Maturity in leaps and bounds–organisational listening for customer engagement

Much organisational development occurs during times of crisis when answers and solutions are urgently needed. The objective of this article is to show examples illustrating that organisational listening on social media may take leaps from immature to mature mainly due to the pressure from stakeholders, not often as a strategic tool of integrated marketing communications (IMC) or public communications. The first example is from the late 2010s, when stakeholders were introduced to a direct route to brands made available through social media. Many unanswered customer questions suddenly became visible and were subsequently addressed. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic, as the second example, pressured organisations to respond to citizens' urgent concerns. These snapshots of development suggest that what matters for organisational legitimacy is understanding stakeholders' changing needs. This paper proposes that organisational listening–even in social media–should become a strategic function of organisations. Building on theories related to organisational listening, social media and IMC, this article argues for incorporating organisational listening as a strategic function into a model of integrated marketing and communications and/or strategic public communication. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

THE UNEXPLORED POSSIBILITIES, PERCEPTIONS AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF GENE-EDITING ALLERGIC DISEASE: ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Clinically approved cell and gene therapies are opening up future possibilities to treat and prevent myriad diseases, which may include allergic diseases. In South Africa, this could help alleviate the high disease burden and economic cost of treating such diseases. However, even if viable gene-editing options to treat, cure and prevent allergic diseases become safe, effective and affordable for the South African market within the next few decades, the ethical implications and challenges of perceptions, regulation and oversight to ensure safety and equitable access remain. It would be important for all stakeholders involved, including the public and physicians, clinicians and ethicists on clinical and research ethics committees, to be informed about the possibilities, to engage in discussions with one another and to redress any gaps in knowledge. It would be especially important to determine whether cases for gene-editing aimed at allergy would be applied for therapeutic purposes or for enhancement. Much research and discussion remain to be embarked upon;however, it is imperative that research and engagement are expanded and prioritised.

Science policy frameworks for a post-pandemic green economic recovery

As current production and consumption patterns exceed planetary boundaries, many leaders have stressed the need to adopt green economic stimulus policies in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides an integrated multi-stakeholder framework to design an economic recovery strategy aligned with climate stabilisation objectives. We first employ quantitative energy and economic models, and then a multi-criteria decision process in which we engage social actors from government, enterprises and civil society. As a case study, we select green recovery measures that are relevant for a European Union country and assess their appropriateness with numerous criteria related to climate resilience and socio-economic sustainability. Results highlight trade-offs between immediate and long-run effects, economic and environmental objectives, and expert evidence and societal priorities. Importantly, we find that a ‘return-to-normal' economic stimulus is environmentally unsustainable and economically inferior to most green recovery schemes. © 2022 The Author(s)

Community Research Fellows Training Program: Evaluation of a COVID-19-Precipitated Virtual Adaptation.

Community engagement is important for promoting health equity. However, effective community engagement requires trust, collaboration, and the opportunity for all stakeholders to share in decision-making. Community-based training in public health research can build trust and increase community comfort with shared decision-making in academic and community partnerships. The Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) Program is a community-based training program that promotes the role of underserved populations in research by enhancing participant knowledge and understanding of public health research and other relevant topics in health. This paper describes the process of modifying the original 15-week in-person training program to a 12-week online, virtual format to assure program continuation. In addition, we provide program evaluation data of the virtual training. Average post-test scores were higher than pre-test scores for every session, establishing the feasibility of virtual course delivery. While the knowledge gains observed were not as strong as those observed for the in-person training program, findings suggest the appropriateness of continuing to adapt CRFT for virtual formats.

Priority topics for child and family health research in community-based paediatric health care according to caregivers and health care professionals

Background Patient-oriented research (POR) aligns research with stakeholders' priorities to improve health services and outcomes. Community-based health care settings offer an opportunity to engage stakeholders to determine the most important research topics to them. Our objectives were to identify unanswered questions that stakeholders had regarding any aspect of child and family health and prioritize their 'top 10' questions. Methods We followed the James Lind Alliance (JLA) priority setting methodology in partnership with stakeholders from the Northeast Community Health Centre (NECHC;Edmonton, Canada). We partnered with stakeholders (five caregivers, five health care professionals [HCPs]) to create a steering committee. Stakeholders were surveyed in two rounds (n = 125 per survey) to gather and rank-order unanswered questions regarding child and family health. A final priority setting workshop was held to finalize the 'top 10' list. Results Our initial survey generated 1,265 submissions from 100 caregivers and 25 HCPs. Out of scope submissions were removed and similar questions were combined to create a master list of questions (n = 389). Only unanswered questions advanced (n = 108) and were rank-ordered through a second survey by 100 caregivers and 25 HCPs. Stakeholders (n = 12) gathered for the final workshop to discuss and finalize the 'top 10' list. Priority questions included a range of topics, including mental health, screen time, COVID-19, and behaviour. Conclusion Our stakeholders prioritized diverse questions within our 'top 10' list;questions regarding mental health were the most common. Future patient-oriented research at this site will be guided by priorities that were most important to caregivers and HCPs.

Essential health services delivery in South Africa during COVID-19: Community and healthcare worker perspectives.

Background: Between May 2020 and February 2022, South Africa's health system bore strain as it battled mitigating the coronavirus pandemic. The country's pandemic response was scrutinized. This period also brought into focus pre-existing shortcomings in the healthcare system and its governing bodies. Contextually, there is a paucity in literature on the experiences of healthcare providers and users. This study aimed to contribute information on COVID-19, with the intention of providing guidance on preparing for future infectious disease outbreaks. Methods: Cross sectional exploratory qualitative methodology was employed using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with community members (CM) and healthcare workers (HCW) from two South African study sites: (a) rural Bushbuckridge (run by Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance Site) and (b), Regions D and F in Johannesburg Metropole. Results: After interviewing 42 CMs and 43 HCWs, it emerged that mandated process changes while minimizing COVID-19 exposure, necessitated healthcare personnel focusing on critical care treatment at the expense of less acute ones. COVID-19 isolation protocols, extensive absenteeism and HCWs with advanced skills being perceived as more adept to treat COVID-19 patients contributed to HCWs experiencing higher workloads. Fears regarding contracting and transmitting COVID-19, suffering financial losses, and not being able to provide adequate advice to patients were recurrent themes. Dissemination of relevant information among healthcare facility personnel and communities suffered due to breakdowns in communication. Conclusion: Concessions and novel strategies to avail medication to patients had to be created. Since providence was lacking, government needs to formulate health intervention strategies that embrace health literacy, alternate methods of chronic medication dispensation, improved communication across health care platforms and the use of telehealth, to circumvent the threats of possible further infectious disease outbreaks.

Science policy frameworks for a post-pandemic green economic recovery

As current production and consumption patterns exceed planetary boundaries, many leaders have stressed the need to adopt green economic stimulus policies in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides an integrated multi-stakeholder framework to design an economic recovery strategy aligned with climate stabilisation objectives. We first employ quantitative energy and economic models, and then a multi-criteria decision process in which we engage social actors from government, enterprises and civil society. As a case study, we select green recovery measures that are relevant for a European Union country and assess their appropriateness with numerous criteria related to climate resilience and socio-economic sustainability. Results highlight trade-offs between immediate and long-run effects, economic and environmental objectives, and expert evidence and societal priorities. Importantly, we find that a ‘return-to-normal' economic stimulus is environmentally unsustainable and economically inferior to most green recovery schemes.

Supporting communities of practice - A Journey to effective problem-solving [version 1, peer review: 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]

In contexts of scarce resources, varied assets, and diverse communities, engaging local stakeholders in the problem-solving process is critical to develop interventions for HIV prevention and treatment. Communities of practice (CPs) - groups of people organized around a key purpose and a delivery point - can develop expertise in identifying their local community's key challenges and selecting viable solutions. We propose a framework for systematically understanding the stages a CP may go through as it develops its capacity to identify and solve problems and implement good practices. Our framework is based on the experience of practitioners of the LISTEN model (Local Initiatives Scaled Through Enterprise Networks) in eight local-level CPs in Kenya and Eswatini. LISTEN seeks to help CPs integrate continuous improvement processes, data, and human-centered design into their development and solutioning activities. The four stages in our framework for a CP's problem-solving journey are: 1) Community Identity: Identify and understand the community's purpose and goals, and build rapport with its members and leaders;2) Quick Win: Use a process of human-centered design to obtain a rapid and clear success in addressing a problem that the local community has identified for itself and which it can tackle with its own resources;3) Stewardship: Support the CP in addressing more complex or long-term issues, including links to other CPs at the localcommunity or higher levels to disseminate knowledge and obtain resources and support, where needed;and 4) Evolution: Support the CP as it transitions into potentially new structures or functions. For each stage of the framework, we describe the kinds of support that may be provided to the CP in the LISTEN model, and the types of tools that could be developed to assist them in problem-solving and in disseminating sustainable solutions. Copyright © 2020. Hanschke C et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

End-User Stakeholder Engagement in Refurbishment Design in Higher Education

The refurbishment of building facilities needs to incorporate end-user engagement to ensure refurbished building facilities outcomes that include user-responsive learning spaces and satisfy users’ learning needs. However, existing refurbishment design process frameworks neglect to show the engagement process. A new framework for engaging end users in the refurbishment design of building facilities in higher education is presented. A qualitative research methodology was employed to obtain and analyse interview data from twenty-one design team stakeholders involved in two cases of refurbished building facilities in higher education institutions in Australia and New Zealand. The findings revealed four core themes which indicate the context and phases in the refurbishment design process where end-user engagement should be taken seriously. They are the higher education context, early design, user engagement in the design process and post-design phases. In addition, the findings revealed six specific strategies for end-user engagement in the refurbishment design of building facilities in higher education institutions. They are identifying stakeholder value systems, capturing end-user needs, communicating and integrating. Others are the setting of engagement boundaries and surveying of end users. This study modified the project heartbeat originally developed by Stanford University in 2010 for the refurbishment design process in a higher education context. The new framework bridges the gaps in the current literature between stakeholder theory and refurbishment design, and, by incorporating the refurbishment design processes, the framework can be employed in wider education and other project contexts to facilitate the balanced involvement of end users.

What role do tourism stakeholders play in air route development? Lessons from Australia

This paper aims to assess the role of tourism stakeholders in air route development (ARD). The differences in the ARD processes and engagement relationships among airports, airlines, and destination management organisations (DMOs) are analysed. The Australian air transport and tourism sectors, which exemplify a light-handed regime with low competition among airports due to Australia's large territory and liberalised economic environment, were selected as a case study. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 22 ARD experts/executives from airports, airlines, and DMOs and with independent consultants were used as the primary data collection tool. In the Australian case study context, tourism stakeholders play a crucial role in stakeholder engagement, particularly in regional and emerging international airports. Both international and Australian airlines agree on the relative uniqueness of Australian DMOs' stakeholder engagement approaches and strategies (at national, state, and regional levels) compared to those in other parts of the world. Some interviewees even identify tourism authorities as ARD influencers who can play a significant role in the Australian ARD post-COVID-19 recovery phase.

Translating critical incidents to service development in urban critical care transfer

Introduction: Clinicians in retrieval and transfer medicine face increased diagnostic uncertainty by virtue of their operational environment.1 Integral to our quality improvement and clinical governance framework is individual case analysis, clinical incident interrogation and follow up of every single patient to the point of discharge from critical care. We describe a case where an adverse clinical incident several hours post patient handover was a driver for implementing process and diagnostic change within our own service. Objectives: Describe the translation of after-action review of a critical incident into service improvement. Methods: A 61-year-old patient with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) developed an ischaemic lower limb. A diagnosis of femoral artery thrombosis was confirmed by computed tomography angiography, necessitating transfer to the regional vascular centre. The transfer was undertaken following emergent intubation of the patient by the referring unit and patient followup proceeded as per our standard operating procedures. Results: The transition to invasive ventilation demonstrated low lung compliance and a poor alveolar-arterial (Aa) gradient in keeping with established ARDS secondary to COVID-19.2 Deterioration in oxygenation and respiratory mechanics was partially (falsely) attributed to switching from semi-recumbent to supine positioning. Within 3 hours of handover to the receiving team, a rapid deterioration in oxygenation and ventilation occurred with subsequent diagnosis of tension pneumothorax. This was managed with an intercostal drain which resulted in a significant drop in peak airway pressure (24cm H2O). Close collaboration between our service and the involved hospitals enabled a detailed multi-service review. A number of missed opportunities were identified for prevention of deterioration due to a tension pneumothorax: 1. Immediate post-intubation x-ray imaging regardless of time-critical nature of transfer 2. Lung POCUS post-intubation or at any point whilst transitioning care 3. Highlighting post-intubation imaging as an immediate post-arrival need at handover Pre-departure, post-intubation x-ray was added to our checklist as a cognitive aid. We further identified lung point of care ultrasound (POCUS), an established adjunct to clinical examination,3,4 as a potentially missing diagnostic safety-net. Consequently, we set out to introduce a lung POCUS operating policy. This includes a device optimised for the pre-hospital environment (VScan Air, GE Healthcare, USA), training package, decision-aid algorithm, and overarching governance. We will monitor the diagnostic impact of this tool and benchmark against previously published literature.3,4 Conclusion: Robust followup, governance, and stakeholder engagement allowed us to identify an adverse event detected several hours post patient disposition at the receiving site. With an increasing volume and complexity of transfers, diagnostic adjuncts formerly considered the exclusively the domain of in-hospital practice may well become core techniques in retrieval medicine.

Frontline Physician Perspectives on Their Experiences Working During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic physicians worked on the front lines, immersed in uncertainty. Research into perspectives of frontline physicians has lagged behind clinical innovation throughout the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: To inform ongoing and future efforts in the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a qualitative exploration of physician perspectives of the effects of policies and procedures as well as lessons learned while caring for patients during the height of the first wave in the spring of 2020. DESIGN: A confidential survey was emailed to a convenience sample. Survey questions included demographic data, participant role in the pandemic, and geographic location. Eleven open-ended questions explored their perspectives and advice they would give going forward. Broad areas covered included COVID-19-specific education, discharge planning, unintended consequences for patient care, mental health conditions to anticipate, and personal/institutional factors influencing workforce well-being amid the crisis. PARTICIPANTS: We received fifty-five surveys from May through July 2020. Demographic data demonstrated sampling of frontline physicians working in various epicenters in the USA, and diversity in gender, race/ethnicity, and clinical specialty. APPROACH: Inductive thematic analysis. KEY RESULTS: Four themes emerged through data analysis: (1) Leadership can make or break morale; (2) Leadership should engage frontline workers throughout decision-making processes; (3) Novelty of COVID-19 led to unintended consequences in care delivery; and (4) Mental health sequelae will be profound and pervasive. CONCLUSIONS: Our participants demonstrated the benefit of engaging frontline physicians as important stakeholders in policy generation, evaluation, and revision; they highlighted challenges, successes, unintended consequences, and lessons learned from various epicenters in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is much to be learned from the early COVID-19 pandemic crisis; our participants' insights elucidate opportunities to examine institutional performance, effect policy change, and improve crisis management in order to better prepare for this and future pandemics.

LINKING PRIMARY AND SPECIALTY CARE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF DIGESTIVE HEALTH CONDITIONS: AN EVALUATION OF GUT LINK IMPLEMENTATION

Background: Severe restrictions on in-person encounters and endoscopic procedures for digestive care have occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has exacerbated pre-existing barriers in access to gastroenterology (GI) care across Nova Scotia (NS) for patients and primary healthcare providers (PHCPs). In response, a provincial PHCP-GI consultative service (GUT LINK) was implemented at a single tertiary care center with the goal of supporting PHCPs in the management of non-urgent GI referral conditions. Aims: To implement and evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, appropriateness, and early effectiveness of the GUT LINK PHCP-GI consultation service. Methods: This is an ongoing prospective observational cohort study. All referrals received through the EMR-based referral and triage management system between May and November 2020 that were deemed to be amenable to management within primary care with specialist support were returned to the PHCP with the suggestion to arrange a GUT LINK telephone consultation. GUT LINK appointments were scheduled through an administrative support telephone line with the PHCP and a GI specialist. A post-consultation e-questionnaire was distributed to PHCPs who consented to participate. Feasibility (number of and indication for referrals, PHCP participation rates), acceptability and appropriateness (satisfaction, future use, likelihood to recommend) metrics and outcomes (case resolution, re-referrals, proportion requiring endoscopic investigations) were recorded. Patient charts were reviewed to determine whether the patient ultimately required GI speciality care. Analyses were descriptive and expressed as frequencies, means (+/-SD), medians (+/-SE), and proportions (%). Results: A total of 45 GUT LINK consultations were completed between May and November 2020. Of these, 20% required GI specialist care and 80% have remained within primary care, with a median follow-up of 101 (+/-9.1) days. The indications for GUT LINK consultation included lower GI symptoms (64%), abnormal imaging or investigations (17%), and upper GI symptoms (19%). been completed. All PHCPs reported that GUT LINK consultation was easy to access, while 90% found the advice helpful and 80% reported that that it resolved the issue. Following the GUT LINK appointment, 80% felt they would not need to refer their patient to GI. Conclusions: The implementation of GUT LINK was acceptable, feasible, and improved access to specialist support for management of undifferentiated GI symptoms. Future research will focus on comprehensive stakeholder engagement in order to design, implement, and evaluate GUT LINK PHCP care pathways.

Paradoxical thinking and entrepreneurial resilience: a study against the backdrop of COVID-19 disruption

Entrepreneurial resilience' acquires seminal significance especially during a crisis situation. With COVID-19 pandemic rendering unprecedented disruption over the worldwide socio-economic landscape, entrepreneurs and business managers necessitate resilience for mitigating various emerging challenges. Modem enterprises often face competing demands and contradictory expectations from its diverse stakeholder groups. Entrepreneur's ability to relentlessly acclimatise and thrive particularly during adversities, while balancing competing needs is a crucial characteristic that bolsters organisational performance. This investigation examines the potential relation between stakeholder engagement, paradoxical thinking/paradox mind-set and entrepreneurial resilience. The entrepreneurs' propensity to integrate conflicting organisational and normative obligations is likely to improve her/his resilience. Contemporary organisations innately embody many contradictory tensions. Paradoxical thinking embraces these tensions and may also help the entrepreneurs to respond with enhanced resilience. This quantitative study involving social entrepreneurs in India against the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic indicates that stakeholder engagement is positively associated with resilience. This relation is mediated by the entrepreneur's paradoxical mind-set.

Corrigendum: COVID-19 preventive measures in Northern California jails: Perceived deficiencies, barriers, and unintended harms.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.854343.].

Were we prepared to face a pandemic? Exploring companies' CSR disclosure on social media before COVID-19 outbreak

Purpose A model on the cognitive elements of engagement is adopted and content analysis, along with sentiment analysis, has been used to explore the post characteristics and the levels of stakeholders' interactions in controversial and non-controversial European industries through three Poisson regressions. At last, an ANOVA test has been used to check the level of interaction regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related aspects. Design/methodology/approach The intrinsic characteristics of controversial industries cause the stakeholders' skepticism about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. This results in the need to elaborate proper involvement strategies to approach industries' stakeholders. Such need has assumed relevance during the COVID-19 crisis and has traced a certain border between the companies that are more sensitive to the social side of the surrounding environment and the ones that are less involved in risky sectors. The present paper aims to understand the role of social media in stakeholder engagement, and social media's characteristics, and tries to elaborate on companies' CSR communication readiness to the challenges shown by the pandemic. Findings The study reveals how the success of stakeholder engagement in CSR communication is affected by both controversial sector membership and the characteristics of the posts such as the inclusion of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). In addition, the study emerges how the European companies have focused on social aspects in companies' communication, revealing a certain readiness for the COVID-19 challenges. Practical implications Building on a model of cognitive elements of engagement, the present study provides useful insights for companies' next engagement strategies on social media. Moreover, the thematic analysis provides a benchmark for the improvement of current corporations' communication strategies in light of the pandemic effects. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the role of Twitter as a stakeholder engagement tool and identifies the drivers for an effective Twitter content strategy. Moreover, the paper provides a useful proxy for current and future research on the COVID-19-related CSR communication.

New networks in improving mortality surveillance beyond COVID-19, 2021

Introduction/ Background: Excess mortality reports suggest underreporting of COVID-19 related deaths, as routine surveillance utilizes mainly in-facility data. SARS-CoV-2 postmortem testing (PMT) for home deaths from natural causes has been implemented in South Africa. We provide information to highlight the critical role of morticians in improving mortality surveillance in South Africa. Methods: Sentinel surveillance was implemented in three Districts to support SARS-CoV-2 PMT and reporting in two provinces of South Africa. A repository of out of-facility natural deaths was compiled using mortuary registers from public and private sectors, with multiple stakeholder involvement. Deaths were linked to cumulative COVID-19 laboratory test data and case linelists. Data from August 2020 to October 2021 were analyzed to assess the contribution of community COVID-19 related deaths to the overall reported mortality. Results: A total of 8,254 COVID-19 related deaths were reported, comprising of 70% (n=5,751) hospital and 30% (n=2,503) community deaths. Most of the deaths were females (57.5%;n=4,742) and 60 years and older (61.5%;n=5,079). Of the 2,503 community deaths, 47% (n=1,184) were tested prior to death and 53% (n=1,319) post-mortem. Overall, reporting of COVID-19 related deaths markedly improved by 16% (1,319/8,254) with engagement and additional reporting of data from post-mortem testing. Impact: Morticians play a critical role in COVID-19 mortality surveillance, providing the much-needed sociodemographic information and vital to the handling and transport of corpses to health facilities for specimen collection. Conclusion: The number of reported COVID-19 related deaths was enhanced by linking mortuary registers with laboratory test data and case line lists. Expansion of this model to all mortuaries, across the districts in South Africa, could be a vital component of efforts to improve community-based surveillance.

Using quality improvement to develop transition to adult care at a UK cystic fibrosis (CF) centre

Objective: Following the creation of a quality improvement (QI) lead in the Oxford adult CF service, key areas for development were identified. Increased use of virtual care and CFTR modulators highlighted a need to adapt our transition process to meet the changing needs of young people with CF (pwCF). Our aim was to facilitate collaboration across adult and paediatric teams to identify areas for improvement. Method: We led a process of stakeholder engagement including meeting with other CF and non-CF transition services. Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) QI meetings were held within the adult service to identify whatwas considered a successful transfer of care. We observed the first in-person transition clinic since the pandemic, and distributed electronic surveys of the clinic experience to pwCF, carers, and staff. Lastly, we held a virtual cross-service QI meeting to present findings, aiming to reach consensus on areas for change. Results: 5/5 pwCF and 5/5 carers completed the clinic surveys. Both identified their main priorities: to meet the adult team and receive a clinical review. Comments identified anxiety discussing future life plans too young or repetitively. 3/5 pwCF and 3/5 carers preferred the carer to be present throughout the visit. 7/9 staff completed the survey. There was general agreement of clinic objectives that 6/7 felt were met. Comments were around clinic location, pre-meeting, and coordinating MDTreviewcontent. Holding a face-to-face clinic was perceived as important. Overall, the MDTs agreed on 5 areas for improvement: documentation;patient information;clinic meetings;individual profession handovers;and identifying pwCF requiring bespoke transition. Conclusion: Protected time for QI provided a forum to bring paediatric and adult CF teams together to identify shared priorities for improvement of local transition care. A QI lead role has allowed us to drive service development during the COVID-19 pandemic and introduction of CFTR modulators.