Suchergebnisse

People-centred public health provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of policy, practice and research in how members of the public can be involved in delivering health improvement as volunteers or lay health workers, drawing on a major study of lay engagement in public health, and using case studies and real life examples

Newcomers experience a variety of barriers to healthcare services. The study objective is to identify newcomers' healthcare barriers. During 2014-2015, we conducted in-depth interviews with service providers, and newcomer parents who had been in Saskatchewan for under 5 years. Primary themes include: 1) navigation difficulty, 2) limited awareness, 3) language, 4) interpretation and translation, 5) health benefits, 6) service limitations and stigma, 7) gender and cultural concerns, 8) health attitudes and beliefs, and 9) work demands. The results exposed service gaps and suggest options to improve access to healthcare. Consideration should be given to the development of formal processes to ensure the provision of information concerning healthcare and health benefit programs, as well as responsive healthcare services, including convenient primary healthcare sites that offer comprehensive care in a culturally responsive manner with embedded interpretation services to ensure that the Saskatchewan healthcare system does not perpetuate or create health disparities.

This study examined a pilot participatory needs assessment that was conducted with nine senior high school students from Port of Spain, Trinidad. Photovoice was used to engage these students in critical dialogue about their perceptions of issues affecting their health. Trained graduate students facilitated a 3-day training session in photovoice technique/ethics, writing narratives, critical reflection and dialogue with these students. Once trained, they were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph their school environment and document their thoughts on what they had photographed. After collation of photos and dialogue, seven health themes emerged. The most recurring themes included quality of the food served at schools, need for safe, clean and well-maintained school facilities, and role modeling by teachers, parents and community. Recommendations to address the concerns identified were discussed by the participants. The study concluded that conducting needs assessment, which concentrates on the voices of those affected, can be a first step in creating successful and cost-efficient programs and interventions tailored to specific groups. A needs assessment using photovoice should be a technique considered by school staff, government leaders, health professionals, and NGOs.

This article reports the findings of a mixed-methods evaluation study on the impact of a national fund to support volunteering as a mechanism to achieve health and social goals, within the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund (HSCVF) programme, established by the formerly named Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care). The article adds understanding of the mechanisms through which government organisations can build voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisational capacity to support volunteers. First, the programme increased capacity via resource mobilisation to enhance volunteer recruitment; second, it strengthened VCSE organisations through partnerships/linkages/networking; and finally, it supported learning and skills development. The HSCVF impacted on both volunteering projects and host organisations to produce a range of positive outcomes that were particularly marked in smaller organisations: 'small project, big difference'. Successful community capacity building can result from programmes such as HSCVF, with this article contributing to the evidence base by detailing the processes through which this occurred.