Learning Health Systems Can Promote and Sustain High-Value Occupational Therapy

In the current policy context, the occupational therapy profession must act to promote and sustain high-value care. Stakeholders have delineated efforts, such as defining and measuring high-quality care processes or promoting the adoption of evidence into practice, that can enhance the value of occupational therapy services. There is a growing recognition, however, that low-value care is the product of deficiencies within health care systems and is therefore most amenable to system-level solutions. To date, the specific nature of system-level changes capable of identifying and rectifying low-value occupational therapy has yet to be elucidated. In this “The Issue Is. . .” column, we introduce occupational therapy to the Learning Health System concept and its essential functions. Moreover, we discuss action steps for occupational therapy stakeholders to lay the foundation for Learning Health Systems in their own professional contexts. What This Article Adds: This article is the first to outline concrete action steps needed to transform occupational therapy practice contexts into Learning Health Systems. Such a transformation would represent a system-level change capable of fostering the delivery of high-value occupational therapy services to clients in a variety of practice settings.

Lingkungan Sebagai “Sang Liyan”

The current environmental crisis is a global problem that needs to be considered by various parties, including the church. As imago Dei man should take care of and preserve the earth according to God's purposes. But the reality is that humans use it and exploit nature for their own benefit. The erroneous paradigm of an environment in which man feels superior to other creations, giving rise to the uncontrolled exploitation of nature needs to be straightened out. One of them is by applying a new paradigm, namely the environment as the other. The environment as the other invites everyone to look at the environment as a neighbor who comes with his own uniqueness. Thus his presence encourages us to take responsibility for the safety and preservation of the environment, not instead of being masters of the environment. The Church becomes part of environmental conservation, this is displayed in concrete action by actively voicing an environmentally friendly lifestyle and simple life. The purpose of this paper is to understand Emmanuel Levinas' concept of thought about The Other and its implications in environmental conservation efforts. The research method used in this research is qualitative research using the library research. Keywords: Environment, The Other, imago Dei, ecological crisis, Environmental Conservation Abstrak: Krisis lingkungan dewasa ini menjadi masalah global yang perlu diperhatikan oleh berbagai pihak tak terkecuali gereja. Sebagai imago Dei seharusnya manusia menjaga dan memelihara bumi sesuai dengan maksud Allah. Namun kenyataannya manusia malah memanfaatkannya serta mengeksploitasi alam demi keuntungan sendiri. Paradigma yang keliru mengenai lingkungan dimana manusia merasa lebih superior dari ciptaan yang lain sehingga menimbulkan tindakan ekploitasi alam dengan tidak terkendali perlu diluruskan. Salah satunya dengan menerapkan paradigma baru yakni lingkungan sebagai sang liyan. Lingkungan sebagai sang liyan mengajak setiap orang untuk memandang lingkungan sebagai sesamanya yang hadir dengan keunikannya sendiri. Dengan demikian kehadirannya mendorong kita untuk bertanggung jawab atas keselamatan dan pelestarian lingkungan, bukan sebaliknya menjadi tuan atas lingkungan. Gereja menjadi bagian dalam pelestarian lingkungan, hal ini dinampakkan dalam tindakan nyata dengan aktif menyuarakan pola hidup yang ramah lingkungan dan berspiritualitas ugahari. Oleh karena itu tulisan ini bertujuan untuk memahami gagasan konsep pemikiran Emmanuel Levinas tentang Sang Liyan dan implikasinya dalam upaya pelestarian lingkungan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif dengan menggunakan pendekatan library research (study kepustakaan). Kata Kunci: Lingkungan, Sang Liyan, imago Dei, Krisis Ekologi, Pelesatrian Lingkungan

Whiteness from the top down: systemic change as antiracist action in LIS

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is two-fold. The first is to inform the readers of the racist origins of libraries in America. Readers will learn about historic instances of systemic racism in libraries and those that persist today. The second purpose is to give readers examples of antiracist actions they can take on an individual level, in concert with library administration, and on the institutional level.Design/methodology/approachThis paper gives an overview of systemic racism in librarianship. Part I outlines the history of libraries and their institutional oppression origins in America. Part II reviews some of the current racial issues in Libraries and Information Science (LIS). Part III gives the author's viewpoint on how to incorporate antiracist action within libraries and how to decenter whiteness at the national level.FindingsThe authors found that libraries were established on institutional oppression and systemic racism, which continue to this day to center whiteness and disadvantage BIPOC. Having said that, now is the time to make changes, decenter whiteness and remove systemic barriers through antiracist actions. These actions will help increase the number of BIPOC working in libraries and improve the retention and promotion of those BIPOC too. If the American Library Association (ALA) heeds this call to action, Critical Race Theory (CRT) will become part of the Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS), BIPOC will be better funded and supported, and the credentialing stigma will be removed.Originality/valueThis article highlights concrete action that should be taken beyond individual bias awareness and into systemic changes. It advocates for more critical awareness and daily antiracist action within the LIS field.

Risk and trust using mHealth application

<p>Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in active users of the mHealth application as a doctor’s teleconsultation transaction, drug purchases, and other test services, especially the COVID-19 test service on a drive-thru basis, has increased significantly. The trend of health app user behavior indicates the importance of health. To reveal this phenomenon, the approach used is descriptive-quantitative with SEM-PLS analysis method using SmartPLS software. This finding is to make an important contribution for stakeholders that the main consideration factors for consumers intending to use mHealth application are risk and trust. The consequences for high risk are not proportional to the trust in the application, but when the trust as a mediator can lead to a positive attitude from consumers on the risk that will be accepted as a concrete action to use it. In the end, consumers’ strong trust reflects their behavior towards their intention to use the mHealth application.</p>

Activities Under the RAISE Family Caregiving Act: Developing a National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers

This presentation describes the unique collaboration between The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Administration or Community Living (ACL), and the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) in supporting the RAISE Act Family Caregiver Resource and Dissemination Center, and the goals and activities of the RAISE Act Family Caregiving Advisory Council. Most importantly, she will present the the development of recommendations for a national strategy to support family caregivers involving all levels of government as well as private-sector actors. These recommendations fall into five primary areas, which Fox-Grage will discuss in detail. She will also discuss the Center’s development of family caregiving resources for state and federal policymakers and other stakeholders as well as next steps in turning the Council’s recommendations into concrete action.

Eudaimonism about Virtue and Qualified Agent Right Action: Some Prospects for Environmental Virtue Ethics

<p>In this thesis, I aim to show that virtue oriented approaches to environmental ethics are in a position to provide satisfying answers to two central ethical questions: “What kind of person should I be?”, and “What should I do?” I argue that two such approaches – Rosalind Hursthouse’s environmental virtue ethics and Philip Cafaro’s account of environmental vice – provide insights about how we ought to be with regard to the environment, in terms of character and attitudes. I then defend Hursthouse’s account of right action against several objections. First, I respond to the worry that a shortage of environmental exemplars might count against Hursthouse, by showing that non-virtuous agents can conceive of what to do by seeking to avoid acting from environmental vices. Second, I respond the worry that her account of right action fails to generate the right result for non-virtuous agents in some cases, by showing that such cases can be accounted for by appeal to the distinction between action guidance and action assessment. Third, I consider the worry that her theory will fail to provide concrete action guidance. Theories which seek to provide concrete action guidance in all contexts face serious problems of their own, I respond. Further, I maintain that Hursthouse is not ruled out from providing the sort of action guidance her critics are interested in.</p>

Eudaimonism about Virtue and Qualified Agent Right Action: Some Prospects for Environmental Virtue Ethics

<p>In this thesis, I aim to show that virtue oriented approaches to environmental ethics are in a position to provide satisfying answers to two central ethical questions: “What kind of person should I be?”, and “What should I do?” I argue that two such approaches – Rosalind Hursthouse’s environmental virtue ethics and Philip Cafaro’s account of environmental vice – provide insights about how we ought to be with regard to the environment, in terms of character and attitudes. I then defend Hursthouse’s account of right action against several objections. First, I respond to the worry that a shortage of environmental exemplars might count against Hursthouse, by showing that non-virtuous agents can conceive of what to do by seeking to avoid acting from environmental vices. Second, I respond the worry that her account of right action fails to generate the right result for non-virtuous agents in some cases, by showing that such cases can be accounted for by appeal to the distinction between action guidance and action assessment. Third, I consider the worry that her theory will fail to provide concrete action guidance. Theories which seek to provide concrete action guidance in all contexts face serious problems of their own, I respond. Further, I maintain that Hursthouse is not ruled out from providing the sort of action guidance her critics are interested in.</p>

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to change the world’s system of governance by introducing more justice in the distribution of material goods and services and protecting at the same time humankind’s natural foundations of existence from degradation. Although not binding in legal terms, the Agenda traces the lines for political action aiming to make social and economic rights a reality for everyone. International law descends from its high horse of intergovernmental relations to address the vital needs and interests of the common man or woman like poverty and hunger. In this sense, one can speak of a project aiming to establish a true international community whose guiding principle is equality within and among nations. Through its mechanism of monitoring and review the Agenda attempts to involve all societal forces for the objective of development. The great challenge is to translate the Agenda into concrete action, leaving the province of diplomatic statements.

Examining Resident Power Building in a Place-Based Initiative

Rates of diseases and disabilities that are otherwise preventable are higher in low-income communities and communities of color. These disparities are attributed, in large part, to a power imbalance between residents and decision makers, and restoring resident power is necessary to improve health outcomes. A key strategy in many health promotion programs, resident power building is a process by which residents gain necessary skills to improve social conditions through their involvement in community change work. This study is part of a larger evaluation of Building Healthy Communities, a ground-breaking 10-year, $1 billion place-based initiative funded by The California Endowment designed to reverse the historical impact of racial and economic discrimination by advancing statewide policy, changing the narrative around health, and transforming underserved communities to achieve health equity. This article presents the resident power framework and identifies five domains that contributed to resident power building: continuity, culture, context, concrete action, and capacity. Continuity and culture mattered most to residents’ ability to organize and to their ability to exercise their voice, respectively. While this study examined resident power building within the context of a large-scale place-based initiative, the domains that the authors identified are salient across health promotion programs that use power building as a key strategy to achieve program outcomes. The domains serve as opportunities to modify power-building strategies and allow program staff to allocate resources to specific activities to achieve program outcomes.

European Climate Law – real changes or postponed future?

One cannot question the scientific evidence of the deterioration of the planet’s environmental quality and the global climate emergency. The apparent growth of denialism in the climate debate does not bring anything positive. The European Green Deal (“EGD”) appeared as a consolidated strategy to fight climate change, but the world is not the same as it was in December 2019. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, there were doubts about the viability of such a powerful political and financial investment. As we try to deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and guide our economies to recovery, risks of diversion or misuse of these environmental funds seemed possible. Fortunately, environmental common sense seems to have prevailed. In an unforeseen but potentially happy marriage, the Recovery Plan for Europe and the EGD were united in their purposes and in their concrete action. The European Climate Law (“ECL”) is the first binding legal instrument born of the EGD. With a non-mishap-free preparation process, the final version provokes contradictory feelings. First, the perception that one could have gone further is inescapable. On the other hand, what is already acquired is relevant and Europe is unlikely to go back on this essential matter. There are innovations in the ECL that significantly altered the Commission’s original proposal, introducing new elements. But while some of these changes appear to have been forced by the new circumstances, others may be proof that Member States do not have the same predisposition to deal with the objectives of the EGD and the fight against climate change. The safest way to contradict this inclination is to strengthen the ECL as a key tool in the implementation of the European Union’s environmental and policy strategy.