Treat him as a normal baby: paediatrician's framing of parental responsibility as advice in the management of a genetic condition

Oral Presentation - Parallel Session 2: 2E Risk and Uncertainty/Ethics: no. 2E.4Parental responsibility in the management of genetic conditions has been the focus of both family-oriented interview-based research (e.g. Arribas-Ayllon et al. 2008; 2011) as well as real-life face-to-face genetic counselling research (Sarangi fc; Thomassen and Sarangi 2012). The current paper is an attempt to contribute to the latter tradition involving paediatricians and parents where parental responsibility is constitutive of professional advice. The genetic condition in question is G6PD deficiency (commonly known as favism), a mild hereditary disorder prevalent in Asia (Zayts and Sarangi 2013). We draw on 18 consultations in a maternal unit in Hong Kong (recruitment ongoing) where paediatricians communicate with mothers of newborns diagnosed with G6PD. We employ theme-oriented discourse analysis – comprising activity analysis and accounts analysis (Sarangi 2010) – to examine how the paediatricians frame their advice-giving trajectories – on to which elements of parental responsibility (in terms of future actions and moral selves) can be mapped. We show how 'causal responsibility' (Sarangi, fc) that concerns potential consequences of the mothers' actions in managing the condition emerges as a dominant thread in our data corpus. 'Causal [parental] responsibility' is embedded in the paediatrician's advice-giving trajectories which include, among other things, how to 'treat' these children, ranging from safeguards against certain medications and food to prevention of negative physiological scenarios (such as an acute hemolytic reaction). We examine closely the attendant discourse devices through which parental responsibility is framed, e.g., modalisation, contrast, character/event work. We conclude that, in terms of temporality, 'causal [parental] responsibility' is 'forward-looking' as the mothers' responsible actions can normalise the child’s immediate and future wellbeing.postprin

Methods Used in Public Policy Decision Making by County Managers in North Carolina

Researchers have examined ways in which policy makers develop their decisions. The literature has not explored, however, the methodologies used by county managers to arrive at decisions, or whether they consider the medium- and long-term policy implications, or second and third order effects, of those decisions. The purpose of this study was to identify the methodologies and decision-making processes used by county managers in North Carolina. The theoretical framework was Lindblom\u27s theory of incrementalism in decision making. Data for this phenomenological study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 purposefully selected county managers, and were coded and categorized to identify themes and patterns. Results indicated that county managers tended to rely on multiple methodologies, rather than one consistent methodology, when deciding public policy issues, and that they overwhelmingly considered the second and third order effects of their decisions on public policy outcomes. The implications for positive social change include informing country managers and the public about policy decisions and their effects on the long-term well-being of their local community

CSR communication : a study of multinational mining companies in Southern Ghana

In recent years, there has been significant interest in communication on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Tehemar, 2012; Bortree, 2014). Yet, it is impractical to assume a onesize- fits-all definition for CSR (Crane and Matten, 2007; Walter, 2014). Therefore, this becomes an important area for research as CSR communications play a vital role in any CSR strategy in the business world, more especially in Ghana. Consequently, a good CSR communication can address the increasing cynicism about CSR when it is done effectively (Du et al., 2010; Kim and Ferguson, 2014). While a body of research exists about CSR communication at a theoretical level (Brugger, 2010; Schmeltz, 2012), there is a lack of empirical research investigating the topic in a particular policy and cultural content (Emel et al., 2012). The aim of this study was to address the limited research on CSR communication in Ghana. It empirically investigated whether the CSR dimensions (Triple Bottom Line) and effective CSR message components are positively linked with CSR stakeholder’ approval. The effects of individual characteristics including education and gender were also tested on the relationships. The study integrates insights from stakeholder theory (Vaaland et al., 2008; Wang, 2008) supported by both legitimacy theory (Perk et al., 2013) and institutional theory (Suddaby, 2013) to explain the planned base for CSR communication. A cross-sectional survey with 817 responses was used. This consisted of government-local-authority officials, mining company employees and host community officials from multinational mining companies (AngloGold Ashanti Limited, Ghana Bauxite Company Limited and Ghana Manganese Company Limited) operating in areas of southern Ghana. A quantitative survey analysis was employed to test the relationships through multiple regression analysis. One of the contributions pertains to the introduction of constructs of social, environmental and economic bottom lines to form a new, easy-to-remember acronym, the ‘SEE’ element in the CSR message contents. The results also make a contribution to knowledge by indicating that CSR message dimensions positively affect the way stakeholders approve mining companies’ CSR communications. Additionally, there were clear education and gender differences amongst stakeholders in accepting and approving companies’ CSR messages in Ghana. Furthermore, divergent stakeholders prefer different CSR message channels, and that certain CSR message contents are important for a particular stakeholder group

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF DESERVEDNESS IN MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY DESIGN: A QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF STATE POLICY RESPONSES TO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

When the U.S Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that the federal government could not withhold Medicaid funding from states that did not expand Medicaid to low income, non-disabled adults under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid expansion became a state option. By the end of 2015, nineteen states had not expanded Medicaid, excluding about 2.5 million individuals from affordable health coverage and access to care. Prior research explored the reasons certain states expanded or did not expand Medicaid, but state decisions did not always result in one of these binary outcomes. There were four policy responses to the ACA’s Medicaid expansion: accepted expansion; accepted expansion with conditions; refused expansion but designed alternate expansion for a subset of the intended population; and refused expansion. Equally important, previous studies did not examine the political discourse leading up to a state’s Medicaid policy outcome. Incorporating the social construction of target populations approach, I conducted a qualitative content analysis of the political discourse in six states representing the four responses to: identify how government officials and non-governmental organizations constructed deservedness among Medicaid target populations; determine the extent to which the constructions of deservedness reflected, reinforced, or contested the four Medicaid eligibility designs; and analyze the extent to which Medicaid eligibility design created tiers of deservedness among different target populations. In addition to the social construction of target populations, the most common themes in the discourse for both supporters and opponents of expansion were the: economy, budget and financial sustainability; coverage and care; and state autonomy, capacity and innovation. Besides the discourse, other conditions connected to the Medicaid decision were political party and role of the Governor and a state’s policy legacy of prior Medicaid expansions

The BG News October 23, 2008

The BGSU campus student newspaper October 23, 2008. Volume 99 - Issue 41https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/8981/thumbnail.jp

Sustaining urban green spaces in Africa: a case study of Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

Urban green spaces are useful natural assets that support the development of cities in diverse ways. However, statistics show that these spaces are under severe threat with the situation in Africa been critical. This study sought to assess the governance of urban green spaces and develop sustainable strategies to address problems affecting the development of urban green spaces in the context of Africa. The case study design was used and Kumasi Metropolis (Ghana) was selected as the study area. Different qualitative research techniques were employed whilst representatives of green spaces organisations and the local people constituted the study population. The study revealed that there is poor state of urban green spaces in Kumasi with factors such as urbanisation, poor enforcement of development controls, conflicting land ownership rights on green spaces, and lack of priority to green spaces being among the major causes for that. This problem was further exacerbated by complexity in the governance of green spaces, poor regulation of power among stakeholders, lack of community participation, and lack of consensus in decisions on green spaces. Sustainable strategies recommended to address the situation include controlling encroachment of green spaces, prioritising green spaces and building stronger collaborative governance for green spaces

Philanthropy, policy, and politics : power and influence of health care nonprofit interest groups on the implementation of health care policy

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Nonprofit organizations that “speak for, act for, and look after the interests of their constituents when they interact with government are, by any definition of political science, interest groups.” Indiana’s recent implementation of the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 (HIP 2.0) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) opened a window of opportunity to closely examine the role of nonprofits in shaping the implementation of health care policy. Existing literature on health and human service nonprofit organizations did not examine in depth the role and influence of nonprofits as interest groups in the implementation of public policy. This study examines a deeper research question that was not given adequate attention under existing studies with a special focus on the health care policy field: whose interest do nonprofit organizations advance when they attempt to influence the implementation of public policy? To answer this question, it is critical to understand why nonprofits engage in the public policy process (motivation and values), the policy actions that nonprofits make during the implementation of the policy (how?), and the method by which nonprofits address or mitigate conflicts and contradictions between organizational interest and constituents’ interest (whose interest do they advance?). The main contribution of this study is that it sheds light on the implementation of the largest extension of domestic social welfare policy since the “War on Poverty” using Robert Alford’s theory of interest groups to examine the role of nonprofit organizations during the implementation of HIP 2.0 in Indiana. Given the complexity of the policy process, this study utilizes a qualitative methods approach to complement existing quantitative findings. Finally, this study provides a deeper examination of the relationships between nonprofits as actors within a policy field, accounts for the complexity of the policy and political environment, analyzes whether or not dominant interest groups truly advance the interest of their constituents, and provides additional insights into how nonprofits mitigate and prioritize competing interests

Chances for children’s rights NGOs to gain influence in the European Union

Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit möchte, aus theoretischer Sicht, Möglichkeiten für Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NROs) ihre Interessen auf Ebene der europäischen Union einzubringen und möglicherweise den policy-making Prozess zugunsten jener Interessen zu beeinflussen, ermitteln. Dabei wurde der Fokus auf die Tätigkeiten der europäischen NRO „Missing Children Europe“ (MCE) gelegt. Zunächst wurden mittels einer breit angelegten Literaturrecherche und -analyse jene theoretischen Konzepte der Politikwissenschaft detailliert erörtert, die den Rahmen der Ausgangsposition bilden. Dabei handelt es sich um Governance Theorien und darauf aufbauende Multi-level und European Governance Konzepte. Um günstige Lobbying-Phasen und potentielle Lobbying-Partner auf der Europäischen Ebene im „policy-making cycle“ zu ermitteln, wurde jener erläutert. Mit Lobbying-Theorien wurde ein theoretischer Grundstein für die Möglichkeiten von NROs, aktiv auf die politischen Vorgänge der Europäischen Union einzuwirken, gelegt. Des Weiteren wurden die für MCE essentiellen Lobbying-Partner auf Europäischer Ebene, die Europäische Kommission, das Europäische Parlament und der Rat der Europäischen Union ausführlich in ihrem Aufbau und ihren Funktionen beschrieben. Im selben Ausmaß wurde auch „Missing Children Europe“ und seine Mitglieder in den europäischen Mitgliedstaaten vorgestellt und ein Schwerpunkt auf die Anliegen, Ziele und Projekte der Organisation auf europäischer Ebene gelegt. Schließlich wurden Lobbying-Aktivitäten von MCE entlang des theoretischen Rahmens veranschaulicht. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass MCE mit den drei EU-Institutionen in einem Lobbying-Verhältnis steht, wobei ein Schwerpunkt auf der Zusammenarbeit mit der EU-Kommission zu erkennen ist. Lobbying wird generell in dem frühesten Stadium des policy-making Prozesses und den darin aktiven Akteuren eingesetzt. MCE stellt vor allem Expertenwissen zur Verfügung und ist an der Organisation von Expertentreffen oder Parlamentarischen Abenden beteiligt um das Phänomen von vermissten Kindern publik und sich für Lösungen stark zu machen. Lobbying-Erfolge zeigen sich zum Beispiel durch die Konsultierung von MCE bei der Erstellung von Kommissionsdokumenten wie der Mitteilung: „Dial 116 000: The hotline for missing children“ oder einer aktiven Kooperation mit den EU-Institutionen bezüglich der Expertenkonferenz „European responses to missing children“ 2011.The thesis seeks to identify, from a theoretical perspective, possibilities for NGOs to introduce their interests at the European Union level and probably influence the policy-making process in its favour. Thereby, the European NGO “Missing Children Europe” (MCE) and its activities were in the centre of attention. By means of a broad research and analyse of political science literature, theoretical concepts that frame the initial idea of the thesis were explicitly discussed, focusing on Governance theories followed by multi-level and European Governance concepts. In order to identify advantageous stages and prospective targets for lobbying, the policy-making cycle of the EU was described. By means of lobbying-theories a theoretical base of lobbying opportunities for NGOs was built. Furthermore the essential actors at the European Union level for MCE to lobby for, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union were presented in its constitutions and major functions. To the same extent, MCE and its members were introduced and described in its missions, aims and projects at the European level. Finally, lobbying activities of MCE were illustrated along the theoretical frame. The thesis showed, that MCE has built lobbying relations with the European institution while a major cooperation with the European Commission could be identified. Lobbying generally starts in the earliest stage possible of the policy-making process and is applied to the therein-involved actors. MCE mainly provides expertise and engages in the organisation of expert meetings or Parliamentary events to make the phenomenon of missing children public across Europe and agitate for solutions. Successful lobbying is for example visible within’ the consultation for Commissions documents as the Communication: “Dial 116 000: The hotline for missing children” or the cooperation with the EU-institutions in last years expert conference “European responses to missing children” in 2011

Green Urbanism in Contemporary Cities: A Socio-technical Transition Analysis

Green Urbanism evokes a wide range of ideas, images, and perceptions about how cities should be planned, developed, and/or governed to create a balance between human activities and the natural environment. In recent decades, Green Urbanism has attracted considerable research interest; however, these studies are mostly focused on defining a set of criteria for its application to cities based on the experiences of Western countries. Thus, there is a lack of adequate understanding of how Green Urbanism applies to the developing world. In addition, although the whats (criteria) of Green Urbanism are extensively discussed, the hows (transition processes) have received little treatment. Therefore, this study makes two major contributions to the existing literature on Green Urbanism. Firstly, it examines how different socio-economic contexts and local dynamics influence how Green Urbanism is conceived and applied. Secondly, it assesses the drivers of and barriers to green urban transitions, and what factors in cities provide potential sources of leverage for a transition towards Green Urbanism. It will be shown that these processes are not in general linear or predictable pathways of progress, but are complex and multifactorial. The cases of Freiburg (developed country context) and Curitiba (developing country) are analysed. Lessons from this analysis are applied to Accra-Ghana (developing country) to identify potential levers for stimulating transitions towards Green Urbanism in a developing world city. The study is based on a review of literature, questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews, GIS mapping, site observations, and a review of government policies. The factors that present opportunities and/or barriers to green urban transitions are analysed through the lens of relevant transition theory, in this case the Multi-level Perspective. Findings from the study show that Green Urbanism is not only about the physical greening of cities, but also about urban sustainability. Moreover, through the theoretical lens of the MLP, it was found that contextual socio-economic factors, known as landscape pressures, are important for creating windows of opportunity for green urban transitions to unfold. However, they must be effectively articulated to generate the needed responses from social actors, and also coalesce with developments at the niche level. The study notes two potential governance models for transition, namely top down and bottom up and debates the strengths and weaknesses of both. Given that cities are different in their social, economic, political, technological, and physical characteristics etc., the study recommends that Green Urbanism needs to be responsive to the specific requirements of its application domain.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Architecture & Built Environment, 201