Stigma and GPs’ perceptions of dementia

YesObjectives: General practitioners (GPs) are crucial to improving timely diagnosis, but little is reported about how they perceive dementia, and whether their perceptions display any elements of stigma. The aim of this study was to explore how GPs’ perceptions of dementia map onto current conceptualizations of stigma and whether GPs feel that stigma affects timely diagnosis. Methods: Twenty-three GPs from England were interviewed by telephone. Data were analyzed by means of content analysis. This involved open coding followed by the application of a coding framework derived from the literature to explore how and to what extent their perceptions relate to stigma as well as the unique nature of their perceptions. Results: Three themes emerged from the analysis: (1) ‘making sense of dementia’, (2) ‘relating perceptions of dementia to oneself’ and (3) ‘considering the consequences of dementia’. GPs’ perceptions of dementia mapped onto current conceptualizations of stigma. Perceptions about dementia that were linked to their own existential anxiety and to a perceived similarity between people with dementia and themselves were particularly salient. GPs perceived dementia as a stigma which was gradually being overcome but that stigma still hindered timely diagnosis. They provided examples of structural discrimination within the health service, including lack of time for patients and shortcomings in training that were to the detriment of people with dementia. Conclusion: Measures to involve GPs in tackling stigma should include training and opportunities to explore how they perceive dementia, as well as support to address structural discrimination.The study was funded by Alzheimer Europe (Luxembourg) in the form of tuition fees for Dianne Gove for her PhD study

Parental use of the Internet to seek health information and primary care utilisation for their child: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Using the Internet to seek health information is becoming more common. Its consequences on health care utilisation are hardly known in the general population, in particular among children whose parents seek health information on the Internet. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between parental use of the Internet to seek health information and primary care utilisation for their child.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional survey has been carried out in a population of parents of pre-school children in France. The main outcome measure was the self-reported number of primary care consultations for the child, according to parental use of the Internet to seek health information, adjusted for the characteristics of the parents and their child respectively, and parental use of other health information sources.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 1 068 out of 2 197 questionnaires were returned (response rate of 49%). No association was found between parental use of the Internet to seek health information and the number of consultations within the last 12 months for their child. Variables related to the number of primary care consultations were characteristics of the child (age, medical conditions, homeopathic treatment), parental characteristics (occupation, income, stress level) and consultation of other health information sources (advice from pharmacist, relatives).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We did not find any relationship between parental use of the Internet to seek health information and primary care utilisation for children. The Internet seems to be used as a supplement to health services rather than as a replacement.</p

Multiple sclerosis outpatient future groups: improving the quality of participant interaction and ideation tools within service improvement activities

BackgroundImproving the patient experience is a key focus within the National Health Service. This has led us to consider how health services are experienced, from both staff and patient perspectives. Novel service improvement activities bring staff and patients together to use design-led methods to improve how health services are delivered. The Multiple Sclerosis Outpatient Future Group study aimed to explore how analogies and props can be used to facilitate rich interactions between staff and patients within these activities. This paper will consider how these interactions supported participants to share experiences, generate ideas and suggest service improvements. MethodQualitative explorative study using ‘future groups,’ a reinterpretation of the recognised focus groups method directed towards exploring future alternatives through employing analogies and physical props to engage participants to speculate about future service interactions and health experiences. Participants were people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and outpatient staff: staff nurses, nursing assistants, junior sisters and reception staff. ResultsUse of future groups, analogies and physical props enabled PwMS and outpatient staff to invest their own ideas and feelings in the service improvement activity and envisage alternative health care scenarios. The combination of participants in the groups with their diverse perspectives and knowledge of the service led to a collaborative approach in which staff highlighted potential practical problems and patients ensured ideas were holistic. Service improvements were prototyped and tested in the outpatient clinic. ConclusionDesign-led methods such as future groups using analogies and physical props can be used to facilitate interactions between staff and patients in service improvement activities, leading to the generation of meaningful ideas. It is hoped that improving the quality of ideation tools within design-led methods can contribute to developing successful service interventions in service improvement activities. <br/

Description of the BDD-IIR: Electron and proton sensors on the GPS

The Burst Detector Dosimeter (Block) IIR (BDD-IIR) is a multipurpose silicon detector system that is scheduled to fly on two of the first 12 spacecraft of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Block 2 Replenishment series as an alternative to the Burst Detector X-ray (BDX) instrument. This instrument measures energetic-particle fluxes impinging on the GPS space vehicle (SV), primarily energetic electrons trapped in the Earth`s radiation belt, but also solar energetic particles and galactic cosmic rays. Absorbers located in front of eight separate silicon sensors determine energy thresholds for measuring incident particle fluxes, and the magnitude of energy loss in each sensor provides an imperfect but very good separation between ions and electrons over a wide range of energies. For each of two sensors, a conical collimator with a very small opening is used for low-energy particles. For four sensors, five small holes in a thick shield limits the flux on each sensor to manageable levels. For two sensors, solid domes are used to measure high-energy electrons and protons. These eight sensors provide eight channels that determine the electron energy spectrum from 77 keV to > 5 MeV and eight channels determine the proton spectrum from 1.3 to > 54 MeV. The radiation dose rate and total dose for a wide range of equivalent shielding thicknesses is inferred directly from the measured electron energy spectrum. Accumulations times are usually 240 s but can also be 24, 120, or 4,608 s. This report describes the BDD-IIR`s important mechanical and electronic features, its system tests and calibrations, the commands that can be sent to it, and the data that it returns

Analysis of early phase ring current recovery mechanisms during geomagnetic storms

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95003/1/grl13415.pd