BACKGROUND The objective of this study is to examine the existence and shape of epistemic communities for (heart) health promotion at the international, national, provincial and regional levels in Canada. Epistemic community may be defined as a network of experts with an authoritative claim to policy relevant knowledge in their area of expertise. METHODS An interpretive policy analysis was em...

OBJECTIVE To determine if differences between English- and Spanish-speaking parents in ratings of their children's health care can be explained by need for interpretive services. METHODS Using the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey-Child-Survey (CAHPS), reports about provider communication were compared among 3 groups of parents enrolled in a Medicaid managed care health plan: 1) Engl...

The present paper takes the position that social action inherently involves meaning and, thus, cannot be adequately modeled without representing the interpretive process among agents. The development of interpretive models is challenging, however, and quickly raises issues of computational tractability. A strategy is developed based on three assumptions (agent focus, continuity reduction and or...

How does and should the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements, with foundations from the late 1800s, impact today's nursing practice? How can the Code help you? The earlier 2001 Code was revised and became effective January 2015. The nine provisions received modest revision, as did the corresponding interpretive statements. However, Provisions 8 and ...