Together with her project team, Suzanne Rutz, an assistant professor in the HCG research group, has won the ‘Handhaving en Toezicht 2018’ award for her project ‘Access to the social domain for people with a minor mental disability’. Thanks to Suzanne’s research, joint inspectorates (Toezicht Sociaal Domain) in the social domain were able to successfully carry out this bold project. The Toezicht Sociaal Domein is a partnership of inspectorates, which includes the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate.
People with a minor mental disability are more often in need of assistance. For example, in their household activities, administration, or finding a job. The mystery guests – pictured here – approached various municipalities with a made-up request for assistance. They telephoned, sent emails, filled in forms and visited help desks. They shared their experiences with the inspectorate and the municipalities.
Normally, the inspectorate completes a project with an opinion in the form of a report. This opinion weighs heavily, and for this reason municipalities are often hesitant in their response to the inspectorate’s findings. In this project, the inspectorate asked municipalities to provide their own opinion regarding what they want to improve.
The professional jury complimented the inspectorate for having the courage as a regulatory body to appeal to the intrinsic motivation of municipalities instead of pointing the finger. The inspectorate’s courage in their decision was in part bolstered by Suzanne’s research in how reflexive regulation operates.
Summer School
Many of the project’s elements arose from the Summer School (a collaboration of ESHPM and Erasmus Observatory on Health Law) that Suzanne attended with her colleagues. An example of this is having the mystery guests relate the findings instead of preparing a report. This is followed by a meeting with the municipalities and professionals.
At the Summer School, Antoinette de Bont brought together directors, managers, professionals, PhD students and students. Together with Univé, ZorgSpectrum and Toezicht Sociaal Domein and under the leadership of design thinkers (resolving problems from the perspective of the end user), they examined how they could use informal contact to better reach their target group and get their target group to act.
Suzanne Rutz PhD defense ‘Practicing Reflexive Regulation’:
https://repub.eur.nl/pub/100317Â