Management information systems for community based interventions to improve health::Qualitative study of stakeholder perspectives

Abstract Background Community based providers are well place to deliver behavioural interventions to improve health. Good project management and reliable outcome data are needed to efficiently deliver and evaluate such interventions, and Management information systems (MIS) can facilitate these processes. We explored stakeholders perspectives on the use of MIS in community based behavioural interventions. Methods Stakeholders, purposively selected to provide a range of MIS experience in the delivery of community based behavioural interventions to improve health (public health commissioners, intervention service managers, project officers, health researchers and MIS designers), were invited to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. We used a topic guide and encouraged stakeholders to reflect on their experiences.: Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using five steps of Framework analysis. We applied an agreed coding framework and completed the interviews when no new themes emerged. Results We interviewed 15 stakeholders. Key themes identified were: (i) MIS access; (ii) data and its function; (iii) MIS development and updating. Within these themes the different experiences, needs, use, training and expertise of stakeholders and the variation and potential of MIS were evidenced. Interviews advised the need to involve stakeholders in MIS design and development, build-in flexibility to accommodate MIS refinement and build on effective MIS. Conclusions Findings advised involving stakeholders, early in the design process. Designs should build on existing MIS of proven utility and ensure flexibility in the design, to incorporate adaptations and ongoing system development in response to early MIS use and evolving stakeholder needs

Determinants of Moral Judgments Regarding Budgetary Slack:An Experimental Examination of Pay Scheme and Personal Values

We study moral judgments regarding budgetary slack made by participants at the end of a participative budgeting experiment in which an expectation for a truthful budget was present. We find that participants who set budgets under a slackinducing pay scheme, and therefore built relatively high levels of budgetary slack, judged significant budgetary slack to be unethical on average, whereas participants who set budgets under a truth-inducing pay scheme did not. This suggests that the slack-inducing pay scheme generated a moral frame by setting economic self-interest against common social norms such as honesty or responsibility. We also find that participants who scored high in traditional values and empathy on a pre-experiment personality questionnaire (JPI-R) were more likely to judge significant budgetary slack to be unethical. These results suggest that financial incentives play a role in determining the moral frame of the budgeting setting and that personal values play a role in determining how individuals respond to that moral frame

Beyond adoption: A new framework for theorising and evaluating Non-adoption, Abandonment and challenges to Scale-up, Spread and Sustainability (NASSS) of health and care technologies

© 2017 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Background: Many promising technological innovations in health and social care are characterized by nonadoption or abandonment by individuals or by failed attempts to scale up locally, spread distantly, or sustain the innovation long term at the organization or system level. Objective: Our objective was to produce an evidence-based, theory-informed, and pragmatic framework to help predict and evaluate the success of a technology-supported health or social care program. Methods: The study had 2 parallel components: (1) secondary research (hermeneutic systematic review) to identify key domains, and (2) empirical case studies of technology implementation to explore, test, and refine these domains. We studied 6 technology-supported programs—video outpatient consultations, global positioning system tracking for cognitive impairment, pendant alarm services, remote biomarker monitoring for heart failure, care organizing software, and integrated case management via data sharing—using longitudinal ethnography and action research for up to 3 years across more than 20 organizations. Data were collected at micro level (individual technology users), meso level (organizational processes and systems), and macro level (national policy and wider context). Analysis and synthesis was aided by sociotechnically informed theories of individual, organizational, and system change. The draft framework was shared with colleagues who were introducing or evaluating other technology-supported health or care programs and refined in response to feedback. Results: The literature review identified 28 previous technology implementation frameworks, of which 14 had taken a dynamic systems approach (including 2 integrative reviews of previous work). Our empirical dataset consisted of over 400 hours of ethnographic observation, 165 semistructured interviews, and 200 documents. The final nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework included questions in 7 domains: the condition or illness, the technology, the value proposition, the adopter system (comprising professional staff, patient, and lay caregivers), the organization(s), the wider (institutional and societal) context, and the interaction and mutual adaptation between all these domains over time. Our empirical case studies raised a variety of challenges across all 7 domains, each classified as simple (straightforward, predictable, few components), complicated (multiple interacting components or issues), or complex (dynamic, unpredictable, not easily disaggregated into constituent components). Programs characterized by complicatedness proved difficult but not impossible to implement. Those characterized by complexity in multiple NASSS domains rarely, if ever, became mainstreamed. The framework showed promise when applied (both prospectively and retrospectively) to other programs.Peer reviewe

Massey University Communication Graduates: An Overview 2006 to 2017

Following the emergence of the first Bachelor of Communication (BC) graduates some 12 years ago, it became clear that good employment outcomes were available, but little has been known about what motivated graduates to enrol in the degree, what industries they were employed in, the nature of the work that they were doing, their job locations, salaries, or their tenure in positions. Similarly, we had little information on what skills graduates thought they had gained, skills they thought they lacked, career-related support they sought from the university, or their experience in further study. Accordingly, in 2018 we invited all BC graduates to respond to a survey on their employment and 398 (33%) did so. In respect of motivation to enrol, we learned that Massey Business School (MBS) majors were more oriented to enhancing job prospects, while College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CoHSS) majors sought broader skills and capability development. In motivational factors by gender, males were attracted to the degree first to gain employment, then for the intrinsic interest in the subject matter, then broad skill-building. Females were more strongly attracted by the degree’s intrinsic interest to them, followed by its good employment outcomes, then enhanced job prospects. We also learned that BC graduates are employed in a very diverse array of industries, though five industries account for up to three-quarters of their employment (Information, Media and Telecommunications; Professional, Scientific, Technical, Administrative and Support Services; Other Government Department; Education and Training; Arts, Recreation and Other Services). Some industry sector shift occurs as graduate experience increases. Graduates’ job titles were very diverse: however, breaking down job titles into specialist area and workplace role, we found certain specialist terms recurring, especially communication(s), marketing, digital, content, media, account and service(s). By far the most prevalent of graduates’ workplace roles was manager, with advisor and coordinator also both strongly represented. Graduates may enter positions with manager in the title by about year three and after year five about a third of graduates are so designated. We learned that graduates’ overall employment rate was 91% (84% full-time, 7% part-time). The full-time rate is much higher than usually found in other open-entry undergraduate degrees (often around 72% FT and 18% PT). Graduates’ consistent and stable pattern of full-time employment signals that over time demand for communication graduates has been exceeding supply. Predictably, new communication qualifications are currently emerging, such as at the University of Auckland (2017) and VUW and Canterbury University (2019). The median salary for graduates in their first three years is $51K-$60K, while for four-plus years the median rises to $61K-$70K. No substantial salary differences emerged by gender. Salaries show a steady upward trajectory over the first seven years and, while this continues into years 8 and 9, some graduates then exit this trend, earning a lesser amount, which may indicate their entering part-time work for family reasons. We learned that graduates are highly mobile across jobs, averaging just 1.5 years per position, though job tenure increases somewhat with years after completion. We report on research which suggests that movement across jobs, workplaces and industries may be associated with the building of personal and professional resilience and adaptability to change. Eighty per cent of graduates were positive about how the BC equipped them for the workplace. When asked what the BC had taught them, most strongly represented were personal and interpersonal skills, followed by what we called aspects of communication, then communication industry awareness. In the report we comment on how graduates’ report on skills learned may assist the university to reflect further on the graduate attributes that it seeks to create, and we use leadership as an instance of this. A little over half of respondents reported an absence of certain skills in their degree, though skills not learned (n=475) were fewer than skills learned (n=962). Skills not learned were especially pertaining to business and management, digital and other technology, social media, applied learning, and a collection of personal attributes and skills. When asked if they would study the same degree again, 80% of MBS graduates were likely or extremely likely to do so, while CoHSS graduates reported a 69% likelihood. While both these outcomes are regarded as good, we observe that the fifth most popular industry for BC graduates is Arts and Recreation. We comment on how everyday realities in the “gig economy” of somewhat precarious arts-related work may encourage some to reflect on the nature of their previous degree study. Nevertheless, MBS and CoHSS graduates showed little difference in their full-time employment outcomes: both are equally employed. When asked what Massey could do to assist transition into the workplace and when we assessed the responses both by campus/mode of prior study and by years after completion, graduates across campuses/study mode and across yearly cohorts were highly consistent in their belief that the university could do much more to provide internships, other forms of experiential learning, career advice and connections with industry and the community. They also noted the need for more emphasis on digital skills, but the overwhelming majority of comments comprised a call for the university to make a substantial turn towards students’ experiential learning and occupational relevance. Last, graduates showed a strong commitment to undertaking further study, a rising engagement being evident in that over a quarter of them were engaged in further study by years 2-3, half by years 6-7, and 70% by years 8-12. However, the very strong employment outcomes immediately post-degree and the increasing interest in further study in the following years provide good information on when exactly the university should pitch masters-level study to these graduates.falseWellingtonMassey Universit

A case study exploring the interconnections between literacy, employment and the library in Wanganui Prison's self-care units: The Wanganui adult literacy and employment project

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In their own words: Policy implications from the Wanganui adult literacy and employment research programme

falsePublishedNew ZealandNew Zealand Foundation for Research, Science an