Hearing Loss and Preventable Hospitalizations

Nearly half of all adults over the age of 60 years have hearing loss. Recent research suggests adults with hearing loss experience increased health care expenditures and hospitalization. However, little is known about whether these are preventable hospitalizations which may indicate poorer healthcare system engagement. In this cross-sectional analysis, we examined data from combined 2016-2018 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) datasets. Participants are asked to describe their self-perceived trouble hearing. Preventable hospitalizations were defined and generated from administrative claims files based on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality identified conditions that should be manageable in ambulatory care settings. Multivariate regression models adjusted for demographic/socioeconomic characteristics and general health determinants were used to explore the association between trouble hearing and outcomes. The combined 2016-2018 MCBS administrative claims files included 18,814 participant-years, 49.8% reported no trouble hearing, 43.4% reported a little trouble and 6.8% a lot of trouble hearing, respectively. A higher proportion of those with a lot of trouble hearing (6.8%) experienced at least one preventable hospitalization compared to those with a little trouble hearing (3.4%) and no trouble hearing (2.5%). In a fully adjusted logistic regression model, hearing loss was associated with 1.35 times the odds of experiencing at least one preventable hospitalization per year (OR=1.35; 95% CI=1.03-1.77). Medicare beneficiaries with hearing loss experience higher rates of preventable hospitalizations. This may be due to avoidance of care due to communication barriers. Further work is needed to understand underlying reasons and whether addressing hearing loss modifies the observed association.

The Effect of Subjective Loss in Financial Risk Taking and Negative Emotion

The current research examined the influence of subjective loss on financial risk-taking tendency and negative emotional experience through inducing the experience of subjective loss in auction scenarios. In Study 1, we found that the subjective loss experience (compared to no-loss experience) in an auction scenario induced greater financial risk propensity, especially in gambling, greater negative emotion, and greater decision regret. In addition, we found that the subjective loss experience induced stronger negative emotion but less risk propensity in investment than the actual loss experience did, but these two types of loss did not yield a difference in risk propensity in gambling in Study 2. These results implicate that subjective loss is a distinct experience from no-loss and actual loss experiences, which is reflected by the degree of associated emotional experience and subsequent risk-taking propensity. The current research highlights the complex psychological processes of the experience of loss in decision-making contexts.

Question-Answer Relationships in Social Studies Courses with Students with Hearing Loss

Educational settings adopt an active participatory learning process in which students with and without hearing loss are guided towards knowledge through questions. Questions are believed to improve critical, creative and high-level thinking skills. This research is a case study aimed at identifying and suggesting some solutions to the problems that students with hearing loss experience in understanding and answering the types of questions asked in a Social Studies course. Eight students with hearing loss participated in the study. Data were collected through observations, interviews, documents, research logs and process products. Analysis of the data suggests that students with hearing loss are able to answer some cognitive memory questions as well as those that call for convergent thinking, divergent thinking and evaluative thinking skills in the Social Studies Course while requiring the instructor to simplify and materialize the question and encourage the students to interact with the group for some others.

Verlieservaringen bij kinderen: een leidraad voor hulpverleners

Loss experience in children: a guideline for primary care Everyone gets confronted with severe loss experiences during life, such as bereavement of a significant other, loss of a loved one after a divorce or loss of one’s own capabilities due to illness. Health care providers need to be equipped with substantial knowledge about children’s experiences of grief and distress in order to support family members properly. Moreover, this can influence the next generation’s capabilities to cope with stressful life events. The current article describes the characteristics of loss experiences in children up to 11 years. Developmental phases, as well as the need to explain to children the 4 fundamental characteristics of death will be discussed (i.e. finality, irreversibility, universality and causality). While grief and distress in children can generally be managed by the immediate surrounding of the child, sometimes professional support is necessary, which is also discussed in this article. Finally, the authors present 4 key principles and concrete recommendations on how adults can respond to children who lost someone so that they can regain pleasure in life.

Basel regulatory capital formula revised

Credit capital requirement is a key component of Basel implementation to assess a bank’s capital adequacy. Under the Internal Rating-Based approach, some risk parameters, including Asset Correlation, are implicit assumptions that cannot be observed directly. While some heuristic formulae of Asset Correlation for different business segments are provided by Basel, they may not be fully consistent with each bank’s loss experience and thus may cause systematic underestimation of banks’ capital requirement. To address this issue, we derive an equivalent capital formula in such way that the unobservable Asset Correlation is replaced by an observable and well-understood parameter called Default Volatility, which can be calibrated based on banks’ historical loss experience. This new approach simplifies parameter estimation process without requiring additional data, as well as making risk analysis such as stress testing more credible.

“Concurrent Ropes and Ladders”: Mapping and Conceptualizing the Emotional Loss Experience of Parents Following Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury

This grounded theory study aims to map, conceptualize, and theorize the emotional loss experienced by parents following their child’s pediatric acquired brain injury (pABI). Data were obtained from 47 semi-structured interviews conducted with parents (72% mothers) at least 1 year following pABI. The study’s theory of “concurrent ropes and ladders” emerged from a process of initial in vivo coding followed by focused and thematic coding. Codes were consolidated into five thematic categories capturing parents’ emotional continuous loss experience: (a) comparing life before and after, (b) struggling to construct new realities, (c) recognizing instability and permanency, (d) adjusting and readjusting, and (e) grieving as an emotional shadow. These categories are at work simultaneously in parents’ accounts, thus supporting a model of dynamic concurrency within and across their lived experiences. Recommendations for practitioners were derived from the theory to support parents’ emotional coping with living loss throughout the chronic stage.

Gamblified digital product offerings: an experimental study of loot box menu designs

To augment traditional monetization strategies, digital platform providers increasingly draw on gamblification (i.e., the use of gambling design elements). By means of gambling design elements (e.g., lottery tickets, scratch cards, loot boxes), platform providers do not only entertain users but also incentivize them to purchase digital products. Yet, despite the increasing prevalence of gamblified digital platforms, little is known about how gamblification influences user purchase behaviors. Drawing on prospect theory, we investigate gamblification in the form of loot box menu designs and the associated effects of uncertainty, loss experience and behavioral control on user purchase behavior. Specifically, we conducted a contest-based online experiment with 159 participants, finding that platform providers can profit from offering loot boxes with certain (vs. uncertain) rewards in loot box menus. Furthermore, this effect intensifies when participants previously experienced a loss and decreases when they perceive to have more control over the result. Thus, our findings provide theoretical and practical insights for a better understanding of gamblification in general and of loot box menu designs for enhancing digital business models in particular.

Evidence on the Conceptual Distinctness of Normal Grief From Depression

Background: The distinctness of grief from depression has been the subject of a long scholarly debate, even influencing definitions of diagnostic criteria. Aims: This study aims at clarifying the issue by a multifaceted analysis of data from a large German sample. Method: A community sample of 406 bereaved persons answered the Wuerzburg Grief Inventory (WGI), a multidimensional grief questionnaire designed to measure normal grief in the German language, and the General Depression Scale – Short Version (GDS-S), a self-report depression scale. Data were analyzed by factor analysis to identify structural (dis-)similarities of the constructs, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify the influence of the factors relationship to the deceased, type of death, and time since loss on grief measures and depression scores. Results: Factor analysis clustered items referring to grief-related impairments and depression into one factor, items referring to other dimensions of grief on separate factors, however. Relationship to the deceased influenced the grief measures impairments and nearness to the deceased, but not depression scores if controlled for impairments. Type of death showed specific effects on grief scores, but not on depression scores. Time since loss influenced grief scores, but not depression scores. Limitations: The analysis is based on a self-selected community sample of grieving persons, self-report measures, and in part, on cross-sectional data. Conclusion: Factor analysis and objective data show a clear distinction of dimensions of grief and depression. The human experience of grief contains a sense of nearness to the lost person, feelings of guilt, and positive aspects of the loss experience in addition to components resembling depression.

Risks of performing arts at theater venues

PurposeThis study aims to investigate hazards in theater venues on the performance day by combining operational risk theory with a service blueprint method.Design/methodology/approachInterviews and Delphi method are applied to find the hazards, then a survey and ANOVA are followed. The study explores a profile of hazards using data from theater venues in Taiwan and examines whether employee characteristics (i.e. professional tasks, experience and working location) affect risk perception.FindingsThe study suggests a new framework represented by a 5 (types of loss events) × 6 (service systems) matrix to check operational risks. The analyses indicate two types of hazards: risk perception about performance and operations by performers and crew (RPPOPC) and audience behaviors and safety (RPABS). RPPOPC is related to the core show, but not all employees possess high RPPOPC. Seniors have relatively low RPPOPC, and frontend house employees possess insufficient RPABS. Further, front house employees, seniors and those working in municipal cities show relatively high RPPOPC in high-loss situations.Practical implicationsManagers can use the analytic framework to effectively identify operational risks in the core show operations and audience service offerings. They can promote risk perception considering employee differences and loss severity. However, the framework does not discuss the cause-and-effect relationship. Incorporating a large amount of loss experience into a risk information system would help clarify this complex relationship.Originality/valueThis study contributes to hazard mitigation in the performing arts sector, both in the peripheral services for customers and in the core show services.