Coalitions on mental health and aging: lessons learned for policy and practice

Elders with mental health needs have been poorly served. Private and government agencies have given this issue a low priority, which is reflected in service delivery and funding. Coalitions have developed in states around the country and have engaged in a variety of tasks, including training techniques and collaborative efforts to advocate successfully for appropriate services. While accomplishments vary, the coalitions should continue their work, and others should organize in order to reach the goal of having accessible and appropriate elder mental health services.     

Framing public policy towards a public health paradigm for gambling

This paper examines the public policy value of looking at gambling from a public health perspective. The manner in which social issues are framed will either expand or curtail public policy debates. The existing and traditional frames for gambling (e.g. gambling as a matter of individual freedom, gambling as a form of recreation) fail to consider research on the social and economic impacts of gambling. Because a public health frame offers a broad viewpoint of society, it encompasses a number of social and economic impacts not considered in traditional frames. However, the existing gambling frames enjoy varying degrees of cultural, economic, and political support and, as a result, creating a higher profile for a public health framework will encounter a number of barriers. Research can play a decisive role in overcoming these barriers, as it has in a number of related fields (e.g., tobacco use, addiction and product liability, the epidemiology of AIDS). The paper concludes that research that identifies and quantifies the public health factors of gambling will substantially contribute to a public shift toward a public health frame.     

Worksite e-mail health promotion trial: Early lessons

In preparation for an electronic mail (e-mail) and web-based health promotion intervention across multiple worksites, secure, regulatory-compliant, user-friendly e-mail and Internet applications were used to recruit potential participants across worksites, to enroll participants, and to collect baseline health assessment data. Specific hardware and software information technology environments were required of the 19 participating worksites. Sequential e-mails introduced the study and invited participation. Twenty-four percent of all employees (1106 of approximately 4600) provided consent. E-mail delivered a web link for the baseline study assessment, and reminder e-mails were sent to prompt completion. Of those who consented, 888 (80%) completed baseline health and behavior data surveys. An HTML-native web survey software was more stable across computing environments. Using e-mail and web assessment, this research recruited, enrolled, and collected data from more than 850 participants. Technical and operational challenges emerged at each step. Solutions and recommendations are discussed. Overall, this experience suggests that the use of e-mail and web software can facilitate recruitment, enrollment, and data acquisition through direct contact with study participants. This experience yields a series of lessons learned for using e-mail and the Internet to support multi-site trials.     

Recommendations for research and public policy in gambling studies

The purpose of this article is to respond to and expand on the ideas presented by Father McGowan in The Ethics of Gambling Research: An Agenda for Mature Analysis. We provide specific recommendations for future research and public policy in the field of gambling studies. We suggest that key conceptual definitions—such as, problem, compulsive, and pathological gambling—should be clarified, established, and distinguished from one another before gambling research is conducted. Proper methodological procedures are recommended, where power analyses, pilot studies, and representative samples are appropriately conducted and analyzed. Retrospective and Prospective studies are considered and differentiated while Discrete Time Event History Analysis—namely, Life Tables Analysis and Discrete Time Logistic Regression—are proposed.     

A Canadian experience with an intervention programme for vulnerable families: lessons for German social work and policy

Schools are an important community resource that can foster social connections and enhance the health and wellbeing of children and families in Germany through information, health promotion and interventions. While developing social connections between the school and vulnerable families—those who are most limited in their access to other sources of information, education and intervention—is complex and challenging, it is nonetheless critical. This paper reports on the role of Families and Schools Together (F&ST), a school-based intervention aimed at vulnerable families, in building and promoting the social connections, or social capital, that strengthen families and communities. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed that programme participants perceived an increase in their social capital in all three of its dimensions (bonding, bridging and linking). The paper highlights the importance of social capital in building stronger, more resilient families and of strengthening relations between parents and schools, and contributes to the sharing of experience and views on matters concerning families in Germany.     

A population sample registry for public health survey investigations: methods,lessons, and successes

Public health relies on sample surveys to monitor the health of populations and investigate factors that contribute to population health and illness. Such investigations require surveying individuals who are selected in ways that support statistical inference to the population. Faced with rising costs and declining participation, survey researchers are exploring economical ways to recruit samples that validly represent larger populations. The current report describes an innovative resource, the Colorado Adult Population Sample–Survey Research Registry, which maintains survey access to respondents from a probability-based state health survey. We describe recruitment and retention strategies, explore representativeness, report several studies that used the registry, and discuss future directions.     

Risk perceptions and ethical public health policy: MMR vaccination in the UK

This paper is concerned with how public health policy makers should respond to the public’s perception of risks. I suggest that we can think of this issue in terms of two different models of responding to the public’s view of such perceived risks. The first model I will call the “public perception” view (PP view) and the second the “public good” view (PG view). The PP view suggests that the public’s perception of any risks is so important that public health policies should be formulated in direct response to knowledge about them. I will consider two possible ethical arguments that might be offered in support of such a view: the first argument is an “autonomy” argument and the second a “consequences” argument. I suggest there are serious problems with both arguments. I then outline an alternative model of public health policy formation that I call the “public good” or PG model. This model focuses on drawing distinctions between the clinical and the public health context, and argues that most of public health policy is primarily concerned with the creation and maintenance of various public goods. This latter fact means that the PP model is inappropriate for public health policy formation.

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Zusammenfassung  Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich damit, wie Entscheidungsträger in der Gesundheitspolitik der Wahrnehmung von Risiken in der Öffentlichkeit begegnen sollten. Mein Vorschlag ist hier, diese Frage im Rahmen zweier verschiedener Modelle der Reaktion auf die öffentliche Sichtweise solcher wahrgenommender Risiken zu betrachten. Das erste Modell bezeichne ich als die Perspektive der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung (“PP (Public Perception)-Modell”), das zweite als die Perspektive des öffentlichen Nutzens (“PG (Public Good)-Modell”). Nach dem PP-Modell sind allgemeine Risikowahrnehmungen von solcher Wichtigkeit, dass Gesundheitspolitiken als direkte Reaktion auf das Wissen über solche Wahrnehmungen zu formulieren wären. Ich betrachte zwei mögliche ethische Argumente, die zur Stützung dieses Standpunkts angeführt werden könnten, das erste ein “Autonomieargument”, das zweite ein “Folgenargument”. Ich zeige auf, dass beide Argumente mit ernsten Schwierigkeiten behaftet sind. Dann skizziere ich ein Alternativmodell zur Gestaltung öffentlicher Gesundheitspolitik, das so genannte PG-Modell, in dem der öffentliche Nutzen im Vordergrund steht. Dieses Modell konzentriert sich auf die Unterschiede zwischen Fragen des klinischen Gesundheitswesens einerseits und solchen der öffentlichen oder Volksgesundheit. Das Argument lautet dann, dass es in der Politik zur öffentlichen Gesundheit weitgehend und in erster Linie um die Schaffung und Erhaltung verschiedener öffentlicher Güter geht, was allerdings bedeutet, dass das PP-Modell für die Politikformulierung zur öffentlichen Gesundheit ungeeignet ist.

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Résumé  Le présent article s’interroge sur la manière dont les décideurs dans le domaine de la politique de santé publique devraient répondre à la perception des risques par l’opinion publique. Je suggère que nous réfléchissions sur ce thème dans le cadre de deux modèles différents de réaction à la vision de l’opinion publique des risques ainsi perçus. J’appelle le premier modèle le point de vue de la perception publique (point de vue PP (Public Perception)), et le deuxième le point de vue de l’intérêt public (point de vue PG (Public Good)). Le modèle PP suggère que la perception publique des risques revêt une telle importance que les politiques de santé publique devraient être formulées en réponse directe à ce qu’on en sait. Prenons deux arguments éthiques possibles pour étayer ce point de vue : le premier argument est un argument ≪ d’autonomie ≫ et le second un argument ≪ de conséquences ≫. Je montre que ces deux arguments posent de sérieuses difficultés. J’esquisse ensuite un modèle alternatif pour l’élaboration de politiques de santé publique, le modèle PG ou ≪ d‘intérêt public ≫. Ce modèle se concentre sur les différences entre l’aspect hospitalier de la santé et son aspect public, et argue que la politique de santé publique porte essentiellement sur la création et la préservation de biens publics. Ceci signifie que le modèle PP ne convient pas à l’élaboration d‘une politique de santé publique.

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调整我们的思路和政策：以创新驱动发展

创新是经济社会发展的永恒主题,也是经济社会发展的不竭动力。世界主要发达国家把科技创新作为国家的发展战略,走创新驱动发展之路,已经成为创新型国家。中国提出到2020年进入创新型国家行列的宏伟目标,这就要求我们必须调整发展的思路和政策,坚持走有中国特色的自主创新道路,实现发展模式从要素驱动和投资驱动向创新驱动转变。     

Human nature and economic policy: lessons for the transition economies

Both economic regulation in market economies and state ownership and control of the means of production in socialist economies have been interpreted as means of protecting people from economic exploitation by the owners of capital. In this paper, I argue against this interpretation, suggesting that both sets of institutions are more plausibly viewed as protecting people from destructive competition amongst themselves.     

The exclusion of theology from public policy: the case of euthanasia

It is commonly assumed that ethical decisions made on theological grounds belong in the private sphere, but theological arguments have a distinct place in the public's ethical conversation.     

Sexuality and health challenges: responding to a public health imperative

Sexuality is associated with a number of public health imperatives to prevent disease or disability or, if prevention is not possible, to treat and reduce the burden of disease as expeditiously as possible. With the advent of modern testing technology and better sampling of populations, the burden of sexually transmissible infections, sexual assault, and sexual disability have become more apparent. Presented here are U.S. data on the public health dimensions of human sexuality and the evidence for the urgent need to address the magnitude of sexually related public health problems.