Decisions about Health Behavioral Experiments in Health with Applications to Understand and Improve Health State Valuation

How do individuals and societies make such decisions about health in practice, and does economic research provide the right tools to inform and study such decision-making? In his dissertation, Stefan Lipman tries to answer these questions. In economics, decisions about health are typically studied assuming they are made rationally. However, over the past decades the traditional economic view of rationality has been suggested to be highly unrealistic. As most work challenging this view is based on financial decision-making, in the first part of his dissertation, Lipman extend

Texas Register

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code

Socio-ecological Predictors of Social Connection Among Older Adults

Decades of research has established an unequivocal link between states of social connection and health status. Lack of social connection, whether construed as social isolation or loneliness, negatively influences health and is highly associated with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, fall risk, and premature death. Despite extensive research on social isolation and loneliness, evidence relative to the broader construct of social connection suffers. Few studies inform practice standards for community-based organizations. This study aimed to develop a multidimensional, continuous composite variable of social connection and use the composite variable to examine predictors with a socio-ecological lens. A secondary data analysis was conducted with a sample of 12,116 older adults. The regression results showed that trauma, transition, and loss predicted lower social connection scores with greater strength than any of the other variables. Perceived barriers to access, housing type, and supportive services enrollment significantly predicted social connection, yet were overshadowed by the power of disruptive life events to negatively influence social connection. Additionally, the creation of a two-dimensional social connection measure underscored the criticality of subjective experiences of social connection. In this study, positive social connection scores were highest among the oldest. Missingness in the data rendered it impossible to validly include race or ethnicity, leaving important questions about health equity and racial equity unanswered. Findings can inform data collection, intake and screening processes, referral pathways, student and provider training, early identification, and strategic alliances between community-based service providers and adult protective services and victim assistance services

Texas Register

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code

4 Practical Resources for Linking Service Learning and the Florida Sunshine State Standards

In the 1990s, the Florida Department of Education (FLDoE) and other state education agencies established and adopted education standards to cover major curricular areas in K-12 public education. Florida\u27s standards are linked with statewide assessments in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. The statewide assessment, termed the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, or FCAT, is a primary tool used to evaluate student and school performance. Student promotion and graduation are based partly on FCAT scores. In addition, schools receive a grade each year, from A-F, based on their students\u27 FCA T performance and other weighted factors

Communicating risk information about diabetic retinopathy to people with type 2 diabetes

A two-stage qualitative research strategy using semi-structured interviews was conducted with a convenience sample of 45 participants who lives with type 2 diabetes. In Stage One of the research, a qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 25 participants. Of these, 20 participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, two participants were primary care physicians, two were ophthalmologists, and one was a retinal screener. People with diabetes were purposely recruited to fall into four groups with different grades of diabetic retinopathy. The aim of Stage One was to explore how people with type 2 diabetes perceive diabetic retinopathy risk, their understanding of risk information, and to appraise existing risk communication tools that have been used in other clinical settings. The data from Stage One was analysed and used to develop a risk communication tool designed to provide risk information about diabetic retinopathy and diabetic screening results to people with type 2 diabetes, which was then used in Stage Two. In Stage Two of this research, a total of twenty people with type 2 diabetes were recruited. Participants were divided into two groups based on their grade of diabetic retinopathy. Group one: 10 participants with no diabetic retinopathy (R0); Group two: 10 participants who had background diabetic retinopathy (R1). The aim of Stage Two was to i) appraise a newly developed risk communication tool that was developed to communicate risk information about diabetic retinopathy to people with type 2 diabetes, ii) to explore the influence of the new developed risk tool on risk perception and on diabetes self-care management, and iii) to establish a method(s) by which risk information about diabetic retinopathy can be effectively communicated to people with type 2 diabetes. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed using a digital recording machine. Data was analysed using constructivist grounded theory approach