Dialogues in health最新文献

{"title":"Consequences and coping strategies of nurses and registered nurses perceiving to work in an environment characterized by workplace bullying","authors":"Daniela Acquadro Maran ,&nbsp;Gianmarco Giacomini ,&nbsp;Alessandro Scacchi ,&nbsp;Roberta Bigarella ,&nbsp;Nicola Magnavita ,&nbsp;Maria Michela Gianino","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100174","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aim</h3><p>The aim of this study was to analyze the well-being and coping strategies of nurses working in an organizational setting perceived as characterized by workplace bullying. The innovative aspect of this study is that we considered only those who perceive to work in an organizational environment characterized by workplace bullying, and not those who see themselves as victims and those who perceive they work in an organizational environment not characterized by workplace bullying.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>A questionnaire with the NAQ-R, PGWBI, Val.Mob. and Brief COPE scales was administered to nurses. To better understand this phenomenon, a comparison was made between 331 nurses and 166 workers in other professions who also work in an organizational environment perceived to be characterized by workplace bullying.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>In both groups (nurses and workers), the results were approximately the same in terms of personal bullying and workplace bullying episodes and the number of physical and emotive symptoms. The PGWBI score was lower for nurses than for workers in other fields. Among the individual symptoms, nurses and registered nurses were more likely to report gastritis, insomnia and heartburn than workers in other contexts. Workers in other contexts were more likely than nurses to report symptoms of anxiety, fear, feelings of insecurity, inferiority and guilt. In terms of coping strategies, nurses were more likely than other workers to report distraction, substance use, emotional support, disengagement, venting, positive reframing, humor, and religion. Workers in other professional context were more likely than nurses to report active coping, denial, instrumental support, planning, acceptance, and self-blame.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Results suggest that the consequences of working in a perceived organizational environment characterized by workplace bullying are similar for both groups of workers, with nonstatistical differences in perceived workplace bullying episodes and sum of physical and emotive symptoms.</p></div><div><h3>Implication</h3><p>Overall, findings suggest that workplace bullying prevention is a fundamental element in training workers in all types of workplaces and should be an integral part of curriculum activities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000108/pdfft?md5=26d79c5abd4689e4fd9ff8c392e19b89&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000108-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139985952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seven incidents within a fortnight in Nepal: Is violence against healthcare professionals curbed by tougher laws?","authors":"Leison Maharjan","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100173","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In September 2023, a surge of violence against healthcare professionals occurred in Nepal within a two-week span, despite recent legal amendments aimed at curbing such incidents. This manuscript explores whether stricter legislation effectively deters these acts. The violence is rooted in Nepal's healthcare system's inadequacies, leading to overcrowded and understaffed hospitals, patient frustration, and healthcare professional burnout. Misinformation and rumors, particularly in rural areas, can trigger outbreaks of violence, exacerbated by media sensationalism. The lack of legal consequences for attackers is a significant factor. Perpetrators often go unpunished, emboldening others to resort to violence when dissatisfied with medical services. Political affiliations and third-party involvement for financial gain are common. The psychological toll on healthcare workers is profound, resulting in burnout, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, contributing to a significant brain drain of doctors from Nepal. This paper underscores the importance of enforcing existing laws to create a safe workplace and making the malpractice complaint process accessible to the public to deter resorting to violence.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100173"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000091/pdfft?md5=9f7cab7268a1f480dadde9b845c16a8e&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000091-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139985969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wearing masks is easy but taking them off is difficult – A situation in Japan during COVID-19 pandemic and after","authors":"Reina Suzuki ,&nbsp;Yusuke Iizuka ,&nbsp;Hitoshi Sugawara ,&nbsp;Alan Kawarai Lefor","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100172","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100172","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Masks are well accepted in Japan, where they were already part of daily life even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike many other countries where mask mandates were lifted as soon as the pandemic was under control, Japan was one of the last countries to ease mask-wearing guidelines. Even after the formal announcement to allow masks-off in mid-March 2023, many Japanese still voluntarily wear masks. In this work, possible reasons for this extreme “mask-affinity” of Japanese people were studied by exploring various information sources including tweets (now known as X posts) and subsequent text-analysis, online news, and medical literature.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>An observational study was conducted based on tweets prospectively collected during 5 months from June 26^th, 2022 to November 26^th, 2022. Tweets with the hashtag “mask (in Japanese)” were collected weekly via the Twitter application programming interface by using R version 4.0.3 to gauge public opinions. The word clouds to allow intuitive understanding of the key words were drawn from the tokenized text.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The data collection period included the 7^th flareups of the newly infected cases i.e. “the 7^th surge”. In total, 161,592 tweets were collected. Word clouds for 1) before the 7^th surge based on 18,000 tweets on June 26^th and 2) during/after the 7^th surge based on 143,592 tweets between July-November were created with the R package “wordcloud2”. The results indicated that the people wanted to take off masks due to the heat in summer, then shifted again toward mask-wearing along with the 7^th surge but with a certainly growing “no-mask” sentiment.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Subsequent review of domestic information sources suggested that various factors, not only well-known peer pressure, may have contributed the public’s mask affinity in Japan. This work revealed an aspect of Japanese struggle toward adaptation to life in an unexpected pandemic by focusing on masks as our closest daily adjunct over the past 3 years of isolation.</p><p>Trial registration: not applicable.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277265332400008X/pdfft?md5=56d92baa6e4550e98e58449c99695805&pid=1-s2.0-S277265332400008X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139699495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The future of midwife-led continuity of care: Call for a dialogue","authors":"Yvonne J. Kuipers","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100170","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100170","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background/Purpose</h3><p>Midwife-led continuity of care (MLCC) is an evidence-based care model positively influencing the health and wellbeing of women and their families. Despite the evidence, a sustainable future of the model is uncertain. The aim of this paper is to give an example of a theoretical exercise that enhances the understanding of the trends and developments impacting MLCC’s future state.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>The industrial complex theory scaffolded the theoretical approach. The intuitive logics scenario development methodology was used to structure the key variables that influence the utility of MLCC. Dimensionally structured scenarios representing the probable, possible and probable MLCC futures were written.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Thirteen key variables that greatly impact the future MLCC, with varying degrees of certainty were identified. A theoretical framework representing two underlying meta dimensions of MLCC was constructed: <em>identity system of midwife-led continuity of care (fixed vs fluid)</em> and <em>embodied orientation to the world (reasoning vs meaning making)</em>. Within the framework, four different storylines of possible, plausible prospective futures emerged: <em>Sense &amp; sensibility</em>, <em>The birth of mothers</em>, <em>Too many sisters</em> and <em>One-stop-shop</em>.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The paper is an example of how to approach the future of MLCC, the method serving as a tool to establish a theoretical truth of how its future state may unfold, the scenarios facilitating a dialogue among stakeholders and informing the public.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100170"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000066/pdfft?md5=09cd0ce5bee0989ce46fca32f38c7773&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000066-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139633435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring the healthcare access challenges faced by visually impaired young women in Nepal: Navigating sexual harassment and stigma within healthcare settings","authors":"Amit Timilsina ,&nbsp;Pabitra Neupane ,&nbsp;Janaki Pandey ,&nbsp;Aastha Subedi ,&nbsp;Subash Thapa","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100171","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100171","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Despite global progress in gender equality, still not every woman has access to safe and the highest quality health care. Visually impaired young adult women represent one of the most vulnerable groups with a poorer ability to access necessary healthcare services. This study aims to explore and comprehend the experiences of visually impaired young adult women in accessing healthcare services in Nepal.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted among 16 visually impaired women aged 20 to 35 years who had utilized healthcare services within the past 12 months. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted for data collection, and thematic analysis was conducted for data analysis.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Our study revealed a range of challenges faced by visually impaired young women that impeded their healthcare-seeking. These challenges included sexual harassment by male healthcare providers, disability-related stigma, financial difficulties, limited autonomy in decision-making, and a lack of disability-friendly healthcare facilities and services. Particularly, experiencing sexual harassment from male healthcare providers, coupled with underlying disability-related stigma, profoundly influenced the avoidance of healthcare. To navigate these challenges, some women sought support by having family members or friends accompany them or by requesting to be seen by a female healthcare provider. Nevertheless, financial dependence on families and women lacking employment and income led to a feeling of burden on the family, contributing to a reluctance among women to seek expensive healthcare. Social organization-based, collaborative efforts and peer support networks played a significant role in breaking down barriers and improving overall healthcare experiences.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>While integrating disability-friendly healthcare services and infrastructure is essential, fostering attitudinal and behavioral change—particularly among male healthcare providers—is more important to ensure safety for young women in healthcare settings. The implementation of anti-sexual harassment policies is imperative to ensure a safe and respectful environment. Community mobilizing and peer group-based programs can be tested for increasing visually impaired women’s utilization of relevant healthcare services.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100171"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000078/pdfft?md5=cbdfb674561b0784d0decbc4e50ce1e3&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000078-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139637708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Who drive the health policy agenda in India? Actors in National Health Committees since Independence","authors":"Disha Agrawal ,&nbsp;Parth Sharma ,&nbsp;Vikash R. Keshri","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100167","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100167","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Health policies reflect the ideas and interests of the actors involved. The Indian Government constituted many health committees for policy recommendations on myriad issues concerning public health, ranging from tribal health to drug regulation. However, little is known about their composition and backgrounds. We reviewed these committees to map the actors and institutions.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>We elicited information on all relevant health committees available in the public domain. All were constituted post-independence, except two, with recommendations that remain pertinent to date. Data for chairpersons and members - their professions, gender, institutions, and location were extracted and analysed. Reliable online sources were used to collate the information.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>We identified 23 national health committees from 1943 to 2020 with available reports. There were 25 chairpersons and 316 members. All except three chairpersons were men. Among members, only 11% were women. The majority (51%) had experience working in health systems; however, most were medical doctors, with negligible representation of other cadres. We noted the centralization of location, with 44% of members based in the national capital of Delhi. Government administrators were maximally represented (55%), followed by medical academia (19%). Post-2000, we have observed slightly improved diversity across some parameters like gender (15% women vs 9% earlier) and affiliation. However, the centralization of the location to the national capital had increased (55% post-2000 vs. 39% pre-2000).</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Indian health committees lack diversity in representation from multiple perspectives. Henceforth, health policymakers should prioritize including diverse social, geographical, and health systems actors to ensure equitable policymaking.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100167"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000030/pdfft?md5=2b591204091744c859485973ca9fcd35&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000030-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139636642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatializing HIV: Putting Queer (men) in its place via social marketing","authors":"Tyler M. Argüello","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100169","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100169","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The current study is concerned with how HIV is <em>spatialized</em>, or emplaced in everyday life, and therefore how prevention, Queer identity, and the virus itself are given meaning. Employing a transdisciplinary methodology based in Critical Discourse Studies and critical human geography, this study provides a geosemiotic analysis of an HIV prevention social marketing effort called the Little Prick campaign. Findings showed that space was constructed through multiple competing dynamics across professionals and citizens, as well as amidst contested notions of risk and branding in the epidemic. The analysis illuminates the discursive relationship amongst Queer, HIV, and prevention. Equally, this study counters the biased notion that “prevention fatigue” in high-risk populations hampers professional labor by, instead, exposing a semiotic fatigue in the HIV epidemic and prevention efforts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100169"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000054/pdfft?md5=796b0340db81aa7ab7c8e94ece001af0&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000054-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139634619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining the association between men's gender equitable attitudes and contraceptive outcomes in rural Maharashtra, India","authors":"Mohan Ghule ,&nbsp;Anvita Dixit ,&nbsp;Nicole E. Johns ,&nbsp;Madhusudana Battala ,&nbsp;Shahina Begum ,&nbsp;Sarah Averbach ,&nbsp;Jay G. Silverman ,&nbsp;Niranjan Saggurti ,&nbsp;Anita Raj","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100168","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Previous literature suggests that men reporting more gender-equitable attitudes are more likely to use condoms, but there is a paucity of data evaluating whether these attitudes are associated with contraceptive communication and use. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that men reporting more gender-equitable attitudes will be more likely to (a) engage in contraceptive communication with their wives and (b) that they and/or their wives will be more likely to use all forms of family planning, compared to men with less equitable attitudes.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Using cross-sectional dyadic survey data from young married couples from rural Maharashtra, India (<em>N</em> = 989), we assessed the associations between men's gender role attitudes and a) spousal contraceptive communication and b) contraceptive use by type (none, traditional, condoms, pills, or IUD). The contraceptive use outcome is based on wives' report. We assessed these associations via bivariate <em>t</em>-test (communication outcome) or ANOVA test (contraceptive type outcome), as well as unadjusted and adjusted logistic (communication outcome) and multinomial logistic (contraceptive type outcome) regression models. Adjusted models included sociodemographic factors selected a priori based on established associations with gender-equitable attitudes and/or our assessed outcomes.</p></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><p>Men with more gender-equitable attitudes were more likely to discuss family planning with their wives (AOR = 1·05, 95%CI 1·03-1·07, <em>p</em> &lt; 0·001) and to use condoms (ARRR = 1·03, 95%CI 1·00-1·06, <em>p</em> = 0·07). There was no association between gender-equitable attitudes and use of other types of contraception.</p></div><div><h3>Interpretation</h3><p>While gender-equitable attitudes among men may facilitate condom use and family planning communication in marriage, they do not appear to be linked with greater likelihood of use of more effective types of contraceptive use. This suggests that males supportive of gender equity may take greater responsibility for family planning vis a vis a less effective contraceptive, condoms, in the absence of more effective short-acting contraceptives for men.</p></div><div><h3>Funding</h3><p>The <span>National Institutes of Health</span> [Grant number <span>5R01HD084453-01A1</span>] and the <span>Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation</span>, Seattle, WA [grant number <span>INV-002967</span>].</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100168"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000042/pdfft?md5=2358270151454f3d577968005eba178a&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000042-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139549315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spread of avian influenza among poultry specialists in England during winter 2022/23: National poultry housing order and environmental drivers","authors":"Peter Tammes","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100165","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dialog.2024.100165","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>To examine the impact of the national poultry housing order the UK government introduced on 7 November 2022 on the spreading of the avian influenza virus among poultry premises.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A longitudinal design with 15 weeks of infected poultry specialist incidence rates per 100 poultry specialists during the 2022/23 winter for 8 English regions. A multilevel regression model was used to analyse repeated measurements. Time was level-1 unit and regions level-2 unit resulting in 120 observations. Random intercept models included interactions between housing order and weekly infected wild birds, poultry density, or weekly average temperatures divided into terciles. In models where these variables were not included as an interaction term they were introduced as confounders.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>After the introduction of the housing order, it took 3 weeks for a considerable reduction in poultry specialist incidence rates. Reduction in incidence rates was strongest in regions with highest poultry density, from 1.27 (95%CI 0.99 to 1.56) to 0.30 (95%CI 0.09 to 0.52). Considerable reductions were also seen in regions with most detected infected wild birds.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The housing order was successful in reducing infected poultry specialist incidence rates three weeks after its introduction. Strongest impact in regions with highest poultry density.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100165"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653324000017/pdfft?md5=9052046d7d3dd676860c63c1a289027b&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653324000017-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139394384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patients’ experiences in the use of mobile health clinics in KwaMachi rural area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa","authors":"Ms Zama Portia Nkosi","doi":"10.1016/j.dialog.2023.100164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dialog.2023.100164","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>A study was conducted to evaluate the role of mobile health clinics (MHCs) in providing healthcare services in rural areas, focusing on the population of KwaMachi in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The objective of the study was to explore the level of health promotion and health-seeking behaviour in KwaMachi, understand the services provided by the MHCs, and assess the experiences of individuals accessing healthcare through these clinics.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>The study used qualitative research methods, including face-to-face interviews and focused group discussions. A sample of 20 patients, with equal representation of males and females across different age groups, was selected using purposive and convenience sampling methods. Two themes were developed: positive experiences and negative experiences. The collected data was analyzed using manual thematic analysis.</p></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><p>The findings of the study revealed that MHCs serve as the main entry point to the national healthcare system in rural areas, but they offer limited services, which contributes to the ongoing struggle of rural communities to access primary healthcare. While respondents generally had positive experiences with MHCs, some negative aspects need to be addressed. These included concerns about privacy during consultations, the unavailability of essential medications, limited services offered, lack of doctors, and inadequate management of clinical records leading to diagnostic inaccuracies.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The study highlights the challenges faced by rural communities in accessing healthcare services and the role of MHCs in addressing these challenges Based on these findings, the study concludes that there is a need for sustainable MHC programs that address the specific needs and preferences of the local population.</p></div><div><h3>Recommendations</h3><p>These insights are of value to policymakers seeking to enhance the impact of MHCs in improving healthcare access and outcomes in rural areas. By looking at areas of improvement in the services provided by MHCs, including addressing privacy concerns, ensuring the availability of essential medications, and improving the management of clinical records. The study provides valuable insights for policymakers to enhance the effectiveness of MHC programs in rural areas.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":72803,"journal":{"name":"Dialogues in health","volume":"4 ","pages":"Article 100164"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653323000680/pdfft?md5=354060049cd98e93e5413ea4312ff4bf&pid=1-s2.0-S2772653323000680-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139111777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}