Task Force Approach Research Articles

Accuracy of simple clinical and epidemiological definitions of childhood obesity: systematic review and evidence appraisal

The optimum means of defining obesity in children is unclear, creating variation in practice, and hindering obesity surveillance, prevention and treatment. This study aimed to review evidence on the use of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference for diagnosis of high body fat content and adverse cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. A systematic literature review was carried out and evidence appraised using the Quality Assessment of Studies of Diagnostic Accuracy in Systematic Reviews method. Literature searching began following the last systematic review of this topic (end 2001) and collected evidence in MEDLINE and EMBASE in 0- to 18-year-olds that compared the accuracy of BMI vs. waist circumference and compared BMI interpreted relative to national reference data vs. BMI interpreted relative to Cole/International Obesity Task Force international reference data. Ten studies compared diagnostic accuracy of BMI vs. waist circumference: they reported no improved identification of adverse cardiometabolic risk profiles from waist circumference over that provided by high BMI. Eight studies compared BMI with national reference data vs. the international approach: 5/8 found significantly poorer accuracy (lower sensitivity) using BMI with the international approach; 3/8 found similar sensitivity; in 7/7 studies that compared specificity this was similar. In conclusion, the present review provides no compelling evidence for use of either high waist circumference or BMI interpreted using the International Obesity Task Force approach in preference to the use of national BMI percentiles for the identification of children and adolescents with excess fatness and adverse cardiometabolic risk profile.

Influencing Local Housing Policy

This paper presents a description of the application of a task force approach to involving students in strategies for influencing policy on the local level. The specific targets of intervention were local policies related to the location of public housing in inner-city communities. The task force approach was shown to be a useful tool in providing students with hands-on experience in influencing policy in the local community. The paper presents a model for the application of the task force approach to involving students in influencing local policy. The challenges associated with this approach are outlined, along with suggested teaching and classroom management strategies.

Overweight and Obesity among School-Aged Children of Metropolitan Tehran, Iran

To investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity based on Body Mass Index (BMI) values among children in Tehran. Cross-sectional survey of a randomized sample of school aged children in Tehran. A total of 3104 boys and girls in 3 aged groups with mean age 6 8 and 10 years. The data consisted of parents-reported measures of height and weight that were obtained from questionnaires and then BMI [weight (kg) / height (m)/2] was calculated. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher than expected as related to recent Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts in comparison to a recent International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) approach. These differences were higher among Iranian girls than boys. While obesity prevalence might not be important as a definition of IOTF and CDC but rapid increases of obesity in recent years are potentially dangerous. International authorities should accelerate the efforts regarding construction a global BMI reference data based on obesity definition in developing countries. (authors)

Forgotten but not gone: the continuing scourge of congenital syphilis

Much attention is being given to the prevention of HIV infection in babies through transmission from the mother. By contrast, regrettably little concern is raised about the increasing numbers of babies born with congenital syphilis. In affluent countries congenital syphilis is very rare, but in many poor countries, including the newly independent countries of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the numbers are high and increasing. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, around 10% of pregnant women are affected by syphilis. The prevention of congenital syphilis is more cost-effective than the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The control of congenital syphilis could indirectly have a beneficial effect on the HIV epidemic by reducing susceptibility to infection. Although the procedure to prevent congenital syphilis through antenatal screening and treatment is well established, implementation of effective programmes in resource-poor settings has proved very difficult. A new and focused approach to tackling congenital syphilis is needed. It should combine different mixes of interventions, such as mass treatment, focused screening, and universal screening, according to the local epidemiology and available resources. A task-force approach to defining the most appropriate interventions together with support for some research should be a priority for support under the Global Health Fund.

Cumulative Trauma Disorders

The relationship between work activities and the diagnostic entities discussed in this article is poorly understood, but their development is probably multifactorial. The enormous cost to industry and society is driving many investigators to study the causes and pathologic manifestations of CTDs, and this research should lead to improved strategies for treating and preventing work-related injuries. Prevention, however, will work only if both management and labor participate in preventive efforts. When a task force approach can be implemented and senior management gives it the power to make effective changes, CTDs often can be reduced dramatically, as has been shown in numerous studies illustrating the success of this approach. It is unfortunate that many in senior management are reluctant to permit such task forces due to fear of increased injury claims. Our worry is that, in the end, the solution to problems believed to be associated with repetitive trauma at work may be shaped more by regulatory bodies and attorneys rather than scientists. Hand surgeons, who see patients with complaints that are perceived to be work related, often find themselves in the middle of this complicated problem, being asked to determine whether a patient's symptoms are caused by the performance of job tasks. To treat our patients with hand and wrist symptoms, we must stay abreast of the current understanding of CTDs and be familiar with the diagnosis and management of recognized disease entities such as those reviewed in this article. In most cases, a diagnosis of a specific clinical condition can be established that is based on strict criteria. If this is not possible and the picture is unclear, it is important not to guess at a diagnosis. Labeling a patient with a diagnosis such as thoracic outlet syndrome or nonspecific tendonitis without clear-cut and objective clinical signs can have lasting economic and employment consequences. For this reason, diagnosis of a specific clinical entity should be made only when the findings of the history, physical examination, and ancillary tests firmly support it.

Validated forms of psychotherapy may lead to better-validated psychotherapy.

The members of Division 12's Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures have recently compiled a list of 22 “well-established treatments” and seven “probably efficacious treatments.” The lists were created after the Task Force had searched for and selected positive psychotherapy outcome studies that met a categorical set of criteria attesting to the methodological adequacy of the studies. Reacting to the Task Force report, Sol Carfield expresses the conviction that we are not yet at the point where we should attempt to draw valid efficacy distinctions among psychological treatments. This commentary describes and analyzes Carfield's concerns, then proposes an alternative effort, designed, like the Task Force endeavor, to move psychotherapy research toward a sustained practical outcome. In contrast to the Task Force approach, the proposed undertaking would draw efficacy distinctions among psychological and pharmacological treatments for a broader range of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) disorders; moreover, it would utilize a dimensional rather than categorical system for judging the methodological adequacy of outcome studies. By comparing the resultant contrasting lists of effective treatments, we should be able to evaluate the differential worth of dimensional and categorical views of methodological adequacy; in so doing, we might be find ourselves in a position to develop even more thoroughly grounded descriptions of effective psychological treatments.

Teaching Students the Task Force Approach: A Policy-Practice Course

Abstract In contemporary society, task forces are commonly used to deal with community-based social problems. Task forces develop, change, and implement policies at all levels of government, and within all types of organizations, including the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Unfortunately, social work educators have not been involved in teaching the policy-practice skills of working on a task force. This article discusses existing literature on task forces. Gersick's (1988) model of task group development is used to structure the teaching of the task force approach. An advanced policy course on homelessness is used as an illustration, and a recommendation is made for adjusting educational requirements to cross-reference courses in the social work curriculum that teach substantive topics and, at the same time, use innovative methods to teach group skills.

THE STATES/BC OIL SPILL TASK FORCEAN—INTERNATIONAL MODEL FOR FORMULATING AND INFLUENCING PUBLIC POLICY

ABSTRACT The States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force was established in 1989 to enhance spill coordination among the West Coast states and British Columbia, and to address a number of issues that became apparent during the Nestucca barge and Exxon Valdez oil spills. Task Force members are the directors of the oil spill prevention and response agencies in Alaska, British Columbia, California, Oregon, and Washington. The Task Force has become a national model for facilitating cooperation and building consensus between coastal states and provinces and their federal governments. In October of 1990, the task force issued a report containing a comprehensive set of recommendations addressing oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response. The group had achieved remarkable consensus, and many of the report's recommendations have been included in recent legislation enacted by the member states. The success of the task force's approach to regional coordination has also reduced the need for a proposed Pacific Oceans Resources Interstate Compact, which has been proposed to expand the states' role in areas of regulation that are otherwise federally preempted. The task force has become an effective mechanism for developing vigorous, productive relationships between government agencies, industry, and the public in both the United States and Canada. It has created important linkages between state/provincial and federal regulatory activities; for example, by providing input to Coast Guard and EPA rulemaking that implemented the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. It also assisted in assuring a well-coordinated international response to the July 1991 Tenyo Maru oil spill outside the Strait of Juan De Fuca between Washington and British Columbia. The task force is continuing to advance its goals of promoting public policy on oil spill prevention; cooperative management of major spills by government and industry; protection of the states/provincial rights and their natural and economic resources; and inter-governmental consistency in regulations adopted for oil spill prevention, contingency planning, and resource damage assessment.

The Evaluation of Australia's National Campaign against Drug Abuse

The process of evaluating the Australian National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) is described. The campaign consists of activities in education, treatment, research and legislative controls. Because of the complex nature of the campaign, a range of evaluation activities was used, including activity monitoring, process and outcome evaluations and the establishment of an expert task force to undertake an assessment of the overall impact of the first three years of the campaign. The conduct of the task force's approach is described and some positive and negative lessons are discussed.

A Task Force Approach to Managing Aging Issues

LACH, HELEN W. MSN, RN1; RENNA, RENTES MA, RN2; Ernst, Brenda MA, RN Author Information

I. Essay: Private Foundations And The Crisis Of Alcohol And Drug Abuse

I. Essay: Private Foundations And The Crisis Of Alcohol And Drug Abuse

The public's health is too important to be left to public health workers. A commentary on Guide to Clinical Preventive Services.

Practicing physicians are the key to effective health promotion and disease prevention in their communities, according to the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services released in May by the United States Preventive Services Task Force. The Guide focuses on the clinical practitioner and strongly advocates integrating preventive activities into clinical practice. It also shows how required interventions can be done by the physician normally responsible for ongoing care. Case-finding is emphasized as a viable and desirable strategy in early detection of disease. The report also acknowledges behavioral and lifestyle components of risk factors for disease and the physician's opportunities to promote change in patients' risky behavior. We discuss the implications of including patient education and counseling in the physician's clinical armamentarium, highlighting changes in educational and health care delivery systems that can make such interventions work in preventive programs. The soundness of a best-evidence synthesis method to formulate recommendations and the use of a priori scientific rules to determine the effectiveness of many current and proposed preventive activities are hallmarks of the task force's approach to integrating science and clinical practice.

Ergonomic Imperatives in Library Automation:

A task force approach is being used to handle many issues related to library automation implementation at Boston University's libraries. An administrative Project Team forms task forces, chooses chairpersons and writes charges, while the task force chairperson chooses task force members. The Furniture Task Force made recommendations for ergonomicallv suitable furniture and accessories for automated library sites by distinguishing four categories of terminal usage and proposing ideal workstations for each. Principal ergonomic issues identified were screen glare, furniture promoting muscle-straining work postures, and insufficient work surfaces. Adjustable chairs topped the list of items recommended for purchase.

SURFACE FACILITIES FOR OILFIELDS IN THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SECTOR OF THE COOPER BASIN

Delhi Petroleum Pty Ltd, as operator, has been responsible for the development of eight oilfields in the South Australian sector of the Cooper Basin since 1982. Some of these field developments are economically marginal, hence the need to optimise those aspects of the facilities which impact on the ongoing cost of production and the overall profitability. A phased development approach has evolved over the past three years to reduce the external financing requirements and to improve the certainty of the data used to define the key elements of each project.For the successful completion of the project a task force approach to project management is utilised, supported by the use of computerised project planning and control systems. Further, it is important to define and agree on the design criteria and philosophy for the project at the commencement, this providing a base by which to measure scope changes, and so that all concerned are working to a common goal.The use of economic analysis as a decision-making tool during all phases of the project assists the project team to home in on the key objective which is to maximise the project net present value. Comparative economics and sensitivity analysis are used at the conceptual stage to select the preferred development option, e.g. pipeline versus trucking.The design of surface facilities is dictated by a wide range of criteria including the above development philosophy. The variable nature of these criteria demonstrates that each new field development must normally be engineered individually to ensure the target of maximum net present value can be achieved.The Gidgealpa Crude Oil Development Project demonstrates the effectiveness of the above methodology and philosophies. The field was discovered in August 1984, and early production and trucking of oil commenced in January 1985 with 374 000 bbls produced prior to commissioning of the pipeline to Moomba in September 1985.

Technology assessment, public policy and transplantation: a restrained appraisal of the Massachusetts Task Force approach.

The February 1985 issue ofLaw, Medicine & Health Carepublished excerpts from the Report of the Massachusetts Task Force on Organ Transplantation, along with a report by its chairman, Professor George Annas, and commentary by a number of esteemed scholars and practitioners who were generally complimentary of both the approach and substance of the work of the Task Force. We have thoroughly reviewed the Task Force Report and feel it necessary to take strong exception to a number of points, both procedural and substantive, raised there. In general, we are concerned that the Task Force Report perpetuates and reinforces a number of serious misconceptions about the issues surrounding transplantation that, in turn, lead to conclusions that are both inaccurate and misleading. This situation is most unfortunate be cause the complexities of the issues raised by transplantation require care ful scrutiny, especially where there are empirical data that clearly call into question these often strongly held predispositions. In the following sections we point out what we feel are the major shortcomings of the Massachusetts effort.

Migrant health revisited: a model for statewide health planning and services.

Since the migrant farmworker family is a marginal issue among competing priorities for public health services, the logical strategy ought to be the pooling of limited resources at the state and local level to provide maximum benefit for the dollar and the client. A program planning model in inter-agency migrant health services delivery has been developed in Colorado. The model includes tangible evidence of cooperation by front-line service agencies. A task force approach for joint agency programming was initiated at state and local levels, and a structure for accountability was established which was carried out with performance contracts.

A Conceptual Framework for the Public Library as a Community Learning Center for Independent Study

Public libraries, in responding to growing interest in adult independent study, are beginning to reexamine their role as community learning centers. Different kinds of learning centers emphasize: priority on provision of materials; collaboration with academic institutions and agencies through an independent study information and referral service; a multimedia center supported by educational counseling and study guidance; and a community task force approach which provides learning-center services in the midst of community problem solving. Differences among learners, learning situations, and learning styles as well as in library resources and community programs will affect the evolution of any particular public library community learning center.

A Task Force Approach to Instruction in International Relations

One of the distinctive features of the present generation of college students is its concern with relevance. Students want to know the relationship of what they are learning to what is happening in the world around them. They want to know whether what they learn in the classroom will have any utility in making the world more understandable and more amenable to improvement and reform. In the spring of 1966, I began experimenting with a teaching technique which I hoped would give some positive answers to these concems. They are concerns which are not the monopoly of students. In 1964, the Committee on the College and World Affairs (chaired by John W. Nason) reported:

Comments on A Task-force Approach to Replace the Planning Board”

Comments on A Task-force Approach to Replace the Planning Board”

A Task-Force Approach to Replace the Planning Board

Abstract For many years most planners have questioned the continued usefulness of independent planning boards. The case made by both earlier and recent “abolitionists” has much merit, but abolition could mean a stifling of effective citizen participation. The proposed alternative embodies legitimate reforms advocated by abolitionists while preserving meaningful citizen participation. It advocates the creation of a flexible number of temporary citizens advisory boards or “task forces,” including one for “long-range planning,” to consult and advise with City Hall through the professional planners. With their assignments strictly limited in scope and time, these task forces, all of equal rank, would be appointed by the chief executive and approved by the legislative body. The basis of board appointments would be citizens' expert knowledge of the process or area under planning study. Boards will interpose a formal layer of non-elected citizens between the professional planner and the legislature and electorat...