Commentary on “Diabetes and people with learning disabilities: issues for policy, practice and education”

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianne Redquest ◽  
Yona Lunsky

Purpose There has been an increase in research exploring the area of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and diabetes. Despite being described as instrumental to diabetes care for people with IDD, the role and experiences of family carers, such as parents and siblings, are often neglected in this research. However, it is clear that family carers do not feel that they have sufficient knowledge about diabetes. The purpose of this commentary is to extend the content from “Diabetes and people with learning disabilities: Issues for policy, practice, and education (Maine et al., 2020)” and discuss how family carers can feel better supported when caring for someone with IDD and diabetes. Design/methodology/approach This commentary discusses specific efforts such as STOP diabetes, DESMOND-ID and OK-diabetes for people with IDD including family carers. Encouragement is given for health care providers to recommend such programmes to people with IDD and their family carers. It is also suggested that health care providers involve family carers in diabetes care planning and implementation for people with IDD. Findings It is hoped that if changes are made to current diabetes practices and more research with family carers is conducted, diabetes prevention and management for people with IDD will be more successful and family carers can feel more confident in providing support to their loved ones. Originality/value Research exploring the role of family carers in diabetes care for people with IDD and diabetes is very limited. This commentary makes recommendations to help family carers feel better supported in their role. It also provides areas for future research.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusi Cheng ◽  
Wei Wei ◽  
Yunying Zhong ◽  
Lu Zhang

Purpose This paper aims to explore how hospitable telemedicine services empowered patients during the COVID-19. Expanding from the technology aspect, this research integrated the philosophy of hospitality organizational culture by including factors related to human-human interaction as significant predictors for patients’ sense of empowerment (perceived competence and control) in coping with their emotional stress (anxiety and isolation). Design/methodology/approach Survey data were obtained from 409 general consumers who have used video-based virtual consultation since February 2020. Stepwise multiple regression and simple linear regression analyses were used for hypotheses testing. Findings The results reveal that the doctors’ reliability, responsiveness and empathy significantly predict patients’ perceived competence and control. Perceived usefulness and convenience of telemedicine technology enhance patients’ perceived competence and control. Patients’ sense of empowerment significantly reduces their anxiety and sense of isolation. Research limitations/implications To fully understand the role of hospitality in people’s telemedicine experiences, future studies are encouraged to not only examine the patients-clinicians interactions but also explore the patients-support staff interactions. Practical implications Health care providers’ “bed-side” manners empower patients in managing their emotional stress. Health care providers should be trained for their empathetic ability and communication skills. Strategies such as collaborating with hospitality schools and business schools can be implemented to help build medical student’s patient-centric attitudes and skills. Originality/value This paper provided empirical evidence for the value of hospitality in health care and offered useful suggestions for health care providers, especially by empowering vulnerable people during catastrophic events such as COVID-19.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuma Ukoha ◽  
Andrew Stranieri

Purpose This paper aims to use the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin to reveal new insights into the role and impact of social media in health-care settings. Design/methodology/approach With the help of Bakhtin’s constructs of dialogism, polyphony, heteroglossia and carnival, the power and influences of the social media phenomenon in health-care settings, are explored. Findings It is apparent from the in-depth analysis conducted that there is a delicate balance between the need to increase dialogue and the need to safeguard public health, in the use of social media for health-related communication. Bakhtin‘s constructs elucidate this delicate balance and highlight the need for health-care providers that use social media to find the right balance between these competing communicational priorities. Originality/value This paper advances a nascent theoretical approach to social media research. By applying Bakhtinian ideas to consumer health informatics, this paper has the potential to open a new approach to theorizing the role of social software in health-care settings. Stakeholders in digital health will find this paper useful, as it opens up dialogue to further discuss the role of social media in health care.


Author(s):  
Tommasina Pianese ◽  
Patrizia Belfiore

The application of social networks in the health domain has become increasingly prevalent. They are web-based technologies which bring together a group of people and health-care providers having in common health-related interests, who share text, image, video and audio contents and interact with each other. This explains the increasing amount of attention paid to this topic by researchers who have investigated a variety of issues dealing with the specific applications in the health-care industry. The aim of this study is to systematize this fragmented body of literature, and provide a comprehensive and multi-level overview of the studies that has been carried out to date on social network uses in healthcare, taking into account the great level of diversity that characterizes this industry. To this end, we conduct a scoping review enabling to identify the major research streams, whose aggregate knowledge are discussed according to three levels of analysis that reflect the viewpoints of the major actors using social networks for health-care purposes, i.e., governments, health-care providers (including health-care organizations and professionals) and social networks’ users (including ill patients and general public). We conclude by proposing directions for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-292
Author(s):  
Sarah Marshall

Purpose Ideas of health-related deservingness in theory and practise have largely been attached to humanitarian notions of compassion and care for vulnerable persons, in contrast to rights-based approaches involving a moral-legal obligation to care based on universal citizenship principles. This paper aims to provide an alternative to these frames, seeking to explore ideas of a human rights-based deservingness framework to understand health care access and entitlement amongst precarious status persons in Canada. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from theoretical conceptualizations of deservingness, this paper aims to bring deservingness frameworks into the language of human rights discourses as these ideas relate to inequalities based on noncitizenship. Findings Deservingness frameworks have been used in public discourses to both perpetuate and diminish health-related inequalities around access and entitlement. Although, movements based on human rights have the potential to be co-opted and used to re-frame precarious status migrants as “undeserving”, movements driven by frames of human rights-based deservingness can subvert these dominant, negative discourses. Originality/value To date, deservingness theory has primarily been used to speak to issues relating to deservingness to welfare services. In relation to deservingness and precarious status migrants, much of the literature focuses on humanitarian notions of the “deserving” migrant. Health-related deservingness based on human rights has been under-theorized in the literature and the authors can learn from activist movements, precarious status migrants and health care providers that have taken on this approach to mobilize for rights based on being “human”.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Motahari-Nezhad ◽  
Maryam Shekofteh ◽  
Maryam Andalib-Kondori

Purpose This study aims to investigate the characteristics, as well as the purpose and posts of the COVID-19 Facebook groups. Design/methodology/approach A systematic search for COVID-19 Facebook groups was conducted on June 1, 2020. Characteristics of the groups were examined using descriptive statistics. Mann-Whitney test was used to study the differences between groups. The study of the most popular groups’ posts was also carried out using the content analysis method. Findings The groups had a combined membership of 2,729,061 users. A total of 147,885 posts were received. There were about approximately 60% public groups. A high percentage of the groups (86.5%) had descriptions. The results showed a significant relationship between the groups’ description status and the number of members (p-value = 0.016). The majority of COVID-19 Facebook groups (56%) were created to meet their members’ information needs. The highest number of studied posts were related to vaccination (35.2%), followed by curfew rules (19.6%) and symptoms (10.6%). Originality/value Translating these insights into policies and practices will put policymakers and health-care providers in a stronger position to make better use of Facebook groups to support and enhance public knowledge about COVID-19.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ik-Whan Kwon ◽  
Sung-Ho Kim

Purpose This paper aims to explore avenue where suppliers and manufacturers are aligned with health-care providers to improve supply chain visibility. Supply chain finance is explored to link suppliers/manufacturers with health-care providers. Design/methodology/approach Existing literature on supply chain visibility in health care forms a basis to achieve the study purpose. Alignment calls also for financial health where supply chain partners’ working capital is readily available to execute joint supply chain plan. Findings There is a disjoint in supply chain alliance between suppliers/manufacturers and providers where providers are unable to trace the origin of supplies. Quality care suffers and cost of care rises as providers search for supplies on an emergency basis. This paper provides a framework where solution can be formulated. Research limitations/implications Suppliers/manufactures form a direct strategic alliance with providers where product visibility enables health-care providers with a better patient management with lower cost of supplies. Inventory management and logistics cost will be lowered as better planning/forecasting is in place. This paper does not call for testing any hypothesis. Perhaps, next move along this line will be to investigate financial health of supply chain partners based on supplier relationship management practices. Originality/value This paper proposes health-care supply chain as an alternative solution to achieve the following twin purposes: controlling the cost while improving quality of care through supply chain finance. As far as we know, this study is the first attempt to achieve the goals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-87
Author(s):  
Alexsandra Dubin ◽  
Barry A. Garst ◽  
Tracey Gaslin ◽  
Beth E. Schultz

Background: Summer camps engage millions of youth in enrichment opportunities during the summertime while employing a substantial young adult workforce to provide high-quality programs and services to camp participants. Workplace fatigue has been implicated in camp-related injury and illness events, yet few studies have targeted fatigue among camp employees. Purpose: This study aimed to better understand how fatigue impacted employee performance as well as strategies for reducing the negative impacts of fatigue within camp settings. Methodology/Approach: Focus groups were conducted with camp health care providers and directors, and their responses were analyzed using directed content analysis. The analysis process was guided by sensitizing concepts from the literature. Findings/Conclusions: Emergent themes suggested that camp-related fatigue is conceptualized as a construct of time, types, and causes; is a distinct experience leading to setting-specific outcomes; is managed using administrative and peer supports; and is sometimes perceived in positive ways. Implications: This exploratory study highlighted the unique challenges associated with working in a camp setting and the potential development of fatigue as a starting point informing future research. It suggests that future research should include a broader study population, including frontline staff, as well as possible quantitative measures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luna El Bizri ◽  
Laila Ghazi Jarrar ◽  
Wael K. Ali Ali ◽  
Abdifatah H. Omar

Abstract Background Self-care interventions offer a solution to support the achievement of three goals of the World Health Organization (WHO): to improve universal health coverage, reach people in humanitarian situations, and improve health and well-being. In light of implementing WHO consolidated guidelines on self-care interventions to strengthen sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists from four different EMR countries discussed the current SRH situation, inequality gaps, barriers to SRH service access and the pharmacist’s crucial role as a first-line responder to patients before, during and after COVID-19. Case presentation Self-care interventions for SRH allow health care providers to serve a greater number of patients, improve progress toward universal health coverage, and reach people in humanitarian crises. In fact, these interventions can be significantly enhanced by utilizing community pharmacists as first-line health care providers. This review highlights the important role of community pharmacists in promoting self-care interventions and empowering individuals, families and communities. As a result, well-informed individuals will be authoritative in their health decisions. Exploring self-care interventions in the EMR was done through reviewing selected SRH services delivery through community pharmacists before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Somalia. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, community pharmacists were found to be excluded from both governmental and nongovernmental SRH programmes. During the pandemic, community pharmacists managed to support patients with self-care interventions, whether voluntarily or through their pharmacy associations. This highlights the need for the health care decision-makers to involve and support community pharmacists in influencing policies and promoting self-care interventions. Conclusion Self-care interventions can increase individuals’ choice and autonomy over SRH. Supporting community pharmacists will definitely strengthen SRH in the EMR and may help make the health system more efficient and more targeted.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document