![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Medicine > General issues > Public health & preventive medicine > Personal & public health > General
Appraising cancer as a major medical market in the 2010s, Wall Street investors placed their bets on single-technology treatment facilities costing $100-$300 million each. Critics inside medicine called the widely-publicized proton-center boom "crazy medicine and unsustainable public policy." There was no valid evidence, they claimed, that proton beams were more effective than less costly alternatives. But developers expected insurance to cover their centers' staggeringly high costs and debts. Was speculation like this new to health care? Cancer, Radiation Therapy, and the Market shows how the radiation therapy specialty in the United States (later called radiation oncology) coevolved with its device industry throughout the twentieth-century. Academic engineers and physicians acquired financing to develop increasingly powerful radiation devices, initiated companies to manufacture the devices competitively, and designed hospital and freestanding procedure units to utilize them. In the process, they incorporated market strategies into medical organization and practice. Although palliative benefits and striking tumor reductions fueled hopes of curing cancer, scientific research all too often found serious patient harm and disappointing beneficial impact on cancer survival. This thoroughly documented and provocative inquiry concludes that public health policy needs to re-evaluate market-driven high-tech medicine and build evidence-based health care systems.
First published in 1975, this book looks at the place of children with handicaps in society, at that time. It argues that in the thirty years previous, a great deal of progress was made in the field of rehabilitation but that the separation between handicapped people and the community was still a challenge. A strong range of contributors discuss approaches to the problem focusing on education, employment, and daily life. Topics covered include the social aspects of integration, through the problems of the multiple-handicapped child, to a survey of disabled students at universities and polytechnics in Great Britain.
India ranks third in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS globally. The country has high levels of poverty and inequality, poor healthcare infrastructure, especially away from the metropolitan areas, and a legacy of colonialism that bequeathed laws criminalizing non-heteronormative sexualities. These factors mean that many minority groups do not receive adequate access to preventative and treatment programs. This book explores the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. Based on research in Tamil Nadu, it presents experiences of those marginalized by their sexuality and/ or gender, their struggles and their triumphs. Based on interviews with male and female sex-workers, men who have sex with men, aravanis (male to female transgenders) and HIV positive women-groups usually not included in the policy-making by Indian government agencies, international donors and international NGOs-the author uses an interdisciplinary approach. The approach highlights the historical and cultural context, while providing contemporary narratives. The book thus presents a deeper, multi-dimensional, understanding of the context of the disease and comprehends the roots of the stigma and discrimination that exacerbate the epidemic. An important study of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of South Asian Studies, Sexuality and Gender Studies, Health Sciences and Public Health.
Public-private partnerships are increasingly advocated to alleviate deficiencies in the public health system as well as to reduce economic stress on those who seek services from an expensive, burgeoning and unregulated private health sector. Focusing on India, this book examines how the private sector in developing countries is tapped to deliver health care services to poor and under-served sections of society through collaborative arrangements with the government. Having emerged as a key reform initiative, aspects of public-private partnership are examined such as the genesis of private sector partnerships, the ways in which the private sector is encouraged to deliver public health services, and the models and formats that make such partnerships possible. Based on in-depth case studies from different states of India and drawing on experiences in other countries, the authors analyse challenges, opportunities and benefits of implementing public-private partnerships and explore whether partnership with the private sector can be designed to deliver health care services to the poor as well as the consequences for beneficiaries. This book will be of interest to scholars of public policy and development administration, health policy and development economics as well as South Asian Studies.
The current value of global trade has reached a staggering annual figure of $6 trillion in merchandise crossing borders. Such prolific global trading has, at the same time, begun to raise fears of pandemics and concerns for global health. Yet, investment in public health infrastructure and disease control was never designed to cope with international trade of this volume and diversity. Indeed, most health systems lag far behind, especially in poor countries. This has created new vulnerabilities for global populations to the introduction and amplification of infection through trade. Public fears have been further heightened by frightening news reports of deadly diseases such as Mad Cow disease and E. Coli. Risky Trade: Infectious Disease in the Era of Global Trade provides a thorough examination of the actual risks posed by disease in the age of globalization. Drawing on the economics of international trade and epidemiology, the author explores the critical health issues arising from the enormous increase in global trade and travel. Issues covered include: c The scale of the problem with particular reference to the Sakai outbreak of E. Coli; c Risks from particular microbes - Enteric and viral infections; Highly infectious agents; Antimicrobial resistance; and, Stealth agents; c Global outbreaks as a result of human travel and trade; c Prevention, surveillance and control; c The future health of global trading. In addition to highlighting the problems, the book also addresses some of the potential benefits the same globalization can bring to epidemic control through surveillance, diagnostics, treatment and investigation. The empirical approach ties together existing descriptions and case studies of epidemics building a comprehensive framework for examining new events and considering historical experience with infectious outbreaks. The volume will be a valuable guide to students, academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the areas of international trade, health economics, epidemiology, international/public health and disease control.
This volume charts new methodological territories for rhetorical studies and the emerging field of the rhetoric of health and medicine. In offering an expanded, behind-the-scenes view of rhetorical methodologies, it advances the larger goal of differentiating the rhetoric of health and medicine as a distinct but pragmatically diverse area of study, while providing rhetoricians and allied scholars new ways to approach and explain their research. Collectively, the volume's 16 chapters: Develop, through extended examples of research, creative theories and methodologies for studying and engaging medicine's high-stakes practices. Provide thick descriptions of and heuristics for methodological invention and adaptation that meet the needs of needs of new and established researchers. Discuss approaches to researching health and medical rhetorics across a range of contexts (e.g., historical, transnational, socio-cultural, institutional) and about a range of ethical issues (e.g., agency, social justice, responsiveness).
The History of Gay People in Alcoholics Anonymous documents and honors the ways thousands of LGBT people have carried Alcoholics Anonymous' message. This illuminating chronicle includes interviews and documents that detail the compelling history, recovery, and wisdom of gay people in AA. The book examines the challenges AA faced as the fellowship endeavored to become a more inclusive and cohesive community. The first-person accounts narrate the important work of influential gay and straight AA members that led key events in AA's history. The author includes material on the steps and traditions of AA, and on becoming an ally to LGBT people on the road to recovery. Topics in The History of Gay People in Alcoholics Anonymous include: the gay origins of AA's Third Tradition a comparison of treatments for alcoholism and homosexuality compelling portraits of sober gay life in the 1950s and 1960s the debate in AA over meetings for gay alcoholics interviews with members and co-founders of the first gay AA meetings the history of the first gay AA/Al-Anon conference interviews with pioneering gay addiction professionals the history of AA pamphlet "AA and the Gay/Lesbian Alcoholic" Alcoholics Together, and why a parallel AA organization for gay alcoholics formed in southern California strategies AA's gay members developed to make their meetings simultaneously safe and public-and why some of them are still necessary today much more The History of Gay People in Alcoholics Anonymous is an enlightening book for members of the LGBT and heterosexual recovering community, alcoholism and addiction professionals, as well as physicians, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, clergy, historians, sociologists, educators, students, and anyone interested in learning more about AA or this aspect of the community's history.
The terror of yellow fever conjures images of mass infection of soldiers during the Spanish-American War and horrific death tolls among workers on the Panama Canal. Medical science has never found a cure and the disease continues to present a threat to the modern world, both as a mosquito-borne epidemic and as a potential biological weapon. Drawing on firsthand accounts and contemporary sources, this book traces the history of the viral infection that has claimed countless victims across the United States, Central America and Africa, and of the global effort to combat this challenging and deadly disease.
The Handbook of the Sociology of Death, Grief, and Bereavement sets issues of death and dying in a broad and holistic social context. Its three parts explore classical sociology, developments in sociological thought, and the ways that sociological insights can be useful across a broad spectrum of grief-related topics and concerns. Guidance is given in each chapter to help spur readers to examine other topics in thanatology through a sociological lens. Scholars, students, and professionals will come away from the handbook with a nuanced understanding of the social context -cultural differences, power relations, the role of social processes and institutions, and various other sociological factors - that shape grief experiences.
The Handbook of the Sociology of Death, Grief, and Bereavement sets issues of death and dying in a broad and holistic social context. Its three parts explore classical sociology, developments in sociological thought, and the ways that sociological insights can be useful across a broad spectrum of grief-related topics and concerns. Guidance is given in each chapter to help spur readers to examine other topics in thanatology through a sociological lens. Scholars, students, and professionals will come away from the handbook with a nuanced understanding of the social context -cultural differences, power relations, the role of social processes and institutions, and various other sociological factors - that shape grief experiences.
This step-by-step guide takes the reader logically through the process of undertaking a literature review, from determining when this methodology might be useful, through to publishing the findings. It is designed particularly for students undertaking a dissertation using literature review methodology. However, it also caters to practitioners who wish to review the existing evidence in order to develop practice. Key features of the text include: a chapter on what makes a good literature review, so that readers are clear and confident about what they're aiming for; discussion of the value of literature reviews, whether for fulfilling the requirements of a course or for developing practice; a chapter structure that reflects the structure of a typical dissertation by literature review, making the material intuitive and easy to navigate; case examples throughout to illustrate how methodological principles work in practice; a troubleshooting guide to provide support and advice on common problems when carrying out a literature review; advice on the dissemination of findings. Written by an established author with significant experience teaching and supervising students doing literature reviews, this invaluable text offers systematic and insightful advice on all aspects of literature review methodology, from problem identification to synthesizing information to forming conclusions. It is ideal for any student or practitioner in health and social care looking to undertake a literature review for study or practice purposes.
Pragmatic Children's Nursing is the first attempt to create a paediatric nursing theory which argues for the importance of giving children living with illness access to a childhood which is, as far as possible, equal to that of their peers. Set in the historical context of the development of children's nursing, this theory is presented in detail as an educational process, complete with eight outcome measures which allow the practitioner to evaluate its effectiveness. This book explores the triad relationship between children, carers and nurses within the context of healthcare delivery. Ht analyses the moral and ethical implications of pragmatic children's nursing, which challenges the established ideas of family-centred care. In addition to offering theoretical grounding and debate, Randall presents four practical case studies which model how this theory may work within various hospital and community settings. Establishing a link between the concepts inherent in pragmatism and our understanding of childhood within society, this accessible book will appeal to a global audience of undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students, researchers and policy makers. Discover more about this subject on our author Duncan C. Randall's website, which provides extra resources and information here: http://pragmaticchildrensnursing.com/
First published in 1964, The Last Refuge originated from the author's visit to a Victorian workhouse which had become an Institution for old people. A visit that was to show frightful overcrowding in sparsely furnished dormitories. Day-rooms bleak and uninviting in which sat watery-eyed and feeble men, their spirit and pride drained away by the hopelessness of the surroundings. The many unexpected conditions Professor Townsend found led him to undertake this major enquiry into the question "Are communal homes for the aged necessary in our community and if so, what form should they take?" Visits were paid to a random sample of 173 residential institutions and homes, and welfare officers, matrons and elderly residents were interviewed. The general conclusion was that communal homes of the kind that existed in England and Wales did not adequately meet the physical, psychological and social needs of the old people living in them and required immediate alternative services and living arrangements. This book will be of interest to students of sociology, social care, public policy and gerontology.
First published in 1980, The limbo people is based upon research carried out in a day centre ('the Centre') for elderly Jewish people in a London Borough and studies the experience and the conception of time among the elderly. The development of the arguments concerning time was founded on (a) the relationship between the community of participants and the outside world; and (b) the construction of events and interactions between participants at the Centre. The organization of this book re-enacts the process of reconstituting time as manifested in the Centre, against the background of the participants previous experiences, and in terms of their present existential situations. This book will be of interest to students of sociology, anthropology and gerontology.
The public health movement involved numerous individuals who made the case for change and put new practices into place. However despite a growing interest in how we understand history to inform current evidence-based practice, there is no book focusing on our progressive pioneers in public health and environmental health. This book seeks to fill that gap. It examines carefully selected public and environmental health pioneers who made a real difference to the UK's health, some with international influence. Many of these pioneers were criticised in their life-times, yet they had the strength of character to know what they were doing was fundamentally right and persevered, often against many odds. Including chapters on: Thomas Fresh John Snow Duncan of Liverpool Margaret McMillan George Cadbury Christopher Addison Margery Spring Rice and others. This book will help readers place pioneers in a wider context and to make more sense of their academic and practitioner work today; how evidence (and what was historically understood by it) underpins modern day practice; and how these visionary pioneers developed their ideas into practice, some not fully appreciated until after their own deaths. Pioneers in Public Health sets the tone for a renewed focus on research into evidence-based public and environmental health, which has become subject of growing international interest in recent years.
In the late nineteenth century on the eve of the formation of Australia as a nation-state in 1902, the Australian medical system could be best described as a pluralistic one in the sense that while regular medicine constituted the predominant medical system, it was not clearly the dominant one in that regular physicians faced competition from a wide array of alternative practitioners. As regular medicine increasingly assumed the guise of being scientific, it evolved into biomedicine and developed a link with corporate and state interests in the early twentieth century in Australia, as in other capitalist developed societies. Relying upon state support, Australian biomedicine has achieved dominance over alternative medical system, such as homeopathy, herbal medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, and naturopathy. Various social forces, particularly the development of the holistic health movement, have served to challenge biomedical dominance in Australia, like elsewhere. What started out as a popular health movement in the early 1970s has evolved into the professionalized entity that is generally referred to as 'complementary medicine' in Australia (as opposed to 'complementary and alternative medicine' in the US and UK). Complementary medicine in Australia encompasses many medical systems and therapies. Since the 1980s certain heterodox medical systems, particularly chiropractic, osteopathy, acupuncture and Chinese medicine, naturopathy, Western herbalism, and homeopathy, have achieved considerable recognition from the Australian state, either at the federal level or at the state and territorial levels. Indeed, the Australian state appears to have gone further than any other Anglophone country in terms of providing public funding for complementary medicine education. Conversely, it has committed a limited amount of funding for complementary medicine research compared to the United States.
Rapid changes in healthcare and public health offer tremendous opportunities to focus on process improvement. Public health departments and agencies increasingly work collaboratively with hospitals and other community partners to promote knowledge and improve collective impact through public and private sector coalitions. Solving Population Health Problems through Collaboration brings together population health experts and leaders to examine evidence-based intervention strategies, case studies in health departments and hospitals, health equity issues, core competencies, public health campaigns, step-by-step collaboration advice, and much more. Each chapter is written by a population health leader shaped by his or her experience implementing change in a community's health, to demonstrate innovative methods and tools for building and leading sustainable community coalitions to effect real change. Designed to prepare population health workers in public health and healthcare settings to develop strategies for improved population health, this book is required reading for public health managers and health administrators as well as students enrolled in population health courses.
This edited volume of original chapters brings together researchers from around the world who are exploring the facets of health care organization and delivery that are sometimes marginal to mainstream patient safety theories and methodologies but offer important insights into the socio-cultural and organizational context of patient safety. By examining these critical insights or perspectives and drawing upon theories and methodologies often neglected by mainstream safety researchers, this collection shows we can learn more about not only the barriers and drivers to implementing patient safety programmes, but also about the more fundamental issues that shape notions of safety, alternate strategies for enhancing safety, and the wider implications of the safety agenda on the future of health care delivery. In so doing, A Socio-cultural Perspective on Patient Safety challenges the taken-for-granted assumptions around fundamental philosophical and political issues upon which mainstream orthodoxy relies. The book draws upon a range of theoretical and empirical approaches from across the social sciences to investigate and question the patient safety movement. Each chapter takes as its focus and question a particular aspect of the patient safety reforms, from its policy context and theoretical foundations to its practical application and manifestation in clinical practice, whilst also considering the wider implications for the organization and delivery of health care services. Accordingly, the chapters each draw upon a distinct theoretical or methodological approach to critically explore specific dimensions of the patient safety agenda. Taken as a whole, the collection advances a strong, coherent argument that is much needed to counter some of the uncritical assumptions that need to be described and analyzed if patient safety is indeed to be achieved.
First published in 1985, this book considers the financial consequences of parents and other relatives caring for severely disabled children at home. At the time of publication little reliable information was available on the costs incurred by 'informal carers', which this book set to rectify. The volume interweaves hard statistical material about money with the detailed personal responses of parents. It examines the claim that disablement in a child reduces parents' earnings while simultaneously creating an extra expense. The author compares the incomes and expenditure patterns of more than 500 families with disabled children and 700 control families of the time showing that the financial effects of disablement in a child can be far-reaching and pervasive. This book discusses contemporary policy implications of these findings in a chapter dealing with the rational for compensating families with disabled children, and in the final chapter. Although the book was original published in 1985, it references issues that are still important today and, whilst its main concern is families with disabled children, it will also be useful to anyone caring for other kinds of dependent people, such as the elderly.
First published in 1990, this book was the first informed study to focus on care within the voluntary sector. Written with the child in mind, it is a sensitive work which explores the administration, strategy, and problems facing carers in children's homes, at that time. Centring on small, community-based facilities, the authors discuss the processes involved in setting up and running such facilities. They examine the difficulties of evaluating progressive services that are influenced by the philosophy of normalisation, and highlight the lessons from which other providers of services are able to learn. Written by experienced researchers with contributions from service managers, Normalisation in Practice offers pragmatic advice on managing innovation efficiently without neglecting the needs of the child. Detailed interviews are combined with theoretical insight to provide an important guide for students and practitioners and a model for academics undertaking evaluative research. Although written at the start of the 1990s, this book contains discussions and material that are still very relevant to the subject today.
First published in 1986, this study explores the increased public concern with policies of 'community care' and their effects on informal carers, at that time. It looks at the widespread evidence that one particular group of informal carers- parents looking after their severely disabled child- lack information, advice and a co-ordinated pattern of supporting services. The author, who carried out research on disabled children and their families for a number of years, describes in detail a low-cost experimental project in which specialist social workers set out to remedy these shortcomings. Drawing on the results of this particular study, the author argues strongly for widespread assignment of 'key' social workers to this and other groups of informal carers. Despite being written in the mid-1980s, this book discusses topic that will still be of interest and use today.
First published in 1989, this book is about integrating or mainstreaming policies, looking specifically at how to improve circumstances for schoolchildren with disabilities or handicaps, and their teachers. The author draws on her experiences, both within and outside the academic institution, to conceptualise and theorise policy, so as to place this policy in a political framework and locate it in a wider model of social life. This model is then used to disentangle the nature and effects of policy practices surrounding integration and mainstreaming, looking at practice in various parts of Europe, the US and Australia, at that time. Although written at the end of the 1980s, this book discusses topics that are still relevant today.
When Therapists Cry addresses one of the most authentic and singularly human experiences a therapist can have in therapy: crying. While therapist crying in therapy is the explicit focus of this book, it is used as a springboard for understanding the various ways in which therapists' emotions come alive-and become visible-in the therapy room. In depth clinical examples and conceptualizations from expert contributors illustrate what the experience of therapist crying looks and feels like: why therapists cry, how crying impacts the therapist and the treatment, what therapists feel about their tears, and the many ways in which therapists may engage with their own tears in order to facilitate therapeutic progress, ensure appropriate professional conduct, and deepen their clinical work.
Rapid changes in healthcare and public health offer tremendous opportunities to focus on process improvement. Public health departments and agencies increasingly work collaboratively with hospitals and other community partners to promote knowledge and improve collective impact through public and private sector coalitions. Solving Population Health Problems through Collaboration brings together population health experts and leaders to examine evidence-based intervention strategies, case studies in health departments and hospitals, health equity issues, core competencies, public health campaigns, step-by-step collaboration advice, and much more. Each chapter is written by a population health leader shaped by his or her experience implementing change in a community's health, to demonstrate innovative methods and tools for building and leading sustainable community coalitions to effect real change. Designed to prepare population health workers in public health and healthcare settings to develop strategies for improved population health, this book is required reading for public health managers and health administrators as well as students enrolled in population health courses.
When Therapists Cry addresses one of the most authentic and singularly human experiences a therapist can have in therapy: crying. While therapist crying in therapy is the explicit focus of this book, it is used as a springboard for understanding the various ways in which therapists' emotions come alive-and become visible-in the therapy room. In depth clinical examples and conceptualizations from expert contributors illustrate what the experience of therapist crying looks and feels like: why therapists cry, how crying impacts the therapist and the treatment, what therapists feel about their tears, and the many ways in which therapists may engage with their own tears in order to facilitate therapeutic progress, ensure appropriate professional conduct, and deepen their clinical work. |
You may like...
Lessons from COVID-19 - Impact on…
Habil Arturas Kaklauskas, Ajith Abraham, …
Paperback
R3,237
Discovery Miles 32 370
Child Health For All - A Manual For…
Tony Westwood, Haroon Saloojee, …
Paperback
R677
Discovery Miles 6 770
Ethical Issues in International…
James V. Lavery, Christine Grady, …
Hardcover
R1,890
Discovery Miles 18 900
|