Can identified stressors be used to predict profession for mental health professionals?

A difference appears to exist between stressors reported for nurses and allied health professionals working in mental health. Prominent stressors for mental health nurses include workload, administration duties and a lack of resources. Whilst these also appear to be stressors for allied health professionals, the stressor 'professional self-doubt' has also been reported for social workers. This study aimed to examine the extent to which community mental health professionals could be identified as belonging to the nursing profession or an allied health profession based on their perceived sources of stress. Ninety-eight community mental health nurses and 85 allied health professionals working in Victoria's public mental health services completed the Mental Health Professionals Stress Scale. Discriminant analysis was utilised to test the predictive value of stressors to identify profession. The main stressors reported by nurses were workload, a lack of resources and organisational problems. For allied health professionals the highest reported stressors were workload, a lack of resources, client related difficulties and organisational problems. Mental health professionals in this study could not be identified as belonging to the nursing profession or an allied health profession based on their identified sources of stress. It could well be reflective of the shift to homogenous roles in mental health services. With this being the case, there may be benefits in implementing stress reducing strategies at an organisational level.

Introductions to the profession : curricular approach

In 2008, extra-curricular career development programs developed for psychology undergraduates at the Queensland University of Technology were incorporated into the formal curriculum. While a whole of course approach has been adopted, this session will explore the impact of a new introductory unit, Psychology in Professional Contexts, which adopts a constructivist approach to student career exploration. First-year students are introduced to key theories, models, and processes of career development, and the diversity of contexts in which their psychological knowledge can be applied, while developing and highlighting the value of important generic abilities such as critical thinking, team communication, critical reflection, and information literacy. Materials are drawn from the media, guest speakers’ professional profiles, the students’ own experiences, and traditional and emerging areas of psychology. Assessment and learning activities involve case analysis, problem-based learning, and discussion-based classes. The content of these professional development classes is also aligned with that of the core discipline units studied concurrently, to encourage the transfer of career development skills and knowledge across the psychology curriculum. This presentation will focus on 4 years of curriculum development in Psychology in Professional Contexts, and discuss changes initiated in 2011 which incorporate interactive online environments and extend the role of problem-based learning.

Legal Profession Act 2007 s 319 - Whether costs agreement made after trial valid and enforceable - whether agreement had retrospective operation

The decision in QCOAL Pty Ltd v Cliffs Australia Coal Pty Ltd [2010] QSC 479 involved an examination of a number of issues relating to the assessment of costs under the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld). The decision highlights a range of issues which, in slightly different circumstances, may have deprived the successful party of the right to recover costs by reference to the costs agreement.

Female genital mutilation : legal, attitudinal and practical reform

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice common in many Islamic societies. It involves the deliberate, non-therapeutic physical modification of young girls’ genitalia. FGM can take several forms, ranging from less damaging incisions to actual removal of genitalia and narrowing or even closing of the vagina. While often thought to be required by religion, FGM both predates and has no basis in the Koran. Rather, it is a cultural tradition, motivated by a patriarchal social desire to control female bodies to ensure virginity at marriage (preserving family honour), and to prevent infidelity by limiting sexual desire. In the USA and Australia in 2010, peak medical bodies considered endorsing the medical administration of a ‘lesser’ form of FGM. The basis for this was pragmatic: it would be preferable to satisfy patients’ desire for FGM in medically-controlled conditions, rather than have these patients seek it, possibly in more severe forms, under less safe conditions. While arguments favouring medically-administered FGM were soon overcome, the prospect of endorsing FGM illuminated the issue in these two Western countries and beyond. This paper will review the nature of FGM, its physical and psychological health consequences, and Australian laws prohibiting FGM. Then, it will scan recent developments in Africa, where FGM has been made illegal by a growing number of nations and by the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 2003 (the Maputo Protocol), but is still proving difficult to eradicate. Finally, based on arguments derived from theories of rights, health evidence, and the historical and religious contexts, this paper will ask whether an absolute human right against FGM can be developed.

Practice and procedure : a recent Court of Appeal case examines the meaning of 'third party payer' in terms of Part 3.4 of the Legal Profession Act 2007.

In Legal Services Commissioner v Wright [2010] QCA 321 the Queensland Court of Appeal allowed an appeal from the first instance decision. The decision involved the construction of “third party payer” in Part 3.4 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld).

Predicting the job satisfaction of female sex workers in Queensland, Australia

This study used a cross-sectional survey to examine job satisfaction and its correlates among 247 female sex workers working as private service providers, in licensed brothels and in illegal sectors of the industry (mainly street-based workers). Overall, most sex workers reported positive job satisfaction. Satisfaction was higher in women working legally and was generally comparable with women from the general population. Multivariate analyses revealed that job satisfaction was significantly linked to women’s reasons for initially entering the industry. Sex workers’ age, education, marital status, length of time in the industry and current working conditions were apparently less important for satisfaction.

Building the profession together : towards holistic library and information science education

How can a holistic approach to library and information science education encompassing vocational and university sectors that meets the future information workforce requirements be achieved? This paper will outline a twelve month national project that considered this very question. Funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).

Collaborative organisational structures : implications for the accounting profession

The IT systems drive the financial reporting processes in modern business environments. The result is an integrative system of initialing, authorizing, recording, and processing of financial transactions. This IT-related change inextricably links to the overall financial reporting process, requiring a deeper level of understanding and commitment. Firm’s IT governance initiatives provide this commitment by enforcing controls to IT components to ensure compliance to overall financial reporting requirements. The IT governance institute (ITGI) and other authorities have developed a number of frameworks and guidelines (e.g., COBIT) to help management in managing IT-intensive processes.

Academics’ work and the concept of “profession” : an Australian case study

Universities in Australia and elsewhere have changed considerably in recent years. Inevitably, this has meant that the work of academics has also changed. Academics’ work is of importance because they are key players in universities and universities matter to the nation economically and intellectually in advancing knowledge and its practical application. Through the changes and challenges that have characterised academia in recent years, there is an assumption that academics’ work is representative of a profession. This research study investigates how academics construct their own perspectives regarding the academic "profession". The study is theoretically informed by Freidson’s theory that conceptualises professions as occupations if they are in control of their work rather than it being under the control of either the market or of their employing institutions. Two research questions guide this study. The first question investigates how academics might construct their work in ideal terms and the second one investigates the extent to which such constructions might constitute a "profession". A qualitative case study was conducted within two Australian universities. In all, twenty academics from ten disciplines took part in the study that consisted of a focus group and fifteen individual interviews. The study was conducted in three phases during which a conceptual framework of academics’ work was developed across three versions. This framework acted both a prompt to discussion and as a potential expression of academics’ work. The first version of the framework was developed from the literature during the first phase of the study. This early framework was used during the second phase of the study when five academics took part in a focus group. After the focus group, the second version of the framework was developed and used with fifteen academics in individual interviews during phase three of the study. The third version of the framework was the outcome of a synthesis of the themes that were identified in the data. The discussion data from the focus group and the individual interviews were analysed through a content analysis approach that identified four major themes. The first theme was that academics reported that their work would ideally be located within universities committed to using their expert knowledge to serve the world. The second theme was that academics reported that they wanted sufficient thinking time and reasonable workloads to undertake the intellectual work that they regard as their core responsibility, particularly in relation to undertaking research. They argued against heavy routine administrative workloads and sought a continuation of current flexible working arrangements. The third theme was that teaching qualifications should not be mandated but that there should be a continuation of the present practice of universities offering academics the opportunity to undertake formal teaching qualifications if they wish to. Finally, academics reported that they wanted values that have traditionally mattered to academia to continue to be respected and practised: autonomy, collegiality and collaborative relationships, altruism and service, and intellectual integrity. These themes are sympathetic to Freidson’s theory of professions in all but one matter: the non-mandatory nature of formal qualifications which he regards as absolutely essential for the performance of the complex intellectual work that characterises occupations that are professions. The study places the issue of academic professionalism on the policy agenda for universities wishing to identify academics’ work as a profession. The study contributes a theory-based and data-informed conceptual framework for academics’ work that can be considered in negotiating the nature and extent of their work. The framework provides a means of analysing what "academic professionalism" might mean; it adds specificity to such discussions by exploring a particular definition of profession, namely Freidson’s theory of professions as occupations that are in control of their own work. The study contributes to the development of theories around higher education concepts of academic professionalism and, in so doing, links that theoretical contribution to the wider professions field.

Harnessing the power of hope : happier law students to grow a healthier profession

With the recognition of the high incidence of depression and psychological distress in the legal profession, positive programs and education are being introduced at several levels, including law schools.

Reflective practice as a tool for addressing high levels of psychological distress in Australian law schools and the legal profession

This paper discusses: -The need for law schools to use curriculum as a site for positive interventions to support student psychological well-being. -The potential for law school interventions to impact on the psychological well-being of the profession. -Reflective practice as a possible tool for promoting psychological well-being in law school and the profession because it provides a way of coping with ‘indeterminate zones’ of experience.

Humour and charm in a story of race, headwear and healing

“There are always stories in the wearing” of the iconic beanie just as there are head and heart-warming stories in the making of Alana Valentine’s beautifully crafted Head Full of Love. Nessa and Tilly’s lives entangle at the annual Alice Springs Beanie Festival. The tourist gazes, the craftswoman crochets. Both women have broken pieces of their past that relationship can heal. Collete Mann and Roxanne McDonald capture the rhythm and nuance of difficult relationships perfectly. The humour, pathos and unsentimental depiction of black/white relations in Wesley Enoch’s production promise more than a story, they are a community conversation.