As the population ages, providing health services for the growing number of older people will become an increasingly difficult problem. In countries where the health services are provided by the government, these problems are involved with complicated issues of finance and ethics. This is the case of the National Health Service, the government institution providing health care for the citizens of the United Kingdom. Knowing what social factors influence health care usage can be a link to match usage and funding. Literature has shown that health care utilization can be predicted by social factors, as well as the medical model, and from this orientation social variables were drawn from the 1994 General Household Survey. Social factors were analyzed to determine relationships that exist between certain types of health care use and these factors. Age, sex, and class, the three main factors shown in literature to affect usage, were then analyzed to determine if services are allocated on the basis of these factors or the basis of need from illness and disability. Results of the study show that of the predisposing variables, age, sex, and class, are associated with most types of health care use. From the enabling variables, both source of income and visits from friends and relatives are associated with most types of health care. Of the illness determinants, disability, limiting illness, restricted activity days and eyesight difficulty were all related to health care use. When intervening control variables were introduced, the intervening control variables of difficulty with activities of daily living and difficulty with instrumental activities of daily living had an explanatory effect on the use of home help, district nursing, consultations with a general practitioner at home, consultations with a general practitioner at a surgery or health clinic, and inpatient stays. These services were offered more according to need than the factors of age, sex, and class.

Originally presented as the author's Inaugural-Dissertation--Universität Innsbruck, 2005. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Industrial Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Given the increases on global ageing population, popularity of social Q&A sites and the level of geriatric health concerns from family caregivers, it raises the uncertainty about the quality of health information on social Q&A sites for family caregivers of elderly. The purposes of this study are to evaluate the quality of geriatric health information on social Questions and Answers (Q&A) sites: Yahoo! Answers from registered nurses’ perspective, to identify the structural patterns of questions and answers vary in quality and to discover the cultural aspects in relation to the findings. A total of 60 question-answers set is retrieved from regional Yahoo! Answers sites, including Australia, Canada, UK & Ireland, US, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan. 126 English answers and 112 Chinese answers are examined. Through a mixed method approach, results show that the overall information quality provided in Chinese group is relatively poorer than those of English. About 40% of questioners form both groups are not capable of judging the best answer among choices. In terms of structural patterns, questioners from both language groups are less capable of asking questions with clear focuses. 4 structural patterns, including Chinese and English answers with good and poor quality, are identified. Furthermore, cultural differences are found to have a significant impact on the level of information quality in social Q&A site. Finally, recommendations to corresponding social sectors are made for improving the current information quality of social Q&A sites in future. / published_or_final_version / Library and Information Management / Master / Master of Science in Library and Information Management

Originally presented as the author's Inaugural-Dissertation--Universität Innsbruck, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

There has been a growing conviction on the part of medical and nursing staff in the Homes for the Aged in British Columbia, which provide psychiatric care for the aged, that some of the residents have sufficient physical and mental health to be discharged. This study makes an analytical survey of some of the needs and resources of a group of patients considered to be ready to leave one of these institutions (the Port Coquitlam Unit). The purpose of the survey was to determine what kinds of resources these people would require to maintain an optimal level of adjustment in the community, as well as to describe the possible contribution social services could make in facilitating their discharge. The areas selected for assessment were grouped into two broad categories, (1) the patient's needs which resulted directly from his hospitalization and (2) the personal and social resources which he could employ upon discharge. There are two steps involved in selecting the group for study. First, through the use of a questionnaire submitted to the medical and nursing staff in order to determine which patients were judged to be mentally and physically ready for discharge, and second, from this larger number of patients, through the use of routine sampling procedure, a smaller group was selected for study. This final group was assessed by the clinical team in the institution primarily through the use of rating scales. An examination of the needs and resources of these patients revealed that all of these patients could benefit from the assistance of social work in one or more of the areas evaluated. Although the needs and resources of the group varied considerably, there were some indications that the patient's length of stay had a marked effect upon the type of social work service they could use. Those remaining in hospital for a period of less than two years had usually retained some resources in their former community which could be mobilized to assist them in discharge. On the other hand, the indications for these patients is that they would need an extension of hospital services after they were discharged. The patients who had remained in hospital for a longer period of time, had less need for out-patient hospital services, yet had little in the way of social resources or contacts in their former community to assist them once they had left the hospital. This group also evidenced less motivation for discharge and seemed to regard their hospitalization as a permanent living arrangement. In conclusion, the study points out the need for further definitive assessments of the areas of function of a social worker in an institution where the aged, psychiatrically ill are treated. Also pointed out is the need for social work programme planning in the light of these assessments, as well as the insurance of adequate provisions for further research to help develope it. Treatment programmes in other psychiatric institutions are mentioned, indicating that with the use of more advanced therapies, an increasing number of geriatric patients with mental illnesses are responding to treatment and are, therefore, eligible for discharge. Thus, there is a growing need for social work contributions in planning with the older person who is leaving hospital. Some indications of community concern in planning for these people are cited as evidence of awareness on the part of both the institutions for the geriatric patient and the community that the change from hospital life to community life must be an uninterrupted process. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Population aging in Canada is expected to result in a sharp increase in the use of health services by the aged. The purpose of this thesis, is to enhance the knowledge of the utilization of the health system by the elderly. For this, an analysis of the utilization of three health services was pursued, using data from two health surveys, and two general social surveys in a statistical examination; to describe age-use; identify the major determinants of utilization; and to discover the sources of change in use. The results show that the aged were the highest users of health services among all age groups. Use increased for some services, and decreased for others. Changes in how people were managed by the health system, and to a lesser extent a rise in disease prevalence, were the primary sources of variations in utilization. There was no conclusive evidence of the presence of supplier induced demand. Population aging was not a significant determinant of changes in health service use, but rather factors associated with the management of the elderly by the health system; this includes technological changes in medicine, and changes in treatment patterns.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.