Sticking around : why and how some social workers stay in the profession

Although much is known about why social workers leave the profession, much less is known about what enables some social workers to remain working in highly stressful situations for many years and retain a passion for their work. Based on in-depth interviews with six Australian social workers with at least 10 years practice experience, factors associated with retention included self-awareness, a sense of perspective, having a strong professional identity, a sense of humour, the ability to recognise and respond to the emotional impact of the work, clear separation of work and home, and a mental interlude of some intermediate activity between leaving work and arriving home. Whereas previous research has depicted job change as a sign of burnout, for participants in this study changing jobs was regarded as a preventive measure which enabled them to continue in social work.

Association of birth weight and current body size to blood pressure in female twins

It has been proposed that low birth weight is associated with high levels of blood pressure in later life. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of blood pressure to birth weight and current body size during growth and adulthood. A total of 711 female multiple births, with one group of 244 in their growth phase mean age 12.0 (2.3)(SD) years and the other of 467 adults (mean age 35.2 (12.6) years), had height, weight and both systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures measured, and self-reported their birth weight. Regression analyses were performed to assess the cross-sectional and within-pair associations of blood pressure to birth weight, with and without adjustments for current body size. Within-pair analysis was based on 296 twin pairs. Cross-sectionally, a reduction in birth weight of 1 kg was associated with 2 to 3 mm Hg higher age-adjusted SBP, which was of marginal significance and explained about 2% of the population variance. Adjustment for body mass index did not significantly change this association. Within-pair analyses found no association between birth weight and SBP or DBP,even after adjusting for current body size. After age, current body size was the strongest predictor of systolic BP. The weak association of blood pressure to birth weight cross-sectionally is of interest, but any within-pair effect of birth weight on blood pressure must be minimal compared with the effect of current body size.

Menstrual dysfunction and bone health in female athletes

Female athletes are generally considered to be at Iow risk of osteoporosis because of the skeletal loading associated with sports participation. Sites that are exposed to long-term high-impact loading are consistently reported to be higher than the same sites in their sedentary peers. However, weight-bearing exercise does not always ensure that athletes will have high bone-mineral density, as the hormonal environment, dietary factors, and loading history all influence bone-mineral density, In particular, menstrual dysfunction, which can occur with intense training or disordered eating, is a significant risk factor for Iow bone-mineral density. Exercise history before menstrual dysfunction is likely to offer some protection for Iow bone-mineral density, particularly at the hip, Resumption of menses is unlikely to restore bone-mineral density to levels reported in eumenorrheic athletes or even sedentary peers, Athletes at risk of amenorrhea should be identified and their training loads and energy intakes monitored to ensure normal menstrual function, Athletes who remain amenorrheic should be counseled about the possible negative effects of amenorrhea and monitored for bone loss. Early intervention is recommended for amenorrheic athletes with Iow bone-mineral density.

Do we need a new classification system for female sexual dysfunction? A comment on the 1999 consensus classification system.

This Article does not have an abstract.

A chance to bloom: female migration and salvationists in Australia and Canada, 1890s to 1939

Migration is usually analysed as a function of state policy of sending and receiving countries in the context of global movements of people. Thus, despite their sponsorship and support of thousands of migrants, independent, voluntary, religious and ethnic organisations have often been marginalised in international migration studies. This article arises from a broader investigation into the role of such organisations in the peopling of Australia and Canada from the 1890s to 1939: their visions, relationships with governments, significance and legacies. The aim is to bring a new perspective to comparative migration and population research and to assess how far such organisations paralleled, or stepped outside of, the racialised, gendered and class structures of ofŽficial immigration policies and  practices of the time. Here the focus is particularly on the place of women and girls in the migration schemes of some of the organisations operating in both Australia and Canada. The use of case studies such as the British Women’s Emigration Association, the Salvation Army and Dr Barnardo’s Homes provides an opportunity to examine the sexual distinctions implicit in these schemes and the direction of both women and men into what were seen at the time as gender-appropriate societal roles and occupations.

Are negative perceptions of the accounting profession perpetuated by the introductory accounting course? An Australian study

This study investigates perceptions of the work of accountant:! held by first-year accounting students as part of a national survey of accounting students. First-year commerce students from five tertiary institutions were surveyed about their perceptions of the accounting profession as well as their intention to complete a major study of accounting at tertiary level. lnfluences on the formation of their perceptions formed an important part of the study. The results reported in this paper serve to illustrate that the majority of students surveyed had negative perceptions of accounting. The source of influences on perceptions indicated that perceptions were mainly derived from tertiary education experiences. As perceptions influence choice of major and career choice, the findings have important implications for accounting educators and professional accounting bodies

Midwifery: a profession in transition

This paper presents the findings of a pilot study carried out in one regional center in Queensland, Australia. The study aimed to develop a snapshot image of teenage mothers. Of the thirty mothers who participated; just over half (16/30; 53%) reported using contraceptives, less than a third (8/30; 27%) used condoms to protect themselves from STDs and the majority (23/30; 77%) said their pregnancy was unplanned. Despite this, 16 (53%) attended prenatal classes, 16 (53%) breast-fed their infants and 27 (90%) were satisfied with motherhood. On average the fathers were almost four years older than the mother were (range 17 to 29 years), most fathers (23/30; 77%) were not teenagers themselves and only 11 (37%) were resident fathers following the birth of the baby. Exploratory analysis suggests that the fathers were significantly older than the teenage mothers were (t=−6.73, df 29, p=0.0001). Although these preliminary results are similar to those reported in the American literature further research is needed to confirm if the findings presented are representative of teenage mothers in Australia. While we await the results of future studies, practitioners are encouraged to continue to educate young women about appropriate and safer sexual practices.

Conspiring to run: women, their bodies and athletics training

Women's athletics commenced about 60 years after the start of the men's sport. Women's involvement in athletics was held back by the medical and general views that this was a strenuous sport requiring a level of exertion beyond the biological capabilities of female bodies. Their difficult initiation into athletics occurred under male gaze; they encountered opposition from the public, the medical profession and from the male-controlled athletics organizations. A serious participation in athletics requires significant exertion and dedicated training. While the prevailing view was that moderate physical exercise without strain enhanced women's health, the exertion required for athletics was deemed to be potentially dangerous. Within essentialist views of gender, women's involvement in athletics was thought to have implications for their nurturing and domestic roles. When the pioneer women athletes tried to excel, they were said to be straining themselves and their participation in the sport was brought into question. By using theoretical insights drawn mostly from Foucault, training manuals from the early decades of women's athletics and material from interviews with some of the first English female athletes are examined to investigate the attitudes of both genders to women in athletics and to analyse how they circumvented the potential veto of their sport by men.

Self-reported work and family stress of female primary teachers

Stress arising in the domain of work and family can have a cumulative effect, and can spill over across the domains. The work-family interface has  received little attention in teacher stress research, therefore the present study aimed to investigate work and family stress among teachers. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to 102 female, primary teachers from government schools in the Geelong area. Responses were used to: (a) identify the major work and family stressors; (b) identify the contributions of perceived work and family stress to perceived global stress; and (c) explore the impact that work and family stress have on each other. Overall the teachers reported moderate levels of global, work and family stress. Time and workload pressure was the major work stressor, and responsibility for child rearing the major family stressor. Work stress and home stress both impacted on each other. The implications of the findings were discussed.

Speaking of gender: teachers' metaphorical constructs of male and female students

This article explores the images and metaphors that teachers use when speaking of their relations with students and examines how these images work to call into play particular constructs of gender relations. Of specific interest is the way teachers use binaries of open/closed, in control/out of control and maturity/immaturity to make sense of feminine and masculine conduct respectively. It is argued that such binary differentiations work not only as descriptors of `truths' concerning student-teacher relations, but also as means of constituting and normalizing particular forms of gender  relations. Implications of such metaphorical constructions for gender reform within schools are considered.

Sustainable development and environmental accounting: the challenge to the economics and accounting profession

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of natural resources accounting in sustainable development. Natural resource accounting is important because the welfare of a nation measured in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) has several weaknesses. Design/methodology/approach – This paper achieves this objective by identifying the present status, the constraints and the challenges for the economics and accounting professions. Findings – The main weakness of GDP as a measure of development is that it does not take into account damages to environmental resources. However, the improvement of the concept to include environmental resource use is made difficult because of the difficulties of measuring environmental damage. The challenge to the economics and accounting profession is to ensure interdisciplinary collaboration, development of a framework to explicitly include the environment, development of credible valuation procedures for the environment, and inclusion of the various ethical positions advanced by various groups on the value of the environment. Practical implications – Some headway has been made on these issues during the last decade but a major challenge still lies ahead in further improving these approaches so that sustainable development becomes an achievable goal. Originality/value – This paper brings together diverse views and fusing them together providing a future path for research in environmental accounting to achieve sustainable development.

Growth of highly versus moderately trained competitive female artistic gymnasts

Purpose: To investigate whether growth was adversely affected in 137 young competitive female artistic gymnasts involved in different training volumes.

Methods: This was a 2-yr prospective cohort study in which height, sitting height, leg length, weight, skinfolds, and pubertal status were measured in competitive advanced (20–27 h·wk-1) and intermediate (7.5–22 h·wk-1) training level female gymnasts every 6–12 months. Biological parameters of the adolescent growth curve were estimated using the Preece–Baines growth model. Growth rates were estimated for both groups from the mixed-longitudinal data.

Results: Estimated ages at peak height velocity (PHV) (13–13.5 yr) and mean PHV (6.2–6.4 cm·yr-1) for the advanced- and intermediate-level gymnasts suggest that these gymnasts were later maturing and experienced a blunting of the growth spurt relative to reference values for U.S. youth. Comparison of growth velocities by pubertal status revealed that height velocity was lower in the advanced- versus the intermediate-level peripubertal gymnasts, which was due to a significant reduction in sitting height velocity (2.3 vs 3.1 cm·yr-1, P. < 0.05). No marked acceleration in height or sitting height velocity was detected in the advanced-level gymnasts from pre- to peripuberty. Inspection of individual growth rates revealed that over 35% of the pre- and peripubertal gymnasts experienced growth faltering (height velocity less than 4.5 cm·yr-1) during follow-up.

Conclusion: Advanced–and intermediate–training level competitive female gymnasts tend to exhibit an adolescent growth spurt that is similar in timing and tempo to short, normal, slowly maturing girls, but the high frequency of growth faltering suggests that training may alter the tempo of growth and maturation in some, but not all, female gymnasts.

Public interest, ethics, and the balanced scorecard: implications for the accounting profession

The accounting profession bos been grappling with the issue of public interest responsibility for a number of years. The aim of this paper is to examine how a balanced scorecard (BSC) model can be used by the accounting profession to more effectively incorporate a public interest responsibility in its strategic framework. By using a BSC model, the paper provides an integrated framework for translating strategic values into a comprehensive set of objectives, performance measures and improvement actions.