Indicators Of Social Well-being Research Articles

Five-Year Post-Housing Outcomes for a Housing First Cohort in Aotearoa, New Zealand

This paper presents outcomes for a Housing First (HF) cohort in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Using integrated governmental administrative data, we analysed outcomes for a cohort of 357 people, comparing health, justice, income, and social welfare indicators the year prior to HF and five years after being housed. In the fifth year after being housed, improved outcomes across each of these sectors were noted, with particularly impressive improvements found in income levels (+38%) and mental health. These results demonstrate the efficacy of this HF programme in improving well-being. Despite such notable improvements, there is room for HF to have a greater impact in the context of wider system changes that support overall well-being, as well as the goal of making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Mental and social wellbeing trajectory during the pandemic for vulnerable populations.

We investigated changes over time in mental and social wellbeing indicators for vulnerable population subgroups during the pandemic. These groups were younger people, people with disabilities, low-income groups, unemployed, culturally, and linguistically diverse communities (CaLD), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A series of four repeated population representative surveys were conducted in June 2020, September 2020, January 2022, and June 2022. Questions included items on psychological distress, financial hardship, social connection, and life satisfaction. For most groups, social connection and life satisfaction improved in 2022 relative to 2020. Psychological distress and financial hardship showed the opposite pattern, with some groups having worse results in 2022 relative to 2020. People without any vulnerability had better mental health and social wellbeing outcomes at each time point relative to the vulnerable population subgroups. Pandemic-related policies had differential effects over time and for different population groups. Future policies and research need to closely monitor how they impact population subgroups, and the overall results clearly demonstrate the inequity in mental health and social wellbeing outcomes for vulnerable population cohorts.

Macro-level predictors of child removals: Do social welfare benefits and services reduce demand for children’s out of home placements?

The purpose of this macro-level study is to examine the effects of social welfare benefits and services on the demand for child removals. The study is based on the panel data of Finnish municipalities (N = 293) and their social welfare indicators for the period 2010–2021. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyze the associations between the dependent variable (child removals) and the main predictors (child welfare notifications, family support services, social assistance). The community-level social risk factors were controlled for. It was found that child welfare notifications and family support services were associated with child removals. The more cases there are of children accessing the child protection system, the more cases there also are of child removals in a municipality. On balance, additional income support seems to reduce the demand for child removals. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that community-level social risk factors (drop-out youth, unemployment, low education level) were in a negative relationship with child removals, which would tentatively suggest that the threshold for child welfare notifications is actually higher in the deprived communities than in the prosperous areas. Relatively, it is more difficult for children to access child protection services in the communities with a high unemployment rate and low education level and also if there is a high proportion of youths out of education, employment, and training. The present study underlines the significance of a macro-level approach to child protection.

PATTERNS OF SINGLEHOOD, COHABITATION, AND MARRIAGE IN EARLY ADULTHOOD IN RELATION TO WELL-BEING IN ESTABLISHED ADULTHOOD

In a cohort followed from late adolescence until established adulthood, this study examined how singlehood, cohabitation, and marriage at different ages are related to well-being at age 34. Participants (N = 585) from three U.S. sites reported their marital and residential status at ages 18, 23, 28, and 34, when they also reported on physical, psychological, and social indicators of well-being. Findings suggest that being married compared to single earlier in adulthood is related to several indicators of better age 34 well-being. Cohabiting participants’ well-being was more similar to the well-being of the single than married participants on most indicators.

Lateralised Behavioural Responses in Livestock to Environmental Stressors: Implications for Using Infrared Thermography to Assess Welfare Conditions

Lateralised behavioural responses to environmental stressors have become more frequently used as indicators of social welfare in animals. These lateralised behavioural responses are under the control of asymmetrical brain functions as part of the primary functions of most vertebrates and assist in primary social and survival functions. Lateralised behavioural responses originating from the left hemisphere are responsible for processing familiar conditions, while the right hemisphere is responsible for responding to novel stimuli in the environment. The forced lateralisation and side preference tests have been used to determine the visual lateralised behavioural responses in livestock to environmental stressors. Limb preference during movement has also been used to determine motor lateralisation. Although behavioural investigations in livestock have recorded lateralised behavioural responses to environmental stressors, there are still limitations in the implication of lateralisation to other conditions, such as restraint and invasive procedures. Thus, it is important to have a non-invasive measure for these lateralised behavioural responses. Recently, lateralised behavioural responses have been correlated with the use of infrared temperature of external body surfaces, such as the eyes and coronary bands of limbs. This review summarised the different forms of the lateralised behavioural responses in livestock, especially cattle and horses, to environmental stressors, and the association between these responses and the relevant external body surfaces’ infrared temperature, with the purpose of improving the use of non-invasive measures in assessing welfare conditions in animals. The combination of the lateralised behavioural responses and infrared temperature of external body surfaces to environmental stressors could improve the assessment strategies of welfare conditions and the related additional husbandry interventions that could be applied to improve the welfare of farm animals.

Social Welfare in the Sustainable Development of the Bitung Special Economic Zone in Bitung City of North Sulawesi Province

This research aims to analyze the social welfare of the community in the sustainable development of the Bitung Special Economic Zone in Bitung City, North Sulawesi Province. The research employs a qualitative descriptive method based on social welfare indicators according to the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 11 of 2009, Article 6, regarding social welfare, which stipulates that achieving social welfare involves several indicators, including social security, social empowerment, and social protection. The research informants were obtained using purposive sampling techniques, totaling 16 informants. Data analysis comprised stages of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The research findings indicate that in terms of social security, the government ensures access to health needs, encompassing clean water, adequate housing, and environmental sanitation, as well as educational needs. The government provides educational infrastructure for the residents in the Bitung Special Economic Zone, including the Program Indonesia Pintar (PIP) and Kartu Indonesia Pintar (KIP). Regarding social empowerment, the government assists the community through Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), supported by the Cooperative and MSME Office of Bitung City. Furthermore, the government provides social protection, including contributions for national health insurance (JKN) and the Prosperous Family Rice Program (Rastra). The conclusion of this research is that social welfare for the community in the sustainable development of the Bitung Special Economic Zone in Bitung City is carried out in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.

Generic technology R&D strategies in dual competing photovoltaic supply chains: A social welfare maximization perspective

In the context of global warming, photovoltaic (PV) industry is growing rapidly to advance carbon neutrality. A new generation PV technology based on perovskite solar cells has attracted high attention from the industry due to its advantage of low cost and high photoelectric conversion efficiency, and has gradually carried out relevant technology research and development (R&D), as well as small and medium-sized product trials. However, there are still some generic technical issues with perovskite solar cells, such as the stability of large area preparation, efficiency over large areas, and long service life under high efficiency. Collaborative R&D around generic technologies among module suppliers across PV supply chains will help create complementary synergies and accelerate breakthroughs in generic technologies. To explore R&D strategies and subsidy policies for the generic technology in competing PV supply chains, twelve game-theoretical decision models considering cooperative/non-cooperative R&D with/without government subsidy under four scenarios are developed, analyzed and compared respectively. The research results indicate that: (i) in all four scenarios, the adoption of a centralized operational strategy is more effective in terms of government subsidies and the operational performance of the PV supply chains than a hybrid or decentralized operational strategy. (ii) the government should adopt an appropriate subsidy intensity for the dual-competing PV supply chains and set a “threshold” subsidy policy. (iii) the positive externality of R&D effort has a positive spillover effect on profits, social welfare and other indicators. The positive externality of R&D effort for the generic technology can be better exploited by the two PV supply chains jointly deciding on the level of R&D expenditure and by the government providing financial subsidy support. This study is a pioneering study of dual competing PV supply chains in terms of cooperative R&D of generic technology, which is very limited in the PV supply chain management and subsidy policy research literature. The findings and some unnoticed issues in this paper provide a basis for future PV supply chain research.

Disability of the population in mental disorders

RELEVANCE: The original article analyzes the disability of the population with mental disorders. Disability due to mental and behavioral disorders in the Russian Federation in the period 20042021 was studied. The mental health of the population reflects the level of public health, being an indicator of social well-being. Currently, every 10th inhabitant of the planet suffers from mental disorders, and every fourth will meet with them at one time or another period of life.
 THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: was to analyze the trends in disability in mental disorders in four groups: 1, 2, 3 and children.
 RESULTS: In a retrospective analysis, there was a first-time identified disability of the population with behavioral syndromes associated with physiological disorders and physical factors in group 1 was not encountered, in the second group it occurred in 2011, in 2012, in 2014, in group 3 in 2016, in 2021, in children in 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, in 2021. It was established that the greatest disability was provided by mental retardation with a pronounced upward trend in general disability for the first group, newly diagnosed disability for the first, third and children. In the demographic structure of mental retardation, men predominated, children ranked second, women third.
 CONCLUSION: There is a need to develop programs of medical and social assistance for disabled people with mental disorders. It is necessary to form medical and psychological measures for primary prevention, as well as to improve the quality of public education on mental health issues.

The effect of anxiety, depression, and structural social capital on life satisfaction among people with hearing disabilities: a cross-sectional study in Shanghai, China.

Life satisfaction (LS) serves as a crucial indicator of social wellbeing and plays a significant role in formulating strategies aimed at enhancing health outcomes among the hearing-disabled population. This study aimed to examine the effect of anxiety, depression, and structural social capital on life satisfaction among people with hearing disabilities in Shanghai, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shanghai, China. As of March 2022, 337 people with hearing disabilities were recruited from the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Federation. An online survey was conducted using a four-part questionnaire to collect data including demographic characteristics, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Social Capital Scale (SCS), and a single-item question to measure life satisfaction. One-sample t-tests, Pearson's correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were performed. Anxiety (β = - 0.153) and depression (β = - 0.242) were significant factors influencing life satisfaction among people with hearing disabilities. Structural social capital also played an influential role in life satisfaction, and people with hearing disabilities who lack social networks (β = 0.125) and social support (β = 0.121) reported significantly lower levels of life satisfaction. However, no significant relationship was found in this study between LS and other components of structural social capital, such as social participation. This study shows that paying attention to mental health is critical for people with hearing disabilities to achieve social wellbeing and promote LS improvement. At the same time, the government and society also need to focus on the structural social capital, provide various social service programs, enhance social support, and expand social networks, improving LS for people with hearing disabilities.

Other-Oriented Empathetic Concern as the Underlying Factor of Extrinsic Emotion Regulation Motives and Its Positive Application for Social Well-Being.

In recent years, research on interpersonal emotion regulation has garnered increasing attention. Extrinsic emotion regulation (EER) or the regulation of others' emotions is associated with individual personal relationships and mental health outcomes. However, investigations into why people engage in extrinsic emotion regulation are relatively rare. The current study aimed to identify the underlying factor structure of the motives of extrinsic emotion regulation, based on the Extrinsic Emotion Regulation Motives Scale (EERMS), to examine how these factors related to people's moral identity and social relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants of this study were 464 adults (73.1% females) from China who completed an online survey based on EERMS and other related measures. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was utilized to examine the underlying structure of EER motives followed by a bifactor EFA (bi-EFA). Analyses revealed that the bi-EFA model, with an overarching factor (other-oriented empathetic concern) and three specific factors (self-orientation, reciprocation, and obligation), was best applied to the data. These factors were differently associated with social well-being indicators (moral self-identity, peer relationship quality, and perceived social support). This preliminary study supports the use of a hierarchical perspective to understand the different dimensions of motives for extrinsic emotion regulation.

TRANSFORMATIONS OF UKRAINIAN CITIZENS’ IDENTITIES IN THE TIME OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION

The main aim of the article is to analyze the identity transformations of Ukrainian citizens triggered by the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Russian military aggression significantly affected the daily life of every citizen of Ukraine, including her or his personal and collective identity. An analysis of sociological surveys shows that, along with the deterioration of such indicators of the social well-being index as professional self-realization, nutrition, leisure time, adaptation to the new reality, etc., the feeling of solidarity more than doubled in March 2022 compared to March 2021. The war also led to a significant rethinking of the values ​​of Ukrainians and encouraged them to value more what they have, as well as reduced the level of expectations and claims regarding the satisfaction of their needs.
 The full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war sharpened the national self-awareness of Ukrainians and increased their negative attitude toward the “brotherly nations” of Russians and Belarusians as well as toward possible concessions to the Russians in exchange for the cessation of aggression. In time of war, the political views of Ukrainians underwent a significant transformation. They are ready to limit their democratic rights and freedoms for the sake of victory.
 The article considers Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression as a continuation of Ukraine’s struggle for its freedom and independence.

A Multiversal Model of Vibration of Effects of the Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being (BES) on Fertility

AbstractThis study checks the hypothesis that sustainable well-being is a determinant factor of fertility through the application of a multiversal method based on the assumptions of Vibration of Effects (VoE) model of multiversal sampling on the Italian Equitable and Sustainable Well-being (BES) dataset. For 48 social indicators of well-being, adopting the Province as statistical unit, the estimate of linear effect has been systematically sampled 1024 times. This multiversal sampling allows to estimate the component of the hypothetical variability of the estimate of the effect size that depends on the theoretical choices of the analysis. This component is commonly underestimated, hidden, or ignored in regular multivariate analysis or classical bootstrapping. Results do not allow to claim that any of the 48 social indicators is a robust linear predictor of fertility. Indicators associated with high statistical significance are also at risk of misleading the causal relationship. Implications for policy-making and the future direction of the research on BES are discussed in the conclusive remarks.

Barriers to the adoption of social welfare measures in the electricity tariff structure of developing countries: A case of Pakistan

Energy tariff plays an important role in ensuring affordable energy availability in a country. Various developed countries have incorporated social welfare indicators in their electricity tariff structures to support their lower-income groups. The developing countries, riddled with multifaceted challenges in their energy value chains have not taken care of access to affordable energy for the poor (SDG7). Existing literature on developing countries and Pakistan has not sufficiently highlighted the drivers of social welfare mechanisms in the electricity tariff structure for poor households. This study aims at examining the factors contributing to the decline in social welfare for electricity household consumers in Pakistan. The study has utilized a mixed analytical approach, incorporating NVIVO analysis and Q methodology. The results highlighted a lack of regulatory performance, political influence, suboptimal governance, and financial constraints as barriers to enhancing the residential consumer's social welfare in Pakistan. Our findings may help to devise and revise the policies such as power sector subsidies for the determination of better electricity tariffs for the poorer segment of society in Pakistan. Other developing countries may also benefit by improving the relevant policy circumstances (main barriers from this study) of the electricity subsidies for poor households.

Socio-Economic Wellbeing through Microcredit: An Impact Analysis of Selected Beneficiaries from National Rural Support Programme

The main cause of Poverty, deprivation, and low standard of living in developing world are lack of capital and resources. Microcredit has been viewed as a powerful tool to combat poverty and help the destitute to reduce vulnerabilities, improve livelihood and nurture social and economic wellbeing. The existing study focused on the impact of national rural support programme on the socio-economic wellbeing of people in district Sargodha. The questionnaire was used to collect data form the microcredit beneficiaries. The sample size of 252 borrowers were selected through stratified random sampling and systematic random sampling technique. Descriptive analysis as well as parametric techniques were employed. It is found that national rural support program has significantly improved the indicators of economic wellbeing i.e., income, consumption, accumulation of assets and saving and statistically significant improvement in the value of social wellbeing i.e., improvement in children education, access to better health facilities, and improvement in the household general facilities. Keywords: Microcredit, economic & social wellbeing index

Problems of analysis of the relationship between the learning context and TIMSS testing results

Introduction. For more than two decades, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has been organising a number of comparative studies of the quality of education in different countries. One of them is the study of mathematics and science education TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), which is conducted jointly with the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievements (IEA). The last, seventh, cycle of the study was conducted in 2019. TIMSS statistics is regularly posted in the public domain on the IEA website so that specialists can independently conduct research in any aspect of their interest. One of the areas of analysis in this case is traditionally the search for the causes of certain test results, which are determined by the peculiarities of the organisation of the educational process and the context of learning in different countries. At the same time, a study of professional literature showed that among the factors of the social and school context, the analysis of which is provided by the research tools, only an extremely limited range of them turned out to be statistically directly related to TIMSS scores. Specialists systematically encounter inexplicable absence or low correlation values of TIMSS test scores and context indicators. The authors think that the main reason for such difficulties is inattention to the peculiarities of the indicators used in the calculation of measures of statistical relationships. Aim. The present research aims to identify a statistical relationship between test results and indicators of the context of schoolchildren’s learning, as well as the influence of the TIMSS information collection and processing system on the productivity of analysing the research results.Methodology and research methodology. The methodological basis of the work is a systematic approach, which is based on the consideration of the results of the international TIMSS study as a whole: i.e. a complex of interrelated elements (organisations, tools, assessment indicators, scoring systems). The work was carried out on the basis of applied research procedures (observation, description, comparison, measurement, etc.), within which general scientific (comparative analysis, systematisation, generalisation) and statistical research methods (statistical and correlation analysis, etc.) were also used. The source of information was the International Database of Electronic Testing TIMSS-2019, hosted in the IEA repository. The TIMSS datasets were analysed using the IEA International Database (IDB) parser plug-in for SPSS (version 4.0).Results. For most indicators of the social and student context of learning, the authors found the absence or low value of statistical relationships with TIMSS scores. The number of books at home and parents’ education turned out to be statistically related to TIMSS scores concerning the indicators of social well-being and home learning conditions envisaged by the organisers. The indicators of learning conditions at school included the frequency of independent work in class; motivational factors included plans to continue education and self-evaluation of students’ math proficiency. Evidently, even these relationships turned out to be weak. It was revealed that the difficulties in detecting a correlation between TIMSS scores and learning conditions are caused by the very nature of the analysed variables: 1. the approximate nature of individual student assessments used in TIMSS; 2. low differentiation of students according to a number of indicators of the learning context; 3. insufficient reliability of information obtained from sociological surveys of schoolchildren.Practical significance. The authors believe that in order to improve the quality of analytical work on relevant topics, it is necessary to pay close attention to the essence behind the variables used in statistical calculations. In turn, the TIMSS organisers need to continue improving the measurement procedures and research tools by introducing additional success criteria that reflect the individual and comparable results of students in the current TIMSS cycle, as well as indicators of the reliability of contextual information obtained by sociological means.

Особенности психологического здоровья студенческой молодежи с позиции развития личностных ресурсов: базисных убеждений, жизнестойкости, регуляторно-личностных характеристик

The aim of the study is to study the psychological health of modern youth in order to identify subgroups that significantly differ in this characteristic, as well as the features of psychological resources that support its optimal functioning. The study was conducted in September-October 2022. The study sample included 340 students from Tomsk, ages from 17 to 26 (the mean age was 20.7±2.07 years) and men were 50% of the sample. Research methods: The Mental Health Continuum questionnaire, MHC-SF (C.L.M. Keyes, adapted by E.N. Osin); World Assumption Scale, WAS (R. Janoff-Bulman, adapted by O. Kravtsova); Intellectual Risk Assessment questionnaire (G. Craparo, P. Magnano, A. Paolillo et al., adapted by T.V. Kornilova, E. M. Pavlova); Hardiness Test (S.R. Maddi, D.M. Khoshaba, adapted by D.A. Leontiev, E.I. Rasskazova, short version by E.N. Osin); Personal Readiness for Activity questionnaire (S.A. Bogomaz). Factor and cluster analyses were applied. As a result of the use of factor analysis two factors were revealed: 1) resources for psychological well-being (including indicators of Psychological well-being, Self-worth, Risktaking, Self-efficacy, Goal setting) and 2) resources Social well-being (including indicators of Social well-being, Justice of the world, Benevolence of people) of young people. A comparative analysis of the measured characteristics of male and female revealed statistically significant differences in Self-efficacy (3.35-male and 3.2-female), Goal setting (3.72 and 3.5, respectively), and Benevolence of people (3.71 and 4.1, respectively). The use of cluster analysis made it possible to identify 6 clusters in groups of male and female, whose representatives differed in the average values of the studied variables at a statistically significant level. Based on the analysis of the psychological characteristics of respondents belonging to specific clusters, risk groups which characterized low levels of development of structural components of Psychological and Social well-being resources (45 male and 46 female) were identified.

Managing the reproduction potential of the population of Russian regions based on machine learning models

The article is devoted to study of the patterns of development of potential for the reproduction of the population of Russian regions, considering the socio-economic situation in them. The purpose of the work is to identify the factors of socio-economic development of Russian regions that have the greatest impact on the level of population reproduction and to analyze the sensitivity of this characteristic to changes in the state of socio-economic situation in Russian regions. To achieve this goal, the key characteristics of the population reproduction potential were analyzed the marginal rate of population reproduction and standardized birth rates for five-year age groups of mothers for the period from 1990 to 2020.The results presented in the article were obtained in the course of studying the dynamics of population reproduction and interdependencies with the main socio-economic indicators of the regions, assessed by the methods of correlation analysis and machine learning, on the results of testing of which the most informative factors were identified that have a significant impact on the process of reproduction of the country and its regions with the account of the age structure of mothers. In particular, it was found that with an increase in the age of mother, the influence of factors characterizing economic well-being increases when deciding to have a child, while in younger age groups the indicators of social well-being become more important. On the basis of these models, estimates of the sensitivity of indicators of population reproduction and birth rates in each of the studied age groups of mothers were obtained in case of changes in the socio-economic factors. Based on the analysis, there were drawn conclusions about the impact of the socio-economic situation in the country and regions on the birth rates in different age groups of mothers, as well as on the reproductive potential in general.

Türkiye’de Ekonomik Kompleksite ve İnsani Gelişmişlik Endekslerinin Kişi Başına Düşen Gelire Olan Etkisinin Fourier Eşbütünleşme Modeli ile İncelenmesi

Ekonomik kompleksite endeksinin kişi başı milli gelire olan etkilerinin ölçülmesinde ekonomik bir gösterge olarak değerlendirilmesinin yanı sıra sosyal refah göstergesi olan insani gelişmişlik endeksinin etkilerinin de değerlendirilmesi önemlidir. Bu anlamda, ülkeler için oldukça önemli olan kişi başına gelir değişkenin ekonomik kompleksite ile insani gelişmişlik endeksi arasındaki ilişkilerin belirlenmesi önemli hale gelmiştir. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’de kişi başına düşen gelir ile ekonomik kompleksite ve insani gelişmişlik endeksi arasındaki ilişkilerin tespit edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Değişkenlerin durağanlıklarının tespit edilmesi sürecinde doğrusal birim kök testleri ile fourier fonksiyonlara dayalı durağanlık testleri gerçekleştirilmiş, değişkenler arasındaki ilişkilerin belirlenmesinde de Tsong, Leei Tsai ve Hu (2016) Fourier Eşbütünleşme Testi kullanılmıştır. Analizden elde edilen bulgulara göre, Türkiye’de ekonomik kompleksite endeksi ile kişi başına gelir ve insani gelişmişlik endeksleri değişkenlerinde meydana gelen artış ve azalışların birbirlerini etkiledikleri tespit edilmiştir. Bu etki ise; bağımlı değişken ekonomik kompleksite endeksi iken, söz konusu değişkende meydana gelen %1 birim artışın, kişi başına geliri %0,37 oranında azalttığı, insani gelişmişlik endeksini ise %2,33 oranında artırdığı şeklinde ifade edilebilir. Bağımlı değişken insani gelişmişlik endeksi iken; söz konusu değişkende meydana gelen %1 birim artışın, kişi başına geliri %0,05 oranında artırdığı, ekonomik kompleksite endeksini ise %0,23 oranında azalttığı şeklinde ifade edilebilir.

SOCIAL AUDIT AS A TOOL FOR ENSURING SOCIAL FOCUS OF BUSINESS

This study focuses on the problem of the implementation of social audit in Ukraine. It covers the history of the development of social audit, preconditions for its formation, the status of Ukraine’s social and economic development. The history of social audit begins in the last century as philanthropy. The concept of forming a social audit is based on the social responsibility of business, which is based on the need to harmonize the interests of society and business. In Ukraine, social audit is developing slowly, due to the excessive influence of state regulation and insufficient maturity of social responsibility in society. The paper assesses the state of social and economic development of Ukraine and indicators of social security and welfare of the population in recent years, their impact on the need for social orientation of business. Thus, in recent years in Ukraine, the evaluation of the indicators of social security and well-being of the population indicates threatening trends regarding the scale of poverty, a decrease in the standard of living of the population, its economic activity and employment. According to experts, Ukraine is in for a sharp drop in the economy and social standards due to the war started by the Russian Federation. That is, by the end of the current year, half of the population in Ukraine will be below the poverty line. The peculiarities of the implementation of a relevant model of social audit in Ukraine are systematised. Social audit from the point of view of business is a tool of influence on local authorities, as well as a guarantee mechanism. Such a model of social audit will allow monitoring intra-organizational relations, creates conditions for diversification of business structures, mastering new technology and sales markets. Further, a case is made for the necessity of implementation of social audit as a separate area of business’ social responsibility, and prospects of the evolution of social audit as part of the national social and economic system are evaluated. Social audit carries out an independent assessment of the activity of the economic system at all levels: state, region, business structure, which forms criteria for evaluating the social, ecological and economic direction of the enterprise, will provide an opportunity to monitor them, and will allow the formation of basic recommendations for ensuring the effectiveness of social responsibility of business.

Community Energy Markets with Battery Energy Storage Systems: A General Modeling with Applications

Traditional models of power systems are undergoing a restructuring process, stimulated by the growing deployment of renewable energy sources, making them more decentralized and progressively increasing the focus on the consumer. New arrangements are being explored, allowing consumers to play a more active role in energy systems, highlighting the concept of consumer-centric markets. This work presents an optimization model that considers the insertion of the battery energy storage system (BESS) in the concept of community energy markets. This model aims to increase the community income and includes the degradation of BESS, also evaluating different arrangements of BESS in the community markets. In the investigated scenarios, discussions about the feasibility of inserting BESS through the analysis of social welfare (SW) and fairness indicators were carried out. With the results, it was possible to observe that there are structures that are more advantageous from the perspective of the communities and others from the perspective of the members of the communities, bringing some insights into the different impacts of a BESS in an energy community.