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Higher education (HE) in many countries has been characterized by increased marketization, external accountability, and managerialism. This article examines how academics feel about and respond to HE reforms in Cyprus, a country whose HE sector is heavily commercialized and affected by austerity measures. We analyzed interviews with twenty-three Cypriot academics in four universities, who had been working in business schools from 3 to 29 years. Interviewees described experiences of being an academic in Cyprus, highlighting contextual factors that triggered emotional events in their day-to-day lives. Integrating previous literature, we present six different behavioral responses to the events they described, including compliance, resistance, and flight. We explain how academics chose different responses at different times based on their interpretations of value congruence/incongruence, their felt emotions, and the need to comply with emotional display rules. Considering these elements together highlighted the emotional labor associated with various behavioral responses. The study contributes theoretically by showing how values, perceived emotional demands within particular events, and emotions influence behavior, including different types of emotional labor. We suggest that further research on academics' responses to HE reforms should focus on particular events and on particular contested academic values, such as autonomy or collegiality.

Background: Rare diseases are a particular field of public health that is characterized by scattered, often insufficient knowledge and infrastructure. The scarcity of specialized knowledge often forces clinicians and patients to an incomplete picture of the diseases and their associated risks. Effective person-centred networks appear promising for solving such real world and life-defining problems by purposely sourcing expert knowledge that is geographically-dispersed. The design and implementation of the RARE-e-CONNECT network technology is described. The project was funded to create collaborative spaces for the development of international partnerships in Cyprus' healthcare, promoting the dissemination of expert knowledge on rare diseases while saving resources through teleconsultation. Parameters that matter for patients, providers and policy-makers through the RARE-e-CONNECT experience were evaluated through a participatory mixed-method approach, consisting of (1) a needs assessment survey with 27 patients/families and 26 healthcare professionals at the two referral hospitals for the diagnosis and management of rare diseases in Cyprus; (2) interviews with 40 patients, families and patient representatives, as well as 37 clinicians and laboratory scientists, including national ERN coordinators/members; (3) activity metrics from 210 healthcare professionals and 251 patients/families/patient representatives who participated on the platform at the time of the research. Results: Our results indicate usage and intention by both healthcare professionals and patients/families to openly provide decentralized specialized information for raising suspicion amongst clinicians to facilitate the necessary referrals, as well as peer to peer psychosocial support to help cope with the everyday challenges of living with the disease. User behavior was largely affected by the prevailing social norm favoring individual practice, as well as missing policies for telemedicine and shared care. This article discusses how telehealth is inextricably linked to social, cultural, organizational, technological and policy factors affecting uptake. Conclusions: We argue that collective intelligence tools need to be formally considered and work hand in hand with national and European policies/regulatory frameworks to promote proactiveness amongst the healthcare community with regard to the timely diagnosis of rare diseases and the facilitation of patients' pathway to specialists. Collaborative channels between countries need to be established to source collective intelligence on complex cases and save resources through teleconsultation/telementoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses health care administration in Cyprus as of March 19, 2005. Report that Cyprus is the only European Union nation that does not provide universal health care; Discussion of the organization and finance of Cyprus' health care system; Claim that Cyprus has not provided universal health care due to inexpensive care available from private providers; Efforts toward reforming medical policy in Cyprus; Impact of government policy on health care administration; Cultural and social impacts on public health in Cyprus. INSET: Panel: Health care on a divided island.