Feedback as a strategy for increasing the participation of consumers in the design, implementation, and evaluation of outpatient treatment programs for the chronic mentally disabled

Utilizing clients in decision-making, advocacy, and service delivery roles within the treatment environment is one means of providing the chronic mentally disabled with opportunities for participatory social roles, choice and control. However, client deficiencies of skill, experience, and motivation are suggested to be barriers to the successful accomplishment .of this purpose. Strategies are needed to overcome these barriers. Feedback has been shown to be an effective, low-cost tool for increasing accomplishment in work settings. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of feedback in increasing the independent participation of a mental health consumer advisory group. This was investigated utilizing a multiple baseline design across the three behaviors required to fulfill the group\u27s functions. A structured agenda, including all necessary tasks was also introduced for each of the three behaviors. While inclusion of a task as an agenda item was found to be sufficient to assure a high level of participation, consistency of this high level was increased with feedback. As the study progressed, the percentage of consumer generated tasks on the agenda increased. Results suggest that while this mental health consumer group initially lacked the skills and knowledge to specify the tasks required to fulfill its functions when the tasks were specified, the group generally performed them with a high level of independent participation. This study also suggests that, with experience, skills and knowledge increased resulting in increased consumer group independence in specifying the tasks required to structure the agenda and fulfill its roles

PUBLIC DELIBERATION'S ROLE IN INFORMING CITIZENS

Public Economics,

Civil society governance decisions: certification organization response to artisanal and small-scale gold mining

Why do global governance organizations enter some economic sectors but not others? A simple model of material incentives suggests that similar organizations should make similar choices. Yet in the empirical realm of jewelry industry governance, similar organizations diverge in their response to artisanal and small-scale gold mining: certification organizations Fairtrade International and the Alliance for Responsible Mining have entered the sector, while the Rainforest Alliance has stayed out. To explain this puzzle and its implications for human development, the project proceeds in two steps. First, it enriches the simple model by taking a discursive institutional approach that traces the process by which norm entrepreneurs, organizational cultures, and network effects shape the sector entry decisions of organizations. Drawing on interview, document, and hyperlink data, the project argues that the interaction of norm entrepreneurs and organizational culture, more than network effects, explains sector entry decisions in the gold governance case. Second, the project uses the details of the certification standards to conduct a decision analysis that estimates their impact on human development. The analysis finds that certification organizations are likely to increase a miner’s income by 41%-79% over the status quo, which may lift some, though not all, miners out of poverty. It further finds that degree of environmental protection as well as which organization is best at providing it depends on the gold price and the governance context. At prices below $26,666, the Alliance is best and competition creates better or equal outcomes than monopolies. At prices above$26,666, however, Fairtrade is best, and competition creates perverse incentives for pollution reduction. This surprising finding suggests that in the realm of global governance, there can be too much of a good thing. The project argues that governance without governments can foster human development, but that better outcomes are possible in the gold mining case. It concludes by recommending that certification organizations do three things to maximize their positive impacts: 1) prevent de-certification, 2) cooperate rather than compete, and 3) aim to be irrelevant, because mining should be a transitory, not permanent, developing country livelihood

A New American’s Perspective: Improving Public Engagement by Rededicating Our Society to Democratic Ideals

Paul Stewart's "Rebels All" workshop. On stage, L-R: Jeff Corfield, Mushroom, Peter Bate, Paul Lawler, SmokeyHoward, Dianne J.Date:1980-0

Using Toolkit Activities to Reduce Household Food Waste

Food waste is a significant problem with environmental, economic, social and ethical consequences. Wasting food wastes energy, water, fuel, and land that go into producing, packaging, and transporting food. Additionally, the agriculture-related release of pesticides and greenhouse gases into the air, soil and water makes wasting food an environmental hazard. As much as 40 percent of U.S. food produced for human consumption, which is more than 20 pounds per person per month valued at $165 billion annually, goes uneaten. Worldwide, onethird of food is wasted while the population continues to grow. There are many reasons why Americans throw away food in their households, making it challenging to change this behavior. But there are campaigns that are having success addressing the issue. The author’s contribution to that effort is educational toolkit activities that focus on raising people’s self-awareness with the goal of reducing household food waste