The status of health promotion in Botswana

Health education and promotion remains an integral part of public health. This paper details health promotion activities in Botswana since the establishment of the profession in 1988. It further describes health promotion infrastructure, investment in health promotion, human resource training and collaborations within the country. Infrastructure and services for health promotion in the country are mainly provided by government through educational institutions, faith based organizations, non-governmental organizations, general medical practitioners and mining companies complementing the Ministry's efforts. More than 1000 health promotion cadres have been trained at certificate, diploma and degree levels by Boitekanelo College and the Ministry of Health through Serowe Institute of Health Sciences

Resultados de una encuesta de detección de necesidades (contenido, métodos y técnicas) en educación médica contínua / Results of a poll on detection of necessities (content, method and techniques) upon continuous medical education

Se aplicó un cuestionario precodificado para detectar necesidades de educación médica contínua (EMC) a 848 médicos adscritos a los servicios médicos del Departamento del Distrito Federal, que incluyó antecedentes, necesidades, motivaciones y accesibilidad a la EMC. El análisis de los datos mostró que la mayoría de los médicos estaban interesados en la EMC con el fin de evitar el olvido y mantenerse al tanto de los avances científicos y tecnológicos propios de su ejercicio, así como incrementar la confianza en sí mismos como profesionistas. Las necesidades de actualización detectadas fueron en orden decreciente: pediatría médica, cirugía general, urgencias pediátricas, ortopedia y traumatología y administración de hospitales. De éstas solicitaron actualizarse en: el manejo terapéutico y faramcológico, los procedimientos diagnósticos y la fisiopatología. Las técnicas y medios de actualización solicitadas fueron: cursos, reuniones médicas y las sesiones del hospital. Los medios utilizados hasta el momento para su actualización fueron: cursos (79 por ciento), sesiones del hospital (54 por ciento), reuniones médicas (78 por ciento), estudio independiente a través de la lectura de libros y revistas (98 por ciento)

A palestra educativa na orientaçäo sobre o auto cuidado do hipertenso / The talk education to guide the self care in hypertension patient

Este estudo teve por objetivo a investigaçäo da eficácia da palestra educativa como estratégia para veicular orientaçöes sobre o autocuidado do hipertenso.

Auto exame de mama: identificaçäo dos conhecimentos, atitudes, habilidades e práticas (CAHP) requeridos para elaboraçäo de propostas educativas / Breast sef-examination: identification of the knowledge, attitudes, skills and practice for applying educative proposal

As autoras utilizaram o modelo Precede de Educaçäo em Saúde e fazem os dignósticos social, epidemiológico, educacional e comportamental do câncer de mama. Subsidiam uma proposta de educaçäo em Saúde Pública acerca do auto-exame mensal das mamas das mulheres da Unidade Básica de Saúde de Vargem Grande Paulista.

Parasitoses intestinais: controle e prevençäo / Parasitic disease: control and prevention

A autora se propöe a mostrar a atuaçäo da Enfermeira na Comunidade de Pedregal - Goiás, junto a 50 (cinquenta) famílias que apresentavam uma alta incidência de parasitoses intestinais, através de um programa de orientaçäo, em grupo, sobre o controle e prevençäo dessa patologia.

Mudanças no estilo de vida enfrentadas por pacientes em condiçöes crônicas de saúde / Life style changes in chronically ill patients

O presente estudo objetivou identificar mudanças ocorridas no estilo de vida de indivíduos em condiçöes crönicas. As informaçöes foram obtidas de 45 indivíduos em unidades de internaçäo e ambulatório hospitalar através de um questionário fechado e uma entrevista semi-estruturada. Os resultados mostraram que esses informantes, a partir do diagnóstico da doença, passaram a ter: 1) Novas incumbências, incluindo fazer regime de tratamento, conhecer a doença e lidar com incômodos; 2) Perdas nas relaçöes sociais, financeiras, na capacidade de locomoçäo, de trabalho e nas atividades de lazer; 3) Ameaças à aparência individual, à vida e à preservaçäo da esperança.

Solidaridad para la vida: un reto de comunicación / Solidarity of the life: a challenge of communication

Solidaridad para la vida es un documento que reúne información básica para la protección de la salud infantil. Está dirigido a toda persona, pero principalmente a aquellas que tienen influencia o control sobre los principales canales de comunicación y que pueden hacer llegar a toda familia tal información. El documento consta de doce capítulos los cuales tratan la siguiente temática: Espaciamiento de nacimientos; maternidad sin riesgo; lactancia materna; desarrollo infantil; vacunación; diarrea; tos y catarros; paludismo; accidentes y su prevención; salud de los adultos; SIDA e higiene. Cada capítulo consta de indicaciones a los comunicadores en las que se resalta la importancia de los mensajes que se incluyen; mensajes básicos, se proporcionan los conocimientos indispensables que toda familia y comunidad deben saber e; información complementaria para ampliar conocimientos

Manual para promotores en prevención del abuso de drogas / Handbook for the auxiliaries in drug abuse prevention

Sirve de modelo y recurso para promotores (maestros, líderes, etc.) que quieran trabajar con adolescentes y jóvenes. Brinda una visión general de las áreas que comprende el enfoque de prevención integral del abuso de drogas. El promotor puede seguir desarrollando contenidos y aplicando nuevas metodologías

Promoçäo e incentivo ao aleitamento materno através de grupos da comunidade / Support and incentive for breastfeeding through community groups

Apresenta resumidamente a situaçäo do aleitamento materno em vários países do mundo, mostrando que em geral, o fenômeno denominado declínio da amametaçäo atinge aproximadamente todos os países em desenvolvimento. Um ponto importante a ser considerado para reverter a situaçäo é a uniäo dos profissionais de saúde com grupos femininos. O estudo descreve também sobre alguns grupos de promoçäo do aleitamento quanto à: estratégia, filosofia, coordenaçäo, funçäo e tipos de grupos. Finalmente sugere diretrizes para a formaçäo de grupos de promoçäo ao aleitamento materno.

Nurse-initiated health promotion prompting system in an internal medicine residents' clinic.

Although cure of many diseases depends on early detection, screening schemes have been difficult to implement in busy clinic environments. We describe the testing of a nurse-initiated prompting system for six health promotion and disease prevention procedures in an internal medicine residents' clinic at a university-affiliated community program. Maneuvers investigated were breast examination, pelvic examination and Pap smear, rectal examination in men, mammogram, stool guaiac test, and blood glucose determination. A nurse reviewed the charts and used a list in the front of each chart to prompt residents in the experimental group. Residents in the control group were not prompted. A significant improvement (P less than .05) in performance was seen in the prompted group. Performance of rectal examination and mammograms improved most, increasing from 41% to 93% and 18% to 64%, respectively. There were no significant changes in the control group. This simple nurse-initiated prompting system improved the performance of health promotion and disease prevention maneuvers.

Effecting change in multicultural health promotion: a systems approach.

Given the context of a rapidly changing demography and an evolving health care system, the project described in this article was designed to address the system-wide need for changes in allied health service delivery to minority populations. A multidisciplinary, multicultural, and participative model was adopted to initiate attitudinal and behavioral changes among three groups: faculty from three allied health departments, students preparing for careers in these three professions, and community health care practitioners. This paper briefly describes the major objectives, activities, and outcomes of the project as well as insight into the factors and dynamics that affected its immediate and long-range success. The idea that significant and lasting change requires strategies that incorporate the interactive dynamics of individuals and groups of the inclusive health care system was supported in the outcomes of the project.

Impact of a comprehensive health promotion curriculum on physician behavior and attitudes.

Physician involvement with health promotion and disease prevention (HP/DP) is essential in the control of diseases in which behavioral risk factors are etiologically important. Yet physician involvement with health promotion is generally perceived as less than optimal. We report that an intensive, multifactorial curriculum introduced into a community hospital family medicine residency program increased physicians' use of preventive strategies with their patients and facilitated their use of specific, easy-to-follow protocols for the management of common problems amenable to health promotion.

Parent involvement with children's health promotion: a one-year follow-up of the Minnesota home team.

This study compares the long-term outcomes of a school-based program to an equivalent home-based program with 2250 third-grade students in 31 urban schools in Minnesota and North Dakota in order to detect changes in dietary fat and sodium consumption. The school-based program, The Adventures of Hearty Heart and Friends, involved 15 sessions over five weeks in the third-grade classrooms. The home-based program, the Hearty Heart Home Team, involved a five-week correspondence course with the third graders, where parental involvement was necessary in order to complete the activities. Outcome measures included anthropometric, psychosocial, and behavioral assessments at school, and dietary recall, food shelf inventories, and urinary sodium data collected in the students' homes. Participation rates for all aspects of the study were notably high. Eighty-six percent of the parents participated in the Home Team and 71% (almost 1000 families) completed the five-week course. Students in the home-based program reported more behavior change at posttest, had reduced the total fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat in their diets and increased their complex carbohydrate consumption. The changes derived from the dietary recall data did not maintain after one year. The data converge to suggest the feasibility and importance of parental involvement for initiating health behavior changes with children of this age.

School promotion of healthful diet and physical activity: impact on learning outcomes and self-reported behavior.

The Go For Health Program included classroom health education and environmental changes in school lunch and physical education to foster healthful diet and exercise among elementary school children. Interventions were based on social learning theory and implementation was based on an organizational change strategy for school innovations. Two schools were assigned to intervention and two to control conditions. Cognitive measures (behavioral capability, self-efficacy, behavioral expectations) and self-reported diet and exercise behavior were assessed at baseline and following intervention. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using the student and then the school as the unit of analysis. Statistically significant changes were observed for diet behavioral capability, self-efficacy, and behavioral expectations, use of salt, and exercise behavioral capability (fourth grade), self-efficacy (fourth grade) and frequency of participation in aerobic activity. The results provide evidence for program impact on learning outcomes and student behavior.