Health Communication Mediums for Alzheimers - Article Example

health communication mediums for Alzheimer’s Stage 3 health communication mediums for Alzheimer’s The awareness regarding the prevention and the post disease condition of Alzheimer’s is very important. There are many means that have played vital roles in making public quite aware of it. In my First and the Second stages of study about this disease I have discovered many differences in the media sources. These were sometimes very minute and sometimes are really vast, creating more confusion. As we check the information, we find that some of these information are not enough and sometimes they are more complicated to understand. In some cases the hurdle is all about the format and the style that hassles the learning process. Selwood A, Johnston K, Katona C, Lyketsos C, Livingston G (2007) made a very strong recommendation regarding nursing facilities fro the Alzheimer’s disease, at home. This is something that struck me first. Instead of being more elaborative about the disease this particular article: "Systematic review of the effect of psychological interventions on family caregivers of people with dementia". Journal of Affective Disorders; discusses more about the medical support for the patient. In a way it is less elaborative and very limited. The narrations seems very abrupt to me and is raw to a great extend. This is really the biggest drawback to this write up and thus is not a proper asset for public awareness purposes. Less elaborations and the lack of comprehensiveness about the history and the post conditional circumstances makes it a piece of write up that give partial information about the disease. The same thing is found in the article published in alz.org. Here too the elaboration about the disease is very less; though of course there are all kinds of support presented for the patient. These two sources discusses with elaboration about the preparation that has to be made by the family for all sorts of emergency-response devices. These emergency devices such as a bracelet or necklace equipped with a push-button radio transmitter that can be activated when a medical problem arises. These are some tips about the care that should be given to the patient but the site is not that scientifically clear about the disease. At alz.org, the descriptions are very limited and there is no space for any further expansion. It limits various sources and thus there are many less explanatory sections. There are many kinds of sources and many kinds of links through which the site would have made some more elaborative demonstrations, but it was not done. As the domain name suggests the site should have been an encyclopedia for this disease but to utmost disappointment it is not. There is limited information all around and surfing this site also turns to be a matter of more time consumption. As against these two sources I would like to say that webmd.com is a far better site. It has got all the information and all kinds of solution to the various aspects related to Alzheimer’s disease. It also is well stuffed with glossary and all kinds of news and information related to the topic of concern. This site is a well equipped and well stuffed with all kinds of understandable and detailed elaboration. As you visit this site, you will find that there are many interesting things that are related towards the prevention of this particular disease. I found this site exclusively useful for both layman and for any medical student. The webmd.com is an all inclusive site and is a full fledge illustrative means for public awareness about this disease. The pages are so arranged that you ca always get an answer buy choosing the page from the home page. Here you will have the various cases related to the disease and at the same time the latest developments and discoveries that are lessening the trouble on a bigger space. The site is well constructed for the medical students and is equally worth for all those people who are having the patient in the family. The medical jargons are use in the typically medically structured pages and the common demonstrations with elaborative figures are also added in the site for better understanding of all those whoa re not related to the medical terminologies. On the other hand if we look at the article "The public health impact of Alzheimer's disease, 2000–2050: potential implication of treatment advances" by Sloane PD, Zimmerman S, Suchindran C, Reed P, Wang L, Boustani M, Sudha S (2002) published in Annual Review of Public Health 23: 213–231, we will realize how a study on a broader aspect has been done. It has got an exclusive illustration over the growth of Alzheimer’s disease down the line. The study is well supported by the record led by WHO and is very astounding. It is a piece of work that is very convincing and is very worth knowing for the better understanding of the same. The language is simple and the content is very comprehensive. I really liked reading this particular write up as it is full all kinds of illustrations related to the discovery and the case studies related to the disease. The article is a well versed presentation and appeals the general reading purposes. There are all elaborative descriptions related to this disease and how it stands different from other diseases of the same type. There is a very well narrated article from the New England Journal of Medicine talks about the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease written by Claudia H. Kawas, M.D. This is a book for medical students and is of no basic worth for all those who want to know more about it in layman’s language. This is no doubt a technically rich content but to a great extend is accepted to solve the clinical problem of Alzheimer’s disease. This narrative art is in a specific format and language that is more related to the medical science and thus, I personally will not recommend it for any media communication purpose. It will rather create confusion among the readers. It discusses the major factor in cases of dementia and that too without any reference or elaborative explanation stating the difference with Alzheimer’s disease. It narrates a lot about dementia but this creates a confusion regarding the demarcation between the two. Here in Early Alzheimer’s disease. The New England Journal of Medicine by Claudia H. Kawas; of course a minute elaboration about development of the disease into dementia especially for patients diagnosed with mild case of cognitive impairment has been mentioned. This is however yet not making any transparent elaboration of the same. In this write up Kawas had made an effort by citing the National Institute of Neurologic and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association; to give authentic demonstration. This is something that is very technical in format and is more into medical science tan into general awareness about it. Mulnard, R., Cotman, C., Kawas, C.,Van Dyk, C., Sano, M., Doody, R., Koss, E., Jin, S., Garnst, A., Grundman, M., Thomas, R., & Thal, L., (2000) have come up with years of researches on the this particular Alzheimer’s disease. There is a much specified means of randomized trial on using estrogen replacement therapy for treatment of women beset with Alzheimer’s disease. This is done in a very mild and a very moderate stage. The reseash has been articulated well in Estrogen Replacement Therapy for Treatment of Mild to Moderate Alzheimer’s Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Trial in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The exclusive write up is a research done over 120 women with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease covering 32 sites in the USA. This is an elaborative case study that has been demonstrated well by estrogen. However the point where it lacks in establishing mass communication is that it did not slow down the progression of the symptoms of the disease as well as showed no changes in the “global, cognitive, or functional outcomes in women with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease within one year”. This is quite not convincing and thus was in need of more elaboration and graphical and technical representations. This creates lots of blocks regarding the specified evidence to support the role of estrogen in the treatment of women with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. As a matter of fact it is very vital to have a very good and comprehensive elaboration of a particular topic of concern. There should be a good historical and evolutionary aspect for better information. Added to this I support to have a very well organized illustration that can make people understand it. The sense of comprehensiveness plays the vital role in the medium for communication. As the purpose is to create public awareness the best means I believe is in case studies. The more cases will be discussed the more the disease will be understood and people in general than the support and the care turns up to be more practical and effective. References Alzheimer’s Disease Health Center, n.d., http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/default.htm and Overview & Facts, n.d http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/alzheimers-disease-overview-facts [ retrieved on 21.07.08] Caring for Alzheimer's, n.d., http://www.alz.org/living_with_alzheimers_caring_for_alzheimers.asp [retrieved on 21.07.08] Kawas, C. H., M.D. (September 11, 2003). Early Alzheimer’s Disease. The New England Journal of Medicine. Volume 349: 1056-1063, Number 11. Mulnard, R., Cotman, C., Kawas, C.,Van Dyk, C., Sano, M., Doody, R., Koss, E., Jin, S., Garnst, A., Grundman, M., Thomas, R., & Thal, L. Estrogen Replacement Therapy for Treatment of Mild to Moderate Alzheimer’s Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, February 23, 2000, Volume 283(8): 1007-1015. Sloane PD, Zimmerman S, Suchindran C, Reed P, Wang L, Boustani M, Sudha S (2002). "The public health impact of Alzheimer's disease, 2000–2050: potential implication of treatment advances". Annual Review of Public Health 23: 213–231. Selwood A, Johnston K, Katona C, Lyketsos C, Livingston G (2007). "Systematic review of the effect of psychological interventions on family caregivers of people with dementia". Journal of Affective Disorders 101 (1-3): 75–89. Read More