Fraudes financieros, salud y calidad de vida: un estudio cualitativo / Financial fraud and health: a qualitative approach

Los fraudes financieros asociados a la crisis económica se han manifestado en los países desarrollados con efectos en la salud física, psíquica y social de las personas afectadas. A partir de los estudios cuantitativos y las revisiones de la literatura, este trabajo pretende obtener evidencias sobre los efectos en la salud a través de la narrativa de las personas entrevistadas. Se ha obtenido una muestra intencional de 32 personas afectadas por fraudes financieros (hipotecas abusivas y multidivisa, participaciones preferentes y swap) en Madrid, para realizar un análisis del contenido. Las personas afectadas tienen, en general, unas condiciones de edad, sexo, nivel educativo y profesión que les pueden haber permitido, en su curso de vida, acumular recursos económicos para suscribir productos financieros devenidos fraudulentos, basados en la confianza en las instituciones financieras. El fraude ha propiciado la aparición de procesos de anomia, agrandados con el tiempo, que se manifiestan con dolencias físicas (diversas enfermedades) y síntomas y patologías mentales (ansiedad, depresión, ideas de suicidio), que afectan al modo de vida, los hábitos y las relaciones personales y sociales, y que llegan a afectar a otros miembros de la familia. El aumento del consumo de fármacos y del uso de servicios de salud sirve de corolario al desajuste producido en su salud. Las personas afectadas y la sociedad española en su conjunto demandan medidas de política pública sanitaria para su atenuación y la recuperación de su confianza en el sistema bancario y político

During the economic crisis, developed countries have experienced financial fraud, with effects on the physical and mental health of the people affected, and on social domains. Based on the theoretical framework in literature reviews and in quantitative studies, this paper aims to obtain evidence on the effects of financial fraud on health and on the family and social environments of those affected. An intentional sample of 32 people affected by abusive and multi-currency mortgages, preferred and swap stock in Madrid was approached. In-depth interviews were conducted, and the resulting data was analysed using content analysis. Fraud-affected individuals had conditions of age, sex, educational level and occupations that possibly allowed them to accumulate economic resources throughout the course of their lives and, predictably in many cases, to take out fraudulent financial products, based on trust in the financial institutions. Financial fraud has led to the emergence of various processes of anomia and adverse health effects. The consequences on health were physical ailments (symptoms and diseases in various systems and parts of the body) and mental disorders (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation), all affecting lifestyles, behaviour and personal and social relationships, both in affected individuals and their families. The increase in the use of medical drugs and health services serves as a final corollary to the imbalances on the affected people's health. Individuals and the Spanish society demand public health policy measures to mitigate the effects on health and the recovery of their confidence in the banking and political system

[Financial fraud and health: a qualitative approach]. / Fraudes financieros, salud y calidad de vida: un estudio cualitativo.

During the economic crisis, developed countries have experienced financial fraud, with effects on the physical and mental health of the people affected, and on social domains. Based on the theoretical framework in literature reviews and in quantitative studies, this paper aims to obtain evidence on the effects of financial fraud on health and on the family and social environments of those affected. An intentional sample of 32 people affected by abusive and multi-currency mortgages, preferred and swap stock in Madrid was approached. In-depth interviews were conducted, and the resulting data was analysed using content analysis. Fraud-affected individuals had conditions of age, sex, educational level and occupations that possibly allowed them to accumulate economic resources throughout the course of their lives and, predictably in many cases, to take out fraudulent financial products, based on trust in the financial institutions. Financial fraud has led to the emergence of various processes of anomia and adverse health effects. The consequences on health were physical ailments (symptoms and diseases in various systems and parts of the body) and mental disorders (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation), all affecting lifestyles, behaviour and personal and social relationships, both in affected individuals and their families. The increase in the use of medical drugs and health services serves as a final corollary to the imbalances on the affected people's health. Individuals and the Spanish society demand public health policy measures to mitigate the effects on health and the recovery of their confidence in the banking and political system.

Impact of self-reported bank fraud on self-rated health, comorbidity and pain.

OBJECTIVES: As reported in other high-income countries, around the 2008 Great Recession the Spanish banking sector engaged abusive practices that satisfy the definition of fraud. Our objective is to examine the association between self-reported bank fraud and physical health, using a gender perspective. METHODS: With data from the 2017 Madrid Health Survey, we examined the association between the economic impact of fraud and poor self-rated health (SRH), comorbidity and pain (N = 4425). Interactions of time since fraud and sex with economic impact were tested by Poisson regression models with robust variance. RESULTS: In total, 11% of adults in Madrid reported bank fraud since 2006. Among men, those who experienced frauds with severe economic impact were more likely to report adverse health than those who did not experience fraud (PR comorbidity: 1.46; PR pain conditions: 2.17). Among men time elapsed since fraud strengthened the association between severe economic impact and poor SRH (p = 0.022; p = 0.006, respectively). Among women, associations did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Bank frauds are an emerging phenomenon which is likely to damage public health. Stricter regulation to protect people from fraudulent bank practices is needed.

Child health and the possibilities for childcare in a context of poverty and food insecurity: The narratives of parents attending a self-managed foodbank in Spain.

Food insecurity would influence children's health and development through its effects on nutrition and household stress in the context of broader poverty-related problems. This study contributes to research regarding the characterisation of food-insecure households with children under the age of 18. In particular, it highlights the social and institutional aspects which influence and interact with parents' attempts to protect their children from hunger and destitution. In this study, we document some aspects of the harsh realities faced by mothers and fathers with children under the age of 18 living in poverty who attended a self-organised foodbank in the city of Madrid in 2015. We used a qualitative methodology consisting of 7 months of participant observation and the conduction of 15 in-depth interviews. This study shows how the possibilities for the meaningful protection of children in food-insecure households can be influenced by parental coping strategies, community resources and availability and accessibility to public help. Foodbanks can help reduce both household hunger (although not meeting all nutritional requirements) and parental psychosocial distress, which might support parents to better protect their children. In particular, self-managed foodbanks appear to help parents cope with emotional distress by reducing feelings of powerlessness and self-blame through their active involvement, and thanks to the collective caring that occurs between members. Public services are of special relevance, since their absence or an active institutional discrimination has been shown to further damage impoverished households with children. We suggest that public policies in Spain are revised and reinforced to enable a more genuine protection of children and their families living under severe deprivation, and to prevent life-long damage. Public institutions could assume that people attending a foodbank are living in severe poverty and need access to adequate and supportive public resources to address it.