Association between community environment and dependency among the elderly people from a service provision perspective

BACKGROUND

The incidence of dependency is high among the elderly people worldwide and increases with increasing life expectancy. The purpose of this study was to establish from the perspective of resource demand the association between community environmental resources and dependency among the elderly people.

METHODS

This study is a cross-sectional design based on community from 22 locations in China. A multistage sampling method was used to select the study objects. The questionnaires were used to collect the survey data by face-to-face interviews. A total of 950 individuals completed the survey, and 913 individuals were available for this analysis. Dependency and community environment were measured using the standard instruments. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the community environment factors associated with dependency. Cluster analysis was used and demonstrated that dependency was mainly associated with community primary preventive care service resources.

RESULTS

In the group aged under 70 years, the utilization of electronic health records and the need for health assessments, and rehabilitation equipment rentals were significantly associated with the levels of dependency scores: the OR was 2.81, 2.25 and 2.13 (P < 0.05), respectively. In the group aged 70 years and over, a short-term care home was strongly associated with levels of dependency: the OR was 4.01 (P = 0.002). The daycare and nursing service, transportation service, and regular lectures on health knowledge were associated with levels of dependency: the OR was 2.41, 1.86 and 1.93 (P < 0.05). In the group with low social support, an emergency call or monitoring system, transportation services, the need for health assessment, and regular lectures on health knowledge were significantly associated with levels of dependency: the OR was 2.42, 2.19, 1.89 and 1.98 (P < 0.05), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Community environment resources were significantly associated with dependency. These results suggest that the dependent on local environment resources may consider as the resource needs among elderly people.

The perceived impact of physician shortages on human resource strategies in German hospitals - a resource dependency perspective

PURPOSE

Like other European countries, Germany is facing regional physician shortages, which have several consequences on patient care. This study analyzes how hospitals perceive physician shortages and which strategies they adopt to address them. As a theoretical framework, the resource dependency theory is chosen.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The authors conducted 20 semi-structured expert interviews with human resource officers, human resource directors, and executive directors from hospitals in the northwest of Germany. Hospitals of different ownership types, of varying sizes and from rural and urban locations were included in the sample. The interviews were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis.

FINDINGS

The interviewees reported that human resource departments in hospitals expand their recruiting activities and no longer rely on one single recruiting instrument. In addition, they try to adapt their retaining measures to physicians' needs and offer a broad range of employment benefits (e.g. childcare) to increase attractiveness. The study also reveals that interviewees from small and rural hospitals report more difficulties with attracting new staff and therefore focus on recruiting physicians from abroad.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Since the staffing situation in German hospitals will not change in the short term, the study provides suggestions for hospital managers and health policy decision-makers in dealing with physician shortages.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study uses the resource dependency theory to explain hospitals' strategies for dealing with healthcare staff shortages for the first time.

International Collaboration and European Contributions to International Business Research

This study measures and ranks the performance of nations and academic institutions based on a 45-year analysis of international business (IB) publications, including 5853 academic authors from 1542 affiliated institutions. Examining authors’ academic origin and university of affiliation, and with a focus on the European nations that participated in the production of IB research, we make several novel contributions to the field: (1) identifying a unique internationalization process of IB research that consists of three distinct stages driven by international collaboration, (2) highlighting the role of international collaborations in overcoming publication barriers at the regional and country level, and (3) highlighting the role of both scale and scope of international collaborations in achieving a top-ranked position in the production of IB research.