0000000000429089
AUTHOR
Gro Kvåle
Social movements and the contested institutional identity of the hospital
Taking popular protest as a common reaction to changes in hospital services as its point of departure, this paper explores how a social movement has taken on the issue of the hospital as an institution. In the wake of the transformation of Norwegian public hospitals into health enterprises (trusts), this paper explores community resistance to the proposals and plans of decision-makers to restructure hospitals. The study is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the website/blog for the local hospital movement's activities from 2007 until 2017 and of its involvement and resistance in respect of three instances of proposed change to the hospital structure during this period. The …
‘Health in All Policies’ and the Urge for Coordination: The Work of Public Health Coordinators and Their Impact and Influence in Local Public Health Policies: A Cross-Sectional Study
Building heavily on the Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach, Norway implemented the Public Health Act in 2012 to reduce social inequalities in health. Local public health coordinators (PHCs) at municipal levels were seen as tools to provide local intersectoral public health work. In this study, we examine factors related to intersectoral agency and if intersectoral work is understood as relevant to securing social justice in local policy outcomes. A national web-based survey in 2019 of all Norwegian PHCs (n = 428) was conducted with a response rate of 60%. Data were analysed through multiple linear regression, hierarchical regression modelling and structural equation modelling. Neither f…
Public Health Policy to Tackle Social Health Inequalities: A Balancing Act Between Competing Institutional Logics
Kvale and colleagues examine the logics of Norwegian government initiatives to respond to social inequalities in health. Whereas the individualist logic favors bounded and specialized measures and organization, the collectivist logic favors broad approaches and organizational coordination. A content analysis of Norwegian health policy documents between 2003 and 2017 shows how such specialized and integrative measures and structures are alternately introduced and hence create a pattern of priorities to tackle public health challenges alternating between a collectivist and an individualist logic. They argue that reform of service coordination to tackle social inequalities in health requires a…
Shame On You! Unpacking the Individual and Organizational Implications of Engaging with a Stigmatized Organization
How and when does engagement with a stigmatized organization lead to the transfer of its stigma to organizations and individuals associating with it? To answer this question, we conduct an inductive study of the process of stigma transfer and the conditions determining social actors’ susceptibility to such courtesy stigma. We build our process model using interview and archival data on two art exhibitions engaging with Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) Norway. Our study identifies purposeful shaming as a key element in the stigma transfer process, and shows that shaming attempts take on different forms at the individual and organizational levels. We also illustrate that contestation of sh…