scholarly journals The Value of a Properly Maintained Hiking Trail Network and a Traditional Landscape for Mountain Recreation in the Dolomites

Resources ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiziano Tempesta ◽  
Daniel Vecchiato
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
Qualitative Survey ◽  
Hiking Trails ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tourist Flows ◽  
Global Tourism

Alpine mountains represent one of the most important tourist destinations in the world, constituting approximately 3.1% of the global tourism market when considering the tourist flows coming from abroad. While there may be numerous factors that motivate tourists to choose rural areas, an important role is played by the opportunity to visit well-conserved landscapes and uncontaminated natural areas. The purpose of this study was to make a monetary valuation of the social benefits generated by the adoption of three measures of the Rural Development Plan (RDP) of Veneto (Italy) aimed specifically at enhancing the recreational usability of the mountain territory. In this regard, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was applied for the economic valuation, and a qualitative survey was used to collect the opinion of respondents related to the measures to protect the meadows and mountain hiking trails. According to the DCE estimates, on average, the benefits due to the conservation of the existing meadows and pastures was equal to €851 per hectare, those due to the conservation and improvement of the trail network were €12,260 per km, and the benefits due to the recovery of the meadows and pastures of uncultivated and abandoned areas for naturalistic purposes amounted to €6852 per hectare. Comparing the estimates obtained with the expenditure incurred by the RDP to finance the three actions considered in our DCE, it can be seen that the benefits are considerably higher than the costs, especially with regard to the conservation of paths and the recovery of abandoned areas for naturalistic purposes.

scholarly journals Job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students in China: a discrete choice experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Liu ◽  
Shimeng Liu ◽  
Tiantian Gong ◽  
Quan Li ◽  
Gang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice Experiment ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Preference Heterogeneity ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Job Preferences ◽  
Open Management

Abstract Background Pharmacists are a crucial part of the health workforce and play an important role in achieving universal health coverage. In China, pharmaceutical human resources are in short supply, and the distribution is unequal. This study aimed to identify the key job characteristics that influence the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students and to elicit the relative importance of different job characteristics to shed light on future policy interventions. Methods A discrete choice experiment was conducted to assess the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students from 6 provinces in mainland China. A face-to-face interview was used to collect data. Conditional logit and mixed logit models were used to analyse data, and the final model was chosen according to the model fit statistics. A series of policy simulations was also conducted. Results In total, 581 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 500 respondents who passed the internal consistency test were analysed. All attributes were statistically significant except for open management. Monthly income and work location were most important to respondents, followed by work unit (which refers to the nature of the workplace) and years to promotion. There was preference heterogeneity among respondents, e.g., male students preferred open management, and female students preferred jobs in public institutions. Furthermore, students with an urban background or from a single-child family placed higher value on a job in the city compared to their counterparts. Conclusion The heterogeneity of attributes showed the complexity of job preferences. Both monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of pharmacy students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both incentives on the job itself and the background of pharmacy school graduates.

scholarly journals Preferences of Medical Students for Rural Medical Internships in South Africa: A Discrete Choice Experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Jose ◽  
Amarech Obse ◽  
Mark Zuidgeest ◽  
Olufunke Alaba
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Rural Health ◽  
Health Facility ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Medical Doctors ◽  
Hospital Safety ◽  
Main Effects

Abstract Background: Globally the proportion of medical doctors to population in rural areas in low- and middle-income countries remains insufficient to address their health care needs. Therefore, it is imperative to design strategies that attract medical doctors to rural areas to reduce health inequalities and achieve universal health coverage. Methods: This study assessed preferences of medical students for rural internships using a discrete choice experiment. Attributes of rural job were identified through literature and focus group discussions. A D-efficient design was generated with 15 choice sets, each with forced binary, unlabelled, rural hospital alternatives. An online survey was conducted, and data analysed using mixed logit models of main effects only and main effects plus interaction terms. Results: Majority of the respondents were females (130/66.33%) and had urban origin (176/89.80%). The main effects only model showed advanced practical experience, hospital safety, correctly fitting personal protective equipment, and availability of basic resources as the most important attributes influencing take up of rural internship, respectively. Respondents were willing to pay ZAR 2645.92 monthly (95%CI: 1345.90; 3945.94) to gain advanced practical experience (equivalent to 66.15% of current rural allowance). In contrast, increases in rural allowance and the provision of housing were the least important attributes. Based on the interaction model, female respondents and those intending general practise associated higher weight for hospital safety over advanced practical experience. Conclusion: In the context of limited budgets and resource constraints, policy makers and rural health facility managers are advised to prioritise meaningful internship practise environments that offer supervised learning environment, safety from physical and occupational hazards and the provision of basic resources for healthcare system-wide benefits to both staff and rural health facility users alike.

scholarly journals Job preferences for medical and nursing students to work in rural Guizhou Province, China: a discrete choice experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meiling Bao ◽  
Cunrui Huang
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Mixed Logit ◽  
Guizhou Province ◽  
Medical Order ◽  
Medical University ◽  
Education Opportunity

Abstract Background Maldistribution of health workers between urban and rural areas has been a critical difficulty in China. The shortage of health workers in disadvantaged areas reduces access to essential health services delivery, and adversely affects the population health. Policies on attracting health workers to locate in rural areas are needed to be explored. In order to identify the appropriate incentives, we conducted a discrete choice experiment to determine how specific job attributes might be valued by final year students in medical university in Guizhou Province, China. Methods Attributes of potential job were developed through literature review, in-depth semi-structured interviews and pretest. Salary, education opportunity, transportation, job location, workload, essential equipment, medical order, and identification ('bianzhi') were included. The questionnaire was formulated through a fractional factorial experiment design using %MktRuns macros of SAS 9.4. All medical and nursing students in the final year at Guizhou Medical University were invited to participate in the study. Mixed logit model was used to estimate stated preferences of attributes. Willingness to pay and uptake rates for a defined job were also calculated based on the mixed logit estimates. Results The final sample comprised 787 respondents, including 388 medical students and 399 nursing students. Attributes were statistically significant (with the exception of once every two years for education opportunity) and had expected signs. The results indicate that physical conflict between doctors and patients and identification ('bianzhi') were two of the most important non-monetary job characteristics for both medical and nursing students. And nursing students placed more value on identification ('bianzhi'). Policy simulation suggests that as for the individual incentive respondents were most sensitive to salary increasing. Incentive packages effects were stronger for students from rural background. Conclusions Strategies on medical order, identification ('bianzhi') and salary should be considered to attract final year medical and nursing students to work in rural areas. In addition, specific recruitment policy design tailored for subgroups should be taken into account.

scholarly journals Landscape Preferences of Visitors to the Danube Floodplains National Park, Vienna

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2178
Author(s):  
Arne Arnberger ◽  
Renate Eder ◽  
Stefan Preiner ◽  
Thomas Hein ◽  
Ursula Nopp-Mayr
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
National Park ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Floodplain Forests ◽  
Trail Use ◽  
The Social ◽  
Visitor Preferences ◽  
Landscape Types

Successfully managing heavily visited protected riverscapes requires information about visitor preferences for the social, biophysical and infrastructural attributes of river landscapes. This study analyzed the landscape preferences of 520 on-site visitors to the peri-urban Danube Floodplains National Park using an image-based discrete choice experiment. The study explored the effects of various landscape types (water bodies, terrestrial landscapes), recreational infrastructures (trail types, facilities) and trail use conditions (trail user numbers, activities) on respondents’ preferences. The results indicated that natural features, such as floodplain forests in combination with meadows or xeric alluvial biotopes, were preferred, while dense forests and, particularly, open agrarian structures were less preferred. Water bodies with 50% reed cover, few people on the trail, alleys of trees and gravel trails were favored. The outcomes serve as the basis for design recommendations for planned recreational areas surrounding the national park with the aim of absorbing visitors and reducing use pressure on the protected area.

scholarly journals Stated Preferences of Doctors for Choosing a Job in Rural Areas of Peru: A Discrete Choice Experiment

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. e50567 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jaime Miranda ◽  
Francisco Diez-Canseco ◽  
Claudia Lema ◽  
Andrés G. Lescano ◽  
Mylene Lagarde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice Experiment ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Stated Preferences

Willingness to pay for alternative policies for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
MIGUEL A. NEGRÍN ◽  
JAIME PINILLA ◽  
CARMELO J. LEÓN
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Measures

AbstractThis paper focuses on eliciting the willingness to pay (WTP) for policy measures aimed at improving the health care offered to patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We utilize a discrete choice experiment (DCE) approach for the elicitation of the preferences of the general population for three alternative policies: home care, day care centres, and medium or long-stay centres. The results show that these policies are significantly valued across the surveyed population. The monthly WTP per hour of home care is estimated as €4 per individual, while the monthly WTP values for full population coverage in day centres and medium–long-stay centres are estimated as €0.43 and €0.42 respectively. We compare the results of classical and Bayesian estimation methods, and conclude that the latter provide a better representation of the heterogeneity in the sample. The results are significant for health care, as they enable policymakers to identify the social demand for such services, as well as the relative economic values placed on the alternative policy measures.

scholarly journals Factors affecting job choice among physician anesthesia providers in Uganda: a survey of income composition, discrete choice experiment, and implications for the decision to work rurally

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J. Law ◽  
Shivani Subhedar ◽  
Fred Bulamba ◽  
Nathan N. O’Hara ◽  
Mary T. Nabukenya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice Experiment ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Job Choice ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Anesthetic Care ◽  
Anesthesia Providers

Abstract Background One of the biggest barriers to accessing safe surgical and anesthetic care is lack of trained providers. Uganda has one of the largest deficits in anesthesia providers in the world, and though they are increasing in number, they remain concentrated in the capital city. Salary is an oft-cited barrier to rural job choice, yet the size and sources of anesthesia provider incomes are unclear, and so the potential income loss from taking a rural job is unknown. Additionally, while salary augmentation is a common policy proposal to increase rural job uptake, the relative importance of non-monetary job factors in job choice is also unknown. Methods A survey on income sources and magnitude, and a Discrete Choice Experiment examining the relative importance of monetary and non-monetary factors in job choice, was administered to 37 and 47 physician anesthesiologists in Uganda, between May–June 2019. Results No providers worked only at government jobs. Providers earned most of their total income from a non-government job (50% of income, 23% of working hours), but worked more hours at their government job (36% of income, and 44% of working hours). Providers felt the most important job attributes were the quality of the facility and scope of practice they could provide, and the presence of a colleague (33% and 32% overall relative importance). These were more important than salary and living conditions (14% and 12% importance). Conclusions No providers accepted the salary from a government job alone, which was always augmented by other work. However, few providers worked only nongovernment jobs. Non-monetary incentives are powerful influencers of job preference, and may be leveraged as policy options to attract providers. Salary continues to be an important driver of job choice, and jobs with fewer income generating opportunities (e.g. private work in rural areas) are likely to need salary augmentation to attract providers.

scholarly journals Legare, incorniciare, sottolineare, amplificare: due progetti per gli spazi pubblici di insediamenti storici trentini

ARCHALP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Marinelli ◽  
Mirko Franzoso
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
General Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Dense Cores ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tourist Flows ◽  
Gathering Place

The small villages in rural areas of Trentino often share similar settlement principles (of Latin-Romansh origin) and destinies. Their dense cores suffer from a phenomenon of consistent abandonment that causes the aweakening of the social structure and an increasing obsolescence of the buildings. The two projects of Castelfondo (Municipality of Borgo d’Anaunia) and Bolciana (Municipality of Tre Ville) are to be considered in this general context, in two small villages that felt the need to regenerate the public space to provide new places for social gathering and new facilities to the community. In Castelfondo, the abandonment of a building is the starting point of the project: instead of a decaying building, three small public spaces offer a new gathering place for the community. In Bolciana, the need to have spaces that would improve the quality of the existing places led to a project made of small artifacts in four squares. The two projects try to demonstrate that with a careful approach by the municipalities, the needs and problems of locations that are far from large tourist flows and main infrastructures can become fertile opportunities to reinvent spaces and meet emerging needs.

scholarly journals Analysis of policy interventions to attract and retain nurse midwives in rural areas of Malawi: A discrete choice experiment

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0253518
Author(s):  
Leslie Berman ◽  
Levison Nkhoma ◽  
Margaret Prust ◽  
Courtney McKay ◽  
Mihereteab Teshome ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Worker ◽  
Discrete Choice Experiment ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Recruitment And Retention ◽  
Facility Level

Background Inadequate and unequal distribution of health workers are significant barriers to provision of health services in Malawi, and challenges retaining health workers in rural areas have limited scale-up initiatives. This study therefore aims to estimate cost-effectiveness of monetary and non-monetary strategies in attracting and retaining nurse midwife technicians (NMTs) to rural areas of Malawi. Methods The study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) methodology to investigate importance of job characteristics, probability of uptake, and intervention costs. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with NMTs and students to identify recruitment and retention motivating factors. Through policymaker consultations, qualitative findings were used to identify job attributes for the DCE questionnaire, administered to 472 respondents. A conditional logit regression model was developed to produce probability of choosing a job with different attributes and an uptake rate was calculated to estimate the percentage of health workers that would prefer jobs with specific intervention packages. Attributes were costed per health worker year. Results Qualitative results highlighted housing, facility quality, management, and workload as important factors in job selection. Respondents were 2.04 times as likely to choose a rural job if superior housing was provided compared to no housing (CI 1.71–2.44, p<0.01), and 1.70 times as likely to choose a rural job with advanced facility quality (CI 1.47–1.96, p<0.01). At base level 43.9% of respondents would choose a rural job. This increased to 61.5% if superior housing was provided, and 72.5% if all facility-level improvements were provided, compared to an urban job without these improvements. Facility-level interventions had the lowest cost per health worker year. Conclusions Our results indicate housing and facility-level improvements have the greatest impact on rural job choice, while also creating longer-term improvements to health workers’ living and working environments. These results provide practical evidence for policymakers to support development of workforce recruitment and retention strategies.

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