No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1959.

In South Africa there is an abundance of research studies available for policy development but few of the results have contributed to policy development, despite a seemingly-receptive new political environment. This highlights the need for a health research framework at local level, in order to guide the link between research and policies or programmes. Although a number of studies have been undertaken, the eThekwini Municipality does not seem to have a framework to facilitate a link between research studies, the policy - development process and implementation (service delivery). This results in policies or health programmes that are not informed by research, and as such, are often a waste of the resources of the above municipality. There is no evidence to indicate that research results have influenced the health policy, implementation or intervention process. The absence of an explicit health research agenda at eThekwini Municipality has meant that health research has not addressed health priorities or needs, nor have the available resources been channelled towards them. The study comes at an ideal time as the municipality is currently reviewing its approach to service delivery as well as finalising the planning process through integrated development planning (IDP), a legislative requirement in terms of the Municipal Systems Act. This study will help to create awareness in stakeholders regarding the lack of a link between research and policy processes. The arguments made in the study are that at the local sphere of government (the unit of analysis being eThekwini Municipality) there is no Health Research Policy Framework. This lack of a framework leads to ad hoc health research and the research results not being used. In addition, the health policies and programmes are not being informed by local research. The main argument is that there is an urgent need for the local sphere of government within the health sector to now develop and adopt a Health Research Policy Framework for linking research policy and implementation. The purpose of the study is to develop a Research Policy Framework for linking research, policy and implementation for the eThekwini Municipality. The objectives of the study are to analyse the existing health research policy framework, identify stakeholders in the health research policy processes, determine their role in the health research policy process, determine the conditions necessary for facilitating the linking of research to policy and to propose a research policy framework for the eThekwini Municipality. In order to attain the above-mentioned objectives of the study, a literature review, document review, a consultative workshop and semi-structured interviews were undertaken. After the data analysis was completed the following conclusions were drawn: there is a need for a health research policy framework, the knowledge base of some stakeholders is lacking, there is a lack of participation by key stakeholders in the health research policy processes, there is a lack of communication among key stakeholders and there is also a lack of use of health research results. A proposed health research policy framework is provided as part of the recommendations, as well as the processes to be followed in implementing the proposed framework. / Thesis (PhD.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

The health restructuring taking place within the health sector is a direct result of the unfolding socio-political processes presently sweeping across the country's very young democracy. The adoption of a Primary Health Care approach and the transition to a district-based health system is an attempt to bring the health services closer to the people and to correct or redress the way in which money is spent to keep people healthy. Given that 'in South Africa more people die from preventable diseases, a Primary Health Care approach is more appropriate to deal with the country's health needs. However, many also die from degenerative diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer and are dependent upon curative hospital-based care. Their health needs have to be catered for as well. Since the declaration of Alma Ata in 1978, the concept of Primary Health Care has been broadened to include other determinants of health such as water, sanitation and health education. As a result, collaboration with other service sectors became essential to support such a holistic view of health. The District Health System is the unit of management of the health system that is best able to compliment an intersectoral collaboration. The technology that is best suited to analyse health resources within a District Health System is a Geographical Information System. The delineation of the boundaries for the proposed New Hanover District Health System was essentially a consultative process. An assessment of the health resources within the proposed district revealed spatial inequalities between the areas of the former Republic of South Africa and the areas of the former Kwa-Zulu. The former Kwa-Zulu areas are disadvantaged in term of health care facilities, health care personnel, health services, water, sanitation, roads and economic opportunities.In collaboration with the Department of Health and the New Hanover Primary Health Care and Development Programme, five potential fixed clinic sites and two mobile clinic points were identified using a Geographical Information System. This study goes beyond considering population as the only and most important variable in the identification of potential sites. Other important variables such as the road network density, the number of primary schools and the number of mobile clinics within a 10 kilometre radius of each site were taken into consideration. The siting of the Khanyile and nKululueko mobile clinic points has demonstrated yet another way by which primary health care services could be made more accessible. Community participation was crucial in identifying and confirming each potential site. A mathematical formula named Pregan's PCs formula was specifically devised to determine the 'potentiality' of each site. For example, if the PCs value was less than one then the site was not considered. In the proposed New Hanover District Health System all sites were considered. The lack of health care facilities and lack of personnel along the densely populated eastern border of the proposed New Hanover District Health System were two major factors that affected access to primary health care services . It is envisaged that the five potential fixed clinic sites and the two mobile clinic points which were identified would help to improve access to primary health care services and at the same time redress the spatial inequalities that exist within the proposed health district. This study concluded that a Geographical Information System is a useful tool for addressing questions of access to primary health care services within a district-based health system. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1999.

The problem of this study was to identify collaboration strategies, communication strategies, and barriers to collaboration through examining the strategies utilized by the American Red Cross Statewide HIV/AIDS Networks (SWANs). A cross-sectional, content analysis of documents from 41 American Red Cross SWANs was conducted. The collaborative strategies were catalogued utilizing five levels of collaborative involvement. Communication strategies used by the SWANs and barriers to collaboration were also analyzed. Frequencies and percentages of utilization by the S WANs were calculated. A chi-square test was used to compare the lower and higher levels of collaborative involvement and was found to be statistically significant (p < .05). The identified strategies and barriers can provide a database from which other groups involved in collaboration can select. Descriptive strategy examples are included. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

The purpose of this study was to determine mental health needs in Madison County, Indiana, to establish such needs according to priority and to make recommendations to assist planning efforts for a local comprehensive mental health center.Data collected were derived from three sources: (1) rating scales of mental health need statements as completed by professional persons and community leaders; (2) a questionnaire distributed to the general population on a random, county-wide basis; and (3) demographic and statistical information indicating potential need for mental health services.Fifty professional persons in positions related to the delivery of mental health services and key community leaders agreed to participate in one of five group meetings for the purpose of discussing mental health needs. Nineteen need statements resulted from the group sessions and were presented in the form of two separate rating scales. On the initial scale, raters were asked to rate each need statement on a continuum of relative need, and on the second scale they were asked to label each statement as a first, second or third priority need.One thousand persons were selected randomly from among approximately 80,000 registered voters in Madison County to receive the questionnaire on mental health attitudes and needs. Questionnaires were distributed either by local Girl Scouts or by the mail.Demographic and statistical data were obtained from local sources in Madison County as well as from state and federal government agencies. When applicable, Madison County data were compared with those of Indiana State Economic Region VI and the State of Indiana.The need statements used for the rating scales were primarily oriented toward treatment aspects of mental health services. Those needs determined to be the most important and immediate were: (1) provision for short-term commitment for persons with mental problems; (2) an after-care program for the follow-up of psychiatric patients, to include rehabilitation services; and (3) increased cooperation and communications between school systems and local mental health agencies.From the questionnaire it was ascertained that only 10% of the sample felt the services provided in 1974 were adequate to meet present mental health needs, whereas 65% felt comprehensive mental health services were necessary to meet needs.Several demographic and statistical data indicated the need for expanded mental health services. The caseload increased significantly between 1969 and 1973 in terms of mental health services provided at both The Center for Mental Health and Saint John's Hospital in Anderson. Admissions to Logansport State Hospital and the remaining eleven state hospitals from Madison County exceeded by percentage the county’s percentage of the population in Indiana for FiscalYear 1972 and Fiscal year 1973. Additional statistical indicators were found in the areas of Unemployment, divorce rate, drug usage (data for Region VI), and school drop-out rate.Findings from the rating scales and demographic and statistical data indicated a substantial need in Madison County for mental health services and that this need had increased in many related areas in the five years immediately prior to 1974. Both those persons who participated in the group sessions and the sample of the general public who responded were of the opinion that numerous mental health needs did exist at the time of the present study, and that these needs were important to the provision of improved and adequate services in Madison County. Those needs deemed essential to meeting mental health needs were in the area of treatment services as opposed to those of a preventive nature.On the basis of data presented in this study, it was recommended that planning efforts to obtain the necessary funds to develop a comprehensive mental health center in Madison County be continued and extended to the measure deemed essential by the Comprehensive Mental Health Planning Committee of Madison County.

Family and Community Medicine was introduced to Costa Rica through the McGill-CENDEISSS Project of 1989-1994. The development of this new speciality is interpreted as a "professionalization" drive, which, while appropriating the discourse of the international primary health care movement, in fact places more importance, as a social movement, on negotiating for and expanding its own jurisdictional space. Two bodies of literature are called upon to provide theoretical guidance, namely, writing on "professionalization" and ethnographic interpretations of "development" in the so-called Third World. The phenomenon of Family and Community Medicine in Costa Rica is described as an international, national, and local movement. The town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui is the focus of an ethnographic description of the speciality's local-level implementation.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1981. / Bibliography: leaves 231-243. / Photocopy. / xvii, 243 leaves, bound 29 cm

Typescript. / Thesis (Dr.P.H.)--University of Hawaii, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves [302]-313. / xxi, 313 leaves, bound ill., maps 29 cm

The purpose of this study was to identify the physical needs of the elderly with regard to physiotherapy services in the Livingstone district in Zambia. The objectives were to determine the knowledge of the elderly on the role of physiotherapy in the care of the elderly / the barriers to utilization of the services / the prevalence of physical problems and it also examined associations between education, knowledge and utilization of physiotherapy services in the district.