Scandinavian journal of public health
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Scand J Public Health · Jan 2008
When the helper humiliates the patient: a qualitative study about unintended intimidations.
To explore experiences of intimidating patients/clients from the perspective of the professional. ⋯ Systems for health and social care suffer from lack of resources, time, and proximity -- issues that facilitate the occurrence of intimidation of patients/clients. Yet, the professional remains responsible for his or her moral conduct. High moral awareness and systems with a better balance between reason and emotion are needed to stop vulnerable people being subjected to disempowering practices.
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Scand J Public Health · Jan 2007
The NORPEQ patient experiences questionnaire: data quality, internal consistency and validity following a Norwegian inpatient survey.
This article describes the development of a questionnaire designed for comparisons of patient experiences of hospital care within the Nordic countries. The results of testing for data quality, reliability, and validity are presented following a Norwegian survey. ⋯ The NORPEQ is a brief measure of patient experiences that covers important aspects of the healthcare encounter. It shows good evidence of reliability and validity and is relatively easy to apply alongside existing national surveys.
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Scand J Public Health · Jan 2007
Social capital, institutional (vertical) trust and smoking: a study of daily smoking and smoking cessation among ever smokers.
The associations between vertical (institutional) trust in the healthcare system and the mass media (newspapers and television), and daily smoking and smoking cessation were investigated. ⋯ Institutional (vertical) trust in the healthcare system but not the mass media was significantly associated with lower odds of daily smoking and higher odds of having quit smoking if ever smoker. The healthcare system seems to be a potent arena for tobacco prevention.
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Scand J Public Health · Jan 2007
Patient, clinician, and general practice factors in long-term certified sickness.
To investigate the association of patient, clinician, and general practice factors with long-term certified sickness absence. ⋯ The study results imply that, rather than basing 'return to work' interventions on identification of individual patient/claimant characteristics or on GP training initiatives, it may be more productive to focus upon a more diagnosis-based approach within primary care itself. Interventions aiming to reduce mild mental disorder-related work incapacity should be given priority.
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Scand J Public Health · Jan 2007
Socioeconomic determinants of infant mortality: a worldwide study of 152 low-, middle-, and high-income countries.
To reach the Millennium Development Goals for health, influential international bodies advocate for more resources to be directed to the health sector, in particular medical treatment. Yet, health has many determinants beyond the health sector that are less evident than proximate predictors. ⋯ The relative importance of major health determinants varies between income levels, thus extrapolating health policies from high- to low-income countries is problematic. Since the size, per se, of public health spending does not independently predict health outcomes, functioning health systems are necessary to make health investments efficient. Potential health gains from improved female education and economic growth should be considered in low- and middle-income countries.