Service Deliverers Research Articles

Bridging governmentality and economization: temporality as a financialization device

ABSTRACT Reflecting and reinforcing the financialization of everyday life, non-profit social service organizations, the primary deliverers of benefits and services in the US, are increasingly incorporating financial education and empowerment into their service repertoires. In this article, I examine and compare how financial educators in two organizations that target different populations/problems – women in (economic) transition and chronically/intergenerationally poor people – give financial advice to their clients. I draw a parallel between what Foucault calls the ‘repressive hypothesis’ and claims by personal finance experts and educators that we are silent about money. I suggest that these claims amount to a ‘money repressive hypothesis’ that gives experts what I call an ‘advisor’s benefit’: the appearance of being freed from silence about money and thus able to liberate others from silence and steer them toward financial wellness. I show that financial educators perform this benefit through temporal frames – meaningful ways of intersubjectively organizing experience in reference to time, that invite different levels and forms of attention to the past, present, and future – of their clients’ problems. Bridging literatures on governmentality and economization, I contend that these temporal frames are disciplinary financialization devices that act in connection with sociocultural constructions of populations/problems to assemble financial subjectivities.

Understanding the experiences of older adult participants and individuals involved in the delivery of a physical activity programme based on participatory approaches: A qualitative analysis.

The present study aimed to understand the experiences of older adult participants and service deliverers involved in a UK-based physical activity programme, developed using participatory approaches. Focus groups and one-to-one interviews were conducted with 34 older adults (aged 55+ years) and 13 service providers. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted, structured using the framework approach. Four themes were identified: (1) Co-designed activities met needs and encouraged attendance; (2) engagement and access of programme activities; (3) enjoyment and perceived benefits of sessions; and (4) support needs of individuals delivering activities. Co-designed activities appeared to meet participant needs and instil a sense of ownership of the programme. Feeling able to relate to other participants seemed important and of potential relevance to attracting older adults to the programme. Peer support may help to increase confidence in attending sessions; place-based approaches (using resources in local communities) and a flexible approach to involvement also seemed to facilitate engagement. Enjoyment of the programme appeared to be enhanced through activity variety and opportunity for socializing, with a sense of community being created through the support and encouragement of fellow participants. It was considered important that volunteers had appropriate recognition and ongoing support. These findings suggest that using participatory approaches may facilitate enjoyment and sustained engagement of older adults. Provision based on local community assets may contribute to sustainability of services. However, providing ongoing support is imperative, requiring further costs and resources over the longer-term.

Evaluating customer orientation in e-commerce: an organization focused technology assessment*

ABSTRACT This research focuses on designing a new maturity model to evaluate and plan an organization's customer-centricity. The Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) is used as the primary methodology to quantify impacting factors and intensity of influence on the ultimate outcome. To demonstrate the proposed model in the real world, a case study is performed in the e-commerce industry, especially B2C online retailer organizations. This research tackles the scarcity of documentation on creating maturity models that are widely accepted and sustainable, demonstrating the innovative use of the HDM methodology. In summary, the study successfully achieves its overarching objective of crafting a comprehensive model for assessing organizational maturity in the customer-centric approach, encouraging the widespread adoption of the proposed methodology across diverse sectors.This study endeavors to introduce an innovative approach for assessing an organization's customer-centricity, incorporating both product and service deliverables, specifically referred to as Product-Service Systems (PSS). The primary objective of this research is to formulate a novel maturity model, enabling organizations to 1) assess their degree of customer-centricity and 2) receive actionable recommendations aimed at enhancing customer orientation and elevating their customer-centricity maturity level..

Co-creation of a complex, multicomponent rehabilitation intervention and feasibility trial protocol for the PostUraL tachycardia Syndrome Exercise (PULSE) study

BackgroundThere is a dearth of research to support the treatment of people with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). Despite expert consensus suggesting exercise is recommended for this patient group, there are no randomised control trials examining this rigorously. The aim was to co-create a feasibility trial protocol and a rehabilitation intervention for people living with PoTS.MethodsThe intervention and feasibility trial design were co-created as part of the PostUraL tachycardia Syndrome Exercise (PULSE) study. We used the ‘three co’s framework’ of co-define, co-design and co-refine. Recruitment included key national charities and National Health Service Trusts treating people living with PoTS in the UK. Eighteen patient and public involvement members attended the co-define session, and 16 co-creators with a mix of expertise attended the subsequent co-design and co-refine sessions. Seven intervention practitioners were trained in the rehabilitation intervention, providing feedback for further co-refinement.ResultsThe final co-created intervention comprises online physical activity, and lifestyle and behaviour change support sessions. It is based on functional movement activities using a patient-centred approach tailored to individual needs. Physical activity intensity is guided by individuals’ perception of effort rather than by objective measures. Recumbent bikes are provided for home use. Patients deemed randomisation to be acceptable because research in this area was considered important.ConclusionsAn innovative approach was used to co-create the PULSE intervention and feasibility trial protocol to meet the evidence-based and logistical needs of people living with PoTS, clinicians, service deliverers, third-sector organisations, academics and funders. This can be used as a successful example and template for future research internationally. People living with PoTS were recognised as experts and involved in every aspect of conceptualisation, design and refinement. This complex rehabilitation intervention is currently being tested in a randomised feasibility trial comparing the PULSE intervention with best-practice usual care for people living with PoTS.Trial registrationISRCTN45323485 was registered on April 7, 2020.

Use of artificial intelligence for the automatic assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction by oncology staff in chemotherapy patients

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background The calculation of LV ejection fraction (LVEF) by transthoracic echocardiography is pivotal in detecting cancer therapy–related cardiac dysfunction. Referrals for LVEF estimation pre- and post-chemotherapy occupy significant amount of resources of echocardiography laboratories and increase service deliverance. Novel handheld ultrasound devices (HUDs) can provide echocardiographic images at the point of care with diagnostic image quality. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) technology enabled the development of algorithms for the real-time guidance of ultrasound probe to acquire optimal images of the heart and calculate LVEF automatically. Purpose To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of LVEF calculation by oncology staff using an AI enabled HUD. Methods We studied 115 oncology patients referred for echocardiographic LVEF estimation. All patients were scanned by a cardiologist using standard echocardiography (SE) systems and biplane Simpson’s rule was used as reference standard. A brief training on echocardiography basics and use of HUD was provided to the oncology staff before the study. Then, each patient was scanned independently by a cardiologist, a senior oncologist, an oncology resident, and an oncology nurse using the AUTO-GUIDANCE and AUTO-GRADING AI applications of the HUD (Figure 1) to acquire apical 4-chamber and 2-chamber views of the heart. The LVEF was automatically calculated by the device autoEF algorithm. Method agreement was assessed using Pearson’s correlation and Bland-Altman analysis. The diagnostic accuracy for detection of impaired LVEF<50%, a commonly used cut-off point for deferring chemotherapy, was calculated. Results Diagnostic images acquisition was possible in 96% of cases by the cardiologist, in 94% of cases by the senior oncologist, in 93% by the junior oncologist and in 89% by the nurse. The correlation between autoEF and SE-EF (Figure 2A) was excellent for the cardiologist (r=0.90), good for the senior oncologist (r=0.79), excellent for the junior oncologist (r=0.82) and excellent for the nurse (r=0.84), p<0.001 for all. The Bland-Altman plots (Figure 2B) showed a small underestimation of LVEF by the HUD autoEF algorithm compared to SE-EF for all the operators. There was bias −2.1% for the cardiologist, bias −3.5% for the senior oncologist, bias −2.2% for the junior oncologist, and bias −2.3% for the nurse (p<0.001 for all). Detection of impaired LVEF by autoEF algorithm was feasible with sensitivity 95% and specificity 94% for the cardiologist; sensitivity 86% and specificity 93% for the senior oncologist; sensitivity 95% and specificity 91% for the junior oncologist; sensitivity 94% and specificity 87% for the nurse. Conclusions Calculation of automated LVEF by oncology staff was feasible using AI enabled HUD in a selected patient population. Detection of impaired LVEF was possible with good accuracy. These findings show clinical potential to improve the quality of care for oncology patients.

Perspectives on an enhanced ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) service addressing the wider determinants of mental health: a qualitative study

BackgroundA new Health and Wellbeing pathway was introduced into the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service in one geographical area of the UK in 2021 to address the wider determinants of mental health problems. It comprised assisted signposting to wider services and physical health promotion. This qualitative study aimed to understand stakeholders’ experiences of implementing and receiving this new support and the barriers and facilitators to its delivery.MethodsForty-seven interviews were conducted, with service developers (n = 6), service deliverers (n = 12), service users (n = 22) and community and clinical partners (n = 7), as part of a larger mixed-methods evaluation. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsThree themes spanned all participant groups and represented key aspects of the service: (1) identifying suitability, (2) a holistic service, and (3) moving forward. The sub-themes represent the barriers and facilitators to processes working in practice, lending insight into potential service improvements. These included strengthening the quality of communication during referral and assessment, tailoring the support and delivery mode, and increasing transparency around continued care to drive sustained benefits.LimitationsService users may have been selected due to their positive experiences of IAPT and were not demographically representative of the population, although participants’ experiences of the service did suggest variation in our sample.ConclusionsThe Health and Wellbeing pathway was perceived as having a positive impact on mental health and could reduce the burden on therapeutic services. However, service- and individual-level barriers need to be addressed to enhance statutory and community support links, manage service users’ expectations, and improve accessibility for certain groups.

Enriching healthcare service quality by leveraging service experiences in Indian private hospitals: application of fuzzy-AHP approach

PurposeOver the years, despite the best efforts to evaluate service quality through multiple techniques, the connotation between service deliverance and consumer expectation remains sporadic. In the quest to quantify service quality from an innovative perspective, the current study has leveraged consumer-perceived experiences to unveil the novel intricacies of healthcare quality.Design/methodology/approachAnchoring on the dimensions of patient experience (PX), field data were collected from 244 patients at different private hospitals operating across India. Further, this study incorporated a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) to evaluate consumer preferences and prioritised the dimensions of PX in three categories of Indian hospitals, namely nursing homes (NHs), mid-tier corporate hospitals (MCHs) and top-tier corporate hospitals (TCHs).FindingsThe results establish a performance ranking by demonstrating that MCHs outperform the rest alternatives on the grounds of perceived experiences. Tukey's honestly significance difference (HSD) test was executed to confirm the heterogeneity among the participants' preferences across three different hospital categories. The results reveal that for most of the alternatives, the mean scores of the criterion were statistically significantly different.Originality/valueIn healthcare studies, PX dawned as an entity with an ability to propel healthcare quality in a better way than the classical techniques did. The study's findings present a comprehensive picture of a care delivery system by identifying relatively significant dimensions of PX, hence improving the quality quotients by adjusting healthcare offerings in alignment with consumer expectations and organisational strategies.

Social movements in the context of crisis: waste picker organizations as collaborative public partners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social movements are purposeful, organized groups of people addressing the creation and reproduction of inequality, rights and access issues, seeking to transform sectoral policies. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, social movements have been acting in articulation with government and private companies and through other actions formulated within their networks, as service deliverers to the poor and vulnerable populations most heavily affected, often filling a gap created by unfulfilled policies. Our research with waste picker organizations in Brazil illustrates how their struggle for recognition has taken action in this context. Academic and government documents, social media and online material (blogs, posts, websites, etc.) and virtual meetings inform this research. We found that multiple actors have contributed to mitigate the urgent needs of waste pickers during the pandemic, but that at the same time, pre-existing challenges in waste management and the lack of wide-ranging social and economic inclusion have been further intensified.

The collaborative role of blockchain, artificial intelligence, and industrial internet of things in digitalization of small and medium-size enterprises

Due to digitalization, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have significantly enhanced their efficiency and productivity in the past few years. The process to automate SME transaction execution is getting highly multifaceted as the number of stakeholders of SMEs is connecting, accessing, exchanging, adding, and changing the transactional executions. The balanced lifecycle of SMEs requires partnership exchanges, financial management, manufacturing, and productivity stabilities, along with privacy and security. Interoperability platform issue is another critical challenging aspect while designing and managing a secure distributed Peer-to-Peer industrial development environment for SMEs. However, till now, it is hard to maintain operations of SMEs' integrity, transparency, reliability, provenance, availability, and trustworthiness between two different enterprises due to the current nature of centralized server-based infrastructure. This paper bridges these problems and proposes a novel and secure framework with a standardized process hierarchy/lifecycle for distributed SMEs using collaborative techniques of blockchain, the internet of things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) with machine learning (ML). A blockchain with IoT-enabled permissionless network structure is designed called “B-SMEs” that provides solutions to cross-chain platforms. In this, B-SMEs address the lightweight stakeholder authentication problems as well. For that purpose, three different chain codes are deployed. It handles participating SMEs' registration, day-to-day information management and exchange between nodes, and analysis of partnership exchange-related transaction details before being preserved on the blockchain immutable storage. Whereas AI-enabled ML-based artificial neural networks are utilized, the aim is to handle and optimize day-to-day numbers of SME transactions; so that the proposed B-SMEs consume fewer resources in terms of computational power, network bandwidth, and preservation-related issues during the complete process of SMEs service deliverance. The simulation results present highlight the benefits of B-SMEs, increases the rate of ledger management and optimization while exchanging information between different chains, which is up to 17.3%, and reduces the consumption of the system’s computational resources down to 9.13%. Thus, only 14.11% and 7.9% of B-SME’s transactions use network bandwidth and storage capabilities compared to the current mechanism of SMEs, respectively.

Predator-prey traits and foraging habitat shape the diet of a common insectivorous bat

Individual and species traits may determine the functional relationships between predators and their prey, with clear consequences for the ecosystem services potentially associated with predation. Bats are well-known potential deliverers of ecosystem services in agroecosystems through predation of pest arthropods that may affect crop production. Here we test the role of individual and prey traits in shaping the dietary habits of the Savi's pipistrelle (Hypsugo savii), a common bat species that frequently occurs in agroecosystems across the Mediterranean area, assessing diet composition and trait-based biases through molecular tools and multivariate testing techniques. DNA metabarcoding identified 173 distinct prey taxa in bats sampled in the Vesuvius National Park (Southern Italy). The diet was strongly dominated by pest insects associated with agricultural areas, which covered 57% of the overall prey diversity, some representing major pests of high economic relevance. The multivariate analyses detected strong relationships between diet composition, sampling date, and individual bat body conditions. Larger bats consumed larger prey items, and prey consumed later in the season (August) were smaller than those eaten in early summer (July) and were typical of less natural habitats. Hypsugo savii is potentially an important pest suppressor in the agroecosystems of the Mediterranean region and the functional relationships between the traits of individual bats and their prey set the basis for a quantitative assessment of the associated ecosystem service. We also remark on the value of bat diet studies in aiding the surveillance of arthropod species relevant to agriculture, human health, and biodiversity conservation.

The Adopted Strategic Management Practices on Governance of LGAs in Tanzania

Purpose: Local Government Authorities are constantly implementing activities directed from central government by means of decentralization to enhance governance in resource allocation and service deliverance. This has made councils to engage in SMPs in order to continue and achieve their targeted goals. This study aims to explore Strategic Management Practices adopted by Local Government Authorities in Tanzania.
 Methodology: The study adopted diagnostic survey design by taking into account all steps involved in survey studies to obtain important data concerning Strategic Management Practices adopted in Local Government Authorities. Both simple and purposive sampling were employed to determine the study sample of 351 staff council who participated in implementation of Strategic Management Practices. Questionnaire, interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used to collect the information from the respondents. Descriptive analysis was used to compute frequencies and percentage, while content analysis was used to analyze the main themes from key informants. The study selected Mufindi District Council as a case study to explore the Strategic Management Practices adopted.
 Findings: Finding of the study found councils undertaking situational analysis, formulation of strategic plan and performance review. Furthermore, finding revealed that councils are equipped with different strategic models in developing strategic plan particularly SWOT analysis and balanced scorecard. It was further found that management, institutional and resource factors have significantly influenced the councils’ decision to adopt SMPs through strategic models.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends that successfully strategy implementation can be achieved when councils allocates all required resources with effective monitoring of the activities.

Effectiveness of Strategic Management Practices on Governance of Local Government Authorities in Tanzania

Purpose: Adoption of Strategic Management Practices play a significant role in improving governance of Local Government Authorities and enhances good service deliverance at grassroot level. The Local Government and Central Government have been working collating to ensure that staffs are committed to implement strategic management plan. The results of this study will help practitioners, policy maker’s government staff and appointed leaders to opt corrective decisions in formulation, implementation and evaluation of strategic plan of the council. This could result into achievement of the council goal and hence performance improvement.
 Methodology: The study used content analysis and non-parametric analysis to determine the significant changes in accountability and transparency before 2015 and during the 2015/2020. Mixed methods approach were adopted where simple random sampling was used to obtain sample size using Israel formula and purposive sampling was to obtain key informants for interview. Multiple methods were used to collect data and triangulate the information for reporting the findings of the cases obtained in the study area. Quantitative data were mainly collected through questionnaire from sample size of 351 respondents (85%), interview method used to collect data from 63 (15%) key informants and documentary review was used to triangulate and acknowledge the cases emerged from the study findings. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS v.20.
 Findings: Governance of Local Government Authority was measured by assessing accountability, strategic plan, implementation plan, monitoring and evaluation, specialization, work plan delivered, council chart, transparency and planning linked with and budgeting. It is recommended that trainings, implementation sensing, follow-ups, efficient working resulted to efficient Strategic Management Practices and achievement of council overall goal. The study experienced a significant improvement in both accountability and transparency in 2015-2020 implementation of strategic plans based on estimated budget by the Council.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommend that a written strategic plan should be referenced by staff in ensuring implementation of the assigned duties to achieve the stated objectives based on planned activities and resources allocated with maximum commitment to all departments.

The Future of INCOG (Is Now).

The Future of INCOG (Is Now).

The Impact of Perceived Organisational Support, Supervisor Support And Self-Efficacy on Transfer of Training among Public Service Officers

Transfer of training practice in the public sector is crucial to ensure service deliverables are always excellent. Return of investment, active learning, and applying new attitudes, skills, and knowledge from training can be rewarding for both parties. Despite training transfer being the most significant factor of training effectiveness, it has become one of the most critical challenges for an organization. However, a limited number of training transfer studies were conducted in Malaysia, particularly in public service. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the gaps in training transfer among public service officers. A cross-sectional study was conducted between April to May 2021 to examine the relationship between the variables. A total of 125 public service officers in Putrajaya were recruited. Findings revealed a significant relationship between supervisor support and self-efficacy with the transfer of training. Understanding these associations may help training policymakers to design strategies to enhance the quality of training.

Breaking institutional barriers to enhance women's participation in and benefit from the Peste des Petits Ruminants and Newcastle Disease vaccine value chains for Sembabule district of Uganda.

This paper describes the institutional context that shapes the visibility and positioning of women along the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) and Newcastle Disease (ND) vaccine value chains for Sembabule district of Uganda. It examines the institutional barriers and opportunities that affect women’s empowerment derived from inclusion of women in the decision-making processes along the livestock vaccine value chain (LVVC) and that can support viable women-centered and owned enterprises, at the vaccine development, delivery, distribution and use level. Qualitative data analysis tools such as focus group discussions, focus meals, jar voices and key informant interviews were used. Using outcome mapping, a stakeholder analysis of the critical partners in the PPR and ND value chain was done involving the regulators, vaccine manufacturers, importers, distributors, agrovets, public and private veterinary service deliverers, local leaders, women groups, and farmers. The study concluded that training related to gender equality and livestock vaccines, infrastructural and technical support to the poultry and goat women and men farmers and other chain actors are inadequate in themselves to increase vaccine adoption and improve livestock productivity in Sembabule district. Strategies that promote gender-transformative collaborative efforts among the LVVC actors and build viable gender-transformed women groups and networks are critical to increase women’s participation in and benefit from the livestock vaccine value chain.

A PUBLIC VALUE PERSPECTIVE ON DEVELOPING PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTS: PENANG MASS TRANSPORT

The effects on climate change and environment, sustainability in transportation should be the primary goal of every transportation systems. The city of Penang is failing to cope with the old transportation infrastructure due to the rapid economic growth and the boost of migration for work. The involvement of stakeholders in the deliverance of mass transport services is necessary to meet public needs. The findings from the case study reveal that Penang is in an acute need for a well-connected and robust sustainable transport system. The current structure of creating government policies is inadequate for the handling of the congestion along with policies it needs integration of the transport systems with rail systems. The authors propose that the adoption of a Public Value measurement framework can significantly improve the desired outcomes. The framework enables public managers to understand the needs of citizens and deliver a right balance of infrastructure development and amendments needed in policy that can help Penang achieve a value-based sustainable transportation system.

Organisational implementation climate in implementing internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy for depression

BackgroundInternet-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (iCBT) for depression have been implemented in routine care across Europe in varying ways, at various scales and with varying success. This study aimed to advance our understanding of organisational implementation climate from the perspectives of implementers and mental health service deliverers.MethodsQualitative and quantitative methods were combined to study the concept of organisational implementation climate in mental health care settings. Based on concept mapping, a qualitative workshop with implementers was used to conceptualise organisational implementation climate for optimizing iCBT use in routine practice. Service deliverers involved in the provision of iCBT were invited to participate in an explorative cross-sectional survey assessing levels of satisfaction and usability of iCBT, and organisational implementation climate in implementing iCBT. The two methods were applied independently to study viewpoints of implementers as well as service deliverers. Corresponding to the explorative nature of the study, inductive reasoning was applied to identify patterns and develop a reasonable explanation of the observations made. Correlative associations between satisfaction, usability and implementation climate were explored.ResultsSixteen implementers representing fourteen service delivery organisations across Europe participated in the workshop. The top-three characteristics of a supportive organisational implementation climate included: (1) clear roles and skills of implementers, (2) feasible implementation targets, and (3) a dedicated implementation team. The top-three tools for creating a supportive implementation climate included: (1) feedback on job performance, (2) progress monitoring in achieving implementation targets, and (3) guidelines for assessing the impact of iCBT. The survey (n=111) indicated that service providers generally regarded their organisational implementation climate as supportive in implementing iCBT services. Organisational implementation climate was weakly associated with perceived usability and moderately with satisfaction with iCBT services.ConclusionsOrganisational implementation climate is a relevant factor to implementers and service deliverers in implementing iCBT in routine care. It is not only an inherent characteristic of the context in which implementation takes place, it can also be shaped to improve implementation of iCBT services. Future research should further theorise organisational implementation climate and empirically validate the measurement instruments such as used in this study.

Modeling and Evaluation of Circular Layout Facility in Hospitals

Hospitals encompass an intricate infrastructure with a broad collection of practical units of medical forces. A fine planned facility layout planning is necessary for the smooth performance, in addition, to affording protected and suitable services to patients at the exact point in time. The paper proposed an optimized new facility unidirectional circular pathway of patient movement for achieving better health outcomes. The proposed layout would effectively avoid face-to-face contact of arriving and leaving patients inside a hospital, thus maintaining social distancing to avoid the spread of diseases or infection and hurry up the service deliverance method. A qualitative study was conducted for observing various movements of patients and health service providers inside existing hospital layouts, and semi-structural interviews were conducted to identify various issues of the existing infrastructural layouts inside hospital settings. The performance metrics considered included time, the distance between patients at various interaction points, and the capacity of rooms. The proposed layout was compared with the spring layout and random layout to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed system. This circular design proves to be an extremely suggested design to ensure social distancing in a pandemic or during the spread of infectious diseases.

An Evolving Model of Best Practice in a Community Physical Activity Program: A Case Study of "Active Herts".

Community-based physical activity programs typically evolve to respond to local conditions and feedback from stakeholders. Process evaluations are essential for capturing how programs are implemented, yet often fail to capture delivery evolution over time, meaning missed opportunities for capturing lessons learned. This research paper reports on a staged approach to a process evaluation undertaken within a community-based UK 12-month physical activity program that aimed to capture change and adaptation to program implementation. Twenty-five one-to-one interviews and 12 focus groups took place over the 3years of program delivery. Participants included program participants, management, and service deliverers. Program adaptations that were captured through the ongoing process evaluation included changes to the design of promotional material, program delivery content, ongoing training in behavior change, and the addition of regular participant community events. The authors address how these strands evolved over program delivery, and how the process evaluation was able to capture them. The pragmatic evaluation approach enabled changes in response to the local context, as well as improvements in the program to be captured in a timely manner, allowing the delivery to be responsive and the evaluation flexible.

Trends and Directions of Financial Technology (Fintech) in Society and Environment: A Bibliometric Study

The contemporary innovations in financial technology (fintech) serve society with an environmentally friendly atmosphere. Fintech covers an enormous range of activities from data security to financial service deliverables that enable the companies to automate their existing business structure and introduce innovative products and services. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for scholars and professionals to identify the future trends and directions of the topic. This is why the present study conducted a bibliometric analysis in social, environmental, and computer sciences fields to analyse the implementation of environment-friendly computer applications to benefit societal growth and well-being. We have used the ‘bibliometrix 3.0’ package of the r-program to analyse the core aspects of fintech systematically. The study suggests that ‘ACM International Conference Proceedings’ is the core source of published fintech literature. China leads in both multiple and single country production of fintech publications. Bina Nusantara University is the most relevant affiliation. Arner and Buckley provide impactful fintech literature. In the conceptual framework, we analyse relationships between different topics of fintech and address dynamic research streams and themes. These research streams and themes highlight the future directions and core topics of fintech. The study deploys a co-occurrence network to differentiate the entire fintech literature into three research streams. These research streams are related to ‘cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, financial technology’, ‘financial industry stability, service, innovation, regulatory technology (regtech)’, and ‘machine learning and deep learning innovations’. The study deploys a thematic map to identify basic, emerging, dropping, isolated, and motor themes based on centrality and density. These various themes and streams are designed to lead the researchers, academicians, policymakers, and practitioners to narrow, distinctive, and significant topics.