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Self-assessed Health (self-assessed + health)
Selected AbstractsCoping with type-2 diabetes: the role of sense of coherence compared with active managementJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 6 2000Birgitta Sandén-Eriksson PhD Coping with type-2 diabetes: the role of sense of coherence compared with active management Changes in lifestyle, particularly in dietary and exercise habits, are necessary for the majority of patients with type-2 diabetes but are difficult to carry out. However, Antonovsky describes a salutogenic health perspective grounded in patients' developing what he terms ,a sense of coherence' (SOC). Can a strong SOC help diabetes patients to control the disease? The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between SOC and treatment results measured as glucolysed haemoglobine (HbA1c) in patients with type-2 diabetes. The aim was further to test the relationship between treatment results and an index of patients' participation in active management and emotional state. Eighty-eight patients answered a questionnaire containing 13 statements about sense of coherence (SOC-13), questions about self-assessed health, diabetes activity such as self-management of diet, exercise and self-control of blood sugar and emotional acceptance. There was no direct relationship between SOC-13 and treatment results measured as HbA1c but there was a positive correlation between SOC-13, self-assessed health and HbA1c (P < 0·02). Self-assessed health was seen as a mediating factor. The better patients' estimation of their own health, the higher were SOC-13 scores and the lower HbA1c. There was also a strong positive correlation between low levels of HbA1c and high levels of an index of active management and emotional acceptance of diabetes (P < 0·001). [source] Modelling opportunity in health under partial observability of circumstancesHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2010Pedro Rosa Dias Abstract This paper proposes a behavioural model of inequality of opportunity in health that integrates John Roemer's framework of inequality of opportunity with the Grossman model of health capital and demand for health. The model generates a recursive system of equations for health and lifestyles, which is then jointly estimated by full information maximum likelihood with freely correlated error terms. The analysis innovates by accounting for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity, therefore addressing the partial-circumstance problem, and by extending the examination of inequality of opportunity to health outcomes other than self-assessed health, such as long-standing illness, disability and mental health. The results provide evidence for the existence of third factors that simultaneously influence health outcomes and lifestyle choices, supporting the empirical relevance of the partial-circumstance problem. Accounting for these factors, the paper corroborates that the effect of parental and early circumstances on adult health disparities is paramount. However, the particular set of circumstances that affect each of the analysed health outcomes differs substantially. The results also show that differences in educational opportunities, and in social development in childhood, are crucial determinants of lifestyles in adulthood, which, in turn, shape the observed health inequalities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Unemployment and self-assessed health: evidence from panel dataHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2009Petri Böckerman Abstract We examine the relationship between unemployment and self-assessed health using the European Community Household Panel for Finland over the period 1996,2001. Our results show that the event of becoming unemployed does not matter as such for self-assessed health. The health status of those that end up being unemployed is lower than that of the continually employed. Therefore, persons who have poor health are being selected for the pool of the unemployed. This explains why, in a cross-section, unemployment is associated with poor self-assessed health. All in all, the cross-sectional negative relationship between unemployment and self-assessed health is not found longitudinally. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Testing for an economic gradient in health status using subjective dataHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 11 2008Michael Lokshin Abstract Can self-assessments of health reveal the true health differentials between ,rich' and ,poor'? The potential sources of bias include psychological adaptation to ill-health, socioeconomic covariates of health reporting errors and income measurement errors. We propose an estimation method to reduce the bias by isolating the component of self-assessed health that is explicable in terms of objective health indicators and allowing for broader dimensions of economic welfare than captured by current incomes. On applying our method to survey data for Russia we find a pronounced (nonlinear) economic gradient in health status that is not evident in the raw data. This is largely attributable to the health effects of age, education and location. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Healthy, wealthy and insured?HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2008The role of self-assessed health in the demand for private health insurance Abstract Both adverse selection and moral hazard models predict a positive relationship between risk and insurance; yet the most common finding in empirical studies of insurance is that of a negative correlation. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between ex ante risk and private health insurance using Australian data. The institutional features of the Australian system make the effects of asymmetric information more readily identifiable than in most other countries. We find a strong positive association between self-assessed health and private health cover. By applying the Lokshin and Ravallion (J. Econ. Behav. Organ 2005; 56:141,172) technique we identify the factors responsible for this result and recover the conventional negative relationship predicted by adverse selection when using more objective indicators of health. Our results also provide support for the hypothesis that self-assessed health captures individual traits not necessarily related to risk of health expenditures, in particular, attitudes towards risk. Specifically, we find that those persons who engage in risk-taking behaviours are simultaneously less likely to be in good health and less likely to buy insurance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Measuring health polarization with self-assessed health dataHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 9 2007Benedicte ApoueyArticle first published online: 20 AUG 200 Abstract This paper proposes an axiomatic foundation for new measures of polarization that can be applied to ordinal distributions such as self-assessed health (SAH) data. This is an improvement over the existing measures of polarization that can be used only for cardinal variables. The new measures of polarization avoid one difficulty that the related measures for evaluating health inequalities face. Indeed, inequality measures are mean based, and since only cardinal variables have a mean, SAH has to be cardinalized to compute a mean, which can then be used to calculate an inequality measure. In contrast, the new polarization measures are median based and hence do not require to impose cardinal scaling on the categories. After deriving the properties of these new polarization measures, we provide an empirical illustration using data from the British Household Panel Survey that demonstrates that SAH polarization is also a relevant question on empirical grounds, and that the polarization measures are adequate to evaluate polarization phenomena whereas inequality measures are not adequate in these cases. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The effect of health changes and long-term health on the work activity of older CanadiansHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 10 2005Doreen Wing Han Au Abstract Using longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS), we study the relationship between health and employment among older Canadians. We focus on two issues: (1) the possible problems with self-reported health, including endogeneity and measurement error, and (2) the relative importance of health changes and long-term health in the decision to work. We contrast estimates of the impact of health on employment using self-assessed health, an objective health index contained in the NPHS , the HUI3, and a ,purged' health stock measure. Our results suggest that health has an economically significant effect on employment probabilities for Canadian men and women aged 50,64, and that this effect is underestimated by simple estimates based on self-assessed health. We also corroborate recent US and UK findings that changes in health are important in the work decision. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Explaining the differences in income-related health inequalities across European countriesHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 7 2004Eddy van Doorslaer Abstract This paper provides new evidence on the sources of differences in the degree of income-related inequalities in self-assessed health in 13 European Union member states. It goes beyond earlier work by measuring health using an interval regression approach to compute concentration indices and by decomposing inequality into its determining factors. New and more comparable data were used, taken from the 1996 wave of the European Community Household Panel. Significant inequalities in health (utility) favouring the higher income groups emerge in all countries, but are particularly high in Portugal and , to a lesser extent , in the UK and in Denmark. By contrast, relatively low health inequality is observed in the Netherlands and Germany, and also in Italy, Belgium, Spain Austria and Ireland. There is a positive correlation with income inequality per se but the relationship is weaker than in previous research. Health inequality is not merely a reflection of income inequality. A decomposition analysis shows that the (partial) income elasticities of the explanatory variables are generally more important than their unequal distribution by income in explaining the cross-country differences in income-related health inequality. Especially the relative health and income position of non-working Europeans like the retired and disabled explains a great deal of ,excess inequality'. We also find a substantial contribution of regional health disparities to socio-economic inequalities, primarily in the Southern European countries. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Measuring inequality in self-reported health,discussion of a recently suggested approach using Finnish dataHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 7 2004Jorgen Lauridsen Health surveys often include a general question on self-assessed health (SAH), usually measured on an ordinal scale with three to five response categories, from ,very poor' or ,poor' to ,very good' or ,excellent'. This paper assesses the scaling of responses on the SAH question. It compares alternative procedures designed to impose cardinality on the ordinal responses. These include OLS, ordered probit and interval regression approaches. The cardinal measures of health are used to compute and decompose concentration indices for income-related inequality in health. Results are provided using Finnish data on 15D and the SAH questions. Further evidence emerges for the internal validity of a method used in a pioneering study by van Doorslaer and Jones which was based on Canadian data on the McMaster Health Utility Index Mark III (HUI) and SAH. The study validates the conclusions drawn by van Doorslaer and Jones. It confirms that the interval regression approach is superior to OLS and ordered probit regression in assessing health inequality. However, regarding the choice of scaling instrument, it is concluded that the scaling of SAH categories and, consequently, the measured degree of inequality, are sensitive to characteristics of the chosen scaling instrument. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On the empirical association between poor health and low socioeconomic status at old ageHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2002Christian Salas Abstract Epidemiologic studies using mortality rates as indicators of health fail to find any meaningful association between poor health and low socioeconomic status in older age-groups, whereas economic studies using self-assessed health consistently find a significant positive correlation, even after controlling for self-reporting errors. Such contradictory results have not been reported for working age individuals. A simple explanation might be that the elderly samples on which the epidemiologic and economic studies are based come from different populations. However, this paper shows that similar contradictory results are obtained even when the same samples are used, simply by switching between self-assessed health and mortality as health indicators. An alternative explanation is proposed, namely that these health indicators yield different results because they relate to different ranges of the latent health variable at old age. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Coping with type-2 diabetes: the role of sense of coherence compared with active managementJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 6 2000Birgitta Sandén-Eriksson PhD Coping with type-2 diabetes: the role of sense of coherence compared with active management Changes in lifestyle, particularly in dietary and exercise habits, are necessary for the majority of patients with type-2 diabetes but are difficult to carry out. However, Antonovsky describes a salutogenic health perspective grounded in patients' developing what he terms ,a sense of coherence' (SOC). Can a strong SOC help diabetes patients to control the disease? The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between SOC and treatment results measured as glucolysed haemoglobine (HbA1c) in patients with type-2 diabetes. The aim was further to test the relationship between treatment results and an index of patients' participation in active management and emotional state. Eighty-eight patients answered a questionnaire containing 13 statements about sense of coherence (SOC-13), questions about self-assessed health, diabetes activity such as self-management of diet, exercise and self-control of blood sugar and emotional acceptance. There was no direct relationship between SOC-13 and treatment results measured as HbA1c but there was a positive correlation between SOC-13, self-assessed health and HbA1c (P < 0·02). Self-assessed health was seen as a mediating factor. The better patients' estimation of their own health, the higher were SOC-13 scores and the lower HbA1c. There was also a strong positive correlation between low levels of HbA1c and high levels of an index of active management and emotional acceptance of diabetes (P < 0·001). [source] Physical and psychological health of first and second generation Turkish immigrants in Germany,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Ashwin A. Kotwal Recent studies in Germany suggest that first generation Turkish immigrants have lower mortality rates compared to native Germans. Conversely, studies examining morbidity, though not national in scope, have demonstrated that first generation Turks may have poorer health than native Germans. Additionally, little is known about the health of the emerging second generation Turkish population in Germany. To evaluate the discrepancy between mortality and morbidity trends and contribute to a better understanding of second generation Turkish immigrant health, this paper uses a nationally-representative dataset, including the 2005 German Gender and Generations Study (GGS) (n = 10,017) and the 2006 GGS Turkish supplement (n = 4,045), to assess three health outcomes: chronic illness, self-assessed health, and feelings of emptiness. The paper investigates whether sex, age, socioeconomic status, emotional support, or duration of residence in Germany predict these dimensions of health. Results establish clear health status differences between Turks and native Germans. Surprisingly, both first and second generation Turks tend to have lower chronic illness rates and rate their health as better than Germans at younger ages, but the advantage diminishes among higher age strata for the first generation. Feelings of emptiness results generally indicate an increased susceptibility to psychological problems for both generations of Turks. Controlling for socioeconomic status and age reduces these health differences modestly, pointing to their likely role as mediators. The relatively higher risks for all three health outcomes among Turkish females of both generations compared to their German counterparts suggest that female Turkish immigrants and their female offspring may be particularly vulnerable. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] General health in Timor-Leste: self-assessed health in a large household surveyAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2009Jaya Earnest Abstract Objective: Timor-Leste is one of the world's newest nations and became a democracy in 2002. Ranked 150 out of 177 in the 2007 UNDP Human Development Index, the country has the worst health indicators in the Asia-Pacific region. The objective of this study was to collect and analyse data on subjectively assessed general health, health service use, migration and mobility patterns. Methods: The data collection involved recording self-reported status of general health using a structured questionnaire. The survey was administered to 1,213 Timorese households in six districts using a multi-stage random cluster sampling procedure. Basic descriptive statistical analyses were performed on all variables with SPSS version 13. Results: More than a quarter (27%) of respondents reported a health problem at the time of the survey. Only approximately half of respondents assessed their health to be good (53%) or average (38%). Barriers reported in the uptake of healthcare services were no felt needed; difficulty in accessing services and unavailability of service. Conclusions: Results reveal that Timor-Leste needs a more decentralised provision of healthcare through primary healthcare centres or integrated health services. Trained traditional healers, who are familiar with the difficult terrain and understand cultural contexts and barriers, can be used to improve uptake of public health services. An adult literacy and community health education program is needed to further improve the extremely poor health indicators in the country. Implications: Key lessons that emerged were the importance of understanding cultural mechanisms in areas of protracted conflict and the need for integrated health services in communities. [source] | ||||||||||