Behavioural economics and health

2021 ◽  
pp. 381-390
Author(s):  
Alison Buttenheim ◽  
Harsha Thirumurthy
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Behavioural Economics ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Behaviour Change Interventions ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Human Decision

Human behaviour is an important determinant of health outcomes around the world. Understanding how people make health-related decisions is therefore essential for explaining health outcomes globally and for developing solutions to leading challenges in global health. Behavioural economics blends theories from economics and psychology to uncover key insights about human decision-making. This chapter describes several prominent theories from behavioural economics and reviews examples of how these theories can be useful in efforts to improve global health outcomes. We begin by reviewing the theory of rational decision-making that features prominently in economics and discuss important policy implications that follow from this theory. We then turn to theories and principles from behavioural economics and draw upon empirical evidence from around the world to highlight actionable behaviour change interventions that can be useful for students of global health and practitioners alike.

scholarly journals The power of language-concordant care: a call to action for medical schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose L. Molina ◽  
Jennifer Kasper
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Dental Students ◽  
Language Concordance ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S

Abstract We live in a world of incredible linguistic diversity; nearly 7000 languages are spoken globally and at least 350 are spoken in the United States. Language-concordant care enhances trust between patients and physicians, optimizes health outcomes, and advances health equity for diverse populations. However, historical and contemporary trauma have impaired trust between communities of color, including immigrants with limited English proficiency, and physicians in the U.S. Threats to informed consent among patients with limited English proficiency persist today. Language concordance has been shown to improve care and serves as a window to broader social determinants of health that disproportionately yield worse health outcomes among patients with limited English proficiency. Language concordance is also relevant for medical students engaged in health care around the world. Global health experiences among medical and dental students have quadrupled in the last 30 years. Yet, language proficiency and skills to address cultural aspects of clinical care, research and education are lacking in pre-departure trainings. We call on medical schools to increase opportunities for medical language courses and integrate them into the curriculum with evidence-based teaching strategies, content about health equity, and standardized language assessments. The languages offered should reflect the needs of the patient population both where the medical school is located and where the school is engaged globally. Key content areas should include how to conduct a history and physical exam; relevant health inequities that commonly affect patients who speak different languages; cultural sensitivity and humility, particularly around beliefs and practices that affect health and wellbeing; and how to work in language-discordant encounters with interpreters and other modalities. Rigorous language assessment is necessary to ensure equity in communication before allowing students or physicians to use their language skills in clinical encounters. Lastly, global health activities in medical schools should assess for language needs and competency prior to departure. By professionalizing language competency in medical schools, we can improve patients’ trust in individual physicians and the profession as a whole; improve patient safety and health outcomes; and advance health equity for those we care for and collaborate with in the U.S. and around the world.

scholarly journals The “Gray Zone” of Police Work During Mental Health Encounters

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Wood ◽  
Amy C. Watson ◽  
Anjali J. Fulambarker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Gray Zone ◽  
Police Responses ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Core Features

Although improving police responses to mental health crises has received significant policy attention, most encounters between police and persons with mental illnesses do not involve major crimes or violence nor do they rise to the level of emergency apprehension. Here, we report on field observations of police officers handling mental health-related encounters in Chicago. Findings confirm these encounters often occur in the “gray zone,” where the problems at hand do not call for formal or legalistic interventions. In examining how police resolved such situations, we observed three core features of police work: (a) accepting temporary solutions to chronic vulnerability, (b) using local knowledge to guide decision making, and (c) negotiating peace with complainants and call subjects. Findings imply the need to advance field-based studies using systematic social observations of gray zone decision making within and across distinct geographic and place-based contexts. Policy implications for supporting police interventions are also discussed.

The Study of Human Decision-Making: A Cautionary Tale from the World of Experimental Gaming

1981 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Huxham ◽  
P. G. Bennett ◽  
M. V. Lozowski ◽  
M. R. Dando
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Decision

Decision-Making Cognitive Process

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Thais Spiegel ◽  
Ana Carolina P V Silva
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Cognitive Limitations ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Rationality Theory

In the study of decision-making, the classical view of behavioral appropriateness or rationality was challenged by neuro and psychological reasons. The “bounded rationality” theory proposed that cognitive limitations lead decision-makers to construct simplified models for dealing with the world. Doctors' decisions, for example, are made under uncertain conditions, as without knowing precisely whether a diagnosis is correct or whether a treatment will actually cure a patient, and often under time constraints. Using cognitive heuristics are neither good nor bad per se, if applied in situations to which they have been adapted to be helpful. Therefore, this text contextualizes the human decision-making perspective to find descriptions that adhere more closely to the human decision-making process. Then, based on a literature review of cognition during decision-making, particularly in healthcare context, it addresses a model that identifies the roles of attention, categorization, memory, emotion, and their inter-relations, during the decision-making process.

Taiwan’s Participation in the World Organisation for Animal Health (oie): Modalities, Utility, and Challenges

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Vincent Rollet
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
Health Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Related ◽  
World Organisation

Abstract This article explores the utility of membership in international organisations for states with specific status within the international community, focusing on Taiwan’s surprisingly neglected involvement in the World Organisation for Animal Health or oie (Office International des Épizooties). The paper shows that in addition to its contribution to the legitimisation of Taiwan’s identities, such participation has also enabled Taiwan to shape international norms in the field of animal health, increase international cooperation opportunities, strengthen domestic and global health security, and facilitate the trade of animal health-related products. Additionally, it has contributed to the domestic implementation of international animal health norms and helped increase the accountability of Taiwanese authorities in the domain of animal health management. Despite tremendous challenges, Taiwan still has plenty of opportunities to enhance its participation in global health governance through its membership in oie.

scholarly journals Old Facts, New Beginnings: Thinking with Arendt about Algorithmic Decision-Making

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Lisa Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Joint Decisions ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
New Beginnings

Abstract More and more decisions in our societies are made by algorithms. What are such decisions like, and how do they compare to human decision-making? I contrast central features of algorithmic decision-making with three key elements—plurality, natality, and judgment—of Hannah Arendt's political thought. In “Arendtian practices,” human beings come together as equals, exchange arguments, and make joint decisions, sometimes bringing something new into the world. With algorithmic decision-making taking over more and more areas of life, opportunities for “Arendtian practices” are under threat. Moreover, there is the danger that algorithms are tasked with decisions for which they are ill-suited. Analyzing the contrast with Arendt's thinking can be a starting point for delineating realms in which algorithmic decision-making should or should not be welcomed.

The Politics of Intergovernmental Organizations in Global Health

2018 ◽  
pp. 345-365
Author(s):  
Tine Hanrieder
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Autonomous Action ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Cross Fertilization

The rules and services of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and even the World Trade Organization affect health outcomes around the globe. Health-related IGOs have grown more numerous and more powerful but also more contested. This chapter explores the role of health-related IGOs in two main sections. The first section discusses the power of IGOs in global health, focusing on their capacity for autonomous action and their authority vis-à-vis states. The second section explores dynamics of change in and between health-related IGOs. The aim of the chapter is to outline productive cross-fertilization between the global health and IGO literatures.

Overcoming gridlock

2019 ◽  
pp. 343-363
Author(s):  
Ronald Labonté ◽  
Arne Ruckert
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Global Health Governance ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Policy Agendas ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Global Governance For Health

Global health governance describes when health organizations, such as the World Health Organization, hold the policy reins. The existence of too many global bodies often with too little authority and frequently with competing policy agendas is giving rise to gridlock in global health governance. At the same time, there are calls to expand this conceptualization to embrace global governance for health, where greater efforts are made to insert health priorities into the decision-making of non-health bodies such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and other United Nations or international policy forums. The recently minted concept of global health diplomacy describes efforts to understand, and to encourage, greater government engagement with health issues in their international relations and foreign policy decision-making. Although such decision-making is often challenged by competing government goals or interests, the Sustainable Development Goals could be used as an anchor to create stronger global governance for health.

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