Current Clients Research Articles

Chronic hepatitis B management in six South Australian Aboriginal community controlled health services.

Chronic hepatitis B is a significant public health issue; however, there is limited understanding of the engagement in primary health care of Aboriginal people living with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). To better understand the management of CHB, diagnostic reports and case note audits were conducted in six South Australian Aboriginal community controlled health services. The audits covered the initial assessment, CHB monitoring, and hepatocellular carcinoma screening. The initial assessment was reviewed by auditing client clinical records for the first 12months from the date of diagnosis, whereas CHB monitoring and hepatocellular carcinoma screening were determined by auditing a 12-month sample period (January to December 2019). Associations with CHB monitoring were determined using a Chi-squared test and Fisher's exact test P -values, as appropriate. There were 50 current clients with a diagnosis of CHB at the time of the audit (January 2020). Testing was incomplete for the initial assessment, CHB monitoring and hepatocellular carcinoma screening. There were significant associations between the increased likelihood of accessing monitoring and the number of times a person attended an Aboriginal community controlled health service, accessing care in a more remote region, having a documented recall and having a GP management plan containing CHB. Through providing evidence of significant associations between having a recall set and GP management plans with increased uptake of disease monitoring, this study has highlighted areas for improvement in clinical management.

Providing guideline-recommended preventive cardiovascular care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women: exploring gender differences with a medical record review in primary health care.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the premature burden of cardiovascular disease is affecting their capacity to fulfil roles in society, and promote the health and wellbeing of future generations. In Australia, there is limited understanding of the difference in primary preventive cardiovascular care experienced by women, despite knowledge of sex and gender differentials in health profile and receipt of guideline-based acute care. This paper sought to explore the health profile and receipt of assessment and management of cardiovascular risk for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women accessing preventive primary health care, and investigate gender differentials. Records of 1200 current clients, 50% women, aged 18-74years from three Aboriginal Health Services in central and South Australia for the period 7/2018-6/2020 were reviewed. Twelve percent had documented cardiovascular disease. Compared with men, women with no recorded cardiovascular disease had a greater likelihood of being overweight or obese, a waist circumference indicative of risk, diabetes, and depression. Women were less likely to report being physically active. The research concluded that gaps exist in the provision and recording of guideline-recommended primary preventive care regardless of sex. These are stark, given the evident burden.

Perceptions of gender bias among members of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners in bovine practice in the United States in 2018

The objective of this study was to gather perceptions of gender bias and the factors that influence gender bias in bovine veterinary practice. A web-based survey regarding perceptions related to gender bias encountered in clinical practice settings was made available electronically to the members of the American Association of Bovine Practitio-ners. There were 207 survey respondents (99 women and 108 men), and the population was closely split between those graduating in 2000 or before (48.8%) and those graduating in 2001 or after (51.2%). Survey responses about those experiencing client or employer-generated gender bias in their current practice, and in the first year of practice, were categorized to binary (yes/no) from ordinal responses (0-10 scales). Logistic models were utilized to analyze potential associations between perceptions of client or employer-generated gender bias with relevant respondent factors including gender, year of graduation (categorized as <1990, 1990-2000, 2001-2010, 2011-2017), pre-college community size (categorized as <1,000-5,000, 5,001-50,000, >50,000), post-college community size (cat-egorized as <1,000-5,000, 5,001-50,000, >50,000), food animal background (yes/no), practice activities (categorized as Exclusively Beef/Dairy; Mixed Practice, mostly beef/dairy, Mixed Practice, no beef/dairy), and if the respondent was the first of their gender in the practice (yes/no). Women graduating before 1990 were less likely to observe current client gender bias than those graduating in 2011-2017. Men were more similar throughout with those graduating before 1990 seeing slightly less current client gender bias than those graduating in 2011-2017. Graduation year was associated with increased risk of client gender bias over time, with those graduating before 1990 experiencing less client gender bias in the first year of practice than those graduating in 2011-2017. Women observed more client gender bias in the first year of practice compared to men. There were no significant associations with employer gender bias in their current practice, but employer gender bias in the first year of practice was found to be significantly associated with respondent gender. Men were roughly half as likely to observe employer gender bias in the first year of practice compared to women. Gender and graduation year were significantly associated with client and employer gender bias encountered in the current practice and in the first year of practice. The results support the conclusion that gender bias is encountered by our veterinary colleagues, with more bias perceived by more recently graduated women.

Downward spirals to vulnerability

One of the most frequently voiced concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is ‘not to forget the vulnerable groups in society’. Social workers occupy a privileged position with a view to mapping such vulnerabilities, their complex interrelations, and the processes that increase the risk of falling victim to them. Therefore, in order for policy interventions aimed at mitigating negative impact on vulnerable groups to be effective, it is important to gain an in-depth insight into the first hand experiences and concomitant concerns of social workers. The main aim of this article is to describe and categorize the main concerns social workers had about their clients a few weeks into Belgium’s first wave of the pandemic. The data used derive from a large scale online survey taken among social workers in Flanders and the Brussels region in April/May 2020, closely following the lockdown on 18 March. Thematic coding analysis was used to analyse textual answers with regard to concerns about current clients. Concerns fall into six main categories, the most important one being direct concerns about the safety and wellbeing of clients in the context of various life domains (physical and mental health, family, work, education, social networks, housing, financial and material wealth), apart from concerns about communication issues more in general, about changes in the interactional dynamics between social worker and client, the effects of lockdown related changes to forms of social help, about very specific vulnerable groups, and, lastly, about the resilience of the social work sector. Analysis of the connections between concerns also enables us to reconstruct several chains of events that may result in specific (reinforced) vulnerabilities. If policy interventions aim to be attentive to such vulnerabilities, taking stock of these chains of events is of paramount importance.

Patientperspectives from the multi-disciplinary chronic pain clinic: a qualitative study.

Aim: The chronic pain clinic (CPC) is a multi-disciplinary program that incorporates pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods, including First Nations healing strategies, to manage pain, improve functioningand reduce opioid misuse among patients with chronic pain in Regina, Canada. Materials & methods: The care experiences of ten current clients were explored using a narrative interview approach. Results: The CPC provides high-quality and safe care for effective chronic pain management. Clients noted pain reduction and improvements in sleep, mobility, functionality, and mood. First Nation clients emphasized the importance of traditional healing strategies. Conclusion: This unique comprehensive multi-modal approach which incorporates First Nations healing strategies is effective in supporting the unique needs of local clients.

E-SERVICES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ON THE BASIS OF THE POLISH SOCIAL INSURANCE INSTITUTION (ZUS)

The term e-services refers to such services that are delivered over the Internet and their rendition is frequently automated and remote. Apart from the Internet, an e-service may also be provided by means of mobile devices or television. The wider and wider range of e-services is offered by institutions from the public administration sector, striving to anticipate their client's expectations (especially those of the younger generation) and using the ongoing digitisation process. This study aims at presenting the role and opinions of e-service in one of the social insurance institutions, i.e. Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) where numerous electronic tools have been implemented facilitating work and enabling clients to make contact, get information, send and receive documents. All these efforts are made so as to increase accessibility for prospective and current clients as well as to make the institution's operations more efficient. To achieve this, the following research methods were used: a critical analysis of the literature, an analysis of statistical data, an analysis of survey results (conducted by ZUS), and a survey questionnaire (own research).

Right information at the right time: Reevaluating the attitude–behavior gap in environmental technology adoption

This paper examines the impact of information on sustainable technology adoption behavior and decisions. Data from a sample of current and potential clients of a large retailer of photovoltaics (PV) systems is used to study how different information sources and different information channels affect both the intention to adopt and the actual purchasing decision of the customers. This research challenges the notion that providing more information always supports the adoption of environmental technologies. Drawing upon innovation diffusion theories and the theory of sustainable consumer behavior change, this analysis indicates that different information types and different channels have different effects. This research also finds that the impact of information changes throughout the adoption process, as potential technology adopters move from being indifferent to developing sustainable attitude, and then from displaying sustainable attitude to actually making an adoption decision. Generic information facilitates the development of sustainable attitude, but it is relatively ineffective in supporting adoption. Likewise, information obtained from commercial channels supports sustainable attitude, but it does not increase the likelihood of displaying sustainable behavior. Only information obtained from unbiased third party sources favors adoption. This research contributes to clarifying the “attitude–behavior gap” in the context of environmental technology adoption; while the findings have critical implications for policymakers and technology providers in optimizing their marketing strategies and information campaigns to promote new environmental technologies.

EVALUATION OF CUSTOMER RELATION MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BANK OF PAKISTAN

Purpose of the Study: The study pertains to the knowledge, management and the creativity of the banking sector. It has been examined by the survey of primary data from the perspective of the customer’s security and confidence of relationship building with public and private institutions. Therefore, the issue has been revisited to explore the variance between the application of customer relationship management in private and public banks.
 Methodology: The number of the respondents, 249, including the depositors and borrowers, has been taken from the total universe of the population of selected list of the public and private banks branches of Hyderabad with a 95% reasonable level of confidence. To examine the data, a simple Independent T-Test was applied to find the variance between the variables. Findings: The empirical result p=<0.05 indicates there is a variance between the carry out customer relationship management in the public and private banks. Private banks are more aggressively practicing their ideas in comparison to local banks.
 Applications of this Study: The study will be useful for the students of commerce and business studies to understand the concept and evaluate practices of CRM in the service sector and for the management and staff related to the service sector for business development and career development.
 Novelty and originality of the work: The study will contribute more in the dynamic expansion in the business activities, particularly in the service sector of Pakistan, to operate, maintain and startup a profitable business for a longer period which is mutually beneficial for management, staff and customers. While the service sector in Pakistan facing the issues in business decision making with respect to CRM practices such as to retain current and future profitable client providing quality services

The Relevance of Religion and Spirituality to Mental Health: A National Survey of Current Clients' Views.

Despite a growing interest in the relationship between religion and spirituality (RS) and mental health across helping professions, less is known about clients' perceived relevance of these areas. This article describes the development and validation of the Relevance of Religion and Spirituality to Mental Health (RRSMH) scale, and responses to the first national survey of clients' perceived relevance of RS to mental health. Specifically, a sample of 989 U.S. adults who saw a mental health care provider in the last month responded to an online survey that included 27 new items to measure clients' perceptions of the relevance of RS to mental health, both positive and negative. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the sample's data had an adequate fit to the final 12-item model, and the instrument's overall reliability was very good (α = .96). Descriptive analyses indicated that clients view RS as both supportive and relevant to their mental health. The RRSMH scale may be used in mental health research and practice settings. Authors recommend that RS be assessed and included in treatment planning, where appropriate, and addressed in training for mental health professionals.

ATA2021ATA2021 Annual Conference & Expo(Virtual*)Tuesdays and Thursdays in June 2021(ABSTRACTS)

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Current Mental Health Clients’ Attitudes Regarding Religion and Spirituality in Treatment: A National Survey

Over the last several years, there has been a growing interest in clients’ views toward integrating their religion and spirituality (RS) into mental health treatment. However, most of these studies have been limited to small samples and specific populations, regions, and/or clinical issues. This article describes the first national survey of current mental health clients across the US regarding their attitudes towards integrating their RS in treatment using a revised version of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale-Client Attitudes, version 2 (RSIPAS-CAv2) with a sample of 989 clients. Our findings indicate mental health clients have overwhelmingly positive attitudes regarding integrating their RS into mental health treatment. Additionally, we explored what background characteristics predict clients’ attitudes toward this area of practice and found the top predictor was their intrinsic religiosity, followed by whether they had previously discussed RS with their current provider, age, gender, organized and non-organized religious activities, belief in God/Higher Power, and frequency of seeing their mental health provider. The reliability and validity of the RSIPAS-CAv2 was also explored and this scale is recommended for future use. Implications and recommendations for practice, research, and future training efforts are discussed.

LOPE: A Low‐Overhead Payment Verification Method for Blockchains

With its characteristics of decentralization, security, data traceability, and tamper-resistance, the blockchain has been widely used in various domains. Considering the difference in the performance of the devices, the light client is proposed so that devices without the ability to store a full blockchain copy can also participate in the blockchain transactions. However, the light client has to communicate with full nodes and verify the authenticity of a transaction which brings in some extent of communication, computation, and storage overheads to the light client. These overheads cannot be ignored for some low-performance devices, such as embedded devices or IoT chips, and therefore the current light client scheme does not work in this situation. We propose LOPE (a Low-overhead payment vErification method) for poor-capacity nodes in the blockchain system. In LOPE, a grouping protocol is designed to partition full nodes into groups to serve the verification requests of the light client. In addition, Practical byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) is used to ensure the light client to get a credible result in spite of a few dishonest nodes existing in the group. We conduct LOPE and evaluate it in a testbed. The experiment results show that LOPE reduces more than half of the communication overhead, degrades the computation overhead of the light client to a large extent, and avoids the storage overhead of the hash roots of block headers in the light client. We also conduct theoretical analysis to show the performance improvement and security issues of LOPE.

Suicidality among children and youth in Nordic child welfare services: A systematic review

AbstractExisting research has established child welfare (CW) clients as a vulnerable group for developing negative life trajectories, including mental health problems, work‐ and education‐related challenges and premature mortality. Knowledge of later life conditions including suicidality of clients within child welfare services (CWS) in the Nordic countries is scarce. The overall aim is therefore to gain updated knowledge on how children and youth who have received or are receiving CWS interventions from the Nordic CWS fare in relation to suicidality. The population, intervention, comparator, outcome (PICO) framework guided the search through five multidisciplinary bibliographical databases. The population were former and current CWS clients; comparators were from the general population. Six cohort studies were identified (i.e., one Finnish study and five studies from Sweden), all showing evidence of a significantly elevated risk for suicide and suicide attempt in former CWS clients. CWS clients systematically fare worse concerning suicide and suicide attempt compared to their peers from the general population. In particular, former CWS clients should be recognized as being at high risk for suicide and suicidal behaviour later in life. These findings have substantial implications for CWS practice and service delivery regarding long‐term follow‐up.

An Invitation Regarding Law and Legal Education, and Imagining the Future

This Essay consists of an invitation to participate in conversations about the future of legal education in ways that integrate rather than distinguish several threads of concern and revision that have emerged over the last decade. Conversations about the future of legal education necessarily include conversations about the future of law practice, legal services, and law itself. Some of those start with the somewhat stale questions: What are US law professors doing, what should they be doing, and why? Those questions are still relevant and important, but they are no longer the only relevant questions, and they are not the only places to start. What about other legal educators, meaning those who teach and train in legal services worlds but who don’t teach the professional practice of law or the delivery of traditional legal services? What about those who are involved deeply in the production and distribution of law, legal services, and legal information but who are not, themselves, lawyers? Why start with current teachers; why not start with current or future students, or current or future clients, or current or future institutions, or current or future sets of values? Expand the communities of interest and identities of potential participants not only beyond elite US law schools, and not only beyond the private law firms that constitute BigLaw, but also beyond the US and beyond North America. The invitation goes out, in short, to a much broader audience than US law professors, and it is framed in broad but pragmatic terms.

Marriage and Family Therapists’ Reporting of Telehealth Use on Practice Websites during COVID-19: A Linguistic Analysis

Clinicians may have to adapt their online marketing and engagement strategies to convey messages regarding COVID-19 and telehealth appointments for current and potential clients. This study reports the results of a linguistic inquiry of ways therapists presented telehealth services, advertised on their professional websites in six cities in the United States, during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Results of the analysis indicated that while MFTs use positive emotional tone in their language, the authenticity scores were poor. Dimensions of Clout and analytical language scored high. This suggests that MFTs use language that is professional, but distant, or inauthentic. Implications are discussed.

Determinants of Price Discrimination and Switching Mortgage Provider in Times of Regulation and Digitalization

In this paper, we analyse the price discrimination and household switching in the residential mortgage market. Accessing a unique proprietary micro-data set from Norway, we examine the difference between the loan rate paid by current clients when receiving a competing offer from another bank and the best rate simultaneously being offered to new customers by the current bank. The results show that current clients pay around 20 basis points more than new customers are offered; however, this rate differential is kept in check by client switching. New regulations and digitalization that enhance transparency could reduce the rate differential, but the introduction of new banking products as well as the change in timing of the rate differentiation - from immediate upfront to gradually over time - may be used to preserve it.

958. Feasibility and Acceptability of HIV Self-Test Kit Distribution Through PrEP Clients’ Friendship and Sexual Networks

BackgroundPersonal networks can influence behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and values through contact and communication. The University of Miami Mobile PrEP Program offers low-barrier pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)/HIV prevention services through a mobile clinic in five highly impacted neighborhoods in Miami-Dade, the county with the highest HIV incidence in the US. The highest rates are among black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). The goal of this study is to understand the acceptability and feasibility of expanding the reach of testing through our clients’ friendship and sexual networks.MethodsThis study was implemented in five locations across Miami from December 2019 to February 2020. During scheduled PrEP quarterly follow-up clinic visits, participants were offered Ora-Quick oral fluid self test (ST) kits, free of cost for distribution to up to four sexual partners and/or friends. In addition to the information available in the testing kit, brief training regarding the test and resources for post-test engagement were provided. A survey evaluated participants’ distribution plan, comfort level and concerns in offering the test kits to friends/sexual partners. Descriptive statistics included frequencies for categorical variables, and means and ranges for continuous variables.ResultsA total of 84 participants were offered the ST kits, of which 49 (58%) accepted. Of those accepting kits, 40 (81.63%) of 49 were Latino MSM. Participants requested an average of 3 (mean=2.9, range 1-4) kits, for a total of 144 kits. Overall, 41(84%) felt very comfortable and 47(96%) indicated they felt very comfortable offering this test to their friends/sexual partners. Also, 29(59.2%) planned to distribute kits only to friends, 2(4%) only to sexual partners, 11(22.4%) to both sexual partners and friends and 7(14.2%) to either family or self-test to provide ‘moral support’ to those taking the test. None of the participants expressed any concerns about offering kits to friends or sexual partners.ConclusionDistribution of home based self-test HIV kits through current Mobile PrEP clients’ friendship and sexual networks is acceptable and feasible. Similar social network strategies may be considered to expand reach of HIV testing and PrEP engagement to those with barriers to care.Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

The Promise of Artificial Intelligence and Potential Impact on the Sales Function: A Sustainability Perspective

After a great deal of press and promise, artificial intelligence is beginning to make inroads in the sales function. In this paper, we follow one United Kingdom-based company called Cloudapps and the firm’s development of an artificial intelligence solution to address the issues inherent in the management of the sales pipeline. We then outline how the use of this technology can help the firm both manage their pipeline as well as develop sustainable value propositions for their current and potential clients. In doing so we also point out the importance of gaining experience and using incremental compensation, in helping to gain the benefits that AI potentially provides.

Sustainable development through corporate social responsibility

In the 21st century, business and society demonstrate a stronger strive for achieving a stable balance between social, economic and ecological goals, which is the basis of the concept for sustainable development. In the context of “Europe 2020,” the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) affirms its role as one of the most effective strategies for achieving this kind of development. The aim of this article therefore , is to clarify the conceptual nature of CSR by putting an emphasis on the Carroll’s pyramid, and its importance to the corporate social initiatives as an expression of company’s commitment to CSR. This article is a qualitative article that gives an exposition on the implementation of CSR and its communication effect. This exposition proves that CSR offers many other positive effects for the companies apart from the strong communication effect to their current and prospective clients. By examining the six types of corporate social initiatives and their main characteristics and by putting a strong em phasis on the benefits that their implementation has in marketing and especially in branding aspect, this article attempts to outline the marketing perspectives of CSR considered as strategy for sustainable development
 
 Keywords: Branding, Corporate social initiatives, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing, Sustainable development

Have changes in audit standards altered client perceptions of auditors?

PurposeChanges in external auditing over four decades motivates a historical investigation of how client employees' perceptions of auditors have changed across this period.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a longitudinal quasi-experiment to compare current client employees' perceptions of the auditor with results from 1972.FindingsChanges in client employees' perceptions of the audit, its usefulness and of auditor-client conflict suggest increases in auditor independence. However, this paper also finds that despite decades of efforts to strengthen auditor independence and skepticism, the primary analogy client employees apply to the external auditor remains “consultant”.Practical implicationsThe findings contribute to the discussion of whether regulatory and standard changes in the audit environment have changed aspects of client employees' perceptions of auditors.Originality/valueThe paper contributes by presenting a unique approach to partially replicating a historic study using a quasi-experimental research design.