A victim-centred cost–benefit analysis of a stalking prevention programme

Research suggests that stalking inflicts great psychological and financial costs on victims. Yet costs of victimisation are notoriously difficult to estimate and include as intangible costs in cost–benefit analysis. This study reports an innovative cost–benefit analysis that used focus groups with multi-agency teams to collect detailed data on operational resources used to manage stalking cases. This method is illustrated through the presentation of one case study. Best- and worst-case counterfactual scenarios were generated using the risk assessment scores and practitioner expertise. The findings suggest that intervening in high-risk stalking cases was cost-beneficial to the state in all the case studies we analysed (even if it incurs some institutional costs borne by the criminal justice system or health) and was often cost-beneficial to the victims too. We believe that this method might be useful in other fields where a victim- or client-centred approach is fundamental.

The costs of celiac disease: a contingent valuation in Switzerland

This paper proposes a first monetary measure of the private costs of celiac disease, including intangible costs (physical symptoms, logistical constraints, etc.) in Switzerland. This auto-immune disease damages the intestine when patients ingest gluten. The only treatment currently available is a gluten-free diet, which implies great nutritional constraints. To get a monetary equivalent of the costs borne by celiac patients, we used a contingent valuation. The scenario suggested to celiac patients a treatment in form of a daily pill, which would allow them to eat normally and avoid any physical pain from celiac disease. Mean Willingness To Pay (WTP) for the treatment is found to be around CHF 87 (approx. USD 87) per month. WTP is positively influenced by direct and indirect costs of the disease. Oppositely, individuals, who find the gluten-free diet healthier are willing to pay less. Finally, unlike symptoms before diagnostic, the current presence or intensity of physical symptoms are found to be insignificant. The latter result can be explained by the fact that, individuals facing stronger symptoms are more likely to adhere strictly to the GFD and hence to reduce their frequency.

Conditional failure profile analysis for multiple failure modes from incomplete two-dimensionalwarranty data

This paper addresses the issue of detecting dominating failure modes of a system from a two-dimensional warranty data set by analyzing conditional failure profile of the system. Two testing procedures have been proposed to test whether any of the failure modes is dominating at a particular time interval and whether there is a change of the failure profile from one time interval to another disjoint time interval, conditioning on a given usage layer. Detecting the problematic failure modes early from the conditional failure profile and taking appropriate actions to reduce the conditional failure probability of the system can significantly reduce both tangible and intangible costs of poor reliability in any manufacturing industry. On the other hand, the study of possible changes of conditional failure profiles has a significant role to assess the field performance of items from one time interval to another time interval for a particular choice of usage layer. The utility of this study is explored with the help of a real-life data set.

Mothers of children with food allergies report poorer perceived life status which may be explained by limited career choices

Pediatric food allergy is associated with direct, indirect and intangible costs. However, it remains unclear if intangible costs of pediatric food allergy influence parental career choices. Using data from 63 parents whose children had been diagnosed by a pediatric allergist with food allergy, we sought to (a) establish perceived life status of families with a food allergic child, and (b) to describe any career limitations viewed as attributable to food allergy. Compared to responding parents whose children had one to two food allergies, those with three or more food allergies had significantly poorer perceived life status (ß − 0.74; 95%CI − 1.41; − 0.07; p < 0.05). Overall, 14.3% of parents (all mothers) reported career limitations due to food allergy. Two of the 7 mothers (28.6%) who reported career limitations due to their child's food allergy fell below Statistics Canada cut-off for low-income, after tax dollars (LIM-AT). One of the three mothers who had changed jobs because of their child's food allergy was below the LIM-AT. No fathers reported food allergy-related career limitations. In conclusion, mothers of children with multiple food allergies reported worse perceived life status that may be partly explained by food allergy-related career limitations.

Alimentando el lenguaje en niños con implante coclear en tiempos del coronavirus

The main goal of this trial is to train parents as facilitators of communicative interactions in their natural environment with their children, users all of them of cochlear implants that promotes the development of verbal language, through a non-traditional pedagogical orientation such as hybrid tele-assistance, that is finely interacts with the education for health and family well-being. The methodological approach was exploratory, descriptive, through hybrid sessions with synchronous sessions of an hour and a half with the parents and video-recorded samples of their communicative interactions during spontaneous speech with children in their natural environment “at home”. As a result, with the parents are achieved, the reestablishment of the communicative circuit and a positive change in the “linguistic nutrition” in their practices of participatory intervention during the dialogues with their children. In the future, the intangible costs that must be assumed because of the unexpected arrival of a child with hearing loss are reduced. In parallel, a place is generated for the reflection of a solid pedagogical and investigative proposal that makes transdisciplinarity visible as the first responders in health with projection in family, social and school education.

Adverse Effects and Intangible Costs for American Expatriates in Russia

Expatriates of U.S.-based multi-national companies (MNCs) on overseas assignments face unique adjustment and job-performance issues that have affected employer operations, resulting in economic and financial loss, and low morale. The poor adjustment of Americans in Russia is generally due to the type of job, type of position, and prior-international experience. This chapter addresses how expatriate adjustments and job-performances remain pivotal elements for success or failure in overseas assignments.

The societal costs of problem gambling in Sweden

Background Problem gambling is a public health issue affecting both the gamblers, their families, their employers, and society as a whole. Recent law changes in Sweden oblige local and regional health authorities to invest more in prevention and treatment of problem gambling. The economic consequences of gambling, and thereby the potential economic consequences of policy changes in the area, are unknown, as the cost of problem gambling to society has remained largely unexplored in Sweden and similar settings. Methods A prevalence-based cost-of-illness study for Sweden for the year 2018 was conducted. A societal approach was chosen in order to include direct costs (such as health care and legal costs), indirect costs (such as lost productivity due to unemployment), and intangible costs (such as reduced quality of life due to emotional distress). Costs were estimated by combining epidemiological and unit cost data. Results The societal costs of problem gambling amounted to 1.42 billion euros in 2018, corresponding to 0.30% of the gross domestic product. Direct costs accounted only for 13% of the total costs. Indirect costs accounted for more than half (59%) of the total costs, while intangible costs accounted for 28%. The societal costs were more than twice as high as the tax revenue from gambling in 2018. Direct and indirect costs of problem gambling combined amounted to one third of the equivalent costs of smoking and one sixth of the costs of alcohol consumption in Sweden. Conclusions Problem gambling is increasingly recognized as a public health issue. The societal costs of it are not negligible, also in relation to major public health issues of an addictive nature such as smoking and alcohol consumption. Direct costs for prevention and treatment are very low. A stronger focus on prevention and treatment might help to reduce many of the very high indirect and intangible costs in the future.