Mortality of people over working age in the context of COVID-19 pandemic

Проанализирована смертность лиц старше трудоспособного возраста (женщины 55+ и мужчины 60+) в условиях пандемии COVID-19 для определения потенциальной возможности её предотвращения. Использовали информацию базы данных РФС-ЕМИАС Москвы за 2019, 2020 и 2021 гг. (за периоды до 15 июня). Сделано заключение, что на фоне более корректного учета причин смерти в 2021 г., связанных с инфицированием вирусом SARS-CoV-2, вклад психических расстройств и болезней эндокринной системы в структуру причин смерти лиц старше трудоспособного возраста без учета случаев смерти от COVID-19 превышает показатели 2019 г. Рост смертности от заболеваний этих классов в значительной степени является следствием экзогенного стресса, связанного с пандемией, изоляцией лиц 65 лет и старше в начале пандемии, снижением эффективности их медико-социальной поддержки. Недостатки в организации социальной помощи лицам старших возрастных групп, слабое внедрение новых информационных технологий и носимых электронных устройств в практическую работу здравоохранения, малые масштабы общественных инициатив в области социальной помощи привели к потерям населения, которые могли бы быть предотвращены в период пандемии. The mortality of people over working age (women 55+ and men 60+) was analyzed in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in order to determine the potential for its prevention. The information from the Moscow mortality database for 2019, 2020 and 2021 (up to June 15) was used. Against the background of more correct accounting of death causes associated with SARS-CoV-2 virus infection in 2021, the contributions of mental disorders and endocrine diseases to the structure of death causes (excluding deaths from COVID-19) for people over working age are more than in 2019. The increase in mortality from diseases of these classes is largely a consequence of exogenous stress associated with a pandemic, isolation of people older 64 years and a decrease in the effectiveness of medical care. It was concluded that indirect losses from COVID-19 include avoidable mortality of elderly caused by shortcomings in organization of social assistance for them, the weak introduction of new information technologies and wearable electronic devices into the practical work of health care, small scale of public initiatives in the field of social assistance.

The four global worlds of welfare capitalism: Institutional, neoliberal, populist and residual welfare state regimes

What welfare state regimes are observed when the analysis is extended globally, empirically and theoretically? We introduce a novel perspective into the ‘welfare state regimes analyzes’ – a perspective that brings developed and developing countries together and, as such, broadens the geographical, empirical and theoretical scope of the ‘welfare modelling business’. The expanding welfare regimes literature has suffered from several drawbacks: (i) it is radically slanted towards organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries, (ii) the literature on non-OECD countries does not use genuine welfare policy variables and (iii) social assistance and healthcare programmes are not utilized as components of welfare state effort and generosity. To overcome these limitations, we employ advanced data reduction methods, exploit an original dataset that we assembled from several international and domestic sources covering 52 emerging markets and OECD countries and present a welfare state regime structure as of the mid-2010s. Our analysis is based on genuine welfare policy variables that are theorized to capture welfare generosity and welfare efforts across five major policy domains: old-age pensions, sickness cash benefits, unemployment insurance, social assistance and healthcare. The sample of OECD countries and emerging market economies form four distinct welfare state regime clusters: institutional, neoliberal, populist and residual. We unveil the composition and performance of welfare state components in each welfare state regime family and develop politics-based working hypotheses about the formation of these regimes. Institutional welfare state regimes perform high in social security, healthcare and social assistance, while populist regimes perform moderately in social assistance and healthcare and moderate-to-high in social security. The neoliberal regime performs moderately in social assistance and healthcare, and it performs low in social security, and the residual regime performs low in all components. We then hypothesize that the relative political strengths of formal and informal working classes are key factors that shaped these welfare state regime typologies.

The Impact of Place of Residence on the Sense of Coherence of Population Aged 60–89: Evidence from Poland

Place of living is one of the most important socio-demographic factors which characterizes the lives of older people. The importance of with whom and under what conditions older adults live to a large extent determines their health and standard of living. The goal of the study was to find the relationship between the place of residence and housing condition of older adults in Poland and their sense of coherence and health problems. The 29-item Antonovsky SOC questionnaire was used. In the research 303 people (76% women and 24% men) aged 60–89 were evaluated: 158 lived in their own houses/flats, while 145 resided in Daily Homes of Social Assistance (DPS). The overall result for the sense of coherence was 129.65 for older adults living in their own homes and 126.48 for these living in DPS. Statistical dependence between the place of residence and sense of manageability and meaningfulness was found. There is no dependence between gender and the overall score, nor the three components of the sense of coherence. Statistical dependence was determined in the criterion of age. A higher level of meaningfulness was observed in people aged 60–74. Taking into account the place of residents, 52% of the respondents living in their own houses/flats experience loneliness and among the people living in Daily Homes of Social Assistance, 46% experience loneliness. The type of place of residence is one of the most important personal factors affecting the sense of coherence, chronic health problems, and sense of loneliness. The last factor, especially, can adversely affect community sustainability and undermine social cohesion.

Application of Data Mining in Determining Social Assistance Recipients With C4.5 Algorithm in Maligas Mountain District

The Gunung Maligas District Office is a government agency tasked with running a government program, namely the Social Assistance Receipt program, to run the social assistance program, many residents complain that they do not receive assistance, while some residents who are considered capable actually get assistance, where each aid program is have different criteria in determining the recipient. Due to the large number of existing aid programs with different criteria in determining the acceptance of the aid program, of course, local government staff will have difficulty in conducting the selection process. So we need a system that is able to help local government staff to more easily determine the recipients of the social assistance. Based on the historical data of beneficiaries, recommendations for the classification of beneficiaries can be made that will assist government staff. Classification can be done using the C4.5 algorithm. In this study, it has parameters, namely, occupation, income, housing conditions and number of dependents. By applying the C4.5 data mining algorithm, it is hoped that it will make it easier and faster for government staff to determine the recipients of social assistance at the Gunung Maligas District Office.

SOCIAL WORKERS IN THE POLISH SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM. A FEW REMARKS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE SYSTEM

This article presents – in the context of the evolution of the Polish public social assistance system – the genesis and shaping of the personnel of this system, with particular emphasis on the place and role of social workers in this system. Attention was drawn to the direction of the evolution of the personnel of the Polish social assistance system: from the honorary activities of social workers in the times of the Second Polish Republic (1918-1939), through a mixed model of full-time social workers supported by a network of socially active local social workers in the times of the Polish People’s Republic, to professional social service, performing the regulated profession of a social worker in modern times. It also indicated how social workers were perceived in different periods of the evolution of the social welfare system and how the regulations of their legal status were assessed

PREREQUISITES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN THE LIGHT OF THE APPLICABLE LAW

The regulations on the entitlement to practice the profession of a social worker are set out in Art. 116 of the Act of March 12, 2004 on social assistance. When assessing qualifications for employment as a social worker, the key is to meet the requirement of appropriate education. Employment in local government social welfare units is regulated by the provisions of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of May 15, 2018 on the remuneration of local government employees. A social worker has the opportunity to raise professional qualifications by participating in specialization in the profession of a social worker. In the process of social assistance reform, which seems to be going on, the important issue of professional development of social workers in the context of career advancement was overlooked. The Act on Social Assistance does not define any path to promotion. The regulation on remuneration of local government employees also does not regulate the possibility of professional promotion. The Act on Local Government Employees does not contain such regulations either.