scholarly journals Wellbeing index avoiding scaling and weights

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-202
Author(s):  
Satyendra Nath Chakrabartty

Objective: Existing well-being measures differ in terms of number and format of items, factors being measured, aggregation methods, and are not comparable. A well-being measure involves combining n- number of indicators and quality of the measure depends on properties of combining procedures adopted. The paper proposes two assumption-free aggregation methods to satisfy the desired properties of an index Methods: The paper proposes two indices of well-being in terms of cosine similarity and Geometric mean (GM) avoiding problems associated with scaling of raw data and choosing of weights. Empirical illustration is provided on application of the proposed measures. Results: The proposed indices give better admissibility of operations and satisfy properties like time-reversal test, formation of chain indices, computation of group mean and statistical tests for comparison across time and space. The preferred index can be constructed even for skewed longitudinal data and helps to reflect path of improvement registered by a country/region over time.  Conclusions: The index based on GM is preferred due to wider application areas. The index can further be used for classification of countries, sub-groups and even individuals with morbidity in terms of overall wellbeing values.  Future studies suggested.

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 12-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cummins

It is normal for people to feel positive about the quality of their lives, despite the presence of challenges. Of special interest here are the challenges of caring for a child or a disabled family member. How do the adults living within such families maintain a positive self-view? Answering this question requires an understanding of subjective well-being as it applies to each individual family member and of the management system that strives to keep each person feeling positive. This paper describes various psychological components of this homeostatic management system, together with a consideration of the most useful resources to support homeostasis. Key resources have been identified by using the Personal Wellbeing Index, a seven-item scale measuring subjective well-being (mood happiness). Over many studies, researchers have found considerable agreement that three kinds of resources — “the Golden Triangle” — are consistently more relevant to subjective well-being than the others. These are feelings of satisfaction with income, relationships, and life purpose. The implications for interventions that offer support to families in need are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gudela Grote ◽  
David Guest

The quality of working life became an important topic in the 1960s and 1970s, helping to stimulate an early approach to evidence-based policy advocacy drawing on interdisciplinary research by social scientists. Over the years it fell out of the limelight but much relevant, albeit fragmented, research has continued. We present a case for rekindling an integrated and normative approach to quality of working life research as one means of promoting workers’ well-being and emancipation. We outline an updated classification of the characteristics of quality of working life and a related analytic framework. We illustrate how research and practice will benefit from following this renewed quality of working life framework, using work design as an example. Concluding, we aim to stimulate debate on the necessity and benefits of rebuilding a quality of working life agenda for marrying academic rigour and practical relevance in order to support interventions aimed at fostering worker emancipation and well-being.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Koziuk ◽  
Oleksandr Dluhopolskyi ◽  
Yurij Hayda ◽  
Oksana Shymanska

In the 21st century, in addition to the generally well-known indicators of material well-being, in the modern paradigm of the welfare state, the quality of the ecological environment is gaining an ever-increasing role. Besides that, the modern definition of welfare state takes into account not only environmental dimension, but also the quality of institutions through the governance system that affects the supply of environmental goods. The study provides the classification of countries according to indicators that can ensure the identification of welfare states and the assessment of the classification role of the criteria for environmental state.The strong direct correlation between environmental state and government efficiency has been established. The results of the classification of the studied countries obtained by k-means clustering methods indicate the possibility of using the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Government Effectiveness Index (GEI) and government expenditures indicators as complementary attributes to the classical criteria for the welfare state.The level of country EPI can be regarded as an important complementary criterion for the welfare state. The country environmental state is much more determined by the government efficiency, the quality of state institutions and their activities, rather than by an extensive increase in the funding of such institutions and environmental measures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
R. R. Ahunova ◽  
G. R. Ahunova

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic, gradually progressive inflammatory disease characterized by lesions of the sacroiliac joints and / or spine, which can occur with simultaneous lesions of the enthesis and peripheral joints, leading to early disability and a decrease in the quality of life of patients, mainly young age. The international society for evaluation of spondylarthritis (ASAS) recommended a combination of nonpharmacological and pharmacological methods in the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with ankylosing spondylitis for the longest possible preservation of the quality of life of patients, which requires a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach.Currently, in many European countries, the international classification of functioning, disability and health (IСF) is used as a universal approach to the assessment of human health. The IСF classifies the different areas of each patient’s life that are health-related and affect health, thus describing changes in their physical functioning and psychological well-being. It helps to introduce multidisciplinary, patient-centered, problem-oriented rehabilitation care into the real work of clinics.The IСF shows a broader and more meaningful picture of the patient’s health, which allows the multidisciplinary team to consider the patient from different perspectives — biological, personal and social. Using the IСF in the process of complex therapy and rehabilitation of patients with ankylosing spondylitis, a multidisciplinary team can achieve a more complete coherence of views in the treatment of patients with ankylosing spondylitis, which is very important in achieving the success of therapy of this category of patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 77-77
Author(s):  
Friederike Haidl ◽  
Florian Hartmann ◽  
David A. Pfister ◽  
Axel Heidenreich

77 Background: Invasion of the urinary bladder and/or the rectum by locally advanced castration sensitive (CSPC) or castration resistant PCA (CRPC) can result in debilitating symptoms with a significant negative impact on the patient’s well-being. Local progression might develop despite the application of new life prolonging agents. It was the purpose to retrospectively review the surgical and oncological outcome following pelvic exenteration surgery (PES) for locally advanced and symptomatic CRPC. Methods: Retrospective, single-centre, dual surgeon study of 103 men with symptomatic locally progressive and symptomatic CS- and CRPC treated between 2008 and 2019. Primary endpoint was symptomatic free survival (SFS) and the secondary endpoint were overall survival (OS) and complications defined by Clavien-Dindo criteria. Statistical tests were two-tailed with a p-value <0.05 considered to indicate significance. Symptom-free survival and cancer specific survival were calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results: 9 (8.7%), 71 (68.8%) and 21 (22.4%) patients underwent radical prostatectomy, radical cystoprostatectomy or anterior and posterior exenteration, resp. After a median follow-up of 36.5 (3 – 123) months, the SFS at 1 and 3 years was 89.2% (n=89) and 64.1% (n=66). The median SFS was 27.9 months. 78.6% of the patients were symptom-free during their remaining lifetime. OS at 1 and 3 years was 92.2% and 43.7%, respectively, and the median OS was 33.6 months. Clavien-Dindo grade 2, 3 and 4 complications developed in 31 (30.6%), 12 (12%) and 8 (8.1%), respectively. Conclusions: PES is a technically feasible approach in well-selected patients resulting in symptom relief of > 90% of patients which covered almost 80% of the remaining life time. Adequate preoperative imaging studies, endoscopic evaluation and extensive surgical experience is mandatory to achieving a benefit for the individual patient with improvement of quality of life.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. e54159
Author(s):  
Layla Beatriz Melo de Oliveira ◽  
Aline Costa de Oliveira ◽  
Daniel de Macêdo Rocha ◽  
Márcia Teles de Oliveira Gouveia ◽  
Rosana dos Santos Costa ◽  
...  

Assess the quality of life of family caregivers of children with microcephaly. This is an analytical cross-sectional study developed in Teresina-PI, carried out in a rehabilitation center. For data collection a form was used to investigate the sociodemographic profile and the Medical Outcomes Study 36 - Item Short-Form Health Survey instrument to assess quality of life. For data analysis, we used the statistical tests Student's t, ANOVA, U- Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis. The descriptive analysis of the results showed that the functional capacity domain presented the most impairment by obtaining the highest score. The dimensions vitality and pain showed the lowest averages, representing the less affected domains. The associations between the sociodemographic characteristics and the domains of quality of life were significant between the variables marital status and pain, education and the domains vitality and emotional aspect, and between employment status and general health status. The quality of life of family caregivers presented losses related to the change of routine and the difficulties faced on a daily basis, highlighting the importance of covering the health of caregivers within the assistance offered to children with special needs, contributing to the well-being of those who care and consequently of those who are cared for.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-490
Author(s):  
Carlos Roberto Da Silva Filho ◽  
Nayara Marques Santos ◽  
Jânio Carlos Fernandes Guedes ◽  
Diógenes Félix Da Silva Costa

Serviços Ecossistêmicos são bens produzidos pelos ecossistemas que são utilizados pela sociedade na manutenção da sua qualidade de vida. Diante do cenário atual sobre os impactos que os ecossistemas sofrem, essa temática ganhou relevância, pois podem vir a elucidar as populações sobre a importância do bem estar natural. A exemplo da Caatinga, terceiro bioma mais degradado em território brasileiro. Diante desse fato, o referente trabalho objetivou identificar os serviços ecossistêmicos de provisão prestados pelas áreas de Caatinga microrregião do Seridó Ocidental/RN, seguindo a classificação Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services CICES. Como resultados, identificou-se inúmeros serviços de provisão distribuídos nas classes inspecionadas. Houveram exemplos nos grupos de biomassa, energia e água, aparecendo em maior destaque nas duas primeiras, a provisão de remédios caseiros e materiais derivados das plantas da Caatinga. Também foram identificados serviços prestados pela fauna, na classe de animais selvagens e suas saídas, por meio de uso da caça. Por fim, conclui-se que a identificação dos serviços ecossistêmicos mostrou-se importante, pois nos fornecem informações que podem garantir subsídios para a elaboração de ferramentas que induzam a conservação da biodiversidade. No entanto, se faz necessário mais pesquisas voltadas a este tema. Como resultado, identificamos numerosos servicios de aprovisionamiento distribuidos en las clases inspeccionadas. Hubo ejemplos en los grupos de biomasa, energía y agua, que aparecieron de manera más destacada en los dos primeros, la provisión de remedios caseros y materiales derivados de las plantas de Caatinga. También identificamos servicios de vida silvestre en la clase de vida silvestre y sus salidas a través de la caza. Finalmente, se concluye que la identificación de los servicios del ecosistema demostró ser importante porque nos proporcionan información que puede garantizar subsidios para la elaboración de herramientas que induzcan la conservación de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, se necesita más investigación sobre este tema.Palavras-chave: Serviços Ecossistêmicos; Caatinga; Seridó Ocidental. ABSTRACTEcosystem services are goods produced by ecosystems that are used by society to maintain their quality of life. Given the current scenario on the impacts that ecosystems suffer, this issue has gained relevance, as they may elucidate the population on the importance of natural well-being. Like the Caatinga, the third most degraded biome in Brazilian territory. In view of this fact, the objective of this work was to identify the ecosystem services provided by the Caatinga micro-region of western Seridó / RN, following the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services CICES. As a result, a number of provision services were identified in the inspected classes. There were examples in the biomass, energy and water groups, appearing more prominently in the first two, the provision of home remedies and materials derived from Caatinga plants. Wildlife services, in the wild class and their exits, were also identified through the use of hunt. Finally, it is concluded that the identification of ecosystem services has proved to be important, since they provide us with information that can guarantee subsidies for the elaboration of tools that induce the conservation of biodiversity. However, more research on this topic is needed.Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Caatinga; Western Seridó. RESUMENLos servicios ecosistémicos son bienes producidos por ecosistemas que la sociedad utiliza para mantener su calidad de vida. Dado el escenario actual sobre los impactos que sufren los ecosistemas, este tema ha ganado relevancia, ya que pueden dilucidar a las poblaciones sobre la importancia del bienestar natural. Como Caatinga, el tercer bioma más degradado en Brasil. Dado este hecho, este trabajo tuvo como objetivo identificar los servicios ecosistémicos proporcionados por la microrregión Caatinga de las áreas occidentales de Seridó/RN, siguiendo la Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services CICES. Como resultado, identificamos numerosos servicios de aprovisionamiento distribuidos en las clases inspeccionadas. Hubo ejemplos en los grupos de biomasa, energía y agua, que aparecieron de manera más destacada en los dos primeros, la provisión de remedios caseros y materiales derivados de las plantas de Caatinga. También identificamos servicios de vida silvestre en la clase de vida silvestre y sus salidas a través de la caza. Finalmente, se concluye que la identificación de los servicios del ecosistema demostró ser importante porque nos proporcionan información que puede garantizar subsidios para la elaboración de herramientas que induzcan la conservación de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, se necesita más investigación sobre este tema.Palabras clave: Servicios ecosistémicos; Caatinga; Seridó Occidental.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 2310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Monteriù ◽  
Mario Prist ◽  
Emanuele Frontoni ◽  
Sauro Longhi ◽  
Filippo Pietroni ◽  
...  

Smart homes play a strategic role for improving life quality of people, enabling to monitor people at home with numerous intelligent devices. Sensors can be installed to provide a continuous assistance without limiting the resident’s daily routine, giving her/him greater comfort, well-being and safety. This paper is based on the development of domestic technological solutions to improve the life quality of citizens and monitor the users and the domestic environment, based on features extracted from the collected data. The proposed smart sensing architecture is based on an integrated sensor network to monitor the user and the environment to derive information about the user’s behavior and her/his health status. The proposed platform includes biomedical, wearable, and unobtrusive sensors for monitoring user’s physiological parameters and home automation sensors to obtain information about her/his environment. The sensor network stores the heterogeneous data both locally and remotely in Cloud, where machine learning algorithms and data mining strategies are used for user behavior identification, classification of user health conditions, classification of the smart home profile, and data analytics to implement services for the community. The proposed solution has been experimentally tested in a pilot study based on the development of both sensors and services for elderly users at home.


Open Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 905-914
Author(s):  
Réka Majer ◽  
Olar Adeyi ◽  
Zsuzsa Bagoly ◽  
Viktória Simon ◽  
László Csiba ◽  
...  

AbstractThe objective of this research is to identify the relationship between the neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) of patients with major neurocognitive disorder (mNCD), their quality of life, illness intrusiveness and the caregiver’s burden. We assessed 131 patients with mNCD. Examination methods included WHO well-being index short version, illness intrusiveness rating scale, Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cog, Mini Mental State Examination and neuropsychiatric inventory. The results were analysed using standard statistical tests. In our sample, the prevalence of NPSs is 100%. A significant correlation (p < 0.0001) was observed with quality of life and illness intrusiveness. Additionally, a strong relationship was observed between NPSs and the caregiver’s burden (r = 0.9). The result is significantly twice as much stronger in comparison to the relationship between NPS and cognitive symptoms (r = 0.4). This is the first study in Hungary to assess the impact of NPS on the burden of relatives and quality of life. NPS had twice stronger impact on caregivers’ burden than cognitive decline. However, further studies are needed to assess the sub-syndromes in mNCD in relation to NPS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-265
Author(s):  
Sasmiyanto Sasmiyanto

The purpose of this study is to prove the correlation between psychological well-being and quality of life of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Bondowoso. This type of research is a correlational study with a cross sectional approach. The results of the study based on statistical tests found the average value of the psychological well-being of clients 120.5778 which can be said to be quite good. The quality of life of respondents has an average score of 53,389 which can be said to be quite good. The results of statistical analysis show that the p value is 0.004. Conclusion, there is a significant relationship between psychological well-being and quality of life of people with diabetes mellitus. The effect of psychological effects on the condition of the body is huge.   Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus type 2, Psychological Well-being, Quality of Life


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