Public health lessons for refugee reception: the example of Sidi Bulgayz

Conflicts force millions of people to abandon their homes and flee life-threatening persecution, war, and ethnic and political discrimination. From the end of World War II to the present day, more than 59 million people worldwide have become refugees and displaced persons. Displacement affects people's health, psychological well-being and economic welfare.

El bienestar y la conducta de los empleados de hotel en el contexto de la actual crisis económica

Poco se ha estudiado en qué medida la inseguridad laboral provocada por la actual crisis económica está afectando al comportamiento y rendimiento de los empleados del sector turístico. Este trabajo examina el posible impacto que la inseguridad laboral puede ejercer sobre la ansiedad y la depresión de los empleados de hoteles, y si estos estados de ánimo, a su vez, afectan su comportamiento cívico (OCB) y al rendimiento de sus tareas. Los datos fueron extraídos de 188 empleados de siete hoteles de entre tres y cinco estrellas de la isla de La Palma (Islas Canarias, España). Los resultados respaldan efectos significativos de la inseguridad laboral sobre la ansiedad y la depresión. A su vez, conforme a lo esperado, la depresión afectó negativamente a la conducta del empleado, pero sólo a su comportamiento cívico (OCB) dirigido hacia la organización (OCB-O). Sin embargo, la ansiedad no se relacionó conforme a lo esperado, aumentando el OCB-O del empleado y el rendimiento de sus tareas, lo que pudiera tener como objetivo un intento de protección de su puesto de trabajo. Los hallazgos nos permiten afirmar que la actual situación de crisis está afectando significativamente al empleado de hotel, perjudicando su estado de ánimo y, a través de la depresión, su conducta OCB-O.

Estado nutricional dos idosos no Centro de Saúde Santa Maria de Bragança

O estado nutricional dos idosos, nomeadamente a malnutrição constitui um dos principais determinantes de doença e diminuição da qualidade de vida (Elia & Stratton, 2005). A malnutrição deve ser encarada como uma das maiores ameaças para a saúde, bem-estar e autonomia dos idosos; prejudica a saúde física e psicológica predispondo-os ao desenvolvimento de doenças, ao mesmo tempo que condiciona negativamente o seu prognóstico (Cowan, Roberts, Fitzpatrick, While & Baldwin, 2004; Elia & Stratton, 2005). O trabalho de investigação desenvolvido pretende conhecer o estado nutricional dos idosos inscritos no centro de saúde Santa Maria de Bragança. Definem-se como objetivos principais: caracterizar o estado nutricional, identificar a prevalência de malnutrição e relacionar o estado nutricional com variáveis socioeconómicas demográficas, comportamentais e clínicas. Face aos objetivos delineados opta-se por um estudo observacional, analítico, transversal e de abordagem quantitativa. A amostra é composta por 385 idosos, representativos da população alvo com distribuição por sexo e faixa etária da população. Para a colheita de dados utiliza-se um formulário, no qual é incluído o MNA® e o Índice de Barthel. Como principais resultados e segundo o IMC, evidencia-se uma acentuada prevalência de malnutrição (57,66%), rastreando-se 43,11% dos idosos como sobrenutridos e 14.54% desnutridos. Através da aplicação do MNA® identificam-se 25% de situações de risco nutricional. Conclui-se que o estado nutricional segundo o MNA® está significativamente associado com o estado civil, escolaridade, coabitação, solidão, consumo de álcool, polimedicação, existência de hospitalizações recorrentes, estado de dentição e ao nível de independência do idoso. Segundo o IMC está significativamente associado ao estado civil, escolaridade, coabitação, estado da dentição e ao nível de independência do idoso.

Avaliação da qualidade de vida nas doenças endócrinas

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

Estratégias do design para a sustentabilidade da embalagem

The main subject of this dissertation is packaging, which is an inescapable product in our society nowadays. Every product we consume daily is generally protected and sheltered by a package that visually represents the product – the main feature of packaging. This research aims to assess the importance of packaging today as well as its role in the past, while searching for ways to improve its qualities as a design project. From the sustainability’s perspective, packaging is a factor that must be observed in dealing with its production, use and disposal and that is precisely the point of view that it is explored within this dissertation: packages’ ability of being sustainable and matching more ecological design practices. The main goal of this research is being able to take advantage of the package and its qualities as a selling means and at the same time make it a product that doesn’t harm our planet and the environment. Although packaging is targeted to match trade and economic issues, environmental factors have been addressed more incisively, as those are one of the biggest problems about this matter: the disposal of the package generates the accumulation of waste after the product is consumed. That being said, the challenge is to produce sustainable packaging and also to redefine the concept of packaging itself. Therefore this research intends to look for the link between packaging and sustainability and how that linkage can add value to the trade market and also to our planet’s health and well-being

Testing limited environmental liability against human rights requirements. IES WORKING PAPER 3/2009

Questions regarding oil spills remain high on the political agenda. Legal scholars, legislators as well as the international, European and national Courts struggle to determine key issues, such as who is to be held liable for oil spills, under which conditions and for which damage. The international regime on oil spills was meant to establish an “equilibrium” between the needs of the victims (being compensated for their harm) and the needs of the economic actors (being able to continue their activities). There is, however, a constantly increasing array of legal scholars’ work that criticizes the regime. Indeed, the victims of a recent oil spill, the Erika, have tried to escape the international regime on oil spills and to rely instead on the provisions of national criminal law or EC waste legislation. In parallel, the EC legislator has questioned the sufficiency of the international regime, as it has started preparing legislative acts of its own. One can in fact wonder whether challenging the international liability regime with the European Convention on Human Rights could prove to be a way forward, both for the EC regulators as well as the victims of oil spills. This paper claims that the right to property, as enshrined in Article P1-1 of the Human Rights Convention, could be used to challenge the limited environmental liability provisions of the international frameworks.

CEPAL Review no. 118

Special issue: 40 years of CEPAL Review

Modelling the population cost-effectiveness of current and evidence-based optimal treatment for anxiety disorders

Background. The present paper describes a component of a large Population cost-effectiveness study that aimed to identify the averted burden and economic efficiency of current and optimal treatment for the major mental disorders. This paper reports on the findings for the anxiety disorders (panic disorder/agoraphobia, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Method. Outcome was calculated as averted 'years lived with disability' (YLD), a population summary measure of disability burden. Costs were the direct health care costs in 1997-8 Australian dollars. The cost per YLD averted (efficiency) was calculated for those already in contact with the health system for a mental health problem (current care) and for a hypothetical optimal care package of evidence-based treatment for this same group. Data sources included the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being and published treatment effects and unit costs. Results. Current coverage was around 40% for most disorders with the exception of social phobia at 21%. Receipt of interventions consistent with evidence-based care ranged from 32% of those in contact with services for social phobia to 64% for post-traumatic stress disorder. The cost of this care was estimated at $400 million, resulting in a cost per YLD averted ranging from $7761 for generalized anxiety disorder to $34 389 for panic/agoraphobia. Under optimal care, costs remained similar but health gains were increased substantially, reducing the cost per YLD to < $20 000 for all disorders. Conclusions. Evidence-based care for anxiety disorders would produce greater population health gain at a similar cost to that of current care, resulting in a substantial increase in the cost-effectiveness of treatment.

A flexible and practical framework for reporting on ecologically sustainable development for wild capture fisheries

The principles of sustainable development (or ecologically sustainable development as it is known in Australia) are now accepted as the foundation for natural resource management worldwide and there are increasing community expectations that they will be implemented explicitly. Previous attempts to assess sustainable development for fisheries have mostly failed because the methods have been too restrictive, often attempting to develop a single set of indicators. In 2000, all the fishery agencies and major stakeholder groups in Australia supported the development of a National ESD Framework. This initiative resulted in a practical system being generated through the results of a series of case studies and stakeholder workshops. The Australian National ESD Framework divides ESD into eight major components within the three main categories of ecological well-being, human well-being and ability to contribute: Four main steps are used to complete an ESD report for a fishery: (1) identify relevant issues, (2) prioritise these using risk assessment, (3) complete appropriately detailed reports on each issue and (4) compile the material into a report. The tools to assist this process are now available and have been used to generate reports for many Australian fisheries. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect on trend estimates of the difference between survey respondents and non-respondents: Results from 27 populations in the WHO MONIICA Project

Introduction: In the World Health Organization (WHO) MONICA (multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease) Project considerable effort was made to obtain basic data on non-respondents to community based surveys of cardiovascular risk factors. The first purpose of this paper is to examine differences in socio-economic and health profiles among respondents and non-respondents. The second purpose is to investigate the effect of non-response on estimates of trends. Methods:Socio-economic and health profile between respondents and non-respondents in the WHO MONICA Project final survey were compared. The potential effect of non-response on the trend estimates between the initial survey and final survey approximately ten years later was investigated using both MONICA data and hypothetical data. Results: In most of the populations, non-respondents were more likely to be single, less well educated, and had poorer lifestyles and health profiles than respondents. As an example of the consequences, temporal trends in prevalence of daily smokers are shown to be overestimated in most populations if they were based only on data from respondents. Conclusions: The socio-economic and health profiles of respondents and non-respondents differed fairly consistently across 27 populations. Hence, the estimators of population trends based on respondent data are likely to be biased. Declining response rates therefore pose a threat to the accuracy of estimates of risk factor trends in many countries.

Extending a model of shift-work tolerance

The present study contributes to theory and practice through the development of a model of shift-work tolerance with the potential to indicate interventions that reduce nurses' intention toward turnover and increase job satisfaction in hospital-based settings. Survey data from 1257 nurses were used to conduct structural equation modeling that examine the direct and indirect effects of supervisor and colleague support, team identity, team climate, and control over working environment on time-based work/life conflict, psychological well-being, physical symptoms, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. The analysis of the proposed model revealed a good fit The chi-square difference test was non-significant (χ2(26)=338.56), the fit indices were high (CFI=.923, NFI=.918, and NNFI=.868), the distribution of residuals was symmetric and approached zero, the average standardized residual was low (AASR=.04), and the standardized RMR was .072. In terms of the predictor variable, the final model explained 48% of the variance in turnover intention. The data revealed considerable evidence of both direct effects on adjustment and complex indirect links between levels of adjustment and work-related social support, team identity, team climate, and control. Nurses with high supervisor and coworker support experienced more positive team climates, identified more strongly with their team, and increased their perceptions of control over their work environment. This in turn lowered their appraisals of their time-based work/life conflict, which consequently increased their psychological well-being and job satisfaction and reduced their physical health symptoms and turnover intention. The type of shift schedule worked by the nurses influenced levels of turnover intention, control over work environment, time-based work/life conflict, and physical symptoms.

PASTORAL EM SITUAÇÃO DE RUA Análise das Ações Pastorais da Comunidade Metodista do Povo de Rua na Cidade de São Paulo 1992 2009

A população em situação de rua é um fenômeno urbano, agravado na contemporaneidade por fatores de ordem social, econômica, cultural que agrupa pessoas independentemente da idade, etnia, grau de instrução e gênero, em situação de exclusão social, impedidos à renda e suprimento de suas necessidades vitais, culturais e sociais. Na condição de população sobrante, enfrenta obstáculos ao desenvolvimento de suas capacidades intelectuais, biológicas e culturais; à equidade de garantia de direitos civis, políticos e sociais; à qualidade de vida em harmonia e bem-estar objetivo dos seres humanos; e ao exercício pleno de sua cidadania. A Comunidade Metodista do Povo de Rua - CMPR encontrou o seu espaço no início da década de noventa, ao tempo em que a Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo, na Legislatura da Prefeita Luíza Erundina, promoveu, através da Secretaria Municipal de Bem-Estar social, o censo para conhecer quem era, como vivia e como era vista a população de rua na cidade de São Paulo. Neste contexto, a Igreja Metodista Coreana Ebenezer oferecia à população uma assistência dominical servindo pão, café com leite e achocolatado na região do Parque Dom Pedro II. Sagrou-se a parceria para a criação da CMPR através do despertar do poder público e da participação da Igreja Metodista Coreana através do Café do Coreano. Foi fundamental a disposição dos Bispos Nelson Campos Leite e Geoval Jacinto da Silva, ambos da Terceira Região Eclesiástica da Igreja Metodista, que iniciaram os trabalhos utilizando a instituição de caráter filantrópico da Igreja Metodista, a AMAS Associação Metodista de Assistência Social. Assim, com sede no Viaduto Pedroso e, por proximidade geográfica, a CMPR vinculou-se a AMAS da Catedral Metodista de São Paulo, atuando em três dimensões: (1) criação da Casa de Convivência, (2) abrigamento no período do inverno; (3) Criação do albergue. O Plano de Ação elaborado pela CMPR que consagrou a criação do Albergue, data da transição 1994/95 e teve como base o Credo Social, o Plano para Vida e Missão da Igreja Metodista e o Plano de Ação encaminhado à Prefeitura, à luz da vertente social do movimento Metodista a partir de João Wesley, estabelecendo que o objetivo geral da CMPR fosse o resgate da cidadania das pessoas que constituem a população de rua. Nesta dimensão, a tese está estruturada em cinco capítulos, inclusa pesquisa de campo que foi aplicada a funcionários e ex-funcionários da CMPR, com objetivo de reunir conteúdos para se analisar as ações pastorais da CMPR na perspectiva da Práxis religiosa, considerando a Práxis filosófica e educacional, a fim de perceber se as ações pastorais são ações criadoras, reflexivas, libertadoras e radicais, e se promovem por meio da CMPR o resgate da cidadania em população de rua na cidade de São Paulo.(AU)

Exercise agency? The role of elite actors in local democracy in English local government: the local democracy maker.

The way in which employed senior elites in English local government exercise their agency in the practice of local democracy and local governance is considered in this thesis. The research posits the notion that elite Officers act as Local Democracy Makers as they draw on their own traditions and ideologies in responding to the dilemmas of changing policy and politics in the public realm. The study is located in the latter part of New Labour?s term of office and applies an interpretive and reflexive approach to three studies of the exercise of well being powers. The approach is one of applied ethnography through the examination of literature reviews, interviews and observations of decisions taken in the exercise of the powers of economic, environmental and social well-being are used to examine how and why the Local Democracy Makers make sense of their world in the way that they do. The research suggests that, despite prevailing narratives, local governance arrangements depend on a system of hierarchy, employed elites and local politics. The challenges of re-configuring local democracy and attempts at "hollowing out" the state have secured an influential role for the non-elected official. How officials interpret, advise, mediate and manage the exercise of local governance and local democracy presents a challenge to assumptions that public services are governed beyond or without local government. New narratives and reflections on the role of the local government Officer and the marginalisation of the elected Councillor are presented in the research. In particular, how the senior elite occupy managerial, strategic and political roles as Local Democracy Makers, offers an insight into the agency of strategic actors in localities. Consequently, the success of changes in public policy is materially influenced by how the practitioner responds to such dilemmas. The thesis concludes by suggesting that integral to the design and success of public policy implementation is the role of the Officer, and especially those practitioners that advise governing arrangements and democratic practice.

The global financial crisis, working people and sustainable development

Although they had nothing to do with the actual causes of the 2008 Global Financial crisis, it is ordinary workers and their families who have arguably suffered the most from its effects. While governments and international agencies seem most concerned to protect the returns to Capital in the name of financial austerity and economic good sense, little has been done to protect the well-being of working people or the global environment. Both trade unionists and environmentalists oppose the destruction wrought by neoliberal market economics; the challenge is for them to work more closely together in the future to promote truly sustainable development.