Ethnobotanical research under the COVID-19 pandemic: assessing a remote method for documenting Indigenous plant-related knowledge

Background: In response to the limitations on fieldwork imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we describe and assess a remote method for documenting plant-related knowledge, using smartphones that requires no in-person interaction between an on-site Indigenous community and off-site researchers. Methods: The on-site team identified the Indigenous taxa, created equivalents of photo vouchers, and recorded their names and uses as voice messages using a smartphone, thereby learning about plants from one another. They then sent the data using WhatsApp messages to the off-site team, who identified the botanical names of the taxa, and analyzed the plant-related knowledge. Results: We assess the remote, collaborative, and transdisciplinary quality of the method, factoring in communication, audiovisual documentation, species identification, knowledge exchange, logistics, and ethics. Despite the problems we experienced with identifying taxa growing in high forest and translation issues that complicated the documentation of plant uses, the method was on the whole a success. It allowed the on-site team to activate their passive knowledge of their language and share their knowledge with their relatives. The off-site team identified 57% of the recorded 54 taxa to species level and documented their names and uses as primary audio data, which keep on enhancing the quality of the documentation. Conclusions: Smartphones can be used as research tools during periods of restricted physical access, but also to extend research beyond the fleeting field visits and to elevate the empirical standard of ethnobotany when it comes to language data. We see such remote research solutions not as replacements for in-person collaborations, but as valid and dynamically evolving research methods in their own right. © 2023, Ilia State University, Institute of Botany, Department of Ethnobotany. All rights reserved.

The role of motivational interviewing training in supporting the practice of COVID-19 contact tracers

Purpose: To explore how motivational interviewing (MI) training might benefit the practice of COVID-19 contact tracers. Design/methodology/approach: Following co-production of a MI training package, with a United Kingdom (UK) track and trace organisation, training was delivered virtually to 101 volunteer participants involved in contact tracing. Data were captured via an online survey, incorporating questions from recognised measures of occupational self-efficacy and workplace wellbeing, prior to the training. Open data fields were used to gather feedback about participants' reasons for attending, and views about the training afterwards. Finding(s): Although the contact tracers reported high occupational self-efficacy and workplace wellbeing, both quantitative and qualitative data suggested participants saw practitioner value and utility in MI. Research limitations/implications: The sample was self-selecting and typically involved contact tracers from UK local authorities. The study did not measure impact on compliance with self-isolation guidance and/or providing details of contacts, and larger-scale research would be needed to establish this. This was not a pre-post-test evaluation study, and measures of occupational self-efficacy and workplace wellbeing were gathered to give insight into the sample and to test the feasibility of using this survey for a future large-scale study. The research was conducted during the height of the pandemic. While UK COVID-19 contact tracing services have since been reduced, there are potential implications for infection control more generally. Practical implications: MI is potentially a useful approach for enhancing contact tracing practice. However, implementation factors should be carefully considered, to ensure effective and sustainable practice. Social implications: Improved practice in contact tracing could have potential benefits in infection control, through improving compliance with central guidance, although this requires more widespread investigation. Originality/value: This is the first empirical study to investigate how MI training could benefit COVID-19 contact tracing practice.Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

"Fibromyalgia" and "Long COVID-19" as a chronic compartment-like syndrome of the whole body (Nineveh, the Shadow is in the Fascia)

Background: The Coronavirus pandemic has impact on our community far beyond the acute phase, "Long COVID-19" is recognized as a new medical entity and resembles "fibromyalgia" which, likewise, lacks a clear mechanism. "Fibromyalgia" is a prevalent and misunderstood condition with significant burden and morbidity. "Central sensitization" and biopsychosocial theories describe "fibromyalgia" as the misfortunate neurological fate of traumatized and stressed individuals that have behavioral, cognitive, social, and/or genetic predisposition for an "infinite-positive- feedback of pain with no peripheral organic lesion/injury". Diagnostic criteria seem biologically arbitrary, treatments are insufficient, and physicians are frustrated. This work suggests a theoretical model with an organic mechanical mechanism to help explain "fibromyalgia", "long COVID-19" and "functional psycho/ somatic syndromes", based on cross-disciplinary empirical studies. A practical evidence-based treatment arsenal, which is derived from this model, is discussed briefly. Method(s): Systematically searched multiple phrases in MEDLINE, EMBASE, COCHRANE, PEDro, and medRxiv, majority with no time limit. Inclusion/exclusion based on title and , then full-text inspection. Additional literature added on relevant side topics. Review follows PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Result(s): 831 records included. The theory of "facial-armoring" suggests fibromyalgia-like entities may be a disease of connective-tissue driven by myofibroblast-generated- tensegrity- tension. This mechanism may explain fibromyalgia's pain, distribution of pain, decreased pressure-pain threshold, tender spots, fatigue, cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities, autonomic abnormalities, absence of clear inflammation, silent imaging investigations, and other phenomena (e.g., complete resolution soon after surgery). "Long-COVID- 19" is predicted to involve fascial armoring. Conclusion(s): "Fibromyalgia" is a mild-moderate- chronic- compartment- like- syndrome- of- the- whole- body. Treatment should focus on lifestyle and non-pharmacological modalities. Early detection is key. The body and the mind are one being.

An Empirical Study On Impact Of Disaster Itigation Initiatives Among Coastal Communities With Special Reference To Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu

Disaster means any earthquake Tsunami flood drought snowfall snow rock fall landfall such natural things happen will affect the daily people life is called a disaster there is too kind of disasters of their natural and manmade or artificial Tsunami earthquake is called natural disaster the road accidents and accidents in the factories are examples for Artificial Disasters. Any disaster will affect the whole country people is called a national disaster for say some extent the covid-19 virus spread over is also an national disaster. The Government of India and Tamil nadu Government will created a separate Commission for the disaster management and rescue operations. To the better functions of the Indian disaster management the people has to give full Corporation then only their management and rescue and Rehabilitation system will function effectively, and the benefit will be fruitful, sometimes the government will give instructions such as announcements must be followed by the people properly without fear so to save the people government taking some initiatives the people as to give more responsive and cooperation. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Impact of Medical Fair Price Shops (Mfps) in the Premises of Government Hospital: An Empirical Study on Selected Govt. Medical College Hospitals in West Bengal

Health is an essential issue in all countries. It has further come into limelight on account of covid pandemic. Under the global impact of Covid pandemic public investment in health care is in the centre stage of discussion in recent past. This empirical study has attempted to understand the impact of public health care system under Government investment through the model of Fair price shop (FPS) situated in the government hospitals in West Bengal. Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) has further augmented the burden of income in the most of the house hold ion India under the deadliest impact of Covid. This study has found the Public-private-partnership (PPP) model is the robust application in reducing the burden of the lower-level income group in terms of health-related expenditure. Accessibility of medical care has created an substantial impact on middle class and lower middle class people in West Bengal with the introduction of Fare Price Shop (FPS) initiated by Government of West Bengal. This empirical research has proposed a model to makes health care more accessible among mass section of beneficiaries in order to makes a social inclusion for health care. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

An Empirical Study on Stress Modalities in IT Sector with Special Reference to COVID 19

This paper majorly signifies in handling of stress of an individual more emphasized on their cognition mishandled due to external environmental changes and relative compulsive forces acting especially in the context of COVID "19 who are Working from Home rather than working from MNC's. In addition, it describes how to handle invidually to get motivated for generating the effective outcomes as on whole productively helpful for an organization. The employees working in different organizations have to deal with the stress. Especially IT professionals are under a great deal of stress due to many reasons. The stress contributes to decreased organizational performance, decreased employee overall performance, decreased quality of work, high attrition rate. Right at this point of time there is no way out to make the industry stress free. With increasing application of technology and new age facilities this kind of pressure is bound to increase. So, the sector has decided to face the problem rather than avoid it. Thus, this paper emphasis on the comparative study of stress impact on their performance work from Home and MNC's Environment Due to COVID "19. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Peculiarities of mentalization that hamper consultations of patients with BPD

Introduction: The uncertainty of COVID-pandemia, vital danger and disruptions in the habitual social contacts can be paralleled to the experiences of severe emotional stress and violence, usually found in the people with Borderline Personality Disorder. Both can be regarded as hampering the ability to categorize and express thoughts, feelings and experiences. The implementation of distant forms of psychological counseling may accentuate the mentalization deficiency. Objective(s): To develop a theoretical framework for an empirical typology of impairments of mentalization. Method(s): The model of consciousness proposed by L.S. Vygotsky was used for theoretical generalization of the levels of categorical structures of mentalization observed in previous empirical studies. Result(s): The following structures were identified: (1) the syncretic type of mentalization with low differentiation and complexity of object representations, their negative affective tone, autistic, chaotically mutable motivation and low emotional investment in relationships were described in patients with schizotypal disorders;(2) the complex type, with literal, non-generalized, fielddependent and rigid, or unstable, representation of the self, others and relationships as a result of the fusion of cognitive representations with the current emotional states. Similar types of mentalization were previously described in people with BPD and selfharming behavior (Sokolova, Laisheva, 2017). Conclusion(s): The 'syncretic' and 'complex' types of mentalization produce affective-cognitive distortions of the image of a psychotherapist, hamper the understanding of the conditional and metaphorical character of the therapeutic process, render difficult the de-traumatization of the unbearable experiences, and lessen the effectiveness of consultations of people with BPD.

Growth and Causality between Fdi and Gdp: An Empirical Study in Africa

FDI flows to Africa reached $83 billion a record level in 2021, from $39 billion in 2020, due to a large corporate reconfiguration in South Africa. Global FDI flows in 2021 were $1.58 trillion, up 64 per cent from the level during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic of less than $1 trillion. During 1994-2020, Africa, FDI growth was registered about 1.64 per cent per annum and significant at 1 per cent level. In Africa, all the regions having positive growth rate and statistically significant at 5 per cent level. In this paper, employ Johansen co-integration as well as Granger Causality test' for FDI and GDP during 1994-2020, before examining these two tests we used Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test for the stationarity. From the ADF test, the tests were carried out for the series LnFDI and LnGDP. The results shows that LnFDI, and LnGDP are non-stationary at level, but the first difference appropriate significant level. Johansen Co-integration test results reveals;FDI and GDP have long run Co-integration in the entire Africa continent, Central and North Africa regions, remaining, there is no co-integration is accepted. From the Granger causality test results indicates Africa and Southern Africa region, LNGDP is LNFDI granger reason, and also LNFDI is LNGDP granger reason, which indicates that there is direct Granger causality relationship between total Africa continent FDI & GDP and also GDP & FDI. In western Africa region, there is direct Granger causality relationship between GDP and FDI, but there is no Direct Granger causality relationship between FDI and GDP. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

Antecedents of Patient Satisfaction in Private Clinical Laboratories toward Patient Loyalty with Switching Cost and Location as Moderating Factors (An Empirical Study from Indonesia)

BACKGROUND: Clinical laboratory (CL) services are at the forefront to support health-care services, particularly during the pandemic of COVID-19. The increasing number of private clinical laboratories at present days indicates the increase in patient needs, causing the health-care service provider to face challenges as people have more options. Therefore, fostering patient loyalty (PL) is a crucial success factor for the business growth of clinical laboratories as health-care providers. AIM: The purpose of this study is to analyze antecedents of patient satisfaction (PS) in clinical laboratories towards PL with the switching cost and location as moderating factors. METHODS: This study was done as a quantitative survey, and data were obtained by a cross-sectional approach with partial least squares structural equation modeling for the data analysis method. There are 266 respondents eligible as samples, who undergo the phlebotomy process (PP) in a private laboratory located within a specific area. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that all the nine hypotheses supported with α: 0.05 and p < 0.05, include six independent variables named administrative process, information availability (IA), the environment in the phlebotomy room, PP, waiting time, and result notification that influence PS. PS has been shown to have a direct effect on PL and also mediate the antecedents. Furthermore, SC and LO have demonstrated a significant effect to moderate this relationship. CONCLUSIONS: PS has been confirmed as the main construct to predict PL whereas the AP is the most important independent variable followed by IA. CL management should pay more attention to these antecedents to ensure PS and retain the clinic’s patients. The cost from the patient’s perspective should be taken into account since this helps the CL keep the patient loyal.

Strengthening personal and social competencies in students' life - The project KukiS-Toolbox

Since 20 years, the Bologna process has influenced the higher education market - Student-centered learning and strengthening employability are essential aims. The Yerevan Communique (2015) underlines the development of students'competencies as necessary to handle the rapidly changing labor market - especially personal and social competencies should be advocated. The importance of these competencies becomes apparent in light of the increasing digitization duringthe COVID 19 pandemic. Therefore, a project called KukiS-Toolbox ('Kompetent und koharent im Studium-Toolbox';'competent and coherent through study life-Toolbox') started in March 2019 at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. The project focused on promoting personal and social competencies among students. Teaching and learning materials based on empirical studies about study life were developed. We focused on three issues: Students' Sense of Coherence (S-SoC),Loneliness - Social Integration, and Procrastination. Firstly, an analysis about demands and needs was realized (N=586students and 12 qualitative interviews with study program's management). On this basis, teaching and learning materials like fact sheets, learning videos, tutorials 'to go and for lectures' were developed. Our cooperation with the department of physiotherapy allows the conceptualization of short physical activity tasks, which can be easily and quickly included inlectures. All materials are included in the KukiS-Toolbox provided by a Moodle Course at the CUAS. All students and staff members can use the materials for free. To sum up, the project follows the key principles for action of the Okanagan Charter (2015) and contributes to the promotion of students' competencies and health.

Can Practice-Based Research Networks foster integrated care across the healthcare system? A scoping review

Background: Integrated health care, particularly between the broader health care system and primary care can ease the patient journey, improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. The rise of both Primary Health Networks and Advanced Health Research and Translation Centres in Australia expands the requirement for Australia's Practice Based Research Networks (PBRNs) to incorporate a focus on integration. However little is known about the ways in which PBRNs can help align and coordinate different parts of the health care system. Aim/Objectives: To conduct a scoping review to examine how PBRNs have been used to foster integrated care across the healthcare system. Method(s): Our scoping review used the PRISMA-ScR framework and was based on Valentijn's conceptual framework for integrated care. Two independent reviewers used CovidenceTM to search titles, s, and full texts in Ovid Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Scopus. We sought to identify peer-reviewed empirical studies conducted since 2000 that examined collaboration between PBRNs and the broader healthcare system. We excluded studies that solely used PBRNs for recruitment and those restricted to a single practice. Finding(s): We identified 3022 articles, of which 74 studied primary care PBRNs. Of these, 13 focussed on 'integrated care.' The studies documented collaboration between primary care and a wide range of professions and organisations. Only one explored integration at a clinical, organisational and system level, and few showed how collaborations could be established or maintained. Most prioritised population health rather than clincial care. Implications: While system integration is beginning to be explored as PBRNs evolve, there is a paucity of information on how PBRNs form and foster integration between primary care and the broader healthcare system. An improved understanding of the role of PBRNs in integration is important given the focus on system integration and sustainability within Australia's new 10 Year Plan for primary health care.

Determinants and consequences of obesity – contribution of the French NutriNet-Santé cohort

Large-scale observational epidemiological studies provide essential information for the development of prevention policies for chronic diseases such as obesity. Since 2009, the French NutriNet-Santé cohort has been used as the basis for 29 empirical studies on obesity. The aim of this review is to present a summary of the findings of those studies and to deduce the contribution of NutriNet-Santé to the understanding of obesity. Among the 29 studies, 5 analyzed obesity as an exposure variable, 23 – as an outcome, and 1 – as a moderator. When modelled as a determinant (or exposure), obesity was cross-sectionally and positively associated with migraine and functional dyspepsia, respectively. In turn, when modelled as a consequence (or outcome), obesity was positively associated with different dietary factors, such as the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet and preference for fatty food. Other factors were inversely associated with obesity, such as following an organic diet. Some psychological factors were positively (e.g. impulsivity) or inversely associated (e.g. optimism) with obesity risk. In NutriNet-Santé, further studies on obesity are underway, dealing with its association with COVID-19 and mental disorders.

Inclination of Higher Education Students Towards Medical and Healthcare Start-Ups: An Empirical Study in The Post Covid Scenario

In an advanced world, extra fees aren't always a supply of worry, particularly if the pleasant of products and offerings received is better. Also, there's not anything uncommon approximately a populace stresses extra of a positive type of provider whilst its earnings capability increases. A better fashionable of dwelling is in truth a number of the elements which have brought about the increase in fitness care expenditure in latest decades. In maximum areas of the economy, the numerous troubles going through the fitness care machine might be alleged as possibilities with the aid of using marketers. However, on the grounds that health facility and scientific offerings believed to be vital are dominated with the aid of using the government – which price range 70% of the nation’s general fitness care costs – marketers are with the aid of using definition omitted from a massive a part of the fitness sector. In spite of governments having installation several running agencies and commissions, and regardless of the funding of huge sums of cash in latest years, our fitness care machine continues to be suffering to meet the people’s hopes. There isn't any uncertainty that marketers can be referred to as upon to soak up the demanding situations posed with the aid of using the getting older of the populace and the developing prices of fitness care on this nation. Sample of 215 students from higher education were considered to know different factors and their impact on Inclination of Higher Education Students Towards Medical and Healthcare Start-Ups. The study concludes that Scope and Opportunities, Skill and Talent, Entrepreneurial Consciousness and Awareness towards healthcare are the factors that determines the Inclination of Higher Education Students Towards Medical and Healthcare Start-Ups.

ACCESS TO AND EXPERIENCES OF REMOTE HIV CLINICAL SERVICES IN HIGH-INCOME SETTINGS: A SCOPING REVIEW

Background Remote delivery of HIV services (often facilitated by digital technology) has increased over recent years, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using scoping methods, we synthesise current knowledge about remote HIV healthcare services. Methods We systematically searched literature using multiple databases, supplementing this with searches of grey literature. We included papers reporting on empirical studies in high income countries (OECD) of remote HIV healthcare delivery by digital technology including mobile apps, video, SMS and telephone. We extracted data using a standardised tool and analysed data thematically. Results A large proportion of studies focus on interventions supporting antiretroviral therapy adherence, often via mobile apps or SMS. There has been a recent uptick in work describing remote routine HIV clinical appointments in the context of COVID-19. There was a dearth of evidence on the impact of remote HIV healthcare services on clinical and patientreported outcomes, as well as factors shaping access to remote HIV healthcare services. Discussion There is an increasingly large body of work investigating remote HIV healthcare services, much of it focusing on adherence support. Less is known on barriers to and facilitators of remote HIV healthcare service provision and access, and how these services impact patient experience and outcomes. Given the enduring change to models of HIV healthcare as a result of COVID-19, we urgently require a robust evidence-base to inform inclusive, equitable and effective service design.

An alternative network analysis in the exploration of mental health states, chronic conditions and COVID-19

Network analysis is a graphical statistical technique that allows visualizing and intuitively interpreting the spectrum of various health conditions, being of clinical relevance in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given its limited dissemination in South America, we aimed at a narrative analysis of this network model during the pandemic. A narrative review of empirical studies published from May 2020 to July 2021 in the PubMed and ScienceDirect database was performed. We selected research that used partial correlation psychometric networks in partici-pants assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review reports 13 network studies that used mostly symptoms related to anxiety (7 studies), depression (6 studies) and stress (6 studies). The resulting information is grouped into 3 clusters (publications in psychiatry, psychological sciences, medicine and related journals). The presented review refers that this network analysis allows a new way of identifying important clinical aspects such as comorbidity, concurrence of symptoms and non-symptomatologic measures, groupings of symptoms with other variables of latent or observable nature that share a major common cause, the exploration of new holistic clinical hypotheses with epidemio-logical, psychological, biomedical and contextual variables of major current interest such as the comparison of causal association systems of multilevel variables in the psychobiological process, and their risk and protective factors in various time periods.

Living conditions of people with diabetes: A scoping review on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

The present study gives an overview on the effects caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the living and care situation of people with diabetes in Germany. For this purpose, a systematic search was conducted using the scoping review methodology. On the one hand, a systematic literature search was accomplished in scientific databases for empirical studies and in other search areas for other non-empirical publications. On the other hand, routinely collected electronic health data (routine data;e. g., health insurers administrative data, data from patient registers, medical billing, and drug care data from contractual physicians) were requested from health insurance companies, patient registries or other institutions to gain insight into the care situation of people with diabetes. The literature search identified a total of 53 publications (12 empirical studies and 41 other publications) which were included in the data extraction. Additionally, the methodological quality of the empirical studies was assessed. Due to the small number of empirical studies and their low methodological quality, the evidence gaps regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on care of people with diabetes are large. However, the empirical studies provide little evidence that the pandemic had a negative impact on the use of diabetes-specific services. The studies show fewer new and reenrolments in disease management programs for diabetes;fewer changes in prescriptions of blood glucose-lowering drugs;fewer diabetes diagnoses and a higher rate of diabetic ketoacidosis in children and adolescents. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged the use of digital tools for the care of people with diabetes. The search for routine data remained without results. In summary, very limited reliable data on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care of people with diabetes in Germany was available.

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ECT: A MULTISITE, RETROSPECTIVE STUDY FROM THE CARE NETWORK

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to reported change in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) services worldwide. However, minimal data have been published demonstrating tangible changes across multiple ECT centres. Objectives: To examine changes in patients receiving ECT and ECT service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We retrospectively assessed data collected on ECT patients within the CARE Network during a 3-month period starting at the first COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and compared data with predicted values based on the corresponding 3-month period in 2019. Mixed-effects repeated-measures analyses examined differences in the predicted and actual number of acute ECT courses started and the total number of acute ECT treatments given in 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical, treatment factors and ECT service delivery factors were compared for 2020 and 2019. Findings: Four Australian and one Singaporean site participated in the study. There were no significant differences between the predicted and actual number of acute ECT courses and total number of acute ECT treatments administered in 2020. During 2020, there were statistically significant increases in the proportion of patients requiring ECT under substitute consent and receiving ECT for urgent reasons compared to 2019. Conclusion: This multisite empirical study is among the first that supports anecdotal reports of changes in the triaging and delivery of ECT during COVID-19. Results suggest that ECT was prioritised for the most severely ill patients. Further data assessing the impacts of COVID-19 on ECT are needed.

PREVALENCE OF MENTAL ILLNESS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

Mental illness in young people is a growing concern, with an estimated 10-20% of adolescents suffering from mental illness worldwide.1 In Ireland, referrals to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) have increased by 26% in recent years.2 These services are already under-resourced leading to long waiting lists. The adverse psychological impact of Covid-19 has disproportionately affected youth and is likely to result in increased demand for CAMHS. Given these circumstances, an understanding of pre-Covid-19 prevalence of mental illness among youth in Ireland is imperative to help inform & plan services. The aim of this research is to report on prevalence of mental illness in youth (aged 0-18) in Ireland. A systematic review using pre-defined search terms in PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase and CINAHL was conducted. Studies included youth population health empirical studies conducted in Ireland, focusing on mental illness. From a total of 624 papers identified, 43 papers were selected by Title/ selection, and 38 following full paper review. 2 nationally representative studies (Growing Up in Ireland & My World Survey) identified 10-15% to be 'at risk' by one-stage screening. A two-stage study (Challenging Times) reported rates of 'any' mental health disorder in 15% of adolescents, with other studies reporting on specific disorders. Although data on mental illness among Irish youth is limited, available data of illness and risk suggest rates similar to international levels. Attention needs to be given post Covid-19 to regular reliable data collection, and dedicated CAMHS funding to allow best use of a scarce resource.

Practice as Lived Experience: The Missing Link in Public Administration Research

As public administration and management are increasingly preoccupied with gaining status and legitimacy on the basis of scientific rigor, researchers seem to forget that the field they study is, above all, a practice. Practice questions concern how administrators interpret and act upon a situation, considering social norms and institutional notions that are shared. The relative merits of various modes of research is a long-standing issue in public administration, going back to the SimonWaldo debate, but despite numerous arguments supporting the necessity of interpretive research approaches, the field has grown increasingly impervious to them. Hence, the need at this point for a wake-up call. This paper retrieves recent developments in interpretive research and makes a case for it in order to tackle our current challenging times, including heightened health risks during the Covid-19 pandemic to political upheaval and economic turmoil.

Mitigating patient and consumer safety risks when using conversational assistants for medical information: Exploratory mixed methods experiment

Background: Prior studies have demonstrated the safety risks when patients and consumers use conversational assistants such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa for obtaining medical information. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate two approaches to reducing the likelihood that patients or consumers will act on the potentially harmful medical information they receive from conversational assistants. Methods: Participants were given medical problems to pose to conversational assistants that had been previously demonstrated to result in potentially harmful recommendations. Each conversational assistant's response was randomly varied to include either a correct or incorrect paraphrase of the query or a disclaimer message-or not-telling the participants that they should not act on the advice without first talking to a physician. The participants were then asked what actions they would take based on their interaction, along with the likelihood of taking the action. The reported actions were recorded and analyzed, and the participants were interviewed at the end of each interaction. Results: A total of 32 participants completed the study, each interacting with 4 conversational assistants. The participants were on average aged 42.44 (SD 14.08) years, 53% (17/32) were women, and 66% (21/32) were college educated. Those participants who heard a correct paraphrase of their query were significantly more likely to state that they would follow the medical advice provided by the conversational assistant (X2 1=3.1;P=.04). Those participants who heard a disclaimer message were significantly more likely to say that they would contact a physician or health professional before acting on the medical advice received (X2 1=43.5;P=.001). Conclusions: Designers of conversational systems should consider incorporating both disclaimers and feedback on query understanding in response to user queries for medical advice. Unconstrained natural language input should not be used in systems designed specifically to provide medical advice.