Service Output Research Articles

Professional Guidance and Counselling Services for Open and Distance Learning Students in Nigeria Authors

Counselling services are common features in conventional school settings and are designed to help students resolve personal and academic issues, explore career options and attend to their social needs. It is of great concern that these services are absent in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) programmes, although the peculiar nature of the programmes reveals the urgent need for them. ODL students should be able to access guidance and counselling services just as their counterparts in the conventional school setting. The main focus of this article is to point out the relevance of professional guidance and counselling services in ODL programmes in Nigeria. An in-depth description of these services and the benefits ODL students can derive from accessing them is presented. In addition, the authors adapted a conceptual model to accentuate the expected output of professional counselling services. The purpose of this model is to present a clear explanation of the fact that adequate provision of professional counselling services will lead to the improved school, workplace and family environment. It is expected that this will lead to good behaviour and improved academic performance, invariably creating a safe school, out of school and workplace environment for ODL students. Recommendations include the creation of awareness programmes through online seminars and workshops to educate ODL students on various ways to access guidance and counselling services.

Outcomes and outputs affiliated with Children’s Advocacy Centers in the United States: A scoping review

BackgroundThe Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) model is the predominant multidisciplinary model that responds to child sexual abuse (CSA) in the United States (US). While the CAC model has made important contributions in case coordination and referrals for specialty services, little is known about child- or family-oriented outcomes. ObjectiveExplore the trends and gaps involving outcome and output measures affiliated with CACs in the US. Participants & settingA scoping review of the literature was conducted on English language articles published between 1985–2019 that involved CACs and children less than 18 years of age. MethodsAn electronic database search using the terms “Children’s Advocacy Center(s),” “Child Advocacy Center(s),” and “CAC(s)" identified titles and abstracts. Data from articles selected for full text review were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team using a mixed methods approach. ResultsMeasures of CAC impact frequently focus on service and programmatic outputs with person-centered outcomes left often reported. The most prevalent output measures related to case prosecution and forensic interviews. Person-centered outcomes most commonly emphasized child mental health and caregiver satisfaction. The majority of articles were limited by weak or unspecified study designs. ConclusionThe current literature on CACs suggests that while they are successful in coordinating services and facilitating referrals, little is known about how engagement with CACs impacts short- and long-term outcomes for children and families. Further research beyond cross sectional or quasi-experimental designs is necessary to better understand how variability in CAC structure, function, and resources can be optimized to meet the needs of the diverse communities that they serve. This is especially salient given the national dissemination of the CAC model. Without such additional studies, knowledge will remain limited regarding the enduring impacts of CACs on the lives of those impacted by CSA.

Business Activity and Economic Growth: An Economic and Statistical Study

This publication reflects the results of the author’s research on improving the domestic statistical and methodological tools used in the analysis and forecasting of the Russian economy. In this regard, the main features of the formation and application of the Business Activity Index for basic spheres of the economy of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (hereinafter, the index of business activity) are shown and substantiations of its individual advantages are given in comparison with the index of output of goods and services for the basic types of economic activities of Rosstat (hereinafter, the release of goods and services). The authors provide evidence that despite a number of positive qualities of the applied methodology for constructing the index of output of goods and services, the business activity index, according to the authors of the article, provides a more objective assessment of macroeconomic dynamics, since it includes additional indicators reflecting financial and social aspects of economic development. It is proved that the main advantages of the business activity index are manifested in a more accurate determination of the depth of crisis phenomena in socio-economic development, as well as in determining the timing of the onset and overcoming of these negative processes. The characteristics of the macroeconomic indicators that make up the business activity index are given. Methods for calculating the weights of indicators characterizing the level of business activity in various spheres of the national economy, as well as methods for determining changes in this level are considered. Changes in the dynamics of these weights are analyzed. Ways of more efficient use of business activity indices in the practice of accounting, forecasting and management of socio-economic development are proposed. The conclusion is substantiated that it is advisable to use the business activity index for macroeconomic analysis, forecasting and strategic planning, which will make it possible to more accurately assess the impact of the implementation of national projects and the social package of the message of the President of the Russian Federation on economic growth and increase the efficiency of using business activity tools in the practice of public administration of social economic development of the country.

Economic Vulnerabilities and Livelihoods: Impact of COVID‐19 in Fiji and Vanuatu

Economic Vulnerabilities and Livelihoods: Impact of <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 in Fiji and Vanuatu

Technical Efficiency of Maternal Health Services Provision in Public Hospitals of Northwest Ethiopia: A Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis.

IntroductionEthiopian health expenditure as a share of total government expenditure increased from 7.6% in 2013/14 to 8.1% in 2016/17. But it remained low even for the low-income country average expected share of 8.7%. It signifies the efficient use of scarce resources in the health sector is still critical to achieving sustainable development goals. But little evidence is available about public hospitals’ technical efficiency in providing maternal health services. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the technical efficiency of maternal health services provision of public hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsFacility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among twelve randomly selected public hospitals. Input data (salary expenditure, non-salary expenditure, and the number of beds) and maternal health services output data (antenatal care, skilled delivery, and postnatal care) for a 2011 Ethiopian fiscal year (July 2018 to June 2019) were collected and entered into Epi-Data 3.1. We used both primary and secondary data collection procedures to determine independent variables and the dependent variable, respectively. We also used a two-stage input-oriented data envelopment analysis with variable returns to scale assumption.ResultsThe study showed that hospitals included in this study wasted US$ 6833.50 for salary and US$ 3886.8 for non-salary expenditures. The study also revealed that the mean pure technical efficiency of public hospitals for maternal health service provision was 0.92±0.142, and their scale efficiency was 0.795±0.24. The hospital manager’s experience year, the educational level of the manager, and the hospital service year associated positively with the technical efficiency. However, the catchment population and distance of another health facility associated negatively with technical efficiency.ConclusionThe public hospitals’ pure technical efficiency in the provision of maternal health services in Northwest Ethiopia was high. More than half of the public hospitals were technically efficient. The wasted amount of expenditures could be used for satisfying the unmet health services need of the population. Therefore, it is better to monitor the health facilities for the wise use of the existing resources for their best performance.

Dashboard Monitoring Application Community Research Reporting Lecturers And Students Of The University Bina Insan Lubuklinggau

On the system currently running at LPPM, Bina Insan University, monitoring and evaluation of research result and community service activities that have been carried out by lecturers and students is done manually, Lecturer submits the output of research and community service results that are printed to the LPPM section, then the data input into Microsoft Excel for further processing. From the manual process, it will cause problems and the loss of data or files in printed form. Based on the problems faced by LPPM Division of Bina Insan University in the process of monitoring and evaluating the research results and community service activities by lecturers and students, the LPPM division needs to develop a dashboard application for monitoring and reporting research and community service for lecturers and students. The development of this application applies the waterfall method which consists of several stages, namely analysis, system design, coding and system testing. The system is designed using the Unified Model Language (UML) in which the system is developed with object-based concepts and the programming language used is PHP and MySQL database. From the development of this application it can save time and minimize the occurrence of errors and can assist LPPM in recording, evaluating and reporting on the performance of research and community service for Bina Insan University lecturers and students quickly, precisely and accurately.

Cultural policy and investment in China: Do they realize the government’s cultural objectives?

Cultural policy in China has both economic and cultural objectives. In this paper we consider how these two objectives are linked through increases in cultural output. We use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Chinese economy to analyse the impact of cultural investment on the output of cultural goods and services between 2009 and 2015, and we carry forward the simulations to 2030. Our results show that this cultural policy instrument has had a positive impact on the output of cultural goods and services in a manner that also underpins the purely cultural objectives of government.

Forest Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, and Wood Production: Modeling Synergies and Trade-Offs for Ten Forest Landscapes Across Europe

Europe's forests provide vital habitat for biodiversity and essential ecosystem services whose provision must be sustained or enhanced over the coming century. However, the potential to secure or increase forest ecosystem services, while securing the habitat requirements of taxa remains unclear, especially within the context of uncertain climate and socio-economic developments. To tease out the associated trade-offs and synergies, we used 10 case study landscapes within nine countries throughout Europe. Starting with the current status of the forests in the case study landscapes, we simulated forest development 100 years into the future. Simulations were embedded in three combined climate and socio-economic frame scenarios based on global and European policies which varied in their climate change mitigation efficiency. Scenarios were translated into country specific projections of climate variables, and resultant demands for wood products. Forest management regimes were projected to vary in response to these scenarios at local scales. The specific combinations of alternative forest management practices were based on parallel research and input from local forest stakeholders. For each case study, a specific forest growth simulator was used. In general, the climate scenarios applied did not cause fundamentally different ecosystem service outputs at the case study level. Our results revealed almost no reduction in outcomes for biodiversity indicators with an increase in wood production, and in some cases synergistic results occurred when diversity was actively promoted as part of the management concept. Net carbon uptake was not strongly correlated with biodiversity, indicating that biodiversity-friendly forest management doesn't need to curtail carbon sequestration. Notably, we obtained heterogeneous results for the relation between sustainable wood production and net carbon uptake. Most scenarios resulted in a more or less reduced net carbon uptake over the long term, often due to stand age class distribution shifts. Levels of sustainable wood production varied widely during the simulation period, from significant increases (Sweden, Lithuania) to minor changes (Slovakia, Turkey) and slight decreases (Ireland, Netherlands). We place our results within the larger context of European forest policy and the challenges of simulating and contrasting forest biodiversity and the ecosystem services that societies depend on.

A Comparison of Deflators for Telecommunications Services Output

La consommation de donnees a augmente de pres de 2 300 % entre 2010 et 2017 au Royaume‑Uni, et pourtant la valeur ajoutee brute reelle du secteur des services de telecommunications a diminue de 8 % entre 2010 et 2016 alors que le secteur affichait l’un des taux de croissance de la productivite les plus bas de son histoire. Ce decalage entre l’amelioration rapide des technologies et la performance economique mesuree vient en grande partie des deflateurs appliques a la production nominale. Nous comparons deux options methodologiques : premierement, une amelioration de l’indice existant des prix a la production des services de telecommunications ; deuxiemement, une methode de mesure des variations de prix fondee sur le prix moyen par unite de donnees pour differents services de telecommunications. La principale difference entre ces deux options est que le premier indice est pondere par les revenus tandis que le deuxieme peut etre considere comme etant pondere par les volumes. En utilisant ces deux methodes, nous concluons que les services de telecommunications ont enregistre une baisse de prix comprise entre 37 % et 96 % de 2010 a 2017, bien au‑dela du deflateur actuel. La production reelle du secteur est donc largement superieure a ce que les statistiques actuelles suggerent.

Coproduction in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorder and Its Relationship to Clinics' Service Output Patterns.

Health, social, and human service providers seek diverse ways to engage service users in the service production process. This approach to engagement with users is known as "coproduction." In addition to conventional user-provider coproduction (i.e., patient-centered care), providers attending to stigmatized and marginalized groups may hire staff who share life experiences with user groups. These providers are known as "user representatives," and their service provision is known as "peer coproduction." Using nationally representative data from substance use disorder treatment clinics in the United States, I investigate how clinics' use of patient-centered care and peer coproduction mechanisms is associated with organizational service availability and utilization patterns. Results demonstrate the potential and limitations of the two coproduction mechanisms in substance use disorder treatment. This study is a critical examination of working conditions and the impact of user-engagement mechanisms and calls for a more empowered work environment in human service organizations.

Parents' burdens of service for children with ASD – implications for service providers

PurposeThe purpose of this investigation is to gain insight into parents' perceptions of benefits vs burdens (value) of educational and healthcare service received for their child with ASD. Parents are the main integrators of long-term educational and healthcare service for their child with ASD.Design/methodology/approachDesign/methodology/approach included (1) a sentiment analysis of discussion forum posts from an autism message board using a rule-based sentiment analysis tool that is specifically attuned to sentiments expressed in social media and (2) a qualitative content analysis of one-on-one interviews with parents of children diagnosed with ASD, complemented with interviews with experienced educators and clinicians.FindingsFindings reveal the link between customized service integration and long-term benefits. Both parents and service providers emphasize the need to integrate healthcare and educational service to create holistic long-term care for a child with ASD. Parents highlight the benefits of varied services, but availability or cost are burdens if the service is not publicly provided, or covered by insurance. Service providers' lack of experience with ASD and people's ignorance of the challenges of ASD are burdens.Practical implicationsEnsuring health outcomes for a child with ASD requires an integrated service system and long-term, customer-centric service process because the scope of service covers the child's entire childhood. Customized educational and healthcare service must be allocated and budgeted early in order to reach the goal of a satisfactory service output for each child.Originality/valueThis is the first service research to focus on parents' challenges with obtaining services for their child with ASD. This paper provides service researchers and managers insight into parents' perceptions of educational and healthcare service value (i.e. benefits vs. burdens) received for their child with ASD. These insights into customer-centric perceptions of value may be useful to research and may help service providers to innovate and provide integrated service directly to parents, or indirectly to service providers, who serve children with ASD.

The influence of fees on the quality of professional services in South Africa

The abolishment of the tariff of professional fees in the construction industry is a growing international trend since the late 1980s. In recent years, this has become a topical issue among built environment professionals in South Africa following a ruling by the Competition Commission in 2016 that prohibits professional councils from publishing a tariff of fees. The period following the ruling has coincided with a perceived decline in the quality of professional service outputs, which some have attributed to the lowering of fees resulting from market competition. However, this may not necessarily be true, as other factors also influence quality. This research examined the claims through the lens of professionalism theory, which asserts that professionals have a ‘standard-of-care’ obligation that is not dependent on fees. The examination of data across 15 different professional services disciplines in a new universities project demonstrates that market competition led to fee offers that were lower in comparison with the tariff of fees published by built environment professional councils. However, the professionals delivered a high standard of work, which further challenges the claims that lower fees lead to a decline in the quality of professional service outputs.

From Public to Private Accountability in Norwegian Local Government

This article discusses the consequences of changing views on accountability in democratic decision-making. Trends in Norway indicate that Norwegians are evaluating local democracy increasingly in terms of service performance and output, rather than in terms of political input from citizens. While traditional process evaluation is associated with governmental hierarchies and how voters can make elected representatives accountable for their policies, performance evaluation has connections with the logic of the market. It represents a shift from collective political control to individual consumer satisfaction, and consequently, from public to private accountability. Some highly prized democratic values, such as vertical political accountability, informed discussions of the totality of interests, and traditional democratic will-formation, could be lost on the way.

Evaluation of The Implementation of The Cost Structural Standard Policy

In order to realize an effective and efficient budgeting, a Standard Cost Structure (SSB) policy was prepared, namely by applying a supporting cost percentage for non-regulatory service output of 45%. The study analyzes how SSB policy is implemented within the Ministry of Finance, identifies the problems that occur, and provide solutions for each of these problems. The results of the study show that there is no satker in the Ministry of Finance that uses an exact amount of 45% for supporting costs in the output of its non-regulatory services. The study identifies two underlying problems. First, according to the respondents, the concept of main and supporting cost is clear and well-defined but difficult to implement. The second problem is that the RKA-KL is yet to be able to smoothly facilitate the selection of the main and supporting costs.

Recurrent costs in primary health care in Ethiopia: facility and disease specific unit costs and their components in government primary hospitals and health centers

BackgroundContinued investment, especially from domestic financing, is needed for Ethiopia to achieve universal health coverage and a sustainable health system over time. Understanding costs of providing health services will assist the government to mobilize adequate resources for health, and to understand future costs of changes in quality of care, service provision scope, and potential decline in external resources. This study assessed costs per unit of service output, “unit costs”, for government primary hospitals and health centers, and disease-specific services within each facility.MethodsQuantitative and qualitative data were collected from 25 primary hospitals and 47 health centers across eight of the eleven regions of Ethiopia for 2013/14, and 2014/15 and 2015/16 but only for primary hospitals, and supplemented by other related health and financial institutions records. A top-down costing approach was used to estimate unit costs for each facility by department – inpatient, outpatient, maternal and child health, and delivery. A mixed-method approach was used for the disease-specific unit costs exempt from fees.ResultsHealth center median unit cost was 146 Ethiopian birr (ETB) (17 PPP$, 2012), the Delivery department had the highest median unit cost (647 ETB; 76 PPP$, 2012) and Outpatient department (OPD) had the lowest (124 ETB; 14 PPP$, 2012). Primary hospital median unit cost was 339 ETB (40 PPP$, 2012), with Inpatient department having the highest median unit cost (1288 ETB; 151 PPP$, 2012), while OPD was the lowest (252 ETB; 29 PPP$, 2012). Drugs and pharmaceutical supplies accounted for most of the costs for both facilities. Among the exempted services offered, tuberculosis and antiretroviral treatment are the costliest with median unit costs from 1091 to 1536 ETB (128–180 PPP$, 2012), with drugs and supplies accounting for almost 90% of the costs.ConclusionsHigh unit costs of service provision could be indicative of underutilization of the primary health care system, coupled with inefficiencies associated with organization and delivery of health services. Data from this study are being used to assess efficiency and productivity among primary care facilities, facilitate premium setting for health insurance, and improve budgeting and allocating health resources for a more sustainable and effective primary health care system.

Current challenges in student mental health and counselling provision: How practice‐based research can help demonstrate effectiveness

AbstractWith a steep increase in students presenting to counselling services, and the costs associated with meeting increased demand for provision, services need to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of the interventions they deliver. The heads of embedded university counselling services are uniquely placed to advise on the best interventions to deliver for students in their institutions. Collaborating with research colleagues can help to increase the research output of university counselling services and demonstrate their effectiveness. The Cambridge University Counselling Service collaborated with the School of Psychiatry on the ‘Mindfulness Skills for Students’ study. The learnings from this collaboration will illustrate how practice‐based research can help counselling services to demonstrate their effectiveness and impact, and promote the work that they do with students. The author will also explore the benefits and challenges of engaging in collaboration with research colleagues at her home institution.

Evaluating the System of Managing Efficiency at the University Catering Center

The university catering center is a complex dynamic system, which includes catering enterprises of different types. The work of the catering center focuses mainly on technology of product output and organization of customer service. At the same time insufficient attention is paid to the efficiency of catering center functioning in the structure of university and to performance of social and economic functions put on it. It gives rise to problems typical to the current system of catering center management. As these problems are not adequately studied, it causes high expenses of catering center maintenance, the use of outdated, inefficient organization of production and sale. The author identifies and analyzes problems of catering center functioning in university, evaluates the system of managing its efficiency as a structural division of university. The article shows key factors influencing the efficiency of its work, such as 'vague' legal status, the absence of planning and planned figures, unavailability of a single control center, monitoring expenses on raw materials and product and service sale and others. The author puts forward certain ways of increasing the catering center profits and material incentives for workers, for example, enlarging the range of products and service, which could raise proceeds and income.

Can Continental Models Convey Useful Seasonal Hydrologic Information at the Catchment Scale?

AbstractThe development and availability of climate forecasting systems have allowed the implementation of seasonal hydroclimatic services at the continental scale. User guidance and quality of the forecast information are key components to ensure user engagement and service uptake, yet forecast quality depends on the hydrologic model setup. Here, we address how seasonal forecasts from continental services can be used to address user needs at the catchment scale. We compare a continentally calibrated process‐based model (E‐HYPE) and a catchment‐specific parsimonious model (GR6J) to forecast streamflow in a set of French catchments. Results show that despite expected high performance from the catchment setup against observed streamflow, the continental setup can, in some catchments, match or even outperform the catchment‐specific setup for 3‐month aggregations and threshold exceedance. Forecast systems can become comparable when looking at statistics relative to model climatology, such as anomalies, and adequate initial conditions are the main source of skill in both systems. We highlight the need for consistency in data used in modeling chains and in tailoring service outputs for use at the catchment scale. Finally, we show that the spread in internal model states varies largely between the two systems, reflecting the differences in their setups and calibration strategies, and highlighting that caution is needed before extracting hydrologic variables other than streamflow. We overall argue that continental hydroclimatic services show potential on addressing needs at the catchment scale, yet guidance is needed to extract, tailor and use the information provided.

Decouple transport CO2 emissions from China’s economic expansion: A temporal-spatial analysis

China’s transport industry is energy intensive and high-polluting. While with the surging urbanization and the development of service industry, China’s economic relies more and more on the transport sector. Therefore, exploring the relationship between transport energy-related carbon emission (TECE) and economic development is crucial to the realization of China’s “Post Paris” mitigation target. The paper carries out a decoupling research between TECE and Gross domestic product (GDP) at both national level and province level based on Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition analysis with the extended Kaya identity and Tapio decoupling model. The model quantifies eight factors’ effects on the relationship with focusing on external macro socio-economic related factors (i.e., spatial pattern, urbanization, per capita service industry output value, reciprocal of the service industry’s share of GDP, and demographic variable) successfully. The key conclusions are indicated as follows: (1) the national decoupling status was extensive coupling during 2004–2010 and then weak decoupling during 2010–2016. The progress can be attributed to the decline of energy intensity. (2) Per capita service output was always the prominent factor to promote carbon emissions growth in different time periods and provinces with inhibiting the advancement of decoupling process, followed by urbanization. (3) Scenario analysis shows that with the continuous growth of traffic demand and the promotion of urbanization, improving energy efficiency has become the key link to realize the decoupling between China’s TECE and its economy.

The efficiency of routine infant immunization services in six countries: a comparison of methods

BackgroundFew studies have systematically examined the efficiency of routine infant immunization services. Using a representative sample of infant immunization sites in Benin, Ghana, Honduras, Moldova, Uganda and Zambia (316 total), we estimated average efficiency levels and variation in efficiency within each country, and investigated the properties of published efficiency estimation techniques.MethodsUsing a dataset describing 316 immunization sites we estimated site-level efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), and a published ensemble method combining these two approaches. For these three methods we operationalized efficiency using the Sheppard input efficiency measure, which is bounded in (0, 1), with higher values indicating greater efficiency. We also compared these methods to a simple regression approach, which used residuals from a conventional production function as a simplified efficiency index. Inputs were site-level service delivery costs (excluding vaccines) and outputs were total clients receiving DTP3. We analyzed each country separately, and conducted sensitivity analysis for different input/output combinations.ResultsUsing DEA, average input efficiency ranged from 0.40 in Ghana and Moldova to 0.58 in Benin. Using SFA, average input efficiency ranged from 0.43 in Ghana to 0.69 in Moldova. Within each country scores varied widely, with standard deviation of 0.18–0.23 for DEA and 0.10–0.20 for SFA. Input efficiency estimates generated using SFA were systematically higher than for DEA, and the rank correlation between scores ranged between 0.56–0.79. Average input efficiency from the ensemble estimator ranged between 0.41–0.61 across countries, and was highly correlated with the simplified efficiency index (rank correlation 0.81–0.92) as well as the DEA and SFA estimates.ConclusionsResults imply costs could be 30–60% lower for fully efficient sites. Such efficiency gains are unlikely to be achievable in practice – some of the apparent inefficiency may reflect measurement errors, or unmodifiable differences in the operating environment. However, adapted to work with routine reporting data and simplified methods, efficiency analysis could triage low performing sites for greater management attention, or identify more efficient sites as models for other facilities.