Technology Internet

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTIONS: The Health Systems Trust has funded a significant number of research projects related to Mental Health Services since its inception. There was a perception that there was a lot of duplication of research, and that the findings of research projects were not reaching key stakeholders, and thus not impacting on policy or implementation of services. There was also a lack of any systematic review of the field. With this in mind, the Health Systems Trust commissioned a project to review research that has been conducted in the field of Mental Health Services. The objectives of the project are thus: - To compile and communicate the findings and recommendations of existing research on mental health services to all role-players - To identify gaps in existing work - To make recommendations for future research - To identify obstacles or barriers to the implementation of research recommendations - To facilitate the sharing of information amongst key stakeholders OBJECTIVES OF DISSEMINATION WORKSHOP: 1. To confirm a mental health services research agenda for the Health Systems Trust (and possibly also for Essential National Mental Health Research). 2. To make recommendations for good research practices/processes in mental health services research. 3. To make recommendations for a dissemination strategy for Mental Health Services research that will reach all role players. Fifty key role-players in the mental health services field were invited to attend the dissemination workshop. The invitees were selected in terms of their positions and also in terms of their response to previous contact within the context of this project. There were thirty-eight participants at the workshop.

The internship programme is one of the skills development initiatives developed by the research programme of the Health Systems Trust (HST). Since it was founded in 1992, HST has been concerned with the need to develop research and planning skills for health care delivery. The internship programme aims to develop a pool of health systems re-search skills in South Africa by attaching novice researchers to institutions with established research record.

Environmental health and occupational hygiene, within the context of a district hospital, were identified as important health components for which norms and standards needed to be determined. The Health Systems Trust, on behalf of the National Health Department, tasked the Unit for Environmental Health Research of the Port Elizabeth Technikon to identify these norms and standards and, where possible, indicate mechanisms that could be applied to monitor the status of the relevant service components. The result of this research is contained in this document in the form of the relevant norms and standards for environmental health and occupational hygiene that are applicable to district hospitals.

The purpose of this report is to provide a synthesis of programme activities during the 1999 2001 funding circle. It gives an overview of each of the key areas within the strategic framework, i.e. support for health systems research, capacity building and targeted information dissemination. The report highlights key lessons that have emerged from each of the strategic areas to be considered in formulating plans for the next funding circle.

Health managers define their health information needs as both internal and external. This finding refutes the general impression that health managers are not aware of their information needs. The quality of health management information is described as inaccurate, incomplete and inadequate in informing all the decisions. In particular, routine data and level of aggregation appear to be a constraint in complex decision-making processes.

Measuring client or patient satisfaction has become an integral part of health facility management strategies across the globe. Moreover, the quality assurance and accreditation process in most countries requires that the satisfaction of clients be measured on a regular basis. Client satisfaction is the level of satisfaction that clients experience having used a service. It therefore reflects the gap between the expected service and the experience of the service, from the client/patients point of view. As the expectations of clients increase over time, the quality of the service has to keep on improving to maintain or increase a level of satisfaction.

The Directory is a yearly update of health systems research in South Africa, and provides a profile of research activities, summaries of research and contact addresses of researchers and institutions. The Directory was motivated by the lack of an inventory of health systems research conducted in South Africa. Health systems research focuses on priority health problems, and is also aimed at practical and affordable solutions. The major aim of this publication is to encourage networking of groups involved in similar or related research. The first Directory was published in June 1994 and widely disseminated to research institutions, organisations and individuals that contributed to its compilation as well as others who have sent requests for it to HST. In future the Directory plans to include research findings of reported research projects

The Directory has been a yearly update of health systems research in South Africa, and provides a profile of research activities, summaries of research and contact addresses of researchers and institutions. The Directory was motivated by the lack of an inventory of health systems research conducted in South Africa.

When the Reproductive Health Fund was established our first questions were who is currently undertaking such research, where are they and what are they doing? We needed this information to ensure we were not to duplicate existing work, and also to link new researchers with those experienced. This task was harder than we had thought. First, we found no directory that particularly looked at reproductive health systems research. Second, we found that many people were unaware of what others were doing. Thus we started compiling a directory.

It is well known that disabled people are among the most marginalised and oppressed groups within society. Their exclusion has been reinforced by discriminatory attitudes and practices that promote segregation and prejudice. The World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons was promoted by the United Nations in 1982, and was later followed by the Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (UN 1993). Internationally, these were means by which to highlight the need for prevention of disability, rehabilitation and equalisation of opportunities for disabled people. Included in rehabilitation are measures to compensate for loss or limitation of function - one of these being through technical appliances. It is also recognised that a precondition to the equalisation of opportunities is the provision of support services - including assistive devices - to disabled people, because they enable the individuals participation on equal terms.