Establishing mixed method research design guidelines in health impact assessment investigations

In the last decade local policymakers and community health officials have been using a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) strategy to assess the health impacts of their policy decisions. The HIA research design is founded on the mixed method research approach (integration of quantitative and qualitative data slices within a single investigation) to get as comprehensive assessment as possible of the expected impacts. The HIA literature has yet to provide any guidelines on how community health investigators should conduct a mixed-method HIA research. We conducted a content analysis of 100 HIAs executed around the world published between 1999 and 2011 and analysed their research methodologies. Observations generated from the analysed HIAs were used to establish an ‘HIA mixed method model’ by which a series of mixed-method design guidelines were used to help community health researchers improve the analytical capabilities in their future HIA investigations.     

Mental health impact assessment: population mental health in Englewood,Chicago, Illinois,USA

In this paper, we describe a pilot mental health impact assessment (MHIA) undertaken by the Institute on Social Exclusion (ISE) at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. This pilot involved a multi-method approach that included literature reviews and direct engagement of community stakeholders. It resulted in a policy document that summarized the anticipated effects of a proposed amendment to Chicago's Vacant Buildings Ordinance on the collective mental health of people living in Englewood, a neighbourhood located on the city's southwest side. The Chicago City Council passed the proposed amendment in the summer of 2011.Working to advance health impact assessment (HIA) practice, the project aimed to assist Englewood residents by empowering them to participate in the systematic review of a proposed policy change that would impact their own community's mental health. Additionally, the pilot sought to ensure that any policy decision reflected an evidence-based understanding of its probable effects on the mental health of Englewood residents. Thus, these efforts were designed to narrow several health inequities as suggested by key indicators of community mental health.     

Emphasising enhancement in all forms of impact assessment: introduction to a special issue

In the context of impact assessment (IA), ‘enhancement’ refers to deliberate attempts taken in the design and subsequent phases of projects, programmes, plans and policies to ensure the success of a wider range of direct and indirect positive outcomes to communities and/or the biophysical environment. This can be in the form of opportunities for social and community development, improved health and wellbeing, improved biodiversity, restored ecosystems and landscape character, and protected and respected cultural heritage. This first ever special issue on enhancement advocates that all forms of IA should consider opportunities for enhancement. Specific reference is made to strategic environmental assessment (SEA), environmental impact assessment (EIA), social impact assessment (SIA) and health impact assessment (HIA). The paper presents views from IA practitioners regarding perceptions of the barriers to greater use of enhancement in IA and suggestions for possible solutions to those barriers. Investment in enhancement initiatives contributes to sustainable development and resilience, and is consistent with corporate social responsibility obligations of proponents.     

Bringing health impact assessment to the Mongolian resource sector: a story of successful diffusion

Following the 2009 signing of the stability agreement between the Mongolian Government and Canadian mining company Turquoise Hill Resources (formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines), researchers from Simon Fraser University secured funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to conduct applied knowledge translation (KT) research that introduces health impact assessment (HIA) to Mongolia's rapidly emerging resource sector. HIA is a highly regarded informed decision-making tool that helps to identify, assess and mitigate (or promote) potential positive and negative human health impacts of policies, projects and programs. We engaged in a series of knowledge synthesis, KT and dissemination activities with key public and private sector stakeholders as well as community representatives. Our goals were to develop consensus on a socially and culturally appropriate approach to equity-focused HIA, draw on this consensus to develop a contextualized HIA toolkit, build local HIA capacity based on this toolkit, strengthen the HIA regulatory environment and provide evidence-based support for efforts to institutionalize HIA in the resource sector. These efforts have resulted in the inclusion of HIA in the environmental impact assessment law of Mongolia, and the focus has now shifted from KT to further supporting HIA institutionalization and practice.     

HIA practices in Nigeria

Health impact assessment (HIA) provides useful information on existing health services, their capabilities and the health status of the local communities, which is otherwise often unavailable. In Nigeria, HIA is usually applied to projects and, by exposing existing health inequities in project communities, provides the necessary tool for development proponents to act to provide or improve health services and to implement health promotion activities. Based on HIA experience in Nigeria, this paper highlights the deficiencies in national legislation with regards to HIA/EIA (environmental impact assessment) integration and a number of learning points are discussed. First, a complete health baseline is critical to the understanding of project impacts; analysis must be broad-based, considering existing health determinants. Second, community stakeholders and proponents may modify the implementation of health mitigation measures and should be seen as collaborators in the assessment process. Third, strong HIA recommendations can influence project design. A greater participation of the health sector in EIA is required to enhance HIA utilization.     

Understanding social impacts by using new variables and a causal model diagram in New England fisheries

This paper reviews the applicability of the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) process within the framework of US national environmental policy used in New England fishery management. Its aim is to develop a new approach to SIA that goes beyond identifying impacts through guidelines, to include an understanding and portrayal of causality and emergent relationships. The emphasis is on creating a new list of variables identifying social impacts and social change processes. These variables are used in a causal chain model to diagrammatically portray impact dynamics over time and scale. This approach intends to fulfill a need for an accurate and timely methodology used in fishery management to identify potential social impacts of management actions, in order to achieve ecological and socioeconomic sustainability.     

Urban regeneration and impact assessment for social sustainability

This paper provides a working definition of social sustainability and highlights the growing array of social sustainability assessment tools (e.g. SIA, HIA, equality impact assessment, SA). Within EIA the social dimension has been very much the ‘poor relation’. However, changes in the UK planning system, the drive for sustainable communities, and for greater public involvement in decision making are raising the profile of the social dimension. This is particularly relevant for urban regeneration projects, which are often mixed use (including housing), and with the potential for development to be shaped by community involvement. The paper includes a review of recent environmental statements (ESs) for regeneration projects in the UK, which provides findings on, for example, the inclusion of social factors in the process; scope of such factors; methodological approaches and impact assessment tools; and role of community involvement. The research raises questions about the extent to which social issues shape outcomes; it also highlights some important challenges, including the key issue of ‘integration versus disintegration’ in the scope and process of impact assessment.     

Public understanding of risk in health impact assessment: a psychosocial approach

Development projects inevitably pose risks to the health of humans and the planet. Health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners increasingly evaluate the mental health effects of development but have rarely considered those caused by public understanding of risk (‘risk perception’) itself a determinant of health. This paper proposes a new psychosocial model of public understanding of risk in response to the literature on perceived high risk developments. It exemplifies the psychosocial process that occurs when people respond to industrial threats to health. In doing this, it draws upon literature from psychology, social science and public health. The model is foregrounded in the context of psychosocial health in HIA. The paper also reviews the health and well-being effects that may result. Overall, it is argued that the philosophical and moral underpinnings of HIA compel practitioners and developers to understand the formation and ongoing development of public understandings of risk in light of the cultural, demographic, temporal and other contextual factors shaping them in unique development contexts where HIAs are undertaken, and how understandings of risk actually affect community health. We encourage them to propose mitigation measures and solutions that accord with the values of Planetary Health.     

Developing a model curriculum for a university course in health impact assessment in the USA

As health impact assessments (HIAs) become increasingly common in the USA, there is growing demand for instruction beyond short courses and online training. As of October 2013, there are graduate level courses that include instruction on HIA in at least 17 universities in the USA, including four courses that focus explicitly on HIA. Instructors of these four courses collaborated to develop a model curriculum for teaching HIA that draws on a framework for experiential learning and on a theoretical model of curriculum formulation. This article includes an in-depth analysis of these courses and presents a model curriculum for HIA instruction during an academic quarter or semester course in a university. This model curriculum may help faculty develop a graduate level HIA course at their institution, as well as inform public health and community design professionals interested in building capacity to conduct HIAs, and students considering taking an HIA course. International instructors could also learn from the US experience, and apply the model curriculum to their setting and educational structure.     

Development of a quality assurance review framework for health impact assessments

The use of health impact assessments (HIAs) has rapidly increased over the last two decades and has been undertaken to evaluate the health implications of many new projects across the globe. In July 2017, Wales became the first country to legislate for broad approach HIAs, i.e. it considers not only environmental health effects but the social determinants of health, well-being and inequalities. Although the introduction of statutory HIA will ensure the use of HIAs, experts have expressed concerns that legislative measures could lead to poor-quality HIAs and associated reports. This paper outlines the development process and analytical reflections of a quality assurance (QA) review framework for HIAs. The framework has been developed over a 2-year period which allowed the collective intellectual capital behind it to evolve in response to practice-based learning. A standardised form of QA for all types and levels of HIA will provide greater clarity regarding the required criteria for conducting and completing an HIA and ensuring this takes place in a robust, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral manner. Therefore, this QA review framework should fit into existing HIA practice and complement other tools such as best practice guidance to sustain the global reputation of HIA.     

A case for trading risk in complex conceptual design trade studies

Complex conceptual system design trade studies traditionally consider risk after a conceptual design has been created. Further, one person is often tasked with collecting risk information and managing it from each subsystem. This paper proposes a method to explicitly consider and trade risk on the same level as other important system-level variables during the creation of conceptual designs in trade studies. The proposed risk trading method advocates putting each subsystem engineer in control of risk for each subsystem. A risk vector is proposed that organizes many different risk metrics for communication between subsystems. A method of coupling risk models to dynamic subsystem models is presented. Several risk visualization techniques are discussed. A trade study example is presented based upon a simplified spacecraft model. Results from introducing the risk trading methodology into a simulated Collaborative Design Center are presented. The risk trading method offers an approach to more thoroughly consider risk during the creation of conceptual designs in trade studies.     

Using ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ social impact indicators to understand societal change caused by mining: a Western Australia case study

The paper explores the qualitative changes occurring in the local social landscape as a result of mining. Building on Colantonio's social sustainability assessment framework, we argue that there are three thematic areas (related to demographics, social capital and well-being) which identify change generally and specifically caused by mining. By studying the social impacts of mining, we examine both ‘hard’ themes around quantifiable indicators and ‘soft’ themes which deal with less tangible community characteristics and values. The analysis of the Western Australian Boddington case study demonstrates that such an approach can generate important insights about a community's nature and potential capabilities to cope and respond to change. We argue that if social impact assessment is to be used as a development tool, which is a tool that facilitates development, there is need to understand those aspects of the social environment that impact positively and/or negatively its demographic, quality and operational attributes as they influence the overall capacity of communities to maintain and enhance their long-term functioning.     

Integrated eco-design decision-making for sustainable product development

This paper presents an integrated eco-design decision-making (IEDM) methodology that is formed using three stages: life cycle assessment, an eco-design process (Eco-Process) model and an enhanced eco-design quality function deployment process. All product sustainability considerations are conducted within a special eco-design house of quality. This brings together the analysis of factors relating to manufacturing processes, product usage and end-of-life strategy. The concentration of environmental considerations in one place insures that product sustainability is central to any design development and that the implications of change are fully identified and justified. The IEDM methodology utilises of a set of Eco-Process parameters and their associated relationships to allow users with complementary knowledge to enter and access information in a timely and controlled manner. They are then able to contribute their expertise to support decisions with the aim of providing more sustainable products. An application of the approach is presented in the context of a case study considering the redesign of a single-use medical forceps. The materials and production methods used are investigated with a view to quantifying their environmental impact. The resulting IEDM methodology can be seen to be widely and easily applicable.     

Application of fuzzy logic for evaluation of the level of social acceptance of waste treatment

The social aspect is very important in sustainability assessment of waste treatment technique, as well as making decision on their application and planning. In recent years, it is becoming evident that a waste treatment technique, which ignores social aspects, is doomed to failure. The most commonly used social indicators are: number of jobs created, level of social acceptance, public knowledge, public health etc. The most of them are qualitative and measuring the sustainability and quantifying the social dimension of sustainability are difficult tasks. This paper presents the application of fuzzy logic for evaluating the social indicator—level of social acceptance. The fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic were used to develop a model for the evaluation of level of social acceptance, due to the lack of data, uncertainties, and qualitative character of indicators and also to provide effective way to include knowledge and gained experience on the process. A questionnaire was applied as instrument for data collection. The fuzzy model was verified using the city of Ni? as a case study. The results obtained using the developed fuzzy model, shows that the highest level of social acceptance in the city of Ni? is for recycling (57.47 %) and the lowest level of social acceptance is for incineration (17.74 %). The presented study suggests an innovative methodology for evaluation of level of social acceptance of certain waste treatment based on fuzzy logic approach and can be used for ranking of waste management scenarios in the sustainability assessment.     

Efficient Modeling of Magnetostrictive Media Using Fuzzy Inference Systems

Magnetic materials exhibiting giant magnetostriction, such as Terfenol, are currently widely used in fine positioning and active vibration damping devices. Obviously, using accurate magnetostriction simulation models during the various design stages of those devices can positively contribute to the enhancement of their precision. This paper presents an efficient approach, based on fuzzy inference systems, for modeling magnetostrictive media. More precisely, the proposed approach offers a computationally low-cost methodology to model interdependencies of strain and flux density on applied stress and magnetic field. The paper gives details of the modeling methodology and its experimental testing.      

Buy-in and social capital: by-products of social impact assessment

Participatory impact assessment is a term frequently used and often abused. It refers to an approach that includes interested and affected parties in deciding indicators and measures of environmental and social impacts, in evaluation of effects and monitoring. Involving communities in a participatory manner facilitates skill transfer, fosters buy-in and creates local social capital. This paper describes a participatory exercise initiated by a local authority (Council) in New Zealand. Based on the reported assessment and that of two others, five essential ingredients are identified for a genuine participatory exercise. Time and flexibility are key components.     

A comprehensive tool for developing new human-centred and social inclusion-oriented design strategies and guidelines

While Human-Centred Design is by the time considered a consolidated design methodology, emerging social inclusion-oriented theories need to be more comprehended in order to understand their potential applications in the development of new design solutions. This sort of discrepancy often generates contradictory phenomena: solutions developed using such approaches cannot be considered, at the same time, fully human-centred and social inclusion-oriented. The purpose of this article is to describe a new comprehensive tool, conceived both for designers and researchers, able to develop human-centred and social inclusion-oriented design strategies and guidelines. The tool, which is called ‘HSDT’ (Human-Social Design Tool), is an easy-to-use methodological instrument useful to identify focused results oriented toward Human-Centred Design and Social Inclusion. Using logical sequences, it allows to develop new conceptual definitions for both design and non-design subjects into new human-centred and social inclusion-oriented records. Theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, development stages and applications in design and non-design areas are presented and discussed to demonstrate real benefits resulting from the introduction of a new type of interdisciplinary tool and, later, the opportunity for designers and researchers to adopt new problem-solving approaches to bridging the gaps within Design literature.