Joy Clay

Transportation vulnerability as a barrier to service utilization for HIV-positive individuals

Research suggests that transportation vulnerability can negatively impact adherence to HIV-related medical treatment. Moreover, transportation can be a barrier to accessing ancillary services which can increase positive health outcomes for HIV-positive individuals. This study examines transportation vulnerability and its impact on HIV-related health and ancillary service utilization in the Mid-South Region. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with service providers and HIV-positive individuals, and survey data were collected from HIV-positive individuals (N=309) using the five As of access to frame transportation vulnerability: availability, accessibility, accommodation, affordability, and acceptability. Study results indicate that transportation vulnerability can present significant barriers to service utilization for HIV-positive individuals, including insufficient transportation infrastructure, incompatible fit between transportation and health systems, and insensitivity to privacy issues. One consequence of transportation vulnerability is reliance upon weaving together multiple modes of transport to access care and ancillary services, creating additional barriers to service utilization and medical adherence. The research team recommends more investment in public transit systems, expanded services, and innovative approaches to solving procedural problems.

Strategic collaboration in public and nonprofit administration : a practice-based approach to solving shared problems

The Promise of Strategic Collaboration A New Lens: The Life Cycle Model of Collaboration Assessing Collaborative Readiness: The Missing Strategic Step Strategic Collaboration in Action: Six Principles Attending to the Forgotten: The Elderly, Collaborative Practice, and Evacuation, P.J. Jenkins, J.J. Kiefer, and S. Laska Running out of Classrooms! Solving Overcrowding through Collaborative School Planning, E. Dalehite Moving Beyond Hierarchies: Creating Effective Collaboration Networks for West Nile Virus Biosurveillance in Oregon, G.B. Burke, C.M. Wirth, T.A. Pardo, A.D. Sullivan, H. Kwon, and J.R. Gil-Garcia Information Stewardship and Collaboration: Advancing Evidence-Based Public Policy Decision Making, J.A. Clay and C. Martin Choices and Challenges Sustaining a Rural Health Network When Funding Vanishes, D.J. Patt on and K.B. Stewart Collaboration, Citizen Participation, and Environmental Protection in the Marine Oil Trade of Alaska, G. Busenberg Paving the Way for Public Transportation in Texas through Public Collaboration, S.R. Majumdar, J. Pierce, and C. Moynihan Cape Fear Healthy Carolinians: Taking Risks, Crossing Boundaries, T.J. Barth and E.J. Demski Building a Community-Higher Education Collaboration to Meet the Needs of the Local Nonprofit Sector, D. Norris-Tirrell and S. Schmidt The Mastery of Strategic Collaboration Practice References Appendix A: Recommended Reading List for Collaborative Practice Appendix B: Collaboration Operating Guidelines Sample Appendix C: Participant Agreement Appendix D: Matrix of Collaboration Participant Roles Appendix E: Checklist for Strategic Collaboration Meetings Appendix F: Parliamentary Procedure Highlights for Effective Meetings Appendix G: Collaborative Analysis of a Contested Policy Issue Checklist Appendix H: Recent Collaboration Practice Literature

Public-Institutional Processes Beyond Conventional Wisdom about Management Processes

This article proposes a public-institutional lens for analyzing managerial activities in public agencies. In contrast to the traditional view of management processes, a political-institutional perspective better captures and describes how public agencies interact with their environments and how they go about organizing internal activities to support agency-environmental interactions. After analyzing the traditional view of management processes, three principal qualities that define public-institutional processes are discussed that is, as political processes, as institutional sense-making processes, and as processes that accommodate individual differences.

Waiving the MPA Entrance Exam: Impact on Performance

Abstract For decades, graduate schools around the country have used various graduate entrance exams as one of the key factors in determining graduate school admission. Although many people would argue that these scores are good predictors of graduate student matriculation, the evidence is not conclusive. Hence, the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of waiving the graduate admission exam on graduate student performance in the MPA program at the University of Memphis, summer semester 2001 through spring semester 2004. We examine performance using three measures: overall MPA grade point average, substantive contributions in core classes, and writing skills. Using data collected from student files (1995–2004), we determined that the grade point average of students who received the waiver did not significantly differ from non-waiver students. On one of the two faculty judgment measures—writing skills—chi-square analysis indicated that non-waiver students performed better than waiver students, but the differences lost significance in the full regression analysis. Overall, the implementation of an entrance exam waiver did not adversely affect program quality while positively enhancing program marketing and recruitment efforts, as measured by an increase in the number of MPA applicants.

The debate over the U.S. government's role in health care financing:"deja vu, all over again"

Yogi Berras famous quote captures the continuing debate over the legitimate role of the U.S. government in health care financing. The issues of individual choice, equity of access, and concern about income security are just as unresolved today as they were in the early twentieth century. Until we engage in an explicit national debate on these issues and come to a national consensus on the human and political values underlying our current health care situation, a “solution” to the health care financing problems will never be found. This article discusses the history of the issue of governments involvement in health care financing, American ambivalence about government regulation, and the role of American business as a major health care insurer.

State lotteries and education: do they really fix the education quagmire?

During the latter half of the 20th century many states began to use the lottery as an alternative method to increasing the amount of revenue within their general funds. Apparently, this method was a lot more palatable than increasing taxes. Passing lottery legislation was easier in states where the funds were partially or wholly designated for primary, secondary, or higher education. The main purpose of this paper is to determine if the presence of a lottery impacts educational outcomes (high school graduations rates, bachelor degrees awarded, ACT, and SAT scores). Using state level data for the period 1985-2000 in a pooled time series regression model, the analysis indicates that the presence of a lottery is useful in models explaining educational outcomes.