Search results

A cross‐sectional survey of 300 male university students (18‐25 years) in the United Arab Emirates was carried out to study the relationship between obesity and some lifestyle factors. Obesity was determined using body mass index (weight/height²), with cut‐off of <25 and ≥25, to represent non‐obese and obese students, respectively. The overall prevalence of obesity was 35.7 per cent, which was higher than their counterpart female students. The risk of obesity was found to be greater among those who had a family history of obesity (relative risk, RR=1.88), watched television for more than four hours a day (RR=1.31), were smokers (RR=1.35), were not practising sport (RR=1.77) and had a car (RR=1.23). However, only family history of obesity was found to be statistically significant. The study suggests that social and lifestyle factors are important factors for the occurrence of obesity among male university students.

The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in both American and Japanese college students and their diet, exercise, and sedentary behavior.

The total of 407 college students from the USA (162 students aged 17‐53 years) and from Japan (245 students aged 18‐32 years) answered the survey in order to assess their body types, diet, exercise, and sedentary behavior.

Although the author found a lower mean BMI (body mass index) in the Japanese sample than in their American counterparts, there were not many differences in their diet, exercise, and sedentary behavior between them. The Japanese sample consumed their breakfast more regularly, were more likely to live with their parents, went to fast food restaurants less often and spent less money there than their American counterparts.

The present study used self‐report survey method and it can be considered as a pilot study. In the future study, the height and weight of participants may be actually measured for obtaining more reliable data. Breakfast skipping, single living, and frequent usage of fast food restaurant might be crucial factors for overweight and obesity problems in American college students.

The present study is the first cross‐cultural study regarding body types, diet, exercise, and sedentary behavior between American and Japanese college students.

The aim of the present study is to examine the severity of dieting and its association with obesity, body satisfaction and psychological problems in adolescent boys.

A representative sample of 800 boys in the age group of 14–19 in Qatar was approached during the period from October to December, 2004 and 593 boys gave consent to participate in this study, thus giving a response rate of 74.1 per cent. Self‐reports were obtained from 593 teenage boys using the adolescent dieting scale (ADS), and the self‐reporting questionnaire (SRQ‐20) for psychopathology.

Of the studied subjects, 33.1 per cent were overweight, 10.1 per cent were extreme dieters and 37.4 per cent were intermediate dieters. Among the dieters, 34 per cent were overweight. Dieting was more likely in subjects who practiced exercise and who were perceived by peers or themselves as overweight. The extreme dieters experienced more psychological problems than the intermediate dieters and non‐dieters. Extreme dieters reported sleeping problems (58.3 per cent), tired all the time (53.3 per cent) and felt like crying more than usual (50 per cent). Television was the main source of information on diet (61.7 per cent).

The present study findings provide a strong evidence for the association between frequent dieting and overweight, body image dissatisfaction and psychological problems.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an integrated approach using failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM), mathematical modeling and quality function deployment (QFD) techniques, for risk assessment and service quality enhancement in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) as a treatment for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

First, the disruptions in the CABG process are identified and prioritized following FMEA instructions, using two MCDM techniques, called analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and TOPSIS. Consequently, several corrective activities are identified and weighted on the basis of QFD. Finally, a mathematical model is established to determine the most cost-effective activities for implementation. The approach is developed in a fuzzy environment to reflect the uncertainty and ambiguity of human reasoning.

Regarding the CABG process disruption, a total of 30 failure modes in four main categories were identified and prioritized. Moreover, eight corrective activities were devised and ranked according to their impact on the failure modes. Finally, considering a limited amount of budget, a sensitivity analysis on the mathematical model’s objective function indicated that using 30 percent of the total budget, required to implement all corrective activities, was enough to cover more than 70 percent of the effects of corrective activities on the failure modes.

This paper contributes to the quality risk assessment knowledge by introducing an integrated approach to evaluate and improve healthcare services quality. Also, the case study conducted on the CABG process has not been done by other related studies in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce lean concept to the field of healthcare management, expands the conceptualization of lean management beyond the manufacturing companies to consider key waste reduction opportunities which are posited to be requisites to lean practices and implements the proposed framework in the three public hospitals in Abu Dhabi.

This research is designed by decomposing complex and unstructured issue into a set of components organized in a multi-level hierarchical form. To deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method is used in this research.

AHP framework for this study resulted in a ranking of 21 healthcare wastes based on the evaluations of local situations by experienced healthcare professionals. It has been found that management in healthcare systems of Abu Dhabi is putting more emphasis on the inventory waste.

The future directions of the research would be to apply a lean set of tools for the value stream optimization of the prioritized key improvement areas.

This is a contribution to the continuing research into lean management, giving practitioners and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing lean practices across health organizations.

The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization, prioritization of the waste reduction strategies in healthcare management.

The aim of this research is to uncover issues that inhibit patients' satisfaction and loyalty and identify factors that could enhance customer retention by government hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The mediating impact of outpatient satisfaction on service quality, word of mouth (WoM), hospital image, outpatient–physician relationship and outpatient loyalty were tested.

The sample data used to test the hypotheses were drawn from a pool of patients served by a government healthcare agency in Abu Dhabi. Questionnaires were provided to 418 participants using methods such as short message service, e-mail and face-to-face delivery. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3.2 software.

The results indicate that service quality, WoM and outpatient–physician relationship positively impact outpatient satisfaction and indirectly effect outpatient loyalty; that hospital image positively impacts outpatient satisfaction and loyalty and has a partially mediating effect on loyalty; that waiting time satisfaction has no effect on outpatient satisfaction and no moderating effect on the outpatient satisfaction–loyalty relationship and that switching cost has a positive effect on loyalty but no moderating effect on the outpatient satisfaction–loyalty relationship.

The first limitation of this study concerns the fact that only patients who had previously been served by these hospitals' outpatient units were included. Furthermore, the research was not able to obtain extensive findings related to the various factors that negatively impacted patient satisfaction and loyalty among all of the departments of government hospitals, such as inpatient care and emergency care.

Centered on the findings from this research, increasing switching costs would prevent patients from switching to other healthcare providers. Therefore, it has the potential to create a false loyalty or a hostage customer (Jones and Sasser, 1995). Additionally, making patients feel connected to their treatment plan and engaged in their care by developing a tool to maintain their enthusiasm about their health is important. It is therefore recommended that government hospital care providers and management consider providing online tools that patients can use to self-manage their care.

The results regarding patients' satisfaction level suggest several areas for improvement. The first pertains to waiting area entertainment and comfort because patients indicated that there is not enough entertainment or ways to pass the time when waiting for services. In addition to enhancing the entertainment and comfort of waiting areas, government hospital staff should maintain contact with patients who are waiting to ensure that they are aware of the time they will spend. Another area for improvement is the parking lot. During summer, patients prefer to walk less in the sun, which causes them to seek parking closer to the door. Government hospital management should consider different methods for transporting patients closer to the door, such as golf carts or valet services.

This is the first study to investigate the mediating impact of outpatients' satisfaction between its antecedents and loyalty in the UAE. These results provide an improved understanding of the factors influencing patient choices and establish more accurate methods for increasing patient loyalty to retain more patients.

The purpose of this chapter is to develop academic answers to the key rural areas and smart villages and digital agriculture. This chapter analyses the National level initiatives of Government of India Mission to convert rural areas into smart cities. The Union Ministry of urban development collaborates with State Government and nominate a particular city or cities in their state. Financial incentives or benefits will be provided to enhance the quality of the city. Coimbatore being a cosmopolitan city it is also a combination of rural villages and urban township. The main objective of this chapter is to identify and explore the initiatives of SMART CITIES MISSION a joint venture activity initiated by Government of India and State Government of Tamil Nadu. The results clearly indicate how digital technologies play a pivotal role to enhance the quality of eco-friendly initiatives and to improve the smart villages and agriculture. The key recommendations are the lessons learnt from other smart cities initiatives in other states and how Coimbatore can be an example and adopt key takeaways from other states and cities around the world.

Use of technology for quality healthcare services has developed into a new field known as “e-Healthcare services.” Healthcare providers often judge their quality of services with consumer satisfaction. With e-Healthcare services, consumer satisfaction is influenced by the quality of healthcare services provided and the demographic characteristics. The purpose of the present case study is to recognize the important predictors of quality, which are significant for consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services by using Zineldin's 5Qs model. It also aims to find the strength of association among the predictors of consumer satisfaction and the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

A questionnaire-based study was conducted at a public (PGIMER, Chandigarh) and a private hospital (Fortis Hospital, Mohali) of Punjab, India, from February 2018 to March 2019. The structured, closed-ended questionnaire, to be marked on a 1–5 point Likert scale, was adapted from Zineldin's 5Qs model and was distributed to the respondents sitting in the waiting halls of the selected hospitals. The respondents comprised of both the patients and their attendants who were aware of e-Healthcare services and were using them.

The analysis identified quality of interaction, quality of hospital atmosphere and quality of object to be the key predictors of consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services. The results reveal a strong association between different demographic characteristics and overall consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services.

The results suggest that improvements in the quality of interaction, quality of hospital atmosphere and quality of object may result in higher consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services. Working on the identified dimensions of quality will help the e-Healthcare providers in identifying functional problems of e-Healthcare services and developing improvement strategies, which will also result in better health and quality outcomes. The results of this study will help the e-Healthcare providers in better segmentation of e-Healthcare consumers based on their demographic characteristics and in developing better marketing strategies.

This paper focuses on the quality of e-Healthcare services only and attempts to identify the quality dimensions, which leads to the satisfaction of e-Healthcare consumers. The identified quality dimensions will help in designing better e-Healthcare services and framing policies. It also highlights the association of demographic characteristics with important quality dimensions.

The increase in population in the world has brought an overpopulation in various parts of the world, with those cities where their countries are developing being most affected, mainly because these usually have corrupt governments that make urban planning difficult in an optimal way. The increase in the construction of urban areas generates problems in the environment due to the increase in carbon emissions, greenhouse gases, and the extraction of natural resources. Therefore, governments must promote urban innovation based on compliance with sustainable development that allows for preserving the ecosystem and the population's quality of life. Urban innovation must incorporate technologies that allow sustainable activities to be carried out efficiently and monitor the progress of environmental regulations.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an innovative and integrated approach based on service quality measurement (SERVQUAL), quality function deployment (QFD) and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) for service quality improvement.

The SERVQUAL scale is used for service quality measurement, QFD is used for service design and FMEA is used to prevent possible failures during service delivery.

A case study in a public hospital in Turkey is performed to show how the proposed approach works in practice. The results of the study show that the proposed approach can be used effectively to assess service quality in practice.

Service quality has become an important issue for service enterprises facing a fiercely competitive environment to provide sustainability. This is the first study that applies an integrated methodology based on SERVQUAL scale, QFD and FMEA to service quality improvement.