Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5793/1510009
Family Oriented Care: Opportunities for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Diego Garcia-Huidobro and Tai Mendenhall
Article Type: Review Article | First Published: August 31, 2015
Even though life expectancy has increased in industrialized countries, chronic diseases and mental illnesses are continuous health challenges. Thus, new strategies to further improve health must be implemented. Because family contexts are where health behaviors are usually learned, developed, maintained and changed, targeting family systems (rather than individual patients) is an option to further improving the health status of individuals, families, and communities. This article will review pos...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5793/1510008
Xerostomia: Understanding the Diagnosis and the Treatment of Dry Mouth
Ilina Ristevska, Rosaria S. Armata, Christina D'Ambrosio, Melissa Furtado, Leena Anand and Martin A. Katzman
Article Type: Review Article | First Published: August 23, 2015
Xerostomia, commonly referred to as dry mouth syndrome, is a result of reduced or absent salivary flow producing mucosal dryness. It can subsequently cause oral discomforts and alterations in taste, cracked and peeling lips, dry nasal passages, and a painful tongue. Its symptoms make tasks such as swallowing, speaking and sleeping difficult and painful, as well as increasing the risk of gum disease and tooth loss through increased formation of plaque and dental caries....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5793/1510007
Expanding the Art-Science of Chronic Disease Management in Primary Care: A Lifestyle Medicine Perspective
Garry Egger
Article Type: Perspective | First Published: August 01, 2015
Changes in living patterns typically result in changes in disease structures within a society. The 'epidemiological transition', which describes the shift from infectious to chronic diseases for example, is common as countries shift from agrarian to industrial lifestyles. Population levels of obesity for example change as societies become more developed, with equivalent BMIs pre development apparently less dangerous than during or after development, as shown recently in China. Health practices t...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2469-5793/1510006
Family Therapy in Developing Countries Primary Care
Alain Quinet, Sarah Shelmerdine, Patrick Van Dessel and Jean-Pierre Unger
Article Type: Research Article | First Published: July 23, 2015
Purpose: Mental health and psychosomatic problems are both widespread and disabling in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). There is a clear need for strategies to strengthen first line services for their treatment. Family ('systemic') therapy has been shown to be effective in this setting but there is a dearth of research investigating its use. Methods: A family therapist, psychiatrist by training was interviewed by a public health doctor specialized in health services organization, to deriv...
