Developing positive deviants as change agents.

In nearly every quagmire, one or more individuals surpass the issue being faced. Knowledge gained from these positive deviants-who fall outside the norm-leads to a six-step approach to problem solving that is fundamentally different than reductionistic approaches. Professional development educators can train leaders to this technique.

Perceptions of Malawian nurses about nursing interventions for malnourished children and their parents.

In developing countries, malnutrition among children is a major public-health issue. The aim of the study was to describe perceptions of Malawian nurses about nursing interventions for malnourished children and their parents. A qualitative method was used. Data were collected and analyzed according to the phenomenographic research approach. Twelve interviews were performed with 12 nurses at a rural hospital in northern Malawi, Southeast Africa. Through the analysis, two major concepts, comprising four categories of description, emerged: managing malnutrition today and promotion of a favourable nutritional status. The categories of description involved identification and treatment of malnutrition, education during treatment, education during prevention, and assurance of food security. The participating nurses perceived education to be the most important intervention, incorporated in all areas of prevention and treatment of malnutrition. Identification and treatment of malnutrition, education during treatment, education to prevent malnutrition, and assurance of food security were regarded as the most important areas of intervention.

[Repercussion of child malnutrition in the family]. / Repercussão da desnutrição infantil na família.

Children's nutritional condition reflects both their food consumption and health condition. These factors depend on the food available at home, salubriousness, the environment and the care the child receives. This qualitative study presents perceptions and feelings in order to understand how families live with the problem of child malnutrition. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and observations, involving 10 mothers of undernourished children in the suburbs of Fortaleza-Ceará, Brazil. The transcriptions of their discourse revealed the theme categories unemployment and food insecurity. The synthesis of the categories under analysis evidenced that the hunger problem is characteristic by the family's insecurity. Thus, they search for support options, such as health centers, relatives, church and community. There is a need to prioritize preventive work, through public health policies, aimed at measures related to the real world of health promotion.

Protecting Child Health Worldwide. Implementation is the biggest challenge slowing efforts to reduce childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries.

Children in developing countries bear most of the burden of childhood death and disease. Because decades of technical and medical research have produced solutions to most of the serious health problems affecting such children, the main challenge ahead remains one of implementation. Achieving this goal will almost certainly require significantly greater commitment by the nations, organizations, and individuals who have the ability to help.

[Project of integral rehabilitation of undernourished children. A proposal for nursing. Case report]. / Projeto de recuperação integral da criança desnutrida--uma proposta de atuação para o enfermeiro. Relato de caso.

The authors present a case report of nutrition recuperation in an undernourished child involved in the Integral Recuperation of Undernourished Children Project at the University Hospital in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. They show the importance of nursing assistance as a member of multiprofessional team in projects of this matter.