Application of the conditional accountability model to professionals in the Dutch youth mental health care

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2018-05-31
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en
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This research extents on the conditional accountability model of Vriens et al. (2016) as a new form of ‘intelligent accountability’. Vriens et al. (2016) argue that trust in professionals should not be placed by means of looking at the outcome or results of their professional work, but by looking at the conditions under which professionals have to work. However, Vriens et al.’s (2016) described form of conditional accountability is conceptual in its nature. Vriens et al. (2016) have not operationalized the concepts to make conditional accountability more concrete or applicable to a certain profession. This research applies the conditional accountability model to practice by focusing on one particular profession: professionals in the Dutch youth mental health care. The theoretical constructs of the conditional accountability model of Vriens et al. (2016) are operationalized for the first time in order to develop a questionnaire, which assesses the quality of working conditions as perceived by professionals themselves. Hence, this research contributes to the first part of what accounting for conditions does: showing “whether professionals are enabled to do their work as professionals” (Vriens et al., 2016, p. 16). The developed questionnaire aims to show whether professionals themselves perceive their working conditions as enabling or hindering their professional work. So, this research concretizes the conditional accountability model of Vriens et al. (2016) by operationalizing its theoretical constructs. Moreover, this operationalization provides a critical reflection on the model of Vriens et al. (2016). Hereby, a first operational step for a way out of the ‘dilemma of professional accountability’ is provided: operationalizing the conditional accountability model of Vriens et al. (2016) to practice, supports the process of developing a more appropriate system of public professional accountability that is able to both guarantee trust in professionals to the wider public, and at the same time does not harm professional conduct. Keywords: public professional accountability, intelligent accountability, conditional accountability, professional work, professionals’ perceived working conditions, questionnaire design, Dutch youth mental health care
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen