scholarly journals Assessing need in a privately insured population -the MBF Preventive Health Survey

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Jane Francis ◽  
Adrian Bauman ◽  
Tien Chey
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Preventive Health ◽  
Planning Tool ◽  
Major Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Medical Benefits ◽  
Optimal Health ◽  
Privately Insured

A self-administered mailed questionnaire was used to assess the health behaviours and health status of a randomsample of members of the Medical Benefits Fund of Australia Limited (MBF). The data reaffirmed that the privatelyinsured were more likely to have lower levels of major health risks and to practise better prevention than the uninsured.The survey was useful as a planning tool for MBF, confirming areas of preventive health that were already takenseriously by MBF members. Given the social advantages of these privately insured people, the results may also pointto optimal health promotion and disease prevention rates expected in a population.

scholarly journals Are the national preventive health initiatives likely to reduce health inequities?

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fran Baum ◽  
Matthew Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Health Agency ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Preventive Health

This paper examines commitments to address health inequities within current (2008–11) Australian government initiatives on health promotion and chronic disease prevention. Specifically, the paper considers: the Council of Australian Governments’ ‘National partnership agreement on preventive health’; the National Preventative Health Taskforce report, ‘Australia: the healthiest country by 2020’; and the Australian Government’s response to the taskforce report, ‘Taking preventative action’. Arising from these is the recent establishment of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency. Together, these measures represent a substantial public investment in health promotion and disease prevention. The present paper finds that these initiatives clearly acknowledge significantly worse health outcomes for those subject to social or economic disadvantage, and contain measures aimed to improve health outcomes among Indigenous people and those in low socioeconomic status communities. However, we argue that, as a whole, these initiatives have (thus far) largely missed an opportunity to develop a whole of government approach to health promotion able to address upstream social determinants of health and health inequities in Australia. In particular, they are limited by a primary focus on individual health behaviours as risk factors for chronic disease, with too little attention on the wider socioeconomic and cultural factors that drive behaviours, and so disease outcomes, in populations.

scholarly journals Communication of Risk in Covid-19: An Urgent Need for Clarity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Attwood ◽  
Cother Hajat
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
Risk Levels ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Preventative Measures ◽  
The Social

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented spotlight on health risks. This article discusses how such risks have been communicated to the public, arguing the approaches used may have inflated perceptions of risk amongst younger and disease-free individuals. This has led to undue anxiety and had a deleterious effect on other health behaviours, including sleep and exercise. We advise that more conventional public health messaging approaches would have been useful - deploying clear, non-jargon language, keeping advice consistent and presenting a combination of absolute health risks and comparisons with other everyday risks. This may have facilitated more accurate understanding of risk levels in different population segments. The evidence-base on effective ways to communicate to encourage health-seeking behaviour change – such as emphasizing the benefits of compliance to recommendations rather than the risks of non-compliance and highlighting the social impacts of Covid-19 preventative measures – must be more effectively leveraged in future to support risk mitigation efforts and implementation of vaccines during their forthcoming rollout.

scholarly journals Art during tough times: reflections from an art-based health promotion initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 175797592199863
Author(s):  
Ilhan Abdullahi ◽  
Navneet Kaur Chana ◽  
Marco Zenone ◽  
Paola Ardiles
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Art Museum ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Promotion Strategies ◽  
Health Promotion Initiative

With the current COVID-19 pandemic impacting communities across the globe, diverse health promotion strategies are required to address the wide-ranging challenges we face. Art is a highly engaging tool that promotes positive well-being and increases community engagement and participation. The ‘Create Hope Mural’ campaign emerged as an arts-based health promotion response to inspire dialogue on why hope is so important for Canadians during these challenging times. This initiative is a partnership between a health promotion network based in Vancouver and an ‘open air’ art museum based in Toronto. Families were invited to submit artwork online that represents the concept of hope. This paper discusses the reflections of organizers of this arts-based health promotion initiative during the early months of the pandemic in Canada. Our findings reveal the importance of decolonizing practices, centring the voices of those impacted by crisis, while being attentive to the social and political context. These learnings can be adopted by prospective health promoters attempting to use arts-based methods to address social and health inequities.

scholarly journals I wonder if robots will take care of me when I am old: Positive aging representations of professionals working in health promotion services

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 2872-2881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catrinel Craciun ◽  
Uwe Flick
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Actual Practice ◽  
Active Aging ◽  
Positive Aging ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Gap ◽  
Agency Models ◽  
Theory Practice Gap

How the social and institutional context is structured and represented by its actors has an impact on positive aging representations. This qualitative study explores professionals’ views on positive aging, how they promote positive aging in their practice and what disparities occur between their discourses and the actual practice of promoting positive aging. Interviews were conducted with professionals from different active aging promotion services and analyzed with thematic coding. Findings show professionals hold negative views on aging while trying to promote positive views in their work, illustrating an existing theory-practice gap. Strategies used in practice can be integrated in existing agency models and inform interventions and active aging policies.

scholarly journals Translating Research into Practice: Impact of an Interprofessional Diabetes Education Model on Patient Health Outcomes

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olayinka O. Shiyanbola ◽  
Becky Randall ◽  
Cristina Lammers ◽  
Karly A. Hegge ◽  
Michelle Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
Diabetes Management ◽  
Diabetes Education ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Health Promotion Program ◽  
Diabetes Knowledge ◽  
Foot Care ◽  
Eye Care

Background: Patient education programs encouraging diabetes self-management can improve clinical outcomes and lessen diabetes complications. This study implemented an innovative interprofessional student-led diabetes self-management and health promotion program for an underserved population and demonstrated an improvement in participant clinical outcomes and students’ understanding of interprofessional aspects of diabetes care.Methods and Findings: This community-based program was implemented at two sites that serve medically underserved individuals. Students from five health career professions led educational sessions designed to demonstrate critical components of diabetes self-management. The six-month longitudinal program covered topics within the Alphabet Strategy, including Advice, Blood pressure, Cholesterol, Diabetes control, Dental care, Diet, Eye care, Foot care, and Guardian drugs. Participants completed surveys evaluating diabetes knowledge, understanding of diabetes care, and health behaviours. Clinical values were collected before and after the program. Student surveys assessed their understanding of diabetes self-management. Upon completion of the program, all assessments were repeated to determine if there were improvements in outcomes. Thirty-eight participants and thirty students completed the study. There were significant improvements in participants’ diabetes knowledge, understanding of diabetes management, and clinical outcomes. There were significant improvements in the students’ ability to educate patients about foot care, eye care, and guardian drugs, as well as increased awareness of the role of each health profession in diabetes care.Conclusions: This interprofessional health promotion model showed significant improvements in patient and student outcomes. This innovative student-led program could be implemented in other settings and for the management of other chronic diseases.

Global Oral Health Inequalities

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sheiham ◽  
D. Alexander ◽  
L. Cohen ◽  
V. Marinho ◽  
S. Moysés ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oral Health ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Oral Diseases ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Inequalities In Health ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
The Social ◽  
Underlying Causes

This paper reviews the shortcomings of present approaches to reduce oral diseases and inequalities, details the importance of social determinants, and links that to research needs and policies on implementation of strategies to reduce oral health inequalities. Inequalities in health are not narrowing. Attention is therefore being directed at determinants of major health conditions and the extent to which those common determinants vary within, between, and among groups, because if inequalities in health vary across groups, then so must underlying causes. Tackling inequalities in health requires strategies tailored to determinants and needs of each group along the social gradient. Approaches focusing mainly on downstream lifestyle and behavioral factors have limited success in reducing health inequalities. They fail to address social determinants, for changing people’s behaviors requires changing their environment. There is a dearth of oral health research on social determinants that cause health-compromising behaviors and on risk factors common to some chronic diseases. The gap between what is known and implemented by other health disciplines and the dental fraternity needs addressing. To re-orient oral health research, practice, and policy toward a ‘social determinants’ model, a closer collaboration between and integration of dental and general health research is needed. Here, we suggest a research agenda that should lead to reductions in global inequalities in oral health.

scholarly journals A multifaceted approach increased staff confidence to develop outside of school hours care as a health promoting setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Forde ◽  
Leesa Costello ◽  
Amanda Devine ◽  
Ros Sambell ◽  
Ruth Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Minimum Requirement ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Menu Planning ◽  
Training Post ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
High Level

Abstract Background Outside-of-school-hours-care (OSHC) services are well positioned to influence the health behaviours of 489, 800 Australian children, and are an important setting for health promotion given the current rates of childhood overweight and obesity and associated health risks. OSHC Professionals are ideally placed to become positive influencers in this setting, although they may require training and support to confidently perform this role. This study piloted a multifaceted intervention strategy to increase OSHC Professional’s confidence and competencies, to support a health promoting OSHC environment with a nutrition and physical activity focus. Methods A mixed methods approach was used. Nineteen OSHC Professionals participated in the study, including a face-to-face workshop, supported by a closed Facebook group and website. Role adequacy (self-confidence) and legitimacy (professional responsibility) were measured pre and post workshop and evaluated using non-parametric statistics. Facebook interactions were monitored, and four participants undertook qualitative exit interviews to discuss their experiences with the intervention. Results Pre-workshop 68% of participants had not received any OSHC-specific health promotion training. Post-workshop significant improvements in confidence about menu planning, accessing nutrition information, activities and recipes was observed (P < 0.05 for all). A significant improvement was observed in role support and role related training (P < 0.05). A high level of support and interaction was observed between participants on Facebook and the website was reported a useful repository of information. Conclusions Health promotion training, combined with positive social connections, shared learning experiences, and a website improved OSHC Professionals confidence and capacity to provide a health promoting OSHC environment. Health promotion professional development for OSHC professionals should be mandated as a minimum requirement, and such learning opportunities should be scaffolded with support available through social media interactions and website access.

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