Service improvement in social work and health. An e-guide for practitioners and managers

This book aims to provide practitioners and managers working within social care and health environments with the knowledge to be able to ask precise questions of a potential service improvement project

Can general practitioners influence the nation's health through a population approach to the provision of lifestyle advice?

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle advice from general practitioners (GPs) has been shown to have a positive effect on population health. In practice, GPs provide lifestyle advice to a minority of their patients only, those who are high risk or already have symptoms. AIM: To look in depth at GPs' attitudes towards adopting a population approach to lifestyle advice and to use these results to identify ways of maximising the potential of GPs to affect population health. METHOD: Thirty-six GPs, purposively sampled by identifying characteristics likely to affect their health promotion activity, participated in a focus group study. Data from the focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analysed using standard methods. RESULTS: The main themes that emerged suggested that GPs do not take a population approach to lifestyle advice because they prefer a high risk approach and doubt their ability to be effective in a population approach. GPs believed that social, cultural, and environmental factors were the most important determinants of population health. Furthermore, they were concerned about the detrimental effects on the doctor-patient relationship of providing lifestyle advice to all patients. GPs believed that a multi-agency, centrally co-ordinated approach was the preferred way to improve population health and that their role should be limited to secondary prevention. CONCLUSION: Large amounts of resources would be necessary to convince GPs to adopt a population approach to lifestyle advice. Measures to tackle the social and environmental determinants of health may be a more effective and efficient means of improving the nation's health

In deep water

The Post Qualifying Social Work Part One Programme might be in murky waters, but that doesn't mean 'throwing the baby out with the bath water', as Keith Brown, Natasha Young and Steven Keen explain

Health issues among Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East

Background: There is little specific published research which examines the health issues among Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle Eastern countries. In particular, it examines the nature and quality of health care situation, work-related health risks, working condition and living condition in host countries. Aim: This study reviewed the literature about work-related health risks, access to health care, working and living condition of Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. Method: The published literature was searched through electronic databases such as CINAHL and Medline using a number of key words and their combinations, and the searching of published books and reports from number of UN agencies. Bibliographies of published articles retrieved from electronic database searches were searched in turn, and relevant articles retrieved for further review. Results: This review of the literature suggested that being a migrant worker involves number of specific risks, including anxiety, depression, tuberculosis and eye injury. In addition to this, work-related accidents and injury, headache, suicide attempts, cardiac arrests, mental illness and high death rates are further evidence of health risks among Asian migrant workers working in the Middle East. Furthermore, these workforces generally have poor working and living conditions. Conclusion: Migrant workers mainly from Nepal and other Asian countries, working in the Middle East face various work-related risks including accidents at work; stress and mental health issues and lifestyle related factors such as illegal drinking. Thus, future research needs to focus attention on minority ethnic groups in the Middle Eastern countries

Strategies for disseminating qualitative research findings: three exemplars

Assuming there are those who do pay attention to the dissemination of qualitative research findings, what can we learn from them? For this article, we searched for examples of qualitative research where findings have been disseminated beyond the journal article and/or conference presentation. The rationale for pursuing examples of how good qualitative research has been disseminated is that we pay attention to both scientific and communicative concerns. All three exemplars in this article go beyond the forms of dissemination that traditionally serve academic communities and attempt to address the communicative concern of qualitative research findings. This is not to say that these modes of dissemination replace the scholarship of qualitative research and/or the peer-reviewed journal manuscript—far from it. In disseminating qualitative data, researchers have an array of presentational styles and formats to choose from that best fit their research purposes, such as drama, dance, poetry, websites, video and evocative forms of writing. We conclude by considering the ethical issues that may be involved in these forms of disseminating qualitative research, as well as the challenges for evaluating the impact of such strategies

Comparing GDP Health and Military Expenditure, Poverty and Child Mortality of 71 Countries from Different Regions

Child mortality rates (CMR) indicate how a nation meets the needs of its children, so relative to their region, do some countries ‘neglect’ their children? Using William Penn (1693) statement ‘It\u27s a reproach to religion and government to suffer so much poverty and excess’ to judge nations CMR from three world regions within the context of poverty, health and military gross domestic product (GDP) expenditure data. West (n= 21): USA, New Zealand and Canada are a reproach—Sweden, Japan Finland and Norway are commended. Asia (n= 17]: Pakistan, Myanmar and India are a reproach. Singapore and Thailand commended. Sub‐Saharan Africa (n= 33): Relative to their region, Madagascar and Namibia are commended. Twelve countries failed the United Nations (UN) target, including the relatively rich Nigeria and South Africa. Poverty and higher CMR are linked in all three regions. Relative poverty and military expenditures correlated in the West but not in the other regions. In the pursuit of social justice, societies need to be alerted to the extent of the impact of poverty on child mortality even though some countries will find this challenging