Journal of Public Health Research (PAGEPress Publications)
Not a member yet
556 research outputs found
Sort by
Talking about sex in Malawi: toward a better understanding of interpersonal communication for HIV prevention
Full text linkThe generalised AIDS epidemic in Malawi presents many challenges. As communication and advice from parents, peers, and partners are important factors in influencing sexual behaviour, understanding communication may provide insights into behaviour change programming. This mixed-method study used a household survey (n=1812) and 15 focus group discussions from the southern districts of Malawi to explore communication about sex and sexuality. Quantitative study findings point to the idea that self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and injunctive norms about talking about condom use are important factors influencing intentions to discuss condom use with partners. Qualitative study findings found that communication regarding sex between parents and children, partners, and peers was not common, and when there was communication, messages about sex focused on negative consequences of sexual activity. In Malawi, there is a need to increase efficacy in talking about sex and protective sexual behaviours, including condom use. Interventions should include components to increase communication skills, shift norms about sexual communication, and provide alternative mechanisms for individuals to gather pertinent information regarding their sexual behaviour
Telecommunications as a means to access health information: an exploratory study of migrants in Australia
Full text linkBackground. Health policies increasingly promote e-health developments (e.g., consumers’ access to online health information) to engage patients in the health care. In order to make these developments available for culturally and socially diverse communities, not only do Internet accessibility, literacy and e-health literacy need to be taken into account, but consumers’ preferences and information seeking behaviours for accessing health information have also to be understood. These considerations are crucial when designing major new health policy directions, especially for migration destination countries with culturally diverse populations, such as Australia. The aim of this study was to examine how people from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community use telecommunications (phone, mobile, Internet) to access health information. Design and Methods. A case study was conducted using a questionnaire exploring the use of telecommunications to access health information among CALD people. The study was carried out at a community health centre in a socially and economically disadvantaged area of Melbourne, a city of 4 million people with a large CALD and migrant population. Questionnaires were translated into three languages and interpreters were provided. Fifty-nine questionnaires were completed by users of the community health centre. Results. Most of the CALD participants did not have access to the Internet at home and very few reported using telecommunications to access health information. Conclusions. The findings of the study suggest that telecommunications are not necessarily perceived to be an important channel for accessing health information by members of the CALD community
The crisis of capitalism and the marketization of health care: the implications for public health professionals
Full text linkThe current economic crisis in Europe has challenged the basis of the economic model that currently prevails in much of the industrialised world. It has revealed a system that is managed not for the benefit of the people but rather for corporations and the small elite who lead them and which is clearly unsustainable in its present form. Yet, there is a hidden consequence of this system: an unfolding crisis in health care, driven by the greed of corporations whose profit-seeking model is also failing. Proponents of commodifying healthcare simultaneously argue that the cost of providing care for ageing populations is unaffordable while working to create demand for their health care products among those who are essentially healthy. Will healthcare be the next profit-fuelled investor bubble? In this paper we call on health professionals to heed the warnings from the economic crisis and, rather than stand by while a crisis unfolds, act now to redirect increasingly market-oriented health systems to serve the common good
The role of parents and related factors on adolescent computer use
Full text linkBackground. Research suggested the importance of parents on their adolescents’ computer activity. Spending too much time on the computer for recreational purposes in particular has been found to be related to areas of public health concern in children/adolescents, including obesity and substance use. Design and Methods. The goal of the research was to determine the association between recreational computer use and potentially linked factors (parental monitoring, social influences to use computers including parents, age of first computer use, self-control, and particular internet activities). Participants (aged 13-17 years and residing in the United States) were recruited via the Internet to complete an anonymous survey online using a survey tool. The target sample of 200 participants who completed the survey was achieved. The sample’s average age was 16 and was 63% girls. Results. A set of regressions with recreational computer use as dependent variables were run. Conclusions. Less parental monitoring, younger age at first computer use, listening or downloading music from the internet more frequently, using the internet for educational purposes less frequently, and parent’s use of the computer for pleasure was related to spending a greater percentage of time on non-school computer use. These findings suggest the importance of parental monitoring and parental computer use on their children’s own computer use, and the influence of some internet activities on adolescent computer use. Finally, programs aimed at parents to help them increase the age when their children start using computers and learn how to place limits on recreational computer use are needed
The role of family variables in fruit and vegetable consumption in preschool children
Full text linkMost Americans, including children, continue to eat fewer fruits and vegetables than is recommended, putting themselves at increased risk of various health conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of several family environment variables (food availability and accessibility, modeling of food consumption, parenting style, and family mealtime environment) for predicting children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables in a sample of low income minority preschool children. Two hundred and twenty nine primary caregivers and their preschool children were recruited from Head Start programs in New York and New Jersey. Caregivers consented, completed a battery of paper and pencil questionnaires, and had both their height and weight and their children’s height and weight measured. Higher availability, accessibility, and parental modeling were associated with higher consumptions of fruits and vegetables in children. Availability and accessibility were the best predictors, but parental modeling significantly enhanced prediction over the other variables. Public health interventions should be geared toward helping poorer families increase the availability of fruits and vegetables in their homes, advising parents on how to make them accessible, and encouraging parents to model their consumption
The value of protocols: the experience about a facial trauma protocol applied in the emergency room in a research and teaching hospital in the north part of Italy
Full text linkThis short paper describes the introduction of a clinical pathway for cranio-facial trauma (CFT) in an emergency room of a big research and teaching hospital