The high level of income and wealth distribution in the world is recognized as a phenomenon that leads to negative economic and social consequences. The imperfection of redistribution levers in the economy has created conditions for the concentration of resources, material goods and wealth in small population groups. Today, the economic system is not focused on majority of the population, and therefore the high level of inequality and its consequences for economic growth, well-being and human development cannot be ignored. In this context, too high economic inequality in Lithuania is one of the most sensitive problems of the country; Lithuania is an anti-leader in the European Union according to economic inequality. Conventionally, economic inequality is measured using such methods as distribution of income and consumption of the population, however, to find out the real level of inequality, wealth diversity should be studied as well. The main purpose of this article is to identify and emphasise wealth diversity as an inseparable part of economic inequality in Lithuania and, as a result, the poor quality of life and obstacles in the way of economic progress as well as to compare wealth inequality with income inequality in Lithuania. The authors organised a representative poll of Lithuanian citizens and used a certain survey to collect information about the dwelling-places or other types of assets owned by the respondents as well as to evaluate wealth diversity in the country. The results show that the edge value of the assets owned by the representatives between I and X deciles differs by 16.9 times. However, comparing the average prices of dwelling-places in deciles I and X, the difference amounts to 7.2 times. Assessing all types of assets, including accommodation, land, durable goods, etc., it has been revealed that the distribution of wealth exceeds the limit of income and consumption distribution established by various statistical organisations and by the authors themselves. The decile ratio (in relation to deciles I and X) equals to 40.8, thus, it considerably exceeds the level of income and consumption inequality.
Much of the discussion over satisfaction with life has focused on the significance of income. Some researchers argue that cognitive factors (expectations, social comparisons, life evaluations, schemas) is the mediating part between income and subjective wellbeing, however, positive psychology suggests that happiness determines the effect of social comparison itself. This paradox could be titled "cognitiveemotional impact paradox". We have chosen to explore this paradox and investigate the relationship between household income, cognitions, emotions, and satisfaction with life in Lithuania, as various studies, including "World Value Survey", indicate Lithuania is among the countries demonstrating very low scores on happiness of population even though its' economy grew fast when this country regained its' independence in 1991. This paper presents some results of the survey which was conducted in 2016 (representative sample, n=1001). The analysis of data has demonstrated that when people get low household income per month, they report more intense negative emotions and less positive emotions. Secondly, our results suggest that people getting low household income per month express more negative cognitions and less positive cognitions. Thirdly, the results demonstrated strong relationship between cognitions, emotions, and satisfaction with life. Moreover, the results contribute to the empirical literature on "income -happiness" relation by demonstrating that household income has no significant direct effect on satisfaction with life, but there is a significant effect of household income on basic cognitions, which have a significant effect on emotions. Subsequently, basic cognitions and emotions have an effect on satisfaction with life. However, "cognitive -emotional impact paradox" needs further exploration. This research is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (No. GER-009/2015).
Patient-centered care is considered to be one of the essential pillars of a modern healthcare system. Thus, quality assessment based on patients’ perceptions, views and experiences in their journey through the healthcare system is recognized as one of the key principles for quality improvement initiatives. Measuring patient satisfaction can be confounded by expectations and prior experiences, which can be at least partly overcome by evaluating patient-perceived healthcare quality (PPHQ). Understanding the principal constituents of PPHQ may aid healthcare professionals and decision makers in the healthcare management process and help in creating instruments to meaningfully measure patient feedback. Herein, we aimed to analyze the primary determinants of PPHQ and their interactions, with a focus on patient experiences and healthcare accessibility, using the example of Lithuanian primary healthcare. For this purpose, we conducted a cross-sectional representative telephone survey that included a total of 1033 respondents (48% male) who had encountered primary healthcare during last 3 years. Survey questions consisted of sociodemographic characteristics, patient perceptions of healthcare service provision, patient experiences, self-reported health status and overall PPHQ ranked with a 5-point Likert scale as the primary outcome. The classification-regression tree (CRT) technique was used to analyze the relationship between different explanatory variables and PPHQ, as well as their relative importance and interactions. The majority of respondents (89%) evaluated PPHQ as acceptable or good. CRT analysis identified staff behavior, organizational accessibility and financial accessibility as the most important factors affecting PPHQ. Importantly, the latter factors surpassed the effect of other known PPHQ determinants, such as sociodemographic characteristics or health status. Further analysis has revealed that the relative importance of staff behavior, including understanding, attention and empathy, increased when more problems with organizational accessibility were encountered. In conclusion, our study suggests that PPHQ in primary healthcare may primarily be determined by organizational and financial accessibility and staff behavior, which may also act as an important mediating factor.
Anotacija. Daugelis autorių, tiriančių visuomenės gyvenimo kokybę siekiant priimti teisėtus, efektyvius ir etiškus valstybės valdymo sprendimus GER-009/2015.
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