Emerging Evidence of the Value of Culturally Specific Organizations: Results of a Delphi and Consumer Voice Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 565-579
Author(s):  
Ann Curry-Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Child Poverty ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
United Way ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Culture Of Success ◽  
Relationship Model ◽  
Consumer Voice

A set of culturally specific organizations in Portland, Oregon has been generating excellent results for clients and communities of color. Four of them have developed a collective impact initiative to reduce child poverty among communities of color, with backbone support from United Way, and the inclusion of one “culturally responsive” organization. This research seeks to answer, “How do these organizations achieve excellent results with clients of color?” Our answer, through a two-part Delphi and Consumer Voice study, identifies a far-ranging set of assets, only part of which are staffing characteristics. These assets have been affirmed by a statistically significant survey of consumers, encompassing the following nine domains: being community embedded, creating a culture of success, being responsive to community needs, advocating to improve community and client success, being culturally relevant, and providing a comprehensive continuum of services. Delivery attributes include relying heavily on a rich relationship model, being inclusive, and having staff be personally invested in client success. Clients confirmed that all nine domains are important to their lives, and rated their overall satisfaction with the organizations at 92.7%, far above the published national average of 77%. The paper concludes with a synthesis of the study’s relevance for policy makers, funders and practitioners.

Exclusion by Design: Lack of Information about Community Participation in COVID-19-related Mobile Apps and its Relationship to Digital Health Disparities (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammed Yassin Idris ◽  
Maya Korin ◽  
Faven Araya ◽  
Sayeeda Chowdhury ◽  
Humberto Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
App Development ◽  
Communities Of Color

UNSTRUCTURED The rate and scale of transmission of COVID-19 overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide, particularly in under-resourced communities of color that already faced a high prevalence of pre-existing health conditions. One way the health ecosystem has tried to address the pandemic is by creating mobile apps for telemedicine, dissemination of medical information, and disease tracking. As these new mobile health tools continue to be a primary format for healthcare, more attention needs to be given to their equitable distribution, usage, and accessibility. In this viewpoint collaboratively written by a community-based organization and a health app development research team, we present results of our systematic search and analysis of community engagement in mobile apps released between February and December 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide an overview of apps’ features and functionalities but could not find any publicly available information regarding whether these apps incorporated participation from communities of color disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. We argue that while mobile health technologies are a form of intellectual property, app developers should make public the steps taken to include community participation in app development. These steps could include community needs assessment, community feedback solicited and incorporated, and community participation in evaluation. These are factors that community-based organizations look for when assessing whether to promote digital health tools among the communities they serve. Transparency about the participation of community organizations in the process of app development would increase buy-in, trust, and usage of mobile health apps in communities where they are needed most.

Social Media Representations of Law Enforcement within Four Diverse Chicago Neighborhoods

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 832-852
Author(s):  
Aparna Sodhi ◽  
Nathan Aguilar ◽  
Deanna E Choma ◽  
Jackie Marie Steve ◽  
Desmond Patton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Excessive Use Of Force

The perception of excessive use of force by law enforcement towards minorities has become an increasing focus of attention in the national media and public consciousness. With greater ability to record conflicts using smartphones and dissemination of videos via social media, the public may more readily judge the circumstances of law enforcement interactions. The purpose of this study was (a) to understand the general sentiment about law enforcement on social media among communities of color in Chicago, (b) to see if local or national incidents of police conflicts with people of color were mentioned, and (c) identify key themes within these social media posts. Publicly available social media posts were collected from four ethnically and socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods in Chicago. Using a five-person team and keyword searches, the posts were reviewed for content and abstracted if they pertained to law enforcement. They were then analyzed in stages of open, axial, and selective coding methods. Eight main themes were identified. These included the following: (a) law enforcement participation in the community, (b) law enforcement activity in the neighborhood, (c) posts regarding criminal activity, (d) immigration, (e) political protests against police, (f) African American men and law enforcement, (g) sympathy with Sandra Bland case, and (h) #Blacklivesmatter. There appears to be chasm of trust between law enforcement and communities of color. Our findings may help inform law enforcement, public policy-makers, and social workers in their efforts to better address these issues and to institute policies and interventions that not only bridge this gap but also strengthen and empower these communities.

Where now for equity and effectiveness policy?

2018 ◽  
pp. 205-214
Author(s):  
Stephen Gorard
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
Education System ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Policy Proposals ◽  
Effective Education

This chapter considers solutions for a more effective education policy. Education mostly appears to reflect society, which suggests that the root cause of inequality is at least partly not educational. Education policy cannot be expected to solve issues such as child poverty alone, in the short term, or even at all. This means that education policy has to be humbler, but it still has important roles to play — in ensuring that inequalities are not worsened by the education system, and by promoting structures and interventions that can ‘compensate for society’, to some extent. In this light, this chapter provides examples of specific policy proposals, considers where policy-makers have erred, and shows how policy can work with research.

scholarly journals Understanding service reorganisation in the Irish health & social care system from 1998 to 2020: lessons for reform and transformation

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Sarah Barry ◽  
Malgorzata Stach ◽  
Steve Thomas ◽  
Sara Burke
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Care ◽  
Social Care ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Reform Implementation ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Service Reorganisation ◽  
Care System

Background: Given policy drives for integrated care and other reforms requiring service reorganisation this study analyses service reorganisation in the Irish health and social care system from 1998 to 2020 with the aim of identifying lessons for reform implementation and system learning generally. Methods: A mixed-method, co-designed study of three distinct datasets through in a policy document analysis, a thematic analysis of interviews with elite respondents, and a formal review of the international literature, sets the Irish reorganisation story in the context of services and system reorganisation elsewhere. This approach is apt given the complexity involved. Results: We find repeated policy declarations for forms of integrated care from the early 1990s in Ireland. These have not resulted in effective change across the system due to political, organisational and implementation failures. We identify poor clarity and commitment to policy and process, weak change management and resourcing, and reluctance from within the system to change established ways of working, cultures and allegiances. Given its narrative approach and identification of key lessons, this study is of use to policy makers, researchers and practitioners, clinical and managerial. It forms part of a bigger project of evidence building for the implementation of Sláintecare, Ireland’s 10-year health system reform programme. Conclusions: The paper captures important lessons for regionalisation of services delivery and other reorganisations in service-based systems more generally. We find evidence of a negative policy/implementation/practice cycle repeatedly missing opportunities for reform. Learning to break this cycle is essential for implementing Sláintecare and other complex reorganisational health reforms generally.

scholarly journals Participatory Development of Demand-Driven Curriculum for Career-Ready E-Extension Services in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 21(36) (3) ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Olanike Deji ◽  
Solomon Adesoji ◽  
Banji Adisa ◽  
Abiodun Agboola ◽  
Adedayo Ajayi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Development ◽  
Extension Education ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Extension Agencies ◽  
Training Delivery ◽  
Participatory Curriculum Development

This paper described and contextualized participatory development of demand-driven curriculum for career-ready e-extension services in Nigeria as introduced by the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education. The stages of participatory development were participatory need assessment, participatory stakeholders’ workshop and validation among 124 stakeholders selected as key informants in relation to agricultural extension training, delivery, end users and policy makers. The stakeholders were grouped as follows: community leaders and policy makers; extension agencies / organisations / institutions / employers; farmers; input suppliers / marketers / agro-based traders / other value actors; and potential candidate groups. Stakeholder meetings were held separately with different groups three times, and then a combined meeting took place. The aggregated major decisions/consensus were subjected to content analysis using ATLAS.ti. The validation process included reading of each agreed decision to all participants, then participants indicated their agreement or otherwise, which led to either rejection or acceptance of the decision. This paper concludes that participatory curriculum development has enhanced the stakeholders to identify areas of demand-driven training in response to community needs. The stakeholders preferred more online than face-to-face training. The major perceived advantages of e-extension were reduced risk, time and cost effectiveness while infrastructural and human challenges were the perceived challenges that could possibly hinder the smooth running of e extension.

scholarly journals Interpreting the Prevalence of Mental Disorders in Children

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Holbrook ◽  
Rebecca H. Bitsko ◽  
Melissa L. Danielson ◽  
Susanna N. Visser
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Administrative Claims ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Single Data

Knowledge on the prevalence of mental disorders among children informs the work of many health care providers, public health researchers, educators, and policy makers, and any single data source and study methodology can provide valuable insight. However, it is only after prevalence estimates from complementary studies are considered together that distinctions can be made to more deeply inform an assessment of community needs, including diagnosed prevalence versus underlying prevalence, differences between insured and uninsured populations, and how estimates change over time. National surveys, community-based studies, and administrative claims data each provide a different type of information that builds broad understanding. This article presents some of the overarching complexities of the issue, discusses strengths and weaknesses of some common data sources and methodologies used to generate epidemiological estimates, and describes ways in which these data sources complement one another and contribute to a better understanding of the prevalence of pediatric mental disorders.

Stakeholders' resistance to telemedicine with focus on physicians: Utilizing the Delphi technique

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 378-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woo Seok Choi ◽  
Joowoong Park ◽  
Jin Young Brian Choi ◽  
Jae-Suk Yang
Keyword(s):  
Delphi Study ◽  
Delphi Technique ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Communications Technology ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Primary Care Clinics ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
The Government

Introduction Sufficient infrastructure for information and communications technology (ICT) and a well-established policy are necessary factors for smooth implementation of telemedicine. However, despite these necessary conditions being met, there are situations where telemedicine still fails to be accepted as a system due to the low receptivity of stakeholders. In this study, we analyse stakeholders' resistance to an organization's implementation of telemedicine. Focusing on the physicians' interests, we propose a strategy to minimize conflicts and improve acceptance. Methods The Delphi study involved 190 telemedicine professionals who were recommended by 485 telemedicine-related personnel in South Korea. Results Out of 190 professionals, 60% of enrolled participants completed the final questionnaires. The stakeholders were categorized into four groups: policy-making officials, physicians, patients, and industrialists. Among these, the physicians were most opposed to the adoption of telemedicine. The main causes of such opposition were found to be the lack of a medical services delivery system and the threat of disruption for primary care clinics. Very little consensus was observed among the stakeholders, except on the following points: the need for expansion of the national health insurance budget by the government, and the need for enhancement of physicians' professional autonomy to facilitate smooth agreements. Discussion Our analysis on the causes of the resistance to telemedicine, carried out with the groups mentioned above, has important implications for policy-makers deriving strategies to achieve an appropriate consensus.

The Conceptual–Contextual Gap between Non-recurrence and Transformative Police Reform in Post-Conflict States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pádraig McAuliffe
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Second Nature ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Marginalized Groups

Abstract The idea of a systemic and holistic approach to police reform that addresses larger structural issues, such as poverty or discrimination against marginalized groups, is an attractive one. It is understandable that reformers and critics aspire to develop police forces that are so well-trained, transparent, and open to external oversight that responsiveness to community needs broadly understood becomes second nature. However, it is not enough to identify the needs of the most marginalized—policy-makers must identify where and how aspirations for change fit the domestic political economy in the security sector. This article has outlined a conceptual–contextual gap in policebuilding, pin-pointing three other main barriers to transformation (i) the necessary preoccupation with and diversion of resources to technical reform, (ii) the need to deal with immediate post-conflict security needs, and (iii) a political economy that does not support the type of responsive, socially democratic culture where transformative policebuilding becomes feasible.

An analysis of the barriers to the proliferation of M-commerce in Qatar

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habibullah Khan ◽  
Faisal Talib ◽  
Mohd. Nishat Faisal
Keyword(s):  
Structural Model ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
Relationship Model ◽  
Growing Economy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Interpretive Structural Model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and develop a hierarchical model for the barriers affecting the growth of mobile commerce (M-commerce). Based on the model developed, the authors’ objective is to identify those variables that are of strategic nature and are the root cause of the issue. Design/methodology/approach – Variables considered as barriers are identified, and utilizing the interpretive structural model approach, a relationship model is developed. Further, the impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification approach is used to analyze the effect and dependence among these factors. Findings – The research in the area of M-commerce in the Arab world and related to the strategic aspect is limited in the extant literature. The present study tries to fill this gap by investigating the variables that inhibit the growth of M-commerce in Qatar. The research shows that there exists a group of barriers having a high driving power and low dependence requiring maximum attention and of strategic importance, while another group consists of those variables that have high dependence and are the resultant actions. Practical implications – There is a growing concern that although the numbers of mobile subscribers are increasing at a very fast pace in Qatar, actual M-commerce activities in the country remain low. The findings of this study can be used to understand the differences between the independent and dependent variables and their mutual relationships. The study would also help the policy makers to develop suitable strategies to facilitate growth of M-commerce in the country. Originality/value – This research was the first attempt to investigate the relationships among the variables inhibiting the growth of M-commerce in a fast-growing economy in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Given that there is limited research on M-commerce in the GCC context, the study can be viewed as an investigation that provides a good understanding of the variables and their interrelationships affecting M-commerce proliferation.

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