Coalitions of Actors and Managerial Innovations in the Healthcare and Social Healthcare Sector

This paper studies the behavior of a variety of stakeholders around the adoption of managerial innovations desired by operational managers of health services institutions. We show that if the operational manager may cause the managerial innovation, the tool prospective is subject to power games around coalitions of actors. The study of several management situations in health services institutions enables us, using the game theory, to highlight the “winning”, “losing” and “uncertain” coalitions that can achieve operational management within the establishment to settle a managerial innovation.     

Uses of Management Control Tools in the Public Healthcare Sector

This study focuses on identifying the specific uses of management control tools in public organizations. This research is based on interviews with managers from 43 organizations in the healthcare sector. Data was analyzed and interpreted through the methodology proposed by Gioia et al. Organizational research methods, 16(1), 15-31, (2013). The different uses specified by managers of these organizations were compared with Henri’s work Accounting, organizations and society, 31(1), 77-103, (2006). Findings show matching elements, as well as differences in public sector specificities. This study ends with a discussion about the non-use of existing tools, the multi-uses of tools and the observable dichotomy between political and management uses.

     

The concept of the gene in psychiatric genetics and its consequences for the concept of mental illness

At this point in time, it is hard to say which consequences for the concept of mental illness result from modern genetics. Current research projects are trying to find significant statistical correlations between the diagnosis of a disease and a gene locus or an endophenotype. Up until now, there has not been any identification of alleles or mutations causing mental illness. In the meantime, the relations between the genetic basis and the disease are given the term “genetic vulnerability” as a placeholder; this concept simplifies the complex relations between the DNA and even the simplest cell functions observed in modern genetics. According to complex gene models like the systemic theory of DNA, it will not be possible to identify the genetic factors without a precise knowledge of the factors which modulate the gene expression. The significance of genetics as part of the concept of mental illness will not be able to be defined without further progress in developmental biology and psychology. Currently, psychological theory fails to acknowledge the complexity of the relationship between the DNA and the environment. Some starting points from which to develop such an understanding can be received from “developmental studies” and studies of the “psychophylogenesis”. An interdisciplinary concept of the biological basis of the psyche is needed.     

Great expectations

Nonprofit Organizations: Theory, Management, Policy, by Helmut K. Anheier. New York: Routledge, 2005. 416 pp., $140.00 cloth, $43.95 paper.     

Linking maternal psychopathology to children's excessive crying and sleeping problems in a large representative German sample—The mediating role of social isolation and bonding difficulties

Attaining self-regulation is a major developmental task in infancy, in which many children show transient difficulties. Persistent, clinically relevant difficulties in self-regulation include excessive crying or sleeping disorders. Many families with affected children are burdened with multiple psychosocial risk. This suggests that regulatory problems are best conceptualized as the maladaptive interplay of overly burdened parents and a dysfunctional parent–child interaction. The current study examines whether social isolation and bonding difficulties function as mediating mechanisms linking maternal psychopathology to (1) children's excessive crying and (2) sleeping problems. The sample comprised N = 6598 mothers (M = 31.51 years) of children between zero to three years of age (M = 14.08 months, 50.1% girls). In addition to socio demographic data, the written questionnaire included information on maternal depression/anxiety, isolation, bonding, and children's regulatory problems. Hypotheses were tested with a mediation model controlling for psychosocial risk and child characteristics. As expected, maternal symptoms of depression/anxiety were linked to infants‘ excessive crying and sleeping problems. Social isolation and bonding difficulties mediated this association for excessive crying as well as for sleeping problems, but social isolation was a single mediator for sleeping problems only. The findings provide important insights in the mediating pathways linking maternal psychopathology to children's regulatory problems.     

Unlicensed care homes in the United States: a clandestine sector of long-term care

Residential care facilities operating without a state license are known to house vulnerable adults. Such unlicensed care homes (UCHs) commonly operate illegally, making them difficult to investigate. We conducted an exploratory, multimethod qualitative study of UCHs, including 17 subject matter expert interviews and site visits to three states, including a total of 30 stakeholder interviews, to understand UCH operations, services provided, and residents served. Findings indicate that various vulnerable groups reside in UCHs; some UCHs offer unsafe living environments; and some residents are reportedly abused, neglected, and financially exploited. Regulations, policies, and practices that might influence UCH prevalence are discussed.     

Die <Emphasis Type="Italic">AfD </Emphasis>und die unteren Statuslagen. Eine Forschungsnotiz zu Holger Lengfelds Studie <Emphasis Type="Italic">Die „Alternative für Deutschland“: eine Partei für Modernisierungsverlierer?</Emphasis>

In the June 2017 issue of this Journal, Holger Lengfeld showed empirically that “losers of societal modernisation” do not have a stronger intention to vote for AfD than others. His analyses are based on survey data collected by infratest dimap in November 2016. The mass media reported extensively on the results of this study, however, without mentioning that the survey used by Lengfeld has some specific features. In the present research note, I investigate the intention to vote for AfD on the basis of data of the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), which were collected between April and September 2016. This survey is better suited to study the intention to vote for AfD. On the basis of this survey, I can show that “losers of societal modernisation” have a stronger intention to vote for AfD than people of higher/the high social strata.     

Zwischen Staatsbedürftigkeit und Marktaffinität. Beeinflussen Wohneigentum und Erbschaften sozialpolitische Präferenzen?

Despite considerable inequalities, the long period of prosperity has led to an increase of wealth and assets in broad parts of the population. The article builds on the thesis that this “collective upgrading” is accompanied by a change of preferences concerning the role of the state and the market in matters of social security. On the basis of this assumption, we ask whether there is a relationship between home ownership and the receipt of a larger inheritance/gift on the one hand, and social policy preferences on the other hand. In order to answer this question, we analyze—based on the German Socio-Economic Panel—group-specific preferences of taking responsibility for financial security in old age in Germany in 2002 as well as their change between 1997 and 2002. Our results not only show that homeowners and homebuyers are more sceptical towards state solutions and more affine towards market solutions in 2002 than tenants, but also that in the course of time the former more strongly tend towards market solutions than the latter. The same is valid for the difference between heirs/donees and non-heirs/non-donees. Therefore, it can be concluded that the increase of wealth and the privatisation of retirement provision were an essential precondition for an increasing scepticism towards governmental redistribution ambitions.