Leadership for health improvement: implementation and evaluation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a co-authored reflection on the health improvement leadership development programme and the key evaluation messages derived from piloting in an English National Health Service region. It highlights the specific attributes of this approach to health improvement leadership development and clarifies health improvement development issues. Design/methodology/approach Appreciative inquiry and soft systems methodology are combined in an evaluation approach designed to capture individual as well as organisation learning and how it impacts on leadership in specific contexts. Findings The evaluation exposes the health improvement leadership needs of a multi-organisation cohort, offers some explanations for successful achievement of learning needs while also exposing of the challenges and paradoxes faced in this endeavour. Originality/value There are limited reported templates of how to develop leadership for health improvement. This paper details a whole systems approach, acknowledging the impact of context on leadership and an approach to evaluating such complex initiatives

Mixed methods evaluation of a primary eye care training programme for primary health workers in Morogoro Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: There are 285 million people with visual impairment (VI) worldwide including 39 million who are blind; 15 % of those with VI live in Africa, and around 80 % of VI is preventable or treatable with the right equipment, information and skills. The scarcity of human resources for eye health, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, is a key challenge towards achieving this goal. Therefore training primary health workers (PHW) in providing eye-care services has been seen by some authors as a way to improve access to eye-care services in remote communities. However, the package of interventions which could be effectively delivered for eye-care at the primary-care level or the set of skills and competencies that PHWs need has not yet been delineated. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a four day training programme of PHWs in primary eye-care conducted in Morogoro, Tanzania in 2010/2011. METHODS: A mixed methods study using pre- and immediate post-training knowledge assessment of 60 trainees, and in-depth face to face interviews with 20 PHWs and 8 service managers 2 to 3 years after the training. RESULTS: Pre-and immediate post-training assessments indicated improvement in health worker knowledge about eye-care in the short term. Qualitative investigations 2 to 3 years after the training showed that although staff could make the correct management decisions when presented with eye-health problems, they often could not make a correct diagnosis. PHWs and managers reported satisfaction with the content of the training but some of the less well qualified staff found it overwhelming. Theoretical teaching was appreciated by most participants but almost all suggested increasing the time spent on acquiring skills. The training manual was accepted by many and some improvements were recommended. All interviewed PHWs were keen to improve their skills and knowledge. Acquired skills and knowledge were used for identification, referral of patients and for eye-health promotion. CONCLUSION: The training program in Morogoro was considered by PHWs as broadly successful and satisfying in terms of content, methods and duration of training. However, any future programme needs to be considered within the context of strengthening wider health systems

Responses of Sunda clouded leopard population density to anthropogenic disturbance and refining estimates of their conservation status in Sabah

Extensive areas of tropical forests have been, and continue to be, disturbed as a result of selective timber extraction. Although such anthropogenic disturbance typically results in the loss of biodiversity, many species persist, and their conservation in production landscapes could be enhanced by a greater understanding of how biodiversity responds to forest management practices. We conducted intensive camera-trap surveys of eight protected forest areas in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and developed estimates of Sunda clouded leopard Neofelis diardi population density from spatially explicit capture–recapture analyses of detection data to investigate how the species’ abundance varies across the landscape and in response to anthropogenic disturbance. Estimates of population density from six forest areas were 1.39–3.10 individuals per 100 km2. Our study provides the first evidence that the population density of the Sunda clouded leopard is negatively affected by hunting pressure and forest fragmentation, and that among selectively logged forests, time since logging is positively associated with abundance. We argue that these negative anthropogenic impacts could be mitigated with improved logging practices, such as reducing the access of poachers by effective gating and destruction of road access points, and by the deployment of anti-poaching patrols. By calculating a weighted mean population density estimate from estimates developed here and from the literature, and by extrapolating this value to an estimate of current available habitat, we estimate there are 754 (95% posterior interval 325–1,337) Sunda clouded leopards in Sabah

Spatio-temporal ecology of sympatric felids on Borneo. Evidence for resource partitioning?

Niche differentiation, the partitioning of resources along one or more axes of a species’ niche hyper-volume, is widely recognised as an important mechanism for sympatric species to reduce interspecific competition and predation risk, and thus facilitate co-existence. Resource partitioning may be facilitated by behavioural differentiation along three main niche dimensions: habitat, food and time. In this study, we investigate the extent to which these mechanisms can explain the coexistence of an assemblage of five sympatric felids in Borneo. Using multi-scale logistic regression, we show that Bornean felids exhibit differences in both their broad and fine-scale habitat use. We calculate temporal activity patterns and overlap between these species, and present evidence for temporal separation within this felid guild. Lastly, we conducted an all-subsets logistic regression to predict the occurrence of each felid species as a function of the co-occurrence of a large number of other species and showed that Bornean felids co-occurred with a range of other species, some of which could be candidate prey. Our study reveals apparent resource partitioning within the Bornean felid assemblage, operating along all three niche dimension axes. These results provide new insights into the ecology of these species and the broader community in which they live and also provide important information for conservation planning for this guild of predators

Responses of Sunda clouded leopard Neofelis diardi population density to anthropogenic disturbance: refining estimates of its conservation status in Sabah

Extensive areas of tropical forests have been, and continue to be, disturbed as a result of selective timber extraction. Although such anthropogenic disturbance typically results in the loss of biodiversity, many species persist, and their conservation in production landscapes could be enhanced by a greater understanding of how biodiversity responds to forest management practices. We conducted intensive camera-trap surveys of eight protected forest areas in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and developed estimates of Sunda clouded leopard Neofelis diardi population density from spatially explicit capture–recapture analyses of detection data to investigate how the species’ abundance varies across the landscape and in response to anthropogenic disturbance. Estimates of population density from six forest areas were 1.39–3.10 individuals per 100 km2. Our study provides the first evidence that the population density of the Sunda clouded leopard is negatively affected by hunting pressure and forest fragmentation, and that among selectively logged forests, time since logging is positively associated with abundance. We argue that these negative anthropogenic impacts could be mitigated with improved logging practices, such as reducing the access of poachers by effective gating and destruction of road access points, and by the deployment of anti-poaching patrols. By calculating a weighted mean population density estimate from estimates developed here and from the literature, and by extrapolating this value to an estimate of current available habitat, we estimate there are 754 (95% posterior interval 325–1,337) Sunda clouded leopards in Sabah

The Impact of Paid Sick Days on Public Health in an Elementary School Population

Background: The societal impact of Paid Sick Days (PSDs) has not been fully addressed in Vermont. Evidence suggests that PSDs benefit the well being of the employee in addition to saving expenses for the employer and the state. PSDs prevent the spread of diseases such as influenza and allow the ailing individual to receive proper medical attention. Inadequate PSDs not only affect the individual who needs time away from work due to illness, but extend to their entire family. Studies have documented the adverse effects from lack of PSDs on the ability for parents to care for their child. The following facts are known: • 7 states require private sector employees to provide “flexible” PSDs for family members (Vermont does not). • 66% of employers in Vermont do not provide PSDs for their employees. • Parents with PSDs or vacation are 5.2 times more likely to take time off from work to care for their sick child. We hypothesize that elementary aged children of working parents, who have an insufficient amount of PSDs, are more likely to attend school with an acute illness and are more likely to receive inadequate health care (i.e., miss well child check ups).https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1015/thumbnail.jp

PARPs database: A LIMS systems for protein-protein interaction data mining or laboratory information management system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the "post-genome" era, mass spectrometry (MS) has become an important method for the analysis of proteins and the rapid advancement of this technique, in combination with other proteomics methods, results in an increasing amount of proteome data. This data must be archived and analysed using specialized bioinformatics tools.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>We herein describe "PARPs database," a data analysis and management pipeline for liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) proteomics. PARPs database is a web-based tool whose features include experiment annotation, protein database searching, protein sequence management, as well as data-mining of the peptides and proteins identified.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Using this pipeline, we have successfully identified several interactions of biological significance between PARP-1 and other proteins, namely RFC-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.</p