Strategic play among family members when making long-term care decisions

This paper describes a strategic model of bargaining within a family to determine how to care for an elderly parent. We estimate the parameters of the model using data from the National Long-term Care Survey. We find that the parameter estimates generally make sense and that the model is consistent with the data. The results have strong implications for using less structural empirical models for policy analysis.

Beyond the barriers : road construction safety issues from the office and the roadside

Conceptually, the management of safety at roadworks can be seen in a three level framework. At the regulatory level, roadworks operate at the interface between the work environment, governed by workplace health and safety regulations, and the road environment, which is subject to road traffic regulations and practices. At the organizational level, national, state and local governments plan and purchase road construction and maintenance which are then delivered in-house or tendered out to large construction companies who often subcontract multiple smaller companies to supply services and labor. At the operational level, roadworks are difficult to isolate from the general public, hindering effective occupational health and safety controls. This study, from the State of Queensland, Australia, examines how well this tripartite framework functions. It includes reviews of organizational policy and procedures documents; interviews with 24 subject matter experts from various road construction and maintenance organizations, and on-site interviews with 66 road construction personnel. The study identified several factors influencing the translation of safety policies into practice including the cost of safety measures in the context of competitive tendering, lack of firm evidence of the effectiveness of safety measures, and pressures to minimize disruption to the travelling public.

Globalisation and national curriculum reform in Australia : the push for Asia literacy

This chapter explores the policy context for the push for a national curriculum and the inclusion of Asia literacy for schooling in Australia in the light of current links between globalisation, education and policy analysis and the notion of the learning/knowledge society of the twenty-first century. It is anticipated that discussion of the Australian context will be insightful for those other nations concerned with positioning Asia in school curricula, including for example, New Zealand, Canada, USA and UK. In doing so, the chapter considers the challenges to the implementation of Asia literacy in Australia with specific reference to current and future teachers for, as with many nations, the teaching profession in Australia is on the cusp of generational change as large numbers of teachers aged in their mid to late fifties embark on retirement (Teaching Australia, 2007). A major challenge in addressing these demographic shifts in Australia, lies with meeting the demand for replacement teachers and preparing future teachers (Skilbeck, & Connell, 2004; McKenzie, 2012) with Asia-related knowledge.

Older academics : motivation to keep working

This is an interpretive – descriptive analysis of responses to 41 open ended questionnaires returned by cademicsworking beyond normal retirement age. The sample consisted mainly of academics from the United Kingdom,Australia, and New Zealand. The research addressed the question of what motivates some academics to continueworking beyond the ‘usual’ retirement age. The main motivation for continuing was strong interest and commitment,particularly to research and writing. Some also gave social, financial, and other reasons for continuing. Those not infull time employment described barriers, including finance and facilities and the support that they needed to maintaintheir activities. In most countries institutional and government policies made it possible for them to stay involvedacademically even if it meant making a personal effort. Most of them would have liked better support or recognitionfrom their universities. The results suggest that universities should more actively support older academics incontinuing activity.

Recovery from first episode psychosis: A dialogical perspective

This study aims to understand the process of change in self and its relationship to recovery in the first 3 months following first-episode psychosis (FEP). Because psychosis is understood as a disorder of self, theories of self are needed to consider how sense of self is affected and restored. The authors used semistructured interviews to explore the experiences of 12 young people who had been diagnosed with FEP. The interviews were conducted at two time points: during the first month following the onset of psychosis and 3 months later. The authors employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explicate interview data and explore the experience of change following FEP. Themes that emerged in the data came under two superordinate themes: loss of self and strengthening of self. Dialogical theory of self was used to interpret the findings and explore the relationship between sense of self and recovery for young people during this critical phase following FEP.

Recovery from first-episode psychosis and recovering self: A qualitative study

Objective The objective of this study was to explore the subjective factors associated with the experience of first-episode psychosis (FEP) and the very first stages of recovery to develop our understanding of this process and improve treatment outcomes. Method Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was used to explore the experiences of 20 young people who had recently experienced FEP. Results Two broad superordinate themes captured essential thematic trends in the data: experiences of self-estrangement and self-consolidation. The concept of dialogical self was used to understand the effect of psychosis on self and the process of resuming familiar social positions to facilitate recovery. The concept of making meaning after traumatic events was also applied to the narratives of personal growth that participants formed. Those who reported subjective improvements in recovery were more likely to have developed a meaningful interpretation of their psychosis, strengthened relationships with others, and forged a stronger sense of self. Conclusions and Implications for Practice The experience of self-consolidation was strongly associated with the person’s resumption of familiar social roles and their ability to make meaning from their experience in a way that promoted personal growth. Although these processes are known to be part of personal recovery, this study highlights their importance in the very early stages of recovery immediately after the experience of FEP.

Spatial governance: The metalanguage of spatiotemporal information and its infrastructure

‘Spatial governance’ involves a large number of situations where knowledge of place and time is important in achieving acceptable organisational outcomes. This paper argues that spatial governance calls for information-intensive activity in three main areas. The first establishes ‘authority’ in a legal entity to decide issues regarding resources within a territorial jurisdiction. The second involves planning the future use of resources. It engages a language of design, purpose, modeling, visualization, expectations and risk. The third involves monitoring of outcomes to see if expectations are met; and whether changes to authority and planning regimes need to be made in the light of experience. This engages a language of observing, recording, accounting, auditing, statistical indicators and accountability. ‘Authority’, ‘planning’ and ‘monitoring’ regimes can be constructed using a relatively small number of elements, in much the same way that a large number of words with recognisable meanings can be created using a relatively few standardised letters of the alphabet. Words can combine in a similar process of combinatorial explosion to create any message that can be imagined. Similarly, combining authority, planning and monitoring regimes can create a metalanguage of ‘spatial governance’ to give purpose, meaning and value to any spatiotemporal information system that can be imagined, described, interpreted and understood.

Doing something about it: Representations of NAPLAN in the public domain

Since 2008 all Australian school students have sat standardised tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy in years 3,5,7 and 9. NAPLAN tests report individual students' attainment of skills against a set of standards. Individual student results are communicated to parents. Schools are then ranked against other schools depending upon the aggregate of their NAPLAN results. The process is explained to parents and community members as “improving the learning outcomes for all Australian students” (MCEETYA, 2009). This paper will examine NAPLAN as it is being played out in a mediated space through analysing unsolicited comment found in new media such as Twitter and online forums. NAPLAN intersects with contemporary debates about Australian education policy: the roles schools should play in improving national productivity, the relationship between state and federal government interest in education, the role and expectations of the teacher, what curriculum and pedagogy should be and look like and how limited financial resources can best be spread across education sectors and systems. These are not new considerations, however, what has changed is that education policy seems to have become even more of a political issue than it has before. This paper uses Ball's 'toolkit' approach to education policy analysis to suggest that there are multiple 'effects' of NAPLAN culminating in a series of disconnected conversations between various stakeholders.

Australia's disabling income support system: Tracing the history of the disability pension from 1908 to today

This article is based on a historical-comparative policy and discourse analysis of the principles underpinning the Australian disability income support system. It determines that these principles rely on a conception of disability that sustains a system of coercion and paternalism that perpetuates disability and referred to as disablism. The article examines the construction of disability in Australian income support across four major historical epochs spanning the period 1908-2007. Contextualisation of the policy trajectory and discourses of the contemporary disability pension regime for the time period 2008-now is also provided. Two major themes were found to have interacted with the ideology of disablism. This article argues that a non-disabling provision based on social citizenship, rather than responsible or productive citizenship, counters the tendency for authoritarian and paternal approaches. [Abridged]

Countering disablism: An alternative universal income support system based on egalitarianism

The long-term vision of economic security and social participation for people with a disability held by disability activists and policy-makers has not been realised on a global scale. This is despite the implementation of various poverty alleviation initiatives by international and national governments. Indeed within advanced Western liberal democracies, the inequalities and poverty gaps have widened rather than closed. This article is based on findings from a historical-comparative policy and discourse analysis of disability income support system in Australia and the Basic Income model. The findings suggest that a model such as Basic Income, grounded in principles of social citizenship, goes some way to maintaining an adequate level of subsistence for people with a disability. The article concludes by presenting some challenges and a commitment to transforming income support policy.

Measurement of transit network accessibility based on access stop choice behaviour

This research improved the measurement of public transport accessibility by capturing; travellers' behaviour; diversity of public transport mode; and the subjectivity of travellers' decision in the complex transport networks. The results of this research not only highlighted the importance of considering public transport network characteristics but also, revealed the impact of public transport diversity in the modelling of public transport accessibility. The research developed a hybrid discrete choice model with a nested logit structure to treat the correlation among the public transport mode choices and, a logit correction factor to rectify the correlation among the stop choices.

Vulnerability criminalised: Transgender people in prisons

Purpose of this paper: International research identifies transgender people as a vulnerable group in prison systems, with basic needs often being denied. This paper outlines Australian contexts of incarceration, and links between institutional responses and the vulnerabilisation of transgender prisoners. Design/methodology/approach: The paper critically analyses Australian prison policies regarding the treatment of transgender prisoners. Findings: The policy analysis illustrates the links between institutional practices and the increased vulnerability of transgender prisoners. The paper argues that policies further criminalise, and potentially doubly punish, transgender prisoners. Research limitations/implications: This paper analyses the publicly available policies on regulating transgender people’s imprisonment. Given the limited Australian research into transgender prisoner’s lived experiences, there is a gap in relation to policies, their perception, and how corrective services personnel enact the limited procedures available to them in managing transgender prisoners. Practical Implications: Current policies and practices significantly enhance the vulnerability of transgender prisoners. This policy analysis highlights the critical importance of policy and practice reform in relation to housing, safety, health and welfare services, and misgendering. What is the original/value of paper: The policy analysis provides practitioners with an outline of critical issues that arise when transgender people are imprisoned and suggests key areas for future research.

Constructing the ideal victim in the United States of America's annual trafficking in persons reports

Human trafficking as a global phenomenon continues to elude accurate quantitative measure, and remains a controversial policy domain significantly influenced by anecdotal evidence. Drawing on the policy analysis framework of Bacchi (1999; 2007) the problem representation of trafficking through narratives can be considered a direct antecedent of contemporary anti-human trafficking policy. This article explores the construction of human trafficking within the Trafficking in Persons Reports, published annually by the United States of America’s Department of State. An examination of the victim and offender narratives contained within the reports published between 2001 and 2012 demonstrates that human trafficking is predominantly represented as a crime committed by ideal offenders against idealized victims, consistent with Christie’s (1986) landmark criteria of ideal victimization. This representation of an ideal prototype has the potential to inform policy that diverts focus from the causative role of global socioeconomic injustice towards criminal justice policies targeting individual offenders.

Parenting a child with haemophilia while living in a non-metropolitan area

The experience of living in a non-metropolitan area and parenting a child with haemophilia is relatively unknown. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the following study explored the experiences of seven parents, from which four themes emerged: ‘bearing the brunt of diagnosis’ captures the impact of the diagnosis; ‘if you can’t help me, who can?’ reveals experiences with the health system; ‘tackling the challenge of treatment’ encompasses difficulties in adhering to the treatment regime; ‘I need you to understand’ reflects desires for others support and understanding. These themes should be considered when developing support systems and interventions for parents living in non-metropolitan areas.