Explore the vast range of titles available.

The increasing prevalence of preterm birth in the United States is a complex public health problem that requires multifaceted solutions. Preterm birth is a cluster of problems with a set of overlapping factors of influence. Its causes may include individual-level behavioral and psychosocial factors, sociodemographic and neighborhood characteristics, environmental exposure, medical conditions, infertility treatments, and biological factors. Many of these factors co-occur, particularly in those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. While advances in perinatal and neonatal care have improved survival for preterm infants, those infants who do survive have a greater risk than infants born at term for developmental disabilities, health problems, and poor growth. The birth of a preterm infant can also bring considerable emotional and economic costs to families and have implications for public-sector services, such as health insurance, educational, and other social support systems. Preterm Birth assesses the problem with respect to both its causes and outcomes. This book addresses the need for research involving clinical, basic, behavioral, and social science disciplines. By defining and addressing the health and economic consequences of premature birth, this book will be of particular interest to health care professionals, public health officials, policy makers, professional associations and clinical, basic, behavioral, and social science researchers.

Purpose of Review We review recent community interventions to promote mental health and social equity. We define community interventions as those that involve multi-sector partnerships, emphasize community members as integral to the intervention, and/or deliver services in community settings. We examine literature in seven topic areas: collaborative care, early psychosis, school-based interventions, homelessness, criminal justice, global mental health, and mental health promotion/prevention. We adapt the social-ecological model for health promotion and provide a framework for understanding the actions of community interventions. Recent Findings There are recent examples of effective interventions in each topic area. The majority of interventions focus on individual, family/interpersonal, and program/institutional social-ecological levels, with few intervening on whole communities or involving multiple non-healthcare sectors. Findings from many studies reinforce the interplay among mental health, interpersonal relationships, and social determinants of health. Summary There is evidence for the effectiveness of community interventions for improving mental health and some social outcomes across social-ecological levels. Studies indicate the importance of ongoing resources and training to maintain long-term outcomes, explicit attention to ethics and processes to foster equitable partnerships, and policy reform to support sustainable healthcare-community collaborations.

In recent years a set of new ‘postempiricist’ approaches to public policy, drawing on discursive analysis and participatory deliberative practices, have come to challenge the dominant technocratic, empiricist models in policy analysis. In this book, Frank Fischer brings together this work for the first time and critically examines its implications for the field of public policy studies. He describes the theoretical, methodological and political dimensions of this emerging approach to policy research. The book includes a discussion of the social construction of policy problems, the role of interpretation and narrative analysis in policy inquiry, the dialectics of policy argumentation, and the uses of participatory policy analysis. After an introductory chapter, ten further chapters are arranged in four parts: Part I, Public Policy and the Discursive Construction of Reality (two chapters), introduces the re-emergence of interest in ideas and discourse. It then turns to the postempiricist or constructionist view of social reality, presenting public policy as a discursive construct that turns on multiple interpretations. Part II, Public Policy as Discursive Politics (two chapters), examines more specifically the nature of discursive politics and discourse theory and illustrates through a particular disciplinary debate the theoretical, methodological, and political implications of such a conceptual reframing of policy inquiry. Part III, Discursive Policy Inquiry: Resituating Empirical Analysis (four chapters), offers a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and explores specific methodological perspectives pertinent to such an orientation, in particular the role of interpretation in policy analysis, narrative policy analysis, and the dialectics of policy argumentation. Part IV, Deliberative Governance (two chapters), discusses the participatory implications of such a method and the role of the policy analyst as facilitator of citizen deliberation .

This book draws on data from a mixed-method, multisite study to analyze how people with SMI become involved with the criminal legal system. Solution-oriented at its core, this book reviews necessary reforms and policy advances in the criminal legal system and the mental health crisis response system, advocating for a multisystem approach that will help individuals with mental illness embrace a life of recovery, hope, empowerment, and integration.

Summary Description This book is primarily a celebration of the qualitative work undertaken internationally by a number of experienced researchers. It also focuses on developing the use of qualitative research for health and rehabilitative practitioners by recognizing its value methodologically and empirically. We find that the very nature of qualitative research offers an array of opportunities for researchers in being able to understand the social world around us. Further, through experience and discussion, this book identifies the multifaceted use of qualitative methods in the healthcare and rehabilitative setting. This book touches on the role of the researcher, the participants involved, and the research environment. In short, we see how these three central elements can affect the nature of qualitative work in attempts to offer originality. This text speaks to a number of audiences. Students who are writing undergraduate dissertations and research proposals, they may find the myriad of examples stimulating and may support the rationale for methodological decisions in their own work. For academics, practitioners, and prospective qualitative researchers this book also aims to demonstrate an array of opportunism in the field of qualitative research and how they may resonate with arguments proffered. It is anticipated that readers will find this collection of qualitative examples not only useful for informing their own research, but we also hope to enlighten new discussions and arguments regarding both methodological and empirical use of qualitative work internationally. Features Encompasses the importance of qualitative research and how it can be used to facilitate healthcare and rehabilitation across a wide range of health conditions. Evaluates empirical data whilst critically applying it to contemporary practices. Provides readers with an overview with future directions and influence policy makers in order to develop practice.　 Focuses on an array of health conditions that can affect groups of the population, coincided with life issues and the care and family support received. Offers innovative methodological insights for prospective researchers in order to add to the existing evidence base. 　 1. Introduction. 2. Qualitative Research in Rehabilitation. 3. Children and Young Adults. 4. Life Issues. 5. Older People. 6. Caregivers and Family Support. 7. Policymakers. 'As an introduction to qualitative work in rehabilitation settings with a focus on the perspective of healthcare professionals, this book provides sufficient information and examples of qualitative research that has been conducted by experts in their respective fields. This book is worth reading and I recommend it. The qualitative examples are useful for helping to inform readers about their own research and for demonstrating the value of qualitative research both methodologically and empirically.' - Dominique Kinnett-Hopkins , Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Dr. Hayre is currently a lecturer in diagnostic radiography at the University of Suffolk. He has published both qualitative and quantitative refereed papers in the field of diagnostic radiography. He founded the Journal of Social Science & Allied Health Professions and remains Editor in Chief. He is currently writing a book chapter surrounding sustainable practices in medical imaging and is currently a visiting lecturer at the Odisee University in Brussels. Professor Muller is currently Editor of the CRC series with Professor Marcia Scherer on Rehabilitation Science in Practice. He was founder Editor of the Journal Aphasiology and is currently Editor in Chief of the Journal Disability and Rehabilitation. He has published over forty refereed papers and has been involved either as Series Editor, Editor or Author of over fifty books. He is a visiting Professor at the University of Suffolk, United Kingdom.

Purpose of Review The present review synthesizes recent literature on social determinants and mental health outcomes and provides recommendations for how to advance the field. We summarize current studies related to changes in the conceptualization of social determinants, how social determinants impact mental health, what we have learned from social determinant interventions, and new methods to collect, use, and analyze social determinant data. Recent Findings Recent research has increasingly focused on interactions between multiple social determinants, interventions to address upstream causes of mental health challenges, and use of simulation models to represent complex systems. However, methodological challenges and inconsistent findings prevent a definitive understanding of which social determinants should be addressed to improve mental health, and within what populations these interventions may be most effective. Summary Recent advances in strategies to collect, evaluate, and analyze social determinants suggest the potential to better appraise their impact and to implement relevant interventions.

Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tel Aviv--the global hubs of entrepreneurial activity--all bear the marks of government investment. Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short? Should the government be involved in such undertakings at all?Boulevard of Broken Dreamsis the first extensive look at the ways governments have supported entrepreneurs and venture capitalists across decades and continents. Josh Lerner, one of the foremost experts in the field, provides valuable insights into why some public initiatives work while others are hobbled by pitfalls, and he offers suggestions for how public ventures should be implemented in the future. Discussing the complex history of Silicon Valley and other pioneering centers of venture capital, Lerner uncovers the extent of government influence in prompting growth. He examines the public strategies used to advance new ventures, points to the challenges of these endeavors, and reveals the common flaws undermining far too many programs--poor design, a lack of understanding for the entrepreneurial process, and implementation problems. Lerner explains why governments cannot dictate how venture markets evolve, and why they must balance their positions as catalysts with an awareness of their limited ability to stimulate the entrepreneurial sector. As governments worldwide seek to spur economic growth in ever more aggressive ways,Boulevard of Broken Dreamsoffers an important caution. The book argues for a careful approach to government support of entrepreneurial activities, so that the mistakes of earlier efforts are not repeated.

The study of policy design has been of long-standing interest to policy scholars. Recent surveys of policy design scholarship acknowledge two main pathways along which it has developed; one in which the process of policy designing is emphasised and one in which the output of this policy designing process – for example, policy content – is emphasised. As part of a survey of extant research, this article discusses how scholars guided by different orientations to studying policy design are addressing and measuring common policy design concepts and themes, and offers future research opportunities. The article also provides a platform for considering how insights stemming from different orientations of policy design research can be integrated and mapped within the broader public policy process. Finally, the article raises the question of whether a framework that links different conceptualisations of policy design within the policy process might help to advance the field.

Reveals the often-untold stories of front-line public servants. Community health workers, elections officers, emergency managers, air traffic controllers, government meteorologists, US federal service photographers, and arts and cultural workers perform critical roles, though rarely receive public attention. Their stories told here help reveal this hidden world to provide a rare view of government service.