Analysis of Policy Responses to COVID-19: A Qualitative Study in Northern Iran

Abstract Background Preparation and financing of treatments, control of disease by limited resources, capacity building for the research and development related to the spread of disease, and measures to prevent and control the infection are known as the most important challenges encountered by the policy-makers involved in an epidemic outbreak. Therefore, the present study was conducted to analyze the policy responses of Babol University of Medical Sciences (BUMS) to Coronavirus (COVID-19). Methods For this purpose, a qualitative study was performed to investigate the policy responses of BUMS to COVID-19 in Babol (northern Iran) from the beginning of January to the end of March, 2021. The statistical population included the experts, pundits, policy-makers and planners involved in four areas of management, treatment, healthcare, and health donation. Data collection was done according to interviews and policy documents, and the obtained data were analyzed based on the Walt and Gilson’s policy triangle framework. Results Interviews and policy documents were determined after several stages of review according to the Walt and Gilson’s policy triangle framework, and the main themes were determined as: policy context, policy analysis, policy-making process, actors and stakeholders, and ways to deal with COVID-19 outbreak. Each theme was divided into 18 sub-themes. Finally, the related topics were extracted from the sub-themes. Conclusions Considering the large number of patients waiting for treatment, most of the decisions and policies were directed to their treatment, and the subject of prevention was at the second priority of policy making. Moreover, there was no practical program or policy for tracking the asymptomatic carriers in the community.

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Deliberative Research for Deliberative Policy Making: Creating and Recreating Evidence in Transport Policy

Social Policy and Society ◽

10.1017/s1474746411000212 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 459-470 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Lesley Murray

Keyword(s):

Social Policy ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Policy Making ◽

Transport Policy ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Visual Methods ◽

Research Utilisation ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Policy Responses ◽

Interpretative Research

Despite promotion of evidence-based policy responses, there remains a knowledge gap between policy-makers and academia particularly in transport policy making, which is steeped in positivist traditions. A number of social policy academics have conceptualised research utilisation in relation to particular elements of social policy, but less attention has been paid to the integration of deliberative and interpretative research into transport policy. This article explores this through a study of the journey to school that used mobile and visual methods in an in-depth exploration of this element of everyday life.

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Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Vietnam

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18020559 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 559

Author(s):

Tuyet-Anh T. Le ◽

Kelly Vodden ◽

Jianghua Wu ◽

Ghada Atiwesh

Keyword(s):

Social Isolation ◽

Prevention And Control ◽

Local Community ◽

Control Measures ◽

Policy Response ◽

Policy Documents ◽

Policy System ◽

Policy Responses ◽

And Control

The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most serious health crises in human history, spreading rapidly across the globe from January 2020 to the present. With prompt and drastic measures, Vietnam is one of the few countries that has largely succeeded in controlling the outbreak. This result is derived from a harmonious combination of many factors, with the policy system playing a key role. This study assessed the policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam from the early days of the outbreak in January 2020 to 24 July 2020 (with a total of 413 cases confirmed and 99 days of no new cases infected from the local community) by synthesizing and evaluating 959 relevant policy documents in different classifications. The findings show that the Vietnamese policy system responded promptly, proactively, and effectively at multiple authority levels (33 different agencies from the national to provincial governments), using a range of policy tools and measures. Parallel to the daily occurrence of 2.24 new cases, 5.13 new policy documents were issued on average per day over the study period. The pandemic policy response over the first six months in Vietnam were divided into four periods, I (23 January–5 March), II (6–19 March), III (20 March–21 April), and IV (22 April–24 July). This paper synthesizes eight solution groups for these four anti-pandemic phases, including outbreak announcements and steering documents, medical measures, blockade of the schools, emergency responses, border and entry control measures, social isolation and nationwide social isolation measures, financial supports, and other measures. By emphasizing diversification of the policy responses, from the agencies to the tools and measures, the case study reviews and shares lessons from the successful COVID-19 prevention and control in Vietnam that could be useful for other nations.

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Prioritizing Strategic Factors of Creative Tourism Industry in Iran by Analytic Network Process (ANP)

Event Management ◽

10.3727/152599519x15506259855977 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (5) ◽

pp. 553-565

Author(s):

Reza Kiani Mavi ◽

Hamed Gheibdoust ◽

Ahmad A. Khanfar

Keyword(s):

Policy Making ◽

Analytic Network Process ◽

Influential Factors ◽

Tourism Industry ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Business Support ◽

Network Process ◽

Strategic Factors ◽

Strategic Policy ◽

Strategic Policies

Nowadays, it is obvious that creative tourism industry has become very essential for countries and societies; therefore, governments work on constituting policies in order to develop this industry. To be successful in improving creative tourism industry, governments should identify the influential factors and focus on ones that are more important rather than investing a bit on many different factors. Because of the interrelations among factors, this research is aiming to prioritize factors that influence strategic policies of creative tourism industry in Iran using analytic network process (ANP). Data were collected during the period of May 2017 to February 2018. Participants in this research are 13 tourism experts with more than 10 years' experience in the field. Results show that the most influential criterion is "business support" and the most influential subcriterion is "supporting midsize businesses." This study helps policy makers to improve creative tourism by emphasizing on those factors that have high priority from the viewpoint of strategic policy-making.

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Sentencing Policy as a Force for Social Cohesion

10.1093/oso/9780198718895.003.0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ralph Henham

Keyword(s):

Social Cohesion ◽

Policy Making ◽

Social Values ◽

Social Reality ◽

Social Forces ◽

Top Down ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Normative Approach ◽

The Social ◽

Sentencing Policy

This chapter sets out the case for adopting a normative approach to conceptualizing the social reality of sentencing. It argues that policy-makers need to comprehend how sentencing is implicated in realizing state values and take greater account of the social forces that diminish the moral credibility of state sponsored punishment. The chapter reflects on the problems of relating social values to legal processes such as sentencing and argues that crude notions of ‘top down’ or ‘bottom up’ approaches to policy-making should be replaced by a process of contextualized policy-making. Finally, the chapter stresses the need for sentencing policy to reflect those moral attachments that bind citizens together in a relational or communitarian sense. It concludes by exploring these assertions in the light of the sentencing approach taken by the courts following the English riots of 2011.

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A Real-Time, Automatic, and Dynamic Scheduling and Control System for PET Patients Based on Wearable Sensors

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21041104 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 1104

Author(s):

Shin-Yan Chiou ◽

Kun-Ju Lin ◽

Ya-Xin Dong

Keyword(s):

Control System ◽

Real Time ◽

Human Error ◽

Dynamic Scheduling ◽

Wearable Sensors ◽

Time Data ◽

Scan Time ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

And Control ◽

Automatic Scheduling

Positron emission tomography (PET) is one of the commonly used scanning techniques. Medical staff manually calculate the estimated scan time for each PET device. However, the number of PET scanning devices is small, the number of patients is large, and there are many changes including rescanning requirements, which makes it very error-prone, puts pressure on staff, and causes trouble for patients and their families. Although previous studies proposed algorithms for specific inspections, there is currently no research on improving the PET process. This paper proposes a real-time automatic scheduling and control system for PET patients with wearable sensors. The system can automatically schedule, estimate and instantly update the time of various tasks, and automatically allocate beds and announce schedule information in real time. We implemented this system, collected time data of 200 actual patients, and put these data into the implementation program for simulation and comparison. The average time difference between manual and automatic scheduling was 7.32 min, and it could reduce the average examination time of 82% of patients by 6.14 ± 4.61 min. This convinces us the system is correct and can improve time efficiency, while avoiding human error and staff pressure, and avoiding trouble for patients and their families.

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Science Informed Policies for Managing Water

Hydrology ◽

10.3390/hydrology8020066 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 66

Author(s):

Daniel P. Loucks

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Resource ◽

Policy Making ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Information Policy ◽

Management Policy ◽

Multiple Impacts ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Science Policy Interface ◽

Management Policies

Water resource management policies impact how water supplies are protected, collected, stored, treated, distributed, and allocated among multiple users and purposes. Water resource policies influence the decisions made regarding the siting, design, and operation of infrastructure needed to achieve the underlying goals of these policies. Water management policies vary by region depending on particular hydrologic, economic, environmental, and social conditions, but in all cases they will have multiple impacts affecting these conditions. Science can provide estimates of various economic, ecologic, environmental, and even social impacts of alternative policies, impacts that determine how effective any particular policy may be. These impact estimates can be used to compare and evaluate alternative policies in the search for identifying the best ones to implement. Among all scientists providing inputs to policy making processes are analysts who develop and apply models that provide these estimated impacts and, possibly, their probabilities of occurrence. However, just producing them is not a guarantee that they will be considered by policy makers. This paper reviews various aspects of the science-policy interface and factors that can influence what information policy makers need from scientists. This paper suggests some ways scientists and analysts can contribute to and inform those making water management policy decisions. Brief descriptions of some water management policy making examples illustrate some successes and failures of science informing and influencing policy.

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Preschool teachers and caregivers’ lack of repositioning in response to changed responsibilities in policy documents

Journal of Early Childhood Research ◽

10.1177/1476718x20969742 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1476718X2096974

Author(s):

Sara Cervantes ◽

Anna Öqvist

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Educational Reform ◽

Educational System ◽

Professional Competence ◽

Preschool Teachers ◽

Division Of Labour ◽

Study Data ◽

Working Relationship ◽

Policy Documents

Preschool teachers and caregivers have a close working relationship as part of a working team to benefit the children in Swedish preschools. In 2011, a new educational reform was introduced according to which preschools became a school form in their own right within the overall educational system in Sweden. The objective of the policy was to strengthen the profession of preschool teachers by affording them clearer responsibility over the quality of educational practices and curriculum work. It also entailed a division of labour between the preschool teachers and caregivers in the working team. The current study explored how Swedish preschool teachers and caregivers positioned themselves in response to these changes in responsibility. In this qualitative study, data were collected from 17 preschool teachers and caregivers via an open-ended questionnaire. Preschool teachers and caregivers viewed themselves as having equal responsibility in the working team. Specifically, preschool teachers upgraded the competence and position of caregivers while downgrading their own professional competence and position. Caregivers downgraded the profession and position of preschool teachers and upgraded their own competence and position to be equal to that of preschool teachers.

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Workplace Healthy Lifestyle Determinants and Wellbeing Needs across the Preconception and Pregnancy Periods: A Qualitative Study Informed by the COM-B Model

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18084154 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 4154

Author(s):

Seonad K. Madden ◽

Claire A. Blewitt ◽

Kiran D. K. Ahuja ◽

Helen Skouteris ◽

Cate M. Bailey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Intervention Development ◽

Health Behavior Change ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

Specific Reference ◽

Lifestyle Behaviors ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors ◽

And Control

Overweight and obesity present health risks for mothers and their children. Reaching women during the key life stages of preconception and pregnancy in community settings, such as workplaces, is an ideal opportunity to enable health behavior change. We conducted five focus groups with 25 women aged between 25 and 62 years in order to investigate the determinants of healthy lifestyle behaviors, weight management, and wellbeing needs during the preconception and pregnancy periods in an Australian university workplace. Discussions explored women’s health and wellbeing needs with specific reference to workplace impact. An abductive analytical approach incorporated the capability, opportunity, and motivation of behavior (COM-B) model, and four themes were identified: hierarchy of needs and values, social interactions, a support scaffold, and control. Findings highlight the requirement for greater organization-level support, including top-down coordination of wellbeing opportunities and facilitation of education and support for preconception healthy lifestyle behaviors in the workplace. Interventionists and organizational policy makers could incorporate these higher-level changes into workplace processes and intervention development, which may increase intervention capacity for success.

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Early Use of Corticosteroid May Prolong SARS-CoV-2 Shedding in Non-Intensive Care Unit Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized Control Trial

Respiration ◽

10.1159/000512063 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Xiao Tang ◽

Ying-Mei Feng ◽

Ji-Xiang Ni ◽

Jia-Ying Zhang ◽

Li-Min Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cells ◽

Randomized Control Trial ◽

Corticosteroid Treatment ◽

Clinical Deterioration ◽

Control Group ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Early Use ◽

Randomized Control ◽

And Control ◽

Single Blind

Background: There is still no clinical evidence available to support or to oppose corticosteroid treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of corticosteroid given to the hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, single-blind, randomized control trial. Adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were admitted to the general ward were randomly assigned to either receive methylprednisolone or not for 7 days. The primary end point was the incidence of clinical deterioration 14 days after randomization. Results: We terminated this trial early because the number of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in all the centers decreased in late March. Finally, a total of 86 COVID-19 patients underwent randomization. There was no difference of the incidence of clinical deterioration between the methylprednisolone group and control group (4.8 vs. 4.8%, p = 1.000). The duration of throat viral RNA detectability in the methylprednisolone group was 11 days (interquartile range, 6–16 days), which was significantly longer than that in the control group (8 days [2–12 days], p = 0.030). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in other secondary outcomes. Mass cytometry discovered CD3+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and NK cells in the methylprednisolone group which were significantly lower than those in the control group after randomization (p < 0.05). Conclusions: From this prematurely closed trial, we found that the short-term early use of corticosteroid could suppress the immune cells, which may prolong severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 shedding in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04273321.

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A Collaborative Deprescribing Intervention in a Subacute Medical Outpatient Clinic: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Metabolites ◽

10.3390/metabo11040204 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 204

Author(s):

Anissa Aharaz ◽

Jens Henning Rasmussen ◽

Helle Bach Ølgaard McNulty ◽

Arne Cyron ◽

Pia Keinicke Fabricius ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Inappropriate Medication ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Control Group ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Patient Interviews ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Multimorbid Patients ◽

And Control

Medication deprescribing is essential to prevent inappropriate medication use in multimorbid patients. However, experience of deprescribing in Danish Subacute Medical Outpatient Clinics (SMOCs) is limited. The objective of our pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of a collaborative deprescribing intervention by a pharmacist and a physician to multimorbid patients in a SMOC. A randomized controlled pilot study was conducted, with phone follow-up at 30 and 365+ days. A senior pharmacist performed a systematic deprescribing intervention using the Screening Tool of Older Persons’ potentially inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) criteria, the Danish deprescribing list, and patient interviews. A senior physician received the proposed recommendations and decided which should be implemented. The main outcome was the number of patients having ≥1 medication where deprescribing status was sustained 30 days after inclusion. Out of 76 eligible patients, 72 (95%) were included and 67 (93%) completed the study (57% male; mean age 73 years; mean number of 10 prescribed medications). Nineteen patients (56%) in the intervention group and four (12%) in the control group had ≥1 medication where deprescribing status was sustained 30 days after inclusion (p = 0.015). In total, 37 medications were deprescribed in the intervention group and five in the control group. At 365+ days after inclusion, 97% and 100% of the deprescribed medications were sustained in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The three most frequently deprescribed medication groups were analgesics, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal medications. In conclusion, a collaborative deprescribing intervention for multimorbid patients was feasible and resulted in sustainable deprescribing of medication in a SMOC.

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