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With a primary focus on Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), this thesis describes the state of microbial related public involvement and risk communication undertakings. The findings show that HC engages with experts to a far greater extent than with the lay public and that HC has not upheld its stated commitment to transparency. Furthermore, both HC’s and the CFIA´s approach to risk communication is overly general, has failed to provide opportunities for dialogue with vulnerable groups and is not rooted in foodborne surveillance data. Public involvement in food safety governance would be improved if HC provided the lay public with a seat on advisory committees and improved its reporting methods. HC and the CFIA could also make improvements by creating opportunities for dialogue between officials and the general public, and by exploring the potential use of alternative risk communication vehicles, such as food labels.

With a primary focus on Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), this thesis describes the state of microbial related public involvement and risk communication undertakings. The findings show that HC engages with experts to a far greater extent than with the lay public and that HC has not upheld its stated commitment to transparency. Furthermore, both HC’s and the CFIA´s approach to risk communication is overly general, has failed to provide opportunities for dialogue with vulnerable groups and is not rooted in foodborne surveillance data. Public involvement in food safety governance would be improved if HC provided the lay public with a seat on advisory committees and improved its reporting methods. HC and the CFIA could also make improvements by creating opportunities for dialogue between officials and the general public, and by exploring the potential use of alternative risk communication vehicles, such as food labels.

PPI has been growing considerably in the last 15 years in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) following shifts in the relationship between institutions and the public. Various legislative changes during this period have moved the NHS towards a consumerist model of delivery with a greater emphasis on the voice of their service users and the public. High profile cases, such as the severe failings at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Francis, 2013), have provided impetus for PPI. However, despite increases in PPI-related activities, research into PPI methods and their impact have indicated that both methods and impact are difficult to evaluate (e.g. Conklin et al., 2012). Many existing models of PPI appear to over simplify what is a complex social phenomenon. Relatively simple early models such as the ladder of participation (Arnstein, 1969) are still widely referenced. Many studies have focused on individual PPI activities and individual stakeholder perspectives but have paid less attention to the commonalities and differences across and within stakeholder groups and PPI contexts. This study explored the complexities of PPI by collecting detailed observational, documentary and interview data from three different healthcare provider organisations (a mental health trust, a social enterprise, and an acute hospital trust). A range of methods (observations, semi-structured interviews, and document reviews) were used to explore in depth the complex nature of PPI and capture detailed data about contextual and organisational factors. Furthermore, whilst this study aimed to explore a range of activities and individual perspectives across multiple organisations, the ultimate outcome of this research was to produce a conceptual framework that extends theory by placing greater emphasis on the influence of contextual and societal factors. This study identified a plethora of factors that contribute to successful PPI; some of which had been found in previous research (such as personal barriers for laypeople). The constraining role of organisational structures and hierarchies; the strong influence of Government policies and initiatives; and the gatekeeping role of PPI facilitators were novel to this research, or added nuances to existing literature. With regards to the latter, a key finding was the significant role PPI facilitators play in both the implementation and success of PPI work. Their role is essentially a mediator between their employer and patients and the public. This study identified that the role of the voice of patients and the public is negotiated via PPI facilitators, making these key to the success of PPI. PPI facilitators were both responsible for facilitating PPI activities and reporting back the results of that work to senior management (including Board members); the ultimate goal of which was to influence service improvements as well as long term organisational strategies. These findings indicate that a conceptual framework of PPI is needed that considers not just individual perspectives and methods of PPI, but also the process of negotiation via PPI facilitators in making PPI a success.

A review of participatory methods used by forty-nine of the fifty State Departments of Transportation during preparation of their most recently adopted statewide long-range transportation plan revealed the flexibility needed to design context-sensitive methods tailored to the specific planning situation. Four parameters are used to characterize methods used by the States: the planning purpose, participatory goal, timing, and the public scale. The report discusses five opportunities to optimize the participatory process that can broaden reach while maintaining a slim budget. These value-added strategies include taking the process to the public, taking stock of public knowledge and understanding, leveraging existing local relationships, using online techniques to supplement face-to-face contact, and integrating public input into the plan. / text

The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) is a common bird of open areas whose song exhibits easily distinguishable dialects. The dialects are tied to the final part of its song. Some, especially older publications claim that yellowhammer's dialects can be divided into two broad groups with predominantly Eastern and Western European distribution, with a borderline intersecting Central Europe. Until recently, yellowhammer dialects have only been thoroughly researched in Denmark and in some parts of Germany. In the Czech Republic, a detailed study was carried on in connection with the"Bird of the Year"campaign, during which the general public was involved in collecting song recordings at various localities. Thanks toa project called "Czech Yellowhammers Dialect", more than 2600 recordings from throughout the Czech Republic were collected within three years. The recorded songs were then classified into one of the seven traditionally acknowledged groups; some new, not yet documented ones were also discovered. The distribution of the dialects generated a dialect mosaic with a clearly established borderline between individual dialects. Mixed singers were found along the borderlines. A borderline between two dialect groups, crosscutting Western Bohemia, was also found. It was proved once again that for a success of...

Public involvement and participation in Forest Service decision-making is a contentious issue attended by charges and countercharges, unsubstantiated accusations and counterclaims, and value-based arguments by all entities involved. Yet, the numbers of studies to substantiate the debate is relatively minimal and tend to be sporadic, reoccurring during times of national forest management crises, which is inappropriate and shortsighted. Moreover, the studies tend to be quantitative or anecdotal in nature and have largely failed to identify or resolve the problems associated with public involvement and participation in Forest Service decision-making, as well as litigation, and yet researchers continue to advocate for comprehensive, systematic, empirical examinations without considering the possible benefits that comprehensive, systematic, qualitative research could contribute to identifying and possibly resolving such problems. Thus, a comprehensive, systematic, in-depth, qualitative analysis of public comments, administrative appeals, and legal arguments from 12 Forest Service project-level activities, and their seven associated lawsuits, on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, was conducted. The results suggest that there is an interested and vocal minority of individuals and environmental special-interest groups that dominate project-level public involvement and participation processes on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, and that these public involvement and participation processes work in reverse, providing incentives for post-decisional challenges and discouraging pre-decisional information-sharing, collaboration, and compromise. Therefore, the public, the academic community, the Forest Service, and Congress, must challenge the status quo and make needed changes to ensure that public involvement and participation processes are truly democratic and to reduce incentives for post-decisional challenges. / Master of Science

Yes / This article describes the work of the ‘Action on Living Well: Asking You’ group – an involvement group of people with dementia and carers attached to the IDEAL research study. The article describes the work of the group, the methods that have helped them to stay involved and people’s perspectives on their experiences of being involved and the impact it has had, for themselves and others. The article has been written following a reflective piece of work with the ‘Action on Living Well: Asking You’ group to review and remember the work of the past four years. An accompanying film brings to life the work and activities of the group, available at www.idealproject.org.uk/mclass/ / Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the National Institute for Health Research (UK) through grant ES/L001853/2 ‘Improving the experience of dementia and enhancing active life: living well with dementia’

Yes / Patient and public involvement is imperative to ensure relevance of research. There is a growing literature on the theoretical underpinning on patient and public involvement including level and processes of involvement. The aim of this paper is to describe a person-centred and culturally sensitive approach to working with minority ethnic communities, involving carers, people living with dementia, members of the public and carer support workers, as used in the Caregiving HOPE study; and the influence of the approach on the study’s research processes and outcomes. Patient and public involvement members were considered experts by experience and involved with study conception, design, conduct and dissemination. The perspective of the experts by experience is also presented in this article. The level and nature of involvement was influenced by each individual’s needs and desires which changed over the course of the study. The approach had a significant impact on study outcomes as evidenced by successful recruitment and engagement at a national level, but was not without challenges with greater flexibility required and fuller consideration of financial and time costs required. Benefits of the approach included strong engagement, improved outcomes (successful recruitment of seldom heard groups) and meaningful relationships between researchers and experts by experience. A person-centred and culturally sensitive approach is required with patient and public involvement to ensure involvement is not detrimental to those involved, is meaningful and enjoyable and has a positive impact on the research. / Alzheimer’s Society under grant 237 (AS-JF-14-005).