Measuring Street Cleanliness: A Comparison of New York City's Scorecard and Results from a Citizen Survey

Public administrators at the local level often rely on citizen surveys to measure the outcomes or accomplishments of their service delivery efforts. However, many remain skeptical about the value of survey-based measures of local government performance, in large part because of the low empirical correlation between objective and subjective performance measures reported in the literature. Using data from New York City's street cleanliness scorecard, a well-established outcome measure, combined with responses from more than 4,000 respondents to a citizen survey, the authors find a clear and consistent correlation between the scorecard and citizen ratings of street cleanliness in their neighborhoods. Moreover, the street cleanliness scorecard is a much stronger predictor of citizen ratings than demographic factors, trust in government, or contextual effects. These results demonstrate that citizen judgments about government performance can correspond closely with more objectively measured outcomes—and that citizen surveys can provide valid and useful performance measures, at least for some local government services.     

Whistleblower protection for nurses and other health care professionals

Because most employees in the United States, including health care professionals, are employed "at will" (which means their employment can be terminated for any reason or no reason, as long as the reason isn't illegal), retaliatory actions by employers toward employees who speak out (i.e., blow the whistle) are not uncommon. Additionally, the law protecting whistleblowing employees varies greatly depending on the state where the employee works or if he or she works for the federal government. This article examines when and under what conditions a nurse or other health care professional may be protected from having an adverse employment action taken against him or her for reporting such issues as patient safety violations or health care fraud. The authors offer issues a nurse or other health care professional should consider before making the decision to blow the whistle. Finally, the authors also discuss the remedies such as reinstatement, back pay, or other compensatory mechanisms that may be available to employees terminated for reporting wrongdoing.     

The Impact of Child‐Parent Psychotherapy on Child Dependency Court Outcomes

Although parental compliance with court orders in child welfare cases is key to achieving physical parent‐child reunification and successful case closure, little research has examined how parent‐child relationship‐focused rehabilitative services uniquely influence case outcomes. This project fills this gap by investigating links between court ordering of and parental participation in Child‐Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) with court outcomes. Data were obtained from court records of 448 court‐involved parents. Hierarchical regressions revealed that greater participation in CPP led to reunification and successful case closure but not faster case closure. Courtroom professionals should consider parent‐child relationship‐based therapies as tools for achieving child welfare goals.