Individual Blame Research Articles

Blame Attribution and Compliance with COVID-19 Measures in Australia: The Theory of Planned Behaviour

This study scrutinizes the influence of “blame attribution” and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) on compliance with COVID-19 public health measures in Australia. This study elucidates that blaming individuals rather than governments surprisingly augments support for governmental regulations, highlighting the complexities of blame attribution in shaping public adherence to health policies. It underscores the nuanced roles of TPB elements like subjective norms and behavioural control, revealing that feelings of empowerment, social responsibility, and recognizing personal roles in pandemic control enhance the inclination to support governmental directives. The outcomes emphasize the criticality of understanding blame attribution and TPB dynamics for devising efficacious communication and management strategies, promoting societal adherence to essential regulations and actions during health crises, and fostering a more resilient societal infrastructure for dealing with pandemics.

Kind, Firm, and Fair Medical Regulation: A Systems Approach and Six Ethical Principles

ABSTRACT Background: Regulatory processes can be stressful, anxiety provoking, and complicated for the health professional involved, the institutions they work for, and for the regulators. Methods: This paper uses a case study to describe a systems approach to comprehensively identify the agents (ie: the complainant, the health professional concerned, the regulator dedicated to the case, the institution, the healthcare profession, the public, and the regulatory authority) and 6 ethical issues that emerge during the regulatory process: potential to cause harm, not in the best interest of a person, affects autonomy, unjust, not truthful, and loss of trust. Results: A systems approach lends to a mental model in which there are dynamic interactions across these elements accompanied by positive and negative feedback loops that maintain overall stability of the whole system. Conclusions: The process can be further refined and kinder to those concerned by developing a sensitive approach to improve assessment of risks, using feedback to improve the regulatory process, adapting transparent procedures, not causing undue delays to the process, embedding regulatory activities in a patient safety system, minimizing individual blame, using non-legalistic, non-threatening and respectful communications, and directing the different actors to a support network for guidance and advice.

Forgiveness as morally serious response to errors in healthcare: A narrative review

Retribution is often seen as a morally serious response to errors and undesirable behaviors, typically expressed through blame, punishment, and exclusion. These actions are meant to uphold professional standards, deter future wrongdoing, and restore moral balance. However, I argue that while retribution addresses certain ethical concerns, it is incomplete and can be counterproductive, particularly for patient safety and organizational learning. Systems that focus primarily on individual blame risk fostering underreporting, entrenching learning disabilities, and exacerbating harm. In this paper I propose that forgiveness — the foregoing of vindictive resentment toward a wrongdoer — offers a morally serious alternative. It facilitates accountability, restoration, and healing without trivializing the ethical weight of the harm done. By encouraging forward-looking accountability, forgiveness allows the wrongdoer to acknowledge their mistakes, make amends, and help improve practice. This not only respects the humanity of everyone involved, and addresses emotional and relational consequences, but also recognizes the systemic factors that contribute to errors. I outline concrete steps for integrating forgiveness into healthcare’s post-incident processes, balancing accountability with the need for healing and systemic change.

Analysis of Patient Safety, Medical Error, and Event Reporting Culture Perception at Bekasi Hospital 2024

Patient safety is one of the important aspects of health services that affect the quality and effectiveness of services in hospitals. This study aims to analyze the perception of patient safety culture, medical errors, and incident reporting at Bekasi Hospital in 2024, focusing on gaps in the involvement of medical and non-medical personnel, obstacles in incident reporting, and challenges in the implementation of patient safety policies. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach, with data collection methods through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), observations, and documentation studies. The results of the study show that there is a difference in perception between medical and non-medical personnel regarding patient safety culture. Medical personnel have a higher awareness of the importance of patient safety, while non-medical personnel feel less engaged and under-trained. The main barriers to incident reporting are the fear of sanctions and the culture of blaming individuals, which leads to low rates of incident reporting. In addition, the study found that although patient safety policies have been implemented, their implementation is still inconsistent across hospital service units, mainly due to the high workload and lack of supervision.

Involvement in serious incident investigations: a qualitative documentary analysis of NHS trust policies in England

BackgroundThe considered shift from individual blame and sanctions towards a commitment to system-wide learning from incidents in healthcare has led to increased understanding of both the moral and epistemic importance of involving those affected. It is important to understand whether and how local policy describes and prompts involvement with a view to understanding the policy landscape for serious incident investigations in healthcare.This study aimed to explore the way in which involvement of those affected by serious incidents is represented in incident investigation policy documents across acute and mental health services in the English NHS, and to identify guidance for more effective construction of policy for meaningful involvement.MethodsWe conducted a documentary analysis of 43 local serious incident investigation policies to explore the way in which involvement in serious incident investigations is represented in policy documents across acute and mental health services in the NHS in England.ResultsThree headline findings were generated. First, we identified involvement as a concept was conspicuous by its absence in policy documents. Direct reference to support or involvement of those affected by serious incidents was lacking. Even where involvement and support were recognised as important, this was described as a passive process rather than there being moral or epistemic justification for more active contribution to learning. Second, learning from serious incidents was typically described as a high priority but the language used was unclear and ‘learning’ was more often positioned as construction of an arbitrary set of recommendations rather than a participatory process of deconstruction and reconstruction of specific systems and processes. Third, there was an emphasis placed on a just and open culture but paradoxically this was reinforced by expected compliance, positioning investigations as a tool through which action is governed rather than an opportunity to learn from and with the experiences and expertise of those affected.ConclusionsMore effective representation in policy of the moral and epistemic reasons for stakeholder involvement in serious incident investigations may lead to better understanding of its importance, thus increasing potential for organisational learning and reducing the potential for compounded harm. Moreover, understanding how structural elements of policy documents were central to the way in which the document is framed and received is significant for both local and national policy makers to enable more effective construction of healthcare policy documents to prompt meaningful action.

Lung cancer after the genomic turn: From the biopolitics of ‘lifestyle’ to the transcorporeality of breath

The lungs serve as a site of interchange between the bodily and environmental, an interface between the internal and external world, enacted through breath. We draw on the primacy of this exchange to explore the complexities of living with lung cancer amidst the enduring social challenge of stigma and the advent of ‘targeted therapies’ at the cutting edge of precision medicine. Lung cancer’s association with smoking and resulting stigmatisation of those with lung cancer has been well documented – positioning those with lung cancer as failed subjects of a biopolitics of lifestyle. However, recent developments in ‘precision medicine’ have drawn attention to alternate, genetic causes of lung cancer, disrupting easy equivalences between deviant cells (malignancy) and deviant conduct (smoking). Despite this, and drawing on interviews with 32 people receiving targeted therapy for lung cancer in Australia, we identify enduring resonances of deviance and stigma which still foreground individual lifestyle and blame, even for those – like many participants in this study – who have never smoked. Even in the context of uncertain causal origins and genetic mutations, the stigma of lung cancer and the figure of ‘the smoker’ as an object of abjection and disavowal persists. We find Alaimo’s concept of transcorporeality instructive for moving away from this biopolitics of lifestyle, toward greater recognition of the collective, though unequal, conditions of ‘carcinogenic capitalism’ in which we all must live and breathe. In turn, our analysis of the specificities of lung cancer may inform broader sociological approaches to tackle stigma at a structural level.

Patterns of conquest, kingship and conflict. Sallustian intertext in Geoffrey of Monmouth's De gestis Britonum

abstract: This article argues that Geoffrey of Monmouth engaged with the Roman historian Sallust in a more meaningful way than has been previously understood. First, it examines how Geoffrey structures the De gestis , and argues that it can be read through the lens of Sallustian historiography: the British kingdom rises and falls in a similar manner to Rome in Sallust's works. This offers a new way of reading the De gestis in the context of the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. By drawing upon Sallust's model, Geoffrey removes individual blame as a cause of civil war and instead makes it the inevitable result of greatness, such as that enjoyed by ancient Rome. It then argues that Geoffrey uses Sallustian watch-words and literary techniques in order to negatively characterise King Arthur. Therefore, it interrogates the interpretation of Arthur as a 'heroic' figure in the De gestis . In particular, it argues that the use of extended speech is a marker of Sallustian influence, and reading paired speeches together in the De gestis underscores the development of Arthur's character. Overall, this article argues that classical reception studies can open new ways of interpreting and understanding medieval texts like the De gestis .

Pointing Fingers: Who US Adults Blame for the Opioid Overdose Epidemic.

Over 3 million Americans have an opioid use disorder (OUD), and only a fraction receive treatment. Public opinion is crucial in enacting evidence-based policies. Few studies have examined the public's perception of blame for the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic directed at distinct groups. We assessed US adults' perceived blameworthiness for the epidemic and examined factors that may influence the perceived blameworthiness. We conducted a national survey in 2022 using the AmeriSpeak® panel to assess US adults' perception of blame toward individuals with an OUD and external contributors. Of the 3335 eligible panel members invited to participate, 1233 (37%) completed the survey. We developed a measure of knowledge and understanding of OUD, with a higher value indicating a greater understanding of the nature of OUD and recovery-including knowledge and beliefs on evidence-based treatment and relapse. We analyzed the relationships between sources of blame, knowledge, and understanding of OUD, and individual-level correlates. Higher score of knowledge and understanding of OUD was associated with lower odds of blaming individuals with OUD (odds ratio [OR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.51, 1.05]) and greater odds of blaming external contributors: healthcare providers (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = [1.05, 2.12]), pharmaceutical companies (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = [1.50, 3.15]), and health insurance companies (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = [0.97, 2.09]). Those who are female, non-Hispanic White, Democrat, have higher education, or have friends or family who misused opioids tended to score higher in knowledge and understanding of OUD. Perceived blameworthiness for the opioid overdose epidemic is related to knowledge and understanding of OUD. Public health campaigns with a bipartisan agenda to increase evidence-informed knowledge about OUD targeting people of color and with lower education may help reduce the blame toward people with an OUD, which in turn may increase support for evidence-informed policies.

Shame-Sensitive Public Health

In this article, we argue that shaming interventions and messages during Covid-19 have drawn the relationship between public health and shame into a heightened state of contention, offering us a valuable opportunity to reconsider shame as a desired outcome of public health work, and to push back against the logics of individual responsibility and blame for illness and disease on which it sits. We begin by defining shame and demonstrating how it is conceptually and practically distinct from stigma. We then set out evidence on the consequences of shame for social and relational health outcomes and assess the past and present dimensions of shame in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, primarily through a corpus of international news stories on the shaming of people perceived to have transgressed public health directions or advice. Following a brief note on shame (and policymaking) in a cultural context, we turn to the concept and practice of ‘shame-sensitivity’ in order to theorise a set of practical and adaptable principles that could be used to assist policymakers in short- and medium-term decision-making on urgent, tenacious, and emerging issues within public health. Finally, we consider the longer consequences of pandemic shame, making a wider case for the acknowledgement of the emotion as a key determinant of health.

A Green Moment to Share: A Theatrical Laboratory to Explore Climate Crisis Possibilities within Single Moments

Many youth experience distress around the climate crisis. However, mainstream environmental messages ignore youth concerns, blame individuals, and suggest techno-fixes rather than addressing root causes. Young people need a way to productively process and collectively engage with their complex feelings about the climate crisis. During the spring of 2023, a group of university students facilitated a Research-based Theatre project to explore their relationship to climate and environmental justice as part of a biannual performance festival of student new work. Specifically, we used Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to slow down and embody participants’ struggles with environmental action. We argue that this process allowed participants to explore how and why they made sense of mainstream environmental messaging about the climate crisis. This paper offers a case study exploring how the interwoven themes of power, positionality, and agency emerged through embodied investigations during the early development of our Research-based Theatre performance. The paper concludes by discussing how Research-based Theatre can embrace a post-activist lens that supports the complexity of sense-making and troubles the over-emphasis on solution as the only response to environmental/climate crisis. Further, we argue for the kin-making possibilities that crisis can teach us when engaged through embodied exploration.

Depictions of social workers and other caring professionals on television

Summary Social workers, alongside many professionals in “caring” domains, often feel they are poorly represented in television dramas. This study draws on a 172-million-word database to consider how social workers and seven other professional groups (cop, doctor, nanny, nurse, priest, teacher, and therapist) are portrayed in English-medium TV programs in the period 2010–2017. IMDb plot summaries are analyzed, and 200 examples per profession (n = 1,600) are classified as negative, positive, or neutral. Employing the methodology of corpus linguistics, the study contrasts with previous research as the focus is on the language surrounding mentions of professionals rather than on visual depictions or characters’ actions. Findings The study evidences the prevalence of negative societal discourses around social workers as either judgmental bureaucrats or uncaring “childcatchers,” contextualizing the findings through comparison with other professionals. The analysis also suggests that social work characters on TV—in common with those from other female-dominated professions such as nanny or nurse—are frequently referred to in terms of their sexual availability or physical appearance. Applications Findings will have practical relevance for those interested in the recruitment, job satisfaction, and retention of practitioners, and in reducing the stigmatization of social workers and their clients. The innovative methodology employed in the study offers particular insights for social work researchers and also scriptwriters. The study evidences the ongoing need to support media professionals and the general public to better understand the challenges facing the profession and thereby reduce the tendency toward a culture of blaming individuals for society's failings.

Master Narratives and Resistance Narratives: How Women of Color on Community College STEM Education Pathways Push Back

Objective/Research Question: Master narratives, as theorized using a critical race perspective, are stories of the majority that function to obscure and normalize the oppressive operation of power in society. Counternarratives are the stories of minoritized individuals which expose and challenge the stories of the majority. This study examined master and counternarratives in STEM to uncover taken-for-granted power dynamics and hierarchies that systemically exclude and minoritize women of color on community college STEM education pathways. Methods: Narrative interviews were conducted with 12 women of color who were current or former community college STEM students. These interviews were analyzed according to the sensibilities of feminist narrative methodology. Results: Analysis of narratives resulted in three resistance narratives, or the different ways participants made sense of and pushed back against master narratives regarding what it means to be a woman of color in STEM. The three resistance narratives identified were: (1) taking action with the support of others, (2) connecting to something greater than oneself, and (3) redefining one’s identity and goals. Conclusions/Contributions: Attending to individual resistance narratives can unveil harmful master narratives in STEM that hinder the participation and success of diverse individuals. This study urges STEM researchers and practitioners to look beyond blaming individuals for “failing” to fit into the status quo of STEM and to devise solutions that will disrupt oppressive norms and practices that become normalized through unexamined master narratives in STEM.

When the specter of the past haunts current groups: Psychological antecedents of historical blame.

Groups have committed historical wrongs (e.g., genocide, slavery). We investigated why people blame current groups who were not involved in the original historical wrong for the actions of their predecessors who committed these wrongs and are no longer alive. Current models of individual and group blame overlook the dimension of time and therefore have difficulty explaining this phenomenon using their existing criteria like causality, intentionality, or preventability. We hypothesized that factors that help psychologically bridge the past and present, like perceiving higher (a) connectedness between past and present perpetrator groups, (b) continued privilege of perpetrator groups, (c) continued harm of victim groups, and (d) unfulfilled forward obligations of perpetrator groups would facilitate higher blame judgments against current groups for the past. In two repeated-measures surveys using real events (N1 = 518, N2 = 495) and two conjoint experiments using hypothetical events (N3 = 598, N4 = 605), we find correlational and causal evidence for our hypotheses. These factors link present groups to their past and cause more historical blame and support for compensation policies. This work brings the dimension of time into theories of blame, uncovers overlooked criteria for blame judgments, and questions the assumptions of existing blame models. Additionally, it helps us understand the psychological processes undergirding intergroup relations and historical narratives mired in historical conflict. Our work provides psychological insight into the debates on intergenerational justice by suggesting methods people can use to ameliorate the psychological legacies of historical wrongs and atrocities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Rethinking sexual violence labels: exploring the impact of ‘victim’ and ‘survivor’ discourse

ABSTRACT Background: Universities’ responses to sexual violence have faced scrutiny for their lack of proactiveness and their failure to address campus socio-cultural norms that contribute to rape myth acceptance. The labels victim and survivor play a crucial role in shaping attitudes toward sexual violence, but there is limited research on how university students perceive these labels. Objective: This paper explores sexual violence labels and their role in perpetuating rape culture. Undergraduate university students’ beliefs on using the label survivor instead of victim to describe someone who has experienced sexual violence were examined to consider how these labels create societal discourse on sexual violence. Method: The study draws on qualitative data collected from undergraduate students in Canada and the United States through open-response questions in an interactive textbook. Data were analysed and interpreted using a multi-method approach that combined principles of Critical Discourse Analysis and Feminist Poststructuralism. Direct quotes and word clouds from participants’ responses are used as evidence and to visually display discourse. Results: Findings revealed that participants recognised the negative societal discourses associated with the label victim and supported using survivor to challenge perceptions of sexual violence. Despite this, participants expressed hesitancy to adopt the label survivor because of the potential negative implications, such as the label promoting the allocation of individual blame, increasing barriers to justice, and reducing the perceived severity of sexual violence. Conclusions: This study underscores the complexities of sexual violence labels, the influence of language in shaping societal perceptions, and the need for a more comprehensive and equitable approach to responding to sexual violence.

COVID‐19 responsibility and blame: How group identity and political ideology inform perceptions of responsibility, blame, and racial disparities

AbstractThis study explored how racial group, racial identity centrality, and political ideology inform perceptions of responsibility, blame, and racial disparities in COVID‐19 outcomes. The findings revealed that highly identified members of non‐dominant racial groups were less likely to endorse items indicating individual blame, while being more inclined to attribute racial disparities to structural inequalities. Furthermore, conservative ideology was consistently linked to individual blame and responsibility, with those endorsing conservative ideology agreeing less with explanations of racial disparities based on structural inequalities and agreeing more with explanations for racial disparities based on personal blame and responsibility. Understanding perceptions of blame and responsibility for COVID‐19 may influence political discourse and subsequent health inequities, highlighting the importance of exploring how race, identity, and political ideology shape such perceptions.

COVID-19 vaccine perceptions online and offline: A content analysis of tweets and a survey of college students’ opinions about the vaccine

This study examined social media conversations and people's attitudes and perceptions in the United States about the COVID-19 vaccine from January and February 2021. A total of 1,050 tweets were content analyzed (N = 1,050) (January 2021: n = 550, February 2021: n = 500). Research was also gathered from college students at a medium-sized college in the northeast during those two months using an online survey with a sample size of 171 (N = 171).It was found that more tweets in January had negative sentiment than in February, whereas tweets in February had more positive sentiment than in January. Although half of the tweets did not address vaccine risk, the other half identified various risks. Tweets in January included more blaming of government and individuals than tweets in February. Regarding hazard and outrage, more tweets in January expressed low hazard and high outrage than tweets in February, though more tweets in February showed low hazard and low outrage than those in January. Finally, tweets in January contained more liberal and conservative frames than tweets in February.The survey data show that people held positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants’ risk perception about the vaccine was low. They also rated the vaccine as highly effective. Participants noted COVID-19 being a high threat. People's concern with COVID-19 was moderately high. They also took highly active behavior to protect themselves from COVID-19. Participants showed relatively low levels of outrage toward COVID-19 vaccines. The majority of participants had family members and friends who received the vaccine. Survey participants with family members who had been infected with COVID-19 had more belief in the effectiveness of the vaccine than people whose family members had not been infected.These findings can be invaluable to public health officials in better understanding perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine and risk.

Examining interactions between dominant discourses and engineering educational concepts in teachers' pedagogical reasoning

AbstractBackgroundEngineering's introduction into K–12 classrooms has been purported to support meaningful and inclusive learning environments. However, teachers must contend with dominant discourses embedded in US schooling that justify inequitable distributions of resources.PurposeDrawing on Gee's notion of discourses, we examine how teachers incorporate language legitimizing socially and culturally constructed values and beliefs. In particular, we focus on the discourse of ability hierarchy—reflecting dominant values of sorting and ranking students based on perceived academic abilities—and the discourse of individual blame—reflecting dominant framings of educational problems as solely the responsibility of individual students or families. We aim to understand how these discourses surface in teachers' reasoning about teaching engineering.MethodWe interviewed 15 teachers enrolled in an online graduate program in engineering education. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, we analyzed how teachers drew on discourses of blame and ability hierarchy when reasoning about problems of practice in engineering.ResultsTeachers drew on engineering education concepts to reinforce dominant discourses (echoing specific language and preserving given roles) as well as to disrupt (utilizing different language or roles that [implicitly] challenge) dominant discourses. Importantly, teachers could also retool discourses of ability hierarchy (arguing for a more equitable distribution of resources but problematically preserving the values of ranking and sorting students).ConclusionsK–12 schooling's sociohistorical context can shape how teachers make sense of engineering in ways that implicate race, gender, disability, and language, suggesting a need to grapple with how discourses from schooling—and engineering culture—maintain marginalizing environments for students.

Framing Moroccan Judiciary on tv Dramas: a Public Asset under Constraints

Abstract An efficient, impartial, and independent judiciary is a major demand for Moroccan citizens. In online advocacy, citizens denounce the flawed judiciary, sometimes virally circulating content on its corruption and susceptibility to interference. On tv, non-fiction programs respond to frequent requests for legal advice from audiences. Meanwhile, dramas employ frames that reflect codes on how society should perceive the judiciary and the rule of law. This article assesses the dominant frames of the judiciary on tv dramas. Two programs, Moudāwala and Al-Māḍī Lā Yamūt, are selected based on their relevance and popularity. The qualitative analysis of these programs incorporates character and narrative portrayals into thematic and frame analyses. As the two programs illustrate judicial struggles from within and without, they exemplify portrayals of the legal system that uncover discrepancies between normative practices and ruthless realities. The judiciary’s dominant frames focus on individual solutions and blame citizens for ignoring judicial texts or institutions. Frames reflect how media avoid watchdogging the judiciary and extend, directly or otherwise, hegemony over both the judiciary and the media.

Online Health Communities’ Portrayal of Obesity on Social Media Platforms in South Africa

The rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity in South Africa, intertwined with extensive changes in diet, life expectancy, and nutritional status has led to a complex framing of obesity on social media. This has prompted the prioritization of media-based social and behavior change communication interventions leveraging social media for obesity prevention. This study was conducted to understand how obesity is constructed and represented on social media in South Africa. A media review of Facebook and Twitter platforms in South Africa was conducted over a six-month period using Meltwater software for data collection. The search yielded 13 500 posts and tweets. Data were cleaned and coded in Microsoft Excel. Content and framing analysis were performed to add insight into the nature of obesity discourse on social media. Portrayals of obesity on social media were dominated by stigmatizing imagery blaming individuals for unhealthy lifestyles, poor diets, and lack of physical activity. Future media-based social and behavior change communication interventions for obesity prevention can leverage social media to reach the broader public and insights into media portrayals of obesity have the potential to influence the shape and development of these behavioral interventions.

Stop the blame game: An analysis of blaming on Weibo during the early days of the COVID‐19 pandemic in rice and wheat areas in China

AbstractIn the pandemic era, social media has provided the public with a platform to make their voice heard. One of the most important public opinions online during a pandemic is blame. Blame can lead to stigma towards patients as well as potential patients and decrease social cooperation, which might impede prevention and control measures during epidemics. Thus, studying online blame during the early days of COVID‐19 can facilitate the management and control of future pandemics. By analyzing 3791 posts from one of the most popular social media sites in China (Weibo) over the 10 days immediately after COVID‐19 was declared to be a communicable disease, we found that there were four main agents blamed online: Individuals, corporations, institutions, and the media. Most of the blame targeted individual agents. We also found that there were regional‐cultural differences in the detailed types of blamed individual agents, that is, between rice‐ and wheat‐farming areas in China. After controlling influence of distance from the epicenter of Wuhan, there were still stable differences between regions: people in wheat areas had a higher probability of blaming agentic, harmful individuals, and people in rice areas had a higher probability of blaming individuals with low awareness of social norms for preventive health behavior. Findings have implications for preventing and predicting blame across cultures in future pandemics.