Assessing the Playing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports Gambling Behavior

Internet gambling is growing rapidly, as is concern about its possible effect on the public’s health. This paper reports the results of the first prospective longitudinal study of actual Internet sports gambling behavior during eight study months. Data include recorded fixed-odds bets on the outcome of sporting contests and live-action bets on the outcome of events within contests for 40,499 Internet sports gambling service subscribers who enrolled during February 2005. We tracked the following primary gambling behaviors: daily totals of the number of bets made, money bet, and money won. We transformed these variables into measures of gambling involvement. We analyzed behavior for both fixed-odds and live-action bets. The median betting behavior of the 39,719 fixed-odds bettors was to place 2.5 bets of €4 (approximately $5.3 US) every fourth day during the median 4 months from first to last bet. This typical pattern incurred a loss of 29% of the amount wagered. The median betting behavior of the 24,794 live-action bettors was to place 2.8 wagers of €4 every fourth day during the median duration of 6 weeks at a loss of 18% of the amount wagered. We also examined the behavior of empirically determined groups of heavily involved bettors whose activity exceeded that of 99% of the sample.     

Moving On From Supportive Housing (MOSH): Development and evaluation of a transitional skill-building curriculum for providers helping residents exit homeless services

This article describes the development and evaluation of MOSH (Moving On From Supportive Housing), a transitional skill-building curriculum for providers helping residents exit homeless services to mainstream housing without embedded supports. In this evaluation, we assess the feasibility, acceptability, fit, and potential efficacy of the MOSH curriculum to improve proximal provider-level outcomes, including self-efficacy to provide MOSH-related independent living skills and supports. Homeless-services providers (N = 49) from a range of programs and settings participated in the training. Findings from focus groups and pre- and posttest surveys indicate high levels of overall satisfaction with the training. The majority of trainees perceived the training to be useful to their work and potentially useful for service recipients, felt the training would fit well within their existing day-to-day work, and said they were very likely to use MOSH skills in such work. Statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy regarding all skills but one were also found. MOSH holds promise as an intervention that can enhance provider practice and promotion of independent living skills in homeless services. Although these initial findings on MOSH are encouraging, further research will be needed to evaluate provider knowledge gains and effective use of these skills in practice.     

基于系统动力学的普惠性学前教育服务监管研究

随着国家对于二孩、三孩生育政策的放开,提升普惠性学前教育服务的质量,加强普惠性学前教育服务的监管显得尤为重要。文章建构了普惠性幼儿园、政府和入园幼儿家庭三方参与的演化博弈模型,并结合系统动力学方法进行仿真分析,解析各参与主体的动态演化过程及相关变量因素对演化策略的影响。研究表明：在普惠性学前教育服务监管中,演化系统最终会实现(政府积极监管、普惠性幼儿园自律、入园幼儿家庭监督)均衡状态,多个外部变量的共同作用决定着三方参与主体的策略选择;在博弈过程中,政府发挥着显著的主导作用,普惠性幼儿园和入园幼儿家庭的策略选择明显受到政府影响,入园幼儿家庭监督对普惠性幼儿园的策略选择存在明显的间接影响。之后从提升政府的监管效能、建立科学合理的激励与惩罚机制、重视入园幼儿家庭的监督等层面给出了对策建议。     

国际教育服务贸易:我国的对外贸易地位与对策

近年来国际教育服务贸易的发展呈现出了贸易额增长迅速、留学服务成为国际教育服务的主要提供方式、发达国家在国际教育服务贸易领域占据巨大优势和主导地位、高等教育日益国际化等特点。这对我国教育产业面临严峻的挑战,我国教育产业应正视挑战参与国际竞争。     

上海社工职业化模式问题与展望

上海社会经济的发展需要职业化和专业化的社会工作。20世纪90年代中期以来,上海一直在稳步推进社会工作职业化。以授权为特征的职业化的主要内容包括:政府购买服务,民间组织经营,行业自律与管理,注册社工提供专业化服务。在职业化的过程中,上海社会工作在性质定位、需求定位、非政府参与和制度框架等方面还存在一些问题。面向新世纪,上海社会工作职业化需要全面拓展,走近百姓,广泛参与,规范运作。     

Delaying factors for maternal health service utilization in eastern Ethiopia: A qualitative exploratory study

BackgroundIn Ethiopia, maternal health service utilization is still unacceptably low. The societal and cultural factors that constrain women from attending these services have not yet been sufficiently explored. Using qualitative methods, we aimed to explore the factors that delay maternal health service utilization in eastern Ethiopia.MethodA total of 13 audio-recorded focus group discussions were conducted comprising 88 participants. We conducted separate group discussions with reproductive aged women, mothers-in-law, traditional birth attendants, husbands, and Health Extension Workers to capture their knowledge, practices, feelings, thoughts and attitudes towards maternal health service utilization. The recorded sessions were transcribed into the local language and then translated into English for analysis.ResultThe study identified a number of factors that may delay maternal health service utilization. Factors were grouped using the Three Delays model as a framework. Low level of awareness regarding need, poor involvement of husband, perceived absence of health problems, social power, community misperceptions and cultural restrictions, negative attitudes towards male midwives, acceptance of traditional birth attendants and poor social networking were Delay One factors. Lack of physical accessibility and high transportation costs were categorised as Delay Two factors for skilled birth care attendance. Perceived or experienced poor quality of care were categorised as Delay Three factors for both skilled birth and postnatal care utilization.ConclusionDespite the ongoing government measures to improve maternal health service utilization in Ethiopia, numerous factors continue to contribute to delays in service use, which in turn contribute to high maternal mortality.     

An evaluation of alternative fiscal adjustment plans: The case of Italy

What advice can be given to the policymaker to reduce the burden of public debt after a crisis? In this situation, the debt consolidation calls for fiscal surplus based on increases in taxes and/or reductions in public spending. This paper aims at answering to the above question. Specifically, it evaluates different policy options on the table using the estimated model of the Italian dynamic General Equilibrium Model (IGEM). Our main message is that plans aimed at reducing the public debt based on tax increases rather than expenditure reductions are more effective. Therefore, consolidation should be designed on the former.     

Developing a multi-level organization-public dialogic communication framework to assess social media-mediated disaster communication and engagement outcomes

Dialogic communication has long been viewed as vital for effective organization-public relations. Yet, it is under-theorized whether and how organizations’ disaster communication messages may embody dialogic communication principles, and how various dialogic features are associated with different public engagement outcomes on social media. Extending the Organization-Public Dialogic Communication (OPDC) framework to the context of social media-mediated disaster communication, we propose a multi-level framework to assess the dialogic capacity of Facebook messages sent by disaster management organizations during a natural disaster. Three levels of dialogic communication characteristics (i.e., message structure-level, topic-level, and linguistic level) are examined using content analysis and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Results identified media richness, correcting, and confirming topics as three consistent predictors of public engagement of all types. Meanwhile, there exhibit greater variations regarding how other topical features and linguistic characteristics are related to public’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement during a disaster.     

Analyzing free-text survey responses: An accessible strategy for developing patient-centered programs and program evaluation

Despite widespread availability of yoga in the Veterans Health Administration (VA), it remains unclear how to best evaluate yoga programs. This is particularly problematic for programs aimed at veterans with mental health concerns, as evaluation typically focuses narrowly upon mental health symptom severity, even though program participants may have other health-related priorities. We analyzed responses to free-text questions on 237 surveys completed by veterans with mental health concerns enrolled in a yoga program at six VA clinics in Louisiana to characterize veteran participants’ experiences with yoga. Qualitative analysis resulted in 15 domains reflecting veterans’ individual health-related values and priorities. We use results to illustrate the potential for analysis of free-text responses to reveal valuable insights into patient experiences, demonstrating how these data can inform patient-centered program evaluation. The approach we present is more accessible to those responsible for decision-making about local programs than conventional methods of analyzing qualitive evaluation data.     

Navigating infant feeding supports after migration: Perspectives of Arabic and Chinese mothers and health professionals in Australia

Optimal feeding practices can establish lifelong, transgenerational and global health benefits. Migration and cultural factors impact infant feeding practices and the support mothers receive for optimal infant feeding. This qualitative study explored support for infant feeding among Arabic and Chinese speaking migrant mothers in Australia.Semi-structured focus groups were conducted in language with 24 Arabic and 22 Chinese-Mandarin speaking migrant mothers with children under five years of age. Individual interviews were conducted in English with 20 health professionals working with Arabic or Chinese speaking migrant families. Data were thematically analysed using the framework method.Traditional family networks and trusted bi-cultural doctors were influential infant feeding supports for mothers. Health professionals perceived maternal and child health services to be poorly understood, and some mothers who accessed services felt they were not always culturally sensitive. Mothers sought additional information and support through online sources and peers. Both mothers and health professionals recognised the challenges of managing conflicting infant feeding advice and seeking best-practice support.The findings of this study highlight opportunities for health professionals to better support migrant mothers’ infant feeding practices, for example through engaging families and working with doctors. There is a need for greater cultural sensitivity within maternal and child health services and culturally relevant programs to support healthy infant feeding practices among migrant communities.