Different Areas Of Health Research Articles

Social and Economic Inequalities in the Use of Contraception Among Women in Spain

Socioeconomic inequalities affect different areas of health, including sexual and reproductive health. The aim of the present study was to analyze inequalities in the use of contraception among women resident in Spain in 2006. This is a cross-sectional study of women aged 15-49 years and resident in Spain in 2006 that analyzes the use of contraception during their first experience of sexual intercourse and during the 4 weeks before the interview (n = 5,141). Socioeconomic inequalities are measured with indicators of socioeconomic position, such as level of education, social class, and country of origin, and such characteristics as age, religion, age at first intercourse, living with partner, and number of children. Contraception was used by 70.4% of the women during their first experience of sexual intercourse and by 78.1% during the previous 4 weeks. The women who used contraception most during their first experience of sexual intercourse were nonreligious younger women from developed countries who had a higher level of education and who had their first experience after the age of 18. The women who used contraception most often during sex in the previous 4 weeks were younger women with a higher level of education who did not live with a partner, who had children, and who had used contraception during their first experience. There are socioeconomic inequalities in the use of contraception among women in Spain. The use of contraception during the first experience of sexual intercourse was associated with more frequent use of contraception during sex in the 4 weeks before the interview.

A systematic review of economic evaluations of health and health-related interventions in Bangladesh

BackgroundEconomic evaluation is used for effective resource allocation in health sector. Accumulated knowledge about economic evaluation of health programs in Bangladesh is not currently available. While a number of economic evaluation studies have been performed in Bangladesh, no systematic investigation of the studies has been done to our knowledge. The aim of this current study is to systematically review the published articles in peer-reviewed journals on economic evaluation of health and health-related interventions in Bangladesh.MethodsLiterature searches was carried out during November-December 2008 with a combination of key words, MeSH terms and other free text terms as suitable for the purpose. A comprehensive search strategy was developed to search Medline by the PubMed interface. The first specific interest was mapping the articles considering the areas of exploration by economic evaluation and the second interest was to scrutiny the methodological quality of studies. The methodological quality of economic evaluation of all articles has been scrutinized against the checklist developed by Evers Silvia and associates.ResultOf 1784 potential articles 12 were accepted for inclusion. Ten studies described the competing alternatives clearly and only two articles stated the perspective of their articles clearly. All studies included direct cost, incurred by the providers. Only one study included the cost of community donated resources and volunteer costs. Two studies calculated the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). Six of the studies applied some sort of sensitivity analysis. Two of the studies discussed financial affordability of expected implementers and four studies discussed the issue of generalizability for application in different context.ConclusionVery few economic evaluation studies in Bangladesh are found in different areas of health and health-related interventions, which does not provide a strong basis of knowledge in the area. The most frequently applied economic evaluation is cost-effectiveness analysis. The majority of the studies did not follow the scientific method of economic evaluation process, which consequently resulted into lack of robustness of the analyses. Capacity building on economic evaluation of health and health-related programs should be enhanced.

A alta em Terapia Ocupacional: Reflexões sobre o fim do Processo Terapêutico e o salto para a vida

The Therapeutic Process and its specificities in Occupational Therapy is the object of the present study, with emphasis on the dilemmas that therapists and patients experienceat the end of the treatment. Reflecting on what, in fact, defines the discharge and the criteria used by the profession to do so, is something of extreme importance to the strengthening of our professional singularity and to the improvementof our clinical practice. We support the idea that the discharge process can not be free from the ethical-philosophical and technical characterizationof the profession in different areas of health. From clinical experience and reflections on therapeutics, we propose new ways of thinking about the discharge in Occupational Therapy, grounded mainly on the theoretical references of the Philosophy of Difference and Occupational Therapy Dynamics. Therefore, initially, we intend to conduct a brief conceptualization of the occupational therapy process, and later, we dwell more specifically on the discharge process and its developments

Metodologia clínico-qualitativa na produção científica no campo da saúde e ciências humanas: uma revisão integrativa

doi: 10.5216/ree.v12i4.5840 A pesquisa qualitativa vem ascendendo sua utilização, por profissionais de saúde, principalmente nas últimas décadas. Desta forma, o objetivo deste estudo foi caracterizar as pesquisas produzidas nas diversas áreas da saúde e ciências humanas, utilizando especificamente a metodologia clínico-qualitativa. Trata-se de uma revisão integrativa que abarcou as publicações nacionais de 2000 a 2010, nas bases de dados Cinahl, PubMed e nas bibliotecas virtuais Bireme e SciELO, utilizando as palavras-chave pesquisa qualitativa, método clínico-qualitativo, metodologia clínico-qualitativa. Foram identificados 55, dos quais 33 compuseram a amostra do estudo. Os resultados apontaram crescimento nas publicações nos últimos anos. A aplicação deste referencial metodológico apresentou-se pertinente, especialmente nas pesquisas vinculadas aos settings de saúde, porém percebemos deficiências na produção de alguns destes artigos, sobretudo em relação a abordagem metodológica. Por tratar-se de um método de recente utilização, sua aplicação ainda carece de melhor entendimento e desenvolvimento, por parte de alguns autores. Descritores: Pesquisa Qualitativa; Literatura de Revisão como Assunto; Técnicas de Pesquisa.

EDITORIAL ELECTRONIC JOURNAL WITH OPEN ACCESS: A TECHNOLOGICAL LEAP

The Faculty of Health at Universidad del Valle determined the conformation, functions, and competencies of the Scientific and Editorial Committees of the Colombia Médica journal (Resolution 099, July 07, 2009 HCF), permitting the naming of the Committees for the Journal and the opening of the internal call to name the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editors. Internal regulations institutionally define the types of publications of greatest interest, the frequency of each publication, and types of articles in regular and supplementary numbers, internal operations aspects; define stimuli for excellence in articles published with an award and editorial sanctions for plagiarism of intellectual property and redundant publication. In 1995, Colombia Médica adopted the web publication, now in 2010, fifteen years later, we have adopted we have adopted an agile and secure electronic management and publication system with open access that will permit editors, peers, and authors to work together from anywhere in the world, it will allow greater efficiency in real time with significant reduction of administrative costs. This system is currently used by 235 journals in the world, achieving more expeditious indexation of their articles, which is attractive for local researchers and for the international scientific community. For our Journal, this open electronic system is a true technological leap. The visibility of Colombia Médica has been traditionally good, given that it is indexed in 23 international data bases including the Institute for Scientific Information-ISI Thomson web of knowledge, and because it is a free journal that is easily accessed via the web. International Observatories have reported an increase in the number of downloads of complete articles by three times in the last year, which we feel is correlated to the four-fold increase of complete articles published in English. These facts, along with growing publication requests by authors from five continents are a stimulus for the Journal to publish a greater number of complete articles in English. The number of electronic downloads reported by our counters and by international observatories quickly bring us closer to the average for journals published by ELSEVIER, recognized for their highest standards of scientific visibility and quality in the world. Due to this we are calling for an exchange of ideas and experiences at our home, Universidad del Valle, during a national meeting of editors of health sciences journals, which undoubtedly permit our journals fulfill their goals. The first two numbers for this year report articles of interest for public health, like the critical analysis of the effectiveness of health promotion in Latin America, health services for adolescents, and sexual health for adolescents. The articles also report research studies in basic sciences, qualitative research, report of the Colombian Muisca Mummy (S010-IX mummy), inflammatory response in children with severe malnutrition, population genetic studies, case reports, and brief communications. We are convinced that with the new open editorial system, the growing international presence of our publications, and reports on themes of greater pertinence in different areas of health we are set to compete in the difficult and demanding world of scientific disclosure.

Declínio funcional de idosa institucionalizada: aplicabilidade do modelo da Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde

O objetivo deste estudo é relatar a evolução clínico-funcional de uma idosa residente em instituição de longa permanência (ILPI), descrevendo a influência das condições contextuais (socioeconômicas e familiares) em sua saúde, bem como discutir a provável relação entre os eventos e seu declínio funcional utilizando o modelo conceitual da Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde (CIF). A CIF foi elaborada pela Organização Mundial de Saúde para atender a diferentes setores e estabelecer uma linguagem comum na descrição da saúde, permitindo uma abrangência multidimensional dos fatores direta e indiretamente relacionados ao quadro clínico-funcional, bem como intervenções de caráter interprofissional na clínica ou no ambiente institucional. A paciente passou por diferentes momentos na ILP e foi a óbito após 12 meses. A discussão do caso permite planejar melhores estratégias para lidar com os eventos adversos à saúde que podem ocorrer nesse contexto.

Potentials of Stem Cell Research and the Implications of Legislation

Potentials of Stem Cell Research and the Implications of Legislation

Regional differences in multidimensional aspects of health: findings from the MRC cognitive function and ageing study

BackgroundDifferences in mortality and health experience across regions are well recognised and UK government policy aims to address this inequality. Methods combining life expectancy and health have concentrated on specific areas, such as self-perceived health and dementia. Few have looked within country or across different areas of health. Self-perceived health, self-perceived functional impairment and cognitive impairment are linked closely to survival, as well as quality of life.This paper aims to describe regional differences in healthy life expectancy using a variety of states of health and wellbeing within the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC CFAS).MethodsMRC CFAS is a population based study of health in 13,009 individuals aged 65 years and above in five centres using identical study methodology. The interviews included self-perceived health and measures of functional and cognitive impairment. Sullivan's method was used to combine prevalence rates for cognitive and functional impairment and life expectancy to produce expectation of life in various health states.ResultsThe prevalence of both cognitive and functional impairment increases with age and was higher in women than men, with marked centre variation in functional impairment (Newcastle and Gwynedd highest impairment). Newcastle had the shortest life expectancy of all the sites, Cambridgeshire and Oxford the longest. Centre differences in self-perceived health tended to mimic differences in life expectancy but this did not hold for cognitive or functional impairment.ConclusionSelf-perceived health does not show marked variation with age or sex, but does across centre even after adjustment for impairment burden. There is considerable centre variation in self-reported functional impairment but not cognitive impairment. Only variation in self-perceived health relates to the ranking of life expectancy. These data confirm that quite considerable differences in life experience exist across regions of the UK beyond basic life expectancy.

A World Health Organization perspective on neurology and neuroscience.

Two of the key constitutional responsibilities of the World Health Organization (WHO) are research and promotion of research in different areas of health and fostering cooperation among scientific and professional groups that contribute to the advancement of health. 1 Although often seen as a highly specialized area of medicine, neurology has been included in the WHO research programs for more than 2 decades. Over the years, WHO has particularly focused on neurological disorders of public health importance, ie, disorders that occur frequently, cause substantial disability, and create a burden on individuals, families, communities, and societies all over the world.

The cognition of matters on health and sex in young people with intellectual handicaps: a study in Stockholm and Tokyo

ABSTRACT Young people with intellectual handicaps in Stockholm (35 boys and 33 girls) and Tokyo (66 boys and 43 girls) aged 15‐16 years were interviewed during 1989‐1990. The questions concerned the areas: health in general, hygiene, the human body, growing up, and sex/interpersonal relationships. Each of the 35 items had a matching picture. The main findings concerned the variations in the cognition of matters on health and sex in young people with intellectual handicaps between and within the two cultures. The comparison between Stockholm and Tokyo indicated that the Stockholm young people on the whole more often gave high level and abstract answers about health and sex than did Tokyo young people. This tendency was especially marked within the area of the human body and sex/interpersonal relationships. Sex differences were also found within each capital concerning different areas of health and sex, especially within the Tokyo‐group.