scholarly journals Health Disparities and the Digital Divide: The Relationship between Communication Inequalities and Quality of Life among Women in a Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan M. Philbin ◽  
Carrigan Parish ◽  
Margaret Pereyra ◽  
Daniel J. Feaster ◽  
Mardge Cohen ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14

Abstract Background: Research has documented many geographic inequities in health. Research has also documented that the way one thinks about health and quality of life (QOL) affects one’s experience of health, treatment, and one’s ability to cope with health problems. Purpose: We examined United-States (US) regional differences in QOL appraisal (i.e., the way one thinks about health and QOL), and whether resilience-appraisal relationships varied by region. Methods: Secondary analysis of 3,955 chronic-disease patients and caregivers assessed QOL appraisal via the QOL Appraisal Profile-v2 and resilience via the Centers for Disease Control Healthy Days Core Module. Covariates included individual-level and aggregate-level socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics. Zone improvement plan (ZIP) code was linked to publicly available indicators of income inequality, poverty, wealth, population density, and rurality. Multivariate and hierarchical residual modeling tested study hypotheses that there are regional differences in QOL appraisal and in the relationship between resilience and appraisal. Results: After sociodemographic adjustment, QOL appraisal patterns and the appraisal-resilience connection were virtually the same across regions. For resilience, sociodemographic variables explained 26 % of the variance; appraisal processes, an additional 17 %; and region and its interaction terms, just an additional 0.1 %. Conclusion: The study findings underscore a geographic universality across the contiguous US in how people think about QOL, and in the relationship between appraisal and resilience. Despite the recent prominence of divisive rhetoric suggesting vast regional differences in values, priorities, and experiences, our findings support the commonality of ways of thinking and responding to life challenges. These findings support the wide applicability of cognitive-based interventions to boost resilience. Keywords: appraisal; resilience; cognitive; quality of life; societal; geographic Abbreviations: MANOVA = Multivariate Analysis of Variance; PCA = principal components analysis; QOL = quality of life; SES = socioeconomic status; US = United States; ZIP = Zone Improvement Plan (postal code)


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 495-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank G. Bottone ◽  
K. Hawkins ◽  
S. Musich ◽  
Y. Cheng ◽  
R. J. Ozminkowski ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carli Friedman

The United Nations exclaims "all human beings have the right to be treated with dignity and respect" (Annan, 2005, p. 34). Yet, disabled people have long been denied respect in the United States and have been subjected to disability oppression and ableism. For these reasons, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between respect and disability, particularly respect's impact on the quality of life of disabled people. We had two research questions: (1.) what factors predict disabled people being respected? and, (2.) how does being respected impact the quality of life of disabled people? To explore these questions, we used secondary Personal Outcome Measures® data from approximately 1,500 disabled people; we analyzed this data to examine relationships between disabled people's interpretations of feeling and being respected, and their quality of life. Our findings revealed being respected had a significant impact on every area of ones' quality of life. Problematically, this also included areas which should be considered non-negotiable fundamental human and civil rights, that should not depend on if, and how, people respect disabled people. While the attitudes underlying the disrespect of disabled people are harmful and problematic, human and civil rights should be inalienable – ones' access to exercise their rights, to safety, to health, and to many other domains should not depend on others' attitudes about, and treatment toward, you.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14

Background: Research has documented many geographic inequities in health. Research has also documented that the way one thinks about health and quality of life (QOL) affects one’s experience of health, treatment, and one’s ability to cope with health problems. Purpose: We examined United-States (US) regional differences in QOL appraisal (i.e., the way one thinks about health and QOL), and whether resilience-appraisal relationships varied by region. Methods: Secondary analysis of 3,955 chronic-disease patients and caregivers assessed QOL appraisal via the QOL Appraisal Profile-v2 and resilience via the Centers for Disease Control Healthy Days Core Module. Covariates included individual-level and aggregate-level socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics. Zone improvement plan (ZIP) code was linked to publicly available indicators of income inequality, poverty, wealth, population density, and rurality. Multivariate and hierarchical residual modeling tested study hypotheses that there are regional differences in QOL appraisal and in the relationship between resilience and appraisal. Results: After sociodemographic adjustment, QOL appraisal patterns and the appraisal-resilience connection were virtually the same across regions. For resilience, sociodemographic variables explained 26 % of the variance; appraisal processes, an additional 17 %; and region and its interaction terms, just an additional 0.1 %. Conclusion: The study findings underscore a geographic universality across the contiguous US in how people think about QOL, and in the relationship between appraisal and resilience. Despite the recent prominence of divisive rhetoric suggesting vast regional differences in values, priorities, and experiences, our findings support the commonality of ways of thinking and responding to life challenges. These findings support the wide applicability of cognitive-based interventions to boost resilience. Abbreviations: MANOVA = Multivariate Analysis of Variance; PCA = principal components analysis; QOL = quality of life; SES = socioeconomic status; US = United States; ZIP = Zone Improvement Plan (postal code)


SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824401986272
Author(s):  
Angela Marie Mai

Capable, qualified, and working-age (18-65) autistic adults experienced an 83% unemployment rate in the United States in 2017 resulting in extreme poverty and severely decreased quality of life. Research dating from 1957 to 2016 inferred hiring agents’ beliefs were the cause. In this multiple regression study, the nature of the relationship between hiring agents’ beliefs and their selection of qualified autistic candidates was explored through Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior to determine what hiring agent’s beliefs, if any, influence the selection of qualified autistic candidates to fill open positions. I used the Hiring Agent Survey Regarding Selection of Qualified Autistic Candidates to anonymously gather data from hiring agents throughout the contiguous United States. Known values of the independent variable, the beliefs influencing hiring agents, were summed and clustered against the TPB-predicted, percentage-based, continuous-level dependent variable, which was hiring agents’ selection of qualified autistic candidates. This statistically significant regression analysis, F(45, 73) = 36.067, p < .001, adj. R2 = .930, predicted the degree to which each control, normative, and behavioral belief influenced hiring agents’ selection. Hiring agents’ desire for mandated comprehensive organizational diversity, along with their negative stereotypical associations and fear of embarrassment, signify a need for substantive policy and strategic interventions. Results of such aggressive diversity initiatives could considerably improve the nation’s socioeconomic health and substantively increase autistics’ quality of life.


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