Katharina K. Pucher, Math J.J.M. Candel, Nicole M.W.M. Boot and Nanne K. de Vries
The Diagnosis of Sustainable Collaboration (DISC) model (Leurs et al., 2008) specifies five factors (i.e. project management, change management, context, external factors, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The Diagnosis of Sustainable Collaboration (DISC) model (Leurs et al., 2008) specifies five factors (i.e. project management, change management, context, external factors, and stakeholders’ support) which predict whether collaboration becomes strong and stable. The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamics of these factors in a study of multiple partnerships in comprehensive school health promotion (CSHP).
Design/methodology/approach
A Dutch two-year DISC-based intervention to support coordinators of five CSHP partnerships in the systematic development of intersectoral collaboration was studied in a pretest-posttest design. To uncover the determinants of sustainable collaboration and implementation of CSHP and to find possible mediators, the authors carried out multi-level path analyses of data on the DISC factors obtained from 90 respondents (response of approached respondents: 57 percent) at pretest and 69 respondents (52 percent) at posttest. Mediation mechanisms were assessed using joint significance tests.
Findings
The five DISC factors were important predictors of implementation of CSHP (explained variance: 26 percent) and sustainable collaboration (explained variance: 21 percent). For both outcomes, stakeholders’ support proved to be the most important factor. Regarding sustainable collaboration, mediation analysis showed that stakeholders’ support fully mediated the effects of change management, project management, external factors and context. This indicates that the extent of stakeholders’ support (e.g. appreciation of goals and high levels of commitment) determines whether collaboration becomes sustainable. The authors also found that the extent of stakeholders’ support in turn depends upon a well-functioning project management structure, the employment of change management principles (e.g. creation of a common vision and employment of appropriate change strategies), a favorable organizational context (e.g. positive experience with previous collaboration) and external context (e.g. positive attitudes of financing bodies and supporting health and educational policies). For the actual implementation of CSHP, partial mediation by the support factor was found. There was a direct positive effect of change management indicating that organizational knowledge is also necessary to implement CSHP, and a direct negative effect of project management, probably pointing to the negative effects of too much negotiation in the collaboration.
Research limitations/implications
A design lacking a control group, a small sample and a relatively early assessment after implementation support stopped limit the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
Strategies targeting the DISC factors can enhance stakeholders’ support and thereby promote sustainable intersectoral collaboration and the implementation of CSHP.
Originality/value
The DISC model provides a fruitful conceptual framework for the study of predictors and processes in public health partnerships. The importance of stakeholders’ support and other factors in the model are demonstrated.
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N.M.W.M. Boot and N.K. de Vries
This case study aimed to examine the factors influencing the implementation of health promotion (HP) policies and programs in secondary schools and the consequences for…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study aimed to examine the factors influencing the implementation of health promotion (HP) policies and programs in secondary schools and the consequences for professional assistance.
Design/methodology/approach
Group interviews were held in two schools that represented the best and worst case of implementation of a health promotion program (“Schoolbeat”) in the Southern Limburg region. Both schools were represented by the school manager, the health care coordinator and their school health promotion (SHP) advisor. The main purpose of the group interview was to describe the organization of HP in the school.
Findings
Efforts to improve organizational aspects like change management, collaborative support and project management contributed to the implementation of HP.
Practical implications
Based on these results the authors advise SHP advisors to focus more on the organizational aspects of HP in schools.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the discussion about the tasks of HP professionals assisting secondary schools. Results show that effective assistance in shaping school health promotion requires competencies that go beyond organizing practical HP activities. HP professionals assisting schools need skills covering many aspects of the field, ranging from professional assistance for the process of implementing HP to organizational skills to advise and guide schools on the organizational changes needed for the implementation of HP.
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The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the conceptualization and discussion of professional competencies needed for supporting the development of the whole-school approach…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the conceptualization and discussion of professional competencies needed for supporting the development of the whole-school approach in school health promotion (SHP).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a conceptual synthesis of literature, guided by a theoretical perspective on health promotion agency and professional competencies to identify core competency domains and elements. This is followed by a discussion of focus, gaps and links in conceptualizations of competency domains and elements.
Findings
The synthesis identifies five core competency domains: policy-development; organizational development; professional development; development of students’ learning; and development of health promotion activities. Three critical gaps in the conceptualizations of competency domains and elements are identified and discussed: the downplay of the development of learning domain and the narrow focus on cognitive elements within it; the narrow focus on cognitive elements and technical-organizational elements in the development of HP activities domain; and the downplay of affective competency elements across domains.
Practical implications
The five competency domains may provide an overall guiding tool for professionals tasked with practice and competency development in SHP, and a point of departure for the development of conceptualizations of professional competencies in concrete practice contexts.
Originality/value
The paper delineates an overall professional competency model for SHP, discusses the specific demands on professional competencies within this field in relation to this model, and addresses three critical gaps in the conceptualizations of competency.
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In commenting upon a recent action brought by a Mr. Soper for a libel published upon him in a trade journal in regard to the sale of adulterated boots, the Daily Telegraph makes…
Abstract
In commenting upon a recent action brought by a Mr. Soper for a libel published upon him in a trade journal in regard to the sale of adulterated boots, the Daily Telegraph makes some excellent remarks, which ought to appeal strongly to all manufacturers, no matter what trade they are engaged in, who are really desirous of conducting their concerns upon honest and straightforward lines. The Daily Telegraph observes that reformers are rarely popular with their rivals, especially when they expose tricks in the trade, and advocate raising the standard of commercial honesty. Mr. Soper, the plaintiff in the case in question, was in that position. He had started a crusade against the practice of adulterating the soles of boots with paper fillings, and advocated a standard mark, in order to distinguish what is genuine from what is adulterated. This was resented by the threatened interests. Mr. Soper raised up enemies, and, in consequence, the article complained of was written, accusing him of “knowingly” selling adulterated boots at his shop while he thus publicly denounced them. The libel lay in the word “knowingly,” for it appeared that adulterated boots were actually sold at Mr. SoPer's establishment. But this was because he had failed to detect their presence; he had taken all the precautions which he could take, and he had cut open a number of pairs; he demanded guarantees from the manufacturers with whom he dealt; and, moreover, he was willing to take back any pair from any customer which were found to contain paper. The boot trade does not emerge with credit from this investigation. It was admitted that adulteration had been going on for the last ten years, and one manufacturer's traveller, when asked whether he was not surprised that paper should be found in the soles of boots costing seven or eight shillings, frankly replied, “Nothing surprises me in the boot trade.” The public will share his truly Horatian attitude of mind. Some such standard mark as that advocated by Mr. Soper seems to be the only method of protecting the public, if, indeed, the public desires to be protected, which seems doubtful. The ordinary customer is as helpless in a boot shop as in a curiosity shop. He must trust the word of the shopkeeper. And in turn the shopkeeper has to trust the manufacturers. The excuses of some of the latter, that the use of paper instead of leather did not mean any profit for them, or that the workmen could not be stopped from using cardboard fillings, will not do. There would be no adulteration if it were not profitable to adulterate. Adulteration seems to be rampant in most industries. One might even say that in some it is no longer the exception, but the rule. Wool, for example, has been treated just as scurvily as leather. Woollen no longer means woollen, but cotton with a pinch of wool. One has to ask for “guaranteed pure wool”— and pay accordingly—to feel any confidence that one is getting wool. So, too, with flannel and silk, and even cotton is adulterated with minerals to give it an essentially false weight. The ingredients from which “shoddy” is made would terrify the future wearer of it if he could see the “devil” at work, tearing up the noisome rags. Ignorance in this respect is becoming more blissful every year. Cheap sweets, cheap jams, cheap table delicacies, and all kinds of foods, all of which are warranted pure by the manufacturers, are, as a matter of fact, adulterated with impunity, and are all, in reality, “nasty” as well as “cheap.” The impotence of Government departments and of the Legislature in face of this condition of things has been demonstrated ad nauseam, and while such efforts as are made by local authorities to detect and suppress adulteration should receive all possible support and encouragement, it must be admitted that there is only one effective way of dealing with the evil—namely, the supply of guarantees of an independent and authoritative type to retail vendors and purchasers.
Rani Kumari, Chandrakant Lodhi, Yogesh Mani Tripathi and Rajesh Kumar Sinha
Inferences for multicomponent reliability is derived for a family of inverted exponentiated densities having common scale and different shape parameters.
Abstract
Purpose
Inferences for multicomponent reliability is derived for a family of inverted exponentiated densities having common scale and different shape parameters.
Design/methodology/approach
Different estimates for multicomponent reliability is derived from frequentist viewpoint. Two bootstrap confidence intervals of this parametric function are also constructed.
Findings
Form a Monte-Carlo simulation study, the authors find that estimates obtained from maximum product spacing and Right-tail Anderson–Darling procedures provide better point and interval estimates of the reliability. Also the maximum likelihood estimate competes good with these estimates.
Originality/value
In literature several distributions are introduced and studied in lifetime analysis. Among others, exponentiated distributions have found wide applications in such studies. In this regard the authors obtain various frequentist estimates for the multicomponent reliability by considering inverted exponentiated distributions.
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Badi H. Baltagi, Georges Bresson, Anoop Chaturvedi and Guy Lacroix
This chapter extends the work of Baltagi, Bresson, Chaturvedi, and Lacroix (2018) to the popular dynamic panel data model. The authors investigate the robustness of Bayesian panel…
Abstract
This chapter extends the work of Baltagi, Bresson, Chaturvedi, and Lacroix (2018) to the popular dynamic panel data model. The authors investigate the robustness of Bayesian panel data models to possible misspecification of the prior distribution. The proposed robust Bayesian approach departs from the standard Bayesian framework in two ways. First, the authors consider the ε-contamination class of prior distributions for the model parameters as well as for the individual effects. Second, both the base elicited priors and the ε-contamination priors use Zellner’s (1986) g-priors for the variance–covariance matrices. The authors propose a general “toolbox” for a wide range of specifications which includes the dynamic panel model with random effects, with cross-correlated effects à la Chamberlain, for the Hausman–Taylor world and for dynamic panel data models with homogeneous/heterogeneous slopes and cross-sectional dependence. Using a Monte Carlo simulation study, the authors compare the finite sample properties of the proposed estimator to those of standard classical estimators. The chapter contributes to the dynamic panel data literature by proposing a general robust Bayesian framework which encompasses the conventional frequentist specifications and their associated estimation methods as special cases.
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It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields…
Abstract
It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.
MARCUS JEFFERIES, ROD GAMESON and STEVE ROWLINSON
Recent trends in the provision of infrastructure development indicate that the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in the procurement process. This trend has…
Abstract
Recent trends in the provision of infrastructure development indicate that the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in the procurement process. This trend has partly arisen out of a necessity for the development of infrastructure to be undertaken at a rate that maintains and allows growth. This has become a major challenge for many countries where it is evident that these provisions cannot be met by government alone. The emergence of Build‐Own‐Operate‐Transfer (BOOT) schemes as a response to this challenge provides a means for developing the infrastructure of a country without directly impacting upon the government's budgetary constraints. The concepts of BOOT are without doubt extremely complex arrangements, which bring to the construction sector risks not experienced previously. This paper examines perceptions of BOOT schemes in order to develop a framework of critical success factors. The developed framework is then tested against a case study of Stadium Australia, and the outcomes of the comparison are discussed.
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The aim of this paper is to identify the role of the principal in establishing a whole school approach for health and wellbeing. Two questions are asked: (1) What do successful…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to identify the role of the principal in establishing a whole school approach for health and wellbeing. Two questions are asked: (1) What do successful Swedish principals do when they take on a whole school approach? (2) How do these results relate to previous research on successful school leadership?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper focuses on the complexity of organisational processes and considers the role of successful leadership in managing a whole school approach to health promotion. It presents findings from two different but interlinked projects, and draws on document studies and interviews with principals, student health team members and teachers in Sweden.
Findings
This paper argues that successful school leaders are crucial in establishing a whole school approach, because of the work they do to synchronise the health-promoting activities in schools. The study identifies four aspects of coordination that need to be enacted simultaneously when leading health-promoting processes. The fifth aspect identified is that a whole school approach is not limited to the school, but the whole local school context, i.e. a synchronisation between different system levels.
Originality/value
Although limited in scale, this paper reports key findings that could have practical implications for school leaders. The study suggests that successful school leadership research needs to use a health-promoting lens in order to make leadership practices health-promoting practices. It also proposes extended comparative research from different fields and contexts.