Institutional Endorsement Research Articles

Self-Worth Through Expertise: Experiences of Prime-Age Men Who are Out of the Formal Labor Force

ABSTRACT Research on masculinity finds that men who are socioeconomically excluded or otherwise marginalized may create subcultures that eschew the values of mainstream society, such as by valuing and engaging in heavy drinking, fighting, bar culture, sports, and crime, as well as rejecting school success; recent discussions have also examined the rejection of expertise and experts as a related backlash to mainstream institutions. Using in-depth interview data, the present study examines how rural, prime-age men (n = 61) who are out of the labor force develop a sense of their own value without formal employment and the role expertise plays in them doing so. Most claim expertise and do so constructively, as they assert a positive sense of their own worth through their knowledge and skills (“I am a person who can … ”). Men make claims to the dignity of holding expertise while outside institutionalized employment roles. This suggests the portability of this cultural tool and that its use is not contingent on institutional endorsements. Men’s self-identity of expertise could be challenged in formal employment settings, making formal work less attractive to them. To understand labor force participation, our focus must go beyond compensation to attend to how work opportunities are aligned or in conflict with men’s identities.

Beyond declarations: Metrics, rankings and responsible assessment

Responsible assessment promotes expert judgment and opposes sole reliance on research metrics when assessing research excellence. While many institutions and national research panels declare commitment to responsible assessment practices, we ask: have these declarations affected the outcomes of research evaluation? Using data from the UK's 2021 national research quality exercise and focusing on the business and management discipline, we show that the strong association between journal rankings and expert evaluations has not changed, despite institutional endorsements of DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment). Additionally, we find that this correlation is strongest for the most prestigious journals. The implications of these findings are profound: they enhance understanding of the use of metrics in research evaluations post-DORA and highlight potential constraints in the deployment of responsible assessment.

An evidence-based primary health care intervention to address domestic violence against women in Brazil: a mixed method evaluation

BackgroundHealth systems have a critical role in a multi-sectoral response to domestic violence against women (DVAW). However, the evidence on interventions is skewed towards high income countries, and evidence based interventions are not easily transferred to low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) where significant social, cultural and economic differences exist. We evaluated feasibility and acceptability of implementation of an intervention (HERA—Healthcare Responding to Violence and Abuse) to improve the response to DVAW in two primary health care clinics (PHC) in Brazil.MethodsThe study design is a mixed method process and outcome evaluation, based on training attendance records, semi-structured interviews (with 13 Primary Health Care (PHC) providers, two clinic directors and two women who disclosed domestic violence), and identification and referral data from the Brazilian Epidemiological Surveillance System (SINAN).ResultsHERA was feasible and acceptable to women and PHC providers, increased providers’ readiness to identify DVAW and diversified referrals outside the health system. The training enhanced the confidence and skills of PHC providers to ask directly about violence and respond to women’s disclosures using a women centred, gender and human rights perspective. PHC providers felt safe and supported when dealing with DVAW because HERA emphasised clear roles and collective action within the clinical team. A number of challenges affected implementation including: differential managerial support for the Núcleo de Prevenção da Violência (Violence Prevention Nucleus—NPV) relating to the allocation of resources, monitoring progress and giving feedback; a lack of higher level institutional endorsement prioritising DVAW work; staff turnover; a lack of feedback from external support services to PHC clinics regarding DVAW cases; and inconsistent practices regarding documentation of DVAW.ConclusionTraining should be accompanied by system-wide institutional change including active (as opposed to passive) management support, allocation of resources to support roles within the NPV, locally adapted protocols and guidelines, monitoring progress and feedback. Communication and coordination with external support services and documentation systems are crucial and need improvement. DVAW should be prioritised within leadership and governance structures, for example, by including DVAW work as a specific commissioning goal.

Compulsory interracial intimacy: Why does removing the ethnicity filter on dating apps not benefit racial minorities?

This paper reflects on the impact of dating apps’ removal of ethnicity filters on racial minority users. Many scholars, mass media, and dating app users believe that ethnicity filters mark an institutional endorsement of racism which is embedded in digital infrastructure. Accordingly, they have called for the removal of these filters. This advocacy is based on the assumption that expressions of racial preference are inherently racist. In the summer of 2020, many dating apps removed ethnicity filters to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. However, I argue that racial minorities often express intra-racial desires through ethnicity filters to valorize their own sexual capital, evade discrimination or fetishization, and gain sexual opportunities. Consequently, removing the ethnicity filter makes it harder for racial minorities to connect. Even worse, it creates a culture of compulsory interracial intimacy, exposing minority users to more vulnerability and racial trauma. Moreover, the lack of discussion on whether to remove filters other than ethnicity reveals the negligence of intersecting oppressions on dating apps. Thus, this paper highlights the need to be more attentive to racial minorities’ alternative uses of filters for self-empowerment, and to intersectional oppressions that should be tackled in designing inclusive dating apps.

Rural mistrust of public health interventions in the United States: A call for taking the long view to improve adoption.

Rural mistrust of public health interventions in the United States: A call for taking the long view to improve adoption.

Buen Vivir and forest conservation in Bolivia: False promises or effective change?

Can the principles of Buen Vivir support forest cover transition in Latin America? This paper explores the effects of the Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra (Law 071), the fundamental law for regulating the rights of nature and the environment in accordance with the principles of Buen Vivir, in Bolivia. By means of a country-level panel dataset, we compare forest cover trajectories of Bolivia with the dynamics of a synthetic counterfactual that simulates what would have happened in the absence of the policy. Our results show that, in the absence of the Law 071, Bolivia would have experienced a different forest cover pattern. In particular, the recognition of the rights of Mother Earth has proven effective in supporting forest cover in the country despite the effect was modest in magnitude and declined over time. This evidence sheds light on the value of the institutional endorsement of informal Indigenous principles for sustainable development.

Putting the First Amendment in Play: Name, Image, and Likeness Policies and Athlete Freedom of Speech

Following a unanimous defeat at the Supreme Court in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) v. Alston and facing an impending start date for various state laws that would force action on athletes’ ability to profit off their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the NCAA recently made the decision to simply allow states and member colleges and universities to promulgate NIL restrictions on their own. But while such a delegation helps the NCAA stave off relevant antitrust action against them, placing regulatory authority over college athlete endorsement and sponsorship deals in the hands of government actors like state legislators, governors, and public educational institutions brings constitutional analysis into play in a way that has not previously been seen in sports due to the wholly private natures of sports leagues and the NCAA.
 Along these lines, this Article applies First Amendment jurisprudence to three recurring NIL restrictions imposed by states and schools: (1) restrictions on athlete deals that conflict with institutional endorsement deals; (2) restrictions on athlete deals with vice industries like gambling and alcohol; and (3) broad restrictions on deals that conflict with undefined “institutional values.” To do so, we apply several First Amendment doctrinal frameworks—those concerning commercial speech, student speech, public employee speech, and the overbreadth doctrine—to provide a range of different means by which courts may interpret how the rights of college athletes are affected by NIL policies. In the end, we find that the nature of these restrictions as overbroad prior restraints of free speech creates significant doubt as to the constitutionality of many of these restrictions under the First Amendment. We conclude that such restrictions in no uncertain form “present a ‘realistic danger’ [that these actors] could significantly compromise recognized First Amendment protections,” including the advanced protections for political speech.

Setting Standards With Multiple-Choice Tests: A Preliminary Intended-User Evaluation of SmartStandardSet

Software that easily helps higher education instructors to remove poor quality items and set appropriate grade boundaries is generally lacking. To address these challenges, the SmartStandardSet system provides a graphical-user interface for removing defective items, weighting student scores using a two-parameter model IRT score analysis, and a mechanism for standard-setting. We evaluated the system through a series of six interviews with teachers and six focus groups involving 19 students to understand how key stakeholders would view the use of the tool in practice. Generally, both groups of participants reported high levels of feasibility, accuracy, and utility in SmartStandardSet’s statistical scoring of items and score calculation for test-takers. Teachers indicated the data displays would help them improve future test items; students indicated the system would be fairer and would motivate greater effort on more difficult test items. However, both groups had concerns about implementing the system without institutional policy endorsement. Students specifically were concerned that academics may set grade boundaries on arbitrary and invalid grounds. Our results provide useful insights into the perceived benefits of using the tool for standard setting, and suggest concrete next steps for gaining wider acceptance that will be the focus of future work.

Investments in Nascent Project-Based Enterprises: The interplay between role-congruent reputations and institutional endorsement

We study nascent project-based enterprises (PBEs) through the lens of upper echelons and institutional theory. We analyse the interplay between the different role-congruent reputations of their project entrepreneurs and the institutional endorsement of their project idea, theorizing how these affect PBEs’ ability to attract private investments. In the context of the Italian film industry, we find that the commercial reputation of the project entrepreneur in the producer role is crucial for attracting investors, while the artistic reputation of the project entrepreneur in the creative director role is crucial for attaining institutional endorsement of the project idea. Finally, we find that the effect of the commercial reputation of the project entrepreneur in the producer role on attracting investments is mediated by the institutional endorsement. We contribute to the literature on PBEs by demonstrating how specific combinations of project entrepreneurs’ roles and (role-congruent) reputations can directly and indirectly attract investments.

Expert authority and support for COVID-19 measures in Germany and the UK: a survey experiment

During COVID-19, various public institutions tried to shape citizens’ behaviour to slow the spread of the pandemic. How did their authority affect citizens’ support of public measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19? The article makes two contributions. First, it presents a novel conceptualisation of authority as a source heuristic. Second, it analyses the authority of four types of public institutions (health ministries, universities, public health agencies, the WHO) in two countries (Germany and the UK), drawing on novel data from a survey experiment conducted in May 2020. On average, institutional endorsements seem to have mattered little. However, there is an observable polarisation effect where citizens who ascribe much expertise to public institutions support COVID-19 measures more than the control group. Furthermore, those who ascribe little expertise support them less than the control group. Finally, neither perception of biases nor exposure to institutions in public debates seems consistently to affect their authority.

Putting the First Amendment in Play: Name, Image, and Likeness Policies and Athlete Freedom of Speech

Following their unanimous defeat at the Supreme Court in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) v. Alston and facing an impending start date for various state laws that would force action on athletes’ ability to profit off of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the NCAA recently made the decision to simply allow states and member colleges and universities to promulgate NIL restrictions on their own. But while such a delegation helps the NCAA stave off relevant antitrust action against them, placing regulatory authority over college athlete endorsement and sponsorship deals in the hands of government actors like state legislators, governors, and public educational institutions brings constitutional analysis in play in a way that has not been seen in sports due to the wholly private natures of sports leagues and the NCAA. Along these lines, this Article applies First Amendment jurisprudence to three recurring NIL restrictions imposed by states and schools: restrictions on athlete deals that conflict with institutional endorsement deals, restrictions on athlete deals with vice industries like gambling and alcohol, and broad restrictions on deals that conflict with undefined “institutional values.” To do so, we apply several First Amendment doctrinal frameworks—those concerning commercial speech, student speech, public employee speech, and the overbreadth doctrine—to provide a range of different means by which courts may interpret how the rights of college athletes are affected by NIL policies. In the end, we find that the nature of these restrictions as overbroad prior restraints of free speech creates significant doubt as to the constitutionality of many of these restrictions under the First Amendment. We conclude that such restrictions in no uncertain form “present a ‘realistic danger’ [that these actors] could significantly compromise recognized First Amendment protections,” including the advanced protections for political speech.

Política institucional da Universidade Federal do Maranhão para o gerenciamento e a salvaguarda dos acervos arqueológicos

O artigo apresenta os resultados obtidos no projeto institucional vinculado à Assessoria Especial de Representação Institucional – Gabinete da Reitoria da Universidade Federal do Maranhão, denominado Organização e curadoria das coleções arqueológicas, sob a guarda da UFMA. Trata-se de um estudo de caso de cunho qualitativo, bibliográfico e exploratório, que objetiva historiar a formação dos acervos arqueológicos no Maranhão. A abordagem central deste trabalho versa sobre a chancela fornecida pelo IPHAN à UFMA para a emissão de endossos institucionais para a salvaguarda de acervos arqueológicos gerados no Estado. As diferentes fontes analisadas serviram como registros documentais que demonstram os interesses da Universidade, muitas vezes, não intencionais e motivados por problemáticas bem pontuais, em salvaguardar e gerir os acervos arqueológicos no Maranhão.

Papel dos endossos na Musealização da Arqueologia

Esse artigo tem por objetivo trazer a experiência do Museu de Arqueologia e Paleontologia de Araraquara (MAPA) em relação a emissão de endossos institucionais. Com isso, buscamos (i) trazer a trajetória do aparato legal que versa sobre o patrimônio arqueológico e sua proteção; (ii) apresentar as discussões sobre a Musealização da Arqueologia; e, então, (iii) descrever a experiência da gestão do acervo do MAPA realizada pela Prefeitura de Araraquara em parceria com a Fundação Araporã. A partir dessa experiência, conclui-se que essa gestão trouxe resultados positivos para o museu e deixou visível os benefícios da emissão de endosso, bem como a fragilidade do museu, pela falta de investimento em recursos humanos e materiais.

Trials and tribulations of coronavirus disease-2019 research: with a few bright lights in the fog.

Trials and tribulations of coronavirus disease-2019 research: with a few bright lights in the fog.

To Stand Out or Blend In? The Role of Expert Type in the Funding Decisions of Innovation Projects

Is optimal distinctiveness the moderate distinctiveness? We argue that the answer to this question depends on the audience’ experience. In this paper, we explore the effects of distinctiveness on the funding decisions made by different types of experts, namely, the business experts and technology experts. We found that the relationship between distinctiveness and business experts’ ratings exhibits an inverted-U shape, supporting the market value logic held by business experts; however, the relationship between distinctiveness and technology experts’ ratings is positive, supporting technology advancement logic held by technology experts. Moreover, our paper evidenced the moderating role of competitive intensity and institutional endorsement played in the relationship between distinctiveness and experts’ ratings. These ?ndings are integrated into a discussion of the implications for research on optimal distinctiveness.

Teaching Medical Spanish to Improve Population Health: Evidence for Incorporating Language Education and Assessment in U.S. Medical Schools.

Introduction: Language concordance between patients and physicians is an important factor in providing safe and effective health care, with Spanish as the predominant and fastest growing non-English language in the United Sates. However, despite increasing demand for medical Spanish education, valid concerns about inadvertently increasing provider use of limited Spanish with patients, lack of knowledge of best practice in education and assessment, and lack of institutional support still present barriers to medical Spanish education in medical schools.Methods: The authors conducted a narrative review of existing literature that evaluates the link between medical Spanish education of physicians and language concordance.Results: Medical Spanish educational efforts, although increasing, are not consistently linked to learner assessment. The literature to date supports that for medical Spanish education to improve patient outcomes, it should be linked to assessment methodology that demonstrates improvement in language concordance with Spanish-speaking patients, and should include safety measures to prevent inadvertent communication errors. The authors review data for published medical Spanish postcourse language assessment strategies and provide recommendations to ensure responsible and competent use of medical Spanish skills.Conclusion: The authors propose three structural elements that should be considered when incorporating or enhancing medical Spanish education in medical schools: institutional endorsement of the role of medical Spanish education within a national health disparities context; precourse proficiency testing to establish student starting level; and learner postcourse communications skills and limitations assessment to provide individualized recommendations and assure patient safety.

Deliberate clinical inertia: Using meta-cognition to improve decision-making.

Deliberate clinical inertia is the art of doing nothing as a positive response. To be able to apply this concept, individual clinicians need to specifically focus on their clinical decision-making. The skill of solving problems and making optimal clinical decisions requires more attention in medical training and should play a more prominent part of the medical curriculum. This paper provides suggestions on how this may be achieved. Strategies to mitigate common biases are outlined, with an emphasis on reversing a 'more is better' culture towards more temperate, critical thinking. To incorporate such an approach in medical curricula and in clinical practice, institutional endorsement and support is required.

Re: Tackling female genital mutilation in the UK

As a result of the diaspora of communities that practise female genital mutilation, many more women are now living with genital mutilation in the United Kingdom, and many more girls are at risk. The campaign to end the practice in the UK has been spearheaded by committed and experienced activists (www. forwarduk.org.uk, www.equalitynow.org with wide institutional endorsement), as reflected in recent intercollegiate recommendations for dealing with the problem. The document results from collaboration between the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing, Equality Now, and the Unite union. It merges key points from several existing guidelines into a single paper that reiterates the core message: female genital mutilation is a form of child abuse. It points to the importance of data collection and sharing between relevant agencies for effective action. It stipulates appropriate professional care for girls and young women affected by the practice. For the recommendations to be implemented (we hope urgently), a strategic implementation plan with a tight time frame is needed. Disappointingly, this gap remains unfilled. It has been suggested that female genital mutilation should be part of the mandatory training in child protection for NHS staff, implementation has been inconsistent. Being born into a community that practises genital mutilation is themost important risk factor for girls, so pregnancy presents an opportunity for prevention. However, this remains unexplored. Most pregnant women receive antenatal care in the UK, but maternity staff need knowledge and skills to identify genital mutilation. Thus far there has been little impetus for methodical research on attitudes, knowledge, skills, and confidence among maternity staff in relation to this practice. Even if there is a stronger drive to improve training, there is no evidence base on which effective training methods can be formulated. Currently, whether a pregnant woman is asked about genital mutilation—and what to do if it is identified—depend entirely on the awareness and confidence of the booking midwife. It is therefore not surprising that this practice is under-detected in pregnant women and that follow-up action is haphazard. This failure can be remedied by including routine questions about the practice in a minimum maternity dataset for every pregnant woman, regardless of ethnicity or country of origin. However, currently no designated codes, diagnostic or procedural, can record or identify female genital mutilation from NHS activity data. An international classification of diseases code for a history of female genital mutilation and an Office of Population Censuses and Surveys code for deinfibulation should be introduced without delay. Care providers need to know what to do when female genital mutilation is identified and the intercollegiate document is inconsistent with regard to this. It states that “all girls and women presenting with female genital mutilation within the NHS should be referred to the police and support services.” Yet it also recommends considering referral of pregnant women who have undergone the practice to the police “with the woman’s consent.” Individual practitioners continue to be responsible for deciding whether to refer, with no criteria to help them weigh up each situation. Half of women would have undergone genital mutilation under 5 years of age and might not remember the details. It is neither helpful nor fair to expect maternity staff to guess which families are likely to practise female genital mutilation. Routine referral of all identified women to designated social services personnel could provide an opportunity for preventive education. The service pathway should also include psychological care for women who report serious or enduring distress in relation to the practice. This would require investment. There is no guidance for the police and social services on follow-up action. For example, for how long should an unaffected girl who remains at risk be followed up, how often, and by whom?Or, if information is to be collected on all women with genital mutilation where no crime has been committed, who should have stewardship of the information? These major decisions should not be left to the discretion of individual practitioners or services. Criminal prosecution is considered central to prevention, and the UK has been compared unfavourably to France, where identification of female genital mutilation in children has resulted in more than 100 prosecutions since 1979. Without a single prosecution in the UK, the people who procure or perform female genital mutilation remain unpunished and girls remain

Selling streetness as experience: The role of street art tours in branding the creative city

This article looks at the street art tours industry in London, and its function in constructing the geographic, economic and symbolic value of street art. The street art world of the capital has reached a substantial level of institutional endorsement as a proper urban creative practice, through backing such as by local councils and private developers, art galleries and book publishers. This article examines the role of walking tours in holding up street art as a cultural product of the creative city. It argues that London’s street art scene is constructed and legitimated by these tours through the strategic deployment of an authoritative discourse. Street art tours’ routes and locations are then integrated into a longer lineage of endorsements for the cultural field of street art, and interpreted as branding strategies for the creative city. In the conclusion, the role of walking tours in gentrification and urban change is discussed, with a focus on how street art works and murals contribute to performing Shoreditch as a hub of vibrancy and urban creativity.

Understanding and acceptability by Hispanic consumers of four front-of-pack food labels

BackgroundFront-of-pack food labels (FOPL) can help consumers make healthy and informed food choices. FOPL are used in the food market but evaluations of their understanding and acceptability are scanty. This study aimed to explore the subjective understanding and acceptability of four FOPL among Hispanic consumers.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted in six States of Mexico, in 18 urban elementary schools. A purposive sample of 135 parents of fifth-grade children was selected. Four FOPL were assessed: Logos, Rating Stars, Guideline Daily Allowances (GDA’s), and Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL). Trained interviewers performed 18 focus groups with the participants, using an interview guide. Participants were asked about their subjective understanding and acceptability of the FOPL, displaying 16 generic breakfast cereal boxes designed for this study (four for each FOPL), varying in their nutritional value. Afterwards, participants were asked to choose among the four cereal boxes the one to best communicate the product healthiness and their reasons for choice, proposals for improving the FOPL, and desirable characteristics for new FOPL. Finally, a socio-demographic questionnaire was applied. Thematic analysis of the transcriptions of the focus groups was performed, using Altlas.tiV5 software.ResultsLogos were perceived as easy to understand, highly acceptable, and useful for decision-making; institutional endorsement of Logos was related to greater confidence in the label. The GDA’s were hard to understand considering the nutritional knowledge and time needed for interpretation. The Rating Stars were related to the quality in businesses rather than foods. The MTL were viewed as indicating the high/low content of specific nutrients, but the meaning of the amber color was not fully understood. Participants highlighted the need for a simple FOPL that allows easily identification of healthy products while considering food purchasing time limitations and interpretation of food portions.ConclusionsLogos with an institutional endorsement was the best understood and accepted FOPL, and the GDA’s and Rating Stars were the least. Our findings provide valuable insights about Hispanic consumers´ perceptions regarding FOPL and to guide public health policy. Further studies are needed in populations with chronic diseases and diverse social contexts.