Search results

Demand for long-term care services increases with population aging. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of elderly customers’ health-care experiences to explore the antecedents, mechanisms and outcomes of social participation in long-term care service organizations.

Using a two-phase data collection approach, this study collects data from 238 elderly customers in a long-term care service organization. The final data are analyzed through structural equation modeling.

The results show that care management efforts (i.e. customer education, perceived organization support, role modeling, perceived other customer support and diversity of activity) influence elderly customers’ psychological states (i.e. self-efficacy and sense of community), leading to increased social participation. In addition, high levels of social participation evoke positive service satisfaction and quality of life, both of which alleviate switching intention.

This study is one of the first conclusive service studies focused on the role of elderly customers’ social participation in their long-term care experience. The findings contribute to health-care service marketing and transformative service research, and expand understanding of elderly customers’ health-care experience, especially in long-term care service settings.

This article aims to provide an informed overview of the current policy and upcoming e‐cigarette legislation, and their impact on the potential for harm reduction in the tobacco products arena in the USA. The article argues in favor of reasonable regulatory options supportive of harm reduction, and which take into consideration the realities of the emerging US e‐cigarette market.

The authors consider the recent refocus on harm reduction potential in the e‐cigarettes, which are growing in popularity but will be soon subject to potentially very restrictive regulation. This article provides an overview of selected, relevant provisions of the US tobacco product regulatory framework as it may soon apply to e‐cigarettes, not only for the benefit of the tobacco harm reduction debate, but also to global stakeholders, as well.

FDA needs strong leadership to avoid current political pressures to label all tobacco products as equally dangerous, vilify nicotine and deny a reasonable approach to harm reduction that promotes the benefits of reduced risk as a legitimate approach to better health. Admittedly, more research is needed before a final assessment can be made on the population‐level health benefits of e‐cigarettes.

This article provides an informed view of US e‐cigarette industry regulatory challenges by two industry regulatory experts, and an overview of possible e‐cigarette regulatory outcomes in the USA, in light of the US Food and Drug Administration announcement that such regulation is to be expected shortly.