Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · Oct 2016
What are GPs' preferences for financial and non-financial incentives in cancer screening? Evidence for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers.
General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in the delivery of preventive and screening services for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. In practice, GPs' involvement varies considerably across types of cancer and among GPs, raising important questions about the determinants of GPs' implication in screening activities: what is the relative impact of financial and non-financial incentives? Are GPs' preferences for financial and non-financial incentives cancer-specific? Is there preference heterogeneity and how much does it differ according to the screening context? This study investigates the determinants of GPs' involvement in cancer screening activities using the discrete choice experiment (DCE) methodology. A representative sample of 402 GPs' was recruited in France between March and April 2014. ⋯ There is also evidence that the level and variability of preferences differ across screening contexts, although the variations are not statistically significant on average. GPs appear to be relatively more sensitive to financial incentives for being involved in colorectal cancer screening, whereas they have higher and more heterogeneous preferences for non-financial incentives in breast and cervical cancers. Our study provides new findings for policymakers interested in prioritizing levers to increase the supply of cancer screening services in general practice.
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Social science & medicine · Sep 2016
Interpersonal communication about pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages: Policy-related influences and relationships with smoking cessation attempts.
This study evaluated the relationship between interpersonal communication about cigarette health warning labels (HWLs), psychological responses to HWLs, and smoking cessation attempts. Data were analyzed from online consumer panels of adult smokers in Australia, Canada and Mexico, during implementation of new pictorial health warning labels (HWLs) on cigarette packs. Approximately 1000 adult smokers were surveyed in each country every four months (September 2012, January 2013, May 2013, September 2013, January 2014). ⋯ No interaction between talk and cognitive reactions to HWLs were found. These results suggest that interpersonal communication about HWLs influences smoking cessation attempts independent of other established predictors of smoking cessation, including cessation-related HWL responses. Future research should determine ways to catalyze interpersonal communication about HWLs and thereby potentiate HWL effects.
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Social science & medicine · Sep 2016
Do racial inequities in infant mortality correspond to variations in societal conditions? A study of state-level income inequality in the U.S., 1992-2007.
Prior studies have examined the association between income inequality and overall infant mortality rates (IMR). We examine effects of income inequality on racial inequities in IMR over the period 1992-2007 in the U.S. ⋯ Future studies should consider lagged effects of income inequality on IMR and other health outcomes, and should examine other potential societal conditions that may account for state-level variations in racial IMR inequities.
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Social science & medicine · Jul 2016
Health, employment and relationships: Correlates of personal wellbeing in young adults with and without a history of childhood language impairment.
We examine the potential associations between self-rated health, employment situation, relationship status and personal wellbeing in young adults with and without a history of language impairment (LI). ⋯ Similarities on ratings of wellbeing by young adults with and without a history of LI can mask heterogeneity and important differences. Young adults with a history of LI are more vulnerable to the effects of health, employment and relationship status on their wellbeing than their peers.
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Social science & medicine · Jul 2016
Effects of a settings-based intervention to promote student wellbeing and reduce smoking in vocational schools: A non-randomized controlled study.
School dropout and health risk behavior such as cigarette smoking represent major problems among students attending upper secondary vocational education. Modifications to the social environment may promote educational attainment as well as health and wellbeing of young people. However, there is a need for more evidence-based intervention programs. ⋯ The positive effects on school connectedness and in preventing occasional smokers becoming daily smokers indicate that it is possible to tackle school-related wellbeing and smoking in a high risk population through settings-based interventions.