OBJECTIVES The objective of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting adoption of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in small Korean hospitals. METHODS This study used survey data on adoption of EMR systems; data included that from various hospital organizational structures. The survey was conducted from April 10 to August 3, 2009. The response rate was 33.5% and the total num...

BACKGROUND It is accepted knowledge that social and economic conditions--like education and income--affect population health. What remains uncertain is whether the degree of inequality in these conditions influences population health and if so, how. Some researchers who argue that inequalities are important, say there is a relationship between political economy, inequality and population health...

Decisions about health care should be informed by systematic review of valid research evidence on the effects of interventions on health outcomes that matter. If systematic review suggests it is likely that a health care intervention does more good than harm in some settings, questions must be addressed about the local applicability of the intervention, its cost-effectiveness, and feasibility o...

In recent years, several key UN reports and articles have begun to articulate the gender gap that exists in child health outcomes [1–3]. Indeed, it has been the UN which has taken a lead in promoting gender equality internationally by requiring all UN entities to mainstream gender and promote gender equality as mandated by the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and ECOSOC resolutions 1996, 1997...

BACKGROUND Existing studies report a positive association between inadequate health literacy and immigrant's adverse health outcomes. Despite substantial research on this topic among immigrants, little is known about the level of health literacy among Somali women in Europe, and particularly in Norway. METHODS A cross sectional study using respondent driven sampling was conducted in Oslo, Nor...

BACKGROUND A four-wave longitudinal study tested the demands-resources model in the school context. AIM To examine the applicability of the demands-resources to the school context. METHOD Data of 1,709 adolescents were gathered, once during the transition from comprehensive to post-comprehensive education, twice during post-comprehensive education, and once 2 years later. RESULTS The hypo...

Holding local boards of health accountable presents challenges related to governance and funding arrangements. These challenges result in (a) multiple accountability pressures, (b) population health outcomes whose change is measureable only over long time periods and (c) board of health activity that is often not the key immediate direct contributor to achieving desired outcomes. We examined ho...

Childhood maltreatment is an established risk factor for varying configurations of psychological problems in emerging adulthood. The current study tested associations between childhood maltreatment, cortisol reactivity, and current mental health symptoms in emerging adulthood. Eighty-eight participants (aged 18-22) completed measures of childhood maltreatment and current internalizing and exter...

BACKGROUND even older adults who are fit experience adverse health outcomes; understanding their risks for adverse outcomes may offer insight into ambient population health. Here, we evaluated mortality risk in relation to social vulnerability among the fittest older adults in a representative community-dwelling sample of older Canadians. METHODS in this secondary analysis of the Canadian Stu...

Socioeconomic status and health status are directly related across the world. Children with low-socioeconomic status not only experience greater health problems in childhood but also aspects of their socioeconomic status become biologically incorporated through both critical periods of development and cumulative effects, leading to poor health outcomes as adults. We explore 3 main influences re...