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Biomedical subjects

B Pissarro

Publications and source records attributed to B Pissarro.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Workers' participation and occupational health: the French experience.

In France, workers' participation in occupational health was organized for the first time in 1947, when Hygiene and Safety Committees were created. However, these committees remained ineffective in many firms for more than 20 years. Their role and power were greatly extended in 1976; in 1982, the Auroux Laws gave wage-earners new rights, mainly rights of expression. Here too, the way these laws have been put into operation varies a lot. Generally speaking, a great many regulations and laws exist that should give workers very good protection, but control systems are weak, and wage-earners' information on health is insufficient. Workers' participation is generally set up through trade unions, which are more often nationwide than locally organized. Workers' membership in unions is rather weak. The recent creation and development of quality circles in many firms, controlled by the company, give a false impression of workers' freedom of speech and do not really improve participation. But recent social movements have shown that people increasingly wish to express themselves and to deal with their own employers without any go-between. Nevertheless, participation will become effective only if workers' knowledge is taken into account, if they are trained in analysis and expression, and if their suggestions are seriously considered.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1985

[From prevention to health promotion].

There has been much talk about prevention in recent years in industrialized countries, especially in view of the problems care systems encounter. Often however, one refers particularly to secondary prevention, which is in fact the first step of a treatment process. It is essential to take into account the risk factors acting upstream, which medical professions have not done enough in the past. One has not considered enough either the inequalities which are still a frequent occurrence in our populations, and the multiples traumas of various sorts which present living environments inflict on individuals. Sometimes, excessive emphasis has been put on "negative" aspects (blame, social control) of prevention. These facts have lead to the elaboration of the concept of health promotion (and positive health), which implies an action on the environment, as well as the growth of everyone's ability to manage this environment and his own development. In this framework the creation of an adequate community oriented information system is very important; sharing of knowledge, skills and attitudes is indispensable. Health promotion, including the just mentioned sharing, includes certain risks. One may even wonder what a life fully focussed on health, where any transgression will be linked to guilt feelings, would really be. What would be its ideological underpinnings? These problems are by no means neutral, they reflect the consistencies as well as the contradictions of our society. This is one reason why research is much needed on these subjects in the future.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Primary health care: a training experience with the community.

In 1982-83 we organized training schemes for various people involved in primary health care at local authority level. These schemes were part of the pattern of similar activity carried out with trained professional staff of the mother-and-child care and school health services. What was new was the participation of non-professional users (or their representatives) of health services, i.e. local politicians, representatives of associations, etc. The training sessions brought together 20-25 participants for two or three days and there were occasionally follow-up meetings of one or two days. The participants, divided into small groups of five or six, played an active part in the meetings, which were based on known information about the local authority area and the participants' own contributions. The initial task was the identification of health problems. For this to be a relevant exercise, the many political, cultural and personal factors which influence people's lives had to be considered. The fact is that the usual epidemiological data are inadequate if they are based solely on a review of symptoms and their distribution among the population as a whole. The procedure begins with the group concerned, and priority in selecting problems is decided with and within the group itself. The solutions that are required will thus be based on the experience and reasoning of the people themselves. A procedure of this type ought to show the factors which affect the community (working conditions, environment, habitat, cultural background, etc.) and which influence health. If we understand the structures of the community and the resources at its disposal, we can adapt our response accordingly. In assessing our experiment, we found that the training sessions produced a local awareness and a mutual recognition of the various participants, both professional and non-professional. Each person began to understand his limits since his role was constantly being reviewed. At the same time the requirements voiced by health care users became more apparent to the professionals with their preconceived ideas about people's needs and requirements.

Community Health Services↗