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The purpose of the study is to assess the quality of life (QOL) of older adults and explore factors associated with it.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in a remote community in Nepal. A total of 671 older adults aged 60 years were enrolled in the study. QOL was measured by WHOQOL-OLD questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression.

Most participants were female (53.0%), illiterate (70.6%), married (64.2%) and living with family (59.3%). Among participants, 82.4% had fair QOL, and the autonomy domain received the lowest score (average = 10.98). After adjusting the model, the elderly aged <70 years had 11.07 times better QOL (aOR = 11.070; 95% CI = 2.546–48.123), elderly with high sufficient income had 2.73 times better QOL (aOR = 2.738; 95% CI = 1.183–6.337) and elderly free from depression had 9.45 times better QOL (aOR = 9.452; 95% CI = 3.466–25.773) compared to their counterparts. The elderly receiving social support had 9.97 times better QOL than those who did not (aOR = 9.976; 95% CI = 3.152–31.574), and those able to afford healthcare services had 4.69 times better QOL than those who could not afford it (aOR = 4.694; 95% CI = 1.046–21.063).

The five predictors – age, income sufficiency, depression, social support and healthcare service affordability – were found to significantly affect QOL. This study suggests special care strategies for vulnerable older adults addressing the issues that affect geriatric depression. This article provides relevant information to the government to consider increment of income, encourage family and community for social support and make health services affordable for older adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for older people both in terms of the severity of the disease and the negative consequences of social distancing. Assumptions about negative effects on the lives of the elderly, affecting dimensions of successful aging (such as the preservation of social relationships), have thus far been hypothetical and have lacked empirical evidence. The aim of this paper is to shed empirical light on the effects of COVID-19 on the everyday life of older people against the background of the concept of successful aging.

Data of a standardized, representative telephone survey with residents of Lower Austria, a county of Austria, were used for this secondary analysis. The sample included 521 persons of 60 years of age and older. For this paper, contingency analyses (χ² coefficients, z-tests using Bonferroni correction) and unidimensional correlational analyses were calculated.

The empirical data show that successful aging along the three dimensions of successful aging is a challenge in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic – leaving the elderly caught between two fronts.

The present work focusses on a unique moment in time, describing the changes to the lives of Austrian elderly because of the social distancing measures imposed to protect against the spread of COVID-19. These changes are discussed in the theoretical framework of successful aging.

This article analyses community care services (CCS) in terms of availability, awareness, accessibility, and acceptance (the Four A’s approach), untangles the deep-seated factors underlying the CCS and provides some short-term, medium-term, and long-term recommendations.

A literature review was conducted, including relevant government reports, consultation papers, Legislative Council papers and articles from academic journals from 1980 to the present.

The Four A’s approach shows that applicants to both centre-based services and home-based services endure lengthy waiting times because of the limited number of CCS. Furthermore, the awareness of day respite services is approximately 50 percent, which lags behind other CCS. Accessibility is contingent on a cross-district day respite service system and a lack of consistency between the quota and the proportion of older adults in the districts. Finally, the level of service provided by CCS is unsatisfactory due to inflexible service provision. Reviewing the brief history of long-term care services (LTC) reveals the deep-seated factors at the core of their heavy reliance on the subvention model, in contrast to the adoption of the ‘mixed economy of care’ by residential care services (RCS). An imbalance in budget allocation to RCS and CCS is also revealed.

Although the principle of ‘ageing in place’ was introduced in 1977, the institutionalisation rate (6.8 percent) of older adults remains unexpectedly high in Hong Kong, even surpassing its Asian counterparts, whereas the usage rate of CCS hovers around 0.8 percent. Thus, how to implement policy concerning LTC services for older adults must be re-evaluated.

The purpose of this paper is to study the factors affecting COVID-19 mortality.

An empirical model is developed in which the mortality rate per million is the dependent variable, and life expectancy at birth, physician density, education, obesity, proportion of population over the age of 65, urbanization (population density) and per capita income are explanatory variables. Crosscountry data from 184 countries are used to estimate the quantile regression that is employed.

The estimated results suggest that obesity, the proportion of the population over the age of 65 and urbanization have a positive and statistically significant effect on COVID-19 mortality. Not surprisingly, per capita income has a negative and statistically significant effect on COVID-19 death rate.

The study is based on the COVID-19 mortality data from June 2020, which have constantly being changed. What data reveal today may be different after two or three months. Despite this limitation, it is expected that this study will serve as the basis for future research in this area.

Since the findings suggest that obesity, population over the age of 65 and density are the primary factors affecting COVID-19 death, the policy-makers should pay particular attention to these factors.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is first attempt to estimate the factors affecting the COVID-19 mortality rate. Its novelty also lies in the use of quantile regressions, which is more efficient in estimating empirical models with heterogeneous data.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a greater understanding of non-profit organization (NPO) management control systems (MCS) and accountability in organizations providing support service for capacity constrained service users. Specifically, the paper examines the role of MCS and accountability in supporting mission realization in NPOs providing services to people with intellectual disabilities and reflects on this in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research comprised a case study of four NPOs providing services to people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland conducted prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The study probed management's perceptions of stakeholders and examined the manner in which the design and use of MCS and accountability processes supported mission realization.

Service users were regarded as the least powerful stakeholder and consequently the least attended to in terms of MCS and accountability processes. The absence of relational and dialogical accountability with service users is not only central to maintaining this power asymmetry but also poses a threat to mission realization. These deficits can be addressed through the integration and monitoring of internal advocacy activities into MCS and accountability processes, which, on reflection, may also mitigate some of the negative consequences for service users of isolation from external support networks in times of crisis.

This research has opened up an area for enquiry – internal advocacy – heretofore not addressed in the management accounting literature, opening up a novel vein for future research. Such research could further examine the role of internal advocacy, drawing from and adding to the research in other support service domains. A number of objectives and questions might be considered: (1) probing the level of management recognition of the role of direct engagement in advocacy activities in supporting service user agency; (2) identifying with service users and management the nature and attributes of effective advocacy activities and practices; (3) questioning how such advocacy activities and practices might be reflected in MCS; (4) identifying what service user stakeholders regard as effective accountability to them in relation to their needs and objectives; and (5) assessing the impact on service user experience and on NPO mission realization of internal advocacy activities and the monitoring and review thereof through MCS. These suggestions for future research draw attention to aspects of support service delivery that have the potential to be profoundly influential on service outcomes.

A performance management model reflecting the identified need to incorporate internal advocacy mechanisms into organizational management control systems is proposed in an effort to increase accountability of NPOs to their core mission stakeholder – service users. This model may be of value to NPO management as they move from a medical-model of care to a rights-based model for service delivery in care settings.

The paper reflects the importance of listening to the voice of vulnerable service users in NPO care settings and proposes a mechanism for embedding internal advocacy in formal management control systems and accountability processes.

In proposing an “agency” supportive relational and dialogical accountability logic for such organizations, underpinned by “internal advocacy”, this research provides theoretical and practical insights for accountability processes and the design of MCS. The findings contribute empirically, not just to the NPO management and MCS literature but also to understanding the relational interaction of service users with service organizations, and what this means in supporting service user objectives and realization of organizational mission.