Search results

1 – 5 of 5
Article
Publication date: 16 November 2015

Rocio Martin-Santos, Elfi Egmond, Myriam Cavero, Zoe Mariño, Susana Subira, Ricard Navines, Xavier Forns and Manuel Valdes

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection, antiviral therapy, depression, and gender…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection, antiviral therapy, depression, and gender.

Design/methodology/approach

CHC and its treatment options were reviewed examining their relationship with depression and gender.

Findings

CHC is a high prevalent chronic infection worldwide, being similar in men and women. However, the infection shows many gender differences in terms of innate response, genetic variability (i.e. IL-28B), route of transmission (i.e. intravenous drug use), disease progression (i.e. fibrosis), lifetime period (i.e. pregnancy), and risk factors (i.e. HIV). Both the hepatitis C infection and antiviral treatment (especially when using the pro-inflammatory cytokine interferon α), are highly associated with depression, where female gender constitutes a risk factor. It seems that the new direct-acting antiviral combinations produce fewer neuropsychiatric side effects. In fact, the presence of depression at baseline is no longer a limitation for the initiation of antiviral treatment. Antidepressant drugs have been recommended as current depression and prophylactic treatment in risk subgroups. However, caution should be exercised due to the risk of drug-drug interactions with some antiviral drugs. Women should be counselled prenatal, during and after pregnancy, taking into account the clinical situation, and the available evidence of the risks and benefits of antiviral and antidepressant treatments. Multidisciplinary approach shows cost-efficacy results.

Originality/value

The paper clarifies the complex management of CHC therapy and the importance of individualizing treatment. The results also underline the need for an integrated multidisciplinary approach.

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2005

David K. Whynes, Katherine Clarke, Zoë Philips and Mark Avis

To identify women's sources of information about cervical cancer screening, information which women report receiving during Pap consultations, information they would like to…

1223

Abstract

Purpose

To identify women's sources of information about cervical cancer screening, information which women report receiving during Pap consultations, information they would like to receive, and the relationships between perceived information needs, personal characteristics and information sources.

Design/methodology/approach

Logistic regression analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 408 screen‐eligible women resident in east central UK.

Findings

Programme documentation and the Pap consultation represent the main sources of information, although a sizeable proportion rely on other sources (e.g. mass media). The range and frequency of information services which women report receiving during their Pap consultations are variable, and around one‐sixth of women report never receiving information. “Always wanting information” is predictable from subject characteristics, which do not map precisely, owing to the variation in frequency of information being supplied. Age and women's main sources of information are significant predictors of perceived information shortfall, and such shortfalls are associated with dissatisfaction with the screening programme.

Originality/value

Covers all aspects of women's attitudes towards satisfactory or unsatisfactory availability of external information in the matter of screening for cervical cancer in the UK.

Details

Health Education, vol. 105 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2021

Sharon J. Williams and Zoe J. Radnor

Worldwide, healthcare systems struggle to sustain the delivery of services at a time of increasing demand, limited resources and growing expectations from users, coupled with…

Abstract

Purpose

Worldwide, healthcare systems struggle to sustain the delivery of services at a time of increasing demand, limited resources and growing expectations from users, coupled with dealing with the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the threat of other outbreaks. There has never been a more important time to sustain innovation and improvements. Using an illustrative case, the authors assess the application of two existing frameworks to identify the key propositions and dimensions required to deliver sustainable services.

Design/methodology/approach

This illustrative case study focuses on a service provided by a chronic disease, multidisciplinary community healthcare team in the UK. Experienced-based interviews were conducted with health professionals, patients and relatives to provide a rich account of a care pathway design. A high-level process map is used to visualise the key touch points.

Findings

The authors identify all seven propositions of the SERVICE framework being present along with additional dimensions relating to sustaining innovation and improvement.

Research limitations/implications

This research is limited to a chronic disease care pathway. However, the authors believe the results could be applicable to other medical conditions, which are supported by a similar multi-disciplinary service delivery model.

Practical implications

The authors provide a sustainable public service operations SERVICES framework for health professionals and managers to consider when (re)designing care pathways.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the emerging discipline of public service operations research by empirically testing for the first time the SERVICE framework within healthcare. The authors have included additional factors associated with innovation and improvement and recommended further development of the framework to include factors, such as economic sustainability, highly relevant to the context of universal healthcare systems.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 71 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 December 2023

Minh Tran and Dayoon Kim

The authors revisit the notion of co-production, highlight more critical and re-politicized forms of co-production and introduce three principles for its operationalization. The…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors revisit the notion of co-production, highlight more critical and re-politicized forms of co-production and introduce three principles for its operationalization. The paper’s viewpoint aims to find entry points for enabling more equitable disaster research and actions via co-production.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors draw insights from the authors’ reflections as climate and disaster researchers and literature on knowledge politics in the context of disaster and climate change, especially within critical disaster studies and feminist political ecology.

Findings

Disaster studies can better contribute to disaster risk reduction via political co-production and situating local and Indigenous knowledge at the center through three principles, i.e. ensuring knowledge plurality, surfacing norms and assumptions in knowledge production and driving actions that tackle existing knowledge (and broader sociopolitical) structures.

Originality/value

The authors draw out three principles to enable the political function of co-production based on firsthand experiences of working with local and Indigenous peoples and insights from a diverse set of co-production, feminist political ecology and critical disaster studies literature. Future research can observe how it can utilize these principles in its respective contexts.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 June 2023

Tanya Jurado, Alexei Tretiakov and Jo Bensemann

The authors aim to contribute to the understanding of the enduring underrepresentation of women in the IT industry by analysing media discourse triggered by a campaign intended to…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors aim to contribute to the understanding of the enduring underrepresentation of women in the IT industry by analysing media discourse triggered by a campaign intended to encourage women to join the IT industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Internet media coverage of the Little Miss Geek campaign in the UK was analysed as qualitative data to reveal systematic and coherent patterns contributing to the social construction of the role of women with respect to the IT industry and IT employment.

Findings

While ostensibly supporting women's empowerment, the discourse framed women's participation in the IT industry as difficult to achieve, focused on women's presumed “feminine” essential features (thus, effectively implying that they are less suitable for IT employment than men), and tasked women with overcoming the barrier via individual efforts (thus, implicitly blaming them for the imbalance). In these ways, the discourse worked against the broader aims of the campaign.

Social implications

Campaigns and organisations that promote women's participation should work to establish new frames, rather than allowing the discourse to be shaped by the established frames.

Originality/value

The authors interpret the framing in the discourse using Bourdieu's perspective on symbolic power: the symbolic power behind the existing patriarchal order expressed itself via framing, thus contributing to the maintenance of that order. By demonstrating the relevance of Bourdieu's symbolic power, the authors offer a novel understanding of how underrepresentation of women in the IT sector is produced and maintained.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

1 – 5 of 5