Explanatory perspectives

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-96
Author(s):  
Johan P. Mackenbach
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Occupational Class ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Fundamental Causes ◽  
Childhood Environment ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Chapter 3 (‘Explanatory perspectives’) provides a digest of the vast amounts of explanatory research on health inequalities that has been conducted over the past three decades. It introduces recent methodological advances, such as the counterfactual approach to causality, quasi-experimental study designs, and mediation analysis. It reviews the scientific evidence that education, occupational class and income have a causal effect on health. It introduces life-course models, summarizes current understanding of the role of six groups of contributing factors (genetics, childhood environment, material living conditions, social and psychological factors, health-related behaviours, and health care), and describes the biological mechanisms of ‘embodiment’ of social inequality. It also discusses the merits of nine overarching theories of health inequalities: ‘social selection’, ‘diffusion of innovations’, ‘cultural capital’, ‘inverse equity’, ‘inverse care law’, ‘neo-materialism’, ‘psychosocial environment’, ‘fundamental causes’ and ‘political economy of health’.

Conflicting Health-Related Scientific Evidence in News Reports: Effects of Hedging and Presentation Format on Perceived Issue Uncertainty and Scientists’ and Journalists’ Credibility

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Health Communication ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Presentation Format ◽  
News Article ◽  
Online Experiment ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Conflicting Evidence ◽  
Health Related

Introduction: This study examined effects of two journalistic practices in reporting conflicting scientific evidence, hedging and presentation format, on scientists’ and journalists’ credibility and issue uncertainty. Methods: An online experiment was conducted using students from a western U.S. university. Hedging was manipulated as reporting methodological limitations versus not reporting the limitations in news articles covering the conflict. Presentation format was manipulated as using a single news article to report both sides of the conflict versus using double articles with one side of the conflict in one article and the other side in the other article. Results: The study found that perceived issue uncertainty was higher in hedged news articles than that in non-hedged articles; presentation format did not affect people’s perceived issue uncertainty. For scientists’ credibility (both competence and trustworthiness), this study found that it was lower in the single-article format than that in the double-article format; for journalists’ credibility, this study found that journalists’ trustworthiness in the two formats did not vary, but their competence was lower in the double-article format than that in the single-article format. Conclusion: This study contributes to the field of science and health communication by examining effects of presentation format used in communicating conflicting health-related scientific evidence and by examining effects of communicating scientific limitations in a context where conflicting evidence exists. Keywords: conflicting scientific evidence, hedging, presentation format, scientists’ credibility, journalists’ credibility

scholarly journals Promoting Interpersonal Relationships through Elbow Tag, a Traditional Sporting Game. A Multidimensional Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7887
Author(s):  
Verónica Muñoz-Arroyave ◽  
Miguel Pic ◽  
Rafael Luchoro-Parrilla ◽  
Jorge Serna ◽  
Cristòfol Salas-Santandreu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Registration System ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Quasi Experimental

The aim of this research was to study from a multidimensional point of view (decisional, relational and energetic) the interpersonal relationships established by girls and boys in the traditional sport game of Elbow Tag. Scientific evidence has shown that Traditional Sport Games (TSG) trigger different effects on male and female genders in relation to emotional experiences, decision-making, conflicts and motor relationships. Despite the fact that these dimensions are intertwined, there are hardly any studies that interpret motor behaviors holistically, i.e., taking a multidimensional (360°) view of these dimensions. For this study, a quasi-experimental design was used and a type III design was applied, inspired by the observational methodology N/P/M. A total of 147 university students participated (M = 19.6, SD = 2.3): 47 girls (31.97%) and 100 boys (68.02%). A mixed ‘ad hoc’ registration system was designed with acceptable margins of data quality. Cross-tabulations, classification trees and T-patterns analysis were applied. The results indicated that social interactions between girls and boys in a mixed group were unequal. This difference was mainly due to decision-making (sub-role variable), which has much greater predictive power than the energetic variables (MV and steps).

The effects of social housing regeneration schemes on employment: The case of the Glasgow Stock Transfer

Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110470
Author(s):  
Meng Le Zhang ◽  
George Galster ◽  
David Manley ◽  
Gwilym Pryce
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Housing Association ◽  
City Council ◽  
Heterogeneous Effects ◽  
Employment Multiplier ◽  
Capital Spending ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Regeneration is an internationally popular policy for improving distressed neighbourhoods dominated by large social housing developments. Stimulating employment is often touted as a secondary benefit, but this claim has rarely been evaluated convincingly. In 2003, Glasgow City Council transferred ownership of its entire social housing stock to the Glasgow Housing Association and over £4 billion was invested in physical repairs, social services and other regeneration activities. Using a linked census database of individuals (Scottish Longitudinal Study), we evaluate the causal effect of the Stock Transfer on employment in Glasgow through a quasi-experimental design that exploits idiosyncrasies and changes in Glasgow’s administrative boundaries. We find that the Stock Transfer had a positive effect on employment for Glasgow residents who were not living in transferred social housing stock. We establish that this effect was mainly accomplished through the local employment multiplier effect of capital spending rather than through any other programmatic elements of the Stock Transfer. Exploratory analysis shows heterogeneous effects: individuals who were over 21, female, living with dependent children and with less education were less likely to benefit from the intervention. We did not find significant subgroup effects by neighbourhood deprivation.

scholarly journals Fooled by Performance Randomness: Overrewarding Luck

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 658-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romain Gauriot ◽  
Lionel Page
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Experimental Situation ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
High Quality ◽  
High Quality Data ◽  
Economic Organizations ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Similar Location ◽  
Do So

We provide evidence of a violation of the informativeness principle whereby lucky successes are overly rewarded. We isolate a quasi-experimental situation where the success of an agent is as good as random. To do so, we use high-quality data on football (soccer) matches and select shots on goal that landed on the goal posts. Using nonscoring shots, taken from a similar location on the pitch, as counterfactuals to scoring shots, we estimate the causal effect of a lucky success (goal) on the evaluation of the player's performance. We find clear evidence that luck is overly influencing managers' decisions and evaluators' ratings. Our results suggest that this phenomenon is likely to be widespread in economic organizations.

Außerklinische Beatmung – Konzepte und Therapieempfehlungen

2017 ◽  
Vol 142 (16) ◽  
pp. 1197-1204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Schwarz ◽  
Friederike Magnet ◽  
Bernd Schönhofer ◽  
Wolfram Windisch
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Ventilation ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Underlying Disease ◽  
Home Mechanical Ventilation ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Außerklinische Beatmung ◽  
Health Related

AbstractThe prognosis of patients receiving home mechanical ventilation is very heterogeneous and depends on the underlying disease, the degree of respiratory dependency and the comorbidities. Due to the severe chronic diseases, the initiation of a long-term NIV must be done during an inpatient treatment. Two recently published randomized controlled trials using more aggressive forms of NPPV targeted at normalizing hypercapnic PaCO2 values, showed improved long term survival also in patients with an underlying diagnosis of COPD. Consequently, the number of patients receiving home mechanical ventilation has dramatically increased in recent years and more and more outpatient settings has been established without scientific evidence. Nevertheless, beside reliable care structures, ethical aspects and health related quality of life are of great importance in the context of home mechanical ventilation.

scholarly journals Impact of a Nurse-Led Health Promotion Intervention in an Aging Population: Results From a Quasi-Experimental Study on the “Community Health Consultation Offices for Seniors”

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Esther Marcus-Varwijk ◽  
Lilian L. Peters ◽  
Tommy L. S. Visscher ◽  
Carolien H. M. Smits ◽  
Adelita V. Ranchor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Similar Data ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Health Consultation ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Objective: The study evaluated the nurse-led intervention “ Community Health Consultation Offices for Seniors (CHCO)” on health-related and care needs–related outcomes in community-dwelling older people (⩾60 years). Method: With a quasi-experimental design, the CHCO intervention was evaluated on health-related and care needs–related outcomes after 1-year follow-up. Older people who received the intervention were frail, overweight, or were smoking. The comparison group received care as usual. In both groups, similar data were collected on health status, falls and fractures, and care needs. In the intervention group, additional data were collected on biometric measures and health-related behavior. Results: The intervention group and the care-as-usual group included 403 seniors and 984 seniors, respectively. Health-related outcomes, behaviors, and biometric measures, remained stable. After 1 year, care needs increased for both groups, but at a lower rate for the care-as-usual group. Discussion: The CHCO intervention showed no significant improvement on health-related outcomes or stability in care needs–related outcomes.

The Client-Centred Evidence-Based Practice of Occupational Therapy

1998 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Egan ◽  
Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz ◽  
Claudia Von Zweck ◽  
Josée Vallerand
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Evidence Based Practice ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Treatment Decision ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Problem Solving Process

Evidence-based practice has its roots in evidence-based medicine. This term refers to the formulation of treatment decision using the best available research evidence. While the concept has gained increased attention among health care workers in the recent past, practice based on scientific evidence has been recommended for over 300 years. However, all health-related professions continue to report difficulties adopting evidence-based practice. Notably, practitioners are often concerned that results of population-based research may not be relevant for their specific patients. This may be of particular concern for occupational therapists who aim to provide client-centred intervention, taking into consideration individual characteristics of the client, the environment and the occupation. As well, those wishing to practice evidence-based occupational therapy must determine which decisions are made during the course of therapy and what evidence may impact on these decisions. The Occupational Performance Process Model (Fearing, Law & Clark, 1997) outlines the occupational therapy problem solving process and assists therapists to integrate knowledge from both client and therapist. A framework for evidence-based occupational therapy is presented, based on this model.

scholarly journals Increasing the Willingness to Participate in Organ Donation Through Humorous Health Communication: (Quasi-)Experimental Evidence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Betsch ◽  
Nora Katharina Küpke ◽  
Leonie Otten ◽  
Eckart von Hirschhausen
Keyword(s):  
Health Communication ◽  
Organ Donation ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Entertainment Education ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Neutral Information ◽  
Willingness To Donate ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Increasing people’s willingness to donate organs after their death requires effective communication strategies. In two preregistered studies, we assessed whether humorous entertainment education formats on organ donation elicit positive effects on knowledge, fears, attitudes, and behavioral intentions – both immediately after the treatment and four weeks later. We test whether perceived funniness mediates expected effects on attitudes and intentions. Study 1 is a quasi-experiment which uses a live medical comedy show (N = 3,964) as an entertainment education format, which either contained or did not contain information about organ donation. Study 2, a lab experiment, tests humor’s causal effect in a pre-post design with a control group (N = 144) in which the same content was provided in either a humorous or non-humorous way in an audio podcast. Results showed that humorous interventions per se were not more effective than neutral information, but that informing people about organ donation in general increased donation intentions, attitudes, and knowledge. However, humorous interventions were especially effective in reducing fears related to organ donation. The findings are discussed regarding the opportunities for sensitive health communication through entertainment education formats, psychological processes that humor triggers, and humor’s role in health communication formats.

scholarly journals Investigation of Risk Of Bias due to Unreported and SelecTively included results in meta-analyses of nutrition research: the ROBUST study protocol

F1000Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Page ◽  
Lisa Bero ◽  
Cynthia M. Kroeger ◽  
Zhaoli Dai ◽  
Sally McDonald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Included Study ◽  
Risk Of Bias ◽  
Dietary Guidelines ◽  
Healthy Population ◽  
Nutrition Research ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Meta Analyses

Background: Dietary guidelines should be informed by systematic reviews (SRs) of the available scientific evidence. However, if the SRs that underpin dietary guidelines are flawed in their design, conduct or reporting, the recommendations contained therein may be misleading or harmful. To date there has been little empirical investigation of bias due to selective inclusion of results, and bias due to missing results, in SRs of food/diet-outcome relationships. Objectives: To explore in SRs with meta-analyses of the association between food/diet and health-related outcomes: (i) whether systematic reviewers selectively included study effect estimates in meta-analyses when multiple effect estimates were available; (ii) what impact selective inclusion of study effect estimates may have on meta-analytic effects, and; (iii) the risk of bias due to missing results (publication bias and selective non-reporting bias) in meta-analyses. Methods: We will systematically search for SRs with meta-analysis of the association between food/diet and health-related outcomes in a generally healthy population, published between January 2018 and June 2019. We will randomly sort titles and abstracts and screen them until we identify 50 eligible SRs. The first reported meta-analysis of a binary or continuous outcome in each SR (the ‘index meta-analysis’) will be evaluated. We will extract from study reports all study effect estimates that were eligible for inclusion in the index meta-analyses (e.g. from multiple instruments and time points) and will quantify and test for evidence of selective inclusion of results. We will also assess the risk of bias due to missing results in the index meta-analyses using a new tool (ROB-ME). Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval is not required because information will only be extracted from published studies. Dissemination of the results will be through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. We will make all data collected from this study publicly available via the Open Science Framework.

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