'Customers were not objects to suck blood from': Social relations in UK retail banks under changing performance management systems

Utilising an analytical framework informed by a moral economy approach, this article examines the social relationships between bank workers and customers in the context of changing performance management. Informed by 46 in‐depth interviews with branch workers and branch managers from UK banks, this article focusses on the interplay of the pressures arising from an intensified and all‐encompassing performance management system and bank workers lay morality. The article seeks to analyse why one group of bank workers engages with customers in a primarily instrumental manner, while another group tends to mediate and engage in oppositional practices which aim to avoid such an instrumentalisation. The article argues that moral economy gives voice to the agency of workers and the critical concerns of the social, economic and moral consequences of market‐driven and purely profit‐oriented workplace regimes

Health-related quality of life in diabetic patients and controls without diabetes in refugee camps in the Gaza strip: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing in developed and developing countries. Diabetes is known to strongly affect the health-related quality of life (HRQOL). HRQOL is also influenced by living conditions. We analysed the effects of having diabetes on HRQOL under the living conditions in refugee camps in the Gaza strip. METHODS: We studied a sample of 197 diabetic patients who were recruited from three refugee camps in the Gaza strip and 197 age- and sex-matched controls living in the same camps. To assess HRQOL, we used the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) including four domains (physical health, psychological, social relations and environment). Domain scores were compared for cases (diabetic patients) and controls (persons without diabetes) and the impact of socio-economic factors was evaluated in both groups. RESULTS: All domains were strongly reduced in diabetic patients as compared to controls, with stronger effects in physical health (36.7 vs. 75.9 points of the 0–100 score) and psychological domains (34.8 vs. 70.0) and weaker effects in social relationships (52.4 vs. 71.4) and environment domains (23.4 vs. 36.2). The impact of diabetes on HRQOL was especially severe among females and older subjects (above 50 years). Low socioeconomic status had a strong negative impact on HRQOL in the younger age group (<50 years). CONCLUSION: HRQOL is strongly reduced in diabetic patients living in refugee camps in the Gaza strip. Women and older patients are especially affected

Trends in self-reported prevalence and management of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes in Swiss adults, 1997-2007

Switzerland has a low mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases, but little is known regarding prevalence and management of cardiovascular risk factors (CV RFs: hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes) in the general population. In this study, we assessed 10-year trends in self-reported prevalence and management of cardiovascular risk factors in Switzerland. data from three national health interview surveys conducted between 1997 and 2007 in representative samples of the Swiss adult population (49,261 subjects overall). Self-reported CV RFs prevalence, treatment and control levels were computed. The sample was weighted to match the sex - and age distribution, geographical location and nationality of the entire adult population of Switzerland. self-reported prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes increased from 22.1%, 11.9% and 3.3% in 1997 to 24.1%, 17.4% and 4.8% in 2007, respectively. Prevalence of self-reported treatment among subjects with CV RFs also increased from 52.1%, 18.5% and 50.0% in 1997 to 60.4%, 38.8% and 53.3% in 2007 for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, respectively. Self-reported control levels increased from 56.4%, 52.9% and 50.0% in 1997 to 80.6%, 75.1% and 53.3% in 2007 for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, respectively. Finally, screening during the last 12 months increased from 84.5%, 86.5% and 87.4% in 1997 to 94.0%, 94.6% and 94.1% in 2007 for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, respectively. in Switzerland, the prevalences of self-reported hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes have increased between 1997 and 2007. Management and screening have improved, but further improvements can still be achieved as over one third of subjects with reported CV RFs are not treated

Soziale Ungleichheit und Herz-Kreislauferkrankungen

Breckenkamp J, Laaser U. Soziale Ungleichheit und Herz-Kreislauferkrankungen. In: Mielck A, Bloomfield K, eds. Sozial-Epidemiologie. Eine Einführung in die Grundlagen, Ergebnisse und Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten. Weinheim und München: Juventa; 2001: 117-127

Can a decline in the population means of cardiovascular risk factors reduce the number of people at risk?

OBJECTIVE—To prove the possibility of shifting distribution of cardiovascular risk factors for a whole population over time and thereby to influence the prevalence of the corresponding disease states, according to the theory stated by Geoffrey Rose in 1985.
DESIGN—Examination of standardised data from the German Cardiovascular Prevention Study (GCP), a seven year long, population-based, multicentre intervention trial, concerned with decreasing risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
SETTING AND SUBJECTS—three cross sectional surveys of a population 25 to 69 years old in six study regions, and three nationwide cross sectional surveys in the former West Germany in 1984, 1988 and 1991.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES—The relation between the population mean for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total serum cholesterol, body mass index, and alcohol intake, and the prevalence of the corresponding disease states, as are systolic (⩾140 and ⩾160 mm Hg) and diastolic hypertension (⩾90 and ⩾95 mm Hg), hypercholesterolaemia (⩾250 and ⩾300 mg/dl), overweight (body mass index ⩾30 kg/m(2)), and heavy drinking (weekly alcohol intake ⩾300 g/week). Results are expressed as linear regression equations and Pearson correlation coefficients.
RESULTS—The correlation between the mean population values and prevalence of disease was close for blood pressures and body mass index. The Pearson coefficients, corrected for the influence of values increased above borderlines, were 0.86 and 0.81 respectively for systolic blood pressure, 0.88 and 0.91 for diastolic blood pressure, 0.28 and 0.52 for cholesterol, and 0.86 for the body mass index. The coefficient for alcohol intake was 0.55.
CONCLUSIONS—It seems possible to shift the risk distribution of a population for some physiological parameters over time with the effect of changing the disease prevalence. This strategy can be used successfully for specific preventive measures, as was strongly advocated by Geoffrey Rose.


Keywords: cardiovascular risk factor