Income and Education as Predictors of Stroke Mortality after the Survival of a First Stroke

Background. It is well known that socioeconomic indicators, such as income and education, predict both stroke incidence and stroke mortality. This means that persons in lower socioeconomic positions are less likely to survive their stroke, and there will be a selective survival in the group discharged from hospital after their first stroke. Question. Does socioeconomic position continue to predict mortality, stroke specific, or from other causes, among patients surviving their first stroke in spite of this selective survival? Methods. All persons in Sweden aged 40–59 years who were discharged after a first hospitalization for stroke in 1996–2000 were included (n = 10,487), then followed up until the end of the fourth calendar year after discharge. Data were analysed with Cox regressions controlling for age, sex, and stroke type. Results. Persons with high socioeconomic position, measured by education and income, have lower mortality than those of low position. Education was not significant when adjusted for income, however. The risk of dying was similar for stroke-specific mortality and all-cause mortality, for those with cerebral infarction as well as for all patients. Conclusions. Socioeconomic position predicted stroke-specific mortality also in the selective group of persons who survived their first stroke

Income and education as predictors of return to working life among younger stroke patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Socioeconomic conditions are not only related to poor health outcomes, they also contribute to the chances of recovery from stroke. This study examines whether income and education were predictors of return to work after a first stroke among persons aged 40-59.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All first-stroke survivors aged 40-59 who were discharged from a hospital in 1996-2000 and who had received income from work during the year prior to the stroke were sampled from the Swedish national register of in-patient care (n = 7,081). Income and education variables were included in hazard regressions, modelling the probability of returning to work from one to four years after discharge. Adjustments for age, sex, stroke subtype, and length of in-patient care were included in the models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both higher income and higher education were associated with higher probability of returning to work. While the association between education and return to work was attenuated by income, individuals with university education were 13 percent more likely to return than those who had completed only compulsory education, and individuals in the highest income quartile were about twice as likely to return as those in the lowest. The association between socioeconomic position and return to work was similar for different stroke subtypes. Income differences between men and women also accounted for women's lower probability of returning to work.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study demonstrates that education and income were independent predictors of returning to work among stroke patients during the first post-stroke years. Taking the relative risk of return to work among those in the higher socioeconomic positions as the benchmark, there may be considerable room for improvement among patients in lower socioeconomic strata.</p

Ny avhandling sätter familjen i fokus

Recension av avhandlingenAhmet Gümüscü  Socialtjänsten och familjen. Socialarbetares konstruktion av familj och insatser i familjerelaterad komplexitet. Umeå universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete(datum för disputation 2019-10-18

Trendalysing Social Work

This report describes an exploration of Google Trends in an attempt to determine its usefulness for social work research. Web searches on Google Trends related to social work were undertaken for the period 2007-2013. Hits related to jobs and education dominated. Emerging trends related to social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, but also came up for words such as evidence, technology and measure that might be interpreted in terms of theories or concepts, e,g., New Public Management and managerial social work. These findings were compared with numbers of reported studies in the databases Web of Science and PsycInfo. The paper includes some practical suggestions that might improve searches; but Google Trends is a tool still in the process of development and so far its usefulness for academic social work appears to be limited

Coping strategies among low-income families in Sweden

From a global perspective, Sweden is a wealthy country with a high gross domestic product, comparatively low income inequality as measured by the Gini index, a good reputation for transparency, and low poverty rates. However, many people without an established position on the labour market benefit little from Sweden’s various forms of social insurance, since the amount of financial compensation one can receive when ill, unemployed, on parental leave, or retired relates to work requirements and previous income. This is one important reason why migrants from the Global South have low family incomes even in the Swedish welfare state and must rely on means-tested social assistance. This research considers what it means for families to live at a low economic standard, their experiences of contacts with the social services, and how they cope with low incomes. Social service clients were recruited from small and medium-sized towns in Sweden. Adults in eleven families of different origins, all long-term dependent on social assistance, were interviewed. The families’ efforts to handle their financial situation were interpreted as coping strategies. These strategies were divided into the subcategories action, adaptation, avoidance, and submission, with adaptation to social service demands being the most common strategy. Some migrant adults also expected to receive support from their own children when they grow older.Familjepolitik i praktike

Arbetslös och medellös : en studie av beredskapsarbetare i Stockholm = [No job, no means] : [on relief workers in Stockholm]

Diss. Stockholm : Univ.</p

Open comparisons of social services in Sweden—Why, how, and for what?

Open Comparisons is a soft power governance method using data collected from the municipalities for benchmarking their activities. Open Comparisons in Sweden may have different national goals, such as to measure quality, policy development and democratic openness. The overall aim of this paper is to describe and analyze the use of Open Comparisons to monitor the social welfare services—social assistance, child and youth care, and treatment of alcohol and drug abuse. Four focus group interviews were carried out with professionals from eight municipalities. Results show that Open Comparisons measures the technical quality of activities by reviewing what is available, such as routines and agreements, but says little about trickle down to client level. The findings are discussed in a wider context of overall goals of Open Comparisons related to soft power governance and governmentality which includes how the social services may internalize this way of thinking