Handling stress during policy implementation: Developing a classification of “coping” by frontline workers based on a systematic review

Stress is endemic to street-level work. How frontline workers handle conflicting pressures and changes in their environment bears substantially on policy performance and the delivery of human services. ‘Coping’ is the current term for understanding frontline workers responses to stress. Coping in the field of policy implementation is a sensitizing concept, not yet harmonized with extensive coping literature in clinical psychology nor operationalized to enable its measurement of its prevalence in the context of policy implementation. This paper takes steps to close that gap. Our main objective is to define coping and build a classification model. To this end, we conduct a systematic review of the literature on coping during policy implementation. After discussing ways that technology and new forms of public administration may bear on coping, we build a classification model of coping during policy implementation, comprised of three main families of coping (negotiation, problem solving and opposition) and multiple ways of coping (such as blaming others, routinizing services and whistleblowing). Our ultimate goal is to operationalize coping in the context of frontline work so that it can advance our understanding of human service delivery and serve as a diagnostic tool for practitioners seeking to improve policy performance as everyday practice

Decision‐making at the frontline: exploring coping with moral conflicts during public service delivery

Moral conflicts, where a person is confronted with two or more clashing values, norms or responsibilities, are common in public service delivery. Choosing one is realized at the cost of the other(s). Frontline professionals, such as physicians and police officers, often experience clashes over the right thing to do as new policies, organisational rules, professional obligations and clients’ demands come together. Stress may be a consequence. This chapter aims to increase our understanding of moral conflicts and coping with stress in regard to public service delivery and explore how morality and coping strategies are interconnected in the policy context.<

Watched over or over-watched? Open street CCTV in Australia

Most developed countries, Australia included, are witnessing increased government and public concerns about crime and security. Amid these anxieties, closed circuit television (CCTV) systems to monitor public spaces are increasingly being touted as a solution to problems of crime and disorder. The city of Perth established Australia’s first open street closed circuit television system in July 1991. Subsequently, there has been significant expansion. At the end of 2002 Australia had 33 “open street” CCTV schemes. Based on site inspections, extensive reviews of documentation and interviews with 22 Australian administrators, this article discusses issues relating to system implementation, management and accountability.We also suggest ways relevant authorities might ensure that current and future schemes are appropriately audited and evaluated. We argue that rigorous independent assessment of both the intended and unintended consequences of open street CCTV is essential to ensure this measure is not deployed inappropriately. Finally, this article suggests any potential crime prevention benefits must be carefully weighed against the potential of CCTV to exacerbate social division and exclusion

A Program for At-Risk High School Students Informed by Evolutionary Science

Improving the academic performance of at-risk high school students has proven difficult, often calling for an extended day, extended school year, and other expensive measures. Here we report the results of a program for at-risk 9th and 10th graders in Binghamton, New York, called the Regents Academy that takes place during the normal school day and year. The design of the program is informed by the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation and learning, in general and for our species as a unique product of biocultural evolution. Not only did the Regents Academy students outperform their comparison group in a randomized control design, but they performed on a par with the average high school student in Binghamton on state-mandated exams. All students can benefit from the social environment provided for at-risk students at the Regents Academy, which is within the reach of most public school districts

Effects of closed circuit television surveillance on crime

Closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras serve many functions and are used in both public and private settings. The prevention of personal and property crime is among the primary objectives in public space, which is the main focus of this review. CCTV is viewed as a technique of “formal surveillance” and in this regard it is seen to enhance or take the place of security personnel. Results of this review indicate that CCTV has a modest but significant desirable effect on crime, is most effective in reducing crime in car parks, is most effective when targeted at vehicle crimes (largely a function of the successful car park schemes), and is more effective in reducing crime in the United Kingdom than in other countries. These results lend support for the continued use of CCTV to prevent crime in public space, but suggest that it be more narrowly targeted than its present use would indicate. Future CCTV schemes should employ high-quality evaluation designs with long follow-up periods

Coping during public service delivery: A conceptualization and systematic review of the literature

Frontline workers, such as teachers and social workers, often experience stress when delivering public services to clients, for instance because of high workloads. They adapt by coping, using such practices as breaking or bending rules for clients, or rationing services. Although coping is recognized as an important response to the problems of frontline work, the public administration field lacks a comprehensive view of coping. The first contribution of this article is therefore theoretical: conceptualizing coping during public service delivery and developing a coherent classification of coping. This is done via a systematic review of the literature from 1981 to 2014. The second contribution is empirical: via a systematic review of the literature from 1981–2014 this article provides a framework and analytical account of how coping during public service delivery has been studied since 1980. It highlights the importance of the type of profession (such as being a teacher or a police officer), the amount of workload, and the degree of discretion for understanding how frontline workers cope with stress. It also reveals that frontline workers often draw on the coping family “moving towards clients” revealing a strong tendency to provide meaningful public service to clients, even under stressful conditions. We conclude with an agenda for future studies, examining new theoretical, methodological and empirical opportunities to advance understanding of coping during public service delivery

Environmental interventions to reduce fear of crime: systematic review of effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: Fear of crime is associated with negative health and wellbeing outcomes, and may mediate some impacts of the built environment on public health. A range of environmental interventions have been hypothesized to reduce the fear of crime. METHODS: This review aimed to synthesize the literature on the effectiveness of interventions in the built environment to reduce the fear of crime. Systematic review methodology, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidance, was used. Studies of environmental interventions which reported a fear of crime outcome and used any prospective evaluation design (randomized controlled trial (RCT), trial or uncontrolled before-and-after study) were included. Eighteen databases were searched. The Hamilton tool was used to assess quality. A narrative synthesis of findings was undertaken. RESULTS: A total of 47 studies were included, 22 controlled and 25 uncontrolled, with total sample sizes ranging from n = 52 to approximately n = 23,000. Thirty-six studies were conducted in the UK, ten studies in the USA and one study in the Netherlands. The quality of the evidence overall is low. There are some indications that home security improvements and non-crime-related environmental improvements may be effective for some fear of crime outcomes. There is little evidence that the following reduce fear of crime: street lighting improvements, closed-circuit television (CCTV), multi-component environmental crime prevention programs or regeneration programs. CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence for the effectiveness of specific environmental interventions in reducing some indicators of fear of crime, but more attention to the context and possible confounders is needed in future evaluations of complex social interventions such as these

OBSTACLES TO SEEMINGLY SIMPLE REFORM: A CASE STUDY OF BAIL REFORM

This study involves analysis of the implementation of a new release on recognizance (ROR) policy governing misdemeanor cases in a small, mid- western county. The case study is interesting because the policy seems to be characterized by several factors that might lead to predictions of high compliance with policy intent. The findings, however, suggest that consid- erable slippage between intent and implementation occurred. It is argued that this slippage is the product of communication problems, the disposition of street-level implementors, and the failure to include implementors in decision making. These obstacles are then compounded by the lack of performance monitoring. The problems are viewed as interrelated and revolve around the top-down implementation strategy that failed to involve those responsible for implementation - the street-level implementors. Copyright 1990 by The Policy Studies Organization.