US National Panel Research Articles

A cost-benefit analysis of the life-prolonging effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for persons with dementia and pain

ABSTRACT Persons with dementia are more susceptible to pain. If they take Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) as pain relievers, the policy question is whether these medicines will be socially worthwhile. In this paper, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) was undertaken of the NSAID to see whether their benefits outweigh the costs for elderly persons with dementia. To construct the benefits, a Quality Adjusted Life Year was used as the intervention output, which was then converted into monetary terms using the Value of a Statistical Life Year. Using estimates based on a large, US national panel data set, the CBA found that the NSAID generated positive net-benefits. It was possible to re-evaluate all the prior dementia interventions that were based on the same data set, using the same methods as for the NSAID CBA. By comparing the NSAID results with those from the other alternative dementia interventions one can establish public funding priorities.

Development of Parent and Adolescent Questionnaires to Assess Food Parenting Practices That Address Adolescent Consumption During Independent Eating Occasions

To develop and test parent and early adolescent questionnaires to assess food parenting practices that influence early adolescent food consumption during independent eating occasions (iEOs). Cross-sectional online questionnaires were completed by 206 and 62 low-income parent/early adolescent (11-14 years) dyads at Time 1 and 2, respectively, recruited via a Qualtrics (Provo, UT) US national panel database. Principal component analyses, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability checks were performed. Six parallel components were identified for parents and early adolescents with acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Scales included autonomy support, monitoring, availability, indulgence, expectations, and modeling. All except indulgence were positively correlated with importance of helping early adolescents make healthy choices during iEOs. Additional research is needed to test the questionnaires' validity regarding relationships between parenting practices and early adolescent consumption during iEOs. Findings could inform development of interventions to improve consumption during these occasions.

Variation in the Spillover Effects of Illness on Parents, Spouses, and Children of the Chronically Ill

Given the broad scope of the spillover effects of illness, it is important to characterize the variability in these outcomes to identify relationship types in which secondary impacts of illness are particularly important to include in health economic evaluations. To examine heterogeneity in spillover effects of chronic conditions on family members by type of familial relationship with patient. Adults (aged ≥18years) and adolescents (aged 13-17years) who had a parent, spouse, or child in their household with a chronic condition (Alzheimer's disease/dementia, arthritis, cancer, or depression) were recruited from a US national panel to participate in an on-line survey. Respondents were asked to rate the spillover effect of their family member's illness on their own health on a 0-100 scale, with lower scores indicating greater spillover. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between rating scale scores and relationship with an ill family member (ill parent, child, or spouse) for each illness separately, controlling for caregiving responsibility and the health status of the ill family member. 1,267 adults and 102 adolescents met inclusion criteria. In adjusted analyses, having a sick child was significantly (p<0.05) associated with lower rating scale scores compared with having a spouse with the same condition (cancer: -24.2; depression -9.7). Having a non-elderly or elderly adult parent with a condition, compared with a spouse, was significantly associated with lower rating scale scores for arthritis (-3.8) and depression (-5.3), but not for Alzheimer's disease/dementia or cancer. The impact of illness on family members, measured with a rating scale, varies by relationship type for certain illnesses. Having a child with cancer, a parent with arthritis, or either with depression, is significantly associated with greater spillover, compared with having a spouse with one of these conditions.

Factors affecting adoption of product virtualization technology for online consumer electronics shopping

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting the adoption of product virtualization technology (PVT) for online shopping small consumer electronics by applying a modified electronic technology acceptance model (e‐TAM) and tested model invariance male/female shoppers in the overall adoption process.Design/methodology/approachOnline surveys are completed by a US national panel of online shoppers. The data are analyzed using single‐ and multiple‐group structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results provide empirical support for e‐TAM in the context of PVT acceptance for online small consumer electronics shopping. In addition, two external constructs – technology anxiety (TA) and innovativeness (INN) – show significant influences on the beliefs (perceived usefulness, ease‐of‐use and entertainment value). There is no significant gender difference in the overall adoption process of PVT.Research limitations/implicationsMore specific consumer characteristics such as time‐consciousness, opinion leadership or age differences under different categories may be useful to investigate.Practical implicationsPVT may provide a valuable tool that online retailers can use to enhance their consumers' purchase behaviour, either by reducing the perceived risk through better online product evaluation or by enhancing consumers' enjoyment of the shopping process on their web site by increasing the number of unique and repeat traffic visitors to the site and ultimately establish an online competitive advantage.Originality/valueInclusion of TA and INN in e‐TAM for PVT acceptance and the equivalence test of the hypothesized model across gender make the research unique, adding to the explanatory and predictive power of the e‐TAM.

E-portfolio Assessment System for an Outcome-Based Information Technology Curriculum

Introduction A major shift in the past decade has changed the focus in education from a teacher-centered instructional environment to a student-centered one (Brooks, 1997). As grades became insufficient to prove learning took place, universities in the USA and worldwide took a critical look at their educational systems. In 2002 a US national panel called for a dramatic reorganization of undergraduate education to ensure that all college students receive not only access to college but also to an education of lasting value (http://www.aacu.org). One recommendation was that colleges and universities help students become "intentional" life-long learners and create new assessment techniques that allow students to apply their learning to real world problems. In an effort to shift the focus from the traditional lecture style to a student-centered learning style, a number of academic institutions in the US have adopted an outcome-based education framework. Outcome-based education is a method of education that focuses on what students can actually do after they are taught a particular subject. All curriculum and teaching decisions are made based on how to best facilitate the achievement of a desired outcome. This exercise leads to a planning process that is quite different from the traditional educational planning method. The desired outcome is first identified, and then the curriculum is created to support the intended outcomes (Furman, 1994). E-portfolios have been used to document student work to demonstrate learning (American Association for Higher Education. 2008, Smith & Winking-Diaz, 2004). Unlike paper-based portfolios, e-portfolios allow information to be stored, accessed, updated, and presented in various electronic formats to record students achievements. E-portfolios are being adopted at a growing number of colleges and universities in the USA and abroad (Lorenzo & Ittelson, 2005. Several US universities have adopted the e-portfolio assessment concept, including California Lutheran University (http://ww2.clunet.edu/soe/webfolio/index.php), Portland State University (http://www.pdx.edu/unst/frinq.htm), John Hopkins University(2008) (http://cte.jhu.edu/dp/support), the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (http://www.eportfolio.org), and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (http://www.opd.iupui.edu/coil/eport.htm). For faculty, the e-portfolio can be an effective tool to better manage, review, reflect, and comment on students' work. For students, the e-portfolio enriches their resume, both before and after graduation. In the gulf region the adoption of outcome-based educational models and e-portfolios has been slow. Zayed University (ZU), a fairly recent university located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has adopted an outcome-based Academic Program Model (APM) and the use of e-portfolios to document student learning (Zayed University, 2008a). The ZU e-portfolio assessment system (EAS) was created to allow faculty to assess specific components of student academic work that includes various learning outcomes. Moreover, faculty members use data from the EAS to evaluate how courses are meeting college and university goals. The achievement of learning outcomes and the compilation of e-portfolios has become an important component of the grade point average (GPA) assessment system. E-portfolios enable students to improve and focus their learning and provide them with a tool to showcase their skills. The EAS can be used to measure whether the curriculum meets institution and college/major learning outcomes: Zayed University Learning Outcomes (ZULOs), and Major's Learning Outcomes (MALOs). Currently, ZU has approximately 4000 students and has two campuses, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai, UAE. ZU follows a US based academic model and is perhaps the first university in the Gulf to adopt the e-portfolio to help students achieve learning. During the last six years, the implementation of the APM model was used to facilitate the inclusion of learning outcomes into various courses across ZU curricula. …

Patient Satisfaction and Sustained Outcomes of Drug Abuse Treatment

The authors investigated the relationship between patients' self-rated satisfaction with treatment services during and shortly after treatment with their drug use outcomes at one year follow-up, using a US national panel survey of patients in 62 methadone, outpatient, short-term residential, and long-term residential programs. A favorable evaluation of treatment near the time of discharge had a significant positive relationship with drug use improvement outcomes approximately one year later, independent of the separately measured effects of treatment duration, counseling intensity, patient adherence to treatment protocols, pre-treatment drug use patterns, and other characteristics of patients and treatment programs.