scholarly journals Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in health and wellbeing across age in France and Switzerland

Author(s):  
Anna Barbuscia ◽  
Chiara Comolli

There is increasing evidence that wellbeing is unequally distributed across sociodemographicgroups in contemporary societies. However, less is known about thedivergence across social groups of trajectories of wellbeing across age groups.This issue is of great relevance in contexts characterised by changing populationstructures and growing imbalances across and within generations, and in whichensuring that everyone has the opportunity to have a happy and healthy life courseis a primary welfare goal. In this study, we investigate wellbeing trends in Franceand Switzerland across age, gender, and socioeconomic status groups. We use twohousehold surveys (the Sant´e et Itin´eraires Professionnels and the Swiss HouseholdPanel) to compare the unfolding inequalities in health and wellbeing across agegroups in two rich countries. We view wellbeing as multidimensional, followingthe literature highlighting the importance of considering different dimensions andmeasures of wellbeing. Thus, we investigate a number of outcomes, includingdifferent measures of physical and mental health, as well as of relational wellbeing,using a linear regression model and a linear probability model. Our findings showinteresting country and dimension-specific heterogeneities in the development ofhealth and wellbeing over age. While our results indicate that there are gender andeducational inequalities in both Switzerland and France, and that gender inequalitiesin mental health accumulate with age in both countries, we also find that educationalinequalities in health and wellbeing remain rather stable across age groups.

Author(s):  
Patricia Nayna Schwerdtle ◽  
Kate Baernighausen ◽  
Sayeda Karim ◽  
Tauheed Syed Raihan ◽  
Samiya Selim ◽  
...  

Background: Climate change influences patterns of human mobility and health outcomes. While much of the climate change and migration discourse is invested in quantitative predictions and debates about whether migration is adaptive or maladaptive, less attention has been paid to the voices of the people moving in the context of climate change with a focus on their health and wellbeing. This qualitative research aims to amplify the voices of migrants themselves to add nuance to dominant migration narratives and to shed light on the real-life challenges migrants face in meeting their health needs in the context of climate change. Methods: We conducted 58 semi-structured in-depth interviews with migrants purposefully selected for having moved from rural Bhola, southern Bangladesh to an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis under the philosophical underpinnings of phenomenology. Coding was conducted using NVivo Pro 12. Findings: We identified two overarching themes in the thematic analysis: Firstly, we identified the theme “A risk exchange: Exchanging climate change and health risks at origin and destination”. Rather than describing a “net positive” or “net negative” outcome in terms of migration in the context of climate change, migrants described an exchange of hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities at origin with those at destination, which challenged their capacity to adapt. This theme included several sub-themes—income and employment factors, changing food environment, shelter and water sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) conditions, and social capital. The second overarching theme was “A changing health and healthcare environment”. This theme also included several sub-themes—changing physical and mental health status and a changing healthcare environment encompassing quality of care and barriers to accessing healthcare. Migrants described physical and mental health concerns and connected these experiences with their new environment. These two overarching themes were prevalent across the dataset, although each participant experienced and expressed them uniquely. Conclusion: Migrants who move in the context of climate change face a range of diverse health risks at the origin, en route, and at the destination. Migrating individuals, households, and communities undertake a risk exchange when they decide to move, which has diverse positive and negative consequences for their health and wellbeing. Along with changing health determinants is a changing healthcare environment where migrants face different choices, barriers, and quality of care. A more migrant-centric perspective as described in this paper could strengthen migration, climate, and health governance. Policymakers, urban planners, city corporations, and health practitioners should integrate the risk exchange into practice and policies.


2022 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-67
Author(s):  
Somadatta Das ◽  
Rabindra Nath Padhy ◽  
Bibhuti Bhusan Pradhan

The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus causes a respiratory disease with physical and mental health effects, ending at general morbidity and fatality from some latest coronavirus strains, at times. During the present pandemics, people stay mainly at home, contributing to some elevated stress levels. World Health Organization (WHO) contemplates that the additional steps like, quarantine and self-isolation have stimulated daily routines of peoples, leading to a rise in agitation, oppression, sleeplessness, alcohol addiction, drug-addictions and suicidal behaviors; consequently, causing increase in cases of domestic violence, even. At this stage, health service providers cannot help the poor, elderly people, children who are susceptible to pre-medical adverse conditions. This work aims to highlight the general scenario of the mental health locally in India during covid-19 pandemic. Some lifestyles, such as yoga, meditation, Ayurvedic medication, avoiding reading on corona too much and watching TV about it, while staying with the own family with the popular healthier lifestyles are recommended to alleviate stress.


Author(s):  
Eva Sahlin ◽  
Björn Johansson ◽  
Per-Olof Karlsson ◽  
Jenny Loberg ◽  
Mats Niklasson ◽  
...  

Nature-based interventions have been proposed to promote physical and mental health and give stress reduction. Little attention has been given to the potential of zoos for human health and wellbeing. A disadvantaged group in Sweden regarding access to nature are individuals with disabilities who consequently do not have the same access to these health benefits as other groups. To increase awareness and knowledge regarding spending time in nature and with animals, courses directed at caretakers for persons with disabilities and their users were held at Nordens Ark, a zoo in Sweden. To explore if the courses had led to increased nature activities, and if participating in the courses had affected caretakers’ and their users’ health and wellbeing, questionnaires and interviews for evaluating the courses were used. The results showed improved quality in nature visits because of course participation as well as positive effects for the wellbeing, sustainability for the caregivers and users in their working lives, and relationships were positively affected. The conclusion from this study is that nature and animal-based education should be more frequent to provide opportunities for a disadvantaged group to have the positive effects of nature of which most other groups have obvious access to.


Societies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delali A. Dovie

Background: This study investigates home ownership and its apparent health outcomes in Urban Ghana, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative datasets. Methods: The sample for the study consisted of 442 respondents using a multi-stage sampling technique. Results: The context in which houses are situated affects social support networks, physical and mental health outcomes. House ownership is then a precondition that enables social contact within neighborhoods. A Cramer’s V test value of 0.750 suggests a strong association between house ownership and health outcomes. Conclusion: House acquisition and ownership can potentially improve overall physical, and mental health and wellbeing.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 233372142110558
Author(s):  
Jungjoo Lee ◽  
Junhyung Kim ◽  
Richard Holden

Most studies have classified older adults with diabetes into one group despite substantial variation in health status across different stages of late adulthood. In this study, we examined difference in self-reported physical and mental health among three age groups of older adults with diabetes. Using data from the 2016 National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, Wave 3, we classified 424 individuals diagnosed with diabetes into three age groups, young-old (YO): 50–64 years; middle-old (MO): 65–74; and oldest old (OO): 75+ years. A one-way multivariate analysis of covariance was used to assess group differences, followed by univariate analyses. The results indicate that the YO group reported significantly lower physical health and higher depression than the MO group and higher levels of loneliness than the MO and OO groups. These findings indicate that physical and mental health may differ among different age groups of older adults with diabetes and suggest that the YO might be more vulnerable to diminished physical and mental health than the other age groups.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-170
Author(s):  
Emma E. Poulsen ◽  
David Sibbritt ◽  
Deirdre McLaughlin ◽  
Jon Adams ◽  
Nancy A. Pachana

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) use has been researched widely; however, studies with older adults and Australian populations are limited. The profile of Australian women CAM users has been mapped using the 1996 data from the ALSWH (Adamset al., 2003). Mid-age adults were frequent CAM users (28%) followed by young adults (19%) and older adults (15%). No consistent characteristics of CAM users across age groups were identified. Generally, CAM users lived in non-urban settings, and reported poorer physical and mental health. Predictors of CAM use for Australian women have not yet been explored.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
M. Chylova ◽  
J.P. van Dijk ◽  
J. Rosenberger ◽  
I. Nagyova ◽  
M. Gavelova ◽  
...  

Aims:Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of neurological disability in young adults and is frequently accompanied by symptoms of depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to explore the association of depression and anxiety with health status in younger and older MS patients.Method:223 MS patients (67.3% female; mean age 38.9±10.8 years; mean disease duration 5.8±5.2 years) were divided into younger and older age groups (< 45 and ≥45 years). They completed questionnaires focusing on sociodemographic data, depression and anxiety (HADS), and physical and mental health status (SF-36). Functional disability (EDSS) was assessed by a neurologist. To analyse the data, a U-test and multiple linear regression analyses were performed.Results:A model consisting of age, gender, marital status, EDSS, depression and anxiety explained 46.6% of the variance in physical health status and 60.8% of the variance in mental health status (p≤.001). Depression was a significant predictor of physical health status in older MS patients and was associated with mental health status in both age groups (p≤0.001). Anxiety was related to worse physical and mental health status in younger MS patients, but not in the older ones.Conclusion:Depression in MS patients is associated with mental health status and with physical health status only in the older group; anxiety is associated only in younger MS patients with regard to their health status. Psychiatric diagnostics focusing on depression and anxiety might be important for treatment of MS patients in order to contribute to improving a patient's health status.


Author(s):  
David Ireland ◽  
Dana Kai Bradford

Conversation agents (chat-bots) are becoming ubiquitous in many domains of everyday life, including physical and mental health and wellbeing. With the high rate of suicide in Australia, chat-bot developers are facing the challenge of dealing with statements related to mental ill-health, depression and suicide. Advancements in natural language processing could allow for sensitive, considered responses, provided suicidal discourse can be accurately detected. Here suicide notes are examined for consistent linguistic syntax and semantic patterns used by individuals in mental health distress. Paper contains distressing content.


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