The Belgian Rexist Movement Before the Second World War: Success and Failure

Belgium in the 1930s was no different from the rest of Europe. It was in a crisis-financial, political, and, as it appeared to some, social. Unemployment reached a peak for the decade in 1934 (with 183,000 out of a population of about 8,092,000). Yet in the first half of the 1930s, the government had no working policy for either inflation or unemployment. Furthermore, the nature of Belgian politics at the time made Parliament ineffectual. Since the First World War, Belgium had been run by the Union Nationale, a coalition of the three strongest parties in the nation, the Catholics, the Socialists, and the Liberals (in the November, 1919 elections, the results in the Parliamentary House were 71 seats, 70 seats, and 34 seats, respectively). Although such a union guaranteed that a plurality of Belgian opinion would be heard, and protected against anyone party- and ideology- unfairly superseding others, it also made the process of change very slow. For instead of being able to work on proposals for policies, the party representatives spent most of their time concentrating on compromising with each other. Enacting new legislation was a trying process. As a result, it seemed to some Belgians that the government was not doing its job. The younger generation of Belgians who had just reached the voting age of twenty-one were particularly aggravated by this stale and sluggish political system. Many of them wanted to have a voice in politics beyond their ballot, and were impatient to effect change within their country. Some sought out political youth groups, such as the Socialist youth, while others turned to more socially and religiously active groups, such as Catholic action. The Belgian Rexist movement emerged out of the latter. The future Rexists were a group of university and secondary school students who wanted to bring moral and religious reform to their nation. The proselytizing aspect of Catholic action appealed to them because it offered them the chance to actively bring reform to society around them, and to immediately measure their results. At the same time, they realized that only through politics, only through entering the political arena could they accomplish the societal reforms they wanted on a grand scale. The history of the Rexist movement is the history of its attempting to bring Catholic activism for moral and religious reform to Belgium through political channels. It is also the history of the Belgian form of fascism. For in the process of its political development, Rex would be swayed by an ideology which was growing fast in all of Europe, and which seemed to offer an answer for some of the other Europeans who were searching for a way to reform their society: fascism. Because of Belgiums\u27 historical and geographical situation. and because of the political tensions unfolding in Europe in the 1930s, the evolution of fascism in Rex would be important

Community perceptions of malaria and vaccines in the South Coast and Busia regions of Kenya

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children younger than 5 years in Kenya. Within the context of planning for a vaccine to be used alongside existing malaria control methods, this study explores sociocultural and health communications issues among individuals who are responsible for or influence decisions on childhood vaccination at the community level.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This qualitative study was conducted in two malaria-endemic regions of Kenya--South Coast and Busia. Participant selection was purposive and criterion based. A total of 20 focus group discussions, 22 in-depth interviews, and 18 exit interviews were conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants understand that malaria is a serious problem that no single tool can defeat. Communities would welcome a malaria vaccine, although they would have questions and concerns about the intervention. While support for local child immunization programs exists, limited understanding about vaccines and what they do is evident among younger and older people, particularly men. Even as health care providers are frustrated when parents do not have their children vaccinated, some parents have concerns about access to and the quality of vaccination services. Some women, including older mothers and those less economically privileged, see themselves as the focus of health workers' negative comments associated with either their parenting choices or their children's appearance. In general, parents and caregivers weigh several factors--such as personal opportunity costs, resource constraints, and perceived benefits--when deciding whether or not to have their children vaccinated, and the decision often is influenced by a network of people, including community leaders and health workers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study raises issues that should inform a communications strategy and guide policy decisions within Kenya on eventual malaria vaccine introduction. Unlike the current practice, where health education on child welfare and immunization focuses on women, the communications strategy should equally target men and women in ways that are appropriate for each gender. It should involve influential community members and provide needed information and reassurances about immunization. Efforts also should be made to address concerns about the quality of immunization services--including health workers' interpersonal communication skills.</p

Study of Healthcare Personnel with Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses in Israel (SHIRI): study protocol

Abstract Background The Study of Healthcare Personnel with Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses in Israel (SHIRI) prospectively follows a cohort of healthcare personnel (HCP) in two hospitals in Israel. SHIRI will describe the frequency of influenza virus infections among HCP, identify predictors of vaccine acceptance, examine how repeated influenza vaccination may modify immunogenicity, and evaluate influenza vaccine effectiveness in preventing influenza illness and missed work. Methods Cohort enrollment began in October, 2016; a second year of the study and a second wave of cohort enrollment began in June 2017. The study will run for at least 3 years and will follow approximately 2000 HCP (who are both employees and members of Clalit Health Services [CHS]) with routine direct patient contact. Eligible HCP are recruited using a stratified sampling strategy. After informed consent, participants complete a brief enrollment survey with questions about occupational responsibilities and knowledge, attitudes, and practices about influenza vaccines. Blood samples are collected at enrollment and at the end of influenza season; HCP who choose to be vaccinated contribute additional blood one month after vaccination. During the influenza season, participants receive twice-weekly short message service (SMS) messages asking them if they have acute respiratory illness or febrile illness (ARFI) symptoms. Ill participants receive follow-up SMS messages to confirm illness symptoms and duration and are asked to self-collect a nasal swab. Information on socio-economic characteristics, current and past medical conditions, medical care utilization and vaccination history is extracted from the CHS database. Information about missed work due to illness is obtained by self-report and from employee records. Respiratory specimens from self-collected nasal swabs are tested for influenza A and B viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, and coronaviruses using validated multiplex quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays. The hemagglutination inhibition assay will be used to detect the presence of neutralizing influenza antibodies in serum. Discussion SHIRI will expand our knowledge of the burden of respiratory viral infections among HCP and the effectiveness of current and repeated annual influenza vaccination in preventing influenza illness, medical utilization, and missed workdays among HCP who are in direct contact with patients. Trial registration NCT03331991 . Registered on November 6, 2017.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146186/1/12879_2018_Article_3444.pd

Instruments to assess the perception of physicians in the decision-making process of specific clinical encounters: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The measurement of processes and outcomes that reflect the complexity of the decision-making process within specific clinical encounters is an important area of research to pursue. A systematic review was conducted to identify instruments that assess the perception physicians have of the decision-making process within specific clinical encounters.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>For every year available up until April 2007, PubMed, PsycINFO, Current Contents, Dissertation Abstracts and Sociological Abstracts were searched for original studies in English or French. Reference lists from retrieved studies were also consulted. Studies were included if they reported a self-administered instrument evaluating physicians' perceptions of the decision-making process within specific clinical encounters, contained sufficient description to permit critical appraisal and presented quantitative results based on administering the instrument. Two individuals independently assessed the eligibility of the instruments and abstracted information on their conceptual underpinnings, main evaluation domain, development, format, reliability, validity and responsiveness. They also assessed the quality of the studies that reported on the development of the instruments with a modified version of STARD.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 3431 records identified and screened for evaluation, 26 potentially relevant instruments were assessed; 11 met the inclusion criteria. Five instruments were published before 1995. Among those published after 1995, five offered a corresponding patient version. Overall, the main evaluation domains were: satisfaction with the clinical encounter (n = 2), mutual understanding between health professional and patient (n = 2), mental workload (n = 1), frustration with the clinical encounter (n = 1), nurse-physician collaboration (n = 1), perceptions of communication competence (n = 2), degree of comfort with a decision (n = 1) and information on medication (n = 1). For most instruments (n = 10), some reliability and validity criteria were reported in French or English. Overall, the mean number of items on the modified version of STARD was 12.4 (range: 2 to 18).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This systematic review provides a critical appraisal and repository of instruments that assess the perception physicians have of the decision-making process within specific clinical encounters. More research is needed to pursue the validation of the existing instruments and the development of patient versions. This will help researchers capture the complexity of the decision-making process within specific clinical encounters.</p

A WIC-Based Curriculum to Enhance Parent Communication with Healthcare Providers

The objectives describe a curriculum to support parent-provider communication about child development, and to demonstrate its impact and effectiveness when delivered by staff from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). A curriculum was developed by a university-WIC partnership for a WIC center-based health education class to teach parents about child development and how to talk to their child's doctor about development. During a 90-min training session, university pediatricians used this curriculum and trained WIC paraprofessionals to conduct a 20-30&nbsp;min center-based education session. WIC paraprofessionals completed an on-line survey to obtain their demographic characteristics, and their attitudes and perceptions about the training sessions and their experiences teaching the center-based health education session to parents. Approximately 500 WIC paraprofessionals received the 90-min training session across 60 centers in the Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program in Southern California. About 250 WIC paraprofessionals completed the on-line survey and over 80&nbsp;% of WIC staff reported that they had learned new information about child development as a result of the training, and 87&nbsp;% of the WIC staff reported that the training was sufficient to feel comfortable teaching the class content to parents. We demonstrated the ability to build WIC paraprofessional capacity to promote parental participation in child developmental surveillance and communication with their child's doctor. With appropriate training, WIC staff are interested in supporting population-based efforts to improve parent-physician communication about child development that can complement WIC's existing maternal and child health topics

The Belgian Rexist Movement before the Second World War: Success and Failure

Belgium in the 1930s was no different from the rest of Europe. It was in a crisis-financial, political, and, as it appeared to some, social. Unemployment reached a peak for the decade in 1934 (with 183,000 out of a population of about 8,092,000). Yet in the first half of the 1930s, the government had no working policy for either inflation or unemployment. Furthermore, the nature of Belgian politics at the time made Parliament ineffectual. Since the First World War, Belgium had been run by the Union Nationale, a coalition of the three strongest parties in the nation, the Catholics, the Socialists, and the Liberals (in the November, 1919 elections, the results in the Parliamentary House were 71 seats, 70 seats, and 34 seats, respectively). Although such a union guaranteed that a plurality of Belgian opinion would be heard, and protected against anyone party- and ideology- unfairly superseding others, it also made the process of change very slow. For instead of being able to work on proposals for policies, the party representatives spent most of their time concentrating on compromising with each other. Enacting new legislation was a trying process. As a result, it seemed to some Belgians that the government was not doing its job. The younger generation of Belgians who had just reached the voting age of twenty-one were particularly aggravated by this stale and sluggish political system. Many of them wanted to have a voice in politics beyond their ballot, and were impatient to effect change within their country. Some sought out political youth groups, such as the Socialist youth, while others turned to more socially and religiously active groups, such as Catholic action. The Belgian Rexist movement emerged out of the latter. The future Rexists were a group of university and secondary school students who wanted to bring moral and religious reform to their nation. The proselytizing aspect of Catholic action appealed to them because it offered them the chance to actively bring reform to society around them, and to immediately measure their results. At the same time, they realized that only through politics, only through entering the political arena could they accomplish the societal reforms they wanted on a grand scale. The history of the Rexist movement is the history of its attempting to bring Catholic activism for moral and religious reform to Belgium through political channels. It is also the history of the Belgian form of fascism. For in the process of its political development, Rex would be swayed by an ideology which was growing fast in all of Europe, and which seemed to offer an answer for some of the other Europeans who were searching for a way to reform their society: fascism. Because of Belgiums\u27 historical and geographical situation. and because of the political tensions unfolding in Europe in the 1930s, the evolution of fascism in Rex would be important