Andrea Giordano and Dave Street
This article considers the interagency challenges to improving provider performance and quality through the development and ongoing implementation of a new Caerphilly Area Adult…
Abstract
This article considers the interagency challenges to improving provider performance and quality through the development and ongoing implementation of a new Caerphilly Area Adult Protection Committee (AAPC) provider performance monitoring process. It details procedures for moving from a reactive to a preventative approach to raise quality and to reduce abuse and neglect, exploring the links between commissioning and protection of vulnerable adults.
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Andrea Giordano and Alison Neville
The purpose of the paper is to improve the consistency and quality of the response to vulnerable adults who experience abuse and neglect within NHS, independent healthcare and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to improve the consistency and quality of the response to vulnerable adults who experience abuse and neglect within NHS, independent healthcare and social care settings is noted by practitioners, agencies and patients. Health and social care policy frameworks promote principles of service improvement and consistency, along with a focus on outcomes and resource effectiveness and interagency collaboration. The Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) coordinator role carries the responsibility of coordinating a response to individual referrals of abuse and neglect as described as part of the Designated Lead Manager role in the Wales Interim POVA Policy and Procedures for the POVA from abuse (Wales Adult Protection Coordinators Group, 2013).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will explore the benefits realised through a registered nurse being seconded from the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board into a newly created joint adult protection Health Coordinator post within the Caerphilly County Borough Council social services department POVA team.
Findings
This is the first example of such partnership working in adult protection in Wales and has provided a number of benefits in relation to: providing adult protection advice; coordinating the response to referrals of vulnerable adult abuse and neglect within health and social care settings; carrying out or buddying others to complete adult protection investigations; facilitating the two day non-criminal POVA investigation training course and, awareness raising within the local Health Board. The development of a student nurse placement in the social services POVA team cements the multiagency collaborative approach that this development sought to achieve.
Originality/value
The need to improve the consistency and quality of the response to vulnerable adults who experience abuse and neglect within NHS, independent healthcare and social care settings is noted by practitioners, agencies and patients.
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THERE are so many major questions before the library profession that librarians are naturally curious about the manner and matter of the Annual Conference. And critical too; we do…
Abstract
THERE are so many major questions before the library profession that librarians are naturally curious about the manner and matter of the Annual Conference. And critical too; we do not say justifiably; but it is the one general assembly in the year where a consensus of opinion ought to be possible. The business meeting itself is usually quite unsuitable as a gauge of opinion. That the Southport one seemed to demonstrate. We have advocated in these pages that the Library Association Council should base most of the Conference on its own determined policies and not fritter away invaluable hours on long papers which, interesting as they can be made, add very little year by year towards progress in our aims and objects.
The controversy about performance ethnography and other new modes of sociological reporting in the US tends to be highly partisan and often uninformed. Toscano, one of a handful…
Abstract
The controversy about performance ethnography and other new modes of sociological reporting in the US tends to be highly partisan and often uninformed. Toscano, one of a handful of symbolic interactionists in Italy, places new modes of reporting, which he calls “artistic performances,” in the proper historical and contextual perspective. He points out that the boundaries between art and everyday life and art and science are changing and can no longer be viewed as dichotomous and it is time to redefine the fluid relation between these different realms.Toscano identifies C. Wright Mills as the first sociologist to stress the relationship between the arts and sociology to the point of referring to his work as a “sociological poem.” Not coincidentally Norman Denzin and other supporters of new mode of sociological reporting invoke a return to C. Wright Mills, not only for his poetics of expression but for his quest and passion to help the downtrodden.Toscano analyzes the artistic productions of Goffman, Denzin, and others, focusing on the production of new sociologies that are no longer mere “texts” but become “performances.” He realizes that performance can only partially communicate the emotional struggle of those we study. Yet with its pathos and its passion performance can begin to melt the crystal palace of modernistic meta-theoretical sociology. Andrea Fontana; University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Most researchers examining educational disparities in unintended pregnancy take a rational-choice perspective, defining pregnancy intention as a fixed state within…
Abstract
Purpose
Most researchers examining educational disparities in unintended pregnancy take a rational-choice perspective, defining pregnancy intention as a fixed state within decontextualized individuals. However, evidence suggests that women’s reproductive intentions may be more relational than rational, and that relationship context varies by education. This study investigated if relationship context could explain educational disparities in unintended pregnancy.
Methodology
Using the 2006–2015 National Survey of Family Growth (n = 4,320 pregnancies), I calculated structural equation models and predicted probabilities to examine if relational stability (marital status) and partner specificity (wanting a baby with a particular man) mediated the association between education and pregnancy intendedness for White, Hispanic, and Black women.
Findings
Relational stability and partner specificity mediated the association between education and pregnancy intention for all three groups. Education was rendered insignificant after controlling for race, marital status, partner specificity, and age. Marital status was a better predictor for White women than Hispanic women, and was not statistically significant for Black women. Partner specificity had greater influence on pregnancy intendedness than marital status, and its effect varied only slightly by race. Thus, disparities in marriage and access to desired partners influence educational disparities in unintended pregnancy.
Implications
These findings suggest that partner specificity could prove particularly useful in predicting unintended pregnancy as rates of non-marital pregnancies continue to rise. They also indicate that a shift in research and policy focus from decontextualized individuals to relationships between women and men is warranted.
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Francesca Dal Mas, Maurizio Massaro, Rosa Lombardi and Andrea Garlatti
The purpose of this paper is to perform an analysis of the current literature providing a deep contribution to understanding the paradigm shift from output to outcome measures in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to perform an analysis of the current literature providing a deep contribution to understanding the paradigm shift from output to outcome measures in the public sector. Thus, the main aim is to provide relevant insights of both theoretical and empirical studies, offering a critique of the schemes and the research methods used and underlining future research opportunities for the compelling (or underestimated) contents and new emerging trends.
Design/methodology/approach
Articles published in main public management and administration journals, as internationally recognized, are analyzed using a structured literature review methodology. The paper investigates selected contributions published in Association of Business Schools (ABS) (Chartered Association of Business Schools – UK] Grade 4, 3 and 2 journals specializing in the field of “Public Sector Management,” dealing with the topic of performance measurement, from output to outcome.
Findings
Findings are described defying a framework that deepens emerging elements of current literature such as main countries analyzed, main research topics highlighted, research methods applied (qualitative versus quantitative; case studies, interviews, comparative studies etc.), different definitions of “output” and “outcome,” top keywords and their connections.
Originality/value
The paper’s findings aim to offer insights and a current “shared vision” into the state of the art and possible future research avenues on the topic of output and outcome measures in the public sector fostering the development of further studies especially in the direction of sustainability.
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Andrea Garlatti, Paolo Fedele, Silvia Iacuzzi and Grazia Garlatti Costa
Coproduction is both a recurrent way of organizing public services and a maturing academic field. The academic debate has analyzed several facets, but one deserves further…
Abstract
Purpose
Coproduction is both a recurrent way of organizing public services and a maturing academic field. The academic debate has analyzed several facets, but one deserves further analysis: its impact on the cost efficiency of public services. The purpose of this paper is to aim at systematizing the findings on the relationship between coproduction and cost efficiency and at developing insights for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a structured literature review (SLR), following the approach proposed by Massaro, Dumay and Guthrie. The SLR approach differs from traditional narrative reviews since, like other meta-analysis methods, it adopts a replicable and transparent process. At the same time, when compared to most common meta-analysis or systematic review logics, it is better suited to incorporate evidence from case studies and etnographies. This makes the method especially suited to public administration and management studies.
Findings
Results shed light on the nature of the academic literature relating coproduction to cost efficiency, on what type of costs are affected and how and on the meaningfulness of productivity measures when public services are co-produced.
Originality/value
In times of fiscal distress for many governments, the paper contributes to research and practice in systematically re-assessing the effects of coproduction on public budgets.