Public Policy meetings & conferences

19th International Network for Psychiatric Research Conference

05 September 2013- 06 September 2013- Warwick Arts Centre,The University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

The personal and political of mental health nursing research

This international conference aims to examine the personal everyday experiences of living with mental health problems and delivering mental health nursing care and some of the political responses and implications of the events and forces that provide the context within which we live and work.

Mental health nurses regardless of setting are engaged in highly personal alliances with individuals with mental distress. In that light, we wish to hear about research that examines the therapeutic alliances, mental health nursing interventions and creative partnerships that form the focus of much mental health care.

But these personal and professional alliances can also be influenced by wider events that can shape and determine the culture of mental health nursing practice. National responses to global financial crises in the form of austerity measures, cutbacks in services and changes to roles within the workforce can dovetail with existing patterns of inequality, stigma and discrimination to the detriment of mental health service users and staff alike.

The personal and political can be seen to be played out too in the relationships between nurses and the people they seek to support and help through issues of involvement, partnership and collaboration - whether in practice, education or research.

This conference provides an opportunity for an informed and critical look at the therapeutic alliance and the therapeutic environment from the personal and political perspectives of service users, carers, mental health nurses and colleagues.

Event contact

Laura Benfield
Conference and Events Organiser
Royal College of Nursing
20 Cavendish Sq
London
W1G 0RN

Tel: 020 7647 3591
Email: NPNR@rcn.org.uk

Implications of the Affordable Care Act for Low Income Individuals and Families

November 1-2, 2013 Davis, California

The full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) over the coming years will bring many changes in the level of and process for access to health care among poor and working class Americans.  In November 2013, the Center for Poverty Research at the University of California, Davis will host an interdisciplinary conference focusing on research that provides insight and background into likely effects of the ACA on low income individuals and their families.

Risk, Perception, and Response Conference

March 20-21, 2014 Harvard School of Public Health Boston, Massachusetts

Global Mental Health Forum--Sustainable Development Through Global Action: The Case for Investing in Mental Health

Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, United Kingdom 27-28 September 2013

Following on from previous successful events on global mental health and the 2007 Lancet Series on Global Mental Health conference, we would like to invite you to attend our inaugural Global Mental Health Forum to be held on 27-28 September 2013 at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.

This year’s forum, hosted by the Centre for Global Mental Health (a joint initiative of King’s Health Partners and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), aims to encourage the sharing of evidence and experience to strengthen the case for greater investment in mental health research and services around the world– especially in low and middle income countries. Forum topics include: capacity-building; integrating mental health; programme development and implementation; scaling-up; evaluation; consumer experiences of care; mental health policies and plans; financing mental health. The forum will include plenary sessions; however, it will largely consist of submitted symposia, workshops and oral and poster presentations.

35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making

October 20 - 23, 2013  Baltimore, Maryland

"Theme: Bench, Bedside and Beyond: Medical Decision Making and Public Policy"

Capitalizing on our proximity to Washington, DC, the ongoing debate about health care reform in the US, and efforts to achieve high-value health care systems around the globe, the theme of the 2013 meeting is Bench, Bedside and Beyond: Medical Decision Making and Public Policy.

In addition to oral abstract and poster sessions for the presentation of original research, special thematic sessions will address research agendas and the dissemination of findings to patients and providers in the community; strategies for influencing clinical policy and guideline development; and effective communication in policy and advocacy arenas. Through these sessions, symposia and short courses, attendees will gain an understanding of a wide range of contemporary issues and research methods at the interface of medical decision making and public policy.

Obesity Week 2013

November 11-16, 2013 Atlanta, Georgia

In our first year, we have brought together the resources of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and The Obesity Society (TOS) to co-locate our respective annual meetings under one roof. We have developed the preeminent annual scientific and educational conference covering the full scope of the obesity issue, from cutting edge basic science and clinical research to intervention and public policy discussions that can impact the quality of life for millions who suffer from obesity.

Obesity Week participants will benefit from the educational, networking and scientific synergies created through the collaboration of these international obesity organizations. Programming will cover the full interdisciplinary spectrum and feature the world's leading experts in their respective fields. A comprehensive agenda will include:

•Scientific sessions of both TOS and ASMBS

•Pre-conference Continuing Education

•Policy and public health discussions

•Co-sponsored programming and networking events

•Industry-sponsored symposia

In addition, Obesity Week will feature an exposition hall that is the largest of its kind, showcasing the newest, most innovative products, services and technologies from leading global companies and organizations.

5th Jerusalem International Conference on Health Policy

Health Policy in Times of Austerity: Provider Perspectives, Quality Assurance & Public Acceptance

June 3-5, 2013 Jerusalem, Israel

This conference takes place at a time when societies and governments are still reeling from the after effects of the financial crisis that created conditions of recession and exposed underlying weaknesses in the world economic system. Health systems not only have not been spared. But, beyond the need to consider ways of dealing with austerity, they can also play a leading role in contributing to social vitality and development of new modes of policy, regulation and management that can cope with new realities.

In this conference we will confront the following key challenges:

1. How should quality and value in health care be conceptualized;

2. What are the implications of the economic crisis for population health

3. How can institutions and governance be reshaped to deal with the current crisis and prepare for its long term consequences?

Leading experts in management and governance, health economics, health policy and regulation, population health, and quality and performance measurement will be addressing the conference on these issues plenary sessions. In addition, thematic sessions will delve more deeply into these tough, but fascinating problems, and we expect to emerge with new ideas for the future based on the solid contributions of all the participants.

Complexity: Researching Alcohol and Other Drugs in a Multiple World

21-23 August 2013 Aarhus, Denmark

The last decade has seen the idea of complexity gain force in social science and epidemiological research. As social problems of all kinds prove less amenable to change than is sometimes suggested by the reductionist demands of orthodox positivist approaches, theory and method have turned to ways of articulating the elusive, uncertain and complex.

For some, such as the science and technology studies scholars Annemarie Mol and John Law (2002), complexity means multiplicity rather than unity, realities rather than reality, distinct but overlapping worlds, logics and orders. Implicated, too, are questions about the relation between order and chaos, and the validity of binaries of any kind, including that of simplicity and complexity itself.

This conference offers a forum in which the issues and dilemmas of complexity in alcohol and other drug research can be explored. It welcomes research based on quantitative and qualitative methods, and encourages innovative use of methods, concepts and theoretical approaches. Following the conference, Contemporary Drug Problems, an interdisciplinary quarterly and one of the driving forces behind the conference, will publish a special issue featuring selected papers from the conference.

Possible sub-themes

Changing meanings, definitions and measures of addiction

The relationships between alcohol and other drug use and health and social phenomena

Emerging drugs and conceptions of their effects

Public opinion on illicit drug use, drinking or smoking

Drug policy and the forces and assumptions that shape it

Drugs and addiction in film, news and other media

Models and practices of treatment and recovery

Pedagogies of addiction and drugs in universities and schools

Drugs in urban cultures and spaces

Subjects and practices of harm reduction

Global politics of drug production and consumption

Complexity and method in the addiction and drug use field

Validity and reliability in quantitative drug research

Quantitative and qualitative theories of complexity and their uses in drug research.

Questions

All queries should be directed to:

Nicola Thomson
Editorial Assistant, Contemporary Drug Problems
at CDP@curtin.edu.au

43rd Annual Association of Black Sociologists Conference Social (In)Justice and Health Disparities: A Continuing Saga

August 8-10, 2013 New York, New York

Chronic illness and disease constitute major societal problems in the United States. These problems include, but are not limited to, obesity, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and cancer.  Marginalized populations, and people of color in particular, are disproportionately affected by chronic illness. These populations are also less likely to have access to or receive appropriate and timely care and treatment. These health disparities are socially and economically detrimental to the health of society at large. Given the gravity of growing health disparities it is without question that serious investigation by sociologists, economists, psychologists, health care workers, and scholars and practitioners from other disciplines is needed.

2013 Health Disparities & Genomics Conference

May 29th – May 31st, 2013 San Francisco, California

Why We Can’t Wait: Conference to Eliminate Health Disparities in Genomic Medicine

Genetic advances hold extreme promise, but also the potential to further increase health disparities. Now is the time to address this. Join a forum of stakeholders to learn, identify, and discuss many of the challenges and possible solutions for addressing health disparities in genomic medicine.

To contact the 2013 Conference Planning Committee or join the 2013 Conference listserv, email: HIHGGAPCONF@med.miami.edu