scholarly journals Diabetes surveillance in Germany – strategy for the dissemination of results

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Reitzle ◽  
R Paprott ◽  
C Schmidt ◽  
C Heidemann ◽  
J Baumert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Robert Koch Institute ◽  
Dissemination Strategy ◽  
Stakeholder Groups

Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus is a non-communicable disease with high public health relevance in Germany. Therefore, the Robert Koch Institute startetd to establish a national diabetes surveillance system in Germany in 2016. Essential part of a surveillance system is the dissemination of health information to the relevant stakeholders to facilitate its translation into action. Methods For the development of the dissemination strategy, different sources of information were used. First, an online-survey combined with structured web-research explored dissemination approaches in the international context. Secondly, a workshop with public health experts from seven countries highlighted best practice examples. Based on this information, a dissemination strategy was developed in close alignment with the scientific advisory board of the diabetes surveillance including experts from politics, prevention research, regional health reporting, physicians/diabetologists and public health scientists. Results Three main questions were identified to be considered in the dissemination of health information: Which audience group is addressed? Which content is relevant to this group? What is the preferred format to communicate the information? Therefore, a diabetes report will be generated focusing on health policy makers summarizing the key information on the disease dynamic. A website containing all information including a visualization tool should facilitate access for stakeholders. Additionally, awareness needs to be raised using social media, classical media and direct interactions with relevant stakeholders. Conclusions In alignment with different stakeholder groups, the diabetes surveillance developed a dissemination strategy considering international best practice examples and innovative ideas for health data visualization. The next steps are to refine the dissemination strategy based on feedback from the different stakeholder groups to ensure the use of the provided information. Key messages A dissemination strategy for the diabetes surveillance has been developed in a participatory approach including experts from various stakeholder groups. Next steps include the refinement of the dissemination strategy and its formats based on stakeholders feedback requirements.

Japanese-language videos on YouTube as a source of public health information for COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yasu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The State ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Spread Of Infection

BACKGROUND Serious public health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can cause an infodemic. Sources of information that may cause an infodemic include social networking services; YouTube, which consists of content created and uploaded by individuals, is one such source. OBJECTIVE To survey the content and changes in YouTube videos that present public health information about COVID-19 in Japan. METHODS We surveyed YouTube content regarding public health information pertaining to COVID-19 in Japan. YouTube searches were performed on March 6, 2020 (before the state of emergency), April 14 (during the state of emergency), and May 27 (after the state of emergency was lifted), with 136, 113, and 140 sample videos evaluated, respectively. The main outcome measures were: (1) The total number of views for each video, (2) video content, and (3) the usefulness of the video. RESULTS In the 100 most viewed YouTube videos during the three periods, the number of videos on public health information in March was significantly higher than in May (p = .02). Of the 331 unique videos, 9.1% (n = 30) were released by healthcare professionals. Useful videos providing public health information about the prevention of the spread of infection comprised only 13.0% of the sample but were viewed significantly more often than not useful videos (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS Individuals need to take care when obtaining information from YouTube before or early in a pandemic, during which time scientific evidence is scarce.

scholarly journals Delivery of the National Child Measurement Programme in England

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Martin Čadek ◽  
Stuart W. Flint ◽  
Ralph Tench
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The Other ◽  
Service Availability ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Weight Category ◽  
Convenience Sampling

Abstract Objective: The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is a mandatory initiative delivered in England to children in reception and year 6. To date, no research has explored the methods used to deliver the NCMP by Local Government Authorities (LGA) across England. Design: An online survey was administered between February 2018 and May 2018 to explore the delivery of the NCMP across the 152 LGAs in England and disseminated using non-probability convenience sampling. Setting: LGAs received an anonymous link to the survey. Participants: A total of 92 LGAs participated in the survey. Results: Most LGAs who responded provide result feedback (86%), a proactive follow-up (71%) and referrals to services (80%). Additionally, 65% of the authorities tailor Public Health England specimen result letters to suit their needs, and 84% provide attachments alongside. Out of 71% of LGAs who provide proactive follow-up, 19 (29%) provide the proactive follow-up only to upper weight categories, and only 4 (6 %) include Healthy Weight category with other categories in proactive follow-up. Regarding the service availability for children, out of 80% of LGAs who indicated that services are available, 32 (43%) targeted solely upper weight categories while the other 42 (57%) offered services across all weight categories. Finally, most LGAs (88%) commission providers to manage various parts of the NCMP. Conclusions: The results show that LGAs in England localise the NCMP. Further guidance regarding standards of best practice would help LGAs to find the most suitable localisation out of various options that exist across other LGAs.

scholarly journals Examining Australian’s beliefs, misconceptions and sources of information for COVID-19: a national online survey

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e043421
Author(s):  
Rae Thomas ◽  
Hannah Greenwood ◽  
Zoe A Michaleff ◽  
Eman Abukmail ◽  
Tammy C Hoffmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Commercial Television ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Public Health Strategies

ObjectivePublic cooperation to practise preventive health behaviours is essential to manage the transmission of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. We aimed to investigate beliefs about COVID-19 diagnosis, transmission and prevention that have the potential to impact the uptake of recommended public health strategies.DesignAn online cross-sectional survey.ParticipantsA national sample of 1500 Australian adults with representative quotas for age and gender provided by an online panel provider.Main outcome measureProportion of participants with correct/incorrect knowledge of COVID-19 preventive behaviours and reasons for misconceptions.ResultsOf the 1802 potential participants contacted, 289 did not qualify, 13 declined and 1500 participated in the survey (response rate 83%). Most participants correctly identified ‘washing your hands regularly with soap and water’ (92%) and ‘staying at least 1.5 m away from others’ (90%) could help prevent COVID-19. Over 40% (incorrectly) considered wearing gloves outside of the home would prevent them from contracting COVID-19. Views about face masks were divided. Only 66% of participants correctly identified that ‘regular use of antibiotics’ would not prevent COVID-19.Most participants (90%) identified ‘fever, fatigue and cough’ as indicators of COVID-19. However, 42% of participants thought that being unable to ‘hold your breath for 10 s without coughing’ was an indicator of having the virus. The most frequently reported sources of COVID-19 information were commercial television channels (56%), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (43%) and the Australian Government COVID-19 information app (31%).ConclusionsPublic messaging about hand hygiene and physical distancing to prevent transmission appears to have been effective. However, there are clear, identified barriers for many individuals that have the potential to impede uptake or maintenance of these behaviours in the long term. We need to develop public health messages that harness these barriers to improve future cooperation. Ensuring adherence to these interventions is critical.

scholarly journals Self- versus other-directed outcomes, Machiavellianism, and hypothetical distance in COVID-19 antipandemic messages

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Yidan Huang ◽  
Shu Yang ◽  
JiaMin Dai
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fear Appeal ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Perceived Severity ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Health Intentions

Public health information with a fear appeal is often used to promote people's positive health intentions. Anchored by the extended parallel process model and trait activation theory, in this study we examined the effects of self- versus other-directed outcomes, Machiavellianism, and hypothetical distance on the effectiveness of fear-appeal information in the context of COVID-19. In an online survey of 303 people in Wuhan, China, we found that respondents high in Machiavellianism reported stronger antipandemic intentions in response to a self-directed compared to an other-directed outcome message. This effect was actualized through the trait of Machiavellianism, moderated by hypothetical distance, and mediated by perceived severity. Our findings have implications for the effective development and delivery of public health information for specific groups, and for encouraging more detailed exploration of personality in relation to epidemiology.

scholarly journals On the inadequacy of species distribution models for modelling the spread of SARS-CoV-2: response to Araújo and Naimi

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Daniel Chipperfield ◽  
Blas M. Benito ◽  
Robert O'Hara ◽  
Richard James Telford ◽  
Colin J. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Species Distribution Models ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Dissemination Strategy ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines

The ongoing pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing significant damage to public health and economic livelihoods, and is putting significant strains on healthcare services globally. This unfolding emergency has prompted the preparation and dissemination of the article “Spread of SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus likely to be constrained by climate” by Araújo and Naimi (2020). The authors present the results of an ensemble forecast made from a suite of species distribution models (SDMs), where they attempt to predict the suitability of the climate for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 over the coming months. They argue that climate is likely to be a primary regulator for the spread of the infection and that people in warm-temperate and cold climates are more vulnerable than those in tropical and arid climates. A central finding of their study is that the possibility of a synchronous global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely. Whilst we understand that the motivations behind producing such work are grounded in trying to be helpful, we demonstrate here that there are clear conceptual and methodological deficiencies with their study that render their results and conclusions invalid.What follows is a response to the Araújo and Naimi article centered around three main criticisms:1) Given the fact that SARS-CoV-2 has a primary infection pathway of direct contact, it is in an active spreading phase, and remains largely underreported in the Global South, it represents an inappropriate system for analysis using the SDM framework.2) Even if we were to accept that an SDM framework would be applicable here, the methodology presented in the article strays far from best-practice guidelines for the application of SDMs.3) The dissemination strategy of the authors failed to respect the frameworks of risks adhered to in other academic disciplines pertaining to public health, resulting in erroneous but well-publicised claims with broad policy implications before any scientific oversight could be applied.

scholarly journals Leveraging public health's participation in a Health Information Exchange to improve communicable disease reporting

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Painter ◽  
Debra Revere ◽  
P. Joseph Gibson ◽  
Janet Baseman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Health Information Exchange ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Health Agency ◽  
Public Health Agency ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Mean

Background: Infectious diseases can appear and spread rapidly. Timely information about disease patterns and trends allows public health agencies to quickly investigate and efficiently contain those diseases. But disease case reporting to public health has traditionally been paper-based, resulting in somewhat slow, burdensome processes. Fortunately, the expanding use of electronic health records and health information exchanges has created opportunities for more rapid, complete, and easily managed case reporting and investigation. To assess how this new service might impact the efficiency and quality of a public health agency's case investigations, we compared the timeliness of usual case investigation to that of case investigations based on case report forms that were partially pre-populated with electronic data. Intervention: Between September 2013-March 2014, chlamydia disease report forms for certain clinics in Indianapolis were electronically pre-populated with clinical, lab and patient data available through the Indiana Health Information Exchange, then provided to the patient’s doctor. Doctors could then sign the form and deliver it to public health for investigation and population-level disease tracking. Methods: We utilized a novel matched case analysis of timeliness changes in receipt and processing of communicable disease report forms. Each Chlamydia cases reported with the pre-populated form were matched to cases reported in usual ways. We assessed the time from receipt of the case at the public health agency: 1) inclusion of the case into the public health surveillance system and 2) to close to case. A hierarchical random effects model was used to compare mean difference in each outcome between the target cases and the matched cases, with random intercepts for case. Results: Twenty-one Chlamydia cases were reported to the public health agency using the pre-populated form. Sixteen of these pre-populated form cases were matched to at least one other case, with a mean of 23 matches per case. The mean Reporting Lag for the pre-populated form cases was 2.5 days, which was 2.7 days shorter than the mean Reporting Lag for the matched controls (p = <0.001). The mean time to close a pre-populated form case was 4.7 days, which was 0.2 days shorter than time to close for the matched controls (p = 0.792). Conclusions: Use of pre-populated forms significantly decreased the time it took for the local public health agency to begin documenting and closing chlamydia case investigations. Thoughtful use of electronic health data for case reporting may decrease the per-case workload of public health agencies, and improve the timeliness of information about the pattern and spread of disease.

scholarly journals Mobile and Online Health Information: Exploring Digital Media Use among Austrian Parents

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (17) ◽  
pp. 6053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Haluza ◽  
Isabella Böhm
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Medical Condition ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Cross Sectional

In today’s digitalized world, most parents are Internet-savvy and use online sources for child health information, mainly due to the 24/7 availability of advice. However, parents are often not specifically trained to identify reliable, evidence-based sources of information. In this cross-sectional online survey among a purposive, non-probabilistic sample of Austrian parents (n = 90, 81.1% females), we assessed aspects of health app use and family policy benefits-related and scenario-based Internet seeking behavior. We found that the surveyed parents showed a high health app use. The participants indicated that they prefer online information seeking to any other option in a scenario describing that their child would be sick at after-work hours, with social media channels being the least preferred source of online information. Mothers and younger parents were more likely to retrieve online information on family policy benefits. With the smartphone in everybody’s pocket, parents seemed to rely on mobile and online content when searching for child health information. Pediatricians are best suited to decide what treatment fits the child or their current medical condition, but nowadays they face increasing numbers of pre-informed parents seeking health information online. Provision of targeted parental education and guidance through the online information jungle could effectively empower parents and smooth personal and digital contacts in the delicate doctor–parent–child triangle.

scholarly journals Monitoring health inequalities in Barcelona

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Borrell ◽  
L Artazcoz ◽  
I Pasarín ◽  
M Rodríguez-Sanz ◽  
L Palència ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The City

Abstract In Spain, the Public Health Law approved in 2011 foresees the creation of a Surveillance System on Social Determinants of Health and Equity. However, although information on health inequalities has been reported in technical reports and scientific articles before, it is not until now with the change of the Spanish government the political will to set up the more strategic surveillance system approved and foreseen in 2011 is there. The change of government in some cities can be an opportunity to advance in the surveillance of health inequalities and policies to tackle them. In Barcelona, for instance, there is a wealth of information and research on health inequalities, but in the past health inequalities was not clearly prioritised on the political agenda. Hence, although health inequalities have been presented in many reports, a monitoring and surveillance system has not been available nor a prioritised task. This has now changed and as part of Spain's engagement in the Joint Action Health Equity Europe project (JAHEE) a system for Monitoring Health Inequalities in the city of Barcelona is being established. During the course of the JAHEE project the objectives of the system and target populations will be defined, sources of information and indicators identified, dissemination and evaluation structures set up before finally, in the next step, the system is to be implemented. The ambition is that the new monitoring system on health inequalities set up in Barcelona in its final form, will make out a part of the information systems of the Public Health Observatory of the city of Barcelona. In this presentation, we will learn more about the establishment, the content and the experiences gained while setting up the new monitoring system on health inequalities in Barcelona - from defining the objective of the system to implementing it.

scholarly journals Prioritizing Health Information in Europe – What do we want and need to know?

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Fehr ◽  
K J Ombrellaro ◽  
P Achterberg ◽  
P Bogaert ◽  
F Carle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
National Level ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Delphi Survey ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Robert Koch Institute ◽  
Policy Delphi ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Prioritization of Health information (HI) involves the establishment of methodological standards, and the development of political momentum to reliably track health status and health determinants. This is important in order to strengthen the evidence base for public health policies and facilitate effective delivery of healthcare services. In support of the establishment of a sustainable EU-wide Health information system, this consortium explores how HI is prioritized in EU and associated countries. Methods The Robert Koch Institute is conducting an online Policy Delphi survey among InfAct project partners, stakeholders from EU-Member States and associated countries. The Delphi methodology allows for rankings and priority-setting among a group of experts. The Policy Delphi facilitates the analysis of the impact and acceptability of a proposed policy option. The survey targets experts in national public health institutes and agencies, ministries of health and research. Participants are invited to provide information regarding their national HI prioritization processes, and to rank prioritization strategies and criteria, according to their degree of “desirability”, “feasibility”, “importance” and “confidence”. Results The Delphi survey will compile and assess processes and methods used to prioritize health information at national level in the EU and associated countries. The expected outcome is a list of good-practices in health information development and prioritization within countries, which could be further integrated to a health information prioritization strategy at the European level. Conclusions Prioritizing health information ensures that the right data is collected, is used to support ongoing public health policy action, and to capture emerging public health issues. This overview of prioritization strategies and methods aims to promote evidence-based public health by structuring exchanges about national HI prioritization in Europe.

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