How welfare-to-work requirements impact on single parents' volunteer activities

This paper seeks to describe the volunteering experiences of female single parents engaged in Australia's welfare-to-work program. Interviews were conducted with 26 single parents who had been required to increase their hours of work as a condition of the Centrelink policy introduced in 2006. To analyse the data, the technique of rich point analysis was employed which identified three key concepts central to the women's experiences.  These concepts included the nature of a decent job, notions of reciprocity, and a seeming hierarchy of suitable jobs promoted within the welfareto- work policy. How volunteer activities fit within these constructs was the focus of the investigation. The analysis revealed that the types of paid jobs women obtained were less fulfilling and flexible than their volunteer activities. and gave them less sense of contributing to society, Further, in most cases prior to welfare reform, these single mothers were volunteering in their children's school and as such, both the school's capacity and intergenerational role modelling of volunteering were depleted.

The quality of life of single mothers making the transition from welfare to work

This study examined the quality of life of single mothers making the mandatory transition from welfare to work. The Australian government purported that the benefits of making this transition would include higher incomes, better social participation, and improved wellbeing. It is currently unknown, however, how single mothers currently engaged in welfare to work programs evaluate their quality of life. Quality of life scores for 334 single mothers engaged in welfare to work in Australia were compared with normative data. Participants reported significantly lower quality of life scores than the general population for all quality of life domains, highlighting the need to carefully examine welfare to work policies to ensure they promote participants' quality of life.

Challenging choices : welfare to work, lived lives and told stories

This examination of the introduction of welfare to work for single mothers exposes the contradictory political rationality of contemporary welfare reform. The thesis contributes to broader understandings of social policy, choice and decision making through exploration of the complex interplay between social structures, individuals’ lived lives and their told stories.

Job satisfaction and 'welfare-to-work' : is any job a good job for Australian mothers?

This exploratory study sought to assess the job satisfaction of employed Australian single mothers who had mandatory employment participation requirements. In particular, we sought to identify the characteristics of the job and the individual that were closely associated with participant’s job satisfaction. Self‑report data on job satisfaction, employment characteristics and parenting stress were collected from 155 employed single mothers. Participant job satisfaction was compared to female Australian population norms and linear regression analyses determined the job‑related and individual predictors of single mothers’ job satisfaction. Findings from this exploratory study revealed that single mothers involved in a mandatory welfare‑to‑work program experienced significantly lower job satisfaction than the Australian female population. The individual variable, parental distress, negatively predicted each of the six job satisfaction domains while being employed on a casual basis was inversely associated with three domains (job security, work hours and overall job satisfaction). The Australian government purported that making the transition from welfare to work would improve wellbeing for program participants, under the assumption that ‘any job’s a good job’. However, the relatively low levels of job satisfaction experienced by single mothers in the current study provide little support for this assumption.

Preparing early childhood professionals to work with parents: the challenges of diversity and dissensus

This article examines how early childhood staff in diverse circumstances negotiate relationships with parents. It draws on interviews with staff in two rural and three urban communities in Australia, who were asked about their parent communication practices, their experiences of these practices, and their preferences within these practices. Their responses were analysed in the light of international research showing the importance of creating strong interpretive communities between staff and parents but consistent staff anxiety about their relationships with parents. The paper explores the extent to which staff's different approaches to communicating with parents can create sustainable interpretive communities between them, and it highlights some implications for staff training and development around parent involvement.

`Counter-terrorism`, human security and globalisation - from welfare to warfare state?

The continuing erosion of civil liberties in Western democracies, and in particular Australia, as a response to the threat of terrorist attack - the position taken that laws eroding civil liberties will ultimately fail in its attempt to combat terrorist activity while adding to human insecurity and violence - counter-terrorism measures resulting in the militarisation of law enforcement and provoking terrorism - linking counter-terrorism with globalisation.

Expanding criminal sanctions for corporate crimes-deprivation of right to work and cancellation of education qualifications

Fines are the standard sanctions employed by most Western countries when a corporation has been convicted of a crime. However, some offences committed by corporations are too serious to be dealt with by way of a fine. There is a need to consider other sanctions that can be invoked in order to deter corporate crime. In this article, it is suggested that the focus should be on criminal sanctions against the natural persons who can potentially commit crimes on behalf of a corporation. New sentencing options against those who can potentially commit crimes on behalf of a corporation should include the annulment or suspension of an offender's academic  qualifications and the making of orders preventing an offender from working or being enrolled in an educational or vocational pursuit.

Active transport to work in Australia: is it all downhill from here?

Physical inactivity is increasing in Australia and active forms of transportation may be one way to increase the working population’s daily physical activity. We used travel-to-work data from employed persons aged 15 years and over participating in the 1996 (n=7,636,319) and 2001(n=8,298,606) Australian censuses to determine prevalence and trends in walking and cycling to work by state and gender, and differences in prevalence by age. In 2001, 3.8% of Australians walked to work and <1% cycled. Over 64% travelled to work by car. There have been small declines in walking (men and women) and cycling (men) over the 5-years from 1996 to 2001. People were more likely to walk or cycle to work if they lived in the Northern Territory, if they were male or if they were aged 15 to 24 years. They were more likely to travel by car if they lived in the Australian Capital Territory, if they were male, or if they were aged 45-54 years. Few people walk or cycle to work in Australia. Efforts to encourage active transportation are urgently needed.

Returning to work: exploring the experiences of women with acute coronary syndromes

Aims: The aim of this study was to explore the transition experiences of Australian women in resuming paid employment after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event. Background: Until recently cardiovascular research has focused predominantly on men but this is changing and research exploring women’s experiences of ACS has increased. Despite knowing that many women do not resume paid employment following an ACS event, little is known about the experience of those women who do, even though it is understood that returning to the previous level of employment after an ACS event is a positive outcome. Design: An exploratory qualitative approach underpinned by naturalistic inquiry was undertaken. Methods: A purposive sample of seven women who had experienced their first ACS event 12 months ago was selected. Each woman was interviewed using a semi–structured format and their interviews were transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of the transcript set and conceptual mapping were employed to formulate key themes. Findings: All women (mean age 52.6 years) resumed paid employment at various stages during their recovery, but reported similar transition processes. Three key themes representing this process were identified: primary motivation; influence through guidance and support; and resuming paid employment. Conclusions: Study findings revealed that these women required substantial support from family, friends and employers, with ongoing guidance from health professionals to return to paid work. The time frames for their return varied and some modified their roles within the workforce to enable them to return to paid work. However, formal cardiac rehabilitation did not appear to have a significant impact on these participants' decisions to return to work. They felt that more information about this decision may have been helpful if given at the time of cardiac rehabilitation.

Training doctors in how to work with interpreters

The medical interpreter's performance can be enhanced if the physician is trained to work effectively with the interpreter. This paper reports on the training of first year medical interns at Southernhealth, a regional network of hospitals in Victoria, Australia. This Commonwealth funded programme was compulsory for all first year doctors. Workshops occurred in the simulator training unit using accident and emergency scenarios. Core teaching material comprised the video and book, Medical Interpreting. Participants were medical interns, qualified telephone medical interpreters, the chief hospital interpreter and the main instructor. Each intern engaged in a simulated role play; observational notes and feedback were recorded. The teaching methodology has demonstrated it to be a programme that skills the physician to work effectively with the medical interpreter. The material and the methodology can be used by interpreters and medical communication specialists to train medical practitioners.

Preparing leaders to work with emotions in culturally diverse educational communities

Purpose – This paper argues that because leadership is a relational practice and leaders are gendered and racialised, in socially diverse schools and societies, leader preparation around difference is potentially emotionally confronting to leaders' professional and personal identities.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on critical race and feminist theoretical perspectives to undertake a review and analysis of current approaches to professional development.

Findings – The paper concludes that because there is significant agreement now that leadership is considered to be emotional management work, then leadership learning, if it seeks to change practice, is also emotionally laden. The paper concludes that to develop more reflexive leaders, professional learning should begin with scrutiny of the self as gendered and racialised to consider what that means for “the Other” in terms of leadership in culturally diverse communities and schools.

Research limitations/implications – The paper is context specific, largely drawing on Australian data with reference to indigeneity. This is consistent with its theoretical position that leadership is relational and situated.

Practical implications – The paper identifies possible strategies that could be undertaken in professional learning forums that address issues of difference.

Originality/value – While there are significant issues around professional learning to develop pedagogical practices that address student diversity, there is less theorising around leadership diversity and what that might mean in terms of professional development of leaders.

Supervisors are central to work characteristics affecting nurse outcomes

Purpose: To examine the predictive capability of the demand-control-support (DCS) model, augmented by organizational justice variables, on attitudinal- and health-related outcomes for nurses caring for elderly patients.

Design: The study is based on a cross-sectional survey design and involved 168 nurses working with elderly patients in facilities of a medium to large Australian organization.

Method: Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of scales designed for measuring independent (e.g., demand, control, support, organizational justice) and dependent (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, wellbeing and psychological distress) variables. Multiple regression analyses were undertaken to identify significant predictors of the outcome variables.

Findings: The DCS model explains the largest amount of variance across both the attitudinal and health outcomes with 27% of job satisfaction and 49% of organizational commitment, and 33% of psychological distress and 35% of wellbeing, respectively. Additional variance was explained by the justice variables for job satisfaction (5%), organizational commitment (4%), and psychological distress (23%).

Conclusions: Using organizational justice variables to augment the DCS model was valuable in better understanding the work conditions experienced by nurses caring for elderly patients. Inclusion of curvilinear effects added clarity to the potentially artifactual nature of certain interaction variables.

Clinical Relevance: The results indicated practical implications for managers of nurses caring for elderly patients in terms of developing and maintaining levels of job control, support, and fairness, as well as monitoring levels of job demands. The results particularly show the importance of nurses' immediate supervisors.