The Effect of Empowerment and Self-Determination on Health Outcomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 623-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene Garces-Ozanne ◽  
Edna Ikechi Kalu ◽  
Richard Audas
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Under Five ◽  
The Impact

There remains a persistent gap in health outcomes between wealthy and poor countries. Basic measures such as life expectancy and infant and under-five mortality remain divergent, with preventable deaths being unacceptably high, despite significant efforts to reduce these disparities. We examine the impact of empowerment, measured by Freedom House’s ratings of country’s political rights and civil liberties, while controlling for per capita gross domestic product, secondary school enrollment, and income inequality, on national health outcomes. Using data from 1970 to 2013 across 149 countries, our results suggest, quite strongly, that higher levels of empowerment have a significant positive association with life expectancy, particularly for females, and lower rates of infant and under-five mortality. Our results point to the need for efforts to stimulate economic growth be accompanied with reforms to increase the levels empowerment through increasing political rights and civil liberties.

scholarly journals Motivating Information Technology Professionals: The case of New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoaib Ahmed ◽  
Nazim Taskin ◽  
David J. Pauleen ◽  
Jane Parker
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Turnover Intention ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
It Professionals ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
The Impact

IT professionals play a critical role in organizations. Research indicates that they may be unique in their attitudes toward motivation and job satisfaction. In New Zealand, a shortage of skilled professionals may contribute to or impact on motivation. Using a modified model of Herzberg’s two-factor theory by Smerek and Peterson (2007), this research seeks to answer the question: what motivates New Zealand IT professionals? In response, an online questionnaire was distributed to a population of New Zealand IT professionals and the data analysed using Partial Least Squares to understand the relationship between the various dimensions of job satisfaction, the impact of personal and job characteristics, and turnover intention. The findings show that the New Zealand IT professional is primarily motivated by the nature of his or her work, followed by perceptions of responsibility, and how supervisors encourage an environment for such. Satisfaction with salary is a predictor to a lesser degree. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, professional growth opportunities, career advancement, and recognition do not have a statistically-significant positive association with motivation. We conclude that, to motivate their IT workforce, organizations should: 1) focus on the nature of the jobs that IT professionals undertake; 2) train supervisors to provide an empowering environment; 3) offer competitive salaries to retain top talent; 4) not hesitate to employ IT professionals born outside New Zealand; and 5) take account of the singularities of the New Zealand labour market in seeking to attract, recruit and retain IT professionals. Implications for policy, practice and theory are discussed.

Impact of Corporate Citizenship on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour of Managers: A Study from Selected Indian Banks

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 294-311
Author(s):  
Neena R. Jain ◽  
Irfan A. Rizvi
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Citizenship ◽  
Demographic Variable ◽  
Corporate Citizenship ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indian Banks ◽  
The Impact

The primary aim of this research article is to explore the relationship between corporate citizenship (CC) and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), specific to selected banks in India. The article has used multi-cross-sectional descriptive empirical data collected from a sample of 430 managers from selected banks in the public and private sectors. The instruments used are a scale developed by Maignan and Ferrell (2000) for CC and a scale developed by Lee and Allen (2002) for OCB. The results show a significant positive association between CC and OCB. Findings also reveal that the ethical and discretionary dimensions of CC are significant predictors of employee OCB. The article draws upon the data to see the impact of demographics on CC and OCB. The demographic variable of age in the organizations is found to have an impact on the employee perception of CC and also OCB demonstrated by them. The results highlight the need for strengthening CC practices in the organization and the role of managers in communicating strongly the citizenship practices adopted by the organization to foster positive work attitudes.

Does economic freedom improve health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa?

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1633-1649
Author(s):  
Anand Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of economic freedom on four key health indicators (namely, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate) by using a panel dataset of 34 sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016.Design/methodology/approachThe study obtains data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank and the Fraser Institute. It uses fixed effects regression to estimate the effect of economic freedom on health outcomes and attempts to resolve the endogeneity problems by using two-stage least squares regression (2SLS).FindingsThe results indicate a favourable impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. That is, higher levels of economic freedom reduce mortality rates and increase life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa. All areas of economic freedom, except government size, have a significant and positive effect on health outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThis study analyses the effect of economic freedom on health at a broad level. Country-specific studies at a disaggregated level may provide additional information about the impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. Also, this study does not control for some important variables such as education, income inequality and foreign aid due to data constraints.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that sub-Saharan African countries should focus on enhancing the quality of economic institutions to improve their health outcomes. This may include policy reforms that support a robust legal system, protect property rights, promote free trade and stabilise the macroeconomic environment. In addition, policies that raise urbanisation, increase immunisation and lower the incidence of HIV are likely to produce a substantial improvement in health outcomes.Originality/valueExtant economic freedom-health literature does not focus on endogeneity problems. This study uses instrumental variables regression to deal with endogeneity. Also, this is one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the relationship between economic freedom and health in the case of sub-Saharan Africa.

Globalization and women’s and girls’ health in 192 UN-member countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 692-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deniz Gevrek ◽  
Karen Middleton
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Life Expectancy At Birth ◽  
Adolescent Fertility ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the ratification of the United Nations’ (UN’s) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and women’s and girls’ health outcomes using a unique longitudinal data set of 192 UN-member countries that encompasses the years from 1980 to 2011. Design/methodology/approach – The authors focus on the impact of CEDAW ratification, number of reports submitted after ratification, years passed since ratification, and the dynamic impact of CEDAW ratification by utilizing ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel fixed effects methods. The study investigates the following women’s and girls’ health outcomes: total fertility rate, adolescent fertility rate, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, neonatal mortality rate, female life expectancy at birth (FLEB), and female to male life expectancy at birth. Findings – The OLS and panel country and year fixed effects models provide evidence that the impact of CEDAW ratification on women’s and girls’ health outcomes varies by global regions. While the authors find no significant gains in health outcomes in European and North-American countries, the countries in the Northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Africa, Caribbean and Central America, South America, Middle-East, Eastern Asia, and Oceania regions experienced the biggest gains from CEDAW ratification, exhibiting reductions in total fertility, adolescent fertility, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and neonatal mortality while also showing improvements in FLEB. The results provide evidence that both early commitment to CEDAW as measured by the total number of years of engagement after the UN’s 1980 ratification and the timely submission of mandatory CEDAW reports have positive impacts on women’ and girls’ health outcomes. Several sensitivity tests confirm the robustness of main findings. Originality/value – This study is the first comprehensive attempt to explore the multifaceted relationships between CEDAW ratification and female health outcomes. The study significantly expands on the methods of earlier research and presents novel methods and findings on the relationship between CEDAW ratification and women’s health outcomes. The findings suggest that the impact of CEDAW ratification significantly depends on the country’s region. Furthermore, stronger engagement with CEDAW (as indicated by the total number of years following country ratification) and the submission of the required CEDAW reports (as outlined in the Convention’s guidelines) have positive impacts on women’s and girls’ health outcomes.

scholarly journals The Association of Gut Microbiota with Resting Metabolic Rate in Overweight/Obese Women: A Case-Control Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Mehranfar ◽  
Seyed Davar Siadat ◽  
Sara Ahmadi Badi ◽  
Sara Hajishizari ◽  
Mir Saeed Yekaninejad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Resting Metabolic Rate ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Gut Microflora ◽  
Obese Women ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
Future Work ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Purpose Low Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), as a risk factor for obesity, can be affected by many factors. Indeed, genetic and environmental factors are variables taken into account when predicting RMR, and may contribute to a high inter-individual variance. Besides the well-known causes of obesity, researchers have demonstrated the contribution of gut microflora in obesity and energy expenditure. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to compare the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and the relative abundance of, Prevotellaceae, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, bifidobactrium spp, lactobacillus spp, Akkermansia muciniphila, Bacteroides fragilis, and Escherichia coli in two groups of people with normal and low RMR in overweigh/obese women in Iran. Results The abundance of F. prausnitzii (p>0.001), B. fragilis (P= 0.02), and Firmicutes phylum (P= 0.02) were significantly higher in the controls compared to the cases, and showed significant positive association with RMR, (β = 1.29 ×10−5, P=0.01), (β = 4.13 ×10−6, p= 0.04), and (β = 7.76 ×10−1, p= 0.01), respectively. Regarding Lactobacilus, the results showed a significant positive association with RMR (β = 1.73 ×10−4, p= 0.01). Conclusion Intestinal microbiota may be associated with host metabolism. Therefore, future work should investigate, using clinical trials, the impact of manipulating gut microflora to positively influence energy expenditure.

scholarly journals Impact of the Climate Matters Program on Public Understanding of Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-876
Author(s):  
Teresa A. Myers ◽  
Edward W. Maibach ◽  
Bernadette Woods Placky ◽  
Kimberly L. Henry ◽  
Michael D. Slater ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
American People ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Media Market

AbstractClimate Matters is a localized climate change reporting resources program developed to support television (TV) weathercasters across the United States. Developed as a pilot test in one media market in 2010, it launched nationwide in 2013; in the autumn of 2019 more than 797 weathercasters were participating in the program. In this paper we present evidence of the impact of the Climate Matters program on Americans’ science-based understanding of climate change. We analyzed three sets of data in a multilevel model: 20 nationally representative surveys of American adults conducted biannually since 2010 (n = 23 635), data on when and how frequently Climate Matters stories were aired in each U.S. media market, and data describing the demographic, economic, and climatic conditions in each media market. We hypothesized that 1) reporting about climate change by TV weathercasters will increase science-based public understanding of climate change and 2) this effect will be stronger for people who pay more attention to local weather forecasts. Our results partially support the first hypothesis: controlling for market-level factors (population size, temperature, political ideology, and economic prosperity) and individual-level factors (age, education, income, gender, and political ideology), there is a significant positive association between the amount of Climate Matters reporting and some key indicators of science-based understanding (including that climate change is occurring, is primarily human caused, and causes harm). However, there was no evidence for the second hypothesis. These findings suggest that climate reporting by TV weathercasters, as enabled by the Climate Matters program, may be increasing the climate literacy of the American people.

scholarly journals A patient-level model to estimate lifetime health outcomes of patients with type 1 diabetes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
An Tran-Duy ◽  
Josh Knight ◽  
Andrew J Palmer ◽  
Dennis Petrie ◽  
Tom WC Lung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Type 1 Diabetes ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
Internal Validation ◽  
Patient Level ◽  
The Impact

<b>OBJECTIVE </b> <p>To develop a patient-level simulation model for predicting lifetime health outcomes of patients with type 1 diabetes and as a tool for economic evaluation of type 1 diabetes treatment based on data from a large, longitudinal cohort.</p> <p><b>RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS</b></p> <p>Data for model development were obtained from the <a>Swedish National Diabetes Register</a>. We derived parametric proportional hazards models predicting absolute risk of diabetes complications and death based on a wide range of clinical variables and history of complications. We used linear regression models to predict risk factor progression. Internal validation was performed, estimates of life expectancies for different age-sex strata were computed, and the impact of key risk factors on life expectancy was assessed.</p> <p><b>RESULTS </b></p> <p>The study population consisted of 27,841 patients with type 1 diabetes with a mean duration of follow-up of 7 years. Internal validation showed good agreement between predicted and observed cumulative incidence of death and 10 complications. Simulated life expectancy was approximately 13 years lower than that of the sex- and age-matched general population, and patients with type 1 diabetes could expect to live with one or more complications for approximately 40% of their remaining life. Sensitivity analysis showed the importance of preventing renal dysfunction, hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia, and lowering HbA1c in reducing the risk of complications and death.</p> <p><b>CONCLUSIONS </b></p> Our model was able to simulate risk factor progression and event histories that closely match the observed outcomes, and project events occurring over patients’ lifetimes. The model can serve as a tool to estimate the impact of changing clinical risk factors on health outcomes to inform economic evaluations of interventions in type 1 diabetes.

scholarly journals Impact of Healthcare Expenditures on Healthcare Outcomes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: A Cross-Country Comparison, 1995–2015

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bander Balkhi ◽  
Dhfer Alshayban ◽  
Nawaf M. Alotaibi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Health Expenditures ◽  
Healthcare Spending ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Healthcare Expenditures ◽  
The Impact

The association between healthcare expenditures and outcomes, mainly mortality and life expectancy, is complex. The real explanation for this association is not clear, especially in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This study assesses the impact of health expenditures on improving healthcare systems and health status and finds a relationship between health expenditures and health outcomes across different region. Annual time series data on healthcare spending and outcomes from 1995 to 2015 were used for MENA region in comparison to developed and developing countries. Health expenditure was adjusted by the consumer price index equation to the 2015 US dollar eliminate the impact of inflation on our results. For many countries, spending on healthcare continues to rise, Among MENA countries, we found that the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait spent more per capita on health, $1,711 and $1,420, respectively, than any other countries in the region. Although this study demonstrated a relationship between total healthcare expenditure and outcomes, some countries spend more on healthcare but have shorter life expectancy. In most countries, efficient and effective utilization of healthcare resources is the key strategy for improving health outcomes in any country. The lack of a positive correlation between healthcare spending and life expectancy may indicate that health resources are not allocated effectively. In those cases, increasing health spending does not guarantee that there is any kind of improvement in healthcare.

The relationship between citations, downloads and alternative metrics in rheumatology publications: a bibliometric study

Rheumatology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnie M Y Chen ◽  
Marwan Bukhari ◽  
Francesca Cockshull ◽  
James Galloway
Keyword(s):  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
H Index ◽  
Binomial Regression ◽  
Number Of Citations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Alternative Metrics

Abstract Objective Scientific journals and authors are frequently judged on ‘impact’. Commonly used traditional metrics are the Impact Factor and H-index. However, both take several years to formulate and have many limitations. Recently, Altmetric—a metric that measures impact in a non-traditional way—has gained popularity. This project aims to describe the relationships between subject matter, citations, downloads and Altmetric within rheumatology. Methods Data from publications in Rheumatology were used. Articles published from 2010 to 2015 were reviewed. Data were analysed using Stata 14.2 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). Correlation between citations, downloads and Altmetric were quantified using linear regression, comparing across disease topics. Relationship between downloads and months since publications were described using negative binomial regression, clustering on individual articles. Results A total of 1460 Basic Science and Clinical Science articles were identified, with the number of citations, downloads and Altmetric scores. There were no correlations between disease topic and downloads (R2 = 0.016, P = 0.03), citations (R2 = 0.011, P = 0.29) or Altmetric (R2 = 0.025, P = 0.02). A statistically significant positive association was seen between the number of citations and downloads (R2 = 0.29, P &lt; 0.001). No correlations were seen between Altmetric and downloads (R2 = 0.028, P &lt; 0.001) or citations (R2 = 0.004, P = 0.445). Conclusion Disease area did not correlate with any of the metrics compared. Correlations were apparent with clear links between downloads and citations. Altmetric identified different articles as high impact compared with citation or download metrics. In conclusion: tweeting about your research does not appear to influence citations.

scholarly journals Health inequalities are worsening in the North East of England

2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Valerie Corris ◽  
Emily Dormer ◽  
Andrea Brown ◽  
Paula Whitty ◽  
Paul Collingwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Poor Health ◽  
Substantial Variation ◽  
Regional Health ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background The North of England, particularly the North East (NE), has worse health (e.g. 2 years lower life expectancy) and higher health inequalities compared to the rest of England. Sources of data We explore this over time drawing on publicly available data. Areas of agreement and controversy Whilst overall health is improving, within-regional health inequalities are getting worse and the gap between the NE and other regions (particularly the South of England) is worsening. The gap in life expectancy is widening with substantial variation between deprived and affluent areas within the NE. Those living in the NE are more likely to have a shorter lifespan and to spend a larger proportion of their shorter lives in poor health, as well as being more likely to die prematurely from preventable diseases. Growing points We highlight wide, and in some cases increasing, inequalities in health outcomes between the NE and the rest of England. This health disadvantage and the north-south health divide are recognized; despite this, the situation appears to be worsening over the time. Areas timely for developing research Research to understand and reduce health inequalities is needed particularly in the NE of England where reductions could have enhanced the impact.

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