University of Warwick

About: University of Warwick is a education organization based out in Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 26212 authors who have published 77127 publications receiving 2666552 citations. The organization is also known as: Warwick University & The University of Warwick.

The macroeconomics of happiness

Abstract: We show that macroeconomic movements have strong effects on the happiness of nations. First, we find that there are clear microeconomic patterns in the psychological well-being levels of a quarter of a million randomly sampled Europeans and Americans from the 1970s to the 1990s. Happiness equations are monotonically increasing in income, and have similar structure in different countries. Second, movements in reported well-being are correlated with changes in macroeconomic variables such as gross domestic product. This holds true after controlling for the personal characteristics of respondents, country fixed effects, year dummies, and country-specific time trends. Third, the paper establishes that recessions create psychic losses that extend beyond the fall in GDP and rise in the number of people unemployed. These losses are large. Fourth, the welfare state appears to be a compensating force: higher unemployment benefits are associated with higher national well-being.

The Effectiveness of Mobile-Health Technology-Based Health Behaviour Change or Disease Management Interventions for Health Care Consumers: A Systematic Review

Abstract: Background Mobile technologies could be a powerful media for providing individual level support to health care consumers. We conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness of mobile technology interventions delivered to health care consumers.

Happiness and economic performance

Abstract: If a nation's economic performance improves, how much extra happiness does that buy its citizens? Most public debate assumes -- without real evidence -- that the answer is a lot. This paper examines the question by using information on well-being in Western countries. The data are of four kinds: on reported happiness, on reported life satisfaction, on reported job satisfaction, and on the number of suicides. These reveal patterns that are not visible to the anecdotal eye. In industrialized countries, well-being appears to rise as real national income grows. But the rise is so small as to be sometimes almost undetectable. Unemployment, however, seems to be a large source of unhappiness. This suggests that governments ought to be trying to reduce the amount of joblessness in the economy. In a country that is already rich, policy aimed instead at raising economic growth may be of comparatively little value.

Interventions for preventing falls in elderly people

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Approximately 30 per cent of people over 65 years of age and living in the community fall each year; the number is higher in institutions Although less than one fall in 10 results in a fracture, a fifth of fall incidents require medical attention OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of interventions designed to reduce the incidence of falls in elderly people (living in the community, or in institutional or hospital care) SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group Specialised Register (January 2003), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2003), MEDLINE (1966 to February 2003), EMBASE (1988 to 2003 Week 19), CINAHL (1982 to April 2003), The National Research Register, Issue 2, 2003, Current Controlled Trials (wwwcontrolled-trialscom accessed 11 July 2003) and reference lists of articles No language restrictions were applied Further trials were identified by contact with researchers in the field SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised trials of interventions designed to minimise the effect of, or exposure to, risk factors for falling in elderly people Main outcomes of interest were the number of fallers, or falls Trials reporting only intermediate outcomes were excluded DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently assessed trial quality and extracted data Data were pooled using the fixed effect model where appropriate MAIN RESULTS: Sixty two trials involving 21,668 people were includedInterventions likely to be beneficial:Multidisciplinary, multifactorial, health/environmental risk factor screening/intervention programmes in the community both for an unselected population of older people (4 trials, 1651 participants, pooled RR 073, 95%CI 063 to 085), and for older people with a history of falling or selected because of known risk factors (5 trials, 1176 participants, pooled RR 086, 95%CI 076 to 098), and in residential care facilities (1 trial, 439 participants, cluster-adjusted incidence rate ratio 060, 95%CI 050 to 073) A programme of muscle strengthening and balance retraining, individually prescribed at home by a trained health professional (3 trials, 566 participants, pooled relative risk (RR) 080, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 066 to 098) Home hazard assessment and modification that is professionally prescribed for older people with a history of falling (3 trials, 374 participants, RR 066, 95% CI 054 to 081) Withdrawal of psychotropic medication (1 trial, 93 participants, relative hazard 034, 95%CI 016 to 074) Cardiac pacing for fallers with cardioinhibitory carotid sinus hypersensitivity (1 trial, 175 participants, WMD -520, 95%CI -940 to -100) A 15 week Tai Chi group exercise intervention (1 trial, 200 participants, risk ratio 051, 95%CI 036 to 073) Interventions of unknown effectiveness:Group-delivered exercise interventions (9 trials, 1387 participants) Individual lower limb strength training (1 trial, 222 participants) Nutritional supplementation (1 trial, 46 participants) Vitamin D supplementation, with or without calcium (3 trials, 461 participants) Home hazard modification in association with advice on optimising medication (1 trial, 658 participants), or in association with an education package on exercise and reducing fall risk (1 trial, 3182 participants) Pharmacological therapy (raubasine-dihydroergocristine, 1 trial, 95 participants) Interventions using a cognitive/behavioural approach alone (2 trials, 145 participants) Home hazard modification for older people without a history of falling (1 trial, 530 participants) Hormone replacement therapy (1 trial, 116 participants) Correction of visual deficiency (1 trial, 276 participants)Interventions unlikely to be beneficial:Brisk walking in women with an upper limb fracture in the previous two years (1 trial, 165 participants) AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to prevent falls that are likely to be effective are now available; less is known about their effectiveness in preventing fall-related injuries Costs per fall prevented have been established for four of the interventions and careful economic modelling in the context of the local healthcare system is important Some potential interventions are of unknown effectiveness and further research is indicated Language: en