Health care development: integrating transaction cost theory with social support theory

Psychological well-being and factors affecting it after the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has enormously impacted human activity worldwide, partly due to many governments issuing stay-at-home orders and limiting the types of social interactions citizens can engage in. Hence, this study investigated psychological well-being and factors affecting it after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A total of 345 participants were recruited in the study. This research was conducted between February and May 2023 in Sarab, East Azerbaijan, Iran. To measure the data, valid and reliable instruments of Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC), interpersonal support evaluation list (ISEL-SF), and health-protective behaviors checklist instrument were used.

Results

According to the results, health locus of control (r = 0.227; p < 0.001), social support (r = 0.339; p < 0.001), and COVID-19 preventive behaviors (r = 0.376; p < 0.001) were positively correlated with psychological well-being. The strongest correlation was observed between psychological well-being and protective behaviors (r = 0.376; p < 0.001). In the hierarchical regression model, total, demographic characteristics along with health locus of control, social support, covid-19 preventive behaviors, and history of COVID-19 infection were able to explain 57.4% of the variation in psychological well-being.

Discussion

Public healthcare providers' and policymakers' preventive and supportive actions are highly advised for promoting health locus of control and social support in adults after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it is better to include a community's social and environmental changes.

Internet addiction and depression among Chinese adolescents: anxiety as a mediator and social support as a moderator

This study constructed a moderated mediation model to investigate the mediating effect of anxiety and the moderating effect of social support between Internet addiction and depression. A sample of 17 058 middle school students in one district of Chengdu were selected. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Social Support Scale for adolescents were used to investigate their Internet addiction, anxiety, depression and social support. The descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis were performed with SPSS 25.0. An SPSS macro process was used to analyze the data from complex models that contained mediators and moderators. The results show that adolescents with Internet addiction are more likely to suffer from depression. Anxiety partially mediated the relations between Internet addiction and depression. Social support moderated both direct and indirect pathways leading from Internet addiction to depression, and these two effects were stronger for adolescents with low social support than for those with high social support. It will be possible for researchers to gain a better understanding of the conditions, pathways, and effects of Internet addiction on depression in adolescents through the results of this study.

The Effects of Patient Health Information Seeking in Online Health Communities on Patient Compliance in China: Social Perspective

BACKGROUND

Online health communities (OHCs) can alleviate the uneven distribution and use of medical resources and severe hospital congestion. Patients may seek health information through OHCs before or after visiting physicians, which may affect their cognition, health literacy, decision-making preferences, and health-related behaviors such as compliance. Social factors (social support, social presence, and responsiveness) are closely related to patients' health information-seeking behavior and are significantly considered in OHCs.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the effects of patients' health information-seeking behavior (way and effectiveness) on compliance with physicians from the perspectives of patients' perceived social support, social presence, and responsiveness.

METHODS

This study established a research model from the perspective of social information processing by using the social exchange theory. An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted with several Chinese OHCs to collect data. Partial least squares and structural equation modeling were adopted to test the hypotheses and develop the model.

RESULTS

This study received 403 responses, of which 332 were valid, giving a validity rate of 82.4% (332/403). Among the sample, 78.6% (261/332) of the individuals were aged between 20 and 40 years, 59.3% (197/332) were woman, 69.9% (232/332) lived in urban areas, and 50% (166/332) had at least a bachelor's degree. The reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity were acceptable. Both the way and effectiveness of patients seeking health information through OHCs have a positive impact on their compliance through the mediation of their perceived social support, social presence, and responsiveness from OHCs and other users, and patient compliance can be improved by guiding patient health information-seeking behavior in OHCs from a social perspective.

CONCLUSIONS

This study proposes a research model to corroborate that patient health information-seeking behavior (way and effectiveness) in OHCs exerts positive effects on patient compliance with the treatment and physician's advice and provides suggestions for patients, physicians, and OHC service providers in China to help guide patients' health-related behaviors through OHCs to improve patient compliance, patient satisfaction, treatment efficiency, and health outcomes.

Domestic Generative Acts and Life Satisfaction among Supplementary Grandparent Caregivers in Urban China: Mediated by Social Support and Moderated by Hukou Status

Urban China is witnessing a growth of migrant grandparents apart from the prevalent local grandparent caregiving. However, the health consequences and influencing factors of grandparent caregiving remain largely unknown among migrant and local grandparent caregivers. This study examined informal and formal social support's mediation roles between domestic generative acts and life satisfaction, as well as investigating Hukou's (household registration system) moderation effect. Our sample compromised 1013 grandparent caregivers (Migrant = 508, Local = 505) from 12 kindergartens with a multistage clustered random sampling from Eastern China. Migrant grandparent caregivers had significant lower informal social support (M = 4.000, L = 4.355, p < 0.001), formal social support (M = 1.787, L = 2.111, p < 0.001), and life satisfaction (M = 3.323, L = 3.574, p < 0.001) than local ones. Structural equation modeling results indicated that domestic generative acts positively associated with life satisfaction (b = 0.085, p < 0.05), informal (b = 0.223, p < 0.001) and formal social support (b = 0.080, p < 0.05); informal (b = 0.379, p < 0.001) and formal social support (b = 0.138, p < 0.001) positively associated with life satisfaction. In addition, both informal (β = 0.084, CI [0.039, 0.101], p < 0.001) and formal social support (β = 0.011, CI [0.001, 0.018], p < 0.05) mediated the relationship between domestic generative acts and life satisfaction. Furthermore, Hukou status moderated the indirect path from domestic generative acts to life satisfaction via informal social support (p < 0.01), but not formal social support (p > 0.05). Migrant grandparent caregivers, with limited formal social support resources, were found to be more dependent on informal social support than locals. The findings revealed social support and wellbeing disparities among migrant and local grandparent caregivers in urban China. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are also discussed.

Social support and mental health among health care workers during Coronavirus Disease 2019 outbreak: A moderated mediation model

Purposes

During the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) all over the world, the mental health conditions of health care workers are of great importance to ensure the efficiency of rescue operations. The current study examined the effect of social support on mental health of health care workers and its underlying mechanisms regarding the mediating role of resilience and moderating role of age during the epidemic.

Methods

Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC) and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) were administrated among 1472 health care workers from Jiangsu Province, China during the peak period of COVID-19 outbreak. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the mediation effect of resilience on the relation between social support and mental health, whereas moderated mediation analysis was performed by Hayes PROCESS macro.

Results

The findings showed that resilience could partially mediate the effect of social support on mental health among health care workers. Age group moderated the indirect relationship between social support and mental health via resilience. Specifically, compared with younger health care workers, the association between resilience and mental health would be attenuated in the middle-aged workers.

Conclusions

The results add knowledge to previous literature by uncovering the underlying mechanisms between social support and mental health. The present study has profound implications for mental health services for health care workers during the peak period of COVID-19.

Committed to Health: Key Factors to Improve Users' Online Engagement through Facebook

Health organizations, continuously exposed to public scrutiny due to the social relevance of the services provided, have adopted social media to disseminate information about health but also about themselves, and thus, reducing uncertainty and improving communication. In this context, users’ participation in social media has become one of the main indicators of their effectiveness, highlighting the importance of analyzing which factors enhance online engagement. This research extends the number of variables identified in prior studies and analyzes 19,817 Facebook posts from 126 health organizations. Using multivariate linear regression, explanatory results show that economic and organizational attributes, and factors related to the social media posts, both contribute significantly to explain the engagement reached in social media by those organizations. According to our findings, health organizations are not taking enough advantage of social media to engage with their current and potential users. The dissemination of relevant information using visually attractive formats could help draw the attention of consumers, both to reach a higher commitment with the organization and to create value for society.

A qualitative investigation of barriers, support-seeking and coping among South Sudanese people with chronic hepatitis B in Australia

This inquiry examines health-seeking practices and challenges among South Sudanese people from refugee backgrounds with chronic hepatitis B in Australia. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted. Using interpretative thematic analysis, the results revealed four themes, consisting of barriers and facilitators to clinical follow up, treatment and support-seeking practices and coping responses. Time constraints, having divergent views about treatment decisions and perceived inadequate clinical support were also identified as barriers. Being referred to a specialist, being aware of the risk associated with liver cancer and sending reminders about appointments were identified as facilitators to clinical follow up. Treatment-seeking practices involved both biomedical and alternative therapies. Participants mainly drew on their social networks and supports, religious beliefs and individual resilience as coping strategies. The findings are important for improving access to treatment and care and support for people with chronic hepatitis B from the South Sudanese community.

Co-Creating Brand Value through Social Commerce

This chapter looks at the opportunities of social commerce for branding. The chapter examines social commerce constructs and their impact on brand development. The results of this empirical study show that both social factors and social commerce constructs have positive effects on co-creating brand value intention. This study also highlights the moderating effect of privacy concern between social commerce constructs and co-creating brand value. Contribution of this chapter is the combination of social media, social commerce, and social support in branding strategies, which produce co-creating brand value strategies. The chapter also provides practical implications for the market to develop co-creating brand value strategies through social commerce.

Use of the i2b2 research query tool to conduct a matched case-control clinical research study: advantages, disadvantages and methodological considerations

Background

A major aim of the i2b2 (informatics for integrating biology and the bedside) clinical data informatics framework aims to create an efficient structure within which patients can be identified for clinical and translational research projects.

Our objective was to describe the respective roles of the i2b2 research query tool and the electronic medical record (EMR) in conducting a case-controlled clinical study at our institution.

Methods

We analyzed the process of using i2b2 and the EMR together to generate a complete research database for a case–control study that sought to examine risk factors for kidney stones among gastrostomy tube (G-tube) fed children.

Results

Our final case cohort consisted of 41/177 (23%) of potential cases initially identified by i2b2, who were matched with 80/486 (17%) of potential controls. Cases were 10 times more likely to be excluded for inaccurate coding regarding stones vs. inaccurate coding regarding G-tubes. A majority (67%) of cases were excluded due to not meeting clinical inclusion criteria, whereas a majority of control exclusions (72%) occurred due to inadequate clinical data necessary for study completion. Full dataset assembly required complementary information from i2b2 and the EMR.

Conclusions

i2b2 was critical as a query analysis tool for patient identification in our case–control study. Patient identification via procedural coding appeared more accurate compared with diagnosis coding. Completion of our investigation required iterative interplay of i2b2 and the EMR to assemble the study cohort.