Involvement In Public Policy Research Articles

Scientific expertise and public engagement in science policy: A conversation with Dr. Alondra Nelson

MIT Science Policy Review spoke with Dr. Alondra Nelson about the role of scientists and the broader public in shaping policy. Dr. Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute of Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, New Jersey, and is the author of multiple works about the intersections of science, technology, medicine, and inequality, including Body and Soul (2011) and The Social Life of DNA (2016). She previously served as Deputy Assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). As a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, she has advised at various levels of government and civil society on science-related issues. Dr. Nelson’s unique perspective as a sociologist sheds light on the importance of public participation in policy development, both as a democratic process, and to ensure that scientific and technological progress benefits society. In our conversation, we discussed some of the challenges of science policymaking, strategies to enhance public involvement in policy, and the fundamental value of providing broad public access to science and scientific education.

Addressing Health Disparities through Community Participation: A Scoping Review of Co-Creation in Public Health

There is general agreement regarding the relevance of community involvement in public health policy, practice, and research to reduce health inequities. This review aims to analyse the experiences of community engagement in public health actions, with particular attention to methodologies used and how community participation is articulated. We searched the Web of Science, EBSCO, and ProQuest for scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals. We recorded methodological aspects, the approach to equity, actors that participated in the actions, and participation of the community in different phases (agenda setting, design, implementation, and evaluation). Of 4331 records, we finally included 31 studies published between 1995 and 2021. Twelve studies referred to Community-Based Participatory Research as the framework used. The actions addressed equity, mainly by tackling economic vulnerability (n = 20, 64%) and racial discrimination (n = 18, 58%). Workshops were the most used method. Participation was frequently observed in the design and implementation phases of the action, but it was reduced to community feedback in the evaluation. Co-created public health actions offer the opportunity to reduce health inequity and promote social change; yet, further effort is needed to involve communities in the entire cycle of decision making.

Criminal Justice Involvement, Self‐Employment, and Barriers in Recent Public Policy

AbstractThis study provides the first empirical evidence on the extent of self‐employment within the U.S. justice‐involved population. Using linked tax return and Criminal Justice Administrative Records System data, we find that 28 percent of individuals with criminal records are self‐employed. Justice‐involved individuals are 22 percent more likely to rely solely on self‐employment. The Paycheck Protection Program, passed to support small business during the COVID‐19 pandemic, initially disqualified those with a broad range of criminal histories. We find that close to 3 percent of recent sole proprietors had observable PPP disqualifying events based on initial eligibility criteria, with a disparate impact on Black and Hispanic business owners.

Do public comments make a difference in open rulemaking? Insights from information management using machine learning and QCA analysis

Scholars still have a mixed picture of the impact of online public involvement in regulatory policy making, and a shortage of theoretical explanations. The novel theory put forward in this article is that substantive, technical and political factors combined can help explain the degree of success public involvement will have in shaping proposed rules. Using a study with 25 regulations from the United States Department of Education, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) measures the degree of content change between proposed rules and final rules. Substantive and political aspects in democratic legitimacy and pluralism approaches to participation, antecedents are theorized, and associations of the antecedents with the degree of content change are assessed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Findings show that the substantive public contributions do make a difference especially when media attention and input from professional organizations is present.

Local government’s response to dissatisfaction with centralized policies: the “do-it-yourself” approach

The literature on intergovernmental relationships discusses the tension between centralization and local autonomy. However, few studies question local authorities’ response when dissatisfied with central government policies. Using Hirschman's model of exit, voice and loyalty, we explore local government's response to such dissatisfaction. Specifically, we suggest that local authorities may adopt a “do-it-yourself” approach, unilaterally engaging in semi-legal strategies to improve outcomes. This solves immediate local organizational problems, without waiting for approval. Using the Israeli case, we show how a pervasive culture of “do-it-yourself” affects local governments’ responses. We also discuss implications for the relationship between the two bodies. Points for practitioners Our findings shed light on local–central government relations, emphasizing the do-it-yourself approach. While this approach could strengthen political participation, increasing local government's involvement in public policy, it also enables local players to use semi-legal behaviors. Central government decision-makers might prevent these behaviors, strengthening administrative institutions’ enforce, regulatory enforcement and enhancing local autonomous political culture, transparency and integrity. By contrast, continuing to maintain weak formal institutions encourages the appearance of strong informal institutions.

Unemployment benefit governance, trade unions and outsider protection in conservative welfare states

This article explores the relationship between trade union governance roles in unemployment benefit systems, their power resources and their capacity to counteract liberalising and dualising trends in the labour market in conservative welfare states with compulsory unemployment insurance. Against received wisdom, this article argues that in the 21st century trade unions in continental Europe have generally sought to combat the dualism to which their welfare states and labour markets are institutionally susceptible. In this context, a role in the operation of unemployment benefit systems and related forms of institutional power could help unions to attain the enhanced outsider protection they seek. But different modes of union involvement in public policy produce different levels of institutional power, and help to condition its impact on policy development over time. This article illustrates these points with a comparison of the recent development of labour market policy and regulation in Austria, France and Germany.

Citizen involvement in public policy: Does it matter how much is at stake?

AbstractPublic administrations increasingly try to find new ways to involve citizens in policy‐making. However, many democratic innovations draw in only a fraction of the public. Why? I hypothesize that we observe such low participation rates because there is often not enough at stake for citizens. I test this with a preregistered survey experiment on citizens' intentions to participate in participatory budgets in the Netherlands. I fielded the experiment among a sample of citizens that had just experienced a participatory budget (N = 225) and among a population‐based sample (N = 1369). I operationalized the stakes as the amount of public money about which citizens can decide. The results show that more money generally does not increase citizens' intention to participate. Supplementary analyses confirm the experimental findings and provide reasons how and why the stakes involved (do not) matter for citizens' involvement.

The Development of Social Media Intelligence System for Citizen Opinion and Perception Analysis over Government Policy

In Indonesia, community involvement in development planning and public policy has generally been carried out but limitedly. Social media uploads regarding public perceptions of policy implementation in the field are valuable input for those who quickly and accurately upload existing problems.The problems that arise from this effort to use social media are 1) how to detect public conversations related to a public policy. 2) Social media data collected extensively and accelerating can be processed quickly to get real-time analysis results. 3) Making the analysis results accessible in an interactive and representative form allows government policymakers to explore appropriate data and information to formulate and formulate public policies.This research produces a social media intelligence platform that can unite public opinion regarding public perceptions of the implementation of policies issued by the government, especially local governments in Indonesia. Based on modeling the topic of Covid-19 vaccination cases, 11 topics of discussion were obtained. While the sentiment analysis results of the 11 issues resulted, topic 6 had the most negative sentiment values regarding the development of Covid-19 vaccination in Indonesia. At the same time, topics with the most positive sentiment values are topic three and topic 10. These topics discuss the vaccination process carried out by health procedures (prokes) and government policies related to COVID-19 vaccination.

Washington Committee for Neurological Surgery: the evolution of neurosurgery's involvement in public policy.

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Washington Committee was formed in 1975 to establish a means for neurosurgery to influence federal health care policy. In response to growing federal health care legislation and regulation, the Washington Committee expanded from its original six members in 1975 to 35 invited liaisons and members by 2020. The Washington Committee, through the Washington Office, expanded political lobbying capacity into numerous important areas of health care policy, including Current Procedural Terminology coding and Medicare reimbursement, Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulation, healthcare quality oversight, emergency medical services, treatment guidelines, treatment outcome registries, medical liability reform, research funding, and information dissemination. Over 45 yr, the Washington Committee has become an indispensable resource for shaping public policy affecting neurosurgery training, research, and practice.

Washington Committee for Neurological Surgery: The Evolution of Neurosurgery's Involvement in Public Policy

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Washington Committee was formed in 1975 to establish a means for neurosurgery to influence federal health care policy. In response to growing federal health care legislation and regulation, the Washington Committee expanded from its original six members in 1975 to 35 invited liaisons and members by 2020. The Washington Committee, through the Washington Office, expanded political lobbying capacity into numerous important areas of health care policy, including Current Procedural Terminology coding and Medicare reimbursement, Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulation, healthcare quality oversight, emergenc medical services, treatment guidelines, treatment outcome registries, medical liability reform, research funding, and information dissemination. Over 45 yr, the Washington Committee has become an indispensable resource for shaping public policy affecting neurosurgery training, research, and practice.

Exploring the implementation of public involvement in local alcohol availability policy: the case of alcohol licensing decision-making in England.

In 2003, the UK government passed the Licensing Act for England and Wales. The Act provides a framework for regulating alcohol sale, including four licensing objectives with local governments having devolved responsibility for granting licences to sell alcohol. Members of the public can make representations of oppositions to licence applications. Applying the theories of the policy process, we explored the practices employed by licensing authorities when deciding on alcohol licences in situations of conflict between licence applicants and members of the public. Qualitative study comprising a framework analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews and application of the theories of institutionalism, the advocacy coalition framework and role of ideas. Eleven local authorities in five regions in England in 2019. Purposive sample of 15 licensing officers, licensing subcommittee chairs, public health leads for licensing and police licensing officers. The interview schedule included mechanisms of public involvement in licensing, parties involved, the subject of conflicts and how licensing authorities made decisions. When members of the public opposed licence applications, licensing authorities employed three key decision-making practices: procedural fairness, partnership working and framing. The normativity of procedural fairness was an important institutional structure within which conflicts were resolved. Licensing authorities also worked in partnership with the involved parties, who often appeared as advocacy coalitions that shared beliefs and advanced specific issues to determine mutually acceptable solutions. At times, licensing authorities framed issues through ideational processes to solve problems. Licensing decision-making under the United Kingdom's Licensing Act for England and Wales appear in many cases to focus on resolution of conflicts between licence applicants and members of the public rather than on promotion of licensing objectives. This raises uncertainty regarding the impact of public involvement on reducing alcohol availability, but ultimately represents a pragmatic process that seeks to restore balance in powers, improve transparency in decision-making and empower communities.

(Re)defining legitimacy in Canadian drug assessment policy? Comparing ideas over time.

How do experts judge the legitimacy of technical policy processes, and do their ideas change as these processes are opened to other stakeholders and the public? This research examines the adoption of public and patient involvement in pharmaceutical assessment in Canada. It finds tensions between scientific legitimacy that prioritizes rigor and objectivity, and democratic legitimacy that values inclusion and a broader range of evidence. In response to policy change, experts incorporate new ideas about democratic inputs and processes, while maintaining scientific policy goals. The research responds to calls for more precise measurement of ideas and ideational change and more evaluation of public and patient involvement in health policy. It helps us understand the significance of, and limits to, ideational change among experts in health policy domains that are highly technical and publicly salient. Understanding the way democratic and scientific legitimacy are negotiated in policy decisions has a wide applicability in health, but is particularly relevant during a global pandemic when evidence is being generated rapidly, decisions must be made quickly, and these decisions have a significant, immediate effect on the lives of all citizens.

Exploring disconnected discourses about Patient and Public Involvement and Volunteer Involvement in English health and social care.

BackgroundPatient and public involvement (PPI) in health and social care policy, service decision‐making and research are presented as good practice in England. Yet the explicit rationale for PPI and how it is positioned within the literature, policy and practice remain confused, in particular, in relation to Volunteer Involvement (VI). In health and social care, PPI and VI are managed and valued as conceptually distinct, yet the discourses in their policy and practice documents treat them as closely related in fundamental ways.ObjectiveCompare and critically evaluate discourses framing PPI and VI within English health and social care.DesignA critical discourse approach was used to explore the accounts of PPI and VI in policy. These accounts were then compared and contrasted with personal accounts of volunteering in health and social care settings.ResultsTwenty documents from key national health and social care bodies were discursively examined in terms of their framing PPI and VI. A narrative disconnect between the two was repeatedly confirmed. This finding contrasted with an analysis of personal accounts of VI which displayed VI as a form of PPI.ConclusionThere is a disconnect between language, narratives and practice in PPI and in VI which may have direct consequences for policy and practice. Recognising and managing it can offer innovative ways of enabling volunteers to be involved across health and social care settings, ensuring the experiential value added by volunteers’ service contributions, to be recognised so that their democratic participation may be seen to shape services.

Women in Medicine: Dr. Danielle Martin

Dr. Danielle Martin is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Executive at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, where she is also a practicing family physician. Her career epitomizes an idea that is often discussed in medical training, but rarely manifests in practice: physicians are both advocates for individual patients and stewards of public health equity at a systems level. Dr. Martin has dedicated her career to improving and strengthening Canada’s universal health care system. She is a public leader in the ongoing debate about health care privatization and founded the organization Canadian Doctors for Medicare. Notably, Dr. Martin spoke about Canadian health care and advocated for single-payer health care in a widely publicized US Senate hearing led by Senator Bernie Sanders. She has also published a book titled, Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians, which breaks down complex health policy into six actionable steps in order to improve the health care system for all Canadians. She continuously advocates for public involvement in health policy through research and public outreach and is a role model for young physicians aspiring to leadership roles in health and health care policy, while simultaneously pursuing a career in clinical practice. In fact, doing both provides a unique framework for improving the individual wellbeing and health of Canadians. Dr. Martin believes that advocacy is a skill that requires practice and training; she advises young trainees that the time to start is now.

Public engagement in the development of the National Health Insurance: a study involving patients from a central hospital in South Africa

BackgroundThe National Health Insurance (NHI) is a proposed health policy in South Africa that aims to change the structure of the current health system. Public involvement in policy making is important and it is a constitutional requirement in the legislation development process in South Africa. Patients are key stakeholders and should be engaged in NHI policy process. Before patients can be engaged, they need to be provided with sufficient information about the NHI. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory study was to examine the levels of patient awareness of the NHI, which is a requisite for meaningful engagement.MethodsThis was a cross sectional study of 244 patients from the follow-up clinics at the Department of Internal Medicine, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. The patients were interviewed using a structured interview process and a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were conducted.ResultsThe majority (79.51%) of the participants were not aware of the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) in South Africa even though the NHI policy process commenced in 2011. Of the participants who were aware of the NHI, 86% responded that they had not been provided with an opportunity to be involved in the policy making process of the NHI. The odds of awareness were higher for male (OR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.11–3.9, p value: 0.02) than female participants; White (OR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.06–5.26, p value: 0.04) and Indian (OR: 2.76, 95% CI: 0.10–7.60, p value: 0.05) participants when compared to Black participants; and retired (OR: 3.13, 95% CI: 1.35–7.25, p value: 0.008) than unemployed participants.ConclusionThe levels of awareness of the NHI were low among the participants from Department of Internal Medicine, CMJAH. Without the awareness and information about the NHI, patients are not equipped to be involved in the NHI policy process in a meaningful way. Public patients are the intended beneficiaries of universal health coverage, therefore they should be prioritized in the NHI community engagement process to ensure that the NHI is community and patient centred.

Transdisciplinary soil hydrology

AbstractIn this paper, I present an evolutional pathway from disciplinary towards transdisciplinary science and research and offer contemporary examples of interdisciplinary research in soil hydrology. I further explore exciting opportunities that can lead to transdisciplinary research (TDres), as society demands for our science expertise to be increasingly involved in developing solutions in global issues of sustainability, food and water security, as well as in the decision‐making process. By way of TDres involvement in public policy, the scientist is going to be working in the trans‐science domains for which (s)he is likely not very prepared. Recommendations are presented to better train students and early‐career scientists so that they can be effective in participating in TDres and communicating their scientific knowledge to relevant stakeholders, the public, and decision makers as part of the policy‐making process.

Evaluation of Registered Dietitians’ Interest and Involvement in Nutrition-Related Public Policy

Evaluation of Registered Dietitians’ Interest and Involvement in Nutrition-Related Public Policy

Critique of the Theory and Practice of Bureaucracy

The article examines the critical views on the bureaucracy of political philosophers and experts in thefield of public administration, from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. The emphasis is onthe fact that phenomenon and concept of bureaucracy is one of the most discussed and analyzed within thescience of public administration. Despite the historical stability and evolution of the theoretical foundationsof bureaucracy, the latter is increasingly criticized by researchers. The analysis of critical sources ofbureaucracy as a scientific model and the practical organization of a public administration confirms the ideaof the non-relevance of bureaucratic management mechanisms in the context of modern, dynamic socialtransformations.The goal of the paper is to comprehensively analyze critical assessments of the bureaucracy at the levelof theory and practice, to systematize the dysfunctional characteristics of the bureaucracy as a form ofadministration.The analysis of the papers of such scholars as Ch. Barnard, Ch. Goodsell, R. Hummel, R. Merton, M.Meyer, etc. shows that the disadvantages of the bureaucratic model of public administration include itsmechanistic character, absoluteness of rationality, antihumanism, and formalization of procedures. Today,most scholars recognize the need to establish a post-bureaucratic (postmodern) model that recognizes theprimacy of a person (citizen) over the state apparatus, the need for his / her active involvement in publicpolicy, efficiency and effectiveness as the main criteria for the quality of public administration activities, etc.Another form of critique of bureaucratic practice is the researches of gender scholars. These criticalremarks, above all, are due to the rejection of the rationalist-modern form of organization, as a definitelymale center.

Deliberating as a Public Representative or as a Potential User? Two Complementary Perspectives that Should Inform Health Innovation Policy.

While public involvement in health policy is gaining traction around the world, deciding whether practitioners of public involvement should encourage participants to deliberate from a personal or a collective perspective remains an object of contention. Drawing on an empirical study, the aim of this article is to generate methodological insights into these two perspectives. Our qualitative analyses illustrate how members of the public contributed differently to deliberations about the value of health innovations by alternatively sharing views as public representatives and as potential users. When engaging as public representatives, participants raised important collective concerns, and, when engaging as potential users, participants brought concrete details and contextual nuances to the group exchanges. Because these perspectives entail different yet mutually challenging ways of appraising health innovations, public engagement practitioners should foster both personal and collective perspectives.

Seven-year itch: the UK Government's difficult relationship with the food and drink industry since Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Call to Action on Obesity in England (2011).

Unhealthy food and drink consumption is associated with a range of physical and mental health concerns. In response, public health policies have been developed targeting a reduction in obesity in particular. In the present commentary we argue that government-industry partnerships have reduced the effectiveness of resultant policies and explore why. Perspectives of authors. UK.ParticipantsPopulations in the UK; UK Government. Industry involvement has presented three interrelated challenges for the UK Government: (i) balancing collaboration while maintaining appropriate distance from industry stakeholders; (ii) resultant production of 'watertight' and effective legislation or intervention; and (iii) actual or perceived limited sanctioning or bargaining power. Industry involvement in public health policy making has led to weak action. Support with policy implementation (rather than development) and genuine 'buy-in' from industry could accelerate the pace of public health improvement.