572,117 research outputs found

    Sources of Cardiovascular Health Information and Channels of Health Communication Among Urban Population in Nigeria

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    This study employed mixed methods to investigate the preferred sources of health information and later explored the views of community healthcare workers on the enablers, barriers and ways of overcoming barriers to health communication. The study found that majority of the participants preferred their source of CV (cardiovascular) health information from the healthcare workers including the medical doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. On the other hand, the least preferred source of health information was from friends, family members, and community leaders. Some of the identified enablers to community health communication include awareness programme via Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations such as faith-based organisations and healthcare facilities. Others are traditional media and social media. The identified barriers to community-based health communication include lack of knowledge and poverty, language barriers, and other miscellaneous issues including misuse of internet, lack of basic amenities and religious beliefs. The community-based healthcare providers articulated ways to overcome the identified barriers, including enlightenment programmes, using the language of the target audience, funding health awareness programmes, and monitoring of health education interventions. This study concludes that dissemination of health information using numerous channels is essential in ensuring population-wide primary prevention of diseases

    Impact of an Interprofessional Communication Course on Nursing, Medical, and Pharmacy Students’ Communication Skill Self-Efficacy Beliefs

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    Objective. To describe an interprofessional communication course in an academic health sciences center and to evaluate and compare interpersonal and interprofessional communication self-efficacy beliefs of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students before and after course participation, using Bandura’s self-efficacy theory as a guiding framework. Design. First-year nursing (n=36), first-year medical (n=73), and second-year pharmacy students (n=83) enrolled in an interprofessional communication skills development course voluntarily completed a 33-item survey instrument based on Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies prior to and upon completion of the course during the fall semester of 2012. Assessment. Nursing students entered the course with higher interpersonal and interprofessional communication self-efficacy beliefs compared to medical and pharmacy students. Pharmacy students, in particular, noted significant improvements in communication self-efficacy beliefs across multiple domains postcourse. Conclusion. Completion of an interprofessional communications course was associated with a positive impact on health professions students’ interpersonal and interprofessional communication self-efficacy beliefs

    Development and validation of EMP-3 : an instrument to measure physicians' attitudes towards ethnic minority patients

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    Background and Objectives: The growing diversity of patient populations challenges health care providers. Physicians' attitudes and perceptions toward cultural diversity in health care could be partly contributing to difficulties in communication between physicians and ethnic minority patients. To evaluate these attitudes and perceptions, an instrument was developed and validated. Methods: A preliminary version of the instrument was developed through literature research and expert consultation and completed by 112 family physicians. Factor analysis was performed and reliability and construct validity tested. Results: The instrument revealed three factors that were interpreted as: (1) physicians' task perception and ideas on cultural differences in health and health care, (2) physicians' attitudes toward physician-patient communication with minority patients, and (3) physicians' perception of minority patients' needs in communication. Moderate but significant correlations were found between factors of the EMP-3 and practice organization, practice location, and physicians' gender. Several factors of the Jefferson Empathy Scale, the Patient Practitioner Orientation Scale, and the Health Beliefs and Attitude Scale related to the first two factors of the EMP-3. Conclusions: This instrument, designed specifically to measure physicians' attitudes toward cultural diversity, showed moderate validity and reliability results. Further adaptations and evaluation could be useful

    Communication Disability in Fiji:Community Cultural Beliefs and Attitudes

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    Purpose: Beliefs about communication disability vary according to the cultural context, and influence people’s attitudes and help-seeking behaviour. Little is known about Fijians with communication disability or the communities in which they live, and specialist services for people with communication disability are yet to be established in Fiji. An understanding of Fijian beliefs about the causes of communication disability and attitudes towards people with communication disability may inform future service development. Method: An interpretivist qualitative research paradigm and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework informed this project’s design. Scenarios of adults and children with communication disability were presented to 144 participants, randomly sampled across multiple public spaces in two Fiji cities. Thematic analysis of responses to 15 survey questions revealed participant beliefs about the causes and attitudes towards people with communication disability. Results: Three clusters describing perceived causes emerged from the analysis - internal, external, and supernatural. Major clusters across child and adult scenarios were similar; however, response categories within the scenarios differed. Community attitudes to people with communication disability were predominantly negative. These community attitudes influenced individual participants’ beliefs about educational and employment opportunities for Fijians with communication disability. Conclusion: Determination and acknowledgement of individuals’ belief systems informs development of culturally appropriate intervention programmes and health promotion activities. Implications: Speech-language pathologists and other professionals working with Fijian communities should acknowledge community belief systems and develop culturally-specific health promotion activities, assessments, and interventions

    Patient-Provider Encounter: The Contemporary Cameroonian Story

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    Most communication scholars recognize that cultural beliefs influence health and interactions about health. Within the African context, religious cultural beliefs constitute dynamic elements of the culture. My dissertation explains the influences of religion and culture on patient-provider interactions in Cameroon. My field research sought answers to the following questions: How do the assumptions of the Western medical model intersect with those of the native culture in patient-provider interactions? How do Cameroonian providers and patients conceptualize health and illness? How does Cameroonian culture, especially native and Christian religious beliefs influence the beliefs and practices of providers and patients? How do interactions between providers and patients incorporate narrative and dialogue? How do providers and patients perceive the quality and ethics of health related interactions? I used participant observation and field interviews in urban and rural areas in Cameroon as the context for my collection of data. When conducting interviews, I asked questions pertaining to health beliefs and health interactions that produced lengthy narrative responses from providers and patients in Cameroon. My analysis of the 22 transcribed interviews utilized thematic analysis. The data analysis yielded the following results. Cameroonian patient and provider participants used the Western medical model along will other native cultural approaches to health to construct their health beliefs. In ways that differ from other research studies on health beliefs, Cameroonians conceptualize health as physiological, moral, emotional, spiritual and financial. Cameroonians\u27 native cultural beliefs in God, prayer, fear of death and spiritual interventions influence the kind of values that they hold and when they are involved in patient-provider interactions. Cameroonians\u27 values related to community, family, and love as well as their expectations about humanistic care revealed the importance of humility, compassion and gratefulness to the quality of health care. Specifically, my research in Cameroon showed that both providers and patients equate the quality of health care with the quality of patient-provider interactions. My data analysis demonstrates the importance of specific communication behaviors to patient-provider interaction. These communication behaviors centered on expressions of responsibility, listening, time for the other, and treating others as family. These communication behaviors share many features of dialogue and narrative medicine that scholars in the U.S. recommend for quality interactions. Finally, my research identified differences between providers and patients in their perceptions of waiting time and rule following. The patients\u27 responses about reasons for waiting and the perceived length of the waiting time cast a negative light on the providers. Moreover patients\u27 resistance to some of the rules given by providers showed that patients believe that rules impede the quality of the health care they receive. This dissertation study is an innovative attempt to analyze how culture and native and Christian religious beliefs influence the content and the quality of patient-provider interactions in urban and rural setting in Cameroon. My study shows that traditional cultural beliefs about health and healing continue to influence health interactions. Specifically, the beliefs and practices of providers and patients utilized a mixture of Native religion, Christianity, and the western and scientific model of diagnosis and treatment of patients. The convergence of these different beliefs strongly influences the content and quality of communication in patient-provider interactions

    Ethical Issues: Communication

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    EssayNothing is more important to the welfare of patients, providers, and health care systems than effective patient centered communication. This occurs by having the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and organizational infrastructure to foster the comprehension and application of often-vast amounts of information. The first step in fostering patient centered communication is to encourage providers to understand their own health-related values and beliefs, recognizing that everyone may not share in those beliefs. Conflict may occur between providers and patients when difficult decisions are required at times of severe illness or at the end of life when there is miscommunication

    African American Adults’ Experiences with the Health Care System: In Their Own Words

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    African Americans suffer a disproportionate burden of death and illness from a number of different chronic diseases. Inequalities in health care practices and poor patient and provider communication between African American patients and health care professionals contribute to these disparities. We describe findings from focus groups with 79 urban African Americans in which the participants discussed their interactions with the healthcare system as well as beliefs and opinions of the healthcare system and professionals. Analysis revealed five major themes: (1) historical and contextual foundations; (2) interpersonal experiences with physicians and other health care workers; (3) discrimination; (4) trust, opinions and attitudes, and (5) improving health care experiences. These findings indicate that perceptions of discrimination and racism were prevalent among African Americans in this study, and that the expectation of a negative interaction is a barrier to seeking care. Authors discuss prevention and public health implications of these findings and make recommendations for health care practitioners

    Diffusion of e-health innovations in 'post-conflict' settings: a qualitative study on the personal experiences of health workers.

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    BACKGROUND: Technological innovations have the potential to strengthen human resources for health and improve access and quality of care in challenging 'post-conflict' contexts. However, analyses on the adoption of technology for health (that is, 'e-health') and whether and how e-health can strengthen a health workforce in these settings have been limited so far. This study explores the personal experiences of health workers using e-health innovations in selected post-conflict situations. METHODS: This study had a cross-sectional qualitative design. Telephone interviews were conducted with 12 health workers, from a variety of cadres and stages in their careers, from four post-conflict settings (Liberia, West Bank and Gaza, Sierra Leone and Somaliland) in 2012. Everett Roger's diffusion of innovation-decision model (that is, knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, contemplation) guided the thematic analysis. RESULTS: All health workers interviewed held positive perceptions of e-health, related to their beliefs that e-health can help them to access information and communicate with other health workers. However, understanding of the scope of e-health was generally limited, and often based on innovations that health workers have been introduced through by their international partners. Health workers reported a range of engagement with e-health innovations, mostly for communication (for example, email) and educational purposes (for example, online learning platforms). Poor, unreliable and unaffordable Internet was a commonly mentioned barrier to e-health use. Scaling-up existing e-health partnerships and innovations were suggested starting points to increase e-health innovation dissemination. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study showed ICT based e-health innovations can relieve information and communication needs of health workers in post-conflict settings. However, more efforts and investments, preferably driven by healthcare workers within the post-conflict context, are needed to make e-health more widespread and sustainable. Increased awareness is necessary among health professionals, even among current e-health users, and physical and financial access barriers need to be addressed. Future e-health initiatives are likely to increase their impact if based on perceived health information needs of intended users

    An Application of a Modified Health Belief Model: Assessing Health Beliefs and Health Protective Behaviors in Mining- Impacted Communities

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    Purpose/Background: Toxic metal contamination poses public health risks in many mining-impacted communities. Improved understanding of risk perception and health protective behaviors is important to sustaining public health awareness. We co-developed a research study based on the Health Belief Model (HBM; Figure 1) and facilitated through a partnership with the health district in our study area, the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. Lead contamination caused by historical mining practices continues to impact both ecological and human health and contributes to health disparities. For this study, we assess how health belief constructs (i.e., perceived threats, expectations of behavioral outcomes, and confidence in personal knowledge) influence self-reported health protective behaviors and behavioral intentions. Materials & Methods: We conducted a drop-off pick-up (DOPU) household survey (n~300; estimated response rate~60%) to assess risk perception and self-reported health behaviors among residents in three mining-impacted communities of the Silver Valley. Informational interviews and a pilot survey informed survey instrument development. Health protective behavior variables were modified from the health district’s existing public recommendations. We assessed the frequency of past health protective behaviors and likelihood of future behaviors (e.g., handwashing following contact with lead contamination). Health belief constructs were modified from other HBM studies. We performed validity and reliability tests on the survey instrument. Results: We will measure the impact of threats, expectations and confidence on health protective behaviors. We hypothesize that, overall, higher confidence in personal knowledge of lead contamination will be associated with higher likelihood of taking health protective behavior. Furthermore, confidence is mediated by perceived threat and expectations of behavioral outcomes. To test our hypothesis, we will use a structural equation model to test the relationships between constructs (Figure 1). Discussion/Conclusion: By conducting a DOPU survey, we captured a range of health beliefs and health protective behaviors that are present across the study area. The challenge in educating and protecting the health of communities impacted by a persistent but low visibility contaminant such as lead is understanding the relationship between health beliefs and health protective behaviors. Our study is an initial step in this region to identify the constructs that influence decisions and actions for health protection. We will apply these findings to continue developing tailored resources for community health interventions and communication, including a youth-oriented computer game and targeted signage
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