Growth of civil society in developing countries: implications for health

Owing to changes in political systems, the number of non-governmental organisations worldwide has increased substantially since 1980. The influence of civil society on health and health care depends on the recognition of its role as a partner in primary health care, on its success in the scaling up of activities, on its cooperation with the State and business sector, and on networking. In the event of health-sector reforms, civil society should focus on equity and justice, and advocate health as a public responsibility. The impact on health would increase if medical personnel joined forces with civil society and if medical schools added public speaking, networking, and lobbying to their agenda. The trend is that an increasing number of agents are getting involved in the promotion of health.     

Public health work in connection with a new international airport

During the six years between the parliament decision in 1992 to build a new international airport and the opening of this airport at Gardermoen, public health authorities experienced strong challenges when exercising their authority, when planning and implementing the airport health services, and when trying to describe possible health hazards to the population living in the area. Environmental and population health considerations led in some instances to opposite conclusions. The opinions of local health authorities were overruled by national authorities as regards noise limits. The food control authorities were not included in the first stage of planning. Efforts to cooperate emergency health services, ambulance services, and services for the prevention of contagious diseases did not succeed initially. Population studies before and during the airport construction period showed that persons being forced to move because of the new airport reported increased illness, developed a lower self-assessed health quality, more often generalized pain, and more often moderate mental problems.     

Rehabilitation in complex political emergencies: is rebuilding civil society the answer?

The paper examines the challenge of rehabilitation from complex political emergencies (CPEs) and identifies a strategy that is characterized as a civil society rebuilding approach. It focuses on Somalia and a case study of CARE project that aims to build the capacity of local NGOs. The paper argues that civil society in CPEs is simultaneously being undermined and contested by warring parties and emerging after state collapse. The scope of the paper is limited to one case study and that case study examines only a single aspect of civil society: national and international NGOs The paper therefore presents tentative and preliminary results based on limited research. However, in reviewing the literature and presenting a way of approaching the subject, it aims to suggest a starting-point for developing a theoretical framework for such research. The paper finds that international agencies have tended to focus on civil society institutions simply as conduits for aid money and that this has tended to create organisations which lack downward accountability, are dependent on donors and are not addressing the wider roles for civil society envisaged in the approach. Rebuilding civil society does hold out the promise of giving non-military interests a stronger voice and starting a process of changing the aid delivery culture. Achieving these objectives, however, will be a slow and largely indigenous process and there is a need for lowered expectations about what outside assistance can achieve.     

The connection between clinical health promotion and health status: A critical overview.

Argues that the clinical practice of health promotion is based on at least 4 assumptions: (a) behaviors increase the risk of certain chronic diseases; (b) changes in behaviors can reduce the probability of risk of certain diseases; (c) behavior can be easily changed; and (d) behavioral interventions are cost-effective. Although data support most of these assumptions, the strength of the support is shown to be much weaker than is assumed by many psychologists. Thus, the expected health benefits from behavioral programs may not match the enthusiasm espoused by some health psychologists. A major problem in this field is that outcomes are frequently not conceptualized in relation to health. Health status is therefore suggested as the focal point for conceptualizations of health psychology. (83 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public health and health psychology: Two cats of Kilkenny?

In this article I describe the opposition of concepts underlying the public health and health psychology disciplines. The considerations of active versus passive and individual versus population approaches to prevention currently divide the two disciplines. Some writers for the public health model vigorously advocate the passive, structural intervention as the most important strategy while deprecating the fundamental tenets of health psychology and behavioral health. This attitude is discussed in terms of finding the most comprehensive, effective, acceptable, and implementable strategy to achieve preventive health benefits through a multifaceted approach targeted at numerous levels of intervention involving both active and passive and both individual and population approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nursing and health care for an aging society: the case of The Netherlands

1. Demographic developments in European and western countries are not unique. Nurses should embrace the opportunity to learn from each others' care and research initiatives for the elderly population. 2. Current transitions in health care systems should be seized as an opportunity to further establish and develop the nursing profession, for example, through joining and initiating multidisciplinary initiatives. 3. The aging population is the fastest growing population in a number of countries. The training, recruitment, and retainment of nursing staff are key to continuously provide high quality care for the elderly.     

Addressing racial inequities in health care: civil rights monitoring and report cards

Large racial inequities in health care use continue to be reported, raising concerns about discrimination. Historically, the health system, with its professionally dominated, autonomous, voluntary organizational structure, has presented special challenges to civil rights efforts. De jure racial segregation in the United States gave way to a period of aggressive litigation and enforcement from 1954 until 1968 and then to the current period of relative inactivity. A combination of factors--declining federal resources and organizational capacity to address more subtle forms of discriminatory practices in health care settings, increasingly restrictive interpretations by the courts, and the lack of any systematic mechanisms for the statistical monitoring of providers--offers little assurance that discrimination does not continue to play a role in accounting for discrepancies in use. The current rapid transformation of health care into integrated delivery systems driven by risk-based financing presents both new opportunities and new threats. Adequate regulation, markets, and management for such systems impose new requirements for comparative systematic statistical assessment of performance. My conclusion illustrates ways that current "report card" approaches to monitoring performance of such systems could be used to monitor, correct, and build trust in equitable treatment.     

Folk medicine and health culture in contemporary society

Folk medicine comprises "unofficial health beliefs and practices" which rely heavily (but not exclusively) on oral transmission. It is one form of alternative medicine, and a major source for many other forms such as phytotherapy and mind/body medicine. While many folk medicine ideas and practices are associated with particular ethnic groups, many others are widely distributed throughout American society. Folk medicine is not dying out in the modern world. Because it has both medical benefits and risks, effective medical care with folk medicine requires awareness and discussion of its influence.     

Cinema and the valuing of psychotherapy: Implications for clinical practice.

Cinema is riddled with negative portrayals of psychotherapy. In a media-saturated culture, public attitudes regarding the prevalence of mental illness, the symptomatology that defines abnormality, and the professionals who address such disorders are profoundly influenced by the images and messages in cinema and mass media. It is imperative for psychologists to maintain an awareness of the cinematic portrayals of psychotherapists, psychotherapy, and mental illness in order to better understand clients' expectations for therapy. By increasing awareness of the role of the media in shaping the image of professional psychology, clinicians can hope to decrease the stigma surrounding mental health care through engaging in discussions of these media stereotypes and advocating for more realistic portrayals of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public understanding of climate change in the United States.

This article considers scientific and public understandings of climate change and addresses the following question: Why is it that while scientific evidence has accumulated to document global climate change and scientific opinion has solidified about its existence and causes, U.S. public opinion has not and has instead become more polarized? Our review supports a constructivist account of human judgment. Public understanding is affected by the inherent difficulty of understanding climate change, the mismatch between people's usual modes of understanding and the task, and, particularly in the United States, a continuing societal struggle to shape the frames and mental models people use to understand the phenomena. We conclude by discussing ways in which psychology can help to improve public understanding of climate change and link a better understanding to action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public health nursing: a Northern and Yorkshire review

This report describes the findings of a review of the state of public health nursing across the Northern and Yorkshire Region. It took place between April and September 1997.     

Public health at the crossroads: which way forward?

Public health represents society's organised and publicly supported efforts to improve the health status of the entire population; its focus is on the reduction of health inequalities by optimising the underlying determinants of health and preventing disease. But public health is under threat and needs to be strengthened so that it is at the centre of human endeavour--locally, nationally, and worldwide.     

Public health at the municipal level

The purposes of health protection and fortification in various sociums and conditions of attaining these purposes may differ at various levels (federal, regional and municipal) of the society organization. At the municipal level the fortification and protection of population health may be regarded as the chief idea, aim, and criterion of the optimal functioning and development of a socium of the given level, reflecting the measure of efficacy of providing the immediate vital activity of the population. The task of social management is as follows: the share of the national output, created by the socium, is to be distributed so that it were possible for this socium to permanently recreate and maintain at a certain qualitative level its labor resources--the major energy potential of the socium, and adequately provide and guarantee human rights as the main value of the society. A logistic model of the management structure ensuring population health at a municipal level is presented. For health control and for attaining this aim it is necessary to transfer the maximum of legal functions to the municipal level of society administration. It is desirable that every citizen, and not only administration, be involved in the reformation of the society as regards health protection, and that the citizens be personally interested in this process.