Search

Objectives: It is well known that there are associations between overall health, age, socioeconomic status and rural residency. The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of Australia's aged population by socioeconomic status, as well as remoteness. Methods: The study employed the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (Statistical Area Level 1 and Remoteness Areas). The database of the geographic boundaries was integrated into the ageing population and socioeconomic data using the Geographic Information System. The socioeconomic data was analysed through the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage. Results: Over a decade, the older population in Australia has increased noticeably. In 2016, there was a high percentage of older people (≥65 years) in Tasmania (Tas), 19%, while the lowest percentage was recorded in the Northern Territory (NT), 7%. Across the country, Tasmania had the highest percentage of older citizens living in the most disadvantaged areas since 2006, with 48% recorded in 2016. There was an association between the remoteness areas and the education and income levels of the ageing cohort. However, this association differed between the states and territories. This socioeconomic gap becomes more evident in the very remote areas of the country. Conclusions: The ageing population in Australia is increasing rapidly; this was associated with an evolving socioeconomic disparity among this ageing society. Our results demonstrated that socioeconomic inequalities were to be found among the older people based on their distribution over the remoteness areas in Australia. This information should be used to target healthcare and ageing policies that meet the specific needs of older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyse and map the distribution of the ageing population, by sociodemographic profiling, in private and public dental practices in Australia. Background: The rapid increase in the aged population in Australia requires a comprehensive approach to ensure accessibility to geriatric dental services. However, the availability of dental services for the older people requires further investigation of the demographic distribution of need. Materials and Methods: Dental practices were located and mapped against the ageing population data. The address for each dental practice in Australia was compiled from online access sources. Australian socioeconomic data were integrated with dental practices, clinic locations and older populations using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Results: There was an uneven distribution of dental practices across Australia's States and Territories (NT and ACT). Tasmania had the highest ratio of private practices to the older population (1:1000) and the highest percentages of this ageing cohort (32%, 61%) that lived more than 5 km from private and public dental practices respectively. Higher percentages of dental practices were located in areas of lower socioeconomic status in Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia (47%, 42% and 38%) respectively, however, these areas were associated with higher ageing population densities. Conclusion: There is a geographic maldistribution of dental practices in relation to the spatial distribution of Australia's older population, with the inequity most pronounced in the most disadvantaged areas. This inequality requires a National approach to match dental services to the population that they serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At this time, most of the Arab countries were used these modern technologies just for the protest or indignation of the present services that provided from government or companies. In the developed countries were dominated on the empirical studies on the social networking tools in educational institutions. Regrettably, most of these studies were conducted in developed countries. In the same context, in the Middle East as a developing countries are deemed as the first place that harnesses the social networking tools in the political events through Arab Spring. Consequently, the current empirical study focused to determine the influence of the use social media among undergraduate student, in particular the Dhi-Qar University. The current study seeks in concentrating on the aspects of potentiality of the social media and its role in educational institutions specifically on the utilization of collaborative learning as well as the enhancement of the students’ performance as a whole in terms of academics. The study selected the students randomly from the Mass Media in Thi- Qar University. With regard to data analysis, second statistical generation (SEM-PLS) technique and the first statistical generation (SPSS v.23) were used as the instruments for analysis purpose.The results indicated that, there was a strong positive relationship between the engagement and collaborative learning and collaborative leaning with student academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Limited access to oral health services contributes to poor oral health in institutionalised older adults. The objective of this study was to map and analyse the distribution of residential age-care facilities (RACFs) in relation to dental practices across Australia., Methods: Age-care data were sourced from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The data were categorised according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics remoteness index in each state and territory, defined by a geographic coordinate system. The structure of remoteness area data was integrated into RACF data using a geographic information system. Buffer analysis in QGIS was employed to calculate the buffer distance surrounding RACFs by identifying dental practices relative to a measuring distance., Results: In total, Australia had 2718 RACFs and 7379 dental practices (both private 95.5% and public 4.5%). In all States, more than a third of metropolitan RACFs were within accessible reach of a private practice (ranging from 37% of RACFs in NSW to 55% in WA). However, proximity to public clinics was low, ranging from only 4% (WA) to 9% (QLD). More than one-fifth of metropolitan RACFs in NSW, QLD, WA and ACT (ranging from 20% to 24%) were not within accessible proximity of either a public or private dental clinic/practice. While more than 70% of RACFs in regional and remote Australia are reasonably close to dental practices, areas with inadequate access exist, with the highest percentage recorded in WA (6%)., Conclusion: Ensuring an equitable distribution of dental practices relative to RACFs is crucial in bridging the service access gap in underserved areas., (© 2024 Gerodontology Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)