Gardening for Health: Patterns of Gardening and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption on the Navajo Nation

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Health assets and active lifestyles during preadolescence and adolescence: highlights from the HBSC/WHO health survey and implications for health promotion

The present chapter discusses the assets model as a theoretical approach to the study of health behavior and health promotion. The model emphasizes people’s talents, competences, and resources. In this chapter, a health asset is defined as any factor or resource that maximizes the opportunities for individuals, local communities, and populations to attain and maintain health and well-being. This perspective expands and complements the current medical model as it focuses on the development of a sense of empowerment in community members to prevent and manage their own health. Therefore, in this chapter we address the concepts of salutogenesis, social support, resilience, coping, self-regulation, social capital, and personal and social competence, which are central to the development of individuals’ potential to manage and savor their own health, creating the conditions for self-fulfillment. Additionally, we demonstrate how the assets model guides the study of children’s and adolescents’ health in the Portuguese Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (www.hbsc.org), concentrating on areas such as active lifestyles and quality-of-life perception. Finally, we present a roadmap for action that emphasizes the need to identify the factors that make children and adolescents happy and healthy individuals, while minimizing risks and problems they naturally encounter throughout their development. We also argue for the need to involve young people in discussions concerning their health and health promotion practices, focusing on the development of talents, capabilities, and positive expectations for the future.

Psychosocial and occupational risk perception among health care workers: a Moroccan multicenter study.

International audience

Health Hazards Tested by Harmful Effect Proof. The Case of Environmental Health Complaints

International audience

Wellbeing and occupational risk perception among health care workers: a multicenter study in Morocco and France

International audience

Tackling health inequalities in primary care: an exploration of GPs’ experience at the frontline

In Scotland, life expectancy and health outcomes are strongly tied to socioeconomic status. Specifically, socioeconomically deprived areas suffer disproportionately from high levels of premature multimorbidity and mortality. To tackle these inequalities in health, challenges in the most deprived areas must be addressed. One avenue that merits attention is the potential role of general medical practitioners (GPs) in helping to address health inequalities, particularly due to their long-term presence in deprived communities, their role in improving patient and population health, and their potential advocacy role on behalf of their patients. GPs can be seen as what Lipsky calls ‘street-level bureaucrats’ due to their considerable autonomy in the decisions they make surrounding individual patient needs, yet practising under the bureaucratic structure of the NHS. While previous research has examined the applicability of Lipsky’s framework to the role of GPs, there has been very little research exploring how GPs negotiate between the multiple identities in their work, how GPs ‘socially construct’ their patients, how GPs view their potential role as ‘advocate’, and what this means in terms of the contribution of GPs to addressing existing inequalities in health. Using semi-structured interviews, this study explored the experience and views of 24 GPs working in some of Scotland’s most deprived practices to understand how they might combat this growing health divide via the mitigation (and potential prevention) of existing health inequalities. Participants were selected based on several criteria including practice deprivation level and their individual involvement in the Deep End project, which is an informal network comprising the 100 most deprived general practices in Scotland. The research focused on understanding GPs’ perceptions of their work including its broader implications, within their practice, the communities within which they practise, and the health system as a whole. The concept of street-level bureaucracy proved to be useful in understanding GPs’ frontline work and how they negotiate dilemmas. However, this research demonstrated the need to look beyond Lipsky’s framework in order to understand how GPs reconcile their multiple identities, including advocate and manager. As a result, the term ‘street-level professional’ is offered to capture more fully the multiple identities which GPs inhabit and to explain how GPs’ elite status positions them to engage in political and policy advocacy. This study also provides evidence that GPs’ social constructions of patients are linked not only to how GPs conceptualise the causes of health inequalities, but also to how they view their role in tackling them. In line with this, the interviews established that many GPs felt they could make a difference through advocacy efforts at individual, community and policy/political levels. Furthermore, the study draws attention to the importance of practitioner-led groups—such as the Deep End project—in supporting GPs’ efforts and providing a platform for their advocacy. Within this study, a range of GPs’ views have been explored based on the sample. While it is unclear how common these views are amongst GPs in general, the study revealed that there is considerable scope for ‘political GPs’ who choose to exercise discretion in their communities and beyond. Consequently, GPs working in deprived areas should be encouraged to use their professional status and political clout not only to strengthen local communities, but also to advocate for policy change that might potentially affect the degree of disadvantage of their patients, and levels of social and health inequalities more generally.

Cell phone–based health education messaging improves health literacy.

Background: The ubiquity of cell phones, which allow for short message service (SMS), provides new and innovative opportunities for disease prevention and health education. Objective: To explore the use of cell phone–based health education SMS to improve the health literacy of community residents in China. Methods: A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select representative study communities and participants ≥ 18 years old. Intervention participants were sent health education SMSs once a week for 1 year and controls were sent conventional, basic health education measures. Health literacy levels of the residents before and after the intervention were evaluated between intervention and control groups. Results: Public health literacy scores increased 1.5 points, from 61.8 to 63.3, after SMS intervention for 1 year (P<0.01); the increase was greater for males than females (2.01 vs. 1.03; P<0.01) and for Shenzhen local residents than non-permanent residents (2.56 vs. 1.14; P<0.01). The frequency of high health literacy scores was greater for the intervention than control group (22.03% to 30.93% vs. 22.07% to 20.82%). With health literacy as a cost-effective index, the cost-effectiveness per intervention was 0.54. Conclusion: SMS may be a useful tool for improving health literacy.

Population genomics diversity of Plasmodium falciparum in malaria patients attending Okelele Health Centre, Okelele, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

Background: Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous malaria parasite species to humans remains an important public health concern in Okelele, a rural community in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. There is however little information about the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum in Nigeria. Objective: To determine the population genomic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum in malaria patients attending Okelele Community Healthcare Centre, Okelele, Ilorin, Kwara State. Methods: In this study, 50 Plasmodium falciparum strains Merozoite Surface Protein 1, Merozoite Surface Protein 2 and Glutamate Rich Protein were analysed from Okelele Health Centre, Okelele, Ilorin, Nigeria. Genetic diversity of P. falciparum isolates were analysed from nested polymerase chain reactions (PCR) of the MSP-1 (K1, MAD 20 and RO33), MSP-2 (FC27 and 3D7) and Glutamate Rich Protein allelic families respectively. Results: Polyclonal infections were more in majority of the patients for MSP-1 allelic families while monoclonal infections were more for MSP-2 allelic families. Multiplicity of infection for MSP-1, MSP-2 and GLURP were 1.7, 1.8 and 2.05 respectively Conclusion: There is high genetic diversity in MSP – 2 and GLURP allelic families of Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Okelele Health Centre, Ilorin, Nigeria.

Professional development programs in health promotion : tools and processes to favor new practices

Developing innovative interventions that are in sync with a health promotion paradigm often represents a challenge for professionals working in local public health organizations. Thus, it is critical to have both professional development programs that favor new practices and tools to examine these practices. In this case study, we analyze the health promotion approach used in a pilot intervention addressing children’s vulnerability that was developed and carried out by participants enrolled in a public health professional development program. More specifically, we use a modified version of Guichard and Ridde’s (Une grille d’analyse des actions pour lutter contre les inégalités sociales de santé. In Potvin, L., Moquet, M.-J. and Jones, C. M. (eds), Réduire les Inégalités Sociales en Santé. INPES, Saint-Denis Cedex, pp. 297– 312, 2010) analytical grid to assess deductively the program participants’ use of health promotion practices in the analysis and planning, implementation, evaluation, sustainability and empowerment phases of the pilot intervention. We also seek evidence of practices involving (empowerment, participation, equity, holism, an ecological approach, intersectorality and sustainability) in the intervention. The results are mixed: our findings reveal evidence of the application of several dimensions of health promotion (equity, holism, an ecological approach, intersectorality and sustainability), but also a lack of integration of two key dimensions; that is, empowerment and participation, during various phases of the pilot intervention. These results show that the professional development program is associated with the adoption of a pilot intervention integrating multiple but not all dimensions of health promotion. We make recommendations to facilitate a more complete integration. This research also shows that the Guichard and Ridde grid proves to be a thorough instrument to document the practices of participants.

Impact of dental caries on quality of life of adolescents according to access to oral health services: a cross sectional study

Aim: This study presents the prevalence of dental caries and its relation to the quality of life of adolescents according to the access to dental health services. Methods: Two hundred and fifty-six adolescents between 15 and 19 years of age participated in the study; they were all enrolled in public schools in a countryside municipality of the São Paulo State. Data related to dental caries were evaluated by the DMFT Index, and OHIP-14 was used for evaluating the quality of life. Mann Whitney and Spearmann correlation tests were also used (p<0.05). Results: A DMFT of 3.09 (±3.30) was found with a higher prevalence among the adolescents who used public dental services (3.43±3.34) compared with those who used private services (2.94±3.28). A statistically significant relationship between the decay component of DMFT with physical pain (0.020), physical disability (0.002) and quality of life (0.017) was verified. Conclusions: A low prevalence of dental caries was observed, and it was higher in adolescents who used public oral health services rather than private ones, evidencing the low influence of oral health on the quality of life of the participants.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOR OH. Experiences of international networks for collaborative education and research using the One Health approach.

The Authors describe first-hand experiences carried out within the framework of selected International projects aimed at developing collaborative research and education using the One Health (OH) approach. Special emphasis is given to SAPUVETNET, a series of projects co-financed under the EU-ALFA program, and aimed to support an International network on Veterinary Public Health (VPH) formed by Veterinary Faculties from Latin-America (LA) and Europe (EU). SAPUVETNET has envisaged a series of objectives/activities aimed at promoting and enhancing VPH research/training and intersectoral collaboration across LA and EU using the OH approach, as well as participating in research and/or education projects/networks under the OH umbrella, namely EURNEGVEC-European Network for Neglected Vectors & Vector-Borne Infections, CYSTINET-European Network on Taeniosis/Cysticercosis, and NEOH-Network for Evaluation of One Health; the latter includes expertise in multiple disciplines (e.g. ecology, economics, human and animal health, epidemiology, social and environmental sciences, etc.) and has the primary purpose of enabling quantitative evaluation of OH initiatives by developing a standardized evaluation protocol. The Authors give also an account of the ongoing creation of OHIN-OH International Network, founded as a spin-off result of SAPUVETNET. Finally, some examples of cooperation development projects characterised by an OH approach are also briefly mentioned.