Understanding diversity in policing: Serbian perspectives

This paper aims to minimize damage and protect people through efficient response in the event of a disaster in urban areas, focusing on civil defense training facilities with an urban disaster prevention function and on vulnerable social groups, who can suffer more damage in the event of disaster. The influential factors in the relationship between civil defense training facilities and the vulnerable social group were verified by multiple regression. As a result, a significant influence relationship was found targeting the group with physically vulnerable characteristics such as the elderly, disabled, and children. Therefore, it is necessary to expand defense training facilities by region, giving priority to the physically vulnerable group in order to minimize disaster damage and facilitate appropriate crisis management.

Vulnerable social groups can be recognized in everyday life, and local legal regulations identify them as well. Strategies and laws clearly identify the increased needs of vulnerable groups. Local legislation, for example, observes comparative law trends and attempts to prevent discrimination of persons with disabilities, emphasizes their human rights and creates the legal framework for taking these persons out of the institutional form of protection and including them into the community. In Serbia however, strategies and laws, as well as by-laws, are written in sectors, and not in cross-sectors manner. Proper caring for persons with disabilities, including persons with mental disabilities, requires an integral approach, namely a mutual approach of the social, health, educational and other sectors. True enough, local regulations stress the need for an intersectional approach, but such an approach is scantily applied in practice, so the comprehensive care that would satisfy the multiple needs of persons with mental disabilities often turns out to be less than expected in the community. Pursuant to national laws and basic ethic principals, all citizens of the Republic of Serbia have the right to health protection without discrimination. Therefore, methods for using health protection, easier than the existing ones, should be found for certain vulnerable groups, depending on their characteristics, and so for the Roma as well, and bearing in mind that systemic health regulations in Serbia open the door to special treatment of these groups. The inaccessible approach to health care of the Roma population persists primarily due to insufficient basic health documentation and basic personal documentation. Personal documents are linked with the registered place of residence, which the Roma, largely do not have. The problem is thus on a wider scale and is not only focused on the health sector. As such, it requires a wider, intersectional approach and a coordinated solution to the problem. In the field of palliative care of terminally ill persons, a solution is on the way to be reached through the Strategy for Palliative Care, by reorganizing the health system. The health system as it is cannot fulfill the needs of persons requiring palliative care. Coextensive systems enable establishing hospices as charity organizations in the non-governmental sector, mainly financed from donations. They represent a support to the health system in taking care of terminally ill patients. For now, our legal system does now allow non-governmental organizations to engage in health activities, although there were initiatives in that direction. To some extent, national regulations offer a basis for treatment of patients with rare illnesses, but without specifying their rights to a diagnosis or treatment and without more detailed regulations on the allocation of funds directed towards diagnosing rare illnesses and treatment of the ill. A lack of legal and financial prerequisites makes them subject to discrimination. The very fact that a large number of these patients are children makes them twice as endangered category of population. The legal system has recently started dealing with a regulation that would support persons suffering from rare illnesses, but the implementation of these provisions has still not completely become a reality. The Law on Health Care and Insurance defines children and women in their reproductive period as an especially vulnerable group. The Law on Rights to Healthcare for Children, Pregnant Women and Women on Maternity Leave, has recently been brought. The Law has been brought with an aim of ensuring rights to health care and transportation costs benefits for children, pregnant women and mothers during maternity leave, regardless of the basis on which they have health insurance. The reason for bringing such a law is noble, but the form of the legal act, which was supposed to realize the set goal, was overemphasized and contributed to the already existing over-norming of Serbian legislature. The legal basis for regulating this issue already existed in the umbrella health laws and should have been realized through by-law regulations.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on the economy and health, especially for the most vulnerable social groups. The social determinants of health are one of the most relevant risks for becoming infected with COVID-19, due to the health consequences for those who are exposed to it. The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of social determinants in health on COVID-19 infection in vulnerable social groups. A transversal epidemiological study was carried out on 746 individuals in vulnerable situations living in conditions of extreme poverty in disadvantaged areas in the province of Almeria (southeast of Spain). Social determinants of health such access to drinking water (p < 0.001) and economic income (p = 0.04) influenced the infection of COVID-19. A binary logistic regression model showed that the significant predictors of COVID-19 infection were the lack of economic income and inaccessible drinking water. The government and social health services must be aware of this problem in order to play an active role in searching for solutions and implementing public health prevention measures to eliminate social inequalities in health.

Purpose: This study attempted to estimate the need for home visiting nurse at public health centers. Methods: A model was generated to estimate a communitys home visiting health service needs in 16 regions and a workload analysis was adopted to estimate the number of required Nurses. Data were collected from 16 public health centers using the South Korean governments open-information systems. Subjects were divided into three groups: vulnerable social group, bottom 10% income group, and bottom 20% income group. Results: The analysis revealed that 2,158 and 6,667 nurses were needed to provide home visiting health service for the bottom 10% and 20% income groups, respectively. It was estimated that for the vulnerable social group, 10,336 nurses were needed to provide home visiting health service, implying that the need-based demand for nurses is well over 5 times the number currently employed. Conclusion: The results indicate that the number of currently employed nurses is insufficient for the health management of vulnerable social groups. The government should consider active employment policies to encourage nurses to apply for home visiting health service.

Social Entrepreneurship is an organized activity aimed at seizing the various opportunities, forms, enterprises and measures in order to create sustainable social values and benefits and employment of persons belonging to marginalized groups of persons, whereby profit is primarily used for employment of socially excluded or vulnerable social groups, as well as to create solutions for the needs and problems in the social community. Modern working conditions force companies to adopt innovative approaches to work in order to make the best use of opportunities. In today's working conditions, and enterprises that perform a certain type of social activity, they face the challenge of continuous monitoring of changes in the operations and successful application of innovations as a prerequisite for growth and development.For the development of social enterprises and social entrepreneurship it is necessary to use the opportunities in the environment and to change certain segments in the organizational systems, to introduce and apply new approaches to sustainable solutions that create a higher social value. The social and professional integration of marginalized workers and other vulnerable groups is one of the possible ways to create a higher social value. The social enterprise, as a legal entity that acts in a particular social economy, is usually not oriented only towards the creation of profits, but it is oriented towards the creation of a social impact by implementing innovative methods for providing goods and services on the market. Differences in the direction of social enterprises and other business enterprises cause differences in the application of innovative management.The aim of this paper is to understand the significance and impact of modern-innovative management for the development of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as emphasizing the need for applying an appropriate methodological approach in creating the necessary management decisions. The subject of research in this paper is focused on perceiving the different business models of social enterprises and the impact of innovative management approach in the development of social enterprises in the Republic of Macedonia.

Evidence regarding the association between temperature and children's nutritional status is scarce. We aimed to estimate the relationship between ambient temperature and the weight and height of Brazilian children aged 12-59 months. This large longitudinal cohort study from all 5570 Brazilian municipalities used data from the 100 Million Brazilians Cohort linked with data from the Information System on Live Births (SINASC), Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (SISVAN), and temperature data from the Brazilian Daily Weather Gridded Data (BR-DWGD). The study included children aged between 12-59 months with nutritional monitoring recorded by SISVAN between Jan 1, 2008 and Dec 31, 2017. We applied distributed lag non-linear models to investigate the cumulative influence of temperature over the year preceding each child's measurement on weight and height (ie, lag: 0-51 weeks). Subgroup analyses were conducted to identify population groups facing greater risk of worse nutritional outcomes. 6 498 546 children aged between 12-59 months were included in the study. 3 226 520 (49·65%) participants were male, 3 272 026 (50·35%) were female, and 4 194 195 (64·54%) were Parda or Brown ethnicity. For each 1°C increase in ambient temperature above the median (26°C), the cumulative odds over the weekly lags 0-51 increased by 10·0% (odds ratio [OR] 1·10 [95% CI 1·099-1·103]) for underweight (low weight-for-age), 8·0% (OR 1·08 [1·078-1·081]) for wasting (low weight-for-height), and 8·0% (OR 1·08 [95% CI 1·078-1·080]) for stunting (low height-for-age) in Brazil. In stratified analyses, the odds of malnutrition associated with a 1°C increase in ambient temperature were highest in the North (followed by the Northeast, the two poorest regions of Brazil), in municipalities with higher deprivation index, in rural areas, and among children of Indigenous mothers. Children experiencing high temperatures in Brazil are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, with worse outcomes observed among more vulnerable social groups. Our results highlight the deep environmental injustice in Brazilian society, with the influence of temperatures interacting with existing social and economic inequalities and exacerbating nutritional outcomes in the most vulnerable groups. Further studies are needed to investigate causal pathways and identify strategies capable of mitigating the effects of climate change on child nutrition. National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); the Department of Science and Technology of the Secretariat of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Health Inputs of the Brazilian Ministry of Health; the Wellcome Trust.

This paper investigates the degree of effectiveness of the rule of law in Brazil by analyzing how some vulnerable social groups, such as women and black people, deals with the compliance with law and with some authorities’ orders in Brazil. We created the Bra- zilian Confidence in Justice Index (BCJI) as a validate argument for our confidence measure and the Brazil Perception of Compliance with Law Index” (BPCLI) that measure perceptions, attitudes and habits of Brazilians concerning compliance to law. We identi- fied some reasons that could explain the perceptions of these specific social groups. We found that there is a positive and significant relationship between the Brazilian Confidence in Justice Index (BCJI) and Per- ception of Compliance with Law Index (BPCLI). This paper innovates when it shows some patterns regard- ing two vulnerable groups analyzed here: women and blacks believe that there are few reasons for a person like them obey the laws. In addition, we concluded that women have a higher level of BPCLI than men, which means, women comply with the law more than men; and blacks have a worst perception of the com- pliance with law comparing with whites, since they understand that Brazilian society seldomly comply with law. We also found a positive relationship of BP- CLI with variable age and income.

Background An extensive study investigated the risk factors for low well-being in post-retirement. Most previous studies have taken a unidimensional perspective, focusing on single factors such as financial status, physical health, and mental health. Objective Drawing on the vulnerability framework, we first identify and describe the empirical subgroups of vulnerability among retirees in the United States across four major domains of later life: material, physical, social, and mental vulnerability. Then, we investigate the association between vulnerability profiles and well-being. Method The sample included 3,158 retirees aged 65+ who participated in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Latent class analysis was utilized to identify the heterogeneous subgroups of vulnerability, and then a series of OLS regression analyses was conducted to examine the relationship between patterns of vulnerability and well-being. Results Five vulnerability patterns were identified: material vulnerable (12%), health & social vulnerable (14%), material, health & social vulnerable (6%), least vulnerable (34%), and social vulnerable (35%). The health & social vulnerable group had the strongest negative influence on well-being among all subgroups. As the largest subgroup, the social vulnerable group’s negative influence on well-being stood out, with a stronger effect than that of material privation experienced by those in the material vulnerable group. Conclusion By empirically identifying subgroups of differential vulnerability patterns among retirees, this study showed that post-retirement vulnerability reflects complex interactions among multiple disadvantages. Findings of this study enhance understanding of the disparities in well-being within the retired population, pointing to the possibility of targeted policy and program development.

Officers are not equally supportive of community policing despite its potential for improving police–citizen relationships. Research has yet to identify and explain variations in officer support for community policing with racial minorities. Using roll-call surveys with 741 officers in three departments, this project addressed two questions: Do officers differ in their support for community policing across racial groups? And, if so, why? Officers are less supportive of community policing with racial minorities and perceive greater social distance from minority groups. General support for community policing and lower perceived social distance from a minority community are linked with greater support for community policing with that group. Community policing experience is not related to support for the practice across racial groups. By understanding differences at the officer-level, departments can build support for community policing—particularly with minority communities—through reducing perceived social distance. Additionally, department-level differences highlight the importance of comparative research.

Conditional cash transfers (CCT) are paid to parents, whose compulsory school -age children regularly attend school. When schooling requirements are not met, the transfer is suspended and parents are often required to pay back the allowance subsequently. The general aims of CCTs are: improving children’s school participation, extending the time that children spend in public education and reducing the number of early school leavers. My dissertation analyses the implementation, proliferation and operation of different European education-based cash transfer programmes, which function as novelties in the modern continental welfare policies. My research is based on TÁRKI’s evaluation of the European CCTs that was conducted on behalf of the European Commission in 2013 and 2014. I participated as a researcher in this project. The first research question of my dissertation is: How did the international financial organizations influence the proliferation of CCTs in the analysed European countries? The next question is: Why did governments prefer CCTs compared to other possible programmes as a way to tackle early school leaving and truancy? Another important question is: Which social groups are the most affected by the sanctions of CCTs? And my last question is: How certain educational indicators changed after the introduction of the conditional transfers? In order to answer these questions I carried out case studies on education based cash transfer programmes in three countries: Child Allowance in Bulgaria, School Allowance in Hungary and School Allowance in Belgium’s Flemish Region. During my research I thoroughly analysed policy documents relating to the programmes (national and international strategies, action plans, legal documents, publications, etc.) and carried out qualitative interviews with governmental officers and civil experts from all three countries. Though my analysis does not show a direct relationship between the implementation of CCTs and the activity of international organizations (European Union, World Bank, IMF), the general impact of these organizations on the formation of welfare policies in the analysed countries is rather significant. At the same time, national decision makers and the public opinion – particularly in the eastern European countries – strongly support the implementation of education-related family benefits. Moreover, my research draws attention to the phenomenon, that the CCT related sanctions punish primarily the most vulnerable social groups in each of the countries, such as the poor, the ethnic minorities and people from disadvantaged geographic regions. In addition, CCT programmes – at least the ones analysed in my thesis - are not successful at reducing early school leaving and school drop-out and cannot keep children at schools longer.

Cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members: The role of group size, status, and power

This article makes an attempt to approach, in a systematical way, the proposition of supplying models of public goods. The author first discusses the connotation of public goods, pointing out that those goods in association with helping social vulnerable groups are belonging to public goods. Following on, with a comprehensive literature survey relating to the theory of supplying of public goods and based on the ideas of Gidron and Wuthnow, the author suggests and justifies a five-dimension model for supplying of public goods, which will act for development forecast and as theoretical guidelines for the supplying of public goods in solving problems associated with urbanization, aging, social vulnerable groups helping and the people's livelihood within the new turn reform of China. Keywords—public goods, supply, models, choice

A major contributor to health disparities is the relative lack of resources-including resources for science-allocated to address the health problems of those with disproportionately greater needs. Engaging and involving underrepresented communities in setting research priorities could make the scientific research agenda more equitable, more just, and more responsive to their needs and values. We engaged minority and underserved communities in informed deliberations and report here their priorities for health research. Academic-community partnerships adapted the simulation exercise CHAT for setting health research priorities. We had participants from minority and medically underserved communities (47 groups, n = 519) throughout Michigan deliberate about health research priorities, and we used surveys and CHAT software to collect the demographic characteristics and priorities selected by individuals and groups. The participants ranged in age (18 to 88), included more women than men, and were overrepresented by minority groups. Nearly all the deliberating groups selected child health and mental health research (93.6% and 95.7%), and most invested at the highest level. Aging, access, promote health, healthy environment, and what causes disease were also prioritized by groups. Research on mental health and child health were high priorities for individuals both before and after group deliberations. Access was the only category more likely to be selected by individuals after group deliberation (77.0 vs 84.0%, OR = 1.63, p = .005), while improve research, health policy, and culture and beliefs were less likely to be selected after group deliberations (all, p < .001). However, the level of investment in many categories changed after the group deliberations. Participants identifying as Black/African American were less likely to prioritize mental health research, and those of Other race were more likely to prioritize culture and beliefs research. Minority and medically underserved communities overwhelmingly prioritized mental health and child health research in informed deliberations about spending priorities.

Book reviews

Social inequality has been one of the motives for the exacerbation of environmental risks among more vulnerable social groups, especially regarding their forcible occupation of riverbanks and flood plains. Therefore, their environmental vulnerability is increased due to climate change that tends to intensify rainfall regimes, just as their socioeconomic conditions also suffer owing to a reduced capability to adapt. As a partial result of the master’s thesis, this article proposes an analysis of the strategies and difficulties of two communities in situations of social and environmental vulnerability, since they live on the banks of the Costa Channel, a manmade waterway that runs through a mostly middle-class neighborhood called Itapoa, Vila Velha (Espirito Santo state, Brazil). The research was developed using the method of ethnographic inspiration and the implementation of individual and group interviews during the year 2015. In the same period, attending the meetings of the neighborhood residents’ association helped to better understand how local leaders are involved in the problems faced by those groups. First of all, by exposing their spontaneous strategies of prevention and adaptation, one resorts to the description and analysis of the way in which they are to cope, particularly, with floods. Through such work, we seek to highlight sensations, feelings and social and political conditions that underlie the taking of private actions and the naturalization of those events, hampering if not impeding the publicization of such a problem. Finally, the situations presented contribute to indicate that periodic events tend to change people’s usual behavior, but the situation of vulnerability and environmental injustice in which they find themselves does not contribute to promote their association in order to publicize such problems.