General Public Services Research Articles

Australian community and inpatient general public sector mental health services between 2017-18 and 2021-22: Relative stasis in bed capacity, increasing outpatient demand, and stunted expenditure.

To descriptively analyse Australian public sector General Mental Health Services (GMHS) expenditure, ambulatory, and inpatient services, including key performance indicators (KPIs) in comparison with other subspeciality mental health services (MHS). We descriptively analysed data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), including inpatient, ambulatory services, expenditure, and KPIs. From 2017-18 to 2021-22, per capita expenditure for Australian GMHS (18-64) rose by an average annual inflation-adjusted change of 2%. Overall bed numbers remained static, with non-acute beds declining, and commensurate expansion of acute beds. Community GMHS had high outpatient utilisation, with high rates of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar affective disorders as primary diagnoses in mid-life. From 2017-18 to 2021-22, GMHS inpatient and ambulatory episodes had decreasing rates of significant improvement and increasing rates of significant deterioration. Although GMHS has the highest overall population and service utilisation, there has been static bed availability and relatively small increases in expenditure which are occurring concurrently with worsening clinical outcomes. Evidence-based modelling of GMHS and outcomes is required to inform future service improvement.

Tanggung Jawab Pemerintah Desa dalam Mendorong Kinerja Badan Usaha Milik Desa di Desa Kualin dan Desa Oni Kecamatan Kualin, Kabupaten Timor Tengah Selatan Ditinjau dari Undang-Undang Nomor 6 Tahun 2014 Tentang Desa

The purpose of this research is to analyze the responsibilities of the village government in encouraging the performance of Village-Owned Enterprises in Kualin Village and Oni Village, Kualin Sub-district, South Central Timor District in terms of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages. The method used in this research is empirical legal research, namely examining the responsibilities of the Village Government according to Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages implemented in Kualin District, South Central Timor Regency by seeing how the law is applied in community life both through interviews and observations. The research locations are Kualin village and Oni village. The type of data used in this research consists of primary and secondary data. Based on the research results obtained that the responsibility of the Village Government in encouraging the performance of Village-Owned Enterprises in Kualin village and Oni village, namely responsibility is in the form of village government services (a). Village Service Standards such as general public services. (b) BUMDes management. Factors that hinder the responsibility of the village government in Kualin Village and Oni Village in Kualin Sub-district, South Central Timor Regency are Human Resources such as lack of awareness of the importance of education. Facilities and infrastructure.

The impact of community-based monitoring on public service delivery: A randomized control trial in Uganda

In many developing countries, poor delivery of public services remains an important problem. Through community-based monitoring, beneficiaries of public services can apply bottom-up pressure to under-performing service providers and their political leadership. In this spirit, the Government of Uganda organizes community fora – popularly known as barazas – where citizens receive information from government officials and get the opportunity to challenge them. We designed a cluster randomized control trial to assess the impact of this policy intervention on public service delivery in agriculture, health, education, and infrastructure. We further test the relative importance of the two main components of the intervention—information provision and citizen engagement. We also compare the effectiveness of barazas organized at the district level to the effectiveness of barazas organized at the sub-county level. Following a pre-specified confirmatory analysis, we do not find that the intervention has significant effects on general public service delivery, even though public services in the agricultural sector do improve. We discuss some of the potential reasons for this finding, including assumptions underlying the impact pathways, the political context in which the program was implemented, and challenges related to the evaluation of large policy programs.

EXPLORING THE NEXUS OF LOCAL AND CENTRAL BUDGET EXPENDITURES IN BULGARIA: A FUNCTION-BASED ANALYSIS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPENDING

The article represents an analysis of the expenditures of local governments in Bulgaria, focussing on nine key functions, including general public services, defence, public order and safety, economic affairs, environment protection, housing and community amenities, health, education, and social protection. Using statistical data from 2017 to 2021, this study examines the distribution of expenditures at the local level and explores their interrelation with central budget allocations in 2021. The findings reveal notable trends, such as the growing emphasis on general public services, consistent funding for the education and health sectors, and fluctuations in housing, community amenities, and public order and safety expenditures. The study highlights the strategic allocation of resources to meet evolving local needs and underscores the importance of continuous evaluation and prioritisation in resource management. This research contributes to understanding the fiscal dynamics at the local level and provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners in optimising public finance management.

The Dynamics of Faith-based Organisations’ Healthcare Interventions in Urban Tanzania: An Ethnographic Inquiry of Direct Aid and Bethel Revival Temple

The study examines the ways the new generation of Christian and Muslim Faith-based Organisations (FBOs) have become engaged in the healthcare interventions in Urban Tanzania in recent decades. The study examines character and content of their healthcare interventions as well as religious and professional motivations for their healthcare workers, followers, beneficiaries and management. The study employs the concept of religion as a model for, and model of lived reality by Geertz (1973); and the concept of development as holistic by Bornstein (2005). Ethnographically, the study examines how religious discourses were embodied in social practices, how social and historical processes led to this particular embodiment, and how religion itself defined the discourses and practices of FBOs Healthcare Interventions in the context of changing socio-economic, and political circumstances since 1990s to 2020. Findings showed that FBOs healthcare activities were designed as alternatives for their beneficiaries and the general public access healthcare services, particularly for those coming from weak socioeconomic backgrounds and in the absence of sufficient community and family support. Religious ideas, practices and meanings motivated FBOs healthcare workers, followers and the management to engage in healthcare interventions and express for the same using spaces created by social, economic, and political changes since the mid-1990s.Keywords:

Measuring quality perception of public services: customer-oriented approach

Abstract The focus of this research is on assessing the perception of public service quality through a customer-centred approach. Public service quality comprises multiple factors that are prioritised differently by customers. Therefore, the study aims to conduct a literature review to identify the primary quality dimensions of public services and evaluate the heterogeneity of their perception within the context of Lithuania. The research measures the user perceptions of public service quality. The literature review allowed for identifying service quality indicators and grouping them into dimensions based on unifying characteristics. Such identification of service quality dimensions grounded the research methodology. An adapted SERVQUAL model was used to analyse data collected by a survey to interview customers of Lithuanian public service organisations. Logit and probit models were applied to examine the effect of socio-demographic characteristics and the type of service on customer perceptions of different quality aspects of the provided public services. Explored heterogeneity of attitudes and detailed analysis of socio-demographic factors revealed that women with higher education are the most satisfied users of public services, while less educated men usually have a negative attitude towards the quality of public services. The study confirmed that marital status and income level are not related to customer satisfaction with service quality. Although gender, age, family size, education level, and employment status explain heterogeneity in customer satisfaction, they still account for only a small amount of variance compared to the place of residence and type of service. The study is a significant contribution to the field of service engineering as it introduces a systematic approach to the development of service quality, incorporating models and methods that enable the assessment of service quality and efficiency. The literature review has identified several research gaps related to public service quality, including a lack of research on general public services and areas such as tourism, real estate management, fire protection and rescue.

Qualitative Investigation into the Perception towards Compassionate Parenting among Parents of Autistic Children: Cross-Cultural Comparison between the UK and The Netherlands.

Parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder is believed to present challenges that lead to increased levels of stress, as well as a reduction in the quality of the relationship between parent and child. This study aims to investigate parental perceptions toward a compassionate parenting style of parenting to better understand how this style may influence relationships and quality of life in parents. Parents from the United Kingdom (six parents) and the Netherlands (five parents) were invited take part in semi-structured interviews, whereby the data collected were subsequently analysed using thematic analysis. Data from both British and Dutch groups were overall similar to each other. Four themes were identified from the aggregated data: (a) "Parents believe compassionate parenting is important" (parents believed that compassion is an essential element of their parenting style and improves situational outcomes); (b) "Compassionate parenting de-escalates stressful situations" (compassionate parenting reduces stress and improves the quality of life); (c) "High pressure situations as a threat to practice compassion" (challenges and limitations to compassionate parenting style); and (d) "Greater public and professional awareness of autistic behaviours" (the general public and professional services often lack awareness to recognise autistic behaviour traits). Results are consistent with research examining the perceptions of parents of neurotypical children, in that a more compassionate approach to parenting is valued, as it is believed to create a greater connection with the child. Our findings inform researchers and educators as to what parents of children with ASD find useful, important, and worthwhile. Future research needs to investigate how compassionate parenting impacts autistic children's quality of life.

‘IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC SERVICES MALL FOR THE COMMUNITY IN PALEMBANG CITY’

Government efforts to enhance the exceptional of public offerings never prevent, until the promulgation of regulation number 25 of 2009 regarding public services as a milestone in all efforts to boost up the conclusion of top notch public service in Indonesia. one of the breakthroughs and improvements to comprehend splendid provider is the enactment of Permenpan RB number 23 of 2017 concerning the implementation of the general public service Mall (MPP). The implementation of MPP in Palembang is based on Palembang Mayor's law No. fifty four of 2018 regarding Public provider department shops in the city of Padang, led by using the pinnacle of the Padang metropolis One-forestall funding office. The implementation of the public provider mall is aimed toward imparting ease of service to the human beings in the town of Palembang fast and effortlessly in addition to getting facilities and infrastructure which might be handy for the recipient of the carrier. The results showed that, first of all the low first-rate of human resources available at public provider shops, the unavailability of centers and infrastructure that were relaxed for recipients of offerings and the lack of socialization by using the authorities regarding the life of public provider department shops in the metropolis of Palembang.

MobileNet-SVM: A Lightweight Deep Transfer Learning Model to Diagnose BCH Scans for IoMT-Based Imaging Sensors.

Many individuals worldwide pass away as a result of inadequate procedures for prompt illness identification and subsequent treatment. A valuable life can be saved or at least extended with the early identification of serious illnesses, such as various cancers and other life-threatening conditions. The development of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has made it possible for healthcare technology to offer the general public efficient medical services and make a significant contribution to patients' recoveries. By using IoMT to diagnose and examine BreakHis v1 400× breast cancer histology (BCH) scans, disorders may be quickly identified and appropriate treatment can be given to a patient. Imaging equipment having the capability of auto-analyzing acquired pictures can be used to achieve this. However, the majority of deep learning (DL)-based image classification approaches are of a large number of parameters and unsuitable for application in IoMT-centered imaging sensors. The goal of this study is to create a lightweight deep transfer learning (DTL) model suited for BCH scan examination and has a good level of accuracy. In this study, a lightweight DTL-based model "MobileNet-SVM", which is the hybridization of MobileNet and Support Vector Machine (SVM), for auto-classifying BreakHis v1 400× BCH images is presented. When tested against a real dataset of BreakHis v1 400× BCH images, the suggested technique achieved a training accuracy of 100% on the training dataset. It also obtained an accuracy of 91% and an F1-score of 91.35 on the test dataset. Considering how complicated BCH scans are, the findings are encouraging. The MobileNet-SVM model is ideal for IoMT imaging equipment in addition to having a high degree of precision. According to the simulation findings, the suggested model requires a small computation speed and time.

Acceptability of HIV Test and Treat among Women and Men Seeking Health Care at Monze Mission Hospital

The HIV test and treat strategy removes many barriers that interrupt HIV intervention. The Test and Treat campaign is an important strategy such that it promotes the general public access various promotive, preventive and treatment services. The aim of the study was to determine the acceptability of HIV Testing and Treatment and factors that influence acceptance among women and men seeking health care at Monze Mission Hospital. A cross-sectional study design was used at Monze Mission Hospital in Monze district. The findings from 171 patients showed that 72% (12) participants knew the meaning of HIV test and treat policy compared to 28% (48) that seemed not to know. The general distribution of HIV test acceptability among participants shows that the majority of the participants in this study had accepted to be tested for their HIV status. The study shows that 87% of the study participants accepted to be tested for HIV. The study shows that acceptability for HIV test and treat as per UNAIDS 2020 target i.e achieving 90/90/90 has not been achieved. This could be due to less sensitization as 28% of participants never knew the meaning of the policy. Other factors could be lacking awareness, 31% of the participants were not aware of care, treatment, and support services availability for HIV positive people at the hospital. To achieve acceptability of HIV test and treatment, we need to consider educational programs to strengthen or increase sensitization on the meaning and benefits of the program. Keywords: Acceptability to HIV; test; treat; men and women.

The Influence of Organizational Climate on Simultaneous the Effectiveness of General Election Public Services During the Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACTThis research aims to determine and analyze the influence of organizational climate on simultaneous general election public services during the Covid-19 Pandemic at the General Election Commission Bone Bolango regency. This study uses a questionnaire as a primary data collection tool and data analysis techniques in quantitative research using statistics. The statistical test used in this study is descriptive statistics which is carried out to find the effect between the two variables through analysis of the regression test. The variables used in this study are Organizational Climate as the independent variable and public service as the dependent variable. This study found that the simple linear regression coefficients from organizational climate data and the effectiveness of simultaneous general election public services during the Covid-19 Pandemic were obtained at a = 19.38 and b = 0.30. Thus, the form of the simple linear regression equation obtained is Y = 19.38 + 0.30x. The results of the analysis of variance show that this equation is linear. In other words, the linear regression equation model is accepted and can be used to predict that if the organizational climate increases by one unit, the effectiveness of simultaneous general election public services during the Covid-19 Pandemic will increase by 0.30 units at a constant rate of 19.38 .

Perceived feasibility, facilitators and barriers to incorporating point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2 into emergency medical services by ambulance service staff: a survey-based approach

ObjectivesThis body of work aimed to elicit ambulance service staff’s perceptions on the barriers and facilitators to adoption, and clinical utility of incorporating rapid SARS-CoV-2 testing during ambulance assessments.DesignA mixed-methods...

Public university workers' perception of instrumental ethical work climate: an exploratory study based on demographic variables

PurposeUsing public universities as research setting, this study explored whether perception of the prevalence of instrumental ethical climate (IEC) differ among employees based on their gender, age, education levels, job tenure and status.Design/methodology/approachStructured survey questionnaires were used in collecting data, and responses from a final sample of 101 senior level university employees were used in the analysis.FindingsResults of independent t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that although participants had a high overall perception of the presence of IEC in their organisations, statistically significant differences in perception were only found for the gender and education level groups. Furthermore, this research concludes that females are more perceptive of, and sensitive to, the existence of unethical decision-making conditions in their work place, compared to males employees; and that employees with low levels of education are more likely to perceive stronger levels of IECs in their work environment, compared to their more educated counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the sample size is large enough for the kind of inferential analytical method employed in this study, it may not be representative of all the public universities in Nigeria. Furthermore, given that private organisations may encourage different ethical work climates than public establishments, the generalisability of our findings is limited.Practical implicationsTo reduce unethical practices in public universities, more women should be encouraged to take up top decision-making positions.Originality/valueCompared to the general business and public service fields, the current study is one of very few studies that empirically examined individual-level antecedents of ethical climate in African Universities.

공공 서비스의 기술 요구사항 도출 방법론 제안: 대한민국 우편 배달 서비스의 전기차 도입 사례

The purpose of this paper is to propose the methodology for extracting the technical requirements of RFPs for general public services that has become more complex and increasingly specialized for service providers, government agencies, technology suppliers with the rapid change in technology in the fourth industrial revolution. This study proposes four step process for extracting technology requirements for a request of proposal based on the quality function development (QFD) concept with the Delphi method: 1) Define public service attributes based on Delphi method, 2) Define the engineering characteristics, 3) Develop HOQ to transform the public service attributes to the engineering characteristics, and 4) Extract technical requirements from the result of HOQ. As an application, the proposed methodology’s feasibility and effectiveness have been demonstrated for generating technical requirements for Korea Post’s adoption of electric vehicles for mail delivery.

Do the components of government expenditure affect the long-run dynamics of private investments? A heterogeneous panel analysis with a multifactor error structure

ABSTRACT Using data on 30 OECD countries over 1993–2019, this paper examines the ties between the components of government expenditure and the supply side of the private sector. We employ an ECM version of the novel dynamic common correlated effects estimator (DCCE) in order to account for nonstationarity, country-heterogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence. The estimates suggest that allocating public resources toward general public services and health positively affects the long-run dynamics of private investments. Conversely, rises in the expenditure on housing and social protection are associated with significant crowding-out effects.

Partisan Conflict and Government Spending: New Evidence From the United States

To understand and address the issue of how political party disagreement affects the dynamics of fiscal policy, we investigate the potential link between partisan conflict and government spending in the United States. We find that one standard deviation shock of the partisan conflict index reduces aggregate and disaggregated government spending, except in the health and general public service sectors, with the greatest reduction in the education sector.

Artificial intelligence in public services: When and why citizens accept its usage

Interest in implementing artificial intelligence (AI)–based software in the public sector is growing. First implementations and research in individual public services have already been carried out; however, a better understanding of citizens' acceptance of this technology is missing in the public sector, as insights from the private sector cannot be transferred directly. For this purpose, we conduct policy-capturing experiments to analyze AI's acceptance in six representative scenarios. Based on behavioral reasoning theory, we gather evidence from 329 participants. The results show that AI solutions in general public services are preferred over those provided by humans, but specific services are still a human domain. Further analyses show that the major drivers toward acceptance are the reasons against AI. The results contribute to understanding of when and why AI is accepted in public services. Public administration can use the results to identify AI-based software to invest in and communicate their usage to perceive such investments' high acceptance rates.

A Systematic Literature Review of E-Government Evaluation

The adoption of information and communication technology has had an effect on remodeling the general public service delivery system called e-government. E-government evaluation is a crucial aspect to evaluate how a long way the improvement in the quality of the public service delivery system provided by the technology. This study aim was to summarize and to decide the influencing factors in e-government evaluation by analyzing published scientific articles. This research method used a systematic literature review. The authors performed searches for scientific articles in online database Elsevier (Scopus) written in English and can be accessed in full paper. This study uses 18 articles of data to conduct a systematic literature review. The findings show that most previous studies on e-government service evaluation published in 2018 and 2020. The findings also show that developing countries are the most dominating research locations. In addition, the findings show the influencing factors in e-government evaluation are 1) user satisfaction consist of reliability/efficiency, compatibility, perceived of benefit, trust, responsiveness, overall satisfaction; 2) Site Quality consist of information quality, system quality, service quality, perceived usefulness, ease to use, accessibility, security and privacy, effectiveness, design, and content; 3) Facilitating condition consist of IT infrastructure. These twelve variables can be used as basis for future research to evaluate the quality of e-government. This study has limitations because it only uses the online database Elsevier (Scopus) as a database to obtain published scientific article data during 2014-2021.

Fiscal Decentralisation of Services: The Case of the Local Public Sector in European Countries

Services are a dynamically developing economic sector in all countries. The paper focuses on public services, evaluated from the perspective of fiscal decentralization. It aims to evaluate the level of fiscal decentralization of expenditures in selected categories of public services in European countries. For this purpose, government expenditures by the local government sector are analyzed in the set of the selected 28 European countries in the period 2010-2018. Cluster analysis has been carried out in order to determine four clusters of countries based on their level of decentralization of expenditures on services. The results show differences in the extent of decentralization between the European countries in the provision of specific public services and reflect the form of financing of local public needs. A low level of fiscal decentralization of expenditures on services (public order and safety; housing and community amenities; recreation, culture, and religion) was observed in the majority of the countries. However, the majority of the countries failed to prove a high level of fiscal decentralization of expenditures on services (social protection, health, education) and a medium level of decentralization of expenditures in terms of general public services and services of economic affairs. These findings demonstrate that the degree of decentralization of public services is determined, to a certain degree, determined by country history and its geographical location, as well as by the different roles of sector-specific public policies. The findings can be helpful for creators of local public policies, strategic plans, and financial concepts.

Quality of care in public sector family planning services in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a qualitative evaluation from community and health care provider perspectives

BackgroundQuality of care is a multidimensional concept that forms an integral part of the uptake and use of modern contraceptive methods. Satisfaction with services is a significant factor in the continued use of services. While much is known about quality of care in the general public health care service, little is known about family planning specific quality of care in South Africa. This paper aims to fill the gap in the research by using the Bruce-Jain family planning quality of care framework.MethodsThis formative qualitative study was conducted in South Africa, Zambia, and Kenya to explore the uptake of family planning and contraception. The results presented in this paper are from the South African data. Fourteen focus group discussions, twelve with community members and two with health care providers, were conducted along with eight in-depth interviews with key informants. Thematic content analysis using the Bruce-Jain Quality of Care framework was conducted to analyse this data using NVIVO 10.ResultsFamily planning quality of care was defined by participants as the quality of contraceptive methods, attitudes of health care providers, and outcomes of contraceptive use. The data showed that women have limited autonomy in their choice to either use contraception or the method that they might prefer. Important elements that relate to quality of care were identified and described by participants and grouped according to the structural or process components of the framework. Structure-related sub-themes identified included the lack of technically trained providers; integration of services that contributed to long waiting times and mixing of a variety of clients; and poor infrastructure. Sub-themes raised under the process category included poor interpersonal relations; lack of counselling/information exchange, fear; and time constraints. Neither providers nor users discussed follow up mechanisms which is a key aspect to ensure continuity of contraceptive use.ConclusionUsing a qualitative methodology and applying the Bruce-Jain Quality of Care framework provided key insights into perceptions and challenges about family planning quality of care. Identifying which components are specific to family planning is important for improving contraceptive outcomes. In particular, autonomy in user choice of contraceptive method, integration of services, and the acceptability of overall family planning care was raised as areas of concern.