the basis of more specific treatments. To date, few studies have empirically derived symptom subtypes separated by sex, although the impact of sex has been widely accepted in depression research. METHODS: The community-based sample included 373 males and 443 females from the Zurich Program for Sustainable Development of Mental Health Services (ZInEP) manifesting depressive symptoms in the past 12 months. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was performed separately by sex to extract sex-related depression subtypes. The subtypes were characterized by psychosocial characteristics. RESULTS: Three similar subtypes were found in both sexes: a severe typical subtype (males: 22.8%; females: 35.7%), a severe atypical subtype (males: 17.4%; females: 22.6%), and a moderate subtype (males: 25.2%; females: 41.8%). In males, two additional subgroups were identified: a severe irritable/angry-rejection sensitive (IARS) subtype (30%) comprising the largest group, and a small psychomotor retarded subtype (4%). Males belonging to the severe typical subtype exhibited the lowest masculine gender role orientation, while females of the typical subtype showed more anxiety disorders. The severe atypical subtype was associated with eating disorders in both sexes and with alcohol/drug abuse/dependence in females. In contrast, alcohol/drug abuse/dependence was associated with the severe IARS subtype in males. LIMITATIONS:The study had a cross-sectional design, allowing for no causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS:This study contributes to a better understanding of sex-related depression subtypes, which can be well distinguished on the basis of symptom profiles. This provides the base for future research investigating the etiopathogenesis and effective treatment of the heterogeneous depression disorder.

Promoting palliative care in the community: production of the primary palliative care toolkit by the European Association of Palliative Care Taskforce in primary palliative care

BACKGROUND A multidisciplinary European Association of Palliative Care Taskforce was established to scope the extent of and learn what facilitates and hinders the development of palliative care in the community across Europe. AIM To document the barriers and facilitators for palliative care in the community and to produce a resource toolkit that palliative care specialists, primary care health professionals or policymakers, service developers, educationalists and national groups more generally could use to facilitate the development of palliative care in their own country. DESIGN (1) A survey instrument was sent to general practitioners with knowledge of palliative care services in the community in a diverse sample of European countries. We also conducted an international systematic review of tools used to identify people for palliative care in the community. (2) A draft toolkit was then constructed suggesting how individual countries might best address these issues, and an online survey was then set up for general practitioners and specialists to make comments. Iterations of the toolkit were then presented at international palliative care and primary care conferences. RESULTS Being unable to identify appropriate patients for palliative care in the community was a major barrier internationally. The systematic review identified tools that might be used to help address this. Various facilitators such as national strategies were identified. A primary palliative care toolkit has been produced and refined, together with associated guidance. CONCLUSION Many barriers and facilitators were identified. The primary palliative care toolkit can help community-based palliative care services to be established nationally.

Assessing perceptions of environmental risk and environmental justice and their impacts on neighborhood attachment in a predominately Hispanic community

This study examines and relates concepts from environmental risk perception and environmental justice and focuses on the perception of environmental problems, their consequent health risks and their impact on neighborhood attachment in a predominately Hispanic community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The findings indicate that the perception of environmental problems in the immediate area varies by problem and demographic subgroup. Ethnicity and income have the highest number of statistically significant associations across ten environmental problems. This result lies in the fact that Hispanics in El Paso County and those with low annual incomes live in neighborhoods that are faced with more severe environmental problems. Thus the findings lend support to the environmental justice claim that the poor and minorities bear the brunt of environmental degradation. ^ The findings also provide evidence that public perception of health risks from an environmental problem is influenced by the perceived severity of an environmental problem in the immediate area. Those who believe the problem is serious on a local level are the ones who are most likely to believe that they could become ill or injured from that problem and that the illness/injury will be serious. ^ The findings of this study also indicate that the young, Hispanics, those who perceive considerable environmental problems in their neighborhood, those who believe that their neighborhood has more environmental problems than others, and those who are angry about those problems are most likely to want to move from their neighborhood. ^ Efforts need to be made to enact policies and programs designed to reduce the environmental hazards in disadvantaged Hispanic communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Future environmental education campaigns need to complement community-based projects with the media. Programs that involve and empower the community, particularly the youth, in improving the neighborhood could provide a sense of control and pride within their community in solving these problems. These neighborhood improvement efforts could also lead to the development and strengthening of social ties within the community, as well as enhanced community cohesiveness in tackling these problems. ^