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The study addresses staffing and workforce issues for home‐ and community‐based long‐term care in Germany. It is based on a study aimed at developing staffing recommendations for home‐care provider organisations. The study was commissioned within the regulation of the German long‐term care act. Following an exploratory literature search on staffing issues in home‐ and community‐based care qualitative interviews with 30 experts in home care were conducted. In addition, time needed for different interventions in homes of people in need of care (n = 129) was measured. Ethical approval for the study was obtained. The literature on the topic is limited. In Germany, no fixed staff‐to‐client ratio exists, but staffing is determined primarily by reimbursement policies, not by care recipients’ needs. The results of the interviews indicated that staffing ratios are not the main concern of home‐care providers. Experts stressed that general availability of staff with different qualification levels and the problems of existing regulation on services and their reimbursement are of higher concern. The measurement of time needed for selected interventions reveals the huge heterogeneity of home‐care service delivery and the difficulty of using a task‐based approach to determine staffing levels. Overall, the study shows that currently demand for home‐care exceeds supply. Staff shortage puts a risk to home care in Germany. Existing approaches of reimbursement‐driven determination of staffing levels have not been sufficient. A new balance between staffing, needs and reimbursement policies needs to be developed.
Who is more eager to use Gamification in Economic Disciplines? Comparison of Students and Educators
(2022)
Background: In this paper, the focus is on the application of digital and mobile technologies as supporting tools for the implementation of gamification in the field of education of future economists. Objectives: The paper's main objective is to explore whether educators and students are motivated and willing to apply additional technologies as main gamification components in their work and education. Moreover, the paper aims to assess how their more comprehensive application affects the quality of teaching, work flexibility, new learning opportunities, and outcomes. Methods/Approach: The survey method was used to collect answers from educators and students primarily interested in accounting, finance, trade and tourism from higher and secondary education institutions in Croatia, Poland, Serbia and Germany. Afterwards, the responses were compared using statistical methods. Results: Research results confirm that educators and students are willing to use gamification in teaching. Still, they also expressed the need for better administrative support in using particular e-learning tools. Surprisingly, educators are more eager to use gamification in their work than students. Conclusions: The study's general conclusion is that educators and students are both aware of the advantages of using e-learning tools provided through digital and mobile technologies and are eager to implement more gamification in the teaching process. However, continuous education in applying new digital technologies is needed on both sides.
Background: We see a growing number of older adults receiving long-term care in industrialized countries. The Healthcare Utilization Model by Andersen suggests that individual need characteristics influence utilization. The purpose of this study is to analyze correlations between need characteristics and service utilization in home care arrangements.
Methods: 1,152 respondents answered the questionnaire regarding their integration of services in their current and future care arrangements. Care recipients with high long-term care needs answered the questionnaire on their own, the family caregiver assisted the care recipient in answering the questions, or the family caregiver responded to the questionnaire on behalf of the care recipient. They were asked to rank specific needs according to their situation. We used descriptive statistics and regression analysis.
Results: Respondents are widely informed about services. Nursing services and counseling are the most used services. Short-term care and guidance and training have a high potential for future use. Day care, self-help groups, and mobile services were the most frequently rejected services in our survey. Women use more services than men and with rising age utilization increases. Long waiting times and bad health of the primary caregiver increases the chance of integrating services into the home care arrangements.
Conclusion: The primary family caregiver has a high impact on service utilization. This indicates that the whole family should be approached when offering services. Professionals should react upon the specific needs of care dependents and their families.
Reduzierung im Außer-Haus-Verzehr zu erleichtern, analysiert unsere Studie die Auswirkungen von zwei gängigen Interventionsstrategien zur Reduzierung von Speiseresten in einem ganzheitlichen Verhaltensmodell. Auf der Grundlage eines quasi-experimentellen Baseline-Interventions-Designs haben wir in einem Strukturgleichungsmodell untersucht, wie sich das Aushängen von Informationspostern und die Reduzierung von Portionsgrößen auf persönliche, soziale und umweltbezogene Faktoren auswirken. Anhand von Daten aus Online-Befragungen und Beobachtungen von 880 Gästen (503 Baseline, 377 Intervention) während zwei Wochen in einer Universitätsmensa erlaubt das vorgeschlagene Modell, die Effekte der beiden Interventionen auf die Tellerreste spezifischen Veränderungen von Verhaltensdeterminanten zuzuordnen. Es hat sich gezeigt, dass die Verringerung der Portionsgröße bei den Zielgerichten mit einer geringeren Menge an Tellerabfällen zusammenhängt, die auf bewusster Wahrnehmung, die sich in einer geringeren Bewertung der Portionsgröße ausdrückt. Die Auswirkungen des Sehens von Informationsplakaten auf veränderten persönlichen Einstellungen, subjektiven Normen und wahrgenommener Verhaltenskontrolle beruhen. Je nachdem, wie eine Person auf die Information reagiert (indem sie sich nur bemüht, alle Speisen aufzuessen, oder indem sie sich bemüht und zusätzlich ein anderes Gericht in der Kantine wählt), ergeben sich jedoch entgegengesetzte Auswirkungen auf diese Determinanten und folglich auch auf die Tellerreste. Insgesamt sprechen die differenzierten Ergebnisse zu den Interventionseffekten dafür, dass ganzheitlichere und tiefer gehende Analysen von Interventionen zur Reduktion von Essensresten und damit zu einem nachhaltigeren Lebensmittelkonsum in der Außer-Haus-Verpflegung beitragen können.
What Leads to Lunch-How Social Practices Impact (Non-)Sustainable Food Consumption/Eating Habits
(2017)
Der Bereich der Ernährung wird in den kommenden Jahrzehnten mit zahlreichen Herausforderungen konfrontiert sein, die sich aus den globalen Konsummustern ergeben und zu einem hohen Ressourcenverbrauch führen. Die Akteure des Gaststättengewerbes sehen sich bei der Förderung ihrer Lösungen für eine nachhaltigere Situation in ihrem Bereich mit Schwierigkeiten konfrontiert, unter anderem mit der mangelnden Akzeptanz der Verbraucher. Wir müssen uns die Frage stellen, wie wir das Verbraucherverhalten beeinflussen und einen Übergang zu einem nachhaltigeren Lebensmittelkonsum herbeiführen können. In diesem Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Bewertung von Ernährungsgewohnheiten vorgestellt. Eine Gruppe von zehn Verbrauchern nahm an problemzentrierten Interviews teil und machte Angaben zu ihrem Essverhalten im Laufe von zwei Wochen. Mit Hilfe des theoretischen Ansatzes der Praxistheorie wurden die in dieser Studie gesammelten Daten verwendet, um ein Verständnis der Praxis des Auswärtsessens zu entwickeln, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den täglichen Routinen lag, die die Wahl der Verbraucher beeinflussen.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Praxis des Auswärtsessens in hohem Maße von externen Faktoren abhängt. Vielbeschäftigte Lebensstile, Mobilitätsroutinen und ein wahrgenommener Zeitmangel führen zu der Entscheidung, auswärts zu essen. Die Verbraucher tun dies bewusst, um Zeit und Mühe zu sparen und ihren Zeitplan zu straffen. Mobilität scheint ein wichtiger Grund für das Auswärtsessen zu sein. Die Teilnehmer versuchen, die Möglichkeiten, auswärts zu essen, einzuschränken, kehren aber häufig spontan zwischen zwei Terminen zum Essen ein. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Ernährungswissen und eine nachhaltige Denkweise wenig Einfluss auf die Essensentscheidungen außerhalb des Hauses haben: Die Teilnehmer zeigen ein hohes Maß an Misstrauen gegenüber Qualitätsansprüchen und stellen ihre gesundheitlichen Bedenken beim Essen außer Haus zurück. Daraus lässt sich schließen, dass das Auswärtsessen stark von den täglichen Routinen und den Praktiken, die ihm vorausgehen oder folgen, beeinflusst wird. Veränderungen der Arbeits- und Mobilitätsmuster werden sich höchstwahrscheinlich auf die Art und Weise auswirken, wie die Verbraucher außer Haus essen.
Dairy farming has been the subject of public debate on animal welfare for a number of years now. Animal welfare discussions on dairy farming often include the demand for more nature connectedness in this area. This study focuses on the divergent perspectives of consumers and scientists on the importance of more nature connectedness for animal welfare strategies in German dairy farming. Within Europe, Germany is the main producer of cow’s milk and an important industry in many rural areas in Germany is dairy farming. The insights presented are based on qualitative interviews with dairy farming and livestock researchers from Germany and Austria. A key finding of this study is that we need to look more closely at the actual content of nature claims in animal welfare debates. The scientists interviewed tend to see idealized conditions in animal welfare discussions with images of nature which in fact seldom lead to improved conditions in dairy farming and, even then, only to a limited extent. The scientists interviewed rate calls for more nature connectedness in dairy farming from the nonagricultural public as anti-modern, complexity-reducing, and normative. Nevertheless, some of the scientists interviewed did have valuable insights into the nonagricultural public’s criticism of dairy farming practices. These scientists argued, however, that animal welfare needs to differentiate between nature connectedness and the innate needs of cattle when it comes to animal welfare strategies. An important conclusion of the study is that more discussion formats are needed to promote the exchange of ideas between different social groups attempting to understand animal welfare in dairy farming.
What determines ingredient awareness of consumers? : A study on ten functional food ingredients
(2014)
Given the importance of consumer awareness of functional food ingredients for healthy food choices, the aim of this study is to explore consumers’ ingredient awareness and the determinants which influence the awareness about functional food ingredients.
A sample of 200 German consumers was interviewed via CATI (computer aided telephone interview) during September 2011. The participants have been asked about their specific awareness regarding to ten functional food ingredients. Likewise, determinants like health status and health motivation have been assessed and their influence on the construct “consumers’ ingredient awareness” has been tested by employing structural equation modeling.
The study shows that consumers’ ingredient awareness varies throughout the sample. Overall it can be stated, that 19% of consumer awareness about functional food ingredients is explained through the described model based on the following predictors: age, educational level, health status, health motivation and information strategies. Among these factors, consumers’ health motivation seems to have the highest relevance to explain consumer awareness. But also the determinants information strategies as well as the education show a significant influence on consumers’ ingredient awareness. As health motivation shows the highest impact on consumers’ ingredient awareness this study underlines the importance of prevention propensity for healthy food choices.
Objectives: eHealth and innovation are often regarded as synonyms - not least because eHealth technologies and applications are new to their users. This position paper challenges this view and aims at exploring the nature of eHealth innovation against the background of common definitions of innovation and facts from the biomedical and health informatics literature. A good understanding of what constitutes innovative eHealth developments allows the degree of innovation to be measured and interpreted.
Methods: To this end, relevant biomedical and health informatics literature was searched mainly in Medline and ACM digital library. This paper presents seven facts about implementing and applying new eHealth developments hereby drawing on the experience published in the literature.
Results: The facts are: 1. eHealth innovation is relative. 2. Advanced clinical practice is the yardstick. 3. Only used and usable eHealth technology can give birth to eHealth innovatio. 4. One new single eHealth function does not make a complex eHealth innovation. 5. eHealth innovation is more evolution than revolution. 6. eHealth innovation is often triggered behind the scenes; and 7. There is no eHealth innovation without sociocultural change.
Conclusions: The main conclusion of the seven facts is that eHealth innovations have many ingredients: newness, availability, advanced clinical practice with proven outcomes, use and usability, the supporting environment, other context factors and the stakeholder perspectives. Measuring eHealth innovation is thus a complex matter. To this end we propose the development of a composite score that expresses comprehensively the nature of eHealth innovation and that breaks down its complexity into the three dimensions: i) eHealth adoption, ii) partnership with advanced clinical practice, and iii) use and usability of eHealth. In order to better understand the momentum and mechanisms behind eHealth innovation the fourth dimension, iv) eHealth supporting services and means, needs to be studied. Conceptualising appropriate measurement instruments also requires eHealth innovation to be distinguished from eHealth sophistication, performance and quality, although innovation is intertwined with these concepts. The demanding effort for defining eHealth innovation and measuring it properly seem worthwhile and promise advances in creating better systems. This paper thus intends to stimulate the necessary discussion.
Climate change is expected to exacerbate the current threats to freshwater ecosystems, yet multifaceted studies on the
potential impacts of climate change on freshwater biodiversity at scales that inform management planning are lacking. The aim of this study was to fill this void through the development of a novel framework for assessing climate
change vulnerability tailored to freshwater ecosystems. The three dimensions of climate change vulnerability are as
follows: (i) exposure to climate change, (ii) sensitivity to altered environmental conditions and (iii) resilience potential.
Our vulnerability framework includes 1685 freshwater species of plants, fishes, molluscs, odonates, amphibians, crayfish and turtles alongside key features within and between catchments, such as topography and connectivity. Several
methodologies were used to combine these dimensions across a variety of future climate change models and scenarios. The resulting indices were overlaid to assess the vulnerability of European freshwater ecosystems at the catchment scale (18 783 catchments). The Balkan Lakes Ohrid and Prespa and Mediterranean islands emerge as most
vulnerable to climate change. For the 2030s, we showed a consensus among the applied methods whereby up to 573
lake and river catchments are highly vulnerable to climate change. The anthropogenic disruption of hydrological
habitat connectivity by dams is the major factor reducing climate change resilience. A gap analysis demonstrated that
the current European protected area network covers <25% of the most vulnerable catchments. Practical steps need to
be taken to ensure the persistence of freshwater biodiversity under climate change. Priority should be placed on
enhancing stakeholder cooperation at the major basin scale towards preventing further degradation of freshwater
ecosystems and maintaining connectivity among catchments. The catchments identified as most vulnerable to climate
change provide preliminary targets for development of climate change conservation management and mitigation
strategies.
Report on visits in hospices located in Osnabrück/Germany and the Saint Cristopher’s Hospice in London/United
Kingdom; and present a discussion about the care mode. Methods: Experience report based on a post-doctoral research period
in Germany between November 2013 and October 2014, funded by the CAPES Foundation (Coordination for the Improvement of
Higher Education Personnel). Results: The structure, operation mode of the institutions and the main labor force were discussed,
especially the nursing staff and volunteers’ participation, the main care activities and challenges. These issues were very similar
at the hospices, highlighting the hospice responsible for spreading this moviment worldwide. Conclusion: The hospice may be
the place of death, but it provides a pleasant environment that preserves the person’s individuality and autonomy. It relies on the
participation of volunteers, dissemination of its idea and training programs, which ensure the strengthening of this movement.