Care coordination in bone health screening between individual behaviors and health care services among Korean-American women across three age groups

Integrated continuous care is important to prevent and treat brittle bone status in the aging process; however, minority groups often have limited access to health services. The purpose of this study was to identify the care coordination among women’s perceptions about their bone health, information from health care providers, and the results of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) tests across three age groups. The study was a cross-sectional comparative design. A total of 63 Korean American women completed both the assessment of BMD of the femoral neck and an interview survey. One’s own risks of osteoporosis, screening behaviors, and health care providers’ advice were analyzed according to three age (pre-, peri-, and post-menopausal) groups, BMD levels, and health insurance coverage. Overall, health insurance coverage and having a primary health care provider of Korean American women were 59.0% and 32.0%, respectively; 61.9% had lower than normal BMD levels, which were significantly increased by advanced age. Individual awareness of risks of osteoporosis and screening behaviors were significantly higher in peri-menopausal than in pre- and post-menopausal groups, but no differences were found in health care providers’ information. The awareness and care providers’ information by BMD level or health insurance did not differ. The findings show a discrepancy between individual perceptions and behaviors and health care providers’ recommendations regard to bone health. Health behaviors should be guided by professional health care providers. The women in the post-menopausal stage need to be educated about the high risk of osteoporosis and its management

Measuring Social Unrest Based on Income Distribution

This paper develops a social unrest measure by revising Esteban-Ray (1994, Econometrica) polarization index. For the purpose of measuring more effectively the level of social unrest that is generated by separation of income classes, the new index allows for asymmetry between the rich and the poor groups' alienation feeling against the other, and it constructs a more effective group identification function. To facilitate statistical inferences, asymptotic distribution of the proposed measure is also derived using results from U-statistics, and an easy-to-implement jackknife-based variance estimation algorithm is obtained. Since the new index is general enough to include the Esteban-Ray index and the Gini index for group data as special cases, the asymptotic results can be readily applied to these popular indices. Evidence based on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data suggests that the level of social unrest has generally increased over the sample period of 1981-2005, particular since the late 1990's, and the increase is statistically significant

How Can We Introduce the Most Effective Incentive Plan for Non-Exempt Employees?

Question: How can we introduce the most effective and efficient incentive plan to motivate non-exempt employees and to drive improvement of the organization’s overall performance