Planning and Health Policy in Finland

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Härö ◽  
T. Purola

The health services system in Finland is analyzed from the point of view of planning–oriented activities. Society has traditionally been the main provider of services in this country, and executive responsibilities of local autonomous authorities are balanced with the centralized control carried out by legislative measures and subsidies. An organized information system is a prerequisite to planning (this is especially true in a country with Finland's type of organizational structure). The Finnish system is based on problem–oriented data banks. Health interview surveys which link social background data with health–related information have a key role in this system; these surveys are well suited to before and after comparisons. Information is capable of producing action only if it is properly analyzed and timed. In order to obtain information about actual goal expectations of the decision–makers, the special–purpose planning departments are located at a high level of government in Finland. Typical methods of implementation, such as financial subsidies, are described in this paper, and economic estimates and long–term budgeting are given as examples of guides for the central authorities. The use of before and after studies to measure the effect of the policies is described, and some observations on the weaknesses in the present system are presented.

2021 ◽  
pp. 109019812110347
Author(s):  
Ratika Sharma-Kumar ◽  
Cheneal Puljević ◽  
Kylie Morphett ◽  
Carla Meurk ◽  
Coral Gartner

There are high rates of tobacco smoking among people who experience mental illness (MI). While videos are an effective method of disseminating health-related information, there is limited research investigating the effectiveness of video-delivered education promoting smoking cessation among people living with MI. This formative study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and acceptability of targeted video resources providing smoking cessation information and advice to smokers with MI. This study used a mixed-method design; 29 Australian smokers living with MI completed a preinterview survey including 12 questions assessing knowledge about smoking cessation, watched six videos developed by the research team providing information about smoking cessation, took part in semistructured interviews about the videos’ quality, content, and format, and then completed a postinterview survey identical to the preinterview survey to assess changes in smoking cessation-related knowledge. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to calculate changes in cessation-related knowledge, and thematic analysis was used to identify common themes in qualitative data. We found a statistically significant increase in participants’ smoking cessation-related knowledge scores after watching the videos. Participants indicated an overall high level of acceptability of the videos’ quality, content, and format, and findings from the semistructured interviews reflected these favorable views. This study’s findings provide a new understanding of the effectiveness and acceptability of customized video-based education to promote smoking cessation among people living with MI, and can be used to inform the content and focus of video resources aimed at increasing knowledge about smoking cessation for people experiencing MI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (S3) ◽  
pp. S305-S311
Author(s):  
Jeanine P. D. Guidry ◽  
Emily K. Vraga ◽  
Linnea I. Laestadius ◽  
Carrie A. Miller ◽  
Aurora Occa ◽  
...  

Objectives. To compare how human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was portrayed on Pinterest before and after the platform acted to moderate vaccine-related search results to understand (1) what the information environment looked like previously and (2) whether Pinterest’s policy decisions improved this environment in terms of sources and content. Methods. In this quantitative content analysis, we compared 2 samples of 500 HPV vaccine–focused Pinterest posts (“pins”) collected before and after Pinterest’s actions to provide more reliable vaccine-related information. Pins were based on search results and were analyzed using the Health Belief Model. Results. The majority of preaction search results leaned toward vaccine skepticism, specifically focused on perceived vaccine barriers. Few pins were published by public health–related Pinterest accounts. Postaction search results showed a significant shift to HPV vaccination benefits, and the number of pins by government or medical accounts increased. However, the proportion of pins in search results containing HPV content of any type was significantly lower. Conclusions. Pinterest’s efforts to moderate vaccination discussions were largely successful. However, the ban also appeared to limit HPV vaccination search results overall, which may contribute to confusion or an information vacuum.


2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Parra López ◽  
Javier Calatrava Requena ◽  
Tomás De Haro Giménez

Even though multifunctionality concept is reflected, implicit or explicitly, in the design of actual agrarian policies, its consideration when analysing and assessing farming systems is relatively limited in the scientific literature. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is proposed with this aim. AHP is a multicriteria discrete decision support technique that is used in complex decision making. This methodology is stated jointly with a proposed procedure to measure relative agreement among decision makers and uniformity of alternatives’ performances in group decision making. Finally AHP is implemented in the assessment of organic, integrated and conventional olive groves in Andalusia considering criteria of a different nature – economic, technical, sociocultural and environmental –. The final purpose is determining the more interesting growing techniques from a holistic point of view for all the society in the medium/long-term on the basis of knowledge of experts on olive.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Öznur Akyüz

The fact that balances can also be a factor in performance distinction between athletes in athletic skills, and is considered to provide positive acceleration for physical development in which motor skills are exhibited. Human’s skill to ensure balance can be defined as a determinant factor in development of other motor skills. From this point of view, the purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of Aerobic Loading on Proprioception in Young Athletes. The research was composed of 18 young athletes registered in Ağrı Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports Athletics Club. Tests of the participant athletes of the research were conducted in the Performance Laboratory of Ağrı ibrahim Çeçen University Department of Physical Training and Sports. After the data were collected, comparisons were made using percentage distributions, medians, and t-test. As a result of the research, it was seen that no effect at desired level occurred in static balances of athletes. It was detected that there was no significant difference between the static balance values taken prior to loading and the static balance values taken after loading (p> 0,05). In lactate measurements performed in order to detect fatigue conditions, differences at significant level (p≤0.05) were detected when the data taken before and after the study were compared. When the general characteristics of the participants are considered, the fact that they are elite athletes reminds that they may carry a high level of motor learning process along with them. This skill may be effective in the fact that static balance values remained unchanged following maximal loading.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6868
Author(s):  
Hyun Woo Kim ◽  
Dakota Aaron McCarty ◽  
Jaekyung Lee

This study develops multiple evaluation indexes in the context of sustainable urban regeneration through introducing smart technologies/infrastructures and assesses 63 local urban regeneration strategic plans by using the content analysis method. A total of 107 indexes are developed based on the four aspects (economy, society and culture, environment, and livability) of sustainability. From our findings, the average plan quality score of 54 local governments’ plans is 17.5 out of 50, with the metropolitan governments’ plans averaging 16.8, which indicates that the plans currently sampled do not sufficiently reflect the basic concepts of sustainable and smart urban regeneration. The contents of most of the plans generally focus on specific sectors, such as society, culture, and housing, whereas smart technology-related information and policies are relatively deficient. Among the five plan components (factual bases, goals/objectives, policies/strategies, implementation, coordination) reviewed, the implementation component receives the highest score, while indicators related to action strategies are mentioned least often. In particular, the results reveal that indexes relating to the energy and transportation sectors are not frequently mentioned; as such, each municipality is recommended to work to increase awareness of smart technologies and policies. For urban regeneration projects to be sustainable, multi-faceted policies must be implemented by various stakeholders with a long-term perspective. The results of this study can be used as a base for local planners and decision-makers when adopting and supplementing existing regeneration plans, and can contribute to promoting more sustainable urban regeneration through actively adopting various smart technologies initiatives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 5987-5997
Author(s):  
Sezi Cevik Onar ◽  
Cengiz Kahraman ◽  
Basar Oztaysi

The catastrophes due to widespread outbreaks create a long-standing distraction and have an accelerating transmission. The uncontrolled outbreaks cause not only health-related problems but also supply chain related problems. The outbreak caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) shows how vulnerable the Healthcare systems and the supporting systems such as supply chains of the countries to such type of disasters. Keeping high levels of inventory, especially for healthcare products, can be beneficial to overcome such shortage problems. Nevertheless, keeping a high level of inventory can be costly, and the durability of the products creates a limit. The decision-makers have to carefully decide the inventory levels by considering many factors such as the criticality of the product and the easiness of producing the product. In this study, we try to develop a decision model for defining the inventory levels in Healthcare systems by considering multiple scenarios such as outbreaks. A novel spherical regret based multi-criteria decision-making approach is developed and used for evaluating the total regret of not keeping stock of the healthcare equipment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Nikolaos A. Chrysanthakopoulos ◽  
Panagiotis A. Chrysanthakopoulos

The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate possible associations between clinically classified periodontitis as determined by assessing its severity and diagnosed coronary heart disease in outpatients referred to a specialist clinic for neurosurgery treatment. A total of 2,912 individuals were clinically examined for periodontal disease experience by using probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL). Socioeconomic, oral health behaviour, and general health related information was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire items was performed by using multivariate logistic regression analysis model. The results showed that the occurrence of hypertension (OR=2.42, 95% CI = 1.52–3.84), smoking (OR=1.97, 95% CI = 1.25–3.11), classified periodontitis (OR=1.79, 95% CI = 1.15–2.77), and the high level of serum C-reactive protein (OR=1.74, 95% CI = 1.05–2.89) were significantly associated with the presence of coronary heart disease. These observations strengthen the role of some of the traditional causative risk factors for coronary heart disease while a significant association was recorded between diagnosed coronary heart disease and clinically classified periodontitis which is considered as a risk factor for coronary heart disease.


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