Urban-Rural Differences in Elderly Caregiving Preferences: Empirical Study in China

Community-based mental health studies have revealed that the point prevalence of depressive disorders in the elderly population of the world varies between 10% and 20%, depending on cultural situations. A retrospective study based on analysis of various study reports was conducted, to determine the median prevalence rates of depressive disorders in the elderly population of India and various other countries in the world. All the studies that constituted the sample were conducted between 1955 and 2005. Included are only community-based, cross-sectional surveys and some prospective studies that had not excluded depression at baseline. These studies were conducted on a homogenous community of the elderly population in the world, who were selected by a simple random sampling technique. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria on published and indexed articles, 74 original research studies that surveyed a total of 487 275 elderly individuals, in the age group of 60 years and above, residing in various parts of the world, were included for the final analysis. The median prevalence rate and its corresponding interquartile range were calculated. The chi-square test and chi-square for linear trend were applied. A P value of <.05 was considered as statistically significant. The median prevalence rate of depressive disorders in the world for the elderly population was determined to be 10.3% (interquartile range [IQR], 4.7%-16.0%). The median prevalence rate of depression among the elderly Indian population was determined to be 21.9% (IQR, 11.6%–31.1%). Although there was a significant decrease in the trend of world prevalence of geriatric depression, it was significantly higher among Indians, in recent years, than the rest of the world.

Previous research has reported rural-urban differences in health concerns and access issues. However, very little of this has concerned young people, and what has been published has been mainly from countries other than Australia and may not generalise to Australian youth. The study described in this paper is a subset of a larger study on health concerns and access to healthcare for younger people (12-17 years) living in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. This paper reports findings on rural-urban similarities and differences. The specific study objective was to identify and describe rural-urban differences, especially those associated with structural disadvantage. The reported findings form part of a larger state-wide cross-sectional study of access to healthcare among NSW adolescents. Adolescents were drawn from high schools in ten of the 17 Area Health Services in NSW. These Area Health Services were selected because they represent most aspects of rural-urban NSW with respect to population characteristics and health services. Eighty-one focus groups were conducted with adolescents (35 with boys and 46 with girls), of which 56 were conducted in urban, 22 in rural and 3 in regional areas. The focus groups were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed using the computer software package NUD*IST 4. The analysis revealed certain health concerns that were common to both rural and urban adolescents: use of alcohol and illicit drugs, bullying, street safety, diet and body image, sexual health, stress and depression. However, certain concerns were mentioned more frequently in rural areas (eg depression), and two concerns were raised almost exclusively by rural youth (youth suicide and teenage pregnancy). There were also structural differences in service provision: adolescents in rural areas reported disadvantage in obtaining access to healthcare (limited number of providers and lengthy waiting times); having only a limited choice of providers (eg only one female doctor available), and cost (virtually no bulk billing--ie direct charge to Medicare with no patient co-payment). A lack of confidentiality as a barrier to seeking service access was raised by both rural and urban youth, but was a major concern in rural areas. No issues specific to urban areas were raised by urban youth. Male and female rural adolescents were more likely than urban adolescents to express concerns over limited educational, employment and recreational opportunities, which they believed contributed to their risk-taking behaviour. Gender differences were evident for mental health issues, with boys less able to talk with their peers or service providers about stress and depression than girls. These gender differences were evident among adolescents in both rural and urban areas, but the ethos of a self-reliant male who does not ask for help was more evident among rural boys. While Australian rural and urban youth shared many health concerns, rural-urban differences were striking in the almost exclusive reporting of youth suicide and teenage pregnancy by rural adolescents. The findings suggest that structural disadvantage in rural areas (limited educational, employment opportunities, and recreational facilities) impact adversely on health outcomes, particularly mental health outcomes, and contribute to risk-taking behaviour. Such disadvantages should be considered by health-service policy makers and providers to redress the imbalance. Gender differences were also evident and efforts to target the specific needs of Australian adolescent boys are warranted.

Rural-Urban Differences in Adult Life Expectancy in Indonesia: A Parametric g-formula-based Decomposition Approach.

Social Network Influences on Service Use Among Urban, African American Youth with Mental Health Problems

Globally, middle-aged and older adults who are employed are prone to experiencing depressive symptoms, a phenomenon particularly pronounced in China due to its significant ageing population. Despite this, there is a relative scarcity of research focusing on depressive symptoms among this community, especially in China. The purpose of this study is to explore and measure the factors contributing to variations in depressive symptoms among employed middle-aged and older adults in urban and rural areas. The study utilized data from 3,156 employed middle-aged and older adults, derived from the fourth wave of The 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The 10-item short version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) was used to assess depressive symptoms. Urban-rural differences were examined using chi-square tests and binary logistic regression analyses, while the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique was applied to explore the disparities and their respective contributions. The study comprised a sample of 783 employed individuals of middle and older age residing in urban areas, alongside 2,373 counterparts in rural areas. The gender distribution within the sample was 68.1% male and 31.9% female. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was observed in 23.2% of the urban cohort, in contrast to 30.4% of the rural cohort, a difference that was statistically significant (P < 0.001). In urban settings, significant determinants of depressive symptoms included self-assessed health status, sleep duration, and life satisfaction. In contrast, in rural areas, factors such as gender, age, education, self-assessed health status, chronic diseases, sleep duration, and life satisfaction were identified. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis identified age, education, self-assessed health status, and sleep duration as key factors in the disparity of depressive symptoms between urban and rural areas among employed middle-aged and older adults. Depressive symptoms are more common in rural areas due to various factors found in these communities. It is imperative to create focused and advanced intervention plans to improve the mental well-being of this community and reducing the urban-rural disparity.

Influence models enable the modelling of the spread of ideas, opinions and behaviours in social networks. Bounded rationality in social networks suggests that players make non-optimum decisions due to the limitations of access to information. Based on the premise that adopting a state or an idea can be regarded as being ‘rational’, we propose an influence model based on the heterogeneous bounded rationality of players in a social network. We employ the quantal response equilibrium model to incorporate the bounded rationality in the context of social influence. We hypothesise that bounded rationality of following a seed or adopting the strategy of a seed is negatively proportional to the distance from that node, and it follows that closeness centrality is the appropriate measure to place influencers in a social network. We argue that this model can be used in scenarios where there are multiple types of influencers and varying pay-offs of adopting a state. We compare different seed placement mechanisms to compare and contrast the optimum method to minimise the existing social influence in a network when there are multiple and conflicting seeds. We ascertain that placing of opposing seeds according to a measure derived from a combination of the betweenness centrality values from the seeds, and the closeness centrality of the network provide the maximum negative influence. Further, we extend this model to a strategic decision-making scenario where each seed operates a strategy in a strategic game.

Relevance of the topic. Today, the role of marketing is to satisfy the consumer's curiosity through transparent and valuable content (Sawicki, 2016). More than 4 billion people around the world regularly use online services to find their products, entertainment, friends and even romances, and the behavior of customers and the way companies sell their products to both consumers and businesses has changed a lot (Chaffey &amp; Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). As the use of the Internet has grown, so have related activities such as digital marketing. The main difference between traditional and digital marketing is that digital marketing focuses on the customer, offering him a personal message and a response to his request (Ištvanić, Crnjac Milić &amp; Krpić, 2017). Digital marketing is an integral part of the digital business transformation process. It includes new marketing methods based on information and communication technologies. Todor (2015) the study is based on a study by ZenitOptimedia, which shows that internet use has increased significantly over the past five years, while the use of other media has decreased or only slightly increased. The situation is as follows: internet (+105 %.), outdoor advertising (+3%), television (-8%), cinema (-11%), radio (-15%), magazines (-23%), newspapers (-31%). For this reason, its application in practice is a prerequisite for the successful development of business in modern market conditions (Veleva &amp; Tsvetanova, 2020).&#x0D; The problem. Football fans around the world are increasingly communicating with each other on social networks (Parganas et al., 2017), and football clubs, regardless of their degree of professionalism, include a large number of social media/media platforms for their online campaigns (Helleu, 2017). Bagchi, Sreepada (2020) in the survey conducted, respondents expressed their opinion about the social networks of their favorite football club and why they follow the news of the club in them. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the influence of social networks on football has increased. The clubs tried to give interesting and new content to the fans. Some organized social media quizzes, others made videos with a message that the stadium missed the fans (Szczepkowski, 2021).&#x0D; The aim of the study is to analyze the influence of digital marketing on the communication of football clubs in the case of Lithuania.&#x0D; The subject of the study is the influence of digital marketing on the communication of football clubs.&#x0D; The choice of assessing the influence of electronic marketing on the communication of football clubs was determined by the popularity of the sport in the world, the constantly growing sports market and a large fan base. The quantitative research method chosen for the survey is a questionnaire survey. The quantitative study examined the opinions and behavior of fans of Lithuanian football clubs – consumers – related to the applied online marketing tools. In order to assess the influence of digital marketing on the communication of football clubs, literary analysis and empirical research were chosen. The questionnaire was compiled on the basis of Vale &amp; Fernandes (2018) “Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook” research. To obtain a targeted sample of those who responded in the study, paniotto's sample size formula (Bokor et al., 2011) was used to avoid going beyond the 5 percent error. A total of 451 respondents participated in the survey.&#x0D; Results and conclusion. The largest part of football clubs follow with the help of social networks and even note that they monitor the news on a daily basis thanks to social media platforms. All categories of questions were dominated by the influence of social networks on the communication of the football club. From the results of the study, it is noted that clubs use various strategies, but dominate and fans like social networks the most. Their rating from the presented means was the best. In addition, the respondents were quite unanimous in answering the questions of involvement in the activities of the community - they agree that the activities of the supported football club are important to them. The vast majority of the study participants are happy to get involved in the activities of the communities of clubs and organizations, which give them good emotions, relax them, help them escape from the routine and reduce the feeling of loneliness. The vast majority emphasize that they see basic information about the activities of the clubs there. Also on the Internet buys club products (tickets, merchandise), which also shows that digitalization has progressed in the football world. In conclusion, it can be noted that social networks dominated throughout the study, both on the part of football organizations – communication is developed thanks to this tool and from the part of fans – they recognize it as the most effective tool.&#x0D; Keywords: digital marketing in football, football club communication, A League

AGA Clinical Practice Update on Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Elderly Patients: Expert Review

BackgroundAs China’s older population continues to grow and unhealthy life expectancy gradually extends, the demand for end-of-life care has surged. However, research on end-of-life care models for Chinese older adults is still limited. This study explores the changes in end-of-life care models for older adults in China.MethodsWe utilized data from 22,464 deceased older adults in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 1998 to 2018. End-of-life care models were determined based on the primary caregivers and living arrangements of the older adults during the end-of-life period. Using a hierarchical age-period-cohort (HAPC) model, we analyzed the trends in age, period, and cohort for different care models, and examined gender and urban-rural differences.ResultsWith increasing age at the end of life, the probability of spousal care showed a downward trend, care provided by grandchildren showed an upward trend, care provided by relatives and friends followed a U-shaped curve, and there were no significant changes in the probability of care provided by children or formal care. The analysis of period effects revealed fluctuating upward trends in spousal care and care provided by children, while the remaining three care models showed downward trends. No significant cohort effects were observed for any of the care models. Regardless of age or period effects, older men were generally more likely to receive spousal care and care provided by relatives and friends than older women, while older women were more likely to receive care provided by children and grandchildren than older men. Urban-rural differences in both age and period effects exhibited varying trends across different care models.ConclusionsThe changes in end-of-life care models for Chinese older adults are influenced by both age and period effects. The sustainability of the child-centered care model, influenced by filial piety culture, is facing challenges, as the responsibility for end-of-life care has gradually expanded from children to a broader circle of caregivers. Future efforts should focus on developing a care model based on family caregiving, supplemented by formal care services. Additionally, older women and rural older adults are still at a disadvantage in accessing care services, and future policies should address this issue.

Understanding how information flows in online social networks is of great importance. It is generally difficult to obtain accurate prediction results of cascades over such networks, therefore a variety of diffusion models have been proposed in the literature to simulate diffusion processes instead. We argue that such models require extensive simulation results to produce good estimates of future spreads. In this work, we take a complimentary approach. We present a generalized, analytical model of influence in social networks that captures social influence at various levels of granularity, ranging from pairwise influence, to local neighborhood, to the general population, and external events, therefore capturing the complex dynamics of human behavior. We demonstrate that our model can integrate a variety of diffusion models. Particularly, we show that commonly used diffusion models in social networks can be reduced to special cases of our model, by carefully defining their parameters. Our goal is to provide a closed-form expression to approximate the probability of infection for every node in an arbitrary, directed network at any time t. We quantitatively evaluate the approximation quality of our analytical solution as compared to numerous popular diffusion models on a real-world dataset and a series of synthetic graphs.

To investigate the distribution of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia among elderly population in China in 2010. In 2010, The 3rd Chronic Non-communicable Disease & Risk Factor Surveillance in China was conducted in 31 provinces and Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps. A stratified multi-stage cluster sampling was used from 162 National Disease Surveillance Points (DSPs). A total of 19 981 residents aged ≥ 60 years received a set of standardized questionnaire interview, physical examinations and laboratory test for lipid & glucose levels in blood. After complex weighting of the sample, the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia were compared for different gender, age groups and regions. After complex weighting, among elderly, the overall prevalence of hypertension was 66.9%, and the rates were greater in the eastern areas (67.9%) than in the western areas (62.5%) (P < 0.05), there was no significant difference between urban areas and rural areas (P > 0.05); the prevalence of diabetes was 19.6%, the rates were greater in the eastern areas (21.5%) than in the western areas (17.7%) (P < 0.05), and greater in the urban areas (25.0%) than in the rural areas (17.0%) (P < 0.05) ; the prevalence of high triglycerides, high blood cholesterol and high low-density lipoprotein were all higher in the urban areas (12.4%, 6.4% and 5.2%) than in the rural areas (10.1%, 4.2% and 2.8%) (all P values < 0.05), and also higher for women (12.9%, 6.9% and 4.7%) than for men (8.7%, 2.9% and 2.4%) (all P values < 0.05); the prevalence of hypertension in people with abnormal blood lipids (74.3%) was higher than those with normal blood lipids (65.7%) (P < 0.05); the prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidemia in people with diabetes (77.3%, 23.2%) were both greater than the prevalence in non-diabetic group (64.5%, 12.6%) (both P values < 0.05). The present study showed high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia among elderly people in China. The rates were greater in the eastern than in the western and higher for women than for men. The rates of diabetes and dyslipidemia were significantly higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas. Comprehensive prevention and control of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia among the elderly should be enhanced.

Over the past 20 years, researchers have shown increasing interest in social network analysis to understand second language acquisition (SLA), especially in a study abroad (SA) context. To date, few longitudinal studies have examined the joint evolution of the learners’ sociolinguistic competence and socialisation during the SA. By shifting the focus from a global view of the study abroad context to a deep analysis of the composition and structure of each learner’ social networks in the host country, we aim to provide a better understanding of the development of sociolinguistic competence in SLA (Gautier &amp; Chevrot, 2015). We apply the sociological concept of a social network to sociolinguistics. To explore the sociolinguistic competence of 29 learners, we focus on two well-described sociolinguistic variables in French: the optional liaison and the negative ne. We also gathered data on their social networks and provided a deep analysis of each participant’s network. We implemented a quantitative approach to analyse and depict the social networks of the learners. Statistically significant relationships were found between changes in the learners’ personal network and their use of the two sociolinguistic variables. The development of L2-oriented social networks (in terms of size, speaking time, and frequency) over nine months of the SA helps learners to reduce their use of standard variants. Conversely, the development of L1-oriented social networks during the SA is associated with greater use of standard variants.

Objective: To investigate the impact of lifestyle, apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene, and their interaction on the risk for cognitive frailty in the elderly population in China. Methods: The study participants were from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. The information about their lifestyles were collected by questionnaire survey, and a weighted lifestyle score was constructed based on β coefficients associated with specific lifestyles to assess the combined lifestyle. ApoE genotypes were assessed by rs429358 and rs7412 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Cognitive frailty was assessed based on cognitive function and physical frailty. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to analyze the association of lifestyle and ApoE gene with the risk for cognitive frailty and evaluate the multiplicative and additive interactions between lifestyle and ApoE gene. Results: A total of 5 676 elderly persons, with median age [M (Q1, Q3)] of 76 (68, 85) years, were included, in whom 615 had cognitive frailty. The analysis by Cox proportional hazards regression model indicated that moderate and high levels of dietary diversity could reduce the risk for cognitive frailty by 18% [hazard ratio (HR)=0.82, 95%CI: 0.68-1.00] and 28% (HR=0.72, 95%CI: 0.57-0.91), respectively; moderate and high levels of physical activity could reduce the risk by 31% (HR=0.69, 95%CI: 0.56-0.85) and 23% (HR=0.77, 95%CI: 0.64-0.93), respectively. Healthy lifestyle was associated with a 40% reduced risk for cognitive frailty (HR=0.60, 95%CI: 0.46-0.78). ApoE ε4 allele was associated with a 26% increased risk for cognitive frailty (HR=1.26, 95%CI: 1.02-1.56). No multiplicative or additive interactions were found between lifestyle and ApoE gene. Conclusions: Dietary diversity and regular physical activity have protective effects against cognitive frailty in elderly population. Healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk for cognitive frailty in elderly population regardless of ApoE ε4 allele carriage status.

Currently, short-form video hosting services are gaining popularity in China, which means that their influence on society is rapidly increasing. Multimodal perceptual images constructed by these short videos have integrity, structure and constancy. One of the most well-known social media platforms in China for watching short videos and creating a certain image is Douyin. It is important to note that one of the key media images broadcast in this social network is the media image of an elderly person. This can be explained not only by the attractiveness of an elderly character and his/her hobbies, but also by the fact that the elderly population in China has been growing (rapid ageing phenomenon) due to an increase in life expectancy and declining birthrate. The article analyses the metaphorical model that actualizes various features of the representation of the media image of an elderly person in Chinese media discourse. The screening of Douyin videos conducted by the authors is based on such methods as contextual and descriptive analysis, as well as cultural interpretation. The paper turns to the theory of metaphorical modelling and views the concept of metaphor not only as a separate type of discourse, but also as a means of conceptualizing an image in the minds of native speakers. The most frequent metaphors used to create a media image of an elderly person are as follows: “an elderly person is a child”, “an elderly person is a saint/immortal being” and “an elderly person is a treasure/precious thing”. The study also points out that in the Chinese media space, the image of an elderly person is positive since an older adult has a number of skills and characteristics that meet the needs and interests of the majority of the platform’s users.

Foreign language communication as a modern value is substantiated in the article. The author describes decisive role of social networks as a revolutionary tool for interpersonal interaction as well as a platform for learning foreign languages. The influence of social networks on various aspects of human life is revealed in the article. The purpose of the paper is to find effective strategies for learning foreign languages using social networks and multilingual resources. Basic scientific methods applied are: analysis,synthesis and comparison. The reasons of social networks popularity as a tool that modified the format of communicationare revealed. The author suggests considering the role of social networks for formal, informal and selfeducation. The article does not provide an exhaustive list of advantages and disadvantages of using social networks for educational purposes. A comparative analysis conducted in the study allows students to focus on the strong points of new technologies and comprehend fully difficulties and challenges caused by an active use of social networks during learning. The author emphasizes the importance of psychologicalcomfort in social networks and the differences that exist between real and virtual worlds, where a person can design a desired model of his own life, often imaginary. Ways of using multilingual social networks for learning foreign languages are analyzed in thearticle. The material in the table reveals the level that one can achieve in case of self-education using social networks. The author suggests considering social networks as a modern way of making the study of foreign languages fascinating and interesting. The arguments for using various electronic programs on paid basis are given and grounded.The author gives recommendations on studying foreign languages. The article highlights how important it is to define goals and choose the right learning strategy and emphasizes on the need to expand constantly learner’s own vocabulary. To accelerate the development of necessary linguistic skills and enhance motivation to study the author encourages using additional resources.