Government Capacity in Coping with Covid-19 in Bandung City

This article analyzes the capacity of the Bandung City Government to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a gap between the policies implemented and the high curve of the spread of the virus in Bandung city. This study used a qualitative approach, and the data sources were from various documents, observations, and interviews. This article finds two factors that influence the capacity of the Bandung City Government: (i) the relationship between the central government and regional governments and (ii) the capacity of individuals to process information and exercise discretion. The weak capacity of the Bandung City Government affects trust, which has implications for the low participation of Bandung City residents. The article that elaborates on the state (government) capacity approach from Williams (2019) shows that individual capacity directly affects government capacity in crisis conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Making meaning of empowerment and development in rural Malawi—International individualism meets local communalism

Empowerment is a prominent concept in psychology, and for decades, it has been a key term in global development policy, theory, and practice. However, in line with similar turns toward individualism in psychology, the prevalent understanding of the concept centers on individual capacity to change circumstances, with less focus on empowerment as a context-dependent or communal approach. In this article, adopting decolonial feminist psychology as a lens, we analyze how rural Malawians make meaning of the overarching empowerment and development approach of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in their villages, and how they perceive the approaches as fitting with local contexts. When development implementers largely ignore Malawi’s communal lifestyle, individualized empowerment initiatives can lead to individual and communal disempowerment and distress. Given psychology’s large influence on other arenas, and psychology’s implication with the individualized gender-development-empowerment nexus, we argue that it is imperative to explore the effects and experiences of this empowerment approach in different contexts. A more context-appropriate understanding of empowerment—as with most other psychological concepts—is needed.

Opportunities to Impact Disability: Trends, Costs, and Evidence-Based Interventions

As healthcare shifts to a focus on social determinants and population health, and older adults increasingly seek to “age in community,” it is vital to understand the functional capabilities and related costs for older adults with disability. This symposium will present data on five major areas related to older adult disability. The 1st presenter will describe recent national disability trends. The 2nd will present Medicare costs by disability, dementia, and community-dwelling status in order to illustrate how these different demographic groups vary in Medicare expenditures over time. This information is critical to policymakers and health systems leaders to plan for these populations. They will then describe a 3rd project, which employs a novel longitudinal modeling approach, Group Based Trajectory Modeling, to identify and describe the distinct trajectories of Emergency Department use after incident disability. This work assesses the heterogeneity in health care use after disability, which may be shaped by available supports. The 4th presentation will describe a combined analysis of the 11 sites that have published data from implementations of the CAPABLE program. This program is a 10 session, home-based interprofessional program that provides an occupational therapist, a nurse, and a handyworker to addresses older adults’ self-identified functional goals by enhancing individual capacity and the home environment. Taken together, these presentations can inform interventions and policies that improve the health and quality of life of older adults with disabilities.

Technical assistance: a practical account of the challenges in design and implementation

Technical assistance is provided to country governments as part of international development programmes to support policymaking or strengthen state capability. This article presents the conceptual evolution of ‘technical assistance’ linked to capacity development, starting with programmes aiming exclusively to enhance individual capacity in the 1950s to 1970s and progressing to complex systems approaches in the past ten years. It also presents some of the frequent challenges in designing and implementing technical assistance, drawing from the existing literature and the authors’ experience in international development. The article summarises the latest thinking about delivering more effective development, including the adaptive management practices and the initiatives to strengthen evidence about what works. Finally, we complement this article with a follow-up open letter reflecting on the current policy options and opportunities for change.

Running on Empty: Of Hypopinealism and Human Seasonality

The pineal hormone melatonin is the natural transducer of the environmental light–dark signal to the body. Although the responsiveness to photoperiod is well-conserved in humans, only about 25 percent of the human population experiences seasonal changes in behavior. As a consequence, humans seem to have adapted—at least partly—to the seasonal changes in day length. The aim of the study was to demonstrate that the individual melatonin deficit marker DOC (degree of pineal calcification) is related to variation of seasonal phenomena in humans. Out of 3,011 patients in which cranial computer tomography (cCT) was performed for diagnostic reasons, 97 consecutive “healthy” subjects (43 female, 54 male; age 18–68 yrs, mean ± SD: 35.0 ± 13.1) were included. Exclusion criteria were pathological finding in cCT, acute/chronic illness including alcohol/drug abuse, shift work, and medication, which are known to influence melatonin excretion. The degree of pineal calcification (DOC) was semiquantitatively determined using the previously validated method. The Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) was performed in a telephone interview. Twenty-six subjects fulfilled the criteria for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or subsyndromal (S) SAD. Seasonality was more pronounced in women than in men (SPAQ seasonality score: 7.8 ± 4.0 vs. 4.9 ± 4.5; p = 0.001) and negatively and significantly associated with age (r = −0.178; p = 0.04). The subjective sleep length significantly varied between seasons (one-way repeated measures ANOVA: F = 45.75; p < 0.0001), with sleep during winter being 53 min (±70 min) longer than during summer. Controlling for age, the total seasonality score was negatively and significantly associated with DOC (r94 = −0.214; p = 0.036). Data confirm earlier studies with respect to distribution of seasonality with sex and age. The survival of seasonality in the sleep length of people living in an urban environment underlines functionality of the circadian timing system in modern societies. Moreover, data confirm for the first time that diminished experience of seasonality in behavior is associated with a reduced individual capacity to produce melatonin.

An Effort to Bring the Positive Change of SMEs: A Study on the Capacity Development Program of SME Foundation

The number of SMEs is creasing in our country tremendously. But most of these cannot run for a long time because the SME entrepreneurs have no enough knowledge to manage every activity related to their business. Besides, some of them can hardly utilize their money and resources properly. So, the capacity of the SME employee and entrepreneurs should be built through providing demand-based training. SME Foundation plays an important role by arranging different training programs in all over the country. The main objective of this study is to discuss the role of capacity building program for the development of institutional as well as individual capacity in the SME sector. The limitations identified in this study such as, problems in the types, duration, and training place disrupt the smooth activity of the training program. Besides, lack of specialized trainers, small number of training programs and lack of modern technology are also identified in this study. The study the suggest recommendation to overcome the barriers to develop capacity in SME sector.

Romantic and parental attachment, psychosocial risk, and personal agency in emerging adulthood

This study focuses on emerging adults’ personal agency, an individual feature associated with enhanced adaptive and resilient developmental trajectories. The two objectives were to explore the role of demographic, psychosocial risk, and relational factors in predicting personal agency and analyze whether romantic attachment mediates the connection between parental attachment and personal agency. The sample consisted of 607 Portuguese emerging adults aged between 18 and 30 years. Structural equation modeling results suggest that men are more likely to exhibit higher levels of personal agency than women. Trustful romantic relations and good paternal emotional bonds are associated with greater personal agency, while dependent romantic relations and maternal relations, characterized by inhibition of exploration, are associated with lower personal agency. Moreover, in romantic relations, trust, unlike dependence, partially mediates the association between parental attachment and personal agency. These findings are discussed based on attachment and self-determination theories, considering the importance of secure relationships for agency and autonomy in personal actions. This study provides important evidence for the influencers and mediators of personal agency, contributing to a better understanding of this individual capacity.

EXPLORING THE MISSING LINKS OF WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Contemporary workplace has become permanent resort for complex scenarios and challenges. The global pandemic 2019 reminded all about the insufficiency of current operational capacities and KSAs (Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude) at both institutional and individual levels. Technological superiority and Branding are no more buzz words for the business and economic progress. The mindset of Individual employee and organization, and their approach towards the notion of meaningful work, optimal utilization of knowledge and resilience are among the priority now. There is a constant demand for the alignment of individual’s morale with the values of organization. Employee loyalty, satisfaction, wellbeing and commitment are must for smooth working of organizations post pandemic. It is observed that workplace spirituality can be the key driver in employee to act upon their individual capacity in order to accelerate organizational effectiveness and to reinforce tools and techniques of knowledge management. The essentials of knowledge management involve the enthusiasm of employees to challenge, negotiate, adapt and nurture to learn from all the possible resources. The current study is all set to explore the dimensions of spirituality that drives individual to learn and manage knowledge in such a way that fabricate a ‘culture of creating meaningful experiences’ at workplace. This paper composes the Meta analytical review of all workplace spirituality models and knowledge management practices in the context of academic institutions. Based the on the review, this study attempts to formulate the adequate research propositions that can act of guideline to explore the connection between spirituality and knowledge management. The paper documents both theoretical and practical implications of possible association between spirituality and knowledge of individuals at workplace during task performance. The paper will try to offer suggestions, for organizations to incorporate ‘effective knowledge management mechanism through spirituality’ in the light of making them, the better learning places. KEYWORDS: Workplace Spirituality, Knowledge Management, Resilience, Organizational Learning Culture, Morale.

‘The best interest of patients, not self-interest’: how clinicians understand altruism

Background Altruism refers to acting in ‘the best interest of patients, not self-interest’. With an observed discordance between the concept and practice of altruism, and increasing attention to ‘pathologic altruism’, the role of altruism is blurred in present day medical care. In this background, the required balance of altruistic attitude which needs to be fostered in medical students needs clarity. This problem may be best addressed by the practicing clinicians. The objectives of this study were to explore clinicians’ understanding of altruism in the clinical context and to identify the key concepts of altruism which they felt, must be included in clinical practice. Methods It was an exploratory qualitative study to identify clinicians’ understanding of altruism and the key practice points for altruism. Online semi-structured interviews were conducted from 18 clinicians through Zoom and transcribed using Otter. Open coding of interview transcripts was done using Atlas ti 8 and grouped by commonalities under sub themes and themes. Results The main concepts regarding the clinicians’ understanding of altruism were prioritizing patients’ interest above oneself, favouring patients beyond routine duty and organized team work for practicing altruism. The essential practice areas identified for altruism were finding a balance between altruistic tendency and self/family life, identifying one’s individual capacity for altruism, establishing teamwork for developing a workplace altruistic attitude, and facilitating patients beyond routine duty. Conclusions Altruism is an important professionalism attribute for clinicians, however prioritizing patients interest requires a balanced approach so that it is effective and sustainable. Workplace altruistic cultures may be better promoted through organized team-based approach rather than individual efforts.

Glucocerebrosidase Mutations and Motor Reserve in Parkinson’s Disease

Background: The concept of motor reserve explains the individual differences in motor deficits despite similar degrees of nigrostriatal dopamine depletion in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Objective: To investigate glucocerebrosidase (GBA) variants as potential determinants of motor reserve for exploratory purposes. Methods: A total of 408 patients with drug-naïve PD were enrolled from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative cohort database. All patients underwent SPECT dopamine transporter (DAT) scans and had results for Sanger sequencing of GBA. Parkinsonian motor deficits were assessed using the Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale Part III (MDS-UPDRS-III). We compared MDS-UPDRS-III scores while adjusting for DAT availability in the putamen (i.e., motor reserve) between the PD groups according to the presence of GBA mutations. Results: Fifty-four (13.2%) patients carried GBA mutations. PD patients with GBA mutations were younger than those without mutations. There were no significant differences in sex, disease duration, years of education, and striatal DAT availability between the PD groups. PD patients with GBA mutations had higher MDS-UPDRS-III scores for the less affected side than those without mutations, despite similar levels of DAT availability in the contralateral putamen. The MDS-UPDRS-III sub-scores of the more affected side did not differ between the two PD groups. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated the detrimental effect of GBA variants on individual capacity to cope with PD-related pathologies, with different impacts depending on the motor laterality.