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Research has examined how new ventures strengthen local economic outcomes; however, limited research examines health-oriented ventures and their impact on social outcomes, including health outcomes. Increased VC investment in healthcare service start-ups signals more activity toward this end, and the need for further academic inquiry. We examine the relationship between these start-ups and county-level health outcomes, health factors, and hospital utilization.

Data on start-ups funded via institutional venture capital from PitchBook were merged with US county-level outcomes from the County Health Rankings and Area Health Resources Files for 2010 to 2019. We investigated how the number of VC-funded healthcare service start-ups, as well as a subset defined as innovative, were associated with county-level health measures. We used panel models with two-way fixed effects and Propensity Score Matched (PSM), controlling for demographics and socioeconomic factors.

Each additional VC-funded healthcare service start-up was related to a significant 0.01 percentage point decrease in diabetes prevalence (p < 0.01), a decrease of 1.54 HIV cases per 100,000 population (p < 0.1), a 0.02 percentage point decrease in obesity rates (p < 0.01), and a 0.03 percentage point decrease in binge drinking (p < 0.01). VC-funded healthcare service start-ups were not related to hospital utilization.

This work expands our understanding of how industry-specific start-ups, in this case healthcare start-ups, relate to positive social outcomes. The results underscore the importance of evidence-based evaluation, the need for expanded outcome measures for VC investment, and the possibilities for integration of healthcare services and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Research examining the experiences of women in the workplace has, to a large extent, neglected the unique stressors pregnant employees may experience. Stress during pregnancy has been shown consistently to lead to detrimental consequences for the mother and her baby. Using job stress theories, we develop an expanded theoretical model of experienced stress during pregnancy and the potential detrimental health outcomes for the mother and her baby. Our theoretical model includes factors from multiple levels (i.e., individual, interpersonal, sociocultural, and community) and the role they play on the health and well-being of the pregnant employee and her baby. In order to gain a deeper understanding of job stress during pregnancy, we examine three pregnancy-specific organizational stressors (i.e., perceived pregnancy discrimination, pregnancy disclosure, and identity-role conflict) that are unique to pregnant employees. These stressors are argued to be over and above the normal job stressors experienced and they are proposed to result in elevated levels of experienced stress leading to detrimental health outcomes for the mother and baby. The role of resilience resources and learning in reducing some of the negative outcomes from job stressors is also explored.

Since health behaviors of elderly Asian Americans are often underreported, the study, based on the health behavioral model (Andersen’s model), was to examine if there is a reciprocal relationship between healthcare utilization and health outcomes, and how social characteristics play their role in this relationship between US-born and foreign-born elderly Asian Americans.

Using structural equation modeling, this research examined the proposed hypotheses which consisted of direct and indirect effects among health outcomes, healthcare utilization and social characteristics, as well as the disparities of the effects between US-born and foreign-born elderly Asian Americans (65 + ). A sample size of elderly Asian Americans was divided into a US-born group (N = 1,305) and a foreign-born group (N = 4,902) from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 1998–2012. Health outcomes consisted of current health status and health change. Healthcare utilization included general doctor visit, ER, and mental health professional visit. Social characteristics of population included predisposing characteristics (such as age, sex, marital status, and region of residency) and enabling resources (such as education, family size, and family income).

Results from the study indicated that first, there was a reciprocal relationship between health outcomes and healthcare utilization for both groups. Second, predisposing characteristics had a direct effect on health outcomes, and enabling resources had an indirect effect on health outcomes via healthcare utilization. In addition, living in the West had both direct and indirect effects on health outcomes. Third, regarding disparities of the effects between both groups, the US-born elderly are more likely to attain health benefits from healthcare utilization and their social characteristics than the foreign-born. As a result, the interactive relationship between health outcomes, healthcare utilization, and social characteristics, as well as disparities of healthcare outcomes through health utilization and social characteristics for elderly Asian Americans is highlighted.

First, due to the design of NHIS, this research was limited to fully present the needs and more characteristics of elderly Asian Americans. This shows the great need for a large scale, representative study for health behaviors of elderly Asian Americans. Second, in the dataset, the study was limited to explore health behaviors of elderly Asian Americans into each Asian ethnic subgroup. Since the culture of Asian Americans is heterogeneous, it is recommended that future research can explore differences and commonalities of the health behaviors between Asian subgroups. Third, based on the health behavioral model and the design of the dataset, this study was limited to illustrate variations of life experiences between both groups. These differences regarding their needs and desires for healthcare services and health outcomes can become an important foundation for service providers and policy makers to provide appropriate services that improve the quality of the later lives of elderly Asian Americans.

First, the study applied the health behavioral model and proved that the effect of healthcare utilization and social characteristics on health outcomes is greater for the US-born elderly Asian Americans than for the foreign-born. Second, this study confirmed that the healthcare services in US society are still beneficial for the health outcomes of elderly Asian Americans. Third, the study found that when family is used to explain the social behaviors of elderly Asian Americans, researchers need to be more careful to identify various family factors in accordance to its dynamics, such as interpersonal relationship, material supply, and emotional support.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of four different sport programs on various social and subjective health outcomes among prisoners.

Four different sport programs (endurance, strength, dance-like martial arts, soccer) were provided in 2020 and 2021 in a German prison. Participants completed paper-pencil surveys before and after the sport programs (n = 134 observations), including questions about potential social health (enjoyment of physical activity, interpersonal exchange, interpersonal trust, self-efficacy) and subjective health outcomes (health status, health satisfaction, well-being). Further information such as prisoner characteristics were added to the data.

Results of regression analyses show that the endurance program had a significant positive effect on interpersonal trust, while the soccer program had a negative effect. Subjective well-being increased significantly after the strength and the soccer program. The weekly sport hours before imprisonment had a positive association with enjoyment of physical activity and interpersonal exchange while being negatively related to health status and health satisfaction. Furthermore, the number of months of imprisonment before the survey, being a young offender, the prisoners’ body mass index, educational level and migration background were significantly associated with several social and subjective health outcomes.

This study analyzed the effects of different sport programs for prisoners on various social and subjective health outcomes, revealing differences across programs and outcomes. The findings suggest that sport can be a way to enhance prisoners’ social and subjective health, ultimately facilitating their rehabilitation process.

This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on the effects of remittances and the determinants of health outcomes by analysing for the first time the effect of remittances on health outcomes in developing countries using a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model.

This study uses panel data from 107 developing countries over the period from 1990 to 2018 to examine the effect of remittances on health outcome in developing countries.

The main findings from study is that remittances improve health outcomes in developing countries. Another finding of this study is that income, trade, foreign direct investment and financial devlopment improve health outcome.

The contribution of this study is fourfold. Firstly, it adopts the PVAR methodology in a Generalized Method of Moments framework proposed by Abrigo and Love (2016). Secondly, it analyses the implications of remittances on health outcomes by relying on two comprehensive measures of health outcomes commonly used in the literature which are life expectancy at birth and the rate of under-five mortality rates. Thirdly, we identify governance and maternal education as the channels through which remittances improve health outcomes in developing countries. Finally, the current paper covers an extensive time span (29 years) and focuses on a large sample (107 countries).

Despite the global attempt at achieving goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals by improving health outcomes, some countries (West African countries inclusive) still do not spend a significant proportion of their income on health and they exhibit health outcomes that are still far below that of developed countries. Besides countries like Nigeria, Chad and Guinea-Bissau are experiencing worsening insecurity and political instability. This study, therefore, examines the effect of health expenditure on three health outcomes in the West African sub-region, while investigating the effect of the quality of governance in this nexus.

This study conducts an instrumental variable approach (two-stage least squares regression) on a panel of 15 West African countries over the period 2000–2018. This study uses three proxies to measure health outcomes and six measures of the quality of governance were also considered.

The result of this study shows that all forms of health expenditures significantly influenced health outcomes. That is, there is a negative relationship between health expenditure, infant mortality and under-five mortality, but a positive relationship between health expenditure and life expectancy at birth. Besides, the general effect of the same quantity of public health spending is subject to the quality of governance because countries with a higher quality of governance benefit better from their public health spending.

This study, to the authors' knowledge, is the first empirical attempt to examine the role of governance in the health expenditure-health outcomes nexus in 15 ECOWAS countries, using different measures of health outcomes and governance.

An experiment was conducted to examine the relationship between patient satisfaction and patients’ freedom to choose a physician and the outcome of a health service encounter. Each construct with corresponding measurements is discussed and their relationship with satisfaction is reviewed. Hypotheses were developed and tested for each relationship using pencil and paper scenarios of a patient’s service encounter at a health clinic. The study yielded four major findings. First, patients who experienced a good health outcome were significantly more satisfied than patients who received a bad health outcome. Second, patient satisfaction ratings differed significantly only in the bad outcome condition, suggesting an outcome bias. Third, patients who were given the freedom to select a physician but did not receive their chosen physician were least satisfied. Fourth, there was no difference in satisfaction between patients who had a choice of physician and those who did not.

The purpose of this paper is to address a knowledge gap on advocacy outcomes from mental health service users’ perspective, and the implications for evaluating advocacy impact. The studies discussed highlight challenges for measuring the outcomes of advocacy, but underline the importance of doing so, and of involving service users alongside other stakeholders in co-designing evaluation systems.

The paper uses findings from three qualitative studies of independent advocacy involving focus groups and interviews with: 30 African and African Caribbean men who were mental health service users; 90 “qualifying patients” in a study of Independent Mental Health Advocate services; and nine young women in children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

A comparative analysis and synthesis of findings from three studies identifies four common dimensions: how mental health advocacy is conceptualised and understood; how service users define advocacy outcomes; wider impacts; and, user involvement in evaluating advocacy outcomes. Advocacy outcomes were conceptualised as increasing involvement, changing care and treatment and supporting personal development. There was evidence of advocacy acting to empower mental health service users, and of broader impacts on service regimes and policies. However, there was limited evidence of transformational impact. Evaluating advocacy outcomes is increasingly seen as important.

Few researchers have focused primarily on the perspectives of people using independent mental health advocacy, or on the experience of “advocacy as empowerment”, and none have done so across diverse groups. This analysis adds insight into the impact of independent advocacy. Data from empirical studies attest to the important role independent advocacy plays in modern mental health systems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlation among health outcomes, and civil and political rights (CPR) and also economic, social and cultural rights.

The study uses cross-sectional data from 161 countries. The authors use health outcomes and human rights variables in the model. In order to combine dimensions of human rights, this paper uses factor analysis and obtains proxy variables that measure economic, social and cultural rights and CPR. The two proxy variables are used as independent variables to explain variations in health in a regression model. The paper then classifies countries by cluster analysis and explores the patterns of different components of human rights and health outcomes across country clusters.

The regression model demonstrates that the economic, social and cultural rights variables explain variations in all health outcomes. The relationship between CPR and health is weaker than that of the economic, social and cultural rights. Cluster analysis further reveals that despite the country’s commitment to CPR, those that highly respect economic, social and cultural rights lead to superior health outcomes. The more respect a country has for economic, social and cultural rights, the better the health outcomes for the citizens of that country.

National policies should consider equal emphasis on all dimensions of human rights for further improvements in health.

The sole promotion of CPR such as democracy and empowerment, absence of adequate support of economic, social and cultural rights such as rights to housing, education, food and work can only contribute partially to health.

Understanding the outcomes of co-creation (CC) in healthcare is increasingly gaining multidisciplinary scientific interest. Although more and more service management scholars have pointed out the benefits of cross-fertilization between the various research fields, the literature on this topic is still scattered and poorly integrated. This study aims to summarize and integrate multiple strands of extant knowledge CC by identifying the outcomes of health CC and the determinants of these outcomes and their relationships.

A structured literature review was conducted per PRISMA guidelines. A total of 4,189 records were retrieved from the six databases; 1,983 articles were screened, with 161 included in the qualitative thematic analysis.

This study advances a comprehensive framework for healthcare CC based on a thorough analysis of the outcomes and their determinants, that is, antecedents, management activities and institutional context. Extant research rarely evaluates outcomes from a multidimensional and systemic perspective. Less attention has been paid to the relationship among the CC process elements.

This study offers an agenda to guide future studies on healthcare CC. Highlighting some areas of integration among different disciplines further advances service literature.

The framework offers an operational guide to better shape managerial endeavors to facilitate CC, provide direction and assess multiple outcomes.

This is the first extensive attempt to synthesize and integrate multidisciplinary knowledge on CC outcomes in healthcare settings by adopting a systematic perspective on the overall process.