Health promotion through self-care and community participation: Elements of a proposed programme in the developing countries

BACKGROUND: The concepts of health promotion, self-care and community participation emerged during 1970s, primarily out of concerns about the limitation of professional health system. Since then there have been rapid growth in these areas in the developed world, and there is evidence of effectiveness of such interventions. These areas are still in infancy in the developing countries. There is a window of opportunity for promoting self care and community participation for health promotion. DISCUSSION: A broad outline is proposed for designing a health promotion programme in developing countries, following key strategies of the Ottawa Charter for health promotion and principles of self care and community participation. Supportive policies may be framed. Self care clearinghouses may be set up at provincial level to co-ordinate the programme activities in consultation with district and national teams. Self care may be promoted in the schools and workplaces. For developing personal skills of individuals, self care information, generated through a participatory process, may be disseminated using a wide range of print and audio-visual tools and information technology based tools. One such potential tool may be a personally held self care manual and health record, to be designed jointly by the community and professionals. Its first part may contain basic self care information and the second part may contain outlines of different personally-held health records to be used to record important health and disease related events of an individual. Periodic monitoring and evaluation of the programme may be done. Studies from different parts of the world indicate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of self care interventions. The proposed outline has potential for health promotion and cost reduction of health services in the developing countries, and may be adapted in different situations. SUMMARY: Self care, community participation and health promotion are emerging but dominant areas in the developed countries. Elements of a programme for health promotion in the developing countries following key principles of self care and community participation are proposed. Demonstration programmes may be initiated to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of this programme before large scale implementation

Classification of headache on the basis of the IHS diagnostic criteria

Objective: To test the effects of a mass-media behavioral treatment program on migraine and tension-type headache, patients with pure migraine, and with pure tension-type headache were to be selected. Patient Selection: A random sample of 233 headache sufferers of 15,000 subscribers to the program. Design: Patients were classified according to criteria established by the International Headache Society (IHS). Three classifications were made by a computer, a clinician, and the patient's physician. Comparison was made of the distribution of headaches types and the prevalence of the symptoms per headache type. Results: The majority of the patients do not have pure migraine or pure tension-type headache. Many tension-type headache patients in this study group had migraine-accompanying factors. A strict application of the IHS criteria means that the category, tension-type headache, hardly exists. Conclusion: The prevalence screening demonstrates a substantial overlap of symptoms. The consensus between the three classifications is low. According to these findings, the computer classification best fulfills the aim of selecting patients with pure migraine and pure tension-type headache

Stressful life events and psychological dysfunction in complex regional pain syndrome type I

Objective: To determine to what extent stressful life events and psychological dysfunction play a role in the pathogenesis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type I (CRPS). Design: A comparative study between a CRPS group and a control group. Stressful life events and psychological dysfunction evaluation was performed with a life event rating list and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Setting: A university hospital. Subjects: The CRPS group consisted of 24 patients with a history of upper extremity CRPS of less than 3 months. The control group consisted of 42 hand pathology patients waiting for elective hand surgery within the next 24 hours. Main Outcome Measures: Stressful life event rating was measured using the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Psychological dysfunction was measured using the SCL-90. Results: Stressful life events were experienced by 19 patients (79.2%) in the CRPS group and by 9 patients (21.4%) in the control group. This difference was significant. Testing of psychological dysfunction (SCL-90) in CRPS patients and the control group demonstrated some significant differences: male patients were more anxious than male controls; female patients were statistically more depressed, had feelings of inadequacy, and were emotionally less stable than female controls. In multivariate analysis, no significant differences were found across gender, age, or gender X group interactions. Of the SCL-90 dimensions, only insomnia correlated with the experienced stressful life events. Conclusion: Stressful life events are more common in the CRPS group, which indicates that there may be a multiconditional model of CRPS. The experience of stressful life events besides trauma or surgery are risk factors, not causes, in such a model