ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Community health practitioners (CHP) in Korea have a responsibility for delivering primary health care to remote or isolated communities. The aim of this paper is to analyze CHPs' level of depression and impacts of their Ego state and interpersonal attitude in transactional analysis on depression. This paper gives fundamental data for developing a the program for mental health promotion of CHPs. METHOD: The subjects of this study consisted of 459 Korean CHP who were conveniently selected from the target population. The data was collected through interviews using self-administered questionnaires, including the Korean Ego gram and life position inventory and depression scale. RESULTS: The CHP's Ego gram showed the N type with the top point of NP. The type of interpersonal attitude was I'M OK - YOU'RE OK (I+U++). The level of depression was 35.4, normal range. There was a significant difference in depression according to the duration of the career. There was a significant negative correlation among NP, A, FC ego states, interpersonal OK and depression, and a significant positive correlation between interpersonal Not-OK and depression. The NP, A, FC ego states and interpersonal Not-OK were significant predictors (47.1%) of depression. CONCLUSION: This study showed that a program for CHPs to should include increasing the function of ego states and positive interpersonal attitude.
Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Middle Aged , Attitude of Health Personnel , Community Health Centers , Depression/epidemiology , Ego , Physicians/psychology , Professional-Patient RelationsABSTRACT
The involvement of health-care professionals in tobacco-control activities is essential to prevent smoking-related morbidity and mortality. The purposes of this predictive correlational study were to examine tobacco-control activities and to identify the predictors of such activities of community health practitioners (CHPs). Of the 1,813 members of the Korean Association of CHP, 1,247 participated in this study. A mailed survey was conducted to collect data. The majority of CHPs supported tobacco-control policies and recognized tobacco-control activities as an important role for them. Only 44.3% of CHPs were confident in their knowledge and skills regarding tobacco-control activities, and only 30.8% had received professional tobacco-control education. While the majority of the CHPs "asked, advised, and assessed"their clients, only a small number "assisted or arranged". The tobacco-control activities of CHPs were predicted by their attitude toward it, age, experience of tobacco-control education, educational level, and general perception of the risk of smoking; these variables accounted 13.5% of variance in the tobacco-control activities of CHPs. These findings provide the basis for developing a continuing education program for CHPs. CHPs should be encouraged to integrate tobacco-control activities into their routine practice, and CHP education programs should be adjusted to increase the time spent on the tobacco-control intervention techniques.
Subject(s)
Adult , Aged , Humans , Middle Aged , Analysis of Variance , Attitude of Health Personnel , Clinical Competence/standards , Community Health Nursing/education , Cross-Sectional Studies , Education, Nursing, Continuing/standards , Educational Status , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Korea , Needs Assessment , Nurse's Role , Nursing Methodology Research , Nursing Staff/education , Predictive Value of Tests , Surveys and Questionnaires , Regression Analysis , Risk Factors , Self Efficacy , Smoking/prevention & control , Smoking CessationABSTRACT
This research was initiated as a preliminary work-up of information system development for primary health care delivery by community health practitioners in rural areas in Korea. The study was focused on the necessary information for enhancing the works of the community health practitioners and that required for health promotion and maintenance within the community. The data were obtained by a questionnaire survey from 458 community health practitioners who participated in computer related education from June 25th to September 26th, 2001. Only 288 (62.9%) of 458 responses were selected for evaluation due to incomplete returns. The majority(76.8%) of participants was using computer once a day at the healthcare centers and the duration of computer usage was more than one year in most cases. The primary usage of computer was for making documents, sending and receiving e-mails, and searching information on the internet. On the contrary, other skills and functions as data management, statistics, web development, games, program development, e-business, and searching for books and articles were not as readily utilized. The essential information for enhancing the performance of the community health practitioners appeared to be that related to drugs and diseases primarily. Other items for respondents in the decreasing order of importance were minimizing manual paper-works, computerized business, computer education, and media development and materials for health education, respectively. The overall information need of respondents was the highest on health and disease, and that on others such as health education, health promotion, elderly care, and fitness exercises were high also. In summary, the community health practitioners should have applicable information system to enhance their performance by obtaining necessary health maintenance and promotion information; by networking available resources; and by enabling them to adapt to rapidly changing policies and work environment. The outcome of this study may provide information elements necessary in development of Health Information Systems for community health practitioners.
Subject(s)
Aged , Humans , Commerce , Surveys and Questionnaires , Delivery of Health Care , Education , Electronic Mail , Exercise , Health Education , Health Information Systems , Health Promotion , Information Systems , Internet , Korea , Primary Health Care , Program DevelopmentABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of the study were to describe outcomes of CHP activities, and to evaluate the economic validity of CHP through a cost-benefit analysis. METHOD: The sample size was 272. Data were collected using a researcher developed questionnaire from November 1999 to March, 2000. RESULT: The mean age of CHPs was 39.6 (SD=.36). In regard to marital status, 90.8% of the respondents were married. 72% of the CHPs had associate degree. Among CHP activities, providing medical services was 50%, followed by home care visits 20% and health promotion services 20%, preventive services 10%. Total costs per month incurred to CHP activities was won3,053,437($2,442.7). Total benefits per month was won6,711,525($5,369.2). Hence, net benefit was calculated as won3,658,089($2,926). CONCLUSION: Cost-benefit ratio was 2.20, which provides the evidence of the economic viability of CHP program. The result of cost-benefit analysis, however, would more strongly support the economic value of CHP if intangible benefits of CHP activities such as decreases in pain and suffering and increased quality of life, could be counted.