Articles: community-health-services.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico's Oportunidades.
Many governments have implemented conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes with the goal of improving options for poor families through interventions in health, nutrition, and education. Families enrolled in CCT programmes receive cash in exchange for complying with certain conditions: preventive health requirements and nutrition supplementation, education, and monitoring designed to improve health outcomes and promote positive behaviour change. Our aim was to disaggregate the effects of cash transfer from those of other programme components. ⋯ Our results suggest that the cash transfer component of Oportunidades is associated with better outcomes in child health, growth, and development.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Positive impact of a shelter-based hepatitis B vaccine program in homeless Baltimore children and adolescents.
Homeless youth are at increased risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and HBV vaccine coverage is poor in this group. The purpose of our study was to determine if a shelter-based HBV vaccine program in children and adolescents 2-18 years of age with a randomized controlled trial using a culturally appropriate HBV video could increase HBV vaccine coverage rates. Subjects were randomized to an 8 min HBV video or a control, smoking prevention video. ⋯ The shelter-based vaccine program was very effective in increasing HBV coverage rates in the entire group of 328 children and adolescents enrolled in the study, from 68% coverage at baseline to 85% at the conclusion of the study. We conclude that shelter-based HBV vaccine programs can be highly effective in increasing vaccine coverage rates in older children and adolescents. A brief exposure to a culturally appropriate HBV video improves HBV knowledge and may improve return rates for vaccine.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Effectiveness of paramedic practitioners in attending 999 calls from elderly people in the community: cluster randomised controlled trial.
To evaluate the benefits of paramedic practitioners assessing and, when possible, treating older people in the community after minor injury or illness. Paramedic practitioners have been trained with extended skills to assess, treat, and discharge older patients with minor acute conditions in the community. ⋯ Paramedics with extended skills can provide a clinically effective alternative to standard ambulance transfer and treatment in an emergency department for elderly patients with acute minor conditions.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Community and team member factors that influence the operations phase of local prevention teams: the PROSPER Project.
This study examined the longitudinal predictors of quality of functioning of community prevention teams during the "operations" phase of team development. The 14 community teams were involved in a randomized-trial of a university-community partnership project, PROSPER (Spoth et al., Prevention Science, 5(1): 31-39, 2004b), that implements evidence-based interventions intended to support positive youth development and reduce early substance use, as well as other problem behaviors. ⋯ We examined how community demographics and social capital, team level characteristics, and team member attributes and attitudes are related to local team functioning across an 18-month period. Findings indicate that community demographics (poverty), social capital, team member attitudes towards prevention, and team members' views of the acceptability of teen alcohol use played a substantial role in predicting various indicators of the quality of team functioning 18 months later.
-
Annals of family medicine · May 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialHome visiting for adolescent mothers: effects on parenting, maternal life course, and primary care linkage.
Adolescent mothers are at risk for rapidly becoming pregnant again and for depression, school dropout, and poor parenting. We evaluated the impact of a community-based home-visiting program on these outcomes and on linking the adolescents with primary care. ⋯ This community-based home-visiting program improved adolescent mothers' parenting attitudes and school continuation, but it did not reduce their odds of repeat pregnancy or depression or achieve coordination with primary care. Coordinated care may require explicit mechanisms to promote communication between the community program and primary care.