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English
In Australia and elsewhere, much funding is invested in population health surveys and the epidemiological monitoring of populations. Yet there is little research about the impact of such surveys on health policy. This article examines the challenges faced in assessing the benefits of health surveys. It draws on an evaluation of the New South Wales (NSW) Health Survey Program. Although it is possible to specify a wide range of potential impacts, the many different uses and levels of benefit of health survey data are difficult to quantify. Simpler surveys of whether and how data are used by policy makers may be the only realistic option.

To be successfully and sustainably adopted, policy-makers, service managers and practitioners want public programmes to be affordable and cost-effective, as well as effective. While the realist evaluation question is often summarised as what works for whom, under what circumstances, we believe the approach can be as salient to answering questions about resource use, costs and cost-effectiveness – the traditional domain of economic evaluation methods. This paper first describes the key similarities and differences between economic evaluation and realist evaluation. It summarises what health economists see as the challenges of evaluating complex interventions, and their suggested solutions. We then use examples of programme theory from a recent realist review of shared care for chronic conditions to illustrate two ways in which realist evaluations might better capture the resource requirements and resource consequences of programmes, and thereby produce explanations of how they are linked to outcomes (i.e. explanations of cost-effectiveness).

Most scholars in political theory and sociology have dismissed journalism as an institutional force in the public sphere, in part because of journalists' largely self-defined and curiously marginalized role as a mere transmission apparatus for traditional news. The authors advocate a philosophy of public journalism faithful to the commons, in which newspapers become a site for public dialogue accessible to all citizens, where positions that could not or would not be explored elsewhere are advanced, argued, assessed, and acted upon.

Most scholars in political theory and sociology have dismissed journalism as an institutional force in the public sphere, in part because of journalists' largely self-defined and curiously marginalized role as a mere transmission apparatus for traditional news. The authors advocate a philosophy of public journalism faithful to the commons, in which newspapers become a site for public dialogue accessible to all citizens, where positions that could not or would not be explored elsewhere are advanced, argued, assessed, and acted upon.

Abstract  The Medicare Safety Net (MSN) was introduced in March 2004 to provide financial relief for those who incur high out‐of‐pocket costs from medical services. The policy has the potential to improve equity. This study examines: (i) how the health and income profiles of small areas influence MSN expenditure; and (ii) the distribution of expenditure by medical service type. The results indicate that MSN expenditure is positively related to income and that patients who use private obstetricians and assisted reproductive services are the greatest beneficiaries. The MSN has possibly created greater inequities in Australia's health‐care financing arrangements.

Abstract
Since the Care Act (2014), there is fresh impetus for social workers to apply strengths-based approaches (SBAs) when working with adults. However, implementation challenges remain. This article presents our synthesis of seven studies that examined Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP). It was conducted as part of a systematic review that aimed to summarise research evidence on the implementation of different SBAs within adult social work in the UK. Qualitative studies were analysed using a framework synthesis approach. Four themes were identified: (1) MSP as an intervention: seen as initially demanding but with long-term advantages; (2) Culture and settings: required broad cultural changes; 'outward facing' and smaller/specialist councils tended to find this easier; (3) Individual characteristics: related to enhancing the knowledge, skills and confidence of practitioner and stakeholders in MSP; and service user willingness to engage; and (4) Embedding and sustaining MSP: depended on strong leadership and active engagement at all levels. We found a wide range of factors affecting the implementation of MSP. These may have broader relevance for other strengths-based models of social work practice.

Communication Perspectives on Popular Culture contains all new writings from many important established scholars as well as brilliant young scholars in the communication field. Contributors explore new and emerging ways to approach popular culture - from case studies to emerging theories - as they examine how popular culture, media, and communication influence our everyday lives.