Suchergebnisse

Canada has the opportunity to plan its health care delivery systems. The role of the family doctor is at the least uncertain. But, more important, are present modes of operation and education relevant for the current task? If not, increasing pressures will be brought to bear by governments, locally elected officials and most of all by patients turned consumers of service. This article discusses the role, nationally and internationally, of the family doctor and also that of the patient as consumer. The author makes suggestions for areas of research.

Having a healthy population is vital for economic development. This has been recognized over many decades by countries across the developed world, including Bulgaria. But there are major threats - tobacco consumption, obesity, heart disease and the like, which are the subject of attention by the international health promotion community. This community, and the policies they produce, is dominated by the cultures which make up Western Europe, North America and Australasia. A major question in the rest of the world is whether these 'global` policies will 'travel` well; and what might be done, in communication terms, to enhance their trans ferability. This paper reports on research carried out in Bulgaria. It began with an analysis of the contents of the major western-based in ternational health promotion policy documents to identify expressions or ideas, contained in them that might be 'alien` to the culture of Bulgaria, as identified by Hofstede`s Model of National Cultures. Through the use of a Delphi panel the international language was desensitised. A before and after quasi-experimental design was employed across three types of communities - urban, rural and tobacco-producing - to measure the degree to which communication was more effective using the desensitized material. These results, in most cases, showed a significant improvement. As Bulgaria joins the EU in January 2007 this study takes on broader importance. There will be many new policies to which adjustment is required at a national level; and true citizenship of Europe is dependent upon Bulgarians as a whole being able to identify with the intentions of European policies. Health promotion is only the beginning!Scripta Scientifica Medica 2007;39(1):85-88

Purpose: To report on the development of a project dedicated to improving the quality of life of older people through the creation of integrated networks. Context: The project is set within a post-industrial community and against a backdrop of government re-organisation and devolution within Wales. The immediate research context is determined by utilising an approach to the structure of integration derived theoretically. Case description: Project CHAIN (Community Health Alliances through Integrated Networks) adopts a network perspective as a means of addressing both the determinants of health and service delivery in health and social care. The Project partners are: healthcare commissioners and providers; local authority directorates including community services and transportation; the voluntary and private sectors; and a university institute. Co-opted participants include fora representing older people's interests. Data sources: The Project incorporates an action research method. This paper highlights qualitative data elicited from interviews with health and social care managers and practitioners. Conclusions and discussion: The Project is ongoing and we record progress in building five integrated networks.