Radical Change, Accounting and Public Sector Reforms: A Comparison of Italian and Canadian Municipalities

NPM has been generally regarded as an administrative reform for which resilience and consequences have been mainly investigated at a country level. Although accounting played a central role in NPM reforms over the last decades, how accounting change actually took place, and through what organizational dynamics, has been under-investigated. This paper adopts a new perspective, archetype theory, and looks into how intra-organizational dynamics (values, interests, power, capabilities) combine with reform processes to influence the outcome of accounting change. Evidence from Italian (disruptive process) and Canadian (sedimented process) municipalities shows that radical change is associated with specific configurations of intra-organizational dynamics.

Breast Cancer Risk in Relation to Occupations with Exposure to Carcinogens and Endocrine Disruptors:a Canadian Case-Control Study

Background

Endocrine disrupting chemicals and carcinogens, some of which may not yet have been classified as such, are present in many occupational environments and could increase breast cancer risk. Prior research has identified associations with breast cancer and work in agricultural and industrial settings. The purpose of this study was to further characterize possible links between breast cancer risk and occupation, particularly in farming and manufacturing, as well as to examine the impacts of early agricultural exposures, and exposure effects that are specific to the endocrine receptor status of tumours.

Methods

1005 breast cancer cases referred by a regional cancer center and 1147 randomly-selected community controls provided detailed data including occupational and reproductive histories. All reported jobs were industry- and occupation-coded for the construction of cumulative exposure metrics representing likely exposure to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. In a frequency-matched case?control design, exposure effects were estimated using conditional logistic regression.

Results

Across all sectors, women in jobs with potentially high exposures to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors had elevated breast cancer risk (OR = 1.42; 95% CI, 1.18-1.73, for 10 years exposure duration). Specific sectors with elevated risk included: agriculture (OR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.01-1.82); bars-gambling (OR = 2.28; 95% CI, 0.94-5.53); automotive plastics manufacturing (OR = 2.68; 95% CI, 1.47-4.88), food canning (OR = 2.35; 95% CI, 1.00-5.53), and metalworking (OR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.02-2.92). Estrogen receptor status of tumors with elevated risk differed by occupational grouping. Premenopausal breast cancer risk was highest for automotive plastics (OR = 4.76; 95% CI, 1.58-14.4) and food canning (OR = 5.70; 95% CI, 1.03-31.5).

Conclusions

These observations support hypotheses linking breast cancer risk and exposures likely to include carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, and demonstrate the value of detailed work histories in environmental and occupational epidemiology.

Celtic nationalism and supranationalism: comparing Scottish and Northern Ireland party responses to Europe

This article explores how stateless nationalist parties in the ‘Celtic periphery’ of Scotland and Northern Ireland have used Europe to advance their territorial projects. Despite vastly different historical, political and social contexts, the Scottish National Party and Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party have both advanced a pro-European, social democratic discourse that emphasises the importance of Europe as a framework for constitutional reform and shared sovereignty. However, in recent years the parties have diverged on Europe. While the SDLP has continued its principled commitment to further integration, the SNP has articulated an increased criticism of the supranational project. This divergence in party attitudes reveals the extent to which the pro-European dimension of Celtic nationalism is ideological or opportunistic.

Nationalism, Territory, and Organized Violence: Introduction to the Special Issue

Recent decades have seen significant advances in research on the relationship between nationalist ideology and organized violence. New scholarship has paid much closer attention to the microdynamics of violence, the strikingly uneven distribution of violence, the relationship between master cleavages and intimate local and personal struggles, and to process, history, and contingency. Nationalist ideology is understood to be bound up intimately with institutions and with everyday relationships at the local level. We introduce the contributions to this special issue, outlining the way in which they highlight the power of ideas, narratives, and microlevel solidarity in mobilization for violence and how they address the crucial importance of territoriality in linking ideas and action.

Gender differences among Canadian spousal caregivers at the end of life

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in spousal caregiving at the end of life. The primary research question was to determine gender differences in caregiver strain among spousal caregivers. Secondary research questions investigated included (i) the presence of gender differences among spousal caregivers in the duration of care provided; (ii) gender differences among spousal caregivers in formal service use and unmet service needs; and (iii) whether support to care recipients in activities of daily living varied according to the gender of the spousal caregiver. The study was conducted over a 2-year period (2000-2002) in south-central Ontario, Canada. The study sample included 283 informal spousal caregivers (198 females, 85 males) each of whom were caring for a terminally ill spouse at the time they participated in a cross-sectional telephone survey. The analysis showed that females reported a significantly greater level of caregiving strain than males (t = -2.12, d.f. = 281, P = 0.035). When considering source of support in activities of daily living for the care recipient, differential assistance was noted on the basis of caregiver gender. Female caregivers had almost twice the odds of providing support in toileting-related tasks than male caregivers (odds ratio (OR) = 1.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-3.85, P = 0.044), while male caregivers had approximately twice the odds of providing support in mobility-related tasks (OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.21-0.81, P = 0.011). Care recipients who had a female caregiver had lower odds of receiving support from family and friends in tasks associated with personal care (OR = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.05-0.53, P = 0.002). To address gender differences in caregiving, a realistic home-based palliative care approach must take into account the importance of informal caregivers. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Organization specific predictors of job satisfaction: findings from a Canadian multi-site quality of work life cross-sectional survey

Background: Organizational features can affect how staff view their quality of work life. Determining staff perceptions about quality of work life is an important consideration for employers interested in improving employee job satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to identify organization specific predictors of job satisfaction within a health care system that consisted of six independent health care organizations.

Methods: 5,486 full, part and causal time (non-physician) staff on active payroll within six organizations (2 community hospitals, 1 community hospital/long-term care facility, 1 long-term care facility, 1 tertiary care/community health centre, and 1 visiting nursing agency) located in five communities in Central West Ontario, Canada were asked to complete a 65-item quality of work life survey. The self-administered questionnaires collected staff perceptions of: co-worker and supervisor support; teamwork and communication; job demands and decision authority; organization characteristics; patient/resident care; compensation and benefits; staff training and development; and impressions of the organization. Socio-demographic data were also collected.

Results: Depending on the organization, between 15 and 30 (of the 40 potential predictor) variables were found to be statistically associated with job satisfaction (univariate analyses). Logistic regression analyses identified the best predictors of job satisfaction and these are presented for each of the six organizations and for all organizations combined.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that job satisfaction is a multidimensional construct and although there appear to be some commonalities across organizations, some predictors of job satisfaction appear to be organization and context specific.