Soul City: a sustainable edutainment vehicle facilitating social change

This paper outlines the programming model employed by the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, a South African NGO, in using ‘edutainment’ to facilitate social change. The paper refers to the intersection of this model and current thought on health promotion and various social change theories. It also discusses key challenges and factors contributing to sustainability over 12 years.     

大学生一般自我效能感与防御方式的相关研究

目的 探讨大学生一般自我效能感与防御方式之间的关系。方法 采用“一般自我效能感量表”及“防御方式问卷”，对390名大学生的一般自我效能感和防御方式进行了测量。结果 大学生一般自我效能感性别差异非常显著（P〈0．01），而城乡差异不显著（P〉0．05）；大学生防御方式的性别差异显著（P〈0．05），而城乡差异不显著（P〉0．05）；大学生的一般自我效能感与防御方式有显著相关。结论 一般自我效能感是影响大学生防御方式的重要因素。     

Health promotion training needs analysis: an integral role for clinical nurses in Lanarkshire,Scotland*

Training needs analysis is considered essential to professional and organizational development, for continuing education and for incorporation into professional practice. Increasingly, nurses are encouraged to develop their health promotion role. Despite this there has been relatively little research in Scotland into the health promotion role of the hospital nurse. This study describes the results of a health promotion training needs analysis undertaken on qualified, hospital-based nurses in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Information on the nurses' current health promotion practices, their attitudes and beliefs, their views on role development and priorities for further training were collated, analysed and discussed within the framework of the Health Action Model. This model was originally designed to assist understanding of the gap that exists between an individual intention to act and the eventual health action. However, in this study the ways in which ‘cognitive factors’ (knowledge and beliefs) and ‘motivational factors’ (considering values, attitudes and drives) and pressures from social norms and significant others assisted in the understanding of the nurse's orientation to, and beliefs about, health promotion practice. Fifty-seven per cent of nurses in the study considered health promotion activities to be emerging in clinical care and 4% considered them to be advanced. The interest respondents have in role development and the further integration of health promotion activities into nursing practice was explored by ascertaining the nurses' attitudes and beliefs about their own health promotion role. Of 107 respondents, a majority 72 (67%) agreed health promotion interventions to be an important function of the nurse with 29 (27%) strongly agreeing (n=107). Sixty per cent stated they would be interested in developing their role and 30% were very strongly interested. Recommendations are therefore made for future planning and development strategies for the health promotion role of hospital nurses.     

Articulation of Asthma and Its Care Among Low-Income Emergency Care Recipients

Low-income minority patients from East St. Louis, Illinois, a depressed midwestern urban city, who had visited acute care settings with asthma symptoms, participated in a focus group. Questions were constructed around the Health Belief Model to characterize participants' experiences in receiving asthma care, their confidence in long-term asthma self-management, barriers they perceived to managing their asthma, and recommendations they would make for improving asthma care in their community. Analysis of comments suggests an appreciable understanding of asthma triggers, limited coping behaviors for asthma symptoms, very limited practice of active asthma management, perception of the health care system as frequently insensitive to their needs or their knowledge of their own care, exchange of well-articulated information regarding how to deal with the system, and an apparent lack of awareness of any potential contribution of patient education or support system.     

上海市少年儿童住院医疗保险费用分析

本文研究了上海市少年儿童住院医疗保险的费用水平、特点和影响因素。研究结果表明:手术与否、患者年龄、就诊地点、家长医疗保健制度和医院等级的差异造成次均费用的差异;次均费用构成比较合理,药品费比例低于全市水平。病种费用居前三位的是白血病、肺炎和先天性心脏病;特殊病种占总医疗服务人次的4.90％,而医疗费用占总费用的32.57％。     

DNA probe technology: implications for service planning in Britain

For certain genetic conditions DNA testing identifies carriers and determines the risk status of foetuses, thus helping parents to make more informed prenatal decisions. Data, collected from three genetic centres in England and Wales from August 1986 to July 1990, are used to describe trends in demand for DNA testing, the impact of DNA tests on carrier risk assessment, and the use of DNA tests in relation to pregnancy outcome. Altogether the data include 23,388 subjects and 681 pregnancies in 8738 families divided into five cohorts by year of entry and referral. The most frequent gene disorders referred to the genetic centres are currently being tested or will soon be tested. For these disorders the initial high level of activity has declined and may have reached steady state. Demand for DNA services is high for cystic fibrosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, intermediate for Huntington's disease, and low for adult polycystic kidney disease, phenylketonuria and tuberous sclerosis. Based on these findings we suggest that demand for DNA tests will be high in serious, untreatable and slow progressing conditions with early onset; intermediate for conditions affecting intellect and neurological integrity with later onset; and low for treatable, late-onset conditions, or those for which there is evidence of heterogeneity, and variable penetrance. It would be helpful to assess the extent to which this view of demand is confirmed when the new disorders being DNA tested are considered and for the pattern of activity of DNA testing for some types of cancer. Since no DNA centre could offer a fully comprehensive testing service, it is recommended that a structure is created to audit overall activity, assist in policy formulation, and influence supraregional service organisation, in order that the spread of DNA services be planned as effectively as possible. This structure would facilitate monitoring of the evolution of contract specifications agreed by commissioners and providers on a regional basis.     

Local health services: some lessons from their evolution in Bolivia

Summary For a decade, numerous projects in Bolivia have tried to put in practice the concept of local health systems. But, so far, no significant changes have been made and local health services still are the 'poor relation' of the system. The main components of the project—expansion of health facilities, training of health personnel and institutional decentralization—were not designed to respond to the complexity of the problems encountered. Decentralization was implemented at the level of health districts but not accompanied by redefinition of functions at the central level, and challenged by civil servants' attempts to save their jobs. While training activities did introduce new methods and subjects, they were too often reduced to short workshops or seminars. Health facilities were built without regard for their significance beyond health care. A strategic approach is needed to adapt the planning process to the degree of liberty allowed by society.     

肺结核病人健康教育现状调查与影响因素分析

目的　调查活动性肺结核病人在诊断前接受结核病知识的教育现状 ,分析病人接受结核病知识与社会经济因素的影响。方法　对 2 0 0 0年全国结核病流行病学抽样调查中的 1 2 78名活动性肺结核病人进行社会经济个案调查 ,调查以问卷的形式进行。结果　 1 2 78例肺结核病人在诊断前有 5 1 4例接受过不同形式的健康教育 ,占 40 2 % ,男性接受健康教育比例为 41 8% ,女性为 3 6 9%。各年龄组接受健康教育比例 <1 5岁组最低为2 5 9% ,其次是 65～年龄组为 3 0 9%。随着病人文化程度的增高和家庭人均年收入的增高 ,接受健康教育比例增高。肺结核病人各种职业的分类中 ,无工作者接受健康教育比例最低为 3 5 5 % ,其次为农林牧渔劳动者。按照病人是否有症状、有症状后是否就诊及最后诊断为肺结核病人的 3个过程接受不同形式的健康教育的频率 ,均以广播电视、健康教育和亲友教育为主。结论　在开展健康教育活动中 ,应注意对儿童和老年人群 ,对于文化程度低、家庭经济收入低、无工作者和农林牧渔劳动者等重点人群的教育     

南通市居民健康知识水平现状及对策

为全面了解和准确掌握南通市各行各业、中小学校健康知识的知晓情况,对创建国家卫生城市健康教育工作进行效果评估。调查显示,南通市11个片区健康知识的总知晓率居民为93.42%,学生为91.08%。要真正提高全体市民的健康教育水平,下一步必须采取三大对策,即:形成“抓反复、反复抓”的常态机制;加大健康教育投入;教育部门加强全市学生的健康知识普及工作,对卫生部门列入学校卫生的指标加以考核。只有这样,南通市的健康教育工作才能跃上新台阶。     

Inadequate dietary magnesium intake increases atherosclerotic plaque development in rabbits

Epidemiological studies have shown dietary magnesium (Mg) intake and serum Mg levels to be inversely correlated with the development of atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that low levels of Mg would promote atherosclerotic plaque development in rabbits. New Zealand white rabbits (4 months old, n = 22) were fed an atherogenic diet containing 0.12% (−Mg), 0.27% (control), or 0.43% (+Mg) Mg for 8 weeks. Blood samples were obtained at baseline, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks and were assayed for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), non-HDL, triglycerides (TG), C-reactive protein, serum Mg, and erythrocyte Mg. Aortas from −Mg had significantly more plaque, with an intima thickness 42% greater than control and 36% greater than +Mg. Serum cholesterol levels rose over time, and at 8 weeks, −Mg had the highest and +Mg the lowest total and non-HDL cholesterol and TG levels, although these results did not reach significance. Over time, serum Mg levels increased, and erythrocyte Mg levels decreased. C-reactive protein significantly increased in all groups at 4 and 6 weeks but returned to baseline levels by 8 weeks. This study supports the hypothesis that inadequate intake of Mg results in an increase in atherosclerotic plaque development in rabbits.