Is educational inequality protective?
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Educational Status↗
Biomedical subjects
Spencer Moore
Publications and source records attributed to Spencer Moore.
The influence of partnership centrality on organizational perceptions of support: a case study of the AHLN structure.
BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the structure and character of inter-organizational relationships found among health promotion organizations is a prerequisite for the development of evidence-based network-level intervention activities. The Alberta Healthy Living Network (AHLN) mapped the inter-organizational structure of its members to examine the effects of the network environment on organizational-level perceptions. This exploratory analysis examines whether network structure, specifically partnership ties among AHLN members, influences organizational perceptions of support after controlling for organizational-level attributes. METHODS: Organizational surveys were conducted with representatives from AHLN organizations as of February 2004 (n = 54). Organizational attribute and inter-organizational data on various network dimensions were collected. Organizations were classified into traditional and non-traditional categories. We examined the partnership network dimension. In- and out-degree centrality scores on partnership ties were calculated for each organization and tested against organizational perceptions of available financial support. RESULTS: Non-traditional organizations are more likely to view financial support as more readily available for their HEALTR programs and activities than traditional organizations (1.57, 95% CI: .34, 2.79). After controlling for organizational characteristics, organizations that have been frequently identified by other organizations as valuable partners in the AHLN network were found significantly more likely to perceive a higher sense of funding availability (In-degree partnership value) (.03, 95% CI: .01, .05). CONCLUSION: Organizational perceptions of a supportive environment are framed not only by organizational characteristics but also by an organization's position in an inter-organizational network. Network contexts can influence the way that organizations perceive their environment and potentially the actions that organizations may take in light of such perceptions. By developing evidence-based understandings on the influence of network contexts, the AHLN can better target the particularities of its specific health promotion network.
Alberta↗
Peripherality, income inequality, and life expectancy: revisiting the income inequality hypothesis.
BACKGROUND: Recent criticisms of the income inequality and health hypothesis have stressed the lack of consistent significant evidence for the stronger effects of income inequality among rich countries. Despite such criticisms, little attention has been devoted to the income-based criteria underlying the stratification of countries into rich/poor groups and whether trade patterns and world-system role provide an alternative means of stratifying groups. METHODS: To compare income-based and trade-based criteria, 107 countries were grouped into four typologies: (I) high/low income, (II) OECD membership/non-membership, (III) core/non-core, and (IV) non-periphery/periphery. Each typology was tested separately for significant differences in the effects of income inequality between groups. Separate group comparison tests and regression analyses were conducted for each typology using Rodgers (1979) specification of income, income inequality, and life expectancy. Interaction terms were introduced into Rodgers specification to test whether group classification moderated the effects of income inequality on health. RESULTS: Results show that the effects of income inequality are stronger in the periphery than non-periphery (IV) (-0.76 vs -0.23; P < 0.05). An incremental F-test confirmed significant differences in the coefficient subsets between the two groups (F(2,101) = 6.31; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Cross-national analyses of income inequality and population health have assumed (i) income differences between countries best capture global stratification and (ii) the negative effects of income inequality are stronger in high-income countries. However, present findings emphasize (i) the importance of measuring global stratification according to trading patterns and (ii) the strong, negative effects of income inequality on life expectancy among peripheral populations.
Commerce↗
The health of nations in a global context: trade, global stratification, and infant mortality rates.
Despite the call for a better understanding of macro-level factors that affect population health, social epidemiological research has tended to focus almost exclusively on national-level factors, such as Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDP/c) or levels of social cohesion. Using a world-systems framework to examine cross-national variations in infant mortality, this paper seeks to emphasize the effects of global trade on national-level population health. Rather than viewing national-level health indicators as autonomous from broader global contexts, the study uses network analysis methods to examine the effects of international trade on infant mortality rates. Network data for countries were derived from international data on the trade of capital-intensive commodities in 2000. Using automorphic equivalence to measure the degree to which actors in a network perform similar roles, countries were assigned into one of six world-system blocks, each with its own pattern of trade. These blocks were dummy-coded and tested using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. A key finding from this analysis is that after controlling for national-level factors, the two blocks with the lowest density in capital-intensive exchange, i.e., the periphery, are significantly and positively associated with national-level infant mortality rates. Results show the effects of peripherality and stratification on population health, and highlight the influence of broader macro-level factors such as trade and globalization on national health.
Commerce↗
The privileging of communitarian ideas: citation practices and the translation of social capital into public health research.
The growing use of social science constructs in public health invites reflection on how public health researchers translate, that is, appropriate and reshape, constructs from the social sciences. To assess how 1 recently popular construct has been translated into public health research, we conducted a citation network and content analysis of public health articles on the topic of social capital. The analyses document empirically how public health researchers have privileged communitarian definitions of social capital and marginalized network definitions in their citation practices. Such practices limit the way public health researchers measure social capital's effects on health. The application of social science constructs requires that public health scholars be sensitive to how their own citation habits shape research and knowledge.
Health Services Research↗
Contextualizing and assessing the social capital of seniors in congregate housing residences: study design and methods.
BACKGROUND: This article discusses the study design and methods used to contextualize and assess the social capital of seniors living in congregate housing residences in Calgary, Alberta. The project is being funded as a pilot project under the Institute of Aging, Canadian Institutes for Health Research. DESIGN/METHODS: Working with seniors living in 5 congregate housing residencies in Calgary, the project uses a mixed method approach to develop grounded measures of the social capital of seniors. The project integrates both qualitative and quantitative methods in a 3-phase research design: 1) qualitative, 2) quantitative, and 3) qualitative. Phase 1 uses gender-specific focus groups; phase 2 involves the administration of individual surveys that include a social network module; and phase 3 uses anamolous-case interviews. Not only does the study design allow us to develop grounded measures of social capital but it also permits us to test how well the three methods work separately, and how well they fit together to achieve project goals. This article describes the selection of the study population, the multiple methods used in the research and a brief discussion of our conceptualization and measurement of social capital.
Aged↗
International NGOs and the role of network centrality in humanitarian aid operations: a case study of coordination during the 2000 Mozambique floods.
In February 2000, Mozambique suffered its worst flooding in almost 50 years: 699 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Over 49 countries and 30 international non-governmental organisations provided humanitarian assistance. Coordination of disaster assistance is critical for effective humanitarian aid operations, but limited attention has been directed toward evaluating the system-wide structure of inter-organisational coordination during humanitarian operations. Network analysis methods were used to examine the structure of inter-organisational relations among 65 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the flood operations in Mozambique. Centrality scores were used to estimate NGO-specific potential for aid coordination and tested against NGO beneficiary numbers. The average number of relief- and recovery-period beneficiaries was significantly greater for NGOs with high relative to low centrality scores (p < 0.05). This report addresses the significance of these findings in the context of the Mozambican 2000 floods and the type of data required to evaluate system-wide coordination.
Altruism↗
After Hurricane Floyd passed: investigating the social determinants of disaster preparedness and recovery.
In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd struck eastern North Carolina. Investigators from the health promotion study "Health Works for Women/Health Works in the Community" responded by initiating a focused research study, "Health Works After the Flood." Participatory research involving a multilevel design and qualitative methods was applied to investigate how community preparedness, response, and recovery are affected by social factors such as social capital, social cohesion, and collective efficacy. This article presents evidence from qualitative research conducted for "Health Works After the Flood" and links these findings to observations regarding current conceptualizations of social capital and related concepts.
Community Networks↗