Long-term conditions (LTCs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Health behaviours are a component of many self-management regimes. However, adoption of health behaviours for people with LTCs is relatively low. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the role of the future as it influenced the decision to invest in health for people with LTCs. Specifically, I examined the association between the time discount rate and economic insecurity to explore how the future influences health behaviours. In the first empirical chapter, I found that the time discount rate was associated with maintained physical activity participation but not healthy eating or low-risk alcohol consumption in older adults who have at least one LTC. In the second empirical chapter, I found economic insecurity, which is the anxiety produced from an unsafe financial future, was associated with smoking in older women and physical activity in older men. In the final empirical chapter, I explored how health itself may influence perceptions of the future by investigating the effect of a lagged health shock on the time discount rate in a sample of Danish adults. I found positive health shocks were associated with becoming more future-oriented in women at the 90% significance level and more present-oriented in men at the 95% significance level. The findings of this thesis may be used in the development of policy and interventions to support commencement and adherence to self-management regimes for people with LTCs.

Copy of author's previously published article inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 376-403. / vii, 480 leaves ; / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Examines the hypothesis that fundholding in Australian general practice could be more efficient, in both technical and allocative terms, than fee for service for consultations, pharmaceuticals, pathology, and diagnostic ordering. The research indicates that there may be a place for fundholding in Australian general practice, if general practice fundholders were integral members of a regional managed care model. / Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of General Practice, 1999

Thesis/Dissertation (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2004. / Thesis/Dissertation (Dept. of Economics) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of General Practice, 1999. / Copy of author's previously published article inserted. Bibliography: leaves 376-403.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Southern California, 2007. / Adviser: Glenn Melnick. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-242).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2006. / Title from web page (viewed on Oct. 8, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Dallas, 2005 / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-151)

This thesis examines the use quality adjusted life years (QALY'S) in the allocation of health care resources. It is divided into three broad sections. The first section discusses how health status measurement techniques can be used to derive the utility values incorporated into QALY'S. The second section uses one health status measurement instrument, the Rosser-Kind Classification of Illness States, to estimate the QALY'S gained by patients who have undergone hip and knee joint replacement surgery. It is shown that the Rosser-Kind Classification of Illness States is as effective in measuring the health-related quality of life of these patients as more detailed questionnaires. In addition, it is found that further research is required before any generalisations concerning the acceptability of retrospective data can be made. A third important result is that there are significant improvements in health- related quality of life following both types of surgery, with the highest Rosser- Kind rating scores achieved after the first year following knee replacement surgery and after the second year following hip replacement surgery. The third section of the thesis performs an extensive sensitivity analysis on the widely-quoted cost utility estimates for seven medical procedures, calculated by Gudex (1986). The estimates are shown to be sensitive to Gudex's conversion of health outcome data into the Rosser-Kind Classification, her assumptions concerning the survival period / life expectancy following each of the medical procedures and the selected discount rate. A more in depth analysis is then performed on the cost utility estimate for one of the seven procedures, ceftazidime treatment of cystic fibrosis. It is demonstrated that the health outcome and cost assumptions underlying the cost utility estimate for this procedure are not supported by the medical literature. Finally, the thesis raises a number of issues for discussion.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-140).