Australians' organic food beliefs, demographics and values

Purpose – To examine consumers' beliefs about organic foods and their relationship with socio-demographics and self-transcendence (universal, benevolence) personal values.

Design/methodology/approach – A random questionnaire-based mail survey of 500 Australian (Victorian) adults (58 per cent response) was used. The questionnaire included items on organic food beliefs, the importance of self-transcendence values as guiding principles in life, and socio-demographics. Statistical analyses included cross-tabulations of organic food beliefs by socio-demographics and multiple regression analyses of positive organic food beliefs with personal value and socio-demographic items as the independent variables.

Findings – The majority of participants believed organic food to be healthier, tastier and better for the environment than conventional food. However, expense and lack of availability were strong barriers to the purchasing of organic foods. Generally, women were more positive about organic food than men (e.g. women were more likely to agree that organic food has more vitamins/minerals than conventional food). The personal value factor related to nature, environment and equality was the dominant predictor of positive organic food beliefs, followed by sex. These predictors accounted for 11 per cent of the variance.

Research limitations/implications – A survey response bias needs to be taken into account. However, the response rate was adequate for reporting and differences in age and education between participants and the Victorian population were taken into account in data presentation. Future understanding of consumers' use of organic foods will require the inclusion of a fairly extensive set of potential influences.

Practical implications – Communication appeals based on psychographics may be a more effective way to alter consumers' beliefs about organic foods than those based on demographic segmentation.

Originality/value – To the best of one's knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between personal values, socio-demographics and organic food beliefs in a random population sample. This study is relevant to producers, processors and retailers of organic food and those involved with food and agricultural policy.

Beliefs about genetically modified foods : a qualitative and quantitative exploration

This study is aimed to examine consumers' beliefs about genetically modified foods. Ten focus group interviews of community members and a random questionnaire-based mail survey of 500 Australian (Victorian) adults were conducted (58% response). Participants were generally negative about genetically modified foods, with concerns being raised about them being unnatural, difficult to identify, and having unknown long-term health and environmental effects. Many participants were unaware of or disagreed with the benefits of genetically modified foods that are promoted by its advocates and there were some misconceptions present. These findings provide information for both advocates and opponents of genetically modified foods and a basis for future larger-scale research.

Living precariously: the struggle for social and economic citizenship

The central relationship between the labour market and citizenship in Australia is highlighted thus engaging with the broader issued of risk and security, inclusion and exclusion rights and freedoms. There has been a recent shift from social liberal models of industrial and economic citizenship to individualised market models.

General practitioners' competence and confidentiality determinations with a minor who requests the oral contraceptive pill

The right of minors to make medical treatment decisions is an issue that is not explicitly addressed in the legislation of most Australian jurisdictions. While recent common law decisions allow competent minors to consent to treatment, current legislation in Victoria does not provide adequate guidelines on how competence is to be measured. It is also unclear whether the duty of confidentiality is extended to competent minors. The current study explored general practitioners' competence and confidentiality decisions with a hypothetical 14-year-old patient who requests the oral contraceptive pill (OCP). Questionnaires were sent to 1,000 Victorian general practitioners, 305 of whom responded. General practitioners were asked to determine whether "Liz" was competent to request the OCP, and whether they would maintain her confidentiality. A total of 81% of respondents found the patient competent, while 91% would have maintained her confidentiality. Results indicate that the majority of general practitioners used rationales that generally did not conform to current legal principles when making competence and confidentiality determinations regarding this patient.

Winners or losers? Work/life balance and temporary agency workers

This article focuses upon temporary' agency workers' capacity to balance work/life needs. Two extremes are identified within the Victorian temporary agency labour market. On the one hand, there are skilled temporary agency workers employed in areas of high demand accompanied by labour shortages. Nurses are one such group. At the other extreme, there are skilled and semi-skilled temporary agency workers who face a shortfall in demand for permanent, direct hire employees. Drawing upon a survey and focus groups of temporary agency workers, their potential for achieving a satisfactory work/life balance is assessed in relation to control over working time, income and employment security, and a narrow band of employment conditions. The findings differ substantially between the two groups of agency workers, contributing to significantly different perceptions of the personal benefits of working through a temporary employment agency.

Public views of the benefits and barriers to the consumption of a plant-based diet

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine consumers' perceived benefits and barriers to the consumption of a plant-based diet. Design: Mail survey that included questions on perceived benefits and barriers to the consumption of a plant-based diet. Setting: Victoria, Australia. Subjects: Four hundred and fifteen randomly selected Victorian adults. Results: The main perceived barrier to adoption of a plant-based diet was a lack of information about plant-based diets (42% agreement). Sex, age and education differences were present in over a quarter of the barrier items. For example, non-university-educated respondents and older people were less willing to change their current eating pattern than were university educated and younger respondents. The main benefits associated with plant-based diets were health benefits, particularly decreased saturated fat intake (79% agreement), increased fibre intake (76%), and disease prevention (70%). Age, sex and education differences with regard to benefits were apparent, although sex differences were more important than age or education differences. Conclusions: The majority of respondents perceived there to be health benefits associated with the consumption of a plant-based diet. Compared with the proportion of respondents who agreed that there were particular benefits of eating a plant-based diet, perceived barriers were relatively low. An understanding of the perceived benefits and barriers of consuming a plant-based diet will help formulate strategies that aim to influence beliefs about plant foods, plant food consumption, and, ultimately, public health.

Labour hire employment and independent contracting in Australia: two inquiries, how much change?

In the past 18 months, two inquiries into labour hire employment have been held in Australia. The first was conducted by the Victorian Parliament's Economic Development Committee, and reported in June 2005. The second, the Federal Government's House of Representatives Standing Committee Inquiry into Independent Contracting and Labour Hire Arrangements, reported in August 2005. This review outlines the findings of those inquiries, and questions the extent to which they have contributed to improving protection for vulnerable workers. It commences with the Victorian inquiry, then turns to the Federal inquiry. Common themes are drawn together in the concluding discussion.

Real english and english lite : what texts should we teach in the english classroom? (1) or English lite and thick lit : what is the debate about?

Why is it that Prime Minister John Howard wants to micro-manage English curricula? Why does how teachers teach English and Literature regularly make it to the front and editorial pages of the national dailies? The author attempts to critique that phenomenon, to explain her state of mind - that of being both alert and alarmed. The latest round of the debate began with Tony Thompson's article, 'English Lite is a tragedy for students', in 'The Age' on 12 September 2005. He was concerned that VCE English might be reduced to a single print text and he was alarmed about the watering-down of curriculum driven by 'postmodern notions'. The author is at odds with many of Thompson's views and discusses her stance on various aspects of his propositions. Issues examined include Thompson's argument that no multimodal text yields as much significance as a piece of genuine literature; that students are not being 'stretched' far enough; the false dichotomy between aesthetic/formalist manoeuvres on the one hand and postmodern ones on the other; how texts make meaning to students as consumers and the rationale for the use of pop culture texts to connect with students.

Public land use planning using bioregions and other attributes : determining the study area of the VEAC river red gum forests investigation

In order to plan for the best use of public land at a regional scale the determination of an appropriate regional boundary is important for ecological, resource use and recreational reasons. The study area for the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council's (VEAC) River Red Gum Forests Investigation incorporated bioregional boundaries, modelled pre- I750 vegetation distribution, recent public land use investigations, and the distribution of public land. This paper outlines how ecological attributes and past land use studies were used to inform the boundary for this major study of public land along the Murray River in northern Victoria.

The long and winding road : the development of a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of highly protected marine protected areas in Victoria, Australia

In 2002, the state of Victoria, Australia increased its “no-take” marine protected areas (MPAs) 100 fold to cover over 5% of its coastal waters in a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine national parks and sanctuaries. Given the ambitious targets set for MPA establishment globally in 2003 at the World Summit for Sustainable Development this apparently remarkable achievement could be an example to other nations and states attempting to establish substantial MPA systems.

This paper describes and discusses the factors that contributed to the establishment of the Victorian system and the relevance of these factors to other jurisdictions.

Neovascularization and pain in abnormal patellar tendons of active jumping athletes

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate tendon pain in abnormal patellar tendons with and without neovascularization.

Study design: Comparative design.

Setting: Multidisciplinary tendon study group at a competitive volleyball venue.

Participants: One hundred eleven volleyball players volunteered to participate in the study.

Main Outcome Measures: Subjects' patellar tendons were imaged with ultrasound, with and without Doppler. Tendons that were imaging abnormal were categorized according the presence of tendon neovascularization. Subjects completed 3 pain scales that examined function (Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment score, 100-point maximum), pain with tendon load (decline squat, visual analogue scale, 100-mm maximum), and maximum pain for the previous week (visual analogue scale, 100-mm maximum). A 1-tailed Mann-Whitney U test compared pain scores in abnormal tendons without neovascularization to abnormal tendons with neovascularization.

Results: Functional scores were lower (Victorian Institute of Sport score, median, 78; P = 0.045) and pain scores under tendon load were greater (decline squat pain, median, 19; P = 0.048) in subjects with abnormal tendons with neovascularization than subjects with abnormal tendons without neovascularization (Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment score, median, 87; decline squat pain, median, 0).

Conclusions: This study indicates that the presence of neovascularization in abnormal patellar tendons is associated with greater tendon pain compared with abnormal tendons without neovascularization in active jumping athletes.

Portable sick leave in the Victorian building industry : managing cumulative employee benefits in the absence of employment security

The trend away from full-time permanent employment raises questions about the relevance of traditional approaches to managing and compensating employees. Employment in the Australian building industry is characterised by short-term, project-based employment. Employers and unions in the industry have adopted alternative compensation models to accommodate the short-term nature of employment, most notably through portable benefit schemes. In 1997, the Victorian building industry extended the range of portable benefits to include sick leave. Empirical evidence suggests a relationship between employee absence behaviour and accrual entitlement models. Research reported here supports this link, and suggests that both employers and employees can benefit from an alternative, portable, approach to accrued entitlements. Employers can benefit because employees may be less likely to take an instrumental approach to their entitlements. Employees benefit because they are able to accrue entitlements for the period they remain in the building industry, irrespective of the extent to which they change jobs.

Development, reliability and validity of an instrument measuring the attitudes and knowledge of emergency department staff regarding the emergency nurse practitioner role

Introduction: The Emergency Department (ED) at The Northern Hospital is currently participating in the Victorian Department of Human Services funded Emergency Nurse Practitioner Project. This project aims to develop, implement and evaluate the Emergency Nurse Practitioner role in Victorian EDs. This led to a need to develop a specific data collection tool called The Northern Emergency Nurse Practitioner Staff Survey to examine the knowledge and attitudes of ED medical and nursing staff. This paper describes the development of The Northern Emergency Nurse Practitioner Staff Survey and presents the results of reliability and validity studies. Method: Twenty-five items were developed and piloted on a sample of 58 ED medical and nursing staff. Content and face validity were established by expert panel review. Reliability was established by tests of unidimensionality, exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency. Results: Four items were discarded because of low item to total correlation. Exploratory factor analysis of the remaining items revealed five factors with eigenvalues >1 and acceptable correlation coefficients that explained 76.7% of the variance. Cronbach’s coefficent α for these items was 0.926 indicating a high degree of internal consistency. The factors were titled to reflect the content domain of the items in each factor and the factors arranged in a logical sequence to form the final version of The Northern Emergency Nurse Practitioner Survey.

Effective science teaching and a strategy for its implementation

Is the way being lost in teaching science? Many primary schools do not have a well developed culture of science teaching and learning, there is a declining interest in science over the years 7 to 10, and there are proportionally fewer students continuing onto science in the senior years. In response to these concerns, the Victorian Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET) established a major initiative, the Science in Schools (SiS) Research Project, to enhance and invigorate science teaching and learning. During 2000 and 2001 the project team has worked with teachers in primary and secondary schools across Victoria to introduce new initiatives into their science programs. Central to the project are the SiS Components, a framework that describes effective science teaching, and the SiS Strategy, a process by which schools implement change. This paper outlines the SiS Components and Strategy and describes some of the findings that have emerged from the project.

Whither sporting heritage : reflections on debates in Victoria about Waverley Park and the Melbourne Cricket Ground

The successful nomination of Waverley Park to the Victorian Historic Register
proved as controversial as the stadium was during its thirty-year existence. The
nomination was accepted primarily on the grounds of the social historical value of the site, rather than its architectural or engineering qualities, but in fact a range of different social histories were in conflict during the registration process. Four of the social histories involved are outlined and their influence on the outcome assessed. Some of the implications for the evaluation of sporting heritage sites emerge therefrom (Hay, R., Lazenby, C., Lewis, N., Haig-Muir, M., Mewett, P., 2001).