Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Strategies Of Policy Advocacy Organizations And Their Theoretical Affinities: Evidence From Q-Methodology, Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Policy advocacy is an increasingly important function for many nonprofit organizations, yet their advocacy activities have largely escaped theoretical grounding. The literature on nonprofits has described how they engage in policy advocacy, without linking them to theories of policy change. The policy studies literature, on the other hand, has explained how various forms of influence result in policy change, but has largely ignored organizational perspectives on those processes. These two literatures remain largely disconnected. Drawing upon interviews with a purposive sample of policy advocacy directors at 31 nonprofit organizations, this study applies Q-methodology to identify and describe six distinct policy …

Employability In A Global Context: Evolving Policy And Practice In Employability, Work Integrated Learning, And Career Development Learning, Martin Smith, Kenton Bell, Dawn Bennett, Alan Mcalpine

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This research project was activated to explore trends emerging in the intersecting domains of employability, work-integrated learning, and career development learning. In late 2015, researchers, academics, and career practitioners from Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada gathered to attend an Employability Masterclass at the University of Wollongong. Attendees explored questions around employability in vocationally specific and non-vocationally specific degrees. The language and conversations highlighted the influence of global contexts on strategies and practices in transnational settings-specifically, how employability is defined and supported across the breadth of university activity.

Policy Translation For Early Childhood Education And Care: The Growing Up In New Zealand Approach, Amy L. Bird, Polly E. Atatoa Carr, Elaine Reese, Susan Morton

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Longitudinal cohort studies have significant potential to inform policy across a range of child and family areas, including early childhood education and care. Here we describe the relationship between policy-makers and New Zealand’s contemporary pre-birth cohort study. We outline a model for policy interaction that highlights the relationship between Growing Up and policy across study design, implementation and analysis. We then describe key policy-relevant questions in the early childhood education and care area that Growing Up has addressed when children were age 2. We used parent-report data for 6242 children to consider: whether socio-economic factors and ethnicity are related to …

A Commentary On Ritual And The Production Of Crime Control Policy In New Zealand, Juan M. Tauri

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This commentary highlights the way(s) that ritual plays a significant role in the development of crime control policy in New Zealand. The actions of New Zealand's crime control policy sector is chosen as the focus for the commentary because of its ability to significantly impact individuals and communities through its close relationship with Cabinet, the development and implementation of legislation, and access to significant financial resources. A further motivation is the authors' desire to demystify the heavily ritualised, mythological context that surrounds the policy process and that aids in screening their work from critical scrutiny. The importance of ritual in …

Perceptions Of Consent In Adult Male Rape: Evidence-Based And Inclusive Policy Making, Natalia K. Hanley, Philip Rumney

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Interest in evidence-based policy making in the UK and elsewhere has been documented over many years. There has also been much attention given to the issue of sexual violence from policy makers. Virtually all of this attention has been gendered in the sense that it has focused on female victims and male perpetrators. Given the gendered nature of rape, this is hardly surprising; however, to say that sexual violence and victimisation is a gendered phenomenon is not to suggest that males are invulnerable to sexual violation. Indeed, the empirical data makes clear that 'each and every body is permeable and …

Which Public And Why Deliberate? - A Scoping Review Of Public Deliberation In Public Health And Health Policy Research, Christopher J. Degeling, Stacy M. Carter, Lucie Rychetnik

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Deliberative methods are of increasing interest to public health researchers and policymakers. We systematically searched the peer-reviewed literature to identify public health and health policy research involving deliberative methods and report how deliberative methods have been used. We applied a taxonomy developed with reference to health policy and science and technology studies literatures to distinguish how deliberative methods engage different publics: citizens (ordinary people who are unfamiliar with the issues), consumers (those with relevant personal experience e.g. of illness) and advocates (those with technical expertise or partisan interests). We searched four databases for empirical studies in English published 1996-2013. This …

Policy Capacity Is Necessary But Not Sufficient: Comment On "Health Reform Requires Policy Capacity", Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Policy capacity focuses on the managerial and organizational abilities to inform policy decisions with sound research and analysis, and facilitate policy implementation with operational efficiency. It stems from a view of the policy process that is rational and positivistic, in which optimal policy choices can be identified, selected, and implemented with objectivity. By itself, however, policy capacity neglects the political aspects of policy-making that can dominate the process, even in health policies. These technical capabilities are certainly needed to advance reforms in health policies, but they are not sufficient. Instead, they must be complemented with public engagement and policy advocacy …

Ethics And Health Promotion: Research, Theory, Policy And Practice, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Stacy M. Carter

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This special issue of the HPJA deals with ethics and health promotion. The accompanying editorial focuses particularly on Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval for health promotion research, evaluation and quality assurance (QA), based on the first three papers in this issue. In this brief editorial, we introduce the remaining papers, noting some common threads that are woven through the papers.

Density Of Outdoor Food And Beverage Advertising Around Schools In Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) And Manila (The Philippines) And Implications For Policy, Bridget P. Kelly, Lesley King, Batjargal Jamiyan, Nyamragchaa Chimedtseren, Bolorchimeg Bold, Victoria M. Medina, Sarah J. De Los Reyes, Nichel V. Marquez, Anna Christine P. Rome, Ariane Margareth O. Cabanes, John Juliard Go, Tsogolmaa Bayandorj, Marie Clem B. Carlos, Cherian Varghese

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Children’s exposure to unhealthy food marketing is recognised by leading international health organisations as a probable causal factor for obesity. Outdoor advertising near schools embeds commercial food messages into children’s everyday lives and acts as a cue for food purchases. This project aimed to describe food advertising in the area around schools in two demographically and culturally disparate cities in the Asia Pacific Region. Data on outdoor food advertising were collected from the area within 500 m of 30 primary schools in each of two cities: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and Manila, The Philippines. For each food advertisement, information was collected on: …

Transforming Shark Hazard Policy: Learning From Ocean-Users And Shark Encounter In Western Australia, Leah Maree Gibbs, Andrew T. Warren

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Killing sharks is a popular strategy for reducing risk for beach-goers and ocean-users. But the effectiveness of kill-based strategies is debated and the ecological and economic costs are high. In Western Australia the state government introduced new policy in 2012 in response to shark-related fatalities, to track, catch and destroy sharks deemed to pose an 'imminent threat' to beach-goers. This paper reports on a survey of Western Australia-based ocean-users, and pursues two aims: to develop an understanding of the experiences of ocean-users in encountering sharks; and to learn about the attitudes of ocean-users towards shark hazard management. The research finds …

Protocol For The Process Evaluation Of A Complex Intervention Designed To Increase The Use Of Research In Health Policy And Program Organisations (The Spirit Study), Abby Haynes, Sue Brennan, Stacy M. Carter, Denise O'Connor, Carmen Huckel Schneider, Tari Turner, Gisselle Gallego

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Process evaluation is vital for understanding how interventions function in different settings, including if and why they have different effects or do not work at all. This is particularly important in trials of complex interventions in `real world' organisational settings where causality is difficult to determine. Complexity presents challenges for process evaluation, and process evaluations that tackle complexity are rarely reported. This paper presents the detailed protocol for a process evaluation embedded in a randomised trial of a complex intervention known as SPIRIT (Supporting Policy In health with Research: an Intervention Trial). SPIRIT aims to build capacity for using …

Supporting Policy In Health With Research: An Intervention Trial (Spirit)-Protocol For A Stepped Wedge Trial, Anna Williamson, Sally Redman, Abby Haynes, Daniel Barker, Louisa R. Jorm, Sally Green, Fiona Blyth, Nicola Lewis, Anthony Shakeshaft, Catherine A. D'Este, Stacy M. Carter

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction Governments in different countries have committed to better use of evidence from research in policy. Although many programmes are directed at assisting agencies to better use research, there have been few tests of the effectiveness of such programmes. This paper describes the protocol for SPIRIT (Supporting Policy In health with Research: an Intervention Trial), a trial designed to test the effectiveness of a multifaceted programme to build organisational capacity for the use of research evidence in policy and programme development. The primary aim is to determine whether SPIRIT results in an increase in the extent to which research and …

Disinvestment Policy And The Public Funding Of Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Outcomes Of Deliberative Engagements With Three Key Stakeholder Groups, Katherine Hodgetts, Janet E. Hiller, Jackie M. Street, D Carter, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Amber M. Watt, John R. Moss, Adam Elshaug

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

Measures to improve the quality and sustainability of healthcare practice and provision have become a policy concern. In addition, the involvement of stakeholders in health policy decision-making has been advocated, as complex questions arise around the structure of funding arrangements in a context of limited resources. Using a case study of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), deliberative engagements with a range of stakeholder groups were held on the topic of how best to structure the distribution of Australian public funding in this domain.

Methods

Deliberative engagements were carried out with groups of ART consumers, clinicians and community members. The forums …

Australian Health Policy And End Of Life Care For People With Chronic Disease: An Analysis, Teresa Burgess, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Gregory Crawford, Justin J. Beilby

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

End of life care for people with advanced chronic disease is a growing international imperative, with the majority of deaths in the world now related to chronic disease. The provision of care that meets the needs of people with advanced chronic disease must be guided by appropriate policy. The key policy areas impacting directly on end of life care are related to chronic disease, palliative care and, increasingly, aged care.

This paper describes the outcomes of an audit of Australian chronic disease and end of life/palliative care policies. We identified that chronic disease health policies/strategies demonstrate a focus on prevention, …

Reaching 'An Audience That You Would Never Dream Of Speaking To': Influential Public Health Researchers' Views On The Role Of News Media In Influencing Policy And Public Understanding, Simon Chapman, Abby Haynes, Gemma Derrick, Heidi Sturk, Wayne Hall, Alexis B. St George

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

While governments and academic institutions urge researchers to engage with news media, traditional academic values of public disengagement have inhibited many from giving high priority to media activity. In this interview-based study, the authors report on the views about news media engagement and strategies used by 36 peer-voted leading Australian public health researchers in 6 fields. The authors consider their views about the role and importance of media in influencing policy, their reflections on effective or ineffective media communicators, and strategies used by these researchers about how to best retain their credibility and influence while engaging with the news media. …

The Use Of Citizens' Juries In Health Policy Decision-Making: A Systematic Review, Jackie M. Street, Katherine M. Duszynski, Stephanie Krawczyk, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Deliberative inclusive approaches, such as citizen juries, have been used to engage citizens on a range of issues in health care and public health. Researchers engaging with the public to inform policy and practice have adapted the citizen jury method in a variety of ways. The nature and impact of these adaptations has not been evaluated.

We systematically searched Medline (PubMED), CINAHL and Scopus databases to identify deliberative inclusive methods, particularly citizens' juries and their adaptations, deployed in health research. Identified studies were evaluated focussing on principles associated with deliberative democracy: inclusivity, deliberation and active citizenship. We examined overall process, …

Regulation Of Alcohol Advertising: Policy Options For Australia, Sandra C. Jones, Ross Gordon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

A systematic search of academic databases was conducted to identify all refereed papers published between 1990 and 2012 on the regulation of alcohol advertising in Australia and three comparison countries (New Zealand, Canada and the UK). This paper reviews the codes that apply to alcohol advertising in each of the four countries, research into the effectiveness of these codes, and the small body of research into consumer attitudes towards alcohol advertising regulation. This review adduces considerable evidence that alcohol advertising influences drinking behaviours, and that current regulatory systems based on co-regulation and voluntary regulation (as is the case in Australia) …

Monitoring Policy And Actions On Food Environments: Rationale And Outline Of The Informas Policy Engagement And Communication Strategies, H Brinsden, T Lobstein, J Landon, V Kraak, G Sacks, S Kumanyika, Boyd A. Swinburn, S Barquera, Sharon Friel, C Hawkes, Bridget Kelly, M L'Abbe, A Lee, J Ma, J Macmullen, S Mohan, C Monteiro, Bruce Neal, M Rayner, D Sanders, W Snowdon, S Vandevijvere, C Walker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) proposes to collect performance indicators on food policies, actions and environments related to obesity and non-communicable diseases. This paper reviews existing communications strategies used for performance indicators and proposes the approach to be taken for INFORMAS. Twenty-seven scoring and rating tools were identified in various fields of public health including alcohol, tobacco, physical activity, infant feeding and food environments. These were compared based on the types of indicators used and how they were quantified, scoring methods, presentation and the communication and reporting strategies used. There are …

Strategies Of Policy Advocacy Organizations, Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Public advocacy in policy making is a hallmark of democracy, and the academic literature is replete with its benefits. Normatively, it is prescribed to legitimize the processes of policy making, and enhance public commitment for policy choices. Descriptively, a growing body of empirical research concludes that it produces better policy outcomes, such as wider distributions of benefits and a more responsive government. While these benefits are impressive, they accrue to society and ignore the fact that advocates often engage policy processes to advance their own preferences. What is missing from the academic literature are the advocates' expected outcomes of their …

Policy Advocacy Organizations: A Framework Linking Theory And Practice, Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The practice of policy advocacy by organizations has outpaced its theoretical development. Yet the importance of a theoretical grounding for advocacy campaigns has increased with the need for accountability and an understanding of advocates' contributions to policy development. This article synthesizes practitioner and academic literature on policy advocacy and proposes a conceptual framework of policy advocacy inputs, activities, and outcomes. Five distinct advocacy strategies are hypothesized: enhancing a democratic environment, applying public pressure, influencing decision makers, direct reform, and implementation change. This framework provides guidelines for organizations to strategically engage policy processes, while directing a research agenda on advocacy organizations.

A Framework For Policy Advocacy, Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The practice of policy advocacy has outpaced its theoretical development. Yet the importance of a theoretical grounding for advocacy has increased as advocacy organizations demand measures of efficacy, and theories of policy development need to account for advocates' contributions to the process. This article begins to address these issues by developing a conceptual framework of policy advocacy inputs, activities, and outcomes. Logic models of practitioners' advocacy programs were first synthesized into a general model. Then academic theories from social sciences and especially policy studies were reviewed and applied to hypothesize links between advocacy inputs and activities, and between activities and …

Mental Illness In Policy Discourse: Locating The Criminal Justice System, Natalia K. Hanley, Stuart Ross

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Australian Political Science Association 2011 Conference, 26-28 September 2011, Canberra, Australia

The Early Years And Later Development: Evidence And Social Policy, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Keynote address at the Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference, 1 December 2011, Dublin, Ireland

Early Years Research And Policy, Edward Melhuish

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Presentation made at The 9th Meeting of the OECD Network on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) - "Family and Community Engagement", 4-5 July 2011, Paris, France.

Policy Research As Critical Praxis, Pauline M. Mcguirk

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In responding to Woods and Gardner's (2011) article, this piece positions policy research as a potentially rich site for critical praxis. It works through the possibilities around (i) negotiating the politics of policy research; (ii) the iterative and hybrid nature of policy research; and (iii) the internally differentiated nature of states. While remaining clear-eyed around the limits Woods and Gardner point to that shape collaborative work around policy, the article argues that policy research can be a site where the ethical and normative commitments of a critical agenda can be pursued. This requires that we recognise, first, policy research as …

An Exploration Of Evidence-Based Policy In Ireland: Health And Social Inclusion, Patricia Kennedy, Tomas De Brun, Mary O'Reilly-De Brun, Anne Macfarlane

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Ireland is a small country with a history of a social partnership approach to policy making. This paper considers how the ambition of government to utilise an evidence-based approach to policy making plays out against this partnership agenda. Drawing on the authors' experiences and personal reflections, the paper considers how these issues operate within a number of health and social inclusion policy areas, and it explores the role of stakeholders' expectations and involvement in generating evidence for policy.

Writing Social Determinants Into And Out Of Cancer Control: An Assessment Of Policy Practice, Stacy M. Carter, Claire Hooker, Heather M. Davey

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

A large literature concurs that social determinants of health (SDH) are demonstrable, important, and insufficiently attended to in policy and practice. A resulting priority for research should be to determine how the social determinants of health can best be addressed. In this paper we support the more effective transfer of social determinants research into policy by: (1) describing a qualitative analysis of thirty-two cancer control policy documents from six English-speaking OECD countries and two transnational organizations, demonstrating great variability in the treatment of social determinants in these policies; (2) critiquing these various policy practices in relation to their likely impact …

Writing The Risk Of Cancer: Cancer Risk In Public Policy, Claire Hooker, Stacy M. Carter, Heather M. Davey

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this paper we examine how cancer risk is written in cancer policy documents from the English speaking OECD nations. We offer an audit of the multiple ways in which cancer risk is conceptualised and presented in health policy and professional contexts with the long term aim of comparing this with lay conceptualisations. Our study sampled cancer policy documents produced by six nations, the World Health Organization and the International Union for Cancer Control since 2000 and analysed them iteratively through questions and codes. Whilst the documents contained a comprehensive range of concepts and locations for cancer risk, our analysis …

Influencing Policy And Practice Through Research On Early Childhood Education, Brenda Taggart, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Pam Sammons

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents the scientific evidence from one study that has informed Early Years policy in the U.K. It begins with a description of the policy context in the early 1990s and shows how research was used to inform a decade of policy innovation. There have been many studies of ways that research has informed practice but fewer on instances of research shaping policy. This paper is one step in that direction, as advocated by Whitty (2007) and Huw, Nutley and Smith (2001).

The Impact Of Pre-School On Children's Development: Using Research To Inform Policy, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Pam Sammons, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Presentation made at The Final Workshop for Evidence-based Policy Research in Education, 6-7 July 2006, London, United Kingdom