Mental Health and Wellbeing and Unemployment

This article examines the relationship between mental health and wellbeing and unemployment utilising the 1995 National Health Survey (1995 NHS) and the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Adults (1997 SMHWB) data sets. Three indicators of mental health and wellbeing are adopted. The first is a psychological wellbeing measure derived from responses to questions included in the 1995 NHS on time felt down, happy, peaceful, and nervous (the SF-36 mental health scale). The second indicator relates to diagnoses of mental disorders including substance use disorders, affective disorders and anxiety disorders. Our final indicator relates to suicidal thoughts and plans and (unsuccessful) suicide attempts. On the basis of these measures, unemployed persons exhibit poorer mental health and wellbeing outcomes than the full-time employed.     

Does new health information affect health behaviour? The effect of health events on smoking cessation

This article empirically assesses the role of new health information in the decision to quit smoking. Using individual level data from the Swiss Household Panel, health information is proxied by three different types of health events: physical health problems, mental disorders, and accidents. Exploiting retrospectively reported information on smoking behaviour, smoking cessation is modelled using a discrete time hazard model that also accounts for estimation problems arising from almost quasi-complete separation in the data. The empirical results yield robust evidence that general health problems increase the probability of instantaneous smoking cessation. Differentiating between the type of health event reveals that the overall effect is mainly driven by physical health events.     

Valuing risk reductions: Incorporating risk heterogeneity into a revealed preference framework

Our study expands the hedonic wage framework to take advantage of the inherent differences in workplace deaths, both in type and probability of occurrence, and examines revealed preferences over these heterogeneous risks. We use data on all fatal workplace deaths in the US from 1992 to 1997 and develop risk rates that are differentiated by how the fatal injury occurred. Within sample tests of the equality of compensating wage differentials for heterogeneous risks indicate that we can reject aggregation of homicide risks with other sources of workplace fatalities. However, our results are not without qualification and highlight important nuances of the labor market as related to estimating compensating wage differentials for risks that have generally been ignored in the previous literature.     

A STOCHASTIC DYNAMIC MODEL OF THE MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN*

We estimate the parameters of a dynamic multiperiod model where parents with one child periodically decide whether their child uses mental health services. In this model, parents receive utility from household consumption and from their child's mental health. Mental health services may improve the child's mental health, but may be costly in terms of reduced household consumption and direct disutility. We find that mental health services can slightly improve a child's mental health, but the use of services accounts for a small fraction of the improvement of the mental health of the children in our sample.     

The impact of recent mental health changes on employment: new evidence from longitudinal data

This study uses longitudinal data and four different measures of mental health to tease out the impact of psychiatric disorder onsets and recoveries on employment outcomes. Results suggest that developing a mental health problem leads to a significant increase in the probability of transitioning to non-employment, while a recovery increases the probability of return to work among the not employed with a mental health problem. No consistent effect was found on hours worked and earnings. Research and policy attention is needed with respect to early interventions such as job retention programmes to help workers with mental health problems remain employed as well as interventions that may lead to recovery and return to work. More research is needed especially with data and models that can differentiate between the effects of mental health onsets and recoveries on employment exit and return to work transitions.     

Compensating wage differentials for job stress

Recent medical studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between mental stress and cardiac events such as myocardial infarction and stroke. In the workplace, stress once accounted for less than 5% of all occupational disease claims, but it now accounts for over 15%. Although research on the effects of mental stress is increasing, few studies offer an economic perspective. In this paper, we examine the effects of job stress on weekly wages and explore the possibility that stress commands a compensating wage differential. Our findings suggest that, ceteris paribus, a wage differential does exist between workers experiencing mental stress and their ‘non-stressed’ cohorts. After controlling for other demographic and occupational factors, we found a statistically significant wage premium ranging from 3 to 10% attributable to mental stress. In addition, the magnitude of the differential varies by gender.     

Recovery outcomes of schizophrenia patients treated with paliperidone palmitate in a community setting: patient and provider perspectives on recovery

Objectives:

This study evaluated the effect of paliperidone palmitate long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic on recovery-oriented mental health outcomes from the perspective of healthcare providers and patients during the treatment of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders.

Methods:

Archival data for patients with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder receiving ≥6 months of paliperidone palmitate LAI were retrieved from the electronic medical records system at the Mental Health Center of Denver. Mental health recovery was assessed from both a provider’s (Recovery Markers Inventory [RMI]) and patient’s (Consumer Recovery Measure [CRM]) perspective. A three-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) was utilized to determine changes in CRM and RMI scores by including independent variables in the models: intercept, months from treatment (slope), treatment time period (pretreatment and treatment), age, gender, primary diagnosis, substance abuse diagnosis, concurrent medications, and adherence to paliperidone palmitate LAI.

Results:

A total of 219 patients were identified and included in the study. Results of the final three-level HLMs indicated an overall increase in CRM scores (p?<?0.05), an overall increase (p?<?0.01), and an increased rate of change (p?<?0.05) in RMI scores during the paliperidone palmitate LAI treatment period vs the pre-treatment period.

Limitations:

This study contained a retrospective, non-comparative design, and did not adjust for multiplicity

Conclusions:

The current study demonstrates that changes in recovery-oriented mental health outcomes can be detected following the administration of a specific antipsychotic treatment in persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders. Furthermore, patients receiving paliperidone palmitate LAI can effectively improve recovery-oriented outcomes, thereby supporting the drug’s use as schizophrenia treatment from a recovery-oriented perspective.     

Broke,Ill, and Obese: Is There an Effect of Household Debt on Health?

We analyze the association between household indebtedness and different health outcomes using data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel from 1999 to 2009. We control for unobserved heterogeneity by applying fixed‐effects methods and furthermore use a subsample of constantly employed individuals plus lagged debt variables to reduce problems of reverse causality. We apply different measures of household indebtedness, such as the percentage shares of household income spent on consumer credit and home loan repayments (which indicate the severity of household indebtedness) and a binary variable of relative overindebtedness (which indicates a precarious debt situation). We find all debt measures to be strongly correlated with health satisfaction, mental health, and obesity. This relationship vanishes for obesity after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity while it stays significant with respect to worse physical and mental health.     

Introducing ‘Young Minds Matter’

Young Minds Matter: The second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing provides updated national prevalence estimates of mental disorders in children and adolescents and measures the burden and impact of these disorders and the use of services and unmet need for services in the health and education sectors. The field work for Young Minds Matter included face‐to‐face interviews with the primary carer of 6,310 children and adolescents aged 4–17 years who were randomly selected from across Australia. This article describes the survey, the response rates achieved and the representativeness of the sample.     

Unexpected windfalls,education, and mental health: evidence from lottery winners in Germany

This paper investigates the causal impact of large unexpected windfalls on individual mental health, physical health, as well as health behaviors. I use a large individual-level panel data set of lottery winners from Germany between the years 2000 and 2011 and observe lottery winners before and after winning a large lottery prize. Mental health declines immediately after winning a large lottery prize for individuals with low education and low levels of financial literacy. While these individuals report being happier after winning the lottery, evidence from commonly used SF-12 measures of mental health indicates that winners with low education experience increased role limitations due to emotional problems, are more anxious, and have less energy after their win. The impact on various measures of mental health is highly robust, statistically significant, economically significant, and persists for up to two years after the win. Unexpected windfalls have no impact on the mental health of individuals with high education or high financial literacy. Winning the lottery has no impact on individuals’ health behaviors such as smoking or alcohol consumption, and it has no impact on doctor visits, hospital stays, or illness-related work absences regardless of education level.     

Out-of-pocket health care expenditure in Turkey: Analysis of the 2003–2008 Household Budget Surveys

This paper analyses the prevalence of ‘catastrophic’ out-of-pocket health expenditure in Turkey and identifies the factors which are associated with its risk using the Turkish Household Budget Surveys from 2003 to 2008. A sample selection approach based on Sartori (2003) is adopted to allow for the potential selection problem which may arise if poor households choose not to seek health care due to concerns regarding its affordability. The results suggest that poor households are less likely to seek health care as compared to non-poor households and that a negative relationship between poverty and experiencing catastrophic health expenditure remains even after allowing for such selection bias. Our findings, which may assist policy-makers concerned with health care system reforms, also highlight factors such as insurance coverage, which may protect households from the risk of incurring catastrophic health expenditure.     

Behavioral health benefits: key to a healthy workforce

Mental disorders exact a heavier toll on workplace productivity than do physical illnesses, but a complete behavioral health program is often looked upon as just one more driver of rate increases. Properly understood, promoted and utilized, however, behavioral health benefits can contribute to decreased absenteeism and increased productivity, and even help offset the treatment costs of medical disorders.     

浅论大学生的网络心理问题与调适方法

网络给当代大学生的生活带来了巨大的变化,它开阔了大学生的视野,拓展了他们的活动空间。但是,虚拟的网络社会也给大学生的心理带来了严峻的负面影响：网络综合症、网恋、网婚、网上暴力等各种问题接踵而来。关注大学生网络心理健康,探讨大学生网络心理问题及调节方法,是高校心理健康教育工作者义不容辞的责任。     

The transmission of partner mental health to individual life satisfaction: Estimates from a longitudinal household survey

This paper investigates the relationship between partner's mental health and individual life satisfaction, using panel data and calculating the monetary valuation of mental illness. Accounting for measurement error and endogeneity of income, partners' mental health has a significant association with individual well-being. The additional income needed to compensate someone living with a partner with a mental condition is substantial (ranges between USD 33,000 and USD 50,000). Further, individuals do not show adaptation to partners' mental illness. The results have implications for policy-makers wishing to value the effects of policies that aim to impact on mental health and levels of well-being.     

厦门市社区卫生服务机构用药情况分析

目的：了解厦门市社区卫生服务机构用药现状及存在的主要问题并提出建议。方法：抽取厦门市的8个社区卫生服务中心和12个社区卫生服务站的门诊处方,统计分析每100张处方中的用药个数,含静脉点滴、激素、抗生素以及二联以上抗生素的处方数量,并对其主要影响因素进行分析。结果：厦门市社区卫生服务机构每100张处方平均用药数为246．80个,100张处方中平均含静脉点滴处方14．30张,激素处方4．50张,抗生素处方4（）．50张,二联以上抗生素处方7．55张。结论：厦门市社区卫生服务机构抗生素、激素的使用存在着不合理的趋势,社区卫生服务机构用药情况存在一定的地区差异。建议提高卫生行政部门对不合理用药问题的重视,加强对社区医师合理用药知识的培训,发挥执业药师的作用,加强对社区居民合理用药知识的健康教育。     

An Economic Analysis of Yard Care and Synthetic Chemical Use: The Case of San Francisco

Yard care is an economically important household production activity that also has potentially significant environmental or health impacts. Of particular concern are the possible negative impacts of using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. But economic models and empirical analyses of yard care and chemical use are rare. We develop a simple model of household production and consumption to analyze yard care and chemical use. We then estimate a multinomial logit model of these behavioral choices with household data from San Francisco. Attitudes towards the quality of one's outdoor residential environment and time scarcity are important determinants of the odds of chemical use whereas financial variables play the major role in determining the odds that people have and care for yards. These results could help to improve educational or marketing campaigns that aim to reduce potential or actual problems associated with yard chemical use. Better data for models similar to this one are needed for future research.     

浅析大众健美操的健身价值

大众健美操是一项融体操、音乐和舞蹈于一体,通过徒手或使用健美器械,达到健身和健心目的的一种新兴体育项目,是促进锻炼者身心健康的手段,具有重要的体育价值。对大众健美操的价值从健身价值,健心价值和娱乐价值三个方面进行研究。     

Mindshift: The mental revolution we are in

It is by now a commonplace to say that today the world is in the midst of a revolution as profound as any we have ever experienced. It is, however, much less of a commonplace to specify precisely of what this revolution consists. The contention of this article is that the revolution is more than a mere shift in our industrial or technological base. Fundamentally, it is a change in underlying mental attitudes—how we conceive of the world. It is thus a shift in our values but at the same time much more basic than this alone.This article describes the nature of the change that is occuring in mental attitudes. However, it does not do so in a traditional way. Primarily, it does it by means of a fable. The reason is that the shift we are experiencing is also in part a shift in our aesthetic vision, that is, in the styles of discourse that we use to describe reality. In short, different conceptions of the world require different stylistic forms. The full nuances of a new era can not be captured by the forms of the past.     

Does health insurance reduce illness-related worker absenteeism?

The objective of this article is to examine whether having health insurance reduces illness-related absenteeism among older workers. A nationally representative sample of 1780 workers in the United States, aged 52–64, are drawn from the 2004–2006 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Binary logistic regressions and censored Tobit models are estimated for workers’ likelihood of missing work days due to illness and the number of illness-related work days missed, respectively, while explicitly addressing the possibility of insurance-selection effects. The findings suggest that over a 12-month period, older workers without health insurance are as likely as insured workers to miss work days due to illness and there are no differences in the number of days missed between insured and uninsured workers. However, there is strong evidence that poor baseline health, onset of new diseases and longer hospitalization significantly increase an older worker's absenteeism at work. These results suggest that having health insurance does not affect illness-related absenteeism among older workers in the US. Future research examining other aspects of worker productivity, such as ‘presenteeism’, and the longer term effects of insurance on productivity can extend our understanding of the role of health insurance in the workplace.