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- Bergqvist, Kersti, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding the role of welfare state characteristics for health and inequalities - an analytical review
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 13, s. 1234-
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The past decade has witnessed a growing body of research on welfare state characteristics and health inequalities but the picture is, despite this, inconsistent. We aim to review this research by focusing on theoretical and methodological differences between studies that at least in part may lead to these mixed findings. Methods: Three reviews and relevant bibliographies were manually explored in order to find studies for the review. Related articles were searched for in PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Database searches were done in PubMed and Web of Science. The search period was restricted to 2005-01-01 to 2013-02-28. Fifty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. Results: Three main approaches to comparative welfare state research are identified; the Regime approach, the Institutional approach, and the Expenditure approach. The Regime approach is the most common and regardless of the empirical regime theory employed and the amendments made to these, results are diverse and contradictory. When stratifying studies according to other features, not much added clarity is achieved. The Institutional approach shows more consistent results; generous policies and benefits seem to be associated with health in a positive way for all people in a population, not only those who are directly affected or targeted. The Expenditure approach finds that social and health spending is associated with increased levels of health and smaller health inequalities in one way or another but the studies are few in numbers making it somewhat difficult to get coherent results. Conclusions: Based on earlier reviews and our results we suggest that future research should focus less on welfare regimes and health inequalities and more on a multitude of different types of studies, including larger analyses of social spending and social rights in various policy areas and how these are linked to health in different social strata. But, we also need more detailed evaluation of specific programmes or interventions, as well as more qualitative analyses of the experiences of different types of policies among the people and families that need to draw on the collective resources.
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| 3. |
- Kruize, Hanneke, et al.
(författare)
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Urban Green Space : Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 16:22
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Urbanization, costs of green space maintenance, and diminishing connection between people and nature all exert pressures on urban green space. This is regrettable as green space has the potential to create wins for environmental sustainability, health, and health equity. This paper explores this potential triple win and investigates how to increase the use of urban green space through behavior change. A narrative literature review was conducted and was supplemented with literature suggested by experts. Results show that creating well-designed green spaces and stimulating people to use them can indeed deliver this triple win. Providing accessible, attractive, well-maintained green space with room for socialization, and where people feel safe, may increase the opportunity and motivation of people to use it more often. Informing and educating people and organizing activities may increase capability (and motivation) to use green space. Since the use of green space depends on life stage, lifestyle factors and individual values, it is important to involve potential users in its design. We recommend a specific focus on those groups who may benefit most from the use of green space. More evaluation is needed to inform effective green space interventions and to assess related economic, social, and environmental benefits.
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| 5. |
- Lundberg, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of social protection and income maintenance policies on health and health inequalities
- 2013
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 23:Suppl. 1
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- BackgroundAs a starting point we review the existing evidence on welfare states, health and health inequalities, from 2005 onwards. Three different approaches emerge in these previous studies – the welfare regime approach, the welfare institutions approach and the social spending approach. While no clear picture emerges for the welfare regime approach, summarising findings regarding the institutional and expenditure approach suggest that a higher degree of generosity and social spending benefits public health. These are therefore approaches we follow to arrive at a better understanding of what type of policies are linked to smaller inequalities in health across the life-course.MethodsA starting point in the analyses is the relation between income, poverty and mortality. The cross-national variation in poverty rates, both absolute (poverty threshold) and relative (60 per cent of median income) measure, and mortality rates in European 26 countries will be considered.The second step in the analysis focuses on the relationship between social rights and subjective health in Europe, with a focus on national variations and changes in social rights to levels and changes in subjective health outcomes across several countries. The data holds information regarding social rights and social expenditure, including individual data from EU-SILC.ResultsPreliminary results indicate that it is the totality of social protection that is important rather than individual policies. A sub-study regarding social rights and health among youth highlight also the importance of active and passive labour market policy in the 16 included countries.ConclusionsIn sum our diverse approach to analysing welfare state efforts and their links to health inequalities suggest that there is a clear relationship between more ambitious policies and smaller inequalities in health. These results are discussed in relation to previous findings.
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| 7. |
- Lundberg, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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The potential power of social policy programmes : income redistribution, economic resources and health
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Social Welfare. - : Wiley. - 1369-6866 .- 1468-2397. ; 19:s1, s. s2-s13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This Supplement includes a number of articles dealing with the role of social policy schemes for public health across the life course. As a key social determinant of health, poverty and its consequences have historically been at the forefront of the public health discussion. But also in rich countries today, economic resources are likely to be important for health and survival, both on an individual and an aggregate level. This introductory article serves as a background for the more specific analyses that follow. The focus is on why income and income inequality could have an effect on individual and population health. We discuss relationships between the individual and population levels and between income and health, and some of the possible mechanisms involved. We also present arguments for why welfare state institutions may matter.
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| 9. |
- Lundberg, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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The role of welfare state principles and generosity in social policy programmes for public health : an international comparative study
- 2008
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 372:9650, s. 1633-1640
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Many important social determinants of health are also the focus for social policies. Welfare states contribute to the resources available for their citizens through cash transfer programmes and subsidised services. Although all rich nations have welfare programmes, there are clear cross-national differences with respect to their design and generosity These differences are evident in national variations in poverty rates, especially among children and elderly people. We investigated to what extent variations in family and pension policies are linked to infant mortality and old-age excess mortality. Methods Infant mortality rates and old-age excess mortality rates were analysed in relation to social policy characteristics and generosity. We did pooled cross-sectional time-series analyses of 18 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries during the period 1970-2000 for family policies and 1950-2000 for pension policies. Findings Increased generosity in family policies that support dual-earner families is linked with lower infant mortality rates, whereas the generosity in family policies that support more traditional families with gainfully employed men and homemaking women is not. An increase by one percentage point in dual-earner support lowers infant mortality by 0.04 deaths per 1000 births. Generosity in basic security type of pensions is linked to lower old-age excess mortality, whereas the generosity of earnings-related income security pensions is not. An increase by one percentage point in basic security pensions is associated with a decrease in the old age excess mortality by 0.02 for men as well as for women. Interpretation The ways in which social policies are designed, as well as their generosity, are important for health because of the increase in resources that social policies entail. Hence, social policies are of major importance for how we can tackle the social determinants of health.
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| 10. |
- Lundberg, Olle, et al.
(författare)
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Welfare states and health inequalities
- 2015
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Ingår i: Canadian public policy. - : University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress). - 0317-0861 .- 1911-9917. ; 41:Suppl. 2, s. S26-S33
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While much research points to the importance of a range of welfare state policies to reduce inequalities in health, the growing literature in this field is full of mixed and contradictory results. In this paper, we provide a brief discussion about the different conceptual and methodological approaches used in comparative research on the relationship between welfare policies and health. Against a theoretical discussion of possible linkages among one central welfare policy, unemployment benefit schemes, and health, we also provide examples of findings on how two central dimensions of such schemes—coverage and replacement rates—are linked to health and health inequalities across Europe. These examples indicate not only that welfare state programs can contribute to smaller health inequalities but also that their effectiveness in this respect depends on their institutional set-up.
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