The H70 longitudinal study of aging, Göteborg, Sweden is used to empirically test the compression of morbidity theory advanced by. We reconceptualize compression as postponement of morbidity in the sense of decreasing amounts of illness for increasingly long life spans. Operationally, morbidity is defined as the average number of hospital days in the last year of life. The date of death and the date of 1-year prior to death define the risk period. The linear regression model with age at death, age at death squared, year of birth, and sex are statistically significant with the oldest having the fewest hospital days. The findings offer partial support for the compression of morbidity theory.

This paper reports the results of a cross-national comparison of the ‘H70’ longitudinal study of elders in Gothenburg, Sweden, with the ‘Rural Missouri Elders’ longitudinal study in Missouri, USA. Analysis of the combined data sets focused on the question of how longevity was affected by culturally divergent forms of social network participation. The H70 study was a representative, systematic 3/10 sample of 70-year-old (in 1971) men and women living in Gothenburg. Follow-up data was gathered when the respondents were 75, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 88, 90 and 95 years of age. Face-to-face interviews and physical medical examinations were the major source of data. The Missouri study involved a representative cluster proportional-to-size sample of all rural Missourians 65 years of age and older. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 1966, 1974 and 1987. Logistic regression and cross-tabular analyses revealed that social networks were important predictors of longevity for both samples. However, marital status and participation in formal organizations predicted longevity for the Americans, whereas contact with children emerged as the predictor variable for the Swedes. Specific functions of the different network patterns in the two countries are discussed.

The study design is a 20-year panel of 1700 rural elderly individuals who were interviewed in 1966, 1974 and in 1986-1987. The dependent variable was survival time. Proportional hazards and time dependent covariates were used to analyze the data, Gender differences in survival were explored, Participation in formal social networks predicted survival time. The findings support Durkheim's theory of social integration and call into question genetic differences as the explanation for the differential survival time of men and women.

The problem of predicting mortality among rural elderly (65 years and older) living independently is examined using 20-year panel data derived from a random multistage cluster sample. Fifteen independent variables, including social networks, age, sex, and health status, were hypothesized on theoretical and empirical grounds to predict mortality. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with the same respondents in 1966, 1974, and 1986/87. Logistic regression establishes that a model comprising age, sex, participation in formal organizations, relative and children association, and general health status is a powerful predictor of mortality. The authors conclude that the more heterogeneous formal, or secondary, social networks which may enhance self esteem are most functional for the elderly.

This paper is based on in-depth interviews with members of Sweden's medical interest groups involved in a national effort to control health care costs. Sweden is faced with escalating costs due primarily to a growing high technology hospital sector. Simultaneously, consumer demand for primary care services and for gerontological care is rising rapidly. The Swedish way of changing the health care system is described and an analysis of the power struggle between physicians, health care bureaucrats and politicians is presented.

This paper reviews the work of the Swedish Commission of Inquiry formed in 1975 to propose a new law governing medical care. Based on interviews with commission members, the interests and goals of participating groups are identified. These are compared to the outcome as published in the final report in 1980. Consumer interests gained few of their objectives, while physicians gained almost all of theirs. For others, results were mixed.

Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Paul Reynolds; Commentary on "Institutional Review Boards and Clandestine Research: An Experimental Test". Human Organization 1 March 1983; 42 (1): 87–89. doi: https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.42.1.q307417624l18542 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest Search

This research focuses on the political system behind the reforms now being instituted in the Swedish medical care system. Particular attention is paid to the competition among key medical care interest groups for control of a reorganized system.

Through a longitudinal study of neighborhood health centers for the poor in the United States, this paper presents an analysis of the political economy of change within reform organizations. In the final accounting, we seek to explain the shift in the role of poor people participating in health care decision making from that of program developer and change agent to the role of program restrictor. We conceptualize the neighborhood health center (NHC) as a reform organization whose initial objective was to use health care as a tool for achieving political and economic development within low-income rural and urban communities. The analysis, based on a prospective study of NHCs between 1965 and 1977, using interviews with citizen board members, NHC project administrators, NHC physicians, HEW decision elites, and oral history interviews with former Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) administrators and directors, exemplifies the generic social organizational problem of how social, political, economic, and ideological forces shape the emergence and performance of a new reform organization.

Journal Article Conflict, Consensus and Exchange Get access Richard M. Hessler, Richard M. Hessler University of Missouri, Columbia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Peter Kong-Ming New, Peter Kong-Ming New University of Toronto—Harvard University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Jude Thomas May Jude Thomas May University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social Problems, Volume 27, Issue 3, 1 February 1980, Pages 320–329, https://doi.org/10.2307/800250 Published: 05 August 2014

Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Richard Hessler, Peter New, J. May; Power, Exchange, and the Research-Development Link. Human Organization 1 December 1979; 38 (4): 334–342. doi: https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.38.4.br53p12j3240787m Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest Search

This paper reports the results of a survey of 200 households in Boston's Chinatown. The dependent variable, types of medical care, was divided into four user patterns: (1) Chinese medicine only; (2) predominantly Western medicine; (3) predominantly Chinese medicine; and (4) equal use of Western and Chinese medicine. Predictor variables included demographic variables, beliefs about medical practices, and ethnic solidarity. Multiple discriminate analysis was used as the main technique of analysis.The findings suggest that a significant diversity of user patterns exists within the Chinese-American community studied. This finding casts doubt on those studies which treat ethnic groups as uniform structures. More interestingly, predictor variables were discovered which account for the type of care used, either Chinese medicine, Western medicine, or combinations. Finally, the predictor variables for male respondents were not the predictors for females. Ethnic solidarity, for example, was an important predictor f...

Increasingly, investigators who undertake community research are held accountable not only by their peers in academic and research organizations but also by the residents in the community where research is being done. Responsive researchers are paying much more attention to the problems of entry and of ethics as related to community studies.Whatever the validity or justification put forward by the community, unless the research person takes the time to understand the process that leads to such feelings, there is a good possibility that no research on current pressing social problems can be done. This paper reports on a session organized at the April, 1972 Society for Applied Anthropology meetings, which attempted to bring together community residents and research investigators to discuss findings of three community studies as well as strategies of research. This paper consists of four parts: (1) summaries of three formal papers; (2) discussion of strategies and ethics of community research; (3) problems o...

a southern United States city. The framework of analysis includes the following two elements: (1) structure-the context or setting in which the participates, including goals and purposes of the health center, organization of the center, and the funding mechanism; (2) processincluding the health center's operations and the role of consumers. For the past seven years, the notion of maximum feasible has surfaced dramatically in the United States in a number of spheres of activities ranging from education to health. Regarding community health centers and neighborhood schools, participation is sometimes used co-terminously with and is often undifferentiated from consumer or community. Thus, we sometimes talk about citizen or control when we really mean or we talk about community control when we really mean community involvement or (Hollister 1970). When, therefore, we examine the effectiveness of citizen or citizen control, we have not considered the basic assumption under which a program has been promulgated. Are citizens really supposed to participate, in an advisory capacity, or do they have the ultimate control over all policy matters regarding the program? In either case, what is the nature of public accountability associated with in health care? Since many federally-funded programs operate through a series of sponsoring or delegated agencies (such as medical societies, for example, who in turn may delegate authority of running these programs