Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Affective Well-Being In Retirement: The Influence Of Values, Money, And Health Across Three Years, Andrew Burr, Jonathan Bruce Santo, Dolores Pushkar

Psychology Faculty Publications

In this study, personal values, health, and financial status were investigated as determinants of affective well-bring in a sample of 371 recent retirees across 3 years. Personal values, measured with the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al. in J Cross Cult Psychol 32:519–542, 2001), were hypothesized to show direct links to positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) as well as to moderate the association between financial and health status and affective well-being. Using structural equation modeling, higher PA was predicted by female gender, better finances, fewer illnesses, and higher self-transcendence (ST), openness to change (OC), and conservation values. Higher …

Assessing Animal Welfare: Different Philosophies, Different Scientific Approaches, David Fraser

Assessment of Animal Welfare Collection

Attempts to improve animal welfare have commonly centered around three broad objectives: (1) to ensure good physical health and functioning of animals, (2) to minimize unpleasant ‘‘affective states’’ (pain, fear, etc.) and to allow animals normal pleasures, and (3) to allow animals to develop and live in ways that are natural for the species. Each of these objectives has given rise to scientific approaches for assessing animal welfare. An emphasis on health and functioning has led to assessment methods based on rates of disease, injury, mortality, and reproductive success. An emphasis on affective states has led to assessment methods based …

Slides: Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project, Kathryn Mutz

Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection (October 14)

Presenter: Kathryn Mutz, Natural Resources Law Center

19 slides

Attachment Avoidance Predicts Inflammatory Responses To Marital Conflict, Jean-Phillipe Gouin, Ronald Glaser, Timothy J. Loving, William B. Malarkey, Jeffrey R. Stowell, Carrie Houts, Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Marital stress has been associated with immune dysregulation, including increased production of interleukin-6 (IL-6). Attachment style, one’s expectations about the availability and responsiveness of others in intimate relationships, appears to influence physiological stress reactivity and thus could influence inflammatory responses to marital conflict. Thirty-five couples were invited for two 24-hour admissions to a hospital research unit. The first visit included a structured social support interaction, while the second visit comprised the discussion of a marital disagreement. A mixed effect within-subject repeated measure model indicated that attachment avoidance significantly influenced IL-6 production during the conflict visit but not during the social …

Does Unemployment Decrease Cancer Mortality?, Benjamin Torres Galick

Economics Honors Projects

Recent research indicates that healthier lifestyles during recessions decrease the most common U.S. mortalities, but not cancer. However, they combine specific cancer mortalities with different progressions into one, possibly obscuring cancer’s link to unemployment. This paper estimates a fixed-effects regression model on unemployment and the nine most prevalent cancers between 1988 and 2002 using state-level panel data. Five cancers and total cancer are procyclical, and suggest that unemployment affects both incidence and gestation for some cancers. Consistent with the medical literature, this paper contradicts previous economic research and suggests that behavioral factors significantly impact cancer mortality.

Gender And Place Influences On Health Risk Perspectives In Northern Canadian Aboriginal Communities, Cynthia G. Jardine, Amanda D. Boyd, Christopher M. Furgal

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Developing a better understanding of the factors underlying health and environmental risk perspectives has been the focus of significant research in recent years. Although many previous studies have shown that perspectives of risk are often associated with gender, sociocultural variables and place, our understanding of the relationship between these factors and risk remains equivocal. A research study was undertaken to develop better insights into the understanding and perspectives of various types of health risks in two sets of northern Canadian Aboriginal communities – the Yellowknives Dene First Nation communities of N’Dilo and Dettah in the Northwest Territories and the Inuit …

Experience Corps: Health Outcomes Of Participation, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Song-Iee Hong, Stacey Mccrary, Wayne Blinne

Center for Social Development Research

Experience Corps: Health Outcomes of Participation

Why Do Entreprenuers Have Higher Longevity Expectations?, Govind Hariharan, Huan Ni

Faculty and Research Publications

The health and lifespan of entrepreneurs not only affect their private decisions such as consumption and savings, assets transfer, life insurance and labor supply, but also their business decisions. Based on a large longitudinal data set of individuals in the United States, we find in our sample of business owners that they expect to live much longer (7.47% higher) than non business owners. Moreover, these entrepreneurs have better self-rated health, better health endowment, and are more likely to exercise frequently. In future work we will further disentangle the effects of these observable characteristics from those of unobserved heterogeneity.

Health Promotion For Maine’S Aging Population: A Legislative Roadmap, Lenard W. Kaye, Rachel Hutchins, Dyan Walsh

Maine Center on Aging Research and Evaluation

Maine has the distinction of being the oldest state in the nation. This policy brief considers strategies for promoting the health of aging Mainers. As of 2005, 7.5 million individuals living in rural America were over the age of 65. Challenges of living in a rural area can make it difficult for older individuals to access services that are vital to their daily living. Older adults in rural regions are found to be less educated, have worse health outcomes, and have incomes that fall below the poverty level. Recommended strategies include utilizing the Federally Qualified Health Centers, encourage greater collaboration, …

The Effects Of Reason And Event Saliency On Health-Related Decisions, Lisa Woods, Amy Y. Chan

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The current study examined how event saliency and reason for action influence the amount of regret anticipated about a foregone option, and on people‟s anticipated choice of behavior when they are confronted with a choice between two equally aversive options. The participants were 120 undergraduate psychology students. Participants who were prompted to imagine choosing to fulfill an internal desire instead of an internal obligation anticipated significantly more regret than those who were prompted to make the opposite choice. No significant differences in the amount of regret anticipated was found between participants who had to choose between two external obligations. Interestingly, …

Children's Health And Rf Emf Exposure, Peter Wiedemann, Holger Schutz, Franziska Borner, Gabriele Berg-Beckhoff, Rodney J. Croft, Alexander Lerchl, Luc Martens, Georg Neubauer, Sabine Regel, Michael Repacholi

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The present report documents a dialogue between scientists reviewing the currently available scientific evidence with respect to the effects of RF EMF exposure on children. The focus was directed towards a transparent and comprehensible characterization of the findings and conclusions for the evaluation of the relationship between mobile phone communication and children’s health. The now available report, based on the scientific opinions of the experts as well as on a series of workshops, aims to help the public and policy makers to better understand the current state of the scientific evidence as well as implications for the risk evaluation with …

Soft Drinks, Weight Status And Health: A Review, Debra Hector, Anna Rangan, Tim Gill, Jimmy Chun Yu Louie, Victoria M. Flood

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The prevention of overweight and obesity, particularly among children, is a public health priority. A range of initiatives to address this problem have already been developed and implemented in NSW. However, a broader range of additional strategies are needed to effectively address this complex issue. The high consumption of soft drinks, i.e. sugarsweetened carbonated beverages, and other sugary drinks is one of an array of dietary behaviours which has been identified by a number of policy documents as an important, specific behaviour to address in the prevention and management of obesity.

Soft Drinks, Weight Status And Health: Health Professional Update, Anna Rangan, Debra Hector, Jimmy Chun Yu Louie, Victoria M. Flood, Tim Gill

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

High consumption of soft drinks and other sugary drinks are associated with a number of health problems, including overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and dental caries. In Australia, soft drinks are the most commonly consumed sugary beverage and have been singled out for specific attention as a target of obesity prevention programs. Soft drinks are well-known, readily available and marketed extensively, especially to adolescents. They have no nutritional value other than sugar and fluid, and are identified in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating as an ‘extra’ food – one that should be consumed only occasionally and in …

Mental Health Consumers' Perceptions Of Receiving Recovery-Focused Services, Sarah Marshall, Lindsay G. Oades, Trevor P. Crowe

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Method: A self-report questionnaire was developed drawing on key aspects of the Collaborative Recovery Model (CRM) (responsibility, collaboration, autonomy, motivation, needs, goals, homework). Ninety-two adult consumers from metropolitan, regional and rural non-government organizations and public mental health services in eastern Australian states completed the questionnaire. Results: Consumers using services provided by CRM trained workers identified significant changes to service delivery in relation to frequency with which they were encouraged to take responsibility for their recovery, degree to which they collaborated with staff and the extent to which they were encouraged to complete homework activities to assist them to achieve their …

A Review Of Engagement Of Indigenous Australians Within Mental Health And Substance Abuse Services., Stacey Berry, Trevor P. Crowe

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Substance misuse is a significant issue in Australia, and a large proportion of individuals with substance misuse disorders have co-existing mental health disorders. There is evidence that Indigenous Australians are more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to experience the adverse effects of alcohol consumption, and that mental health disorders are more prevalent in Indigenous communities than non-Indigenous communities. Indigenous Australians currently do not access mental health and substance abuse services at a level which is consistent with their level of need, and this is largely due to inconsistent or insufficient culturally respectful mental health services. This paper provides a review of …

Innovative Workplace Change: Social Well-Being And Health, Patrick M. Dawson, Michael Zanko

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Since the industrial revolution a chief concern of business organizations has been how best to organise work to maximise productivity and minimise costs. Securing and maintaining competitive advantage through new methods of work organization and systems of operation have largely centred around commercial and financial concerns rather than on the well-being of employees. Issues of occupational health and safety (OHS) have arisen in a range of working environments and legislative change has sought to ensure that safe and secure working conditions are a mandatory requirement of modern business. However, implementation of these mandates generally rests with management and whilst procedural …

Rational Exercising: A Lifetime Choice With A Link Between Health And Happiness, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper deals with a widespread type of investment in personal health that is not adequately explained by the economic literature. The analysis of people’s choice of intensity of engagement in health enhancing activities is made within an integrative, stochastic, micro-dynamic optimisation framework in which people’s utility is accumulated along a health-dependent random lifespan with direct and indirect mutual effects among exercise, health, consumption, utility, happiness, productivity and survival. Distinction is made between exercise’s length and exercise’s vigour in analysing the effect of exercising on health and rest. A link between health and utility is introduced: health improves (declines) as …

Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights Of Refugees, Asylum Seekers And Undocumented Migrants. A Framework For The Identification Of Good Practices, Ines Keygnaert, Koen Dedoncker, Kathia Van Egmond, Marleen Temmerman, Christiana Nostlinger, Jasna Loos, Patricia Kennedy, Sonia F. Dias, Luis T. Tavira, Isabel Craveiro, Elisabeth Ioannidi, Eirini Kampriani, Najla Wassie, Dorota Sienkiewicz, Erick Vloeberghs

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This framework document wants to provide strategic guidance to stakeholders and organizations in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights regarding: - the development of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights policies - the deliverance of Sexual and Reproductive Health services towards refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.

Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights Of Refugees, Asylum Seekers & Undocumented Migrants, Ines Keygnaert, Koen Dedoncker, Kathia Van Egmond, Marleen Temmerman, Christiana Nostlinger, Jasna Loos, Patricia Kennedy, Sonia F. Dias, Luis T. Tavira, Isabel Craveiro, Elisabeth Ioannidi, Eirini Kampriani, Najla Wassie, Dorota Sienkiewicz, Erick Vloeberghs

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In 2006 the European Refugee Fund undertook a call for proposals, which resulted in the project presented in this report. The 18-month project started on 1 August 2007 and ran until 31 January 2009. The general aim of the project was to improve the SRH of refugees and asylum seekers in the EU, by setting up a network for the promotion of the SRH&R of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe and beyond.

Action Research In Emerging Technologies In Health Information Systems: Creating A Mobile Information Environment In A Hospital Ward, Linda Dawson, Julie Fisher, Stephen Weeding, Liza Heslop, Andrew Howard

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Wireless networks, mobile devices and associated applications are key emerging technologies ideal for nomadic workers such as clinicians in hospital ward settings. These mobile information environments can potentially enhance clinicians' use of patient management and clinical systems by providing decision support and clinical information at the bedside or point of care. Such technologies need to be critically assessed in a hospital environment for their wider potential and application for delivery of information at the point of care. This paper describes the use of action research methods in a project which analysed an existing clinical Information Communication Technology (ICT) environment in …

Qigong As A Mindful Exercise Intervention For People Living With Mental Ill Health, Chris Lloyd, H. Tsang, Frank P. Deane

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Individuals with schizophrenia are more likely to be overweight or obese than the general population, and the associated health problems put them at a higher risk of death. Exercise is therefore an important non-pharmacological intervention that mental health workers can assist clients to engage in, and mindful exercise approaches may be particularly well-suited to this population. Content: This article describes the concept of qigong as a mindful exercise and looks at preliminary evidence suggesting that mindful exercise is of physical and emotional benefit to people with mental ill health. The authors propose an easy, standardized exercise protocol which clinicians …

Industry Partnerships For Health Nonprofits And Disease Awareness Advertising, Danika Hall, Sandra C. Jones, Donald C. Iverson

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Marketing partnerships between non-profit organisations (NPOs) and industry generally bring favourable results for both parties (Brønn and Vrioni 2001; Varadarajan and Menon 1988). However, there is some scepticism about corporate exploitation of such arrangements and growing concern in Australia and elsewhere about partnerships between the pharmaceutical industry and NPOs (Angell 2006; Moynihan and Cassels 2005) and the co-sponsorship of Disease Awareness Advertising (DAA). This paper reports the findings from a study of how Australian women respond to DAA with differing sponsors including their ability to identify, and their attitude toward, the sponsor. The results are of importance for health NPOs …

Mental Health Education For Nurses In General Practice, Kathryn Godwin

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Over the last seven years practice nurse numbers have grown across Australia to over 7,824 (est.) in 2007, with at least 60% of general practices now employing a practice nurse (APNA 2008). Nurses hav~ helped many GPs with overwhelming workloads which include dealing with complex mental health complaints, such as depression and anxiety related to chronic disease conditions. Practice nurses are a key component in primary health care with one nurse to every 2.3 GPs in 2007 (APNA 2008

A Quest Through Chaos: My Narrative Of Illness And Recovery, Katie Ellis

Research outputs pre 2011

Narrative is vital, as the ill person works out their changing identity, and position in the world of health, continuing when they are no longer ill, but remain marked by their experience. 2 Following the tradition of illness auto ethnographers (Frank, The Wounded Storyteller; Ettore; Rier), this article critically examines the role of narrative throughout recovery from serious illness or trauma by connecting the (my) autobiographical to the social, political and cultural. The focus then shifts to the recent emergence of illness narrative blogging to consider their cultural significance before exploring stigma and resistance to the telling of illness narratives …

Elder Activities: Patterns, Motives, And Interpretation. Massachusetts Lifestyles Study Iii, Francis G. Caro, Jeffrey A. Burr, Eilon Caspi, Jan E. Mutchler

Gerontology Institute Publications

We are engaged in a continuing effort to understand the scope of elder activity and the implications of activity for well-being. We are particularly interested in the forces that encourage or inhibit multiple forms of activity, the ways in which participation in some activities influences participation in other activities, and the cumulative implications of activities for well being. Our interest in multiple forms of activities sets us somewhat apart from Gerontologists who focus on single forms of activity such as volunteering, taking classes, caring for grandchildren, working, or exercising.

Advertising Health Status In Male Sex Workers' Online Ads, Voonchin Phua, Desiree Ciambrone, Obed Vasquez

Sociology Faculty Publications

This brief report examines whether male sex workers mentioned any health concerns in their online ads. The analysis uses 203 male escorts' online ads collected from America Online chat rooms in 2001/2002. The results indicate that only 25 percent of male escorts explicitly mentioned any health-related words or phrases in their ads. The results also show that whether a male escort mentioned health in their ad is correlated with the type of images they would like to portray and with the type of sex services they offer.

Opportunities For Interactivity In Public Health Websites: A Content Analysis Approach, Sumayya Banna, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Internet has many advantages over other media in the provision of information services in the area of public health. However many designers are not yet taking full advantage of its potential for interactivity. This paper examines the development of interactivity in public health websites in the increasingly important area of Palliative Care. Content analysis is used here to map the interactivity in a sample of 30 existing websites along with Heeter’s six dimensions (content and availability of choice, effort users must exert, responsiveness to the users, and the ease of adding information, monitoring the information and the system use, …

Usability Testing Of Public Health Web-Based Information Systems, Sumayya Banna, Kholoud Alkayid, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

While the Internet provides many opportunities for increased levels of care and access to information services in the area of public health, many web designers are not yet taking full advantage of its potential. This study looks at Intensive Care and Palliative Care, as important instances where health informatics could improve public web-based services, in meeting the particular information needs of family members of critically and chronically ill patients. This study is significant in adopting an approach to the usability testing of websites based on concepts from Activity Theory. This takes a realistic and practical approach, which identifies the purpose …

Environmental Health And Choice Of Residence, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper analyses the relationships between the values and dispersion of residential properties and the environmental-health quality of their locations. It constructs residents' health-adjusted lifetime-utility function by combining satisfaction from consumption over the lifespan with risk to life from living in an environmentally unhealthy location. It employs this utility function to analyse willingness to pay for environmental-health quality, choice of location and residential dispersion and its relationship with income distribution.

A Welfare Analysis Of The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Peter M. Siminski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) is a key element of a suite of benefits for Australia's 'self-funded retirees'. Its main component is a pharmaceutical concession, which is analysed as a form of public health insurance. The utility gain through risk-pooling is found to be negligible under conservative assumptions. The deadweight loss through moral hazard may be considerable. Finally, the CSHC may be seen as an inequitable transfer, because CSHC holders are a particularly wealthy population.