Suchergebnisse

This paper observes that analyses of the process of decentralization often fail to recognize that constraints are imposed by the nature of the organization being examined. In particular, the analysis of an organization producing economic goods can be misleading if applied, without qualification, to organizations producing government goods. Taking as its point of departure the analysis of an economic organization, the article focuses on three salient differences in the operation of the two types of organizations. First, in the economic organization both its personnel and its clients agree on the items produced. In the government organization there may be substantial disagreement about what should be produced. Second, in the economic organization the information flows will generally be of a compact numerical form. In the government organization the information flow will often not take a numerical form. Information transmission will be less dense and, therefore, more expensive. Third, in the economic organization prices act as "sufficient statistics," which completely measure the organization's performance of its objective (profit maximization). For many government organizations no such sufficient statistics exist.

The current cross-sectional study investigated and compared the associations between insight, self-stigma, and family burden among Jewish and Arab mothers of an adult son or daughter with serious mental illness (SMI) in Israel. A total of 162 Israeli mothers of a person with SMI participated in the study; 95 were Jewish (58.6%), and 67 were Arab (41.4%). Insight, self-stigma, and family burden scales were administered. Jewish mothers reported higher levels of insight into their son's or daughter's illness and reported greater family burden compared to Arab mothers. No significant differences in self-stigma scores were found between Jewish and Arab mothers. The pattern of associations between insight, self-stigma, and burden differed between Jewish and Arab mothers. Self-stigma was found to mediate the relationship between insight and burden among Jewish mothers but not among Arab mothers. Ethno-national affiliation should be taken into consideration regarding how family members conceptualize and experience mental illness, as this might affect care.