• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.467-496
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• 2012

Public participation in the decision making for scarce health resources is important because health policy requires trust based consensus, which can be achieved by public's understanding and involvement of related policies. In the past, opportunities for interaction between health policy decision makers and lay public were rare in Korea. As political impulses towards public participation in health policy have increased, a few of deliberation methods were attempted. However, there is little research, reporting such cases with a critical examination of relevant theories and previous studies. We first critically review the literature on public participation within theories of democracy, governance, and empowerment. Next, we report a case of a citizen council experiment, which was held to examine public's preferences among different benefit options regarding new drugs and medical technologies. Specifically, in an one-day long citizen council with a total of 28 lay public, twelve questions of whether a drug or a technology should be included in the benefit package of health insurance were asked. Pre- and post-surveys investigated participants' perception of public engagement in health policy. Although it was experimental, the citizen council ensured that lay public could be careful enough to rationally compare the costs and benefits of different options and collectively make decisions. Further, results from pre- and post-survey showed a strong willingness of members to be involved in health care decision making. In the conclusion, we emphasize that better theories and methods need to be developed for more cases of citizen participation in health care policy and management.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.298-308
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• 2014

Objectives: To assess the current public participation in-local health policy and its implications through the analysis of policy networks in health center programs. Methods: We examined the decision-making process in sub-health center installations and the implementation process in metabolic syndrome management program cases in two districts ('gu's) of Seoul. Participants of the policy network were selected by the snowballing method and completed self-administered questionnaires. Actors, the interactions among actors, and the characteristics of the network were analyzed by Netminer. Results: The results showed that the public is not yet actively participating in the local public health policy processes of decision-making and implementation. In the decision-making process, most of the network actors were in the public sector, while the private sector was a minor actor and participated in only a limited number of issues after the major decisions were made. In the implementation process, the program was led by the health center, while other actors participated passively. Conclusions: Public participation in Korean public health policy is not yet well activated. Preliminary discussions with various stakeholders, including civil society, are needed before making important local public health policy decisions. In addition, efforts to include local institutions and residents in the implementation process with the public officials are necessary to improve the situation.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.59-84
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• 2011

In the 21st century, Internet information has a huge impact on citizens' participation in public policy process and trust in government. If the quality of Internet information is more positively perceived, the impact will be greater. In order to identify that causal relation, we construct the elements which make up the quality of Internet information and then analyze the impact of that quality on citizens' participation in public policy process and trust in government. First, positive perception about the quality of Internet information increases online participation and decreases offline participation in public policy process. Second, online participation activates offline participation significantly. Third, offline participation has a negative impact on trust in government. In sum, the quality of Internet information activates online participation, which, in turn, contributes a lot to an increase in offline participation and eventually weakens trust in government. On the other hand, the improved quality of Internet information weakens offline participation in public policy process and could contribute to the improvement of trust in government.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.336-346
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• 2017

Background: Due to the asymmetry of information and knowledge and the power of bureaucrats and medical professionals, it is not easy for citizens to participate in health care policy making. This study analyzes the case of the insured organization participating in the Health Insurance Policy Committee (HIPC) and provides a basis for discussing methods and conditions for better public participation. Methods: Qualitative analysis was conducted using the in-depth interviews with the participants and document data such as materials for HIPC meetings. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively sampled six participants from organizations representing the insured in HIPC. The meanings related to the factors affecting participation were found and categorized into major categories. Results: The main factors affecting participating in the decision making process were trust and cooperation among the participants, structure and procedure of governance, representation and expertise of participants, and contents of issues. Due to limited cooperation, participants lacked influence in important decisions. There was an imbalance in power due to unreasonable procedures and criteria for governance. As the materials for meetings were provided inappropriate manner, it was difficult for participants to understand the contents and comments on the meeting. Due to weak accountability structure, opinions from external stakeholders have not been well received. The participation was made depending on the expertise of individual members. The degree of influence was different depending on the contents of the issues. Conclusion: In order to meet the values of democracy and realize the participation that the insured can demonstrate influence, it is necessary to have a fair and reasonable procedure and a sufficient learning environment. More deliberative structure which reflects citizen's public perspective is required, rather than current negotiating structure of HIPC.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2016

Background: Intention to leave was an important managerial issue among physicians working in public health centers. This study was conducted to explore the relationship between job participations and intention to leave among physicians working in health centers. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to gather information about job participation, intention to leave and demographics among physicians (n=243) in public health centers in Korea. Job participation was measured by 15 items categorized 3 dimensions. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of job participation on intent to leave among physicians working in public health center. Results: Participation of medical treatment and administrative job were significantly associated with intention to leave adjusted for sex, age, income, working area, working duration, tenure, and overall job satisfaction. Therefore, physicians who actively participated in administrative job showed a lower turnover intention. Physicians who actively participated in medical treatment job had a higher quit intention. Conclusion: To retain qualified physicians in public health center, education should be reinforced to physician for administrative capacity building.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.330-341
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the participation of union members who involved in the Korean health cooperatives. Methods: Questionnaires were collected from 1,041 respondents who voluntarily participated in seven health cooperatives. In order to verify the hypothesis, collected data were analyzed using binomial logistic regression. Results: Longer tenure, higher collective motive, organizational age were associated with types of participation. In operative participation, marital status, higher reward motive, better accessibility to the cooperatives influenced concern about the high-level participation. Organizational age were associated with the high-level participation in management participation. Longer tenure, interaction with staff, management participation were involved in additional investment. Conclusion: This is the first study to statistically prove that the influencing factors on the participation in the health cooperatives. Based on these findings, the provision of differentiated strategies should be useful for increase of participation.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.33-39
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• 1993

Public participation in the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) has been implemented since the August 1 of 1991 with the Environmental Policy Act promulgation in the August 1 of 1991. It is structured to comment on draft Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) through open reviewing, public meeting and hearing. Though public participation has an important role in determining environmental significance, it is room for improvement. With positive public participation and system development such as Environmental Impact Assessment Act on June 11 of 1993, the effectiveness of it will be improved. This article is composed of status of public participation, comparison with other countries, comparison analysis by items of EIS prepared before and after public participation, and contents of public opinions in EIS.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 1995

Public participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process has been implemented since the introduction of EIA project on August 1 1991, followed with Environmental Policy Act promulgation on August 1 1990. Though public participation has room for improvement. This study compared before and after the introduction of public participation on EIS preparation cost, project cost, EIS preparation term and project term through 293 EISs analysis. Also public opinions in EIS after introduction of public participation were analyzed. The results are expected to be contributed to the system improvement of public participation.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.45-54
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• 2022

This study examines the actual operation and performance of the public participation platform by analyzing various public participation processes from 2018 to 2021, when 'Gwanghwamun 1st Street', a representative public participation platform operated by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, was launched. Through this, the influencing factors that were able to successfully induce the process of policyization through public participation were derived as follows. First, online participation channels were diversified to encourage public participation. Second, it is also important that the public opinion contest and compensation for public review were implemented to encourage and expand public participation. Third, the participation of experts was encouraged to refine and refine the people's ideas. Through these research results, it is judged that the Korean government will be able to contribute to inducing the policyization process through continuous public participation. In deriving success factors for policyization through public participation in the future, how influencing factors such as the public participation process, communication through online channels, and collaboration with experts affect the public participation process using quantitative analysis techniques A study to prove it will have to be conducted subsequently.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-31
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• 2009

The need and rationale for public participation in science and technology is widely acknowledged in academic communities and policy circles. In addition to institutionalized forms of participation, some STS researchers have paid attention to spontaneous forms of public participation, particularly with regard to social movement. This paper aims to explore a new form of public participation, which had been relatively neglected in STS studies. For this purpose, in this paper we examine environmental health issues and cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) debates as examples of doing "undone science" in Korea. Our focus will be specifically on how environmental organizations and trade unions have both succeeded in making those issues as research and policy agenda for both scientific community and policy makers. In a concluding section, a couple of suggestions for further research are proposed.