Performance measurement: the new accountability

Over the years, "accountability" in the human services has focused upon issues such as the legal framework, organizational management, financial responsibility, political concerns, and client inputs and expectations. Within the past decade, the meaning of "accountability" has been extended to the more dynamic organizational functions of "efficiency" and " effectiveness." Efficiency and effectiveness increasingly must be put to the tests of performance measurement and outcome evaluation. Forces outside the social work profession, including, among others, federal expectations and initiatives and the increased implementation of the concept of managed care, will ensure that efficiency and effectiveness will be central and highlighted concerns far into the future. This "new accountability" is demanded by the stakeholders in the nonprofit sector and by federal requirements built into the planning, funding, and implementation processes for nonprofits and for-profits alike.     

Environmental Psychology and Sustainable Development: Expansion, Maturation, and Challenges

In this summary article, some advances of, the potential for, and challenges faced by environmental psychology as a contributor to sustainability science are outlined. In its first 40 years, it has evolved from a discipline primarily—but never solely—concerned with proximate architecture to one that adds concern with larger-scale issues, particularly sustainability. This growth of interest has in turn led to increased interest within it in public policy, technology, cooperation with other disciplines, multilevel analyses of problems, the ingestion of new ideas, and concern with the health of the biotic and ecological world. Some challenges are that the central proponents of "sustainability science" itself have not acknowledged environmental psychology as a potential contributor, the field is comparatively young, that it needs to explore biotic and ecological issues more, needs to help discriminate facts from nonfacts about environmental problems, and needs to warn sustainability science about the daunting task of overcoming environmental numbness and self-interest in individuals. Nevertheless, there is hope: sustainability scientists, including environmental psychologists, may be Adam Smith's "invisible hand."     

Concepts of Risk in Relation to Organizational Structure and Functioning within the Personal Social Services and Probation

The main argument of this paper is that personal social services, including probation, at both a policy and practice level are increasingly focused on issues of risk. We postulate that risk assessment, risk management, the monitoring of risk and risk-taking itself are rapidly becoming the dominant raison d'être of such agencies, thus supplanting ideologies of meeting need or welfare provision. In turn they have become key to priority setting and rationing, the basis for organizational rationales and structures, the central focus for professional activity and accountability, and measuring quality. Thus an analysis of risk as an organizing principle offers fundamental insights into the rapidly changing nature and organization of statutory social work and probation. There is very little literature that focuses on risk across the spectrum of services. Risk analysis, as such, is most developed in the criminal justice and child protection fields. However, the mental health literature, being centrally preoccupied with notions of dangerousness, is quickly adopting risk terminology. Apart from work on elder abuse, literature on child welfare and community care has been framed in terms of need, issues of risk only coming to the fore around potential admission to residential care. We contend that as issues of rationing and accountability become more dominant, so do concerns with risk. Thus we predict the extension of notions of risk as central organizing principles throughout the social services and probation.     

Developing and delivering new medical technologies: issues beyond access

The articles in this issue illuminate psychosocial issues raised by the development and delivery of new medical technologies. Five kinds of questions surface repeatedly: questions about a technology's purpose(s), the value judgments it presumes, the locus of its control, the external forces that drive it, and its long-term social risks. These questions take the discussion of new technologies beyond the challenge of improving access to their benefits. They also raise issues that will become increasingly important as the capabilities of medical technology expand. For example, they suggest research questions for three other emerging medical technologies: use of biosynthetic growth hormone to treat short stature in hormonally normal children, genetic tests on fetal cells from the circulating maternal blood, and development of clinically reliable biomarkers of the aging process. Part Three of this issue provides a theoretical basis for encouraging psychosocial perspectives in this area, by illustrating the central role that "robust," multifaceted analysis has come to play within the methods of bioethics.     

Ethics of research design

Discussions of ethical issues in research involving human subjects most usually provoke concerns about valid informed consent procedures. However, considering the recognized limitations of informed consent, arguably the way a study is designed is a more consequential concern for subject well‐being. This paper summarizes ethical issues in the design of clinical research, with reference to historic and current guidelines. Special attention is given to randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and psychiatric research.     

Practitioners' perceptions and decision‐making regarding child sexual exploitation – a qualitative vignette study

There has been intense controversy about the appropriate response to child sexual exploitation, with debates in the UK particularly hinging on the meaning of consent and coercion. For professionals with a duty to safeguard young people from child sexual exploitation, a key site of tension is how to avoid limiting young people's experience of agency without placing them at risk. Drawing on new qualitative research findings from a vignette study designed to trace professional perception and decision‐making, this paper argues that practitioners' perceptions regarding what counts as consent are refracted through conceptions of age and choice. However, many initial perceptions of agency and its links to age were modified through the interview process. This has implications for how supervision should operate. These topics raise issues of the need for practitioners to have nuanced conceptions of consent in the context of manipulation.     

“中国式慈善”的现状与未来——基于社会资本视角的分析

＂郭美美＂事件引发了公众对慈善的质疑和热议,将中国慈善推向了风口浪尖。从社会资本的角度分析,中国慈善面临公众慈善意识薄弱,慈善组织数量少、筹款能力弱、公信力较低,慈善立法滞后三大问题。未来中国慈善发展应提高全民慈善意识,积极构建慈善网络和提高慈善组织公信力。     

Accountability and the design of an anticorruption agency in a parliamentary democracy

This article explores the institutional requirements of accountability for an anticorruption agency in a parliamentary democracy. It suggests that approaching public accountability as ‘the satisfaction of legitimate expectations about the use of discretion’ is useful in understanding or designing an accountability regime for such a powerful agency requiring independence from the executive. The approach facilitates identification of a variety of stakeholders and a range of institutional means by which their legitimate expectations may be satisfied. Despite the recognition, in consequence, of multiple agents and channels of accountability, parliament must remain central to the accountability regime and can achieve this through an appropriately designed oversight committee. Examination of a selected Australian agency, the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission, provides support for these propositions. Particular controversies involving this agency are used to demonstrate the requirements of a parliamentary oversight committee, and that independent review of determinations of misconduct, as well as appropriately regulated public hearings where there is a strong public interest in matters under investigation, are important elements of public accountability for an anticorruption agency.     

生态文明的科学技术支撑——戴维·佩珀的生态马克思主义科技观阐释

生态文明问题是当代学术界关注的重要课题之一,而如何看待科学技术在生态文明中的地位和作用就是其中的一个重要内容。戴维·佩珀以马克思主义哲学为理论基础,在对当代资本主义发展进行深刻反思的过程中,围绕着生态文明的含义、生态文明与科学技术结合的必要性和可能性等问题进行了深入探讨。对佩珀的科学技术观的利弊得失的分析和阐释,对于我国以科技创新推进生态文明建设的实践具有借鉴价值。     

Opportunities and Challenges for Studying Disaster Survivors

Studying survivors of natural disasters and traumatic events provides a unique opportunity to address some of the important and difficult questions in psychology and other social sciences. However, such an opportunity does not come without challenges. Several methodological challenges to studying survivors of natural disasters are discussed, including recruiting participants, choosing appropriate procedures, and the safety of data collectors. Several ethical issues are also presented, such as the ability of participants to make decisions, the impact of participating, and the importance of informed consent. In addition, approaches are suggested that help to deal with these methodological and ethical challenges. We conclude that while attention must be focused on methodological and ethical considerations, research stemming from natural disasters should be employed to answer important basic and applied conceptual questions and address issues of practice and policy, while assuring that steps have been taken to protect participants and that the potential risks are minimal.     

Accountability in research using persons with mental illness

Although medical research involving the use of persons with mental illness is critically important, in order for the research to be ethical and legal there are certain considerations and restrictions which should be immediately readdressed in order to insure that the welfare of these vulnerable research subjects is protected, and their best interests are assured. A brief historical examination of medical research codes, guidelines, recommendations and Federal Regulations reveals the various considerations and restrictions on informed consent and accountability applicable to the use of persons with mental illness in medical research. Several concerns are raised about how these considerations and restrictions have been interpreted, and specific recommendations are offered to improve them immediately by means of representation from consumers and/or their families, and organizations, e.g., NAMI members.     

The issue of consent in research that administers drugs of addiction to addicted persons

In addiction, impaired control over drug use raises questions about the capacity of addicted persons to consent to participate in research studies in which they are given their drug of addiction. We review the case for doing such research, and the arguments that addiction does, and does not, prevent addicted persons from consenting to such research. We argue for a more nuanced view that acknowledges that while in some situations addiction impairs decision-making capacity, it does not eliminate such capacity. We conclude with some suggestions for recruiting addicted subjects and designing experiments in ways to obtain free and informed consent.     

The Issue of Consent in Research that Administers Drugs of Addiction to Addicted Persons

In addiction, impaired control over drug use raises questions about the capacity of addicted persons to consent to participate in research studies in which they are given their drug of addiction. We review the case for doing such research, and the arguments that addiction does, and does not, prevent addicted persons from consenting to such research. We argue for a more nuanced view that acknowledges that while in some situations addiction impairs decision-making capacity, it does not eliminate such capacity. We conclude with some suggestions for recruiting addicted subjects and designing experiments in ways to obtain free and informed consent.     

Re-examining Children's Consent to Medical Treatment

The question of consent to the medical treatment of children is looked at across the four disciplines of law, medicine, psychology and philosophy. The conclusion is reached that while there is a remarkable consensus on the issues considered to be important, none of the disciplines provides a complete answer to the problems involved. As an experiment, reference is made throughout the article to various literary conceptions of childhood. It is hoped that some of these may give cause for thought about how children are treated by the professions. The article was prepared for publication before release of the judgements of the High Court in Re Marion in May 1992 (renamed Secretary, Department of Health and Community Services v JWB and SMB on appeal). In the appeal a majority of the High Court followed the Full Court of the Family Court in Re Marion and confirmed that judicial consent is required for the medical treatment of children in some cases. The notion of treatment being therapeutic or non-therapeutic was not accepted, the majority preferring to rest judgement on assessments of the risks and gravity of consequences of a wrong decision (JWB and SMB 79,180 and 79,206–7). There are many other points of interest discussed by the High Court, for example, Brennan J's comments on the absurdities of the concept of substituted consent (79,196–7), Deane J's acceptance that the issues involved were moral and social and therefore beyond legal competence (79,208) and McHugh J's understanding of the sources of the parental power to consent (79,214). Although adding authority to some of the views expressed in the Full Court of the Family Court, the judgements of the High Court do not dispose of debate on the issues raised in the article.     

Informed consent for research on stored blood and tissue samples: a survey of institutional review board practices

Numerous position papers have outlined informed consent recommendations for the collection, storage, and future use of biological samples; however, there currently is no consensus regarding what kinds of information should be included in consent forms. This study aimed to determine whether institutional review boards (IRBs) vary in their informed consent requirements for research on stored biological samples, and whether any variation observed could be correlated to factors such as volume of work, IRB members' familiarity with ethical issues in genetic research, and IRBs' use of either of two policy guidelines as resources. A brief survey was mailed to all IRB chairpersons on a mailing list obtained from the Office for Human Research Protections. Survey questions included whether consent forms for the collection of biological samples for future use address each of six provisions recommended in current guidelines and position statements, and whether IRBs used the Office for Protection from Research Risks' 1993 Protecting Human Research Subjects: Institutional Review Board Guidebook, chapter 5 (hereinafter IRB Guidebook) or the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's 1999 Research Involving Human Biological Materials: Ethical Issues and Policy Guidance, Volume I (hereinafter Report) in their deliberations. Despite a low response rate (22%, 427 respondents), results indicate that IRB practices vary substantially. The degree to which the provisions were included in consent forms was found to correlate positively with IRBs that review a greater volume of protocols annually, those that use the National Bioethics Advisory Commission Report in their deliberations, and those that draw on both the Report and the IRB Guidebook.     

Five tumultuous years in Australian child protection: little progress

In an article published in 2002, one of the authors of this paper offered an analysis of the Australian child protection data from 1999 to 2000 and raised questions about the effectiveness of mandatory reporting. Recently, child protection data for 2003–2004 has been released. This provides an opportunity to re‐examine some child protection issues and the effectiveness of mandatory reporting 5 years on. These have been tumultuous years. Each state and territory has held major inquiries into this area of practice and, as a result, significant organizational changes have taken place and new resources are being made available. Nevertheless, questions about the effectiveness of child protection services remain. There is continuing doubt about the value of comprehensive reporting systems.     

The gender gap on public opinion towards genetically modified foods

Ever since genetically modified (GM) foods were introduced into the food supply in the 1990s they have provoked debate and concern. The number of GM foods approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and offered on supermarket shelves has steadily grown at the same time that public wariness about the safety of GM foods has increased. Studies within the scientific literature show a strikingly large gender gap in attitudes towards GM foods with women consistently more skeptical than men. However, there have been few efforts to understand the determinants of the gender gap on GM foods within the political science literature. This study employs a 2014 Pew Research Center survey on science issues to test several possible explanations for the gender gap in attitudes towards GM foods rooted in the different life experiences of women and men. The results show that while being a parent predicts more skeptical views about genetically modified foods overall it does not explain the gender gap in attitudes. In contrast, knowledge about science and having confidence in science do play a significant role in mediating the gender gap. By exploring the robust and pervasive gender gap on the issue of GM foods, this study sheds light on the fundamentally different ways men and women approach political issues.     

The Context for Political Corruption: A Cross‐National Analysis*

Objective. How do we explain variations across nations in the incidence of political corruption? Recent theoretical work locates the causes for corruption in a combination of institutional conditions: monopoly power, little accountability, and wide discretion. This focus on the form of political institutions clarifies the micro‐scale causes of political corruption, but it leaves unanswered questions about the macro‐scale causes of corruption. Methods. This article addresses these questions about the macro scale through an analysis of perceived levels of corruption across nations. Results. Our work identifies poverty, large populations, and small public sectors as contextual causes of corruption. Historically‐based differences in political cultures across broad geographical regions also affect the perceived incidence of corruption in nations. Conclusion. Further research should attempt to link micro‐ and macro‐scale causes together in a single, multi‐scalar model of corruption.     

天地之间：东汉官员的双重责任

自秦朝至清朝,朝廷任命的地方官员不仅对其上级负有义务,而且代表地方利益。这样的结构性特征被称为“双重责任”。对上负责可以在韦伯的官僚科层框架中得到理解,但无法解释官员对地方利益的维护。本文通过研究东汉时期地方官员的双重责任,分析官员如何维护地方利益。基于对东汉时期政府结构、政治思想和晋升制度的考查,本文提出三种解释：实际需求、儒家意识形态和声誉机制。此观点在实证中得到一定支持。运用东汉时期的官方档案和古代碑刻等原始资料,本文对韦伯有关中华帝国治理制度的分析提出质疑,并对存在了2000多年的“低效率”机制背后潜在的社会合理性提出了新的见解。