Mehr als nur ein neuer Name

Die Schweizerische Gesellschaft der Fachärztinnen und Fachärzte für Prävention und Gesundheitswesen heisst ab jetzt in allen Landesregionen gleich – Gesundheitswesen wird mit Public Health ersetzt. Hinter dem Namenwechsel steht mehr als ein paar Buchstaben. Seit 2015 hat sich die Gesellschaft neu aufgestellt – new ­public health möchte man meinen

Prävention und Gesundheitswesen : digitale Epidemiologie - eine neue Zeit ist angebrochen!

Fachärztinnen und Fachärzte für «Prävention und Gesundheitswesen» oder schlichtweg für «Public Health» befassen sich traditionell mit der Epidemiologie von Erkrankungen, deren Determinanten und Verbreitung in Bevölkerungen. Gesundheitsförderung, Prävention oder Gesundheitsmonitoring und Systementwicklung, all diese Prozesse brauchen Daten, die erhoben, analysiert und interpretiert werden müssen, um eine nachhaltige und ganzheitliche Bevölkerungsgesundheit zu gewährleisten. Im digitalen Zeitalter stehen auf einmal sehr viele Gesundheitsdaten elektronisch zur Verfügung, die Auskunft geben über den Gesundheitszustand der Bevölkerung. Die Fachärzteschaft «Prävention und Gesundheitswesen» hat sich anlässlich einer gemeinsamen Fortbildung mit der Vereinigung der Kantonsärztinnen und -ärzte der Schweiz am 17. November 2016 mit Experten dazu ausgetauscht (Antoine Flahault, Institute of Global Health; Séverine Rion Logean, Swiss Re; Marcel Salathé, EPFL; Dr. Olivia Woolley, EPFZ). Die Anzahl an Veranstaltungen zum Thema, die in den darauffolgenden Monaten allein in der Schweiz stattfanden, weisen ebenso wie die steigende Anzahl an Publikationen von 84 im Jahr 2000 auf fast 500 im Jahr 2016 darauf hin: digitale Epidemiologie ist ein «hot topic». Doch was bedeutet digitale Epidemiologie? Und welche Konsequenzen hat sie für «Public Health»

Disability pension receipt in young adults : an analysis of the Swiss social protection and labour market (SESAM) data

Background: There has been an overall decreasing trend in the inflow into disability pension in Switzerland since 2003 with the exception of young adults. Disablement in young adulthood reflects a particularly critical phenomenon given the potentially far-reaching long-term social, economic and health consequences. The aim of this study was therefore to identify factors for disability pension in young adults aged 18–39, living in Switzerland. Methods: We used the 2010–2015 cross-sections of the Social protection and labour market; a unique dataset linking microdata from the Swiss Labour Force Survey, the Swiss Central Compensation Office Register, and the Unemployment Insurance Register. Multiple logistic regression was employed to explore the association between demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors and disability pension in young adults living in Switzerland with long-term activity limitation (N = 5306). Alternative specifications of the benchmark model were estimated as robustness checks; and subsample analyses were conducted excluding (i) those aged 18-24 and (ii) those with partial disability pension. Results: Our regression results showed that those living without a working partner (OR 2.11; 95% CI 1.51–2.94) and without a child aged 0–14 (OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.48–3.12), born in Switzerland (OR 2.68; 95% CI 1.87–3.84), of higher age (OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.12–1.19), having completed at most lower secondary school (OR 3.26; 95% CI 2.24–4.76), lacking income throughout the four-year period prior to interview (OR 3.94; 95% CI 2.70–5.75), suffering from chronic illness (OR 4.52; 95% CI 2.83–7.19), and severe long-term activity limitation (OR 4.52; 95% CI 2.83–7.19) had higher odds of DP. Our findings were robust to alternative specifications and subsamples; and the alternative specifications revealed differences by learnt occupation, with highest odds for those without an occupational qualification (OR 5.93; 95% CI 3.72–9.46; p-value 0.000) and for those in ‘Manufacturing’ (OR 3.59; 95% CI 1.91–6.71) relative to ‘Health, education, culture, and science’. Conclusions: Most importantly, our results showed that educational and employment factors are of high relevance, as well as chronic morbidity and severe long-term activity limitation. From a policy perspective, early intervention should thus focus on the attainment of vocational and academic qualifications beyond the lower secondary level, facilitating school-to-work transition and labour market integration

Electronic health literacy in Swiss-German parents : cross-sectional study of eHealth literacy scale unidimensionality

Parents often use digital media to search for information related to their children's health. As the quantity and quality of digital sources meant specifically for parents expand, parents' digital health literacy is increasingly important to process the information they retrieve. One of the earliest developed and widely used instruments to assess digital health literacy is the self-reported eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). However, the eHEALS has not been psychometrically validated in a sample of parents. Given the inconsistency of the eHEALS underlying factor structure across previous reports, it is particularly important for validation to occur

Baby-friendly hospital designation has a sustained impact on continued breastfeeding

The Baby-Friendly Hospital (BFH) Initiative has led to an increase in breastfeeding rates and duration worldwide. But little is known about whether the beneficial effects persist beyond a facility's designation as a BFH. To investigate the association of BFH designation (current, former, and never) and compliance with Baby-Friendly (BF) practices on breastfeeding in Switzerland, this study combined nationwide survey data on breastfeeding with BFH monitoring data. In this cross-sectional study, 1,326 children were born in 34 current (N = 508), 28 former (N = 425), and 34 never designated BFHs (N = 393). We compared exclusive and any breastfeeding according to BFH designation over the first year of life, using Kaplan-Meyer Survival curves. Logistic regression models were applied to analyse breastfeeding prevalence, and Cox-regression models were used for exclusive (0-6 months) and continued (6-12 months) breastfeeding duration. Average duration of exclusive breastfeeding (13.1 weeks, 95% confidence interval [12.0, 17.4]) and any breastfeeding (32.7 weeks, 95% confidence interval [30.5, 39.2]) were the longest for babies born in currently accredited BFHs. Exclusive breastfeeding was associated with high compliance with monitored BF practices in current BFHs and with the number of BF practices experienced in all hospitals. Continued breastfeeding was significantly longer when babies were born in current BFHs (cessation hazard ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval [0.42, 0.84]) or in former BFHs (cessation hazard ratio 0.68, 95% confidence interval [0.48, 0.97]). Overall, the results support continued investment into BFHs, because babies born in current BFHs are breastfed the most and the longest, whereas a former BFH designation shows a sustained effect on continued breastfeeding

Measuring mental health action competencies in school teachers: internal and external validity evidence

IntroductionMental health literacy is receiving increasing research attention due to growing concerns for mental health globally. Among children, teachers have recently been recognized as playing a vital role in the recognition and reporting of potential mental health issues.MethodsA nationally sampled cross-section of teachers was surveyed to examine the discriminant validity of the mental health literacy measure across levels of teaching. A survey collected a total of n = 369 teacher responses in Switzerland (Kindergarten = 76, Primary = 210, Secondary = 83). Item response theory (IRT) analyses were conducted.ResultsInspection of psychometric properties indicated removal of two weak performing items. The 15-item measure exhibited a significant mean difference, such that class-responsibility function scored higher (M = 2.86, SD = .45) than non-responsible function (M = 2.68, SD = .45) teachers [t(309) = −2.20, p = .01]. It also exhibited a significant mean difference, such that more subjective experienced scored higher (M = 2.86, SD = .45) than less subjective experienced (M = 2.68, SD = .45) teachers [t(210) = −8.66, p < .01].DiscussionHypotheses regarding age and role tenure were in the expected direction, but non-significant. The MHL measure for teachers demonstrated sound measurement properties supporting usage across teaching levels