Evaluation of pharmacy students’ knowledge and perceptions of transitions of care services

Introduction: Studies support incorporation of pharmacists and pharmacy students to improve health and financial outcomes during transition of care (TOC). Standardisation of TOC educational training is currently lacking in pharmacy curricula. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a convenience sample at one college of pharmacy. Students participated in an anonymous Qualtrics survey including items on TOC service understanding and educational training. Results are reported as means and standard deviation for continuous data; frequencies and percentages for categorical data. Results: Of 116 survey responses, 112 provided informed consent. Seventy-eight percent of respondents stated they have learned about TOC and 66% felt they understood what TOC entails. When asked to identify disease states commonly targeted for TOC, 77% responded incorrectly to this item. When asked to select TOC clinical activities, 66% incorrectly selected medication dispensing. Ninety-six percent of respondents replied that additional educational training on TOC would be beneficial. Conclusion: There is a discrepancy in students’ perception of TOC services with their actual knowledge of TOC services based on survey responses.

From Piggy Banks to Significant Others: Associations Between Financial Socialization and Romantic Relationship Flourishing in Emerging Adulthood

While a plethora of research has found that parent financial socialization during childhood and adolescence is linked with financial outcomes in emerging adulthood, recent literature suggests that financial socialization may also impact romantic relationship outcomes in emerging adulthood. Utilizing a sample of 1,950 U.S. emerging adults, we test whether retrospectively recalled parent financial socialization is associated with romantic relationship flourishing and whether this association is mediated by financial behaviors and financial distress. We found that financial socialization was positively associated with financial behaviors and relationship flourishing and was negatively associated with financial distress. Further, financial behaviors partially mediated the association between financial socialization and relationship flourishing, while financial distress did not mediate the association. Together with previous literature, these findings provide useful information for therapists and educators in their pursuit to promote robust parent financial socialization in childhood and adolescence and both financial and relational well-being in emerging adulthood.

Taking Financial Literacy Downtown: Leveraging Community Partnerships to Increase Communication of Essential Financial Information in an Urban Area

Financial illiteracy is a systemic issue across the country, especially among lower-income individuals in urban communities. This low level of financial literacy often leads to higher levels of debt, lower credit scores, less wealth accumulation, and poor retirement planning. Increasing financial literacy in these priority populations can be effective in combatting some of these negative financial outcomes. This study emerged from a partnership between community organizations in a large urban metropolitan area and scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Guided by formative research principles, this manuscript reports on research findings derived from several focus groups with community members. These focus groups helped to identify existing perceived financial knowledge levels, categorize barriers to enhancing financial literacy, and illuminate potentially pathways to effective financial literacy program development.

A Review of the Psychological Factors Affecting the Acquisition and Outcomes of Credit

Since their introduction in the 1980s, credit scores have been the dominant method used to assess the creditworthiness of individuals. However, they rely heavily on situational factors which may lead to good long term borrowers being denied due to unfortunate recent circumstances. Instead, there is emerging evidence that a number of psychological factors including personality traits, attitudes and behaviours play an important role in the acquisition and outcomes of credit. Taking account of these factors may provide a better picture of the long term creditworthiness of individuals, despite their current circumstances. This review paper takes the important step of collating the latest research on the psychological factors involved throughout the credit process from acquisition to financial outcomes. It highlights the multifaceted nature of personal credit use with the various inextricably linked personality, attitudinal and behavioural factors involved

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Work and Financial Outcomes of Older Black and Hispanic Adults

This study investigates how older Black and Hispanic adults’ work engagement is impacted by the effects of COVID-19. Using intersectionality and cumulative (dis)advantage as complementing theoretical frameworks, data from the Health and Retirement Study, and series of logistic regression models, we measure work engagement changes pre- and post- COVID-19. Preliminary findings suggest that net of other controls, there were no substantial or significant reductions in resilience as the result of COVID-19 itself for any racial/ethnic group. White older adults, and to some degree Hispanics older adults, experienced erosion in resilience related to financial hardships, but the resilience of Black older adults remained stable in the face of increased hardship. Future work in this area will improve our limited understanding of older Black and Hispanic adults’ experiences of managing and coping with COVID-19- related work and financial risks– information that will be critical for planning intervention and support services.

Nursing Home Post-Acute Care Specialization Groups and Financial Outcomes

Nursing homes (NHs) have increasingly specialized in post-acute care (PAC). However, it remains unclear as to why some NHs engage in more specialization than the others. Furthermore, the relationship between financial outcomes and PAC specialization has not been examined using more accurate financial indicators. This study developed a NH PAC specialization typology and examined financial outcomes (i.e. total revenue per inpatient day, operating margin) of different specialization groups. We employed NH-level panel data from 2011 through 2017 and focused on over 9,000 urban NHs per year. Multiple data sources were utilized like the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting data; Medicare Cost Reports; and Brown University’s LTCfocUS. We employed Latent Profile Analysis to develop distinct NH care specialization groups based on PAC staffing levels. This analysis revealed heterogeneous and clustered patterns of PAC staffing utilization and identified a four-group typology: “low specialization,” “mixed specialization,” “moderate PAC specialization,” and “intensive PAC specialization.” Using fixed-effects modeling, we then examined financial outcomes of the four PAC specialization groups. Although being in a group with higher level of commitment to PAC specialization was associated with higher revenues, it was not necessarily associated with higher operating margins. Further, in stratified analyses, for-profit and not-for-profit NHs showed different patterns in these associations. This suggested that although NHs compete for patients paid at higher reimbursement policies, increased costs may offset higher revenues as a result of specialization. Future studies should track financial outcome trajectories of NHs by care specialization groups in light of various payment innovations.

AUSTRALIAN HOTEL ORGANISATIONS AND THEIR PRE AND MID COVID-19 ORGANISATIONAL RESILIENCE

This study focuses on the Australian hotel organisation and their organisational resilience (O.R.) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its objectives are to leverage the “Hotel Resilience model” developed by MeliánAlzola et al. (2020) and the Benchmark Resilience Tool to gain indications of the level of O.R of the Australian hotel sector, to determine the relationship between the hotel O.R. indicators and the financial outcomes and to document O.R. related tactics and strategies implemented in the Australian hotel industry during the Global pandemic. By adopting a qualitative research approach using experts’ interviews with 10 hotels general or operations managers, the study found that there was no formal awareness of or adoption of formal O.R. frameworks within the participating hotels nor was there any indication of an appetite for the implementation of any O.R. frameworks, also as a result of lack of data, the study was unable to determine a link between O.R. indicators and financial outcomes.