Browsing by Subject "Quality of life"
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Item Combining accessibilities for different activity types: Methodology and case study(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2019) Zheng, Lijuan; Oeser, Markus; van Wee, BertAccessibility is a key concept in transport planning. Most studies only focus on specific activity types, but for policy making it is more relevant to aggregate accessibility overall or at least several activity types. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study that combines accessibilities for different activity types. Since access to spatially separated activities is one dimension of quality of life, and activity types are not equally important for quality of life, we propose a methodology that is based on weighing activity types according to their relative importance to quality of life to assess overall accessibility. Four principles are adopted to develop the weighting factors: 1) the human needs the activity types satisfy; 2) the activity types' contribution to quality of life; 3) the activity types' trip frequency; 4) further modifications, based on principles such as whether the activity types are needed in emergent situations, and social values and policy preferences. We combine these four principles and apply the methodology in a case study focused on Germany.Item Duluth National Citizen Survey, 2009(2009) City of DuluthThis report of the City of Duluth survey provides the opinions of a representative sample of residents about community quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. A periodic sounding of resident opinion offers staff, elected officials and other stakeholders an opportunity to identify challenges and to plan for and evaluate improvements and to sustain services and amenities for long-term success.Item Duluth National Citizen Survey, 2010(2010) City of DuluthThis report of the City of Duluth survey provides the opinions of a representative sample of residents about community quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. A periodic sounding of resident opinion offers staff, elected officials and other stakeholders an opportunity to identify challenges and to plan for and evaluate improvements and to sustain services and amenities for long-term success.Item Duluth National Citizen Survey, 2011(2011) City of DuluthThe National Citizen Survey (NCS) focuses on a series of community characteristics and local government services, public trust, transportation, housing, City services and other topics. Of relevance for the Sea Grant study, the NCS sampled Duluthians on constructs of environmental sustainability, recreation and wellness, civic engagement and other dimensions.Item Duluth National Citizen Survey, 2012(2012) City of DuluthThis report of the City of Duluth survey provides the opinions of a representative sample of residents about community quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. A periodic sounding of resident opinion offers staff, elected officials and other stakeholders an opportunity to identify challenges and to plan for and evaluate improvements and to sustain services and amenities for long-term success.Item Duluth National Citizen Survey, 2013(2013) City of DuluthThis report of the City of Duluth survey provides the opinions of a representative sample of residents about community quality of life, service delivery, civic participation and unique issues of local interest. A periodic sounding of resident opinion offers staff, elected officials and other stakeholders an opportunity to identify challenges and to plan for and evaluate improvements and to sustain services and amenities for long-term success.Item Duluth National Citizen Survey, 2014(2014) City of DuluthThis report discusses trends over time, comparing the 2014 ratings for the City of Duluth to its previous survey results in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Additional reports and technical appendices are available under separate cover.Item Early Childhood Nature Curriculum for the Formal Preschool Classroom(2010) Bierbrauer, Andrea JoyChildren who are close to nature tend to relate to it as a source of wonder, joy, and awe; their spirits are nurtured by nature and they discover through it "sources of human sensibility.” These outdoor interactions enhance learning and the quality of life over the span of ones lifetime (Wilson,1992). Research indicates that children must develop a sense of respect and care for the natural world during early grades or be at risk of never developing such attitudes (Davis, 1998, Louv, 2008; & Wilson, 1992). This early childhood nature curriculum project provides twelve monthly lessons and newsletters to the preschool teachers at Happy Time Day Care Center of Duluth, Minnesota. Each lesson focuses on nature awareness and appreciation with both indoor and outdoor natural experiences that meet Minnesota's Early Learning Standards, NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards, and the National Education Science Standards.Item High School and Beyond: Continuing Education for Students with Disabilities(2011) Keating, Linda JK; Damme, SusanTransition means to pass from one stage to another. Until recent history, students with disabilities have not had many opportunities to continue education. Designing a transition plan from high school to postsecondary education is key to understanding self and opportunities outside of high school. Research and teaching models have created a new positive attitude to work toward success and quality of life. Clearly following the laws created for people with disabilities along with coordinating services, supports, and self-determination has begun to create self-advocacy as the norm. This literature review will provide an overview of transition plans’ points of interest. The key words throughout this review include transition, plan, postsecondary education, laws, self-determination, self-advocacy, advocacy, responsibility, dual enrollment, accommodations, services, students, disabilities, new paradigm, and quality of life.Item Impact of the revised life review program on quality of life for residents with Alzheimer’s disease in South Taiwan’s long term care facilities.(2010-03) Lin, Li-jungQuality of life (QOL) is the goal for services to elders particularly those with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) for whom successful outcomes are likely to mean small improvements. There is no universal definition of QOL or consensus on what components constitute the phenomena. Therefore, it is difficult to compare efficacy of services or service providers, or to know whether or not QOL has been achieved. Lawton (1997) advocates for defining QOL as a multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be evaluated as a single entity nor measured by one instrument and that must be evaluated from subjective and objective perspectives. This study investigates the efficacy of a revised version of the life review program (LRP-TW) to influence improvement in the QOL of elders with mild to moderate AD in four long term care facilities in South Taiwan when QOL is construed as a multidimensional entity (i.e. SF-36, MMSE, and GDS). An experimental, repeated-measure design was employed with 34 residents in four facilities randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in the 10-week, bi-weekly, LRP-TW; the control group received the typical programs routinely delivered to the residents in each of the facilities. The LRP-TW, framed by continuity and developmental theories (Erikson, 1950; Atchley, 1989) and life review reminiscence (Butler, 1963), included life stage relevant activities reflective of the Taiwan culture of earlier times that correspond to the dates when the subjects would have been at each successive stage. Quantitative analyses of data revealed that objective and subjective indicators of QOL were significantly intercorrelated to each other, but the LRP-TW did not significantly affect the objective and subjective measures of QOL. However, qualitative analyses of data revealed that the LRP-TW successfully applies a variety of leisure activities as tools to trigger each participant's past leisure experiences and related memories. The LRP-TW is promotable as a recreational therapy intervention in long term care facilities throughout Taiwan. Further study with a larger sample size and efficient measuring strategy continuing the search for reliable methods for measuring QOL as a multi-dimensional compound model are needed.Item The Influence of Outdoor Education to Improve the Quality of Life for Individuals with Dementia(2010) Aspenson, Jamie L(D-QOL) (Brod, Stewart, Sands & Walton, 1999) instrument was administered to all participants prior to and after a series of outdoor sessions in which three subjects participated in. The D-QOL provided quantitative data, while audio-recording, transcribing and coding of the outdoor sessions provided qualitative data. Results indicate no statistical significance in D-QOL scores; however, there were increases across several of the domains of quality of life (established by the D-QOL) for two of the treatment group participants. Other resulting implications include the consideration of short-term quality of life improvement and that what individuals find personally meaningful throughout their life may continue to be influential despite a diagnosis of dementia. The results provide recommendations for other adult day programs serving individuals with dementia. These recommendations include being deliberate with offered activities, increasing resources, and becoming aware of what holds personal meaning for attendees. Future studies would benefit from increased sample sizes, including objective observations and measurements and a greater diversity of participants.Item Left ventricular assist device therapy: family caregivers' stress, perceived burden and quality of life.(2011-04) Petty, Michael GlennBackground: Individuals implanted with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as bridge to transplant or as destination therapy expect to be discharged home. Responsibility for providing care to those patients has fallen almost exclusively to family caregivers. Yet there is a paucity of research on the experience of family caregivers of LVAD patients. This study assessed the burden and quality of life (QOL) of caregivers over a period of up to 6 months. The influence of stress and select demographic variables on those outcomes was also evaluated. Methods: Subjects recruited from a single LVAD center in the upper Midwest were required to be > 18 years old, the identified primary caregiver of an LVAD patient, and able to read and write English. Each was asked to complete a questionnaire at baseline and again at 2, 6, 14 and 22 weeks after the baseline measure. Measures included demographics, the Caregiver Distress Scale, the Caregiver Involvement Instrument, the Caregiver Burden Assessment, the Cantril Ladder scale, the CES-D, and the SF-12. Results: A total of 46 subjects provided data for analysis. The average caregiver was a 58 year old Caucasian female spouse of a bridge-to-transplant patient with a HeartMate II living with the patient and one other adult with an average income of $40,000-$59,999. Stress was mildly to moderately elevated over the entire period. Baseline burden was measured at levels that warranted intervention in up to 41% of participants, but decreased steadily over time (p=.04). Sixty to eighty-five percent of subjects reported below average quality of life that was largely static across the study. Stress was negatively correlated with QOL. (p=.004) Conclusions: Interventions to reduce stress are most likely to improve caregiver quality of life.Item Professional culture fit and work-related quality of life in academic departments: a phenomenographic approach.(2011-01) Canales Opazo, Tatiana AndreaAlthough quality of life (QoL) has been a highly investigated issue over the last decades, there is still little agreement on its definition, and even less information about the validity of its measurements in specific settings. Additionally, in complex institutions like a university, functional units such as academic department usually are more valid levels of analysis than institutional ones, and their cultures can have a distinctive effect in its members' perception of QoL. In this study, faculty members of three academic units were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods in order to establish possible connections between their fit and their idea of quality of life. Results show different connotations and different relevant dimensions included in the concept of QoL, according to departmental culture and person-culture fit perception.Item Quality of life among Native American cancer survivors: Approaching harmony and balance after cancer(2019-05) Bastian, TianaIntroduction: Studies centered on understanding quality of life (QoL) among Native American cancer survivors are underrepresented in the literature. This knowledge gap presents a risk of underestimating and failing to adequately address the true burden of cancer in this population. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain a person-centered, comprehensive understanding of factors that influence QoL among Native American cancer survivors and how they manifest in survivors daily lives. Methods: We used a convergent mixed methods design to analyze data from 831 QoL surveys and 52 interviews with geographically and clinically diverse samples of Native cancer survivors. We employed latent class analysis (LCA) to identify “classes” of survivors with similar response patterns across physical, mental/emotional, social, and spiritual QoL domains (quantitative) and thematic analysis to identify themes of advice survivors’ had for other Native survivors and how that advice reflected survivors’ experiences and QoL after diagnosis (qualitative). Findings from the quantitative and qualitative studies were integrated to identify “meta-themes” of factors that influence QoL after cancer and how those factors operate in the context of survivors’ daily lives. Results: LCA identified four classes of survivors with unique QoL profiles: Positive QoL (42%); Well, overwhelmed (30%); Mildly burdened (17%); and Poor QoL (12%). We identified four meta-themes from our integrated analysis: 1) Culture: Value systems and spirituality are benchmarks for evaluating the cancer experience; 2) Years since diagnosis: Treatment and non-treatment related mechanisms influence healing over time; 3) Geographical context impacts access to medical and cultural resources for healing; and 4) Perceived control over cancer: Gaining control through self-advocacy and support. Discussion: Ignoring heterogeneity and contextual influences on QoL underestimates and misspecifies needs of many Native survivors. Conclusion: Interventions to support Native cancer survivors must support the whole person on their path to establishing harmony and balance after cancer.Item Revisiting residential self-selection issues: A life-oriented approach(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2014) Zhang, JunyiIt has been widely argued that residential self-selection stems from two sources: attitudes and sociodemographic traits. This argument would be true if decisions were made with respect to only residential choice and travel behavior. Because they are just a part of people’s life choice, the influence of life choice on self-selection cannot be ignored. In this context, a life-oriented approach becomes relevant, where residential and travel decisions are interdependent not only with each other, but also with other life domains as a part of general life decisions. This paper conceptually argued and empirically confirmed the necessity of developing a life-oriented approach to reexamine residential self-selection issues. I proposed that life choices should be treated as an additional source of the self-selection, and dynamic interdependences between residential choice, travel behavior, and other life choices should be properly modeled. From a policy perspective, the life-oriented approach suggests that successful transport and land use policies should be designed together with policies in other significantly relevant sectors (e.g., health and environment) and such cross-sectoral policies could better contribute to the improvement of people’s quality of life.Item Satisfaction with travel and residential self-selection: How do preferences moderate the impact of the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line?(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2014) Cao, Jason; Ettema, DickPolicies in urban and transportation planning increasingly aim at improving residents’ wellbeing. Satisfaction with travel (SWT) is a relevant component of well-being. Insight into the effect of the built environment on SWT is limited and therefore the focus of this paper. To assess this effect, a crucial issue is to what extent a relationship between the built environment and SWT is due to residential self-selection. To explore this question, a survey was held in corridors of the Twin Cities, which differed in terms of accessibility and transit options. Respondents reported their SWT, travel preferences and reasons for location choices, among other things. Using a fixed-effect model of SWT, we found that self-selection plays a significant role in explaining SWT, but that built environment characteristics also have an independent effect on SWT. Taken together this suggests that policies to build high-quality transit have a positive effect on SWT, in general, and particularly for those with a transit preference.Item Social-cultural impacts of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on the well-being of local community(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2020) Sun, Yunpeng; Ghani, Usman; Hameed Pitafi, Abdul; Islam, TahirIn this research, the impact of infrastructure improvement as a result of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative on the well-being and quality of life (QOL) of residents has been studied. Using the primary data collected from the local population of the Baluchistan province of Pakistan, a link between the socio-cultural effects of CPEC development and the subjective well-being of local citizens has been established. A total of 495 relevant responses were used to assess the well-being of the population through structural equation modeling. Results have shown that the social, cultural, and educational benefits of local communities are significant predictors of the well-being of citizens, and QOL issues have shown to have a major impact on the well-being of citizens. However, findings have also shown that the community resource has an important link with the subjective well-being of citizens. Furthermore, the results also give the local community perceptions of the CPEC initiative; hence the officials of the province can use the findings of this study to create prospective approaches based on the local community perceptions toward better exploitation of CPEC as an opportunity.