Continuous Health Education Research Articles

Use of hospital statistics to plan preventive strategies for burns in a developing country

This study is based on hospital statistics using 1985 burn patients admitted to Maputo Central Hospital, Maputo, Mozambique, for a period of 42 months (1988–91). On the basis of the results obtained, some suggestions are made for the design of the targets and methods for a preventive strategy for burn injuries in Maputo. Strengthening of preventive measures should occur during the cold season of the year and particularly in the preceding months (March to May). Children under 5 years old would be the main target, particularly the age group 2–3 years. Mothers' and older siblings' education would be the vector and they would be approached through continuing health education activities, regularly carried out at present, and educational programmes in schools. We also propose the use of a simple safety device aimed at preventing burns responsible for the highest lethality. Proposed interventions rely on extensive knowledge of the epidemiological parameters influencing the occurrence of burns severe enough to warrant admission to hospital. The beneficial impact of these interventions on hospital workload and economy would probably overcome costs for its implementation.

Health promotion in schools: policies and practices in Stockholm county, 1990.

A survey was undertaken of the policies and practices concerning organisation and implementation of health education and health promotion in schools in 151 of the total 213 Local Educational Areas (LEAs) in Stockholm county in 1990. Health education was included in the workplan of 49% of the responding LEAs, while 39% of respondents had a local action programme or guidelines for health education. Topic areas taught to all pupils and considered most important included alcohol, drug abuse, smoking, sex education, bullying, nutrition and physical exercise. Most senior level schools (55-83%) had written policies concerning pupils using alcohol, drugs or smoking in school, and 68% of LEAs had restrictions on staff smoking in school. Continuing health education was desired by 87% of the respondents. A written programme/plan regarding health education was identified as an important indicator of interest and commitment in health education and health policy issues by the local school.

Research in continuing health education: Another “department” in JCEHP

Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions: Spring 1992 - Volume 12 - Issue 2 - p 71-72 doi: 10.1002/chp.4750120203

A new “department” in JCEHP: The practice of continuing health education

A new “department” in JCEHP: The practice of continuing health education

Impact of a Continuing Health Education Inservice Program on Teachers' Competencies

(1990). Impact of a Continuing Health Education Inservice Program on Teachers' Competencies. Health Education: Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 8-11.

Sylvatic Rabies in Italy: Epidemiology

Epidemiological data on sylvatic rabies in Italy, during 10 years, from 1977 to 1986 are reported. This rabies epizootic expanded to all the alpine arch from Trieste to Aosta, can be divided in five different outbreaks. The good knowledge of the infected alpine area helped us in the identification of rabies outbreaks and in rabies struggle and prevention. Data from the literature on the relationship: landscape/fox/density/fox hunting/rabies have been confirmed and contributed to disease eradication. In a ten year epizootic, no human cases of rabies have been reported thanks to continuing health education and pre/post infection vaccination of persons at risk. The systemic vaccination of dogs and grazing animals and the severe struggle to stray dogs and cats reduced rabies of domestic animals to 1/10 as compared with the other European countries. Hunter's education together with valuable rewards made possible a good monitoring of sylvatic rabies diagnostic and rabies eradication after the first wave of rabies. In order to eradicate the last two rabies outbreaks, oral fox vaccination, using attenuated live vaccine, has been carried out with immediate efficacious results.

A 10-year review of the Teaching Hospital-Based National Drug and Toxicology Information Service in Zimbabwe.

The drug and toxicology information service (DaTIS), at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Zimbabwe Medical School, was set up in 1979. The service is mainly delivered to health professionals and to a lesser extent to the community. The DaTIS is designed to help solve complex clinical questions. Most of the requests are made by telephone. Urgent questions may be initially answered by telephone, or a phone call can be returned after in-depth documentation. A complete answer with references may be written and sent to the enquirer. Written non-urgent questions may be sent a few days to a few weeks later. This report is based on a systematic review of records compiled over the period between January 1983 and July 1988. Of the 1,000 requests received and recorded during the period under consideration, approximately 750 (75%) were on drug information and 250 (25%) were on poisoning or toxicological information. The most common causes of poisonings were due to organophosphate pesticides and fertilizers, Elephant's Ear, Amanita Phalloides mushroom, medicines affecting the central nervous system, e.g. tranquilizers, psychotropics, and chemicals, especially those used for hair relaxing. Only the first three causes of poisoning are discussed in detail. Most of the queries relating to poisoning, especially those received during the night, were not recorded. These results confirm the need for an adequate number of qualified and committed manpower to share the work-load in DaTIS as well as in teaching, research and in the continuous health education of the community. The results obtained by DaTIS and a recent survey (14) indicate that Zimbabwe has a big poisoning problem, especially with regard to pesticides and treatments recommended by the traditional healer. Education and information dissemination to health professionals, workers and the general public on the toxic agents concerned are vital and, although steps have been taken in this direction, much still remains to be done. Moreover, the report confirms the importance of the service to health professionals and the community in the country and the SADCC (Southern African Development Conference Committee) region as a whole.

SafeSmart safety seat intervention project: A successful program for the medically-indigent

A study to determine the effect of an educational intervention on the prevalence of safety seat usage in a population of low income mothers was conducted in six randomly selected outpatient care centers in Maricopa County for a period of 1 year. These six centers were subjected to either a control or intervention treatment. Outpatient care centers which were assigned to the intervention treatment received a planned, educational intervention employing coercive, incentive, education and reinforcement approaches. The data indicated that the application of a health education intervention employing a combination of approaches significantly decreased the safety seat non-usage rate from 74.9% to 62.3%, while the rate in the control group remained stable. It was also found that continued health education beyond the 6-month period would not affect the safety seat usage rate significantly. The results of this study point to the potential of an organized, patient education program in positively affecting safety seat usage among children of low income parents in an outpatient setting.

Prevention of obesity in elementary and nursery school children

In order to control obesity in children a longitudinal study has been carried out, basedon a continuous and qualified health education programme. A total of 1321 children of three different schools have been considered:-MA school: Multi-media Action school; WA school: Written Action school; C school: Control school. At time 0, the distribution of the population in height-weight classes was determined through the modified Body Mass Index. At that time, a mean of 11·7% obese, 24·4% overweight and 19·7% underweight children was noted. After one year of intervention, the situation in the three schools was as follows:-MA school: obese decrease=12·2%; overweight decrease=12·1%; WA school and C school: no significant change in comparison with time 0. The results obtained prove the efficacy of the multi-media action and, on the other hand, call for a more detailed study as regards the school where neither a direct intervention nor audiovisual aids have been used.

Computer intervention with people, patients, and physicians.

Upon request, in an attempt to improve availability, quality, and cost of health care for California cannery workers, 42,000 multiphasic health screening examinations were performed in a mobile testing unit at the canneries during two summers. Acceptance of the program is attributed to: 1. protection of individuals and physicians against arbitrary decisions; 2. realistic use of the computer as a tool with defined capacity to speed and facilitate answers to questions devised by clinical specialists, at calculated cost; 3. individual follow-up and continuing health education correlated with findings; and 4. potential use of data to refine the multiphasic program, including some new normal ranges for sex, age, and ethnic group. Instead of intervention disrupting health care patterns, integrated use of technologic assets was offered in response to need.

Enteropathogens in Under-Five Children with Diarrhea in Health Facilities of Debre Berhan Town, North Shoa, Ethiopia.

Diarrheal disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity for under-five children in Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral and socioeconomic risk factors, etiology, and drug susceptibility of bacteria isolated from under-five children with acute diarrhea who were treated at Debre Berhan Referral Hospital or Health Center in Ethiopia. A health facility based cross-sectional study design was used to investigate enteropathogens from 163 under-five children with acute diarrhea. After obtaining written consent from parents or guardians, data were collected using a standardized questionnaire. Freshly passed stool samples were collected for microbiological tests for bacteria and parasites. The chi-square test was used for assessing the relationships of variables. Enteropathogens were detected among 55.8% (91/163) participants. There was a 46%(75/163) bacterial culture positivity rate and a 9.8%(16/163) prevalence of parasites. The isolated enteropathogens were Escherchia coli, Klebsiella specie, Proteus species, Salmonella species, Shigella species, Enterobacter species, Giardia lamblia, Enteameba histolytica, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and Hymnoleps nana. Level of antimicrobial resistance of bacterial isolates ranged from 0 to 87.2%. Poor hand washing and poor cleaning of feeding utensils showed significant association with the presence of enteropathogens. Bacterial enteropathogens with drug resistance were observed in this study. Continuous health education and promotion about diarrheal disease for mothers/caretakers and regular surveillance of entropathogenes are recommended to reduce under-five mortality.

Environmental sanitation in an urban community in Benin City, Edo State

To assess the sanitary conditions in an urban community in Benin City, Edo State. A cross-sectional descriptive study using multi-staged sampling method. Data collection was by means semi-structured researcher-administered questionnaires. Intervention in the form of health education was carried out among the respondents on various environmental sanitation issues. Data was analysed using the Computer Programme for Epidemiologists (PEPI). A majority 213(50.4%) of the respondents obtained their water from private boreholes while 93(22.0%) obtained irregular pipe-borne water supplies from the public utility board, with only 160(37.8%) having adequate supplies and 291(68.8%) not using any form of water purification methods. 321(75.8%) of the respondents used the water closet for sewage disposal though these toilets were not flushed after every use in 70.7% of cases. The commonest methods of refuse disposal were open dumping (59.0%) and burning (26.4%). Indices of personal hygiene practices were high (average 87.8%), though the proportions of respondents who used soap for hand washing were all lower than those of hand washing without soap. Vector and pest control were mainly by the use of mosquito nettings of doors and windows (30.4%) and fumigation (18.8%). The overall level of sanitation is unsatisfactory. There is therefore need for intensive and continued health education to address these deficiencies.