Behavior analysis and public policy

The Task Force on Public Policy was created to examine ways for behavior analysts to be more functional citizen scientists in the policymaking arena. This report informs readers about the contexts and processes of policymaking; and it outlines issues regarding the roles of behavior analysts in crating policy-relevant conceptual analyses, generating research data, and communicating policy-relevant information. We also discuss a possible role for the professional association in enhancing analysis, research, and advocacy on policies relevant to the public interest.     

Psychology and health. Research, practice, and policy

Since World War II, American psychology's role in health care has significantly expanded. This was formally recognized in 2001 when the membership of the American Psychological Association (APA) approved a bylaw change in its mission statement to include the word health. An accumulating body of research demonstrates and recent reviews conclude that psychological factors are primary in health and in illnesses. This article proposes a vision of psychology that endorses a bio-psycho-socio-cultural model of health research and interventions. The author provides 4 definitions of health, reviews selected psychology health research and interventions, summarizes APA's recent health-related activities, and presents 5 policy recommendations for consideration and debate.     

Early-life risk for domestic violence perpetration: Implications for practice and policy

Research on risks and causes of domestic violence is hampered by a policy framework that not only does not fund but in some cases suppresses inquiry into those causes. This discussion, then, will be placed in the context of those policy frameworks that hamper and distort inquiry. This includes an overview of ideological, political, and historical issues that have shaped those frameworks. Related explanatory theories and theories of practice are summarized. The article will examine known early-life risk factors for those disorders and behaviors associated with domestic violence perpetration. Particular emphasis will be placed on maltreatment and attachment/bonding processes. Framed in broad perspectives of psychosocial theory, risk factors from related literature sources (e.g. general violence and criminality) will be included where risk profiles are substantially similar.     

Interfaith dialogue: seven key questions for theory,policy and practice

Interfaith dialogue is increasingly being recognised by governments across Europe as crucial to developing cohesive communities. This article critically analyses approaches for developing strategies to promote interfaith dialogue between individuals and/or organisations within civil society. It does this by drawing on a series of theoretical questions concerning those who are involved (and missing), what the dialogue is for, and how the dynamics of participation and representation are handled. In the process, the article considers the conditions, spaces, processes, relationships and understandings of identity that can enable successful interfaith dialogue, and how these might be developed in ways which address the issues raised. The original theoretical analysis presented in this article is supported by examples from the author’s cumulative research with policymakers and practitioners across Europe since 2004.     

Health outcome models for policy analysis

The increasing therapeutic options in health care have created new dilemmas because resources to pay for the new technologies are limited. Cost/effectiveness and cost/utility models are required in order to evaluate the return on the invested dollar for various health care technologies. The problem is that different technologies are often evaluated using very different outcome units. The alternatives may range from liver transplantation to rehabilitation to preventive care. This article presents an overview of a general health policy model that expresses the benefits of all programs in a common unit known as the well-year--defined as the equivalent of 1 completely well year of life. The model uses two data sources: life expectancy and health-related quality of life during years prior to death. The quality-of-life component considers behavioral scales for mobility, physical activity, social activity, and symptoms. These dimensions are weighted by utility or preference to create a single scale that ranges from 0 (for death) for 1.0 (for optimum health). The model also considers duration of stay in each health state. Because all providers in health care attempt to extend life expectancy and improve quality of life, very different approaches in health care can be evaluated against one another. Preliminary analyses suggest that some behavioral interventions compete favorably with traditional medical and surgical treatments in terms of cost/well-year of life production. Various applications of the model are discussed.     

行为社会政策：“助推”公共福利的实践与探索

行为社会政策是基于人的行为特点而设计, 使用“助推”作为政策工具来执行的社会政策。它是行为科学在社会政策范畴的应用, 其原理在于洞察人们做选择时的行为偏好, 以隐性且非明显经济刺激的方式谋求公众利益。从政策制定者的角度出发, 基于自愿性和信息性的统一, 可将行为社会政策中的助推策略分为增加策略、减少策略和转换策略; 三大策略被用于再住院率、儿童健康、社区养老、入学资助、就业问题、器官移植和精准扶贫等民生领域, 帮助人们做出更好的选择, 提高公共福利。作为一种新兴的方法和技术, 助推并非万能, 需要政策制定者对症下药、精确识别、权衡使用, 规避“行为官僚”, 才能真正实现国家治理现代化和社会利益最大化。     

End-of-life care in nursing homes: the interface of policy,research, and practice

Much attention has begun to focus on the quality of care for persons near the end of life. Palliative care, especially through hospice, has generated much discussion as possibly the most holistic care available. Consideration of how chronically ill older adults receive such care as a result of public policy can benefit from adopting a multidimensional perspective. This paper adopts Bronfenbrenner's ecological model to understand current end-of-life care for nursing home residents, followed by consideration of how each of these dimensions or levels of influence can be used to foster both research agendas and policy reforms to improve end-of-life care of nursing home residents. Specifically, the benefits of considering the influence of such policy initiatives as the Medicare hospice benefit and the Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) on end-of-life care in nursing homes and the means through which policy can be informed by clinical research is emphasized.     

Adolescent cognition and procedural justice: Broadening the impact of research findings on policy and practice

Research on adolescent social cognition has had an enormous impact on how the justice system conceptualizes adolescent legal responsibility and deals with adolescents who commit crimes. Such research also has broader implications for adolescent legal socialization, which have been largely underdeveloped. A renewed effort to connect psychological research with legal policy must expand beyond these beginnings to focus on all adolescents and their engagement in broader social institutions. Specifically, a consideration of the unique capacities for growth and development during the adolescent years should be leveraged toward fostering positive outcomes like community identity, academic and social achievement, and the development of an orientation toward law based upon legitimacy and trust. Studies suggest that a key component of positive socialization is dealing with authorities one experiences as procedurally just. Researchers focused on issues of juvenile justice should also expand their focus to consider how the social climate in institutions such as schools can be designed to take advantage of the unique capacities adolescents have for exploring identity and connecting with peers in developing their orientation to the law and legal authorities.     

The self-help clearinghouse concept: An evaluation of one program and its implications for policy and practice

Many clearinghouses have been organized within the last decade to promote mutual aid and to provide referral information about self-help groups to potential members. Few of the assumptions that underpin the operation of these programs have been evaluated, however. This paper presents an evaluation of the Self-Help Information Service, a clearinghouse integrated with a generic information and referral service. The results were generally positive with respect to operator and consumer satisfaction, community responsiveness, and the system's capacity to undertake numerous service and research functions. They also pointed up several changes that might be made to improve the system's impact. It is concluded that a new practice specialty might be developed within a clearinghouse context, and that the clearinghouse concept might serve as one cornerstone of a funding policy that supports the self-help approach.     

The evolutionary basis of risky adolescent behavior: implications for science, policy, and practice

This article proposes an evolutionary model of risky behavior in adolescence and contrasts it with the prevailing developmental psychopathology model. The evolutionary model contends that understanding the evolutionary functions of adolescence is critical to explaining why adolescents engage in risky behavior and that successful intervention depends on working with, instead of against, adolescent goals and motivations. The current article articulates 5 key evolutionary insights into risky adolescent behavior: (a) The adolescent transition is an inflection point in development of social status and reproductive trajectories; (b) interventions need to address the adaptive functions of risky and aggressive behaviors like bullying; (c) risky adolescent behavior adaptively calibrates over development to match both harsh and unpredictable environmental conditions; (d) understanding evolved sex differences is critical for understanding the psychology of risky behavior; and (e) mismatches between current and past environments can dysregulate adolescent behavior, as demonstrated by age-segregated social groupings. The evolutionary model has broad implications for designing interventions for high-risk youth and suggests new directions for research that have not been forthcoming from other perspectives.     

药品集中招标采购:政策研析与改革建议

药品集中招标采购政策将何去何从,成为社会各个层面关注的焦点.     

Sentencing sex crimes against children: an empirical and policy analysis

This study investigated factors that contributed to the sentencing outcomes of 387 sex crimes against children who were prosecuted in a large East Coast city. Hypothesized variables that were indexed to predict sentencing included several offense, victim, and perpetrator characteristics. The findings revealed that individual victims' experiences are generally less predictive of sentencing outcomes than perpetrators' characteristics, that sentences generally tend to be lenient, that intra-family and stranger abuse seem to be taken equally seriously, and that the criminal justice system does seem to incarcerate those society is most worried about-persistent predators who abuse several children. The article ends with suggestions for further research and policy development.