Search results

1 – 10 of over 78000
Article
Publication date: 31 December 2009

Elhadji Mbaye

Why is social action politically so difficult to manage, especially in the field of health and above all when it concerns health care for immigrant populations? This article…

3540

Abstract

Why is social action politically so difficult to manage, especially in the field of health and above all when it concerns health care for immigrant populations? This article examines this question by analysing public policies concerning the situation of migrants living with HIV/Aids in France.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 5 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2014

Leo Quigley

The purpose of this paper is to review the reasons underlying the slow rate of progress towards developing a comprehensive policy underpinning for adult safeguarding in England…

3027

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the reasons underlying the slow rate of progress towards developing a comprehensive policy underpinning for adult safeguarding in England and proposes long-term solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a model of policy change to argue that adult safeguarding has been over-reliant on case histories to define its policy problems and influence its politics, while making insufficient progress on data collection and analysis. It uses examples from the parallel discipline of public health to explore four challenges, or “problems”, relevant to the further development of the knowledge base underpinning adult safeguarding policy.

Findings

Four recommendations emerge for closing the adult safeguarding “knowledge gap”, including the development of a national research strategy for adult safeguarding. In a fifth recommendation the paper also proposes a clearer recognition of the contribution that local public health professionals can make to local adult safeguarding policy making and programme development.

Practical implications

The first four recommendations of this paper would serve as the basis for developing a national research strategy for adult safeguarding. The fifth would strengthen the contribution of local public health departments to safeguarding adults boards.

Originality/value

The author is unaware of the existence of any other review of the limitations of the adult safeguarding knowledge base as a foundation for policy making, or which proposes strategic solutions. The work is valuable for its practical proposals.

Details

The Journal of Adult Protection, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1466-8203

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 December 2008

Samuel Annor and Pauline Allen

The promotion of public mental health is a challenging endeavour for policy actors and stakeholders. In particular, the implementation of public mental health initiatives…

Abstract

The promotion of public mental health is a challenging endeavour for policy actors and stakeholders. In particular, the implementation of public mental health initiatives highlighted in Standard One of the National Service Framework for Mental Health has been poor and patchy (Department of Health, 2004a). This paper attempts to illuminate the complex process of public mental health policy implementation at local level through the exploration of stakeholders' actions.An exploratory case study design was selected, focusing on one local health and social care community within inner London. A conceptual framework about policy implementation and the concept of partnership working are used to shape the analysis of the empirical findings.This paper addresses the challenges associated with the promotion of public mental health initiatives within one local NHS health and social care community. It attempts to increase the understanding and insights into public mental health policy and practice at local level from a policy implementation standpoint. Using an empirical case study of public mental health in an English locality, some of the key issues explored in this paper are about perceptions of public mental health concepts among key policy actors and also stakeholders' behaviour in Local Implementation team (LIT) partnerships. Furthermore, the authors address the issue of how local policy actors engage the local community in supporting the needs of vulnerable groups such as service users and black and minority ethnic (BME) groups.Although functional partnership are essential for the promotion of public mental health initiatives, the interdependencies of the stakeholders, competition for resources, power dynamics and the difficulty of engaging a diverse range of voices have a significant limiting effect on achieving successful policy implementation on the ground.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

Ulla Gustafsson

There has been a tradition of comparative research into the health services of England and Sweden. This has focused mainly on health care financing, organisational structures and…

Abstract

There has been a tradition of comparative research into the health services of England and Sweden. This has focused mainly on health care financing, organisational structures and health inequalities (Anderson 1972; Helco 1974; Heidenheimer and Elvander 1980; Ham 1988; Ham et al 1990). Less attention however has been paid to the policies on, and philosophies of, public health and health promotion in the two countries. This may of course be because it is only comparatively recently that such policies have come to the fore on the political agenda in both countries. It is on these areas that we focus our attention. Consequently this paper will do three things. First, describe the current policies on public health and health promotion at national level in both countries. Second, draw attention to the differences and similarities which are manifest in the policies of these two countries and develop a summary of the two national strategies. Third, we will consider some possible reasons and explanations for the contemporary emergence of public health.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Article
Publication date: 16 January 2019

Carlos Oliveira Santos

Since 2004, the British Government has delivered a national policy on social marketing that has created a new frame of reference in this field. This paper aims to study the…

Abstract

Purpose

Since 2004, the British Government has delivered a national policy on social marketing that has created a new frame of reference in this field. This paper aims to study the genesis, evolution and implementation of the policy process that led to an important development in British public health.

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth multifaceted single case study, mixing qualitative and quantitative data including participatory research, enabled by a cognitive approach based on elements of knowledge, ideas, representations and social beliefs in the elaboration of a public policy.

Findings

This approach to understanding the British policy on social marketing process demonstrates a useful explanatory capacity, producing a comprehensive articulation of the main cognitive, normative, and instrumental dimensions of this policy, including its significant mutations influenced by the 2008 Great Recession and subsequent political evolution.

Research limitations/implications

This paper has followed the British social marketing policy’s implementation in England. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, this national policy had specific developments that it was not followed in our study In general, subject to complex historical, social and political conditions, this is a field that preserves its dynamism and the ability to question concepts and processes. Ever seeking new directions and solutions, it requires an ongoing research study.

Practical implications

Conclusions speak in favour of a prescriptive framework for a national policy on social marketing that can inform other government entities’ efforts to develop similar policies in other countries. A correct understanding of such a political process can lead to better management of its development and its consequent contribution to improving social marketing policy and interventions.

Social implications

A proper conception and management of a social marketing policy can contribute to improving the well-being of citizens.

Originality/value

It is the first time that this specific cognitive approach has been applied so systematically to a national social marketing policy through a long-term research, providing a prescriptive framework for other’ efforts to develop similar policies.

Details

Journal of Social Marketing, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6763

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2016

Swati Gola

The present paper aims to analyse who actually benefits from the policies to promote international trade in healthcare services through medical tourism in India. It also assesses…

1107

Abstract

Purpose

The present paper aims to analyse who actually benefits from the policies to promote international trade in healthcare services through medical tourism in India. It also assesses the implications of unfettered and unchecked medical tourism for public health policy-making.

Design/methodology/approach

The research methodology adopted in this paper is inter-disciplinary (socioeconomic and legal) and includes a mix of doctrinal and empirical qualitative research.

Findings

The present paper argues that in the absence of any baseline data in the public domain on inbound traffic of tourists visiting India on medical tourism, it is difficult to assess and evaluate the private sector claims and that the absence of any format for data collection, management and analysis results in questionable accountability and institutional fragmentation and non-coordination. Furthermore, it results in asymmetrical policy-making in areas like international trade, which may have unintended negative effects for public health.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings of the present paper will also assist other developing countries considering to promote medical tourism to learn lessons from India’s experiences.

Originality/value

The present paper uses the qualitative empirical research conducted by the author to analyse the state of affair of medical tourism in India.

Details

Journal of International Trade Law and Policy, vol. 15 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-0024

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 July 2021

Stephen Bok, James Shum, Jason Harvie and Maria Lee

During the early SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated masks “may not protect the wearer, but it may keep the wearer…

1126

Abstract

Purpose

During the early SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated masks “may not protect the wearer, but it may keep the wearer from spreading the virus to others”. Health officials revised mask guidelines to include both the wearer and others, but contradiction became a focal point for online debate and credibility. While revised policies eventually became adopted by the public, there was loss time and lives during this critical stage. This study investigates collectivist messaging on public policy support.

Design/methodology/approach

COVID-19 public policy hypocrisy was defined as the gap between supporting community policies while rejecting policies more likely to impact the individual. United States participants (N = 1,605) completed questionnaires. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted using SPSS PROCESS.

Findings

Those high on collectivism and high on global personal impact associated with lower COVID-19 public policy hypocrisy. These individuals indicated consistent support for community and individual policies, likely requiring personal sacrifices. Indirect conditional effects of lower conscientiousness associated with higher hypocrisy among those collectivistic.

Originality/value

Participants evaluated preference to original public safety ads, representative of basic societal and individual benefits. Those higher on collectivism preferred societal “we” versus individual “me” public safety ads. Implications discuss benefits of personal and communal public health messaging in an individualistic society so businesses can reopen. Entrepreneurs experienced major economic setbacks that effective public health policies could have mitigated.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2045-2101

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 June 2021

Tim Tenbensel, Pushkar Silwal and Lisa Walton

In 2016, New Zealand's Ministry of Health introduced the System Level Measures Framework which marked a departure from health targets and pay-for-performance incentives towards an…

Abstract

Purpose

In 2016, New Zealand's Ministry of Health introduced the System Level Measures Framework which marked a departure from health targets and pay-for-performance incentives towards an approach based on local, collaborative approaches to health system improvement. This exemplifies an attempt to “overwrite” New Public Management (NPM) institutional practices with New Public Governance (NPG). We aim to trace this process of overwriting so as to understand how attempts to change institutional practices were facilitated, blocked, translated and edited.

Design/methodology/approach

We develop a conceptual framework for understanding and tracing institutional change towards NPG which emphasises the importance of discursive strategies in policy attempts to overwrite NPM with NPG. To analyse the New Zealand case, we drew on policy documents and interviews conducted in 2017–18 with twelve national key informants and fifty interviewees closely involved in local development and/or implementation of the SLMF.

Findings

Policy sponsors of collaborative approaches to health system improvement first attempted formal institutional change, arguing that adopting collaborative, quality improvement (NPG) approaches would supplement existing performance management (NPM) practices, to create a superior synthesis. When this formal approach was blocked, they adopted an approach based on informal persuasion of local organisational actors that quality improvement should supplant performance improvement. This approach was edited and translated by local actors, and the success of local implementation varied considerably.

Research limitations/implications

This article offers a novel conceptualisation of public management institutional change, which can help explain why it is difficult to completely erase NPM practices in health.

Originality/value

This paper explores the rhetorical practices that are used in the introduction of a New Public Governance policy framework.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 35 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

Pia Solin and Juhani Lehto

The aim of this study is to analyse the position and role of mental health in health promotion policy. Policy documents from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England and…

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse the position and role of mental health in health promotion policy. Policy documents from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England and Portugal indicate that, although mental health is considered a serious issue, it is problematic in policy terms. A range of arguments are put forward, making the case for the importance of mental health within the health promotion agenda, including the classification of mental illness as a public health problem, socio‐economic and individual costs of mental health problems and the view that mental well‐being is a crucial element of overall health. However problems of definition, measurement and a traditional focus on treatment and care continue to make mental health promotion problematic for policy makers.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2022

Sefriani Sefriani and Nur Gemilang Mahardhika

The Covid-19 pandemic has persisted for almost three years. States have since then enforced laws, policies and measures believed to be the most effective to handle the global…

Abstract

Purpose

The Covid-19 pandemic has persisted for almost three years. States have since then enforced laws, policies and measures believed to be the most effective to handle the global pandemic. Along this line, the Indonesian Government opted to implement mandatory vaccination and refusal of which entails monetary penalties. Hence, this study aims to analyze two legal issues that touch upon the realm of International Human Rights Law: first, whether state has the authority to implement the said mandatory vaccine program to those who refuse to be vaccinated, and second, how is the more appropriate legal policy to obligate vaccination but without coercive sanction.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a normative legal research that uses a qualitative method with case studies, conceptual, historical and comparative approaches. A descriptive-analytical deduction process was used in analyzing the issue.

Findings

The results present, as part of state’s right to regulate, it has the authority to enact mandatory vaccination with monetary penalties to fulfil its obligation to protect public health in times of emergency; this is legal and constitutional but only if it satisfies the requirements under the International Human Rights Law: public health necessity, reasonableness, proportionality and harm avoidance. Alternatively, herd immunity is achievable without deploying unnecessary coercive sanctions, such as improving public channels of communication and information, adopting legal policies that incentivize people’s compliance like exclusion from public services, subsidies revocation, employment restrictions, higher health insurance premiums, etc.

Research limitations/implications

This study analyzes in depth the following issues: of whether the government has the authority to apply mandatory vaccination laws enforced through monetary penalties for those who refused to be vaccinated and how does the government implement the appropriate legal policy to enforce mandatory vaccination without imposing penalties for non-compliance while maintaining a balance between the interests of protecting public health and the human rights of individuals to choose medical treatment for themselves, including whether they are willing to be vaccinated. Hence, the political affairs, economic matters and other non-legal related issues are excluded from this study.

Originality/value

This paper hence offers a suggestive insight for state in formulating a policy relating to the mandatory vaccination program. Although the monetary penalties do not directly violate the rule of law, a more non-coercive approach to the society would be more favorable.

Details

International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4902

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 78000