Health and wellbeing boards as theatres of accountability: a dramaturgical analysis

Abstract

Biographical notesShelina Visram is a senior lecturer in public health at Newcastle University (formerly an associate professor in public policy and health at Durham University, where the research detailed within the manuscript was undertaken). She has expertise on health inequalities, asset-based approaches and lay or peer involvement in public health, and is experienced in qualitative and mixed methods research. Shelina has over 15 years' experience of undertaking evaluations of complex, policy or system level interventions, often funded by local government partners as well as larger scale projects funded by the NIHR and Department of Health & Social Care. boundaries. Rachael has published in internationally-renowned journals on leadership, knowledge management and innovation in public services. She has experience of process evaluations, qualitative methods and case study research funded by the ESRC, NIHR and

Intersectoral Partnerships Between Local Governments and Health Organisations in High-Income Contexts: A Scoping Review

“… 23 , 45 , 49 Specific communication strategies included holding smaller sub-group meetings which created safer spaces to talk, 47 and encouraging constructive criticism 49 or open debate on issues. 50 Other partnership qualities that facilitated successful cooperation included having a shared vision or message, 23 , 49 enthusiasm, 43 respect, 47 being flexible 16 , 40 , 43 , 47 , 48 or interdisciplinary in approach, 30 , 40 and focusing on improving vertical collaboration. 16 , 35 Such qualities were materialized through collaboratively developed partnership goals, 16 , 26 action plans 23 , 40 , 50 or agendas 45 , 49 , 50 which assisted in negotiating, planning and executing ongoing activities and evaluation.…”

“… 26 , 48 Partnerships in Australia 45 and Canada 40 benefited from having conflict resolution mechanisms embedded in their structure. Partnership functions benefited when they were based on local needs 16 , 47 and facilitated connections in local communities. 23 …”

Understanding Accountability in Democratic Governance

“…The influence of NPM doctrines is visible in several agency characteristics, such as the organizational disaggregation of centralized bureaucracies into specialized units that are considered to be more efficient, more ex ante operational flexibility for agency managers given their familiarity with the sector of operations, and performance contracting with the ensuing emphasis on ex post accountability for results (Verhoest et al, 2010). 33 See, for instance, the case studies on UK 'Health and Well-being Boards' by Visram et al (2021) but also Torfing, Sørensen and Fotel (2009) for an example of best practice in terms of public communication and external involvement in the process of building a bridge between Denmark and Germany. 34 On blame-avoidance strategies in networks, see the case of Hurricane Katrina (Moynihan, 2012).…”

Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy

“…Scholars interested in deliberative democratic themes can apply dramaturgy to illuminate different discursive and democratic aspects of unfolding policy sequences or events (e.g. Hendriks 2009;Visram et al 2020). It is especially well-suited for studying new or emerging forms of governance where there might be unconventional, unforeseen, or disruptive activities (Hajer and Versteeg 2005;Yuana et al 2020).…”