Contraceptive Choice and Reproductive Health──A Survey Report on Reproductive Health in Hunan

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Why don’t the Dutch use quality information in their hospital choice? Results from a survey among 479 patients from a Dutch hospital

Information about the quality of hospitals is becoming increasingly available for patients in the Netherlands. Consequently, patients are able to make an informed hospital choice. However, previous research reveals that patients do not or barely use quality information in their hospital choice. This is puzzling from the perspective of the demand-driven health care system, which considers patients as rational health consumers, capable of making independent choices. This article is meant to study why the Dutch patients do not use quality information. In order to answer this question, patients with nonacute ailments visiting the hospital clinics of several departments of a Dutch hospital were asked to fill in a self-administered questionnaire about their hospital choice and use of quality information. A total of 479 patients were included in the sample. The response rate was 81.9%. The results show that 5.2% of the respondents had actually seen quality information and 4.0% had used it in their hospital choice. Logistic regression analysis was carried out in order to explain why some patients use quality information and some do not. This analysis shows that nonusers compared to users are more frequently females, were older, have relatively more trust in their GP’s and distrust quality information more often.

Contraceptive Choice and Reproductive Health:A Survey Report in Rural Hunan

A survey on women's contraceptive choice and repro-ductive health in rural areas of Hunan Province was joi ntly conducted in 1996 by the Chi na Population Information and Research Centre(CPIRC)and the Fami ly planning Com-mission of Hunan Province.It was designed to study the rela ti onship between contraceptive choice and reproductive health of women in the provi nce and particularly the di ffer-ent impacts of active chioce(of one's own choice)and pas-sive choice(recommended by family planning cadres)on reproductive health.

“What are you interested in?”—A survey on 601 nursing homes residents activities interests

Lack of engagement in activities is a common feature of nursing homes residents. As apathy is the most frequent behavioural disturbance, understanding residents’ interests is a milestone for tailored challenging interventions targeting engagement enhancement. Objective: To depict the activities interests of nursing homes residents. Method: An electronic version of the Test of Interest “TILT” which regroups 40 images of activities has been developed and adapted for the Ipad. Residents were asked to answer by yes or no to the question “are you interested by this activity”, for each activity found interesting, the patient had then to categorize it in either Work/ occupation-Personal-Leisure-Family. Population: A total of 601 residents from 19 nursing homes have completed the survey from March to May 2011. The surveyed nursing homes from the South East of France were comparable of nursing homes figures in France. Results: We interviewed 601 individuals (female, n = 484) aged 85.9 years, out of those, 56% had stayed more than one year in an institution. Nearly half of the population (45.3%) was from 80 - 89 year of age, followed by 36.1% from 90 - 99. The educational background was principally from primary school (36%) and high school (30.8%). Most of the residents were classified has having dementia (35.3%). From the 40 activities presented to each participant, “enjoying a good meal” has been found to be the most interesting activity by 83% of the population followed by “dressing up”, 75.9% and “watching TV”, 75.5%. Female participants reported more interest in place of worship, family pictures and being with grand children then males (p < 0.01). We found that the presence of “dementia” diagnosis” triggered the lack of interest compared to none demented or none cognitively impaired residents (p < 0.01). It was found that participants aged 55 - 69 were more the most interested to do video games (p < 0.05), though this may be interpreted as a positive step toward functional and cognitive rehabilitation program using virtual reality as a mean for intervention.

Transportation Users’ Attitudes and Choices of Ride-Hailing Services in Two Cities with Different Attributes

The rapid technological developments in the 21st century created new opportunities for shared-use economy applications around the globe. Among other services, Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft emerged in the US as a transportation alternative that offered a higher level of availability, reliability, and convenience than traditional modes. However, TNCs deployment was also blamed for increases in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in large cities that embraced TNC services early on. Concerns about TNC adoption are also magnified by the current controversy in policy and legislation as to the regulation of TNCs. These new realizations create a need to examine the transportation users’ attitudes and perceptions regarding ride-hailing service, after nearly a decade of service in the Unites States market. In doing so, this paper compares and contrasts results from two recently completed studies aiming at creating links between socio-demographic factors and TNC use. The paper describes the methods employed to collect the data and presents findings from the analysis of 790 users’ responses in the Birmingham, AL and Miami Beach, FL markets. The study documents preferences and attitudes toward TNCs and highlights similarities and differences in travel behaviors related to local considerations. Moreover, the study uses the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (Lasso) method to identify predictors for TNC use based on the users’ responses in Birmingham and Miami Beach case studies. Vehicle availability and waiting time emerged as the only significant predictors for the Birmingham region whereas vehicle ownership, vehicle use, residency, and prior use of transit and TNC where some of the predictors identified for the Miami Beach area. Understanding the characteristics of TNC users and the leading reasons that drive people towards the use of TNCs services is expected to help transportation agencies and TNC providers in their efforts to plan for transportation services that meet customer needs in the future.

Analysis of Transportation Users’ Preferences and Attitudes for Identifying Micro-Level Determinants of Transportation Network Companies’ (TNCs) Growth

Over the last decade, the popularity of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) as a mode of travel has been increasing at a steady pace. This trend highlights the importance of identifying the determinants that influence transportation users to adopt TNCs as a preferred mode choice and the impacts of such preferences on their travel patterns and transportation network operation. This paper reports on a recent study undertaken in Birmingham, AL aiming at understanding and documenting the factors that influence transportation users to select TNCs (such as Uber/Lyft) for completing typical day trips. In doing so, a travel diary questionnaire survey was developed in accordance with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Manual on Transportation Engineering Studies using the Qualtrics Research Core platform. The questionnaire was used to survey over 450 transportation users in the Birmingham Metro area. The survey participants provided detailed trip information for a typical 24-hr day along with demographic data and travel preference information. The survey responses provide high-resolution micro-level indicators of travel preferences and behaviors in a TNC-served area, which is a much-needed type of information for researchers and transportation planning agencies.

Predicting Changes in Transportation Usage and Reductions in CO<SUB>2</SUB>Emissions Due to Electric Cars

Reductions in CO2 emissions have a significant effect on the transportation sector, and there is increasing interest in developing green cars such as electric cars. To prepare for the advent of the electric car era, it will be necessary to predict the increase in electricity demand owing to the spread of electric cars and determine the policy approaches. Therefore, the analysis was performed to promote the use of electric car that helps reduce CO2 emissions. This study establishes a mode choice model using the stated preference method. To improve the predictive power of the model, some revealed preference data were also examined to consider the characteristics of the commuters and the extent of current electric car technology to determine and verify the parameters of the mode choice models. This was used to estimate changes in CO2 emissions owing to the introduction of electric cars and present effective policy approaches to reduce CO2 emissions.