A right to a risk filled life : understanding and analysis of the risk discourse for consumers in mental health : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Policy at Massey University

This thesis documents the perspective and discourse of risk for eleven people who identify as someone with lived experiences of mental illness and mental health service use. The thesis followed a participatory methodology and involved consumers in both formulating and conducting the research. Following qualitative research methods some key findings included that there was a correlation between increased exposures to risk during increased acute unwellness; increased exposure to risk because of service use; that the people interviewed wished to have some control and self-responsibility in managing risks, that life was full of risk and that this was quite usual; and importantly, that risk was experienced as a stigmatizing phenomena for the participants. The stigma of risk was such that participants had to develop significant coping strategies to manage others perceptions and deal with the experience of having normal behaviours and emotions considered by others as abnormal and risky. The thesis makes recommendations for consumers, services and mental health service staff and for policy makers. Many of the recommendations consider how understandings of risk and approaches to risk management could alter or increase consumer safety and wellbeing. The thesis additionally includes an analysis of the participatory process that was followed with recommendations made encouraging an increased frequency and strengthened quality of consumer participation in research

Framework for better living with HIV in England

1 Introduction and overview 1.1 The goal, purpose and scope of the framework This framework is the first of its kind in the UK. It describes the shared aspirations of a group of agencies for the lives of people diagnosed with HIV in England. The overarching goal of the framework is: All people with HIV are enabled to have the maximum level of health, well-being, quality of life and social integration. This is no less than the majority of people in the country expect for themselves. However, numerous obstacles prevent people with HIV from achieving this goal. These obstacles are not about having the virus but about how people with the virus are treated. This overarching goal is the situation we want to bring about. We detail this goal in seventeen subsidiary goals (what we want to happen). Each of these has a number of related aims and target groups (what we want individuals and groups to do to bring about the goal). The framework starts with the individual and seeks to bring about the conditions most favourable to individual self-determination and self-empowerment. The purpose of the framework is to: • Promote and protect the rights and well-being of all people with HIV in England. • Maximise the capacity of individuals and groups of people with HIV to care for, advocate and represent themselves effectively. • Improve and protect access to appropriate, effective and sufficient information, social support and social care services. • Minimise social, economic, governmental and judicial change detrimental to the rights and well-being of people with HIV. • Build consensus among those with a responsibility for promoting the well-being and rights of people with HIV. • Provide benchmarks against which the activities of a range of key stakeholders can be assessed, critiqued and coordinated. The framework does not describe all the activities of the organisations represented in the Framework Development Group (see section 1.4). Nor can these organisations undertake all the interventions necessary within the framework. Rather, the framework seeks to mobilise and coordinate the actions of a broad range of individuals and groups, from people with HIV themselves to government ministers. The framework primarily seeks to benefit people with diagnosed HIV infection. It is concerned with the health and well-being of those diagnosed with HIV and not those with undiagnosed HIV or those who might become infected (HIV prevention).As we are concerned with the lives of people with HIV after diagnosis, this framework is not focused on increasing HIV testing or HIV diagnosis nor does it attend to the needs of the broader population affected by HIV except where they relate to people with diagnosed HIV

Optimal income taxation in the presence of tax evasion: Expected utility versus prospect theory

The predictions of expected utility theory (EUT) applied to tax evasion are flawed on two counts: (i) They are quantitatively in error by huge orders of magnitude. (ii) Higher taxation is predicted to lower evasion, which is at variance with the evidence. An emerging literature in behavioral economics, most notably based on prospect theory (PT), has shown that behavioral economics is much better at explaining tax evasion. We extend this literature to incorporate issues of optimal taxation. As a benchmark for a successful theory, we require that it should explain, jointly, the facts on the tax rate, tax gap and the level of government expenditure. We find that when taxpayers use EUT (respectively, PT) and the optimal tax is derived from a social welfare function that also uses EUT (respectively, PT), then, the calibration results are completely at odds with the facts. However, when taxpayers use PT but the social welfare function uses standard EUT, there is a very close match between the predictions and the facts. This has important implications for context dependent preferences but also for the newly emerging literature on liberalism versus paternalism in behavioral economics.Prospect theory; Expected utility theory; Tax evasion; Optimal taxation; Normative versus positive economics; Context dependent preferences; Liberalism; Paternalism

The growth of unsecured credit : are we better off?

Bankruptcy ; Credit ; Debt

Risk, Harm and Intervention: the case of child obesity

In this paper we aim to demonstrate the enormous ethical complexity that is prevalent in child obesity cases. This complexity, we argue, favors a cautious approach. Against those perhaps inclined to blame neglectful parents, we argue that laying the blame for child obesity at the feet of parents is simplistic once the broader context is taken into account. We also show that parents not only enjoy important relational prerogatives worth defending, but that children, too, are beneficiaries of that relationship in ways difficult to match elsewhere. Finally, against the backdrop of growing public concern and pressure to intervene earlier in the life cycle, we examine the perhaps unintended stigmatizing effects that labeling and intervention can have and consider a number of risks and potential harms occasioned by state interventions in these cases

Social Norms and Welfare State Dynamics

The paper analyses the interaction between economic incentives and work norms in the context of social insurance. If the work norm is endogenous in the sense that it is weaker when the population share of beneficiaries is higher, then voters will choose less generous bene.ts than otherwise. We also discuss welfare-state dynamics when there is a time lag in the adjustment of the norm in response to changes in this population share, and show how a temporary shift in the unemployment rate may cause persistence in the number of beneficiaries.welfare state, social norms, social insurance

Children of “Vulnerable Identity” Do They Have To Be Excluded? Some Reflections Based on Empirical Research

Childhood is a unique period of life, and it has a fundamental influence on human being’s process of development. Knowledge and experience gathered by a child has a great impact on his/her behaviour and relations with others. Identity(ies) of the child, especially its social aspect, is shaped through the acting process, in a specific social space. It is the key to understanding mechanisms taking place between an individual and society. Its form and shape are determined by a society as well as an individual depending on his/her position in the social structure. What are the commonalities and differences between the world of children of vulnerable identity and those who are brought up in “healthy” family systems? They form a separate social group and are present in various types of discourse. However, their social situation is different, much more difficult ‒ their life stories are complicated, and their firsthand experience is much bigger. What are their chances of being included in the mainstream? The purpose of the article is to find the answer to the questio

Broken Bonds: Understanding and Addressing the Needs of Children With Incarcerated Parents

Describes the shared characteristics of children with parents in prison, reviews current research on the emotional and behavioral challenges they face, and discusses what charities, practitioners, and policy makers can do to address those challenges

‘Everything takes too long and nobody is listening’: Developing theory to understand the impact of advice on stress and the ability to cope

Shrinking state spending in the UK has been accompanied by a profound restructuring of the welfare system, leading to financial insecurity for many people, culminating in extreme stress and serious deterioration of physical and mental health. Theory surrounding the impact of welfare advice on stress is lacking; this paper undertakes an in depth exploration of the experiences of stress among welfare advice seekers, considering these in light of existing substantive theories of stress and coping to generate new insight. A thematic analysis explored the experiences of stress in welfare advice seekers. Four overarching themes and twelve subthemes emerged. They are further understood utilising traditional theories of stress (Transactional Model of Stress and Coping and the Conservation of Resources theory), which then underpin the development of a ‘Stress Support Matrix’ and a holistic theory related specifically to welfare, stress and coping

A model of credit limits and bankruptcy with applications to welfare and indebtedness

This paper presents a macroeconomic model of unsecured consumer debt and default where credit conditions consist of pre-approved interest rates and borrowing limits, a feature of actual credit cards. All loans, irrespective of their size and risk, take place against the same type of credit line, and some borrowers are credit constrained. This type of situation is shown to arise in a free-entry competitive equilibrium if there are fixed costs in banking and the banks' decisions on interest rates and on credit limits are made separately. Numerical experiments are conducted to study, on one hand, the macroeconomic and welfare effects of the consumer bankruptcy code, and on the other hand, the consequences of various factors for both indebtedness and bankruptcy. Restricting bankruptcy filings - be it through a stricter Chapter 7 means testing or a longer period of credit exclusion - leads to sizable welfare loses. The recent rise in filing rates and debt is best explained by a combination of lower intermediation costs and more severe non-discretionary expenditures shocks. The endogenous response ofthe credit limit proves to be crucial for these findings Keywords; bankruptcy, unsecured credit, general equilibrium, default risk, credit limits