Journal of community health
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Comparative Study
Disaster preparedness and families of children with special needs: a geographic comparison.
Over eleven million children in the United States have special health care needs. These unique needs can burden community and emergency responders after a disaster, complicating rescue and recovery efforts and generating reunification needs. Family disaster preparedness can help to moderate the extent that community resources are utilized by preparing families to be self-sustaining after a disaster and streamline access to medical care when needed. ⋯ A quasiexperimental pre-posttest design was used to compare baseline preparedness levels and 1 month follow-up levels. Although there was no difference in preparedness levels based on geographic location, both populations demonstrated a statistically significant increase in preparedness levels post-intervention. This study provides additional evidence that a brief education intervention helps to increase preparedness levels among families of children with special health care needs.
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Caring for the country: fatigue, sleep and mental health in Australian rural paramedic shiftworkers.
This study investigated sleep quality, fatigue, mental health and physical activity in rural paramedic shiftworkers. Although limited, previous studies have associated high fatigue levels and poorer health in this sector with shiftwork rostering and occupational demands. A modified version of the Standard Shiftwork Index was completed by 150 paramedics (117 male and 31 females) from rural Victoria. ⋯ No gender differences in levels of depression or fatigue were found. Consistent with an earlier study of metropolitan paramedics based on the same methodology, findings suggest rural ambulance paramedic shiftworkers are at particular risk for increased levels of fatigue and depression (regardless of age or gender) and poor quality sleep. Organisational intervention was suggested.
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Public health departments (n = 48) serving the 32 counties of Ohio Appalachia were contacted to determine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine availability and to assess patient and parental attitudes, perceived barriers, and decisional differences about vaccination for male and female adolescents. Nurses or nursing supervisors in 46 of 48 health departments agreed to participate with 45 (97.8 %) reporting that HPV vaccines were available for males and females. HPV vaccination barriers reported most frequently were lack of knowledge about the vaccines, concerns about potential side effects, the newness of the HPV vaccines, and parents believing their children were not sexually active or were too young to receive an HPV vaccine. ⋯ Half of the health departments (n = 24) reported that parents of females were more receptive toward HPV vaccination, 16 health departments reported no difference in acceptability based on gender of the child, and 5 health departments reported that parents of males were more receptive. This study suggests that there are different informational needs of males and females and parents of male and female children when making an informed decision about HPV vaccination. Findings highlight content to include in strategies to increase HPV vaccination rates among Appalachia Ohio residents.
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The burden of preventable chronic diseases is straining our nation's health and economy. Diseases caused by obesity and tobacco use account for the largest portions of this preventable burden. CDC funded 50 communities in 2010 to implement policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) interventions in a 2-year initiative. ⋯ Within 12 months, communities advanced over one-third of their obesity and tobacco-use prevention strategies. Tobacco interventions appeared to have higher potential population reach than obesity interventions within this initiative. Findings on the progress and potential reach of this major initiative may help inform future chronic disease prevention efforts.
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International health electives offer unique experiences for medical students to develop clinical skills and cultural competencies in unique and diverse environments. Medical students have been increasingly pursuing these learning opportunities despite the challenges. However, their goals in pursuing these opportunities and the relation between their learning objectives and actual experiences have not been studied adequately. ⋯ Program challenges were also identified. Students in a global health elective were able to fulfill self-identified learning objectives, while also gaining other unexpected yet important lessons. Students' learning objectives also should be considered in evaluating learning experiences in international health electives.