Enhancing resilience in indigenous people: The integration of individual, family and community interventions

This paper describes a number of interventions being developed to address the emotional, social and behavioural problems experienced by Aboriginal people in Australia. These are: the We-Al-Li program to help people deal with the impact of transgenerational trauma; and the RAP Indigenous Parenting Program. It is argued that the emotional well being of indigenous people will be enhanced through the integration of interventions targeting the individual, family and community.

Adolescent depression and the family : a paradox

Discusses the role of the family in the development, treatment and prevention of adolescent depression. Studies have demonstrated that between 21–32% of adolescents report mild to severe symptoms of depression. The research points out the need for increased attention to adolescent depression because of its high prevalence, the risk factor for the development of other disorders and suicide, recurrence and tendency to endure into adulthood. Many studies have shown a strong relationship between depressive symptomatology and family factors. Therefore, family interventions should play an important role in the prevention and treatment of adolescent depression. However, there exists a paradox in that the research published to date fails to show that family-intervention programs add to the efficacy of treatments provided to the adolescents. Possible explanations for this paradox are discussed.

When individual child psychotherapy exacerbates family systems problems in child abuse cases : a clinical analysis

Children who have suffered physical or sexual abuse are as vulnerable as adult trauma victims to experience "secondary trauma", in which the reactions of the family or broader system exacerbate the child's difficulties. Three clinical cases (a 7 yr old male, an 8 yr old male, and a 7 yr old female) are presented that suggest that this secondary trauma can be made worse by either excessive or insufficient provision of individual child psychotherapy, and the way the system interprets and reacts to these clinical decisions. Types of secondary trauma and their interactions with clinical decisions are discussed. Ways of framing clinical decisions to minimize the potential secondary trauma are presented.

The resourceful adolescent project : a universal approach to preventing adolescent depression through promoting resilience and family well-being in Australia

This chapter contains sections titled: -Adolescent Depression and the Australian National Mental Health Strategies -Preventive Interventions and Adolescent Depression -The Rationale and Content of the Interventions -Evaluations of the Resourceful Adolescent Programs

Child welfare policy and practice on children’s exposure to domestic violence

There are emerging movements in several countries to improve policy and practice to protect children from exposure to domestic violence. These movements have resulted in the collection of new data on EDV and the design and implementation of new child welfare policies and practices. To assist with the development of child welfare practice, this article summarizes current knowledge on the prevalence of EDV, and on child welfare services policies and practices that may hold promise for reducing the frequency and impact of EDV on children. We focus on Australia, Canada, and the United States, as these countries share a similar socio-legal context, a long history of enacting and expanding legislation about reporting of maltreatment, debates regarding the application of reporting laws to EDV, and new child welfare practices that show promise for responding more effectively to EDV.

Transition to day care for older people in Taiwan : a grounded theory study

Adult day care centres provide a means whereby frail or disabled older people can remain living at home particularly when their family care-givers engage in waged work. In Taiwan, adult day care services appear to meet the cultural needs of both older people and their families for whom filial care is vital. Little research attention has been paid to the use of day care services in Taiwan, the uptake rate of which is low. This grounded theory study explored the ways in which older people and family care-givers construct meanings around the use of day care services in Taiwan. Forty-four semi-structured interviews were undertaken with older people, care-givers and day care centre managers. The findings from grounded theory data analysis bring focus to the assumptions and structures that underpin the process of transition to day care services. A key feature of this process is the reconstruction of personal identity as both the older people and family care-givers work to make sense of the relationship between the self and a changing social structure. Reconstructing identity in a shifting world is the core category of the study and reflects a process of reframing whereby older people came to new definitions of social responsibility and independence within the context of the day care centre. Similarly, the family care-givers actively reformulated the concept of filial piety as they interacted with and interpreted the changes in economic and social conditions in Taiwan.

Managing an ageing third sector workforce: international and local perspectives

Australia, like all developed and most developing countries, is facing major contextual changes, one of which is an ageing population, largely through declining fertility and increasing longevity (WHO 2002). This will impact on most aspects of global, national, local, community, family and individual interactions and decision-making, including for the nonprofit sector. The sector should be aware that population ageing is increasingly being addressed in public finance and policy agendas within Australia (see, for example, Intergenerational Report 2002-3), as well as by governments in countries such as the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Economic Policy Committee (EEPC).

The impact of the GST on the community services sector in Queensland

The impact of the GST has on nonprofit organisations has been largely ignored in the compliance cost literature. Most studies to date, both in Australia and overseas, have focused exclusively on measuring the nature and extent of GST compliance costs of businesses in the for-profit sector (particularly the impact on small businesses). This paper examines the impact of The New Tax System, and in particular, the GST on Queensland community sector organisations. The results are extracted from a QCOSS report entitled “Taxing Goodwill: The Impact of GST on Community Services” released in October 2001.

Productivity, technical and efficiency change in Singapore’s services sector, 2005 to 2008

The current study was motivated by statements made by the Economic Strategies Committee that Singapore’s recent productivity levels in services were well below countries such as the US, Japan and Hong Kong. Massive employment of foreign workers was cited as the reason for poor productivity levels. To shed more light on Singapore’s falling productivity, a nonparametric Malmquist productivity index was employed which provides measures of productivity change, technical change and efficiency change. The findings reveal that growth in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) was attributed to technical change with no improvement in efficiency change. Such results suggest that gains from TFP were input-driven rather than from a ‘best-practice’ approach such as improvements in operations or better resource allocation.

Demand for, and Supply of, the Services of Primary Producer Representative Bodies in Queensland

In Queensland, at least 93 bodies exist to represent the interests of, and provide other services for, their farmer members, and their industries. The bodies vary greatly in focus, roles and activities, priorities, resources, size, and affiliations with other bodies. Results from a survey of 68 producer representative bodies (PRBs), and other data and information are used to examine the demand for, and supply of, farmer representational and other services in Queensland. The main results were: 1. member demand for services varies considerably between PRBs and is influenced by numerous factors; 2. members and non-members of one PRB vary significantly in the importance attached to some services; 3. the types of activities undertaken by PRBs varies between those for emerging and established industries; and 4. PRBs with paid staff/officers undertake more activities than others. The paper concludes that PRBs must continue to evolve and adapt their operations and structures to take account of changes in member and industry needs, external environments, cost pressures, resource availability, and sources of funding/assistance.

Cracks in the family hothouse [Review]

AMERICAN playwright Tennessee Williams is renowned for family dramas that deal with sex, desire, infidelity and secrets, topics still taboo when Williams was writing in the 1940s and 50s...

Introduction: Culture, trade, services

Ben Goldsmith and Christina Spurgeon introduce the special 'Culture, trade, services' issue of Media International Australia.

Assessing the effectiveness of the child safety net : linkage of hospital and child protection services data on ‘maltreated’ and ‘unintentionally injured' children

-International recognition of need for public health response to child maltreatment -Need for early intervention at health system level -Important role of health professionals in identifying, reporting, documenting suspician of maltreatment -Up to 10% of all children presenting at ED’s are victims and without identification, 35% reinjured and 5% die -In Qld, mandatory reporting requirement for doctors and nurses for suspected abuse or neglect

Family-level relationships among the Australasian marsupial “herbivores” (Diprotodontia: Koala, wombats, kangaroos and possums)

The marsupial order Diprotodontia includes 10 extant families, which occupy all terrestrial habitats across Australia and New Guinea and have evolved remarkable dietary and locomotory diversity. Despite considerable attention, the interrelations of these families have for the most part remained elusive. In this study, we separately model mitochondrial RNA and protein-coding sequences in addition to nuclear protein-coding sequences to provide near-complete resolution of diprotodontian family-level phylogeny. We show that alternative topologies inferred in some previous studies are likely to be artifactual, resulting from branch-length and compositional biases. Subordinal groupings resolved herein include Vombatiformes (wombats and koala) and Phalangerida, which in turn comprises Petauroidea (petaurid gliders and striped, feathertail, ringtail and honey possums) and a clade whose plesiomorphic members possess blade-like premolars (phalangerid possums, kangaroos and their allies and most likely, pygmy possums). The topology resolved reveals ecological niche structuring among diprotodontians that has likely been maintained for more than 40 million years.