Community Health Worker Intervention to Address Social Determinants of Health for Children Hospitalized With Asthma

BACKGROUND Social determinants of health (SDOH) contribute to racial disparities in asthma outcomes. Community health worker (CHW) programs represent a promising way to screen for SDOH and connect patients to resources, but the impact of CHW programs in the inpatient pediatric setting has been examined in few studies. In this study, we aimed to evaluate a CHW program for children hospitalized with asthma in a predominantly Hispanic community by examining rates of SDOH and social resource navigation. METHODS This pilot study involved a CHW intervention to improve pediatric asthma care. Patients were included if they were hospitalized with asthma over an 18-month period and enrolled in the CHW program during their hospitalization. In an intake interview, CHWs screened caregivers for SDOH and provided tailored social resource navigation. Descriptive statistics were used to assess rates of social risk factors and social resource navigation. RESULTS Eighty patients underwent SDOH screening. The majority of patients were Hispanic (81.3%, n = 65). Half of caregivers reported food or housing insecurity over the past 12 months (50.0%, n = 40), and most reported inadequate housing conditions (63.8%, n = 51). CHWs coordinated social resources for the majority of families (98.8%, n = 79), with the most common being food resources (42.5%, n = 34), housing resources (82.5%, n = 66), and appointment navigation (41.3%, n = 33). CONCLUSIONS CHWs identified a high burden of unmet social needs and provided associated social resource navigation in a largely Hispanic pediatric population hospitalized for asthma. CHW programs have potential to improve asthma outcomes by linking high-risk patients with social resources.

Improvement of analytical support of economic security management of the agricultural enterprises

Purpose. Under the conditions of strengthening of the destructive effects of the global economic crisis and the growing number of risks of agribusiness, there is a problem in finding the ways to improve accounting and analytical support as the only reliable source of the relevant and accurate information needed for economic security management. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the directions to improve the analytical basis as a component of accounting and analytical support of economic security management of the agricultural enterprises. Methodology / approach. The methodological basis of the research is a dialectical method of cognition of the complex economic phenomena. Consideration of the analytical support of complex management processes took place using a systematic approach, analysis and synthesis. Using an integral approach, a methodology for assessing and analyzing economic security of the agricultural enterprises is developed. This methodology approach includes the parameters of financial, social, resource and environmental security. Results. The analysis of the theoretical and methodological foundations of accounting and analytical support of economic security management showed a variety of the approaches to the choice of the indicators that describe the level of economic security. The situation is complicated by the need to analyze the information that may be relevant for management decisions in conditions of uncertainty. Under these conditions, it is proposed to implement a model of analytical support for economic security management under conditions of uncertainty and growing risks and threats to the business environment of the agricultural enterprises, which should be based on the use of general economic, statistical, integral and econometric approaches. It is determined that in the process of counteracting the risks and threats of the external and internal environment of the agrarian business the use of the integral methods of assessing economic security of the agricultural enterprises becomes crucial. It is substantiated that the most expedient in terms of achieving strategic goals of the enterprise, maintaining its competitive advantages and ensuring sustainable development is the use of integral assessment of economic security, which should be based on a synergistic approach to analysis of 25 indicators of financial, social, resource and environmental components. The approach was tested on the example of 24 agricultural enterprises of Kharkiv region (Ukraine) of crop specialization (2019). The model is also used to analyze the dynamics of the level of economic security under conditions of individual agricultural enterprises of different organizational and legal forms of management (2014–2019). Originality / scientific novelty. According to the results of the research, a methodological approach to determination of the integral level of economic security of the agricultural enterprises has been improved, based on the impact of the indicators of its individual components, which, at the same time, improves the analytical support of economic security management and strengthens verification, forecasting, preventive, planning and control functions of accounting and analytical support of management mechanisms. Practical value / implications. The practical significance of the proposed approaches consists of the possibility of positioning the enterprises in terms of optimal, satisfactory, shaky and crisis economic security zones, as well as analyzing the dynamics of the integral level of economic security, which takes into consideration the causal relations of the key areas of the agrarian business under conditions of uncertainty.

Project managing in post-conflict environments: an exploration of the resource profiles of Sri Lankan non-governmental organizations involved in development projects

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine the configuration of project resources in organizations operating in a post-conflict country environment using a Resource-Based View (RBV) perspective.Design/methodology/approachData collection was undertaken using a quantitative survey study of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved in development projects in Sri Lanka, which obtained 445 responses. An Exploratory Factor Analysis and subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed to identify and confirm the Project Management (PM) resource profile composition of these organizations.FindingsThe study identified resource profiles incorporated items at the team, organizational and collaborative social resource levels and did not differ significantly by organization type. This suggests that the current focus of PM RBV research that implicitly uses a competitive advantage derived framework may need to be adapted for contexts such as post-conflict environments.Research limitations/implicationsFor organizations seeking to deliver projects in developing countries, the findings indicate that relational capacity in the form of a collaborative social resource may be required to adapt team and organizational resources to post-conflict environments.Practical implicationsThe lessons learnt from NGOs can be of value to other organisations seeking to operate in post-conflict environments. The findings from this research reveal that organizations in Sri Lanka establish resource profiles that meet domestic and external requirements. For the management of these organizations, recognition of the inherent contradictions of this strategy can enable the optimization of resource profiles, improving organizational efficiencies.Originality/valueThe study has used insights from NGOs involved in international and local development projects to extend current knowledge of PM resources. While NGOs are distinctive, the critical PM resources identified here may be of value to private and public organizations seeking to develop project resource profiles adapted to emerging markets.

The Politicization of Immigration and Integration at the Subnational Level: Electoral Campaigns in Ontario and Quebec

Open political debate on immigration and integration policies (IIP) among Canadian political parties has been relatively limited. As Canada's immigration and integration systems become more decentralized, what about political debates about IIP in Canadian provinces? This article examines how IIP evolved across time by focusing on political parties’ claims, frames and pledges in party platforms and newspapers, using the cases of Ontario and Quebec. In Ontario, IIP were primarily framed as an economic and social resource. However, following the event of 9/11, new frames began to be introduced, contributing to a heightened salience and polarization. In contrast to Quebec, however, this politicization was not sustained. In Quebec, IIP were only marginally a matter of debate until the mid-2000s. This changed following the Hérouxville event, as these topics became salient, and dominant frames of immigration as economic and social resources were challenged by those of immigration as economic and cultural threats.

Extraversion level predicts perceived benefits from social resources and tool use

Social baseline theory states that there are differences in how humans integrate social resources into their economy of action when they face environmental demands. However, although several authors suggested that extraversion may be an indicator of the social baseline, no study has demonstrated it. The present study aims to test this hypothesis and, in particular, examines whether extraversion is a specific indicator of the social baseline. In two experiments, participants were asked to move rolls either alone (with their hands), or with the help of a social resource (Experiment 1), or a tool (Experiment 2). Results showed that extraversion predicted the choice to use both types of resource. Specifically, the more participants were extraverted, the more they tended to consider the use of the social resource or the tool as beneficial. We argue that these results indicate that extraversion is not specifically an indicator of the social baseline, but rather an indicator of how individuals integrate technical and social resources into their economy of action. In addition, this study encourages future research endeavors to define what constitutes a resource and how it could fit into the Social Baseline Theory.

Urban Creative Sustainability: The Case of Lublin

The proposed research aims to investigate the concept of creative urban sustainability. We asked, what are the factors conditioning creativity in spaces where cultures meet in cities and how do they stimulate urban sustainable development. The empirical material analysed are the results of interviews conducted with cultural managers. We introduce philosophical and sociological approaches based mainly on criticism of writing and the analytical and synthetic method. In the framework of the creative city we illustrate Lublin’s model of spatial innovations, in which culture and creativity have convergence with economic development. We conclude with a conceptual discussion of the creative urban sustainability problems. In particular, we reveal how these issues could help in shaping a theoretic consensus about the function of spaces planning in sustainable development strategies emphasising the importance of creativity as a social resource and also as an agent of social and economic change.