Data collection: are social workers reliable?

Social workers are required to collect a considerable amount of personal information about clients and their families which may be unrelated to direct clinical work. Administrators often use this for the purpose of payment, service documentation, agency planning, and accountability. The worker's concern about the appropriateness of collecting this data may result in poor compliance or even falsification of information. In a survey of Minnesota social workers, noncompliance with data collection requirements was substantial. The authors also found a significant degree of conflict about privacy and confidentiality issues. These findings suggest a basis of concern for those who must rely on accurate data for administrative planning.     

Breast implants, Hippocrates, and burden of proof

The author argues that the burden of proof for the safety and efficacy of some medical devices properly lies with the manufacturers of the devices and with the providers who use them. The controversy over breast implants is used as a case for this shift in the burden of proof of safety and effectiveness.     

Biotechnology: will it break the health care bank?

Pharmaceuticals traditionally have been viewed as a cost-effective component in medicine's technological armamentarium. The use of pharmaceuticals has been estimated to account for 6-8 percent of the nation's total expenditures on health care. The first wave of pharmaceuticals/biologicals that has been produced by the biotechnology industry has offered therapies that can provide much benefit to patients, but it has also raised concern about the cost of these new recombinant drugs. In addition to pricing, methods of promotion and modifications in the FDA approval process have raised concerns.     

"The responsibility to inform, the power to act": a conference for New England college newspaper editors on the role of the campus press in addressing substance use issues.

College newspapers are a powerful but underutilized medium for educating students on health issues, including those related to drug and alcohol use on campus. Editors of these publications are in a position to wield significant influence among their readers. In addition to communicating factual information about the prevalence and impact of substance use among college students, editors can use the press to advocate changes in students' attitudes and behaviors and in college or community policies that affect substance use. A pilot conference was held to help New England college newspaper editors perceive the importance of their role in educating their peers about substance use and other health-related issues, and to offer concrete suggestions as to how they can incorporate these topics into an "activist" campus press.     

Conference on international manpower flows and foreign investment in the Asian region

This is a report from a conference held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1991 on the economic aspects of labor mobility in Asia. The authors briefly describe selected papers given at the conference and outline conference topics. A list of participants is included. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Allocational and distributional aspects of future immigration to Western Europe

"This article shows that an analysis of the impacts of immigration [in Western Europe] has to be divided into allocational and distributional aspects. From an allocational point of view, like free trade in goods, services and capital, migration is welfare-improving as long as marginal productivities of labor are not equalized worldwide. From a distributional point of view, however, the immigration society has to bear the effects of sharing its common public goods and its social values with the new immigrants. Free immigration will only be allowed if the allocational welfare gains exceed the distributional welfare losses. According to this rule of thumb, a guideline for an efficient migration policy is sketched."     

The demographic situation in rural areas

Demographic trends in rural areas of the former Soviet Union are analyzed over the 10-year period 1979-1989, using census data. Over the whole country, the rural population decreased by 1 percent, while the urban population increased by 15 percent, although significant differences existed between the European and Central Asian republics. Factors affecting the dynamics of rural populations are analyzed, including the undeveloped social and economic infrastructure in rural areas.     

World population in transition

The world's population growth rate peaked at slightly over 2%/year in the late 1960s and in 1986 is down to 1.7% and falling. Annual numbers added continue to rise because these rates apply to a very large base, 4.9 billion in 1986. According to UN medium variant projections, world population growth will peak at 89 million/year in the late 1990s and then taper off until world population stabilizes in the late decade of the 21st century at about 10.2 billion. Close to 95% of this growth is occurring in less developed countries (LDCs) of Africa, Asia (minus Japan), and Latin America. LDC fertility rates are declining, except in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Latin America and South Asia, but most have far to go to reach the replacement level of 2.1 births/woman. Fertility is below replacement in virtually all more developed countries. For LDCs, large numbers will be added before stabilization even after attainment of replacement level fertility because of the demographic momentum built into their large and young population bases. This complicates efforts to bridge gaps between living standards in LDCs and industrialized countries. From a new debate about whether rapid population growth deters or stimulates economic growth, a more integrated view has emerged. This view recognizes the complementary relationship between efforts to slow population growth and other development efforts; e.g., to improve health and education, upgrade women's status, increase productivity. Most effective in the increased contraceptive prevalence and fertility declines seen in many LDCs has been the combination of organized programs to increase access to family planning information and supplies with socioeconomic development that enhances the desire for smaller families.     

Subjective variables in demography

The application of the subjective variable to research on attitudes toward fertility in Poland is considered. The variable concerns the determination of ideal family size and attitudes toward having more children. The author shows how an ex post facto variable was constructed, describing positive, negative, and neutral feelings toward fertility during the course of a study on attitudes toward procreation.     

Child health,breast-feeding,and survival in Malaysia: a random-effects logit approach

This study examines the possibility that estimation of the effect of breast-feeding on infant survival is affected by selection bias, in that children who are healthier at birth may be more likely to be breast-fed. Data are from the 1976 Malaysian Family Life Survey. "Ordinary logit models for breast-feeding and survival are estimated, and the results suggest that selection is indeed present. For example, children of higher birth weight appear to be more likely to be breast-fed and likely to survive. In addition, weight at birth and the duration of breast-feeding appear to be linked." Using birth weight as an indicator for the child's health, the authors conclude that "the direct influence of breast-feeding on survival remains of overwhelming importance even after corrections for selection bias are made."