Non-health Organizations Research Articles

Home-office implementation: challenges and changes in people management

PurposeThis paper investigates how organisations responded to the home office imposition during the recent global health crisis and its impacts on people management, detailing the organisational factors crucial for effective home-office implementation.Design/methodology/approachWe used an exploratory design based on a multiple case study with four companies from two contrasting sectors (manufacturing and information technology (IT)). We interviewed a total of 12 managers, including one HR manager (HRms) and two team managers from each company. We also conducted an online questionnaire with open questions, reaching out to 128 home-office workers from the four participating companies. This diverse group consisted of 67 workers from the IT sector and 61 workers from the manufacturing sector. To ensure a comprehensive analysis, we opted for a qualitative approach to examine the data.FindingsFindings enabled detail of the organisational factor of the Belzunegui-Eraso and Erro-Garcés (2020) extended Baruch and Nicholson’s (1997) model into people management issues: organisational culture, team management and human resources management (HRM) practices, as well as the technological support. The results also revealed that people management benefits from the successful home-office implementation, which boosted the digitalisation of human resources (HR) processes.Originality/valueConsidering the lessons learned from the home-office imposition, this research provides original insights into the field by exploring the roles of supervisors and HR managers, in non-health organisations, with different previous remote work experiences, in a recent global disruptive moment, based on a rich qualitative approach. The paper offers concrete guidelines for companies that intend to implement remote work management programs and contributes to deepen the knowledge of home-office experience, offering a model focusing on managers’ roles (HRms and TMs) and HRM practices.

Generating Contextual Variables From Web-Based Data for Health Research: Tutorial on Web Scraping, Text Mining, and Spatial Overlay Analysis.

Contextual variables that capture the characteristics of delimited geographic or jurisdictional areas are vital for health and social research. However, obtaining data sets with contextual-level data can be challenging in the absence of monitoring systems or public census data. We describe and implement an 8-step method that combines web scraping, text mining, and spatial overlay analysis (WeTMS) to transform extensive text data from government websites into analyzable data sets containing contextual data for jurisdictional areas. This tutorial describes the method and provides resources for its application by health and social researchers. We used this method to create data sets of health assets aimed at enhancing older adults' social connections (eg, activities and resources such as walking groups and senior clubs) across the 374 health jurisdictions in Catalonia from 2015 to 2022. These assets are registered on a web-based government platform by local stakeholders from various health and nonhealth organizations as part of a national public health program. Steps 1 to 3 involved defining the variables of interest, identifying data sources, and using Python to extract information from 50,000 websites linked to the platform. Steps 4 to 6 comprised preprocessing the scraped text, defining new variables to classify health assets based on social connection constructs, analyzing word frequencies in titles and descriptions of the assets, creating topic-specific dictionaries, implementing a rule-based classifier in R, and verifying the results. Steps 7 and 8 integrate the spatial overlay analysis to determine the geographic location of each asset. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the data sets to report the characteristics of the assets identified and the patterns of asset registrations across areas. We identified and extracted data from 17,305 websites describing health assets. The titles and descriptions of the activities and resources contained 12,560 and 7301 unique words, respectively. After applying our classifier and spatial analysis algorithm, we generated 2 data sets containing 9546 health assets (5022 activities and 4524 resources) with the potential to enhance social connections among older adults. Stakeholders from 318 health jurisdictions registered identified assets on the platform between July 2015 and December 2022. The agreement rate between the classification algorithm and verified data sets ranged from 62.02% to 99.47% across variables. Leisure and skill development activities were the most prevalent (1844/5022, 36.72%). Leisure and cultural associations, such as social clubs for older adults, were the most common resources (878/4524, 19.41%). Health asset registration varied across areas, ranging between 0 and 263 activities and 0 and 265 resources. The sequential use of WeTMS offers a robust method for generating data sets containing contextual-level variables from internet text data. This study can guide health and social researchers in efficiently generating ready-to-analyze data sets containing contextual variables.

US hospital engagement in cross-sector partnerships for population health improvement in socioeconomically distressed counties

ObjectivesThis study identifies the internal characteristics of hospitals located in counties with poor socioeconomic conditions that develop collaborative partnerships with a wide range of community organizations, including non-health organizations. Study designCross-sectional study that conducted Chi-square and logistic regression analyses. MethodsChi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed in this cross-sectional research to identify the internal hospital characteristics associated with non-health sector partnership development for hospitals located in U.S. counties in the worst quartile of performance across three socioeconomic conditions. The 2015 American Hospital Association Population Health Survey provided data on hospitals’ collaborative arrangements and internal characteristics, including hospital size, teaching status, ownership type, and system affiliation (n = 1,238). The 2014 County Health Rankings were used to identify counties in the worst quartile of performance on educational attainment, unemployment, and child poverty. ResultsChi-square analyses show that larger hospitals, teaching hospitals, hospitals that belong to a system, and not-for profit hospitals are significantly and positively correlated with non-health sector collaborative partnerships across one or more of the county indicators of poor socioeconomic conditions. Logistic regression results show that the only significant internal hospital characteristic associated with such partnerships is hospital size, in counties with poor educational attainment and those with high child poverty. ConclusionLarger hospitals are more likely to have the resources and strategic perspectives to address community health in counties with poor socioeconomic conditions.

The Dynamics of Cross-Sector Collaboration in Centralized Disaster Governance: A Network Study of Interorganizational Collaborations during the MERS Epidemic in South Korea.

The debate continues as to which governance structure is most appropriate for collaborative disaster response, particularly between centralization and decentralization. This article aims to contribute to this debate by analyzing the structural characteristics of a multisectoral network that emerged and evolved under strong state control during the 2015 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS) in South Korea. This study particularly focuses on the evolution of intra- and inter-sectoral collaboration ties in the network. The data for the study were collected through a content analysis of government documents and news articles. Using social network analysis, the authors found that the network evolved into a centralized structure around a small number of governmental organizations at the central level, organizing the ties between participating organizations rather hierarchically. The network displayed a preponderance of internal ties both among health and non-health organizations and among public and nonpublic health organizations, but under different influences of structural characteristics. This tendency was intensified during the peak period. Based on these findings, the authors conclude that the centralization of disaster management may not or only marginally be conducive to cross-sector collaboration during public health disasters, calling for a careful design of governance structures for disaster response.

Leveraging Social and Structural Determinants of Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: A Systems-Level Opportunity to Improve Public Health.

Social and structural determinants of health (SDOH) have become part of the public health and health care landscape. The need to address SDOH is reinforced by morbidity and mortality trends, including a recent multiyear decrease in life expectancy and persistent health disparities. Leadership on SDOH-related efforts has come from public health, health care, private philanthropy, and nongovernmental entities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been addressing SDOH through both disease- or condition-specific programs and crosscutting offices. Guidance from public health partners in the field has led the CDC to consider more strategic approaches to incorporating SDOH into public health activities. The CDC's crosscutting SDOH Workgroup responded to external recommendations to develop a specific vision and plan that aims to integrate SDOH into the agency's infrastructure. The group also sponsors CDC forums for sharing research and trainings on embedding SDOH in programs. The group created a Web site to centralize CDC SDOH research, data sources, practice tools, programs, and policies. The CDC has shown strong leadership in prioritizing SDOH in recent years. Individual programs and crosscutting offices have developed various models aimed at ensuring that public health research and practice address SDOH. Building sustainable SDOH infrastructures in public health institutions that reach across multiple health topics and non-health organizations could increase chances of meeting public health morbidity and mortality reduction goals, including decreasing health disparities. Although public health priorities and socioeconomic trends will change over time, experience suggests that social and structural factors will continue to influence the public's health. The CDC and state, tribal, local, and territorial public health institutions have played important leadership roles in the system of community and service organizations that interface with communities they mutually serve to address SDOH. Continued capacity-building could help grow and sustain an SDOH infrastructure that advances this work.

Evidence for the Cost-Effectiveness of Return-to-Work Interventions for Mental Illness Related Sickness Absences: A Systematic Literature Review.

Purpose The purpose of this systematic literature review (SLR) is to examine the state of knowledge about the cost-effectiveness of return-to-work (RTW) interventions targeted at workers with medically certified sickness absences related to mental disorders. Our SLR addresses the question, "What is the evidence for the cost-effectiveness of RTW interventions for mental illness related sickness absences?" Methods This SLR used a reviewer pair multi-phase screening of publically available peer-reviewed studies published between 2002 and 2019. Five electronic databases were searched: (1)MEDLINE 1946-Present, (2) MEDLINE: Epub-Ahead of Print and In-Process, (3)PsycINFO, (4)Econlit, and (5) Web of Science. Results 6138 unique citations were identified. Ten articles were included in the review. Eight of the ten studies were conducted in the Netherlands, one in Sweden, and one in Canada. Results of this SLR suggest there is evidence that RTW interventions for workers with medically certified sickness absences can be cost-effective. Conclusions Although this SLR's results suggest that economic evaluations of RTW interventions can be cost-effective, the use of economic evaluations for studies of these program types is in its infancy. Some jurisdictions (e.g., the Netherlands) seem to have recognized the need for economic evaluations. However, more research is needed in different disability system contexts. Furthermore, use of the standard economic evaluation approaches for healthcare interventions may limit the usefulness of results if the end-user is an employer or non-health organization. This may present the opportunity to introduce newer approaches that include work-related measures of effectiveness and analytical approaches.

To Retweet or Not to Retweet: Understanding What Features of Cardiovascular Tweets Influence Their Retransmission

Twitter is one of the largest social networking sites (SNSs) in the world, yet little is known about what cardiovascular health related tweets go viral and what characteristics are associated with retransmission. The current study aims to identify a function of the observable characteristics of cardiovascular tweets, including characteristics of the source, content, and style that predict the retransmission of these tweets. We identified a random sample of 1,251 tweets associated with CVD originating from the United States between 2009 and 2015. Automated coding was conducted on the affect values of the tweets as well as the presence/absence of any URL, mention of another user, question mark, exclamation mark, and hashtag. We hand-coded the tweets’ novelty, utility, theme, and source. The count of retweets was positively predicted by message utility, health organization source, and mention of user handle, but negatively predicted by the presence of URL and nonhealth organization source. Regarding theme, compared to the tweets focusing on risk factor, tweets on treatment and management predicted fewer retweets while supportive tweets predicted more retweets. These findings suggest opportunities for harnessing Twitter to better disseminate cardiovascular educational and supportive information on SNSs.

Promoting physical activity interventions in communities with poor health and socio-economic profiles: A process evaluation of the implementation of a new walking group scheme

Walking groups have known health benefits but may not operate in communities with the greatest health needs, leading to the potential for increasing health inequity. This study examined the process of implementing a new volunteer led walking group scheme in a deprived community in England with poor physical activity, health and socio-economic indicators. Documentary evidence and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and volunteer walk leaders undertaken at the beginning and end of the funding period were analysed thematically. It was found that utilising community-based assets, forming collaborative partnerships with health and non-health organisations and ongoing sustainability issues were all factors that affected the scheme's effective implementation. Passive recruitment methods and mass publicity did not attract participants who were representative of their community. The findings firstly suggest the necessity of identifying and mobilising community based assets at the ‘grass roots’ in deprived communities during the preparatory stage to access those in greatest need and to plan and build capacity. Secondly, the findings highlight the key role that health professionals have in referring those in poorest health and the inactive into walking interventions. In the new era of fiscally constrained public health embedded within local authorities these findings are pertinent in supporting the utilisation of local assets to address entrenched physical inactivity and inequity within deprived communities.

Why mental health in young women is more at risk in the 21st century

The mental health of women and girls is endangered when they experience violence and gender-based discrimination, including poor access to education and lack of autonomy in the family and broader community. The conditions of conflict and poverty that foster violence against women, including systematic sexual violence, are growing across some world regions including parts of Africa and Asia, even while women are becoming more empowered in others. The prevalence of abuse of women at home appears to be high across the regions, and the widespread nature of other forms of violence such as genital mutilation and trafficking is increasingly recognised.The psychological consequences of violence increase the risk of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, including the risk of these conditions in the perinatal period. The services provided for women with mental ill health in primary health care, maternal and child health services, community mental health services or hospital settings do not in many places respond adequately to their needs. The inadequacies in response can reproduce or amplify the difficulties and injustices that women face in their lives, especially maltreatment as girls and intimate partner violence as adults.The World Psychiatric Association aims to increase awareness of the need for improved mental health of women and girls worldwide, especially in settings of disadvantage, conflict and adversity. It is also aiming to work in partnership with other health and non-health organisations to develop a platform for action to respond to the need – for health promotion, risk reduction and access to prevention and treatment services.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Informal relationship patterns among staff of local health and non-health organizations in Thailand.

BackgroundCo-operation among staff of local government agencies is essential for good local health services system, especially in small communities. This study aims to explore possible informal relationship patterns among staff of local health and non-health organizations in the context of health decentralization in Thailand.MethodsTambon Health Promoting Hospital (THPH) and Sub-district Administrative Organization (SAO) represented local health and non-health organizations, respectively. Based on the finding from qualitative interview of stakeholders, a questionnaire was developed to explore individual and organizational characteristics and informal relationships between staff of both organizations. Respondents were asked to draw ‘relationship lines’ between each staff position of health and non-health organizations. ‘Degree of relationship’ was assessed from the number that respondent assigned to each of the lines (1, friend; 2, second-degree relative; 3, first-degree relative; 4, spouse). The questionnaire was distributed to 748 staff of local health and non-health organizations in 378 Tambons. A panel of seven experts was asked to look at all responded questionnaires to familiarize with the content then discussed about possible categorization of the patterns.ResultsResponses were received from 73.0% (276/378) Tambons and 59.0% (441/748) staff. The informal relationships were classified into four levels: strong, moderate, weak and no informal relationship, mainly because of potential impact on local health services system. Strong informal relationship existed when the Chief Executive of SAO had any relationship degree with any THPH staff. When the Deputy Chief Executive of SAO or Chairman of the SAO Council had such relationship, the Tambon was classified as moderate level. Tambon with some other relationship patterns was categorized as weak. Approximately 58.5, 12.0, 7.4 and 22.2% of the surveyed Tambon have strong, moderate, weak, and no informal relationship, respectively.ConclusionThe finding suggested that informal relationships between the staff of local health and non-health agencies can potentially affect the operations and development of the local health services system.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-0781-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Social marketing communication messages

Purpose – This paper examines how social marketing communication messages influence physical activity attitudes when a health organization is revealed as the message source. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines how social marketing communication messages influence physical activity attitudes when a health organization is revealed as the message source. Findings – Results from three studies using experimentally manipulated messages (Studies 1 and 3) and real TV commercials (Study 2) suggest that work-framed social marketing communication messages may be more effective than fun-framed messages when the sponsoring health organization is disclosed, versus not disclosed in the ad. Research limitations/implications – This research extends the literature on source-effects on message effectiveness by suggesting that the type of message sponsor (i.e. a health organization) may influence attitudes toward the physical activity promoted in the message content. Practical implications – The results suggest that health organizations may be able to maximize communication effectiveness by employing work – rather than fun-framed messages, when it is evident that the message source is a health organization. When individuals are unaware that a health organization is the message source or when a non-health organization is the message source, fun-framed messages may be as effective for encouraging physical activity. Social implications – This research may assist health organizations to make the best use of their limited resources by providing guidance for the development of social marketing communication messages that encourage people to be physically active. Originality/value – Although source effects on marketing message effectiveness have been well established in the marketing literature, this study is the first to suggest that a health-organization message source interacts with work- versus fun-framed message content to impact the persuasiveness of messages designed to encourage physical activity.

Equipos de Salud Interdisciplinarios y Liderazgo Transformacional, Juntos Pueden Propiciar Mejores Resultados para Pacientes y Profesionales

Alrededor del mundo, las organizaciones de salud son cada vez mas sofisticadas, complejas y requieren conocimientos especializados y habilidades para cumplir con eficacia sus objetivos, ya que estos cambian y aumentan constantemente, estan inmersos en contextos con restricciones economicas que impone la eficiencia y la eficacia, ademas, hay una falta de profesionales de todo el mundo para cumplir con estas expectativas. La incorporacion de la practica basada en evidencia ha mostrado variaciones en los procesos sanitarios, cuestionando el desempeno y las responsabilidades individuales y organizacionales. Ademas, los problemas de salud de los usuarios cambian, generando necesidades diversas y altas expectativas de satisfaccion. Es imprescindible contar con numerosas disciplinas trabajando integradamente, y el modelo de trabajo en equipo aparece como el mas efectivo y adaptativo, asociandolo a un liderazgo transformacional con habilidades para redisenar y adaptar los recursos. Alineando y motivando a los equipos se puede generar un clima que fomente el desarrollo y la satisfaccion para entregar un cuidado de calidad. El objetivo de esta revision es profundizar en la forma como se organizan los profesionales de la salud y reconocer el rol del lider transformacional en el logro de estas metas. Se realiza una revision de las bases de datos: CINAHL, Pub Med, Medline, Web of Science, ProQuest Medical Library, LILACS, ProQUEST Nursing & Allied Health Source y ProQuest Science Journals. Se incluyen desde el ano 1998 al 2013. En los resultados no fue posible rescatar investigaciones que asociaran directamente liderazgo transformacional y clima de equipos en contextos sanitarios, sin embargo, el apoyo a la innovacion, como dimension del clima, ha sido asociada al liderazgo transformacional como mediador en la excelencia en la atencion. La medicion del impacto del liderazgo transformacional y el clima de los equipos separadamente en los resultados del cliente externo entrega resultados positivos pero variados en su magnitud. Es relevante reflexionar en las diferencias estructurales y organizacionales de las instituciones de salud versus organizaciones no sanitarias, con miras a poder desarrollar programas hechos a la medida de los requerimientos integrales de las primeras y poder evaluar su efecto en los resultados sanitarios

No que se pensa quando se pensa em doenças?: estudo psicométrico dos riscos de saúde

Introduction A substantial body of research using a psychometric approach reveals that most dreads are characterized by their position on the dimensions “dread risk” and “unknown risk”. This paper aims to find out if people characterize health risks recurring to the same dimensions and how different health threats are represented within this dimensional structure. Material and methods A questionnaire assesses the representation of 15 health risks (depression, flu, cold, infection by Ebola virus, alcoholism, hepatitis, drugs abuse, diabetes, birds flu, injuries resulting from car crashes, anorexia, tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases and AIDS). Each risk is rated in the following dimensions: uncontrollable, dread, consequences fatal, involuntary, affects self, unknown to the exposed, new and effect delayed. One hundred ninety one participants come from two non-health organizations, one health organization and one university. Results The first factor analysis produces 3 factors out of the eight items: the original factors plus a factor named “controllable risk”. A second factor analysis excluding the less known risks (Ebola and birds flu) reproduces the original dimensions “dread risk” and “unknown risk”. The most dreadful and unknown risk is cancer and cold is the less dreadful and unknown risk. Conclusions One concludes that health risk representation lies on the same evaluative dimensions as other dreads (dreadful risk and unknown risk). However the perception of control is an important dimension when evaluating unknown risks. In general the results reveal variations in health risk representation with important implications for risk communication and risk management.