scholarly journals INEQUALITY IN COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES USE IN ISRAEL: A COMPARISON BETWEEN ELDER JEWS AND ARABS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S863-S863
Author(s):  
Ariela Lowenstein ◽  
Sigal Pearl Naim

Abstract Population aging is an important social and public health issue globally. However, increase in longevity causes physical frailty and disability for many elders, which might lead to independence loss and impact quality of life. This increases health services usage and leads to higher costs of medical treatments. Data show that higher socio-economic status and accessibility to health services might reduce inequality in service use and impact mortality rates and quality of life. Also, that improved socio-economic status and population accessibility to Health services may stem from inner health system factors, as well as those related to the patients. Among minorities lower usage of formal professional services, including health services, are often related to cultural differences and many times to lower technological level, which are not considered by service providing organizations. Thus, lack of attention to service using minorities’ needs may cause a gap between potential consumers to services use. Israel is a multi-cultural society with mixed population of Jews and Arabs. Currently, Arabs comprise 20.9% and Jews 74.3%. However, the rate of disabled Jews is 16% compared to 31% among older Arabs.

2015 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 139-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.K. O’Brien ◽  
A. Schuttke ◽  
A. Alhakeem ◽  
E. Donnelly-Swift ◽  
C. Keogh ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Nisha Naicker ◽  
Frank Pega ◽  
David Rees ◽  
Spo Kgalamono ◽  
Tanusha Singh

Background: There are approximately two billion workers in the informal economy globally. Compared to workers in the formal economy, these workers are often marginalised with minimal or no benefits from occupational health and safety regulations, labour laws, social protection and/or health care. Thus, informal economy workers may have higher occupational health risks compared to their formal counterparts. Our objective was to systematically review and meta-analyse evidence on relative differences (or inequalities) in health services use and health outcomes among informal economy workers, compared with formal economy workers. Methods: We searched PubMed and EMBASE in March 2020 for studies published in 1999–2020. The eligible population was informal economy workers. The comparator was formal economy workers. The eligible outcomes were general and occupational health services use, fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries, HIV, tuberculosis, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, noise-induced hearing loss and respiratory infections. Two authors independently screened records, extracted data, assessed risk of bias with RoB-SPEO, and assessed quality of evidence with GRADE. Inverse variance meta-analyses were conducted with random effects. Results: Twelve studies with 1,637,297 participants from seven countries in four WHO regions (Africa, Americas, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific) were included. Compared with formal economy workers, informal economy workers were found to be less likely to use any health services (odds ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.85–0.94, four studies, 195,667 participants, I2 89%, low quality of evidence) and more likely to have depression (odds ratio 5.02, 95% confidence interval 2.72–9.27, three studies, 26,260 participants, I2 87%, low quality of evidence). We are very uncertain about the other outcomes (very-low quality of evidence). Conclusion: Informal economy workers may be less likely than formal economy workers to use any health services and more likely to have depression. The evidence is uncertain for relative differences in the other eligible outcomes. Further research is warranted to strengthen the current body of evidence and needed to improve population health and reduce health inequalities among workers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanwal Shahbaz ◽  
Dr. Kiran Shahbaz

The study was aimed to find the relationship between Spiritual Wellbeing and Quality of Life among chronically ill individuals. Likewise, relationship between demographic variables with Quality of Life and Spiritual Wellbeing were also reconnoitered. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used with chronically ill patients of 15yrs to 80yrs. For measuring spiritual wellbeing Urdu version of “Spiritual Wellness Inventory” (SWI-URDU) (Hanif, 2010) was used. Alternatively, for the measurement of Quality of life WHO Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHO-QOL-BREF) was used. A sample of 200 chronically ill patients were taken from four different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Reliabilities of both the instruments were computed as 0.90 for SWI and 0.74 for WHO-QOL-BREF. Findings show that quality of life and Spiritual wellbeing is positively related among chronically ill individuals. Males found to score high on spiritual wellbeing than females. Individuals with less education are more spiritually inclined as compared to individuals with high education. Quality of life was scored high by individuals with higher education as compared to less education. Married individuals were having better quality of life than unmarried, separated widow and divorced. Patients with middle socio-economic status were having better quality of life than higher and lower. Quality of life was high among individuals with better monthly income than those who have low and middle monthly incomes. Spiritual well being is higher in middle adolescents (15-17) than in late (18-20) adolescents. The current research can be implemented in designing the intervention plans for the betterment of chronically ill patients. It may also help us to develop an insight that each patient with same disease but in different age group and socio-economic status has different needs and plans of treatment and care.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 287-292
Author(s):  
V. V Kuznetsov ◽  
Kirill V. Kosilov

The purpose of the study is to analyze the relationship of semester performance with the level of self-assessment of the psychological characteristics of quality of life related to health and factors of socio-economic status in Russian and Chinese students of medical specialties in the neighboring territories of the Far East. The study was conducted from 01.12. 2017 to 05.15.2019 at the School of Bio-Medicine of the Far Eastern Federal University (SBM FEFU), Pacific National Medical University (TSMU) of the Russian Federation, medical faculties of Harbin and Mudanjiang Universities (PRC). It was attended by 316 Russian and 302 Chinese students (total - 618 people with equal gender representation), the average age is 21.6 years. The average response rate was 92.8%. Students who took part in the study completed the standardized questionnaire “Short form of self-assessment of the quality of life associated with the health of the MOS SF-36” (MOS SF - Medical Outcomes Study-Short Form). The study of mental status was carried out using scales of resilience (FS), social functioning (SF), emotional status (ES), psychological comfort (PC). The study of socio-economic status was carried out according to the Questionnaire Pozdeeva (2008) with the additions of the authors. As a result of the study, it was found that the level of self-esteem of the psychological component of the quality of life related to health among Russian and Chinese medical students is within the range of standard values; Russian medical students rate psychological comfort higher, while their Chinese peers rate their own social functioning and resilience. Students of both samples showed a high level of correlation of the psychological component of the quality of life associated with health and academic performance. In addition, in both samples, the level of performance correlates with assessments of the conditions of study and living, as well as with individual characteristics of psychological status.


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