Factors influencing delivery of intersectoral actions to address infant stunting in Bogotá, Colombia – a mixed methods case study.

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.21203/rs.3.rs-21690/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Natalia Botero-Tovar ◽

Gina Paola Arocha Zuluaga ◽

Andrea Ramírez Varela

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Health Sector ◽

Systematic Evaluation ◽

Intersectoral Collaboration ◽

Local Health ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Local Health Service ◽

Qualitative Component

Abstract Background Intersectoral actions (ISA) are a recognized relationship between the health sector and other sectors to improve health outcomes. Although a frequent topic in public health, evidence for systematic evaluation of implementation of ISA is scarce. An intersectoral health intervention for infants under one-year-old with, and at risk of, stunting (low height-for-age) was developed by a public-private partnership in Bogotá, Colombia, during 2018 and 2019. Here we report a case study conducted in parallel to the intervention designed to assess factors that influenced implementation of the ISA. Methods The case study was developed using a concurrent mixed-methods design, with the qualitative component giving context to the quantitative results. The qualitative component was obtained from four workshops, three focal groups, and 17 semi-structured interviews with actors involved in the intersectoral intervention. The quantitative component was obtained with two questionnaires that evaluated perceptions on improvement and partnership functioning of the ISA. Results This study collected information from 122 participants. The intervention demanded intersectoral collaboration. Political will, motivated human resources, and recognition that health results from collaboration facilitated intersectoral actions. Intersectoral actions were limited by difficulties in engaging the health sector, communication challenges related to local health service decentralization, and administrative barriers. Conclusions Intersectoral actions have been recently discussed in the literature due to challenges on implementation, idealization, inconsistent demands, and doubts about economic outcomes. The implementation of intersectoral public health interventions can be jeopardized by a lack of coordination and management skills.

Download Full-text

Factors influencing delivery of intersectoral actions to address infant stunting in Bogotá, Colombia – a mixed methods case study.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-21690/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Natalia Botero-Tovar ◽

Gina Paola Arocha Zuluaga ◽

Andrea Ramírez Varela

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Health Sector ◽

Systematic Evaluation ◽

Intersectoral Collaboration ◽

Local Health ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Local Health Service ◽

Qualitative Component

Download Full-text

Barriers, Facilitating Factors, and Intersectoral Collaboration for Promoting Active Mobility for Healthy Aging—A Qualitative Study within Local Government in Germany

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18073807 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 3807

Author(s):

Tanja Brüchert ◽

Paula Quentin ◽

Sabine Baumgart ◽

Gabriele Bolte

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Local Government ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Health Sector ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

Intersectoral Collaboration ◽

Political Commitment ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Facilitating Factors ◽

Administrative Structures

The promotion of walking and cycling to stay active and mobile offers great potential for healthy aging. Intersectoral collaboration for age-friendly urban planning is required in local government to realize this potential. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the heads of planning and public health departments in city and district administrations of a Metropolitan Region in Germany to identify factors influencing action on the cross-cutting issue of active mobility for healthy aging. Although some administrations are working on the promotion of active mobility, they consider neither the needs of older people nor health effects. A lack of human resources and expertise, mainly due to the low priority placed on the issue, are described as the main barriers for further strategic collaboration. Furthermore, the public health sector often focuses on pathogens as the cause of morbidity and mortality, reducing their acceptance of responsibility for the topic. Facilitating factors include the establishment of new administrative structures, projects with rapid results that create awareness and credibility among citizens and politicians, additional staff with expertise in health promotion, and political commitment. In the future, new administrative structures for intersectoral collaboration are needed in order to consider various perspectives in complex developments, such as healthy aging, and to benefit from synergies.

Download Full-text

Advancing engagement and capacity for rural cancer control: a mixed-methods case study of a Community-Academic Advisory Board in the Appalachia region of Southwest Virginia

Research Involvement and Engagement ◽

10.1186/s40900-021-00285-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jamie M. Zoellner ◽

Kathleen J. Porter ◽

Donna-Jean P. Brock ◽

Emma Mc Kim Mitchell ◽

Howard Chapman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Cancer Screening ◽

Cancer Control ◽

Value Added ◽

Advisory Board ◽

Comprehensive Cancer Control ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Human Papillomavirus Vaccination ◽

Time Points

Abstract Background The objectives are to: 1) describe engagement processes used to prioritize and address regional comprehensive cancer control needs among a Community-Academic Advisory Board (CAB) in the medically-underserved, rural Appalachian region, and 2) detail longitudinal CAB evaluation findings. Methods This three-year case study (2017–2020) used a convergent parallel, mixed-methods design. The approach was guided by community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, the Comprehensive Participatory Planning and Evaluation process, and Nine Habits of Successful Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalitions. Meeting artifacts were tracked and evaluated. CAB members completed quantitative surveys at three time points and semi-structured interviews at two time points. Quantitative data were analyzed using analysis of variance tests. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed via an inductive-deductive process. Results Through 13 meetings, Prevention and Early Detection Action Teams created causal models and prioritized four cancer control needs: human papillomavirus vaccination, tobacco control, colorectal cancer screening, and lung cancer screening. These sub-groups also began advancing into planning and intervention proposal development phases. As rated by 49 involved CAB members, all habits significantly improved from Time 1 to Time 2 (i.e., communication, priority work plans, roles/accountability, shared decision making, value-added collaboration, empowered leadership, diversified funding, trust, satisfaction; all p < .05), and most remained significantly higher at Time 3. CAB members also identified specific challenges (e.g., fully utilizing member expertise), strengths (e.g., diverse membership), and recommendations across habits. Conclusion This project’s equity-based CBPR approach used a CPPE process in conjunction with internal evaluation of cancer coalition best practices to advance CAB efforts to address cancer disparities in rural Appalachia. This approach encouraged CAB buy-in and identified key strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities that will lay the foundation for continued involvement in cancer control projects. These engagement processes may serve as a template for similar coalitions in rural, underserved areas.

Download Full-text

Evaluating the motivation of Red Cross Health volunteers in the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study protocol

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042579 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. e042579

Author(s):

Leonardo W Heyerdahl ◽

Muriel Vray ◽

Vincent Leger ◽

Lénaig Le Fouler ◽

Julien Antouly ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Vulnerable Populations ◽

Health Workers ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Red Cross ◽

Volunteer Motivation ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Current Crisis ◽

French Red Cross

IntroductionVoluntary organisations provide essential support to vulnerable populations and front-line health responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. The French Red Cross (FRC) is prominent among organisations offering health and support services in the current crisis. Comprised primarily of lay volunteers and some trained health workers, FRC volunteers in the Paris (France) region have faced challenges in adapting to pandemic conditions, working with sick and vulnerable populations, managing limited resources and coping with high demand for their services. Existing studies of volunteers focus on individual, social and organisational determinants of motivation, but attend less to contextual ones. Public health incertitude about the COVID-19 pandemic is an important feature of this pandemic. Whether and how uncertainty interacts with volunteer understandings and experiences of their work and organisational relations to contribute to Red Cross worker motivation is the focus of this investigation.Methods and analysisThis mixed-methods study will investigate volunteer motivation using ethnographic methods and social network listening. Semi-structured interviews and observations will illuminate FRC volunteer work relations, experiences and concerns during the pandemic. A questionnaire targeting a sample of Paris region volunteers will allow quantification of motivation. These findings will iteratively shape and be influenced by a social media (Twitter) analysis of biomedical and public health uncertainties and debates around COVID-19. These tweets provide insight into a French lay public’s interpretations of these debates. We evaluate whether and how socio-political conditions and discourses concerning COVID-19 interact with volunteer experiences, working conditions and organisational relations to influence volunteer motivation. Data collection began on 15 June 2020 and will continue until 15 April 2021.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol has received ethical approval from the Institut Pasteur Institutional Review Board (no 2020-03). We will disseminate findings through peer-reviewed articles, conference presentations and recommendations to the FRC.

Download Full-text

The importance of an early alert from the Microbiology Laboratory and multidisciplinary collaboration during a suspected salmonellosis outbreak

Microbiologia Medica ◽

10.4081/mm.2017.6275 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Adriano Anesi ◽

Maria Lucia Panceri ◽

Sara Asticcioli ◽

Dominga Baroni ◽

Vanina Rognoni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Food Industry ◽

Large Scale ◽

Regulatory Agencies ◽

Local Health ◽

Microbiology Laboratory ◽

Food Borne ◽

Local Health Service ◽

Sporadic Cases

Background and aims. Salmonellosis is one of the most common and widely distributed food-borne diseases. The increasing complexity and globalization of the food industry are causing an increase of some of these large-scale food-borne illnesses, thus there is a need for improvements in public health signal detection and communication streams between laboratories and regulatory agencies. The aim of this study is to show how the early reporting of salmonellosis cases directly from the Laboratory of Microbiology to the Local Health Service Infectious Diseases Office along with the prompt response of the ASL, and the rapid involvement of the Local Veterinary Prevention Department resulted in an improved individuation and investigation of a suspected food-borne outbreak with anomalous manifestation. Materials and methods. From August to November 2014 the early warning from the Laboratory of Microbiology regarding Salmonella spp. isolates with the identical serogroup and antibiotic resistance phenotype, allowed for prompt identification of a food-borne infection. Results and conclusions. The genotyping analysis suggested that over the period considered there was more than a single monophasic Salmonella typhimurium isolate: one responsible for the sporadic cases that occurred in September and October, and another in November.

Download Full-text

ICT Framework to Support a Patient-Centric approach in Public Healthcare

The Journal of Community Informatics ◽

10.15353/joci.v16i0.3494 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

pp. 45-76

Author(s):

Richard Pankomera ◽

Darelle Van Greunen

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Health Sector ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Healthcare Sector ◽

Public Healthcare ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Poor Countries ◽

Patient Centric

Although Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the healthcare sector are extensively deployed globally, they are not used effectively in developing countries. Many resource poor countries face numerous challenges in implementing the ICT interventions. For instance, many health applications that have been deployed are not user-centric. As a result, such ICT interventions do not benefit many health consumers. The lack of an ICT framework to support patient-centric healthcare services in Malawi renders the e-health and mhealth interventions less sustainable and less cost effective. The aim of the study was therefore to develop an ICT Framework that could support patient-centric healthcare services in the public health sector in Malawi. The comprehensive literature review and semi-structured interviews highlighted many challenges underlying ICT development in Malawi. An ICT framework for patient-centric healthcare services is therefore proposed to ensure that eHealth and mobile health interventions are more sustainable and cost effective. The framework was validated by five experts selected from different areas of expertise including mhealth application developers, ICT policy makers and public health practitioners. Results show that the framework is relevant, useful and applicable within the setting of Malawi. The framework can also be implemented in various countries with similar settings.

Download Full-text

The Role of GIS for Sustainable Development in Health Sector in Egypt A Case study: Distribution of Public Health Centers in Cairo, Egypt

مجلة الجمعیة المصریة لنظم المعلومات وتکنولوجیا الحاسبات ◽

10.21608/jstc.2011.120226 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 18-24

Author(s):

Christina Albert Rayed

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Health Sector ◽

Health Centers

Download Full-text

The influence of internal marketing and job satisfaction on quality service delivery in a public health sector: A case study of a local government organization in Uganda

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ◽

10.5897/ajbm2019.8789 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 309-317

Author(s):

Otieno Ong’unya Gordon ◽

Baptist Kowa John ◽

Wakibi Aziz ◽

Ssenyange Kassim

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Job Satisfaction ◽

Local Government ◽

Service Delivery ◽

Health Sector ◽

Internal Marketing ◽

Quality Service ◽

Government Organization ◽

Public Health Sector

Download Full-text

Who is to blame for COVID-19? Examining politicized fear and health behavior through a mixed methods study in the United States

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0256136 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (9) ◽

pp. e0256136

Author(s):

Lisa J. Hardy ◽

Adi Mana ◽

Leah Mundell ◽

Moran Neuman ◽

Sharón Benheim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

United States ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Health Behaviors ◽

The United States ◽

Mixed Methods Design ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Government Power ◽

Political Spectrum

Background Political ideologies drove public actions and health behaviors in the first year of the global pandemic. Different ideas about contagion, health behaviors, and the actions of governing bodies impacted the spread of the virus and health and life. Researchers used an immediate, mixed methods design to explore sociocultural responses to the virus and identified differences and similarities in anxiety, fear, blame, and perceptions of nation across political divides. Methods Researchers conducted 60 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and administered over 1,000 questionnaires with people living in the United States. The team analyzed data through an exploratory and confirmatory sequential mixed methods design. Results In the first months of the pandemic interviewees cited economic inequality, untrustworthy corporations and other entities, and the federal government as threats to life and pandemic control. Participants invoked ideas about others to determine blame. Findings reveal heavy associations between lack of safety during a public health crisis and blame of “culture” and government power across the political spectrum. Conclusion Data indicate anxiety across political differences related to ideas of contagion and the maleficence of a powerful elite. Findings on how people understand the nation, politics, and pandemic management contribute to understanding dimensions of health behaviors and underlying connections between anxiety and the uptake of conspiracy theories in public health. The article ends with recommendations drawn from project findings for future pandemic response.

Download Full-text