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Background: Many important strategies to reduce the spread of pandemic influenza need public participation. To assess public receptivity to such strategies, we compared adoption of preventive behaviours in response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic among the public in five countries and examined whether certain non-pharmaceutical behaviours (such as handwashing) were deterrents to vaccination. We also assessed public support for related public health recommendations. Methods: We used data from simultaneous telephone polls (mobile telephone and landline) in Argentina, Japan, Mexico, the UK, and the USA. In each country, interviews were done in a nationally representative sample of adults, who were selected by the use of random digit dial techniques. The questionnaire asked people whether or not they had adopted each of various preventive behaviours (non-pharmaceutical--such as personal protective and social distancing behaviour--or vaccinations) to protect themselves or their family from H1N1 at any point during the pandemic. Two-tailed t tests were used for statistical analysis. Findings: 900 people were surveyed in each country except the USA where 911 people were contacted. There were wide differences in the adoption of preventive behaviours between countries, although certain personal protective behaviours (eg, handwashing) were more commonly adopted than social distancing behaviours (eg, avoiding places where many people gather) across countries (53-89%vs 11-69%). These non-pharmaceutical behaviours did not reduce the likelihood of getting vaccinated in any country. There was also support across all countries for government recommendations related to school closure, avoiding places where many people gather, and wearing masks in public. Interpretation: There is a need for country-specific approaches in pandemic policy planning that use both non-pharmaceutical approaches and vaccination. Funding: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Public Health Information Coalition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The partisan split in Congress over health reform may reflect a broader divide among the public in attitudes toward the uninsured. Despite expert consensus over the harms suffered by the uninsured as a group, Americans disagree over whether the uninsured get the care they need and whether reform legislation providing universal coverage is necessary. We examined public perceptions of health care access and quality for the uninsured over time, and we found that Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to believe that the uninsured have difficulty gaining access to care. Senior citizens are less aware than others of the problems faced by the uninsured. Even among those Americans who perceive that the uninsured have poor access to care, Republicans are significantly less likely than Democrats to support reform. Thus, our findings indicate that even if political obstacles are overcome and health reform is enacted, future political support for ongoing financing to cover the uninsured could be uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a 2003 comparative survey of hospital executives in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Reflecting higher spending levels, U.S. hospitals as a group stand out for generally more positive ratings of facilities and finances and short or no waiting times. Yet U.S. hospital executives are also the most negative about their country's health care system. Hospital executives in all five countries expressed concerns about staffing shortages and emergency department waiting times and quality. Asked about future strategies to improve quality, executives in all five countries expressed support for making information technology an investment priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of care in the United States and elsewhere consistently fails to meet established standards. These failures subject patients to premature death and needless suffering. Yet, unlike the experience with other threats to life (tire failures or airplane rudders), public and private policymakers have been unable to maintain sufficient interest in identifying and solving problems with quality to change the way in which care is delivered. We discuss why it is hard to keep quality on the policy agenda and suggest short-term steps that are necessary if quality is to improve here and in the rest of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent opinion surveys show a high level of public support for the current employer-based health insurance system. Many Americans are not aware that this system is endangered or that the number of uninsured persons is growing. The public appears to favor a two-track system for the working uninsured--strengthening the existing employer-based system and developing a parallel system for those without employer coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many nations have undergone changes in health care financing and services. The public notices policy changes in health care and frequently bears new and unexpected costs or barriers to care unwillingly. This paper presents data from surveys of about 1,000 adults conducted during April-June 1998 in each of five countries--Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States--to measure public satisfaction with health care. In no nation is a majority content with the health care system. Different systems pose different problems: In systems with universal coverage, dissatisfaction is with the level of funding and administration, including queues. In the United States, the public is primarily concerned with financial access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined problems pertaining to the health and well-being of Army spouses during deployment, comparing those whose experienced extensions of their partners' deployments with those whose partners returned home on time or early. It used data from a 2004 survey of 798 spouses of active duty personnel. Controlling for demographic and deployment characteristics, spouses who experienced extensions fared worse on an array of measures, including mental well-being (e.g., feelings of depression), household strains (e.g., problems with household and car maintenance), and some areas of their jobs (having to stop work or to work fewer hours). There were no statistically significant differences regarding problems pertaining to their overall health, marriage, other work issues, finances, relationships with Army families, or safety. However, spouses who experienced extensions were more likely to perceive the Army negatively during deployment. These findings suggest that deployment extensions may exacerbate certain problems and frustrations for Army spouses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National survey data reveal that while public awareness of healthcare inequalities in the USA has increased, the public have become less supportive of federal responsibility to address healthcare inequalities. Agenda setting literature suggests that news coverage may have an impact on both public awareness of an issue and public support for government responsibility to address that issue, particularly in relation to racial inequalities. This research examines the prominence and content of news coverage on racial healthcare disparities in the USA between 1994 and 2004 in order to disentangle the messages that may affect public views of who should be responsible for reducing racial disparities. Even among those who are aware of healthcare disparities, these data show that support for federal responsibility has significantly decreased. Results show that the prominence of coverage of racial healthcare inequalities increased over the period. Journalists increasingly used academics, academic reports, experts, advocacy groups, and Republican politicians, as sources of information. Mentions of actors responsible for causing healthcare inequalities were mixed, with a plurality of stories describing no responsible causal agent. Further, we found that approximately half of the articles in almost every time period studied did not report actors who are working to ameliorate healthcare inequalities, nor did a majority of stories call on any actor to address disparities. As a political agenda to reduce racial healthcare inequalities advances, public support for federal government responsibility will be needed to develop sustainable public policy. This research helps us to understand the messages that the public may be receiving in order to motivate public will to support federal responsibility for reducing racial healthcare inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Health News Index, a series of 39 surveys with a total of over 42,000 respondents from 1996 through 2002, measures how closely Americans follow major health stories in the news and what they understand about the issues covered in those stories. On average, four in ten adults reported following health news stories closely. The public reports paying the most attention to stories about public health, followed by health policy and disease-related stories. While knowledge about health news varies, individuals who follow health news stories closely are significantly more likely to give the correct answer to knowledge questions about those stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]