Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · May 1999
Comparative StudyDemograghic and socio-economic determinants of community and hospital services costs for people with HIV/AIDS in London.
We examined the influence of demographic, social and economic background of people with HIV/AIDS in London on total community and hospital services costs. This was a retrospective study of community and hospital service use, needs and costs based on structured questionnaires administered by trained interviewers and costing information obtained from the service purchasers and providers, based on two Genito-urinary Medicine clinics in London: the Jefferiss Wing at St. Mary's Hospital and Patric Clements at the Central Middlesex Hospital, London, England. ⋯ Hospital services costs were significantly higher for HIV infected people lacking educational qualifications and employment. We conclude that access to community care for HIV infected non-EU nationals appears to be very poor as the cost of their community services was one quarter that for the EU nationals after adjusting for the effects of transmission category, disease stage, living with a partner, employment and having a private health insurance. Additional incentives for informal care for HIV infected people could be a cost-effective way to improve their community health service provisions.
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Despite evidence that doctor-patient communication affects important patient outcomes, patient expectations are often not met. Communication is especially important in terminal illness, when the appropriate course of action may depend more on patient values than on medical dogma. We sought to describe the issues important to terminally ill patients receiving palliative care and to determine whether patient characteristics influence the needs of these patients. ⋯ Few easily identifiable patient characteristics were associated with expressed concerns or needs, suggesting that physicians need to individually assess patient needs. Terminally ill patients receiving palliative care had needs that were broad in scope. Given that few patient characteristics predicted responses, and that the majority opinion may not accurately reflect that of an individual patient, health care providers must be aware of the diverse concerns among this population and individualize assessment of each patient's needs and expectations.
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The vast majority of psychologically distressed primary care patients present exclusively somatic concerns at the outsets of their visits. However, it is not known how often such patients subsequently disclose psychosocial problems to their primary care physicians (PCPs) and what variables predict such disclosures. Our objectives were to measure, among psychologically distressed primary care patients, the frequency of disclosure of psychosocial problems (disclosure), the effects of prior psychosocial inquiry (prior inquiry) by PCPs and various patient variables on disclosure, and the effect of disclosure on mental health problem recognition (recognition) by PCPs. ⋯ We conclude that if PCPs inquire, most psychologically distressed, somatically presenting patients will disclose psychosocial problems. Inquiry is particularly productive with unfamiliar patients. PCPs can engender a substantial increase in psychosocial disclosure simply by adding one or two questions about mood or interpersonal problems to their clinical interviews.
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Social science & medicine · Apr 1999
ReviewRural health prepayment schemes in China: towards a more active role for government.
A large majority of China's rural population were members of health prepayment schemes in the 1970's. Most of these schemes collapsed during the transition to a market economy. Some localities subsequently reestablished schemes. ⋯ Local health bureaux will have to cooperate with prepayment schemes to ensure that health facilities provide good quality services at a reasonable cost. Users' representatives can also monitor performance. The paper concludes that government needs to clarify the relationship between health prepayment schemes and other actors in rural localities in order to increase the chance that schemes will become a major source rural health finance.
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Social science & medicine · Mar 1999
ReviewGender matters: an integrated model for understanding men's and women's health.
Health research has failed to adequately explore the combination of social and biological sources of differences in men's and women's health. Consequently, scientific explanations often proceed from reductionist assumptions that differences are either purely biological or purely social. ⋯ Although biological factors such as genetics, prenatal hormone exposure and natural hormonal exposure as adults may contribute to differences in men's and women's health, a wide range of social processes can create, maintain or exacerbate underlying biological health differences. Researchers, clinicians and policy makers would understand and address both sex-specific and non-sex-specific health problems differently if the social as well as biological sources of differences in men's and women's health were better understood.