324,340 research outputs found
Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 143:Theoretical approaches to managing sickness absenteeism
No full textThe cost of absenteeism in the UK has been estimated to be £12 billion per annum. If productivity is some function of the health state of the worker firms may prefer some sickness absence to universal attendance. However, when the health state of the worker cannot be verified the firm must structure its employment contract in order to align the workers’ incentives with its own. The nature of the optimal contract under these circumstances has recently been analysed by Chatterji & Tilley (2002) and Skåtun (2003) who generate rather different theoretical results and empirical implications. In this paper we synthesise these two approaches and reconcile their results
Srishti Dhar Chatterji (1935-2017): In Memoriam
No full textThis article discusses the life and work of Professor Srishti Dhar Chatterji, who passed away on September 28, 2017, in Lausanne, Switzerland, most suddenly and unexpectedly, after a very brief illness. Complete bibliographical information is included. (C) 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.PRO
The English are healthier than the Americans: really?
No full textBackground: When comparing the health of two populations, it is not enough to compare the prevalence of chronic diseases. The objective of this study is therefore to propose a metric of health based on domains of functioning to determine whether the English are healthier than the Americans. Methods: We analysed representative samples aged 50 to 80 years from the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (N?=?10?349) for the US data, and wave 4 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N?=?9405) for English counterpart data. We first calculated the age-standardized disease prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, all heart diseases, stroke, lung disease, cancer and obesity. Second, we developed a metric of health using Rasch analyses and the questions and measured tests common to both surveys addressing domains of human functioning. Finally, we used a linear additive model to test whether the differences in health were due to being English or American. Results: The English have better health than the Americans when population health is assessed only by prevalence of selected chronic health conditions. The English health advantage disappears almost completely, however, when health is assessed with a metric that integrates information about functioning domains. Conclusions: It is possible to construct a metric of health, based on data directly collected from individuals, in which health is operationalized as domains of functioning. Its application has the potential to tackle one of the most intractable problems in international research on health, namely the comparability of health across countries
The ICF as a conceptual platform to specify and discuss health and health-related concepts
No full textBackground: The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has provided a new foundation for our understanding of health, functioning, and disability. As a content-valid, comprehensive and universally applicable health classification, it serves as a platform to clarify and specify health-related concepts that are frequently used in the medical literature. The health concepts to which we refer are: well-being, health status, quality of life (QoL) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).Objective: The aim of this paper is to use the ICF as a conceptual platform to specify and discuss health-related concepts.Methods: The ICF entities health and health-related domains and functioning will be used as starting point to reach the objective of the paper. Health domains refer to domains intrinsic to the person as a physiological and psychological entity, such as mental functions, seeing functions, and mobility. Health-related domains are not part of a person's health but are so closely related that a description of a person's lived experience of health would be incomplete without them. Examples of health-related domains are work, education, and social activities. Functioning refers to all health and health-related domains within the ICF.Results: Well-being is made up of health, health-related, and non-health-related domains, such as autonomy and integrity. Health state is a health profile that results from collecting together health domains. Functioning states is a profile that results from collecting both health and health-related domains. Health status is a summary measure of health state. Functioning status is a summary measure of functioning state. QoL is the individual's perceptions of how the life is going in health, health-related, and non-health domains. HRQoL is the individual's perceptions of how the life is going in health and health-related domains.Discussion: "HRQoL is to QoL as functioning is to well-being". The ICF represents a standardized and international basis for the operationalization of health based on its health domains. It refers to the more restricted concepts of health state and health status. The ICF is also the basis for the operationalization of functioning based on all health and health-related domains contained therein. The authors argue that functioning is an operationalization of health from a broader perspective. It refers to an operational concept of health in terms of a set of health domains ('under the skin') and health-related domains ('outside the skin') that consider the individual person not only as a biological but also as a social entity. Health from this perspective refers to the broader notion of functioning state and functioning status. Nevertheless, the ICF provides more than a basis for the operationalization of health and functioning. The ICF also contains contextual factors
Identification of candidate categories of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) for a Generic ICF Core Set based on regression modelling
No full textBackground: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is the framework developed by WHO to describe functioning and disability at both the individual and population levels. While condition-specific ICF Core Sets are useful, a Generic ICF Core Set is needed to describe and compare problems in functioning across health conditions. Methods: The aims of the multi-centre, cross-sectional study presented here were: a) to propose a method to select ICF categories when a large amount of ICF-based data have to be handled, and b) to identify candidate ICF categories for a Generic ICF Core Set by examining their explanatory power in relation to item one of the SF-36. The data were collected from 1039 patients using the ICF checklist, the SF-36 and a Comorbidity Questionnaire. ICF categories to be entered in an initial regression model were selected following systematic steps in accordance with the ICF structure. Based on an initial regression model, additional models were designed by systematically substituting the ICF categories included in it with ICF categories with which they were highly correlated. Results: Fourteen different regression models were performed. The variance the performed models account for ranged from 22.27% to 24.0%. The ICF category that explained the highest amount of variance in all the models was sensation of pain. In total, thirteen candidate ICF categories for a Generic ICF Core Set were proposed. Conclusion: The selection strategy based on the ICF structure and the examination of the best possible alternative models does not provide a final answer about which ICF categories must be considered, but leads to a selection of suitable candidates which needs further consideration and comparison with the results of other selection strategies in developing a Generic ICF Core Set
Pozzolanic Property of Natural and Synthetic Pozzolans: A Comparative Study
No full textProceedings CANMET/ACI First International Conference held July 31 - August 5, 1983 in Montebello, Canad
Health Systems Responsiveness - a measure of the acceptability of health care processes and systems
No full textWHO developed and proposed the concept of responsiveness, defining it as aspects of the way individuals are treated and the environment in which they are treated during health system interactions (Valentine et al. 2003). The concept covers a set of non-clinical and non-financial dimensions of quality of care that reflect respect for human dignity and interpersonal aspects of the care process, which Donabedian (1980) describes as ‘the vehicle by which technical care is implemented and on which its success depends’. Eight dimensions (or domains) are collectively described as goals for health-care processes and systems (along with the goals of higher average health and lower health inequalities;
and non-impoverishment – as measured through other indicators):
(i) dignity, (ii) autonomy, (iii) confidentiality, (iv) communication, (v)
prompt attention, (vi) quality (of) basic amenities, (vii) access to social support networks during treatment (social support), and (viii) choice (of health-care providers).
Building on extensive previous work, this chapter directs the conceptual and methodological aspects of the responsiveness work in three new directions. First, the given and defined domains (Valentine et al. 2007) are used to link responsiveness (conceptually and empirically) to the increasingly important health system concepts of access to care and equity in access. The concept of equity used in this chapter was defined by a WHO working group with experts on human rights, ethics and equity. It is defined as the absence of avoidable or remediable
differences among populations or groups defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically (WHO 2005). Health inequities involve more than inequality – whether in health determinants or outcomes, or in access to the resources needed to improve and maintain health. They also represent a failure to avoid or overcome such inequality which infringes human rights norms or is otherwise unfair.
Second, it expands on the issue of measurement strategies. Third, the psychometric results of the responsiveness module from the WHS are compared with its survey instrument predecessor in the Multi-country Survey (MCS) Study.
The chapter concludes with analysis of the most recent results for
responsiveness from the WHS for ambulatory and inpatient healthcare services for sixty-five countries (with special reference to subsets of European countries) to see how European countries’ health-care systems perform with respect to responsiveness
Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 213:Public sector pay in Finland
No full textThis study analyses the forces determining public and private sector pay in Finland. The data used is a 7 per cent sample taken from the Finnish 2001 census. It contains information on 42 680 male workers, of which 8 759 are employed in public and 33 921 in the private sector. The study documents and describes data by education, occupation and industry. We estimate earnings equations for the whole sample as well as for four industries (construction, real estate, transportation and health) that provide an adequate mix of both public and sector workers. The results suggest that the private-public sector pay gap of about one per cent can be accounted for by differences in observable characteristics between the sectors (3.4 per cent) and lower returns from these characteristics (-2.3 per cent). However, the industry-level analysis indicates that the earnings gaps vary across industries, and are negative in some cases. These inter-industry differences in public-private gaps persist even when the usual controls are introduced. This suggests that public sector wage setters need greater local flexibility, which should result in less uniform wages within the public sector
Risk factors for incidence and persistence of disability in chronic major depression and alcohol use disorders: longitudinal analyses of a population-based study
No full textBackgroundMajor depression and alcohol use disorders are risk factors for incidence of disability. However, it is still unclear whether a chronic course of these health conditions is also prospectively associated with incidence of disability. The aim of the present study was, first, to confirm whether chronic major depression (MD) and alcohol use disorders (AUD) are, respectively, risk factors for persistence and incidence of disability in the general population; and then to analyze the role of help-seeking behavior in the course of disability among respondents with chronic MD and chronic AUD. MethodData from two assessments in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions were analyzed. Disability was measured by eight domains of the Short Form 12 Health Survey version 2 (SF-12). Generalized estimating equations and logistic regression models were run to estimate risk factors for persistence and incidence of disability, respectively. ResultsAnalyses conducted on data from the US general population showed that chronic MD was the strongest risk factor for incidence and persistence of disability in the social functioning, emotional role and mental health domains. Chronic AUD were risk factors for incidence and persistence of disability in the vitality, social functioning, and emotional role domains. Within the group of chronic MD, physical comorbidity and help-seeking were associated with persistent disability in most of the SF-12 domains. Help-seeking behavior was also associated with incidence of problems in the mental health domain for the depression group. Regarding the AUD group, comorbidity with physical health problems was a strong risk factor for persistence of disability in all SF-12 domains. Help-seeking behavior was not related to either persistence or incidence of disability in the chronic alcohol group. ConclusionsChronic MD and chronic AUD are independent risk factors for persistence and incidence of disability in the US general population. People with chronic MD seek help for their problems when they experience persistent disability, whereas people with chronic AUD might not seek any help even if they are suffering from persistent disability.<br/
Diffusive author(s), cohesive author: Analysis of S/N (1994)
No full textThis study indicates the ways in which various aspects of the author(s) are brought forth in Dumb type’s performance art, the S/N production. Previous research has suggested a non-hierarchical organization of Dumb type and the absence of a “privileged author” in Dumb type’s collaborative work, S/N. However, the results that I have investigated from member’s interviews on the creative process of S/N along with my analysis of the recorded images of S/N, indicate a different aspect of the author(s). First, S/N was created through, so to speak, the collective ideas of the members of Dumb type. Further, S/N has at least nine quotations from previous performances, installations, and printed writings, besides the work-in-progress technique. Explicating one of the “author functions” as given by Michel Foucault, each text has plural subjects of the author. However, it has been revealed from members’ interviews that Teiji Furuhashi had a decision-making role in selecting the members’ ideas within the performance. Since then, S/N has had plural subjects of creation; however, Furuhashi is one of the subjects of creation along with the “privileged author.” S/N has plural authors (diffusive authors) yet at the same time, it has a “privileged author,” Teiji Furuhashi (cohesive author)
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