Women's access needs in maternity care in rural Tasmania, Australia : a mixed methods study
- Authors: Hoang, Ha , Le, Quynh , Terry, Daniel
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Women and Birth Vol. 27, no. 1 (2014), p. 9-14
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- Description: Objectives: This study investigates (i) maternity care access issues in rural Tasmania, (ii) rural women's challenges in accessing maternity services and (iii) rural women's access needs in maternity services. Methods: A mixed-method approach using a survey and semi-structured interviews was conducted. The survey explored women's views of rural maternity services from antenatal to postnatal care, while interviews reinforced the survey results and provided insights into the access issues and needs of women in maternity care. Findings: The survey was completed by n=210 women, with a response rate of 35%, with n=22 follow-up interviews being conducted. The survey indicated the majority of rural women believed antenatal education and check-ups and postnatal check-ups should be provided locally. The majority of women surveyed also believed in the importance of having a maternity unit in the local hospital, which was further iterated and clarified within the interviews. Three main themes emerged from the interview data, namely (i) lack of access to maternity services, (ii) difficulties in accessing maternity services, and (iii) rural women's access needs. Conclusion: The study suggested that women's access needs are not fully met in some rural areas of Tasmania. Rural women face many challenges when accessing maternity services, including financial burden and risk of labouring en route. The study supports the claim that the closure of rural maternity units shifts cost and risk from the health care system to rural women and their families. © 2013 Australian College of Midwives.
Work-life balance : 'Good weather' policies or agenda for social change?: A cross-country comparison of parental leave provisions in Australia and Sweden
- Authors: Zacharias, Nadine
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Employment Relations Review Vol. 12, no. 2 (2006), p. 32-47
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- Description: It has been suggested that work-life balance policies are good weather policies, which have been implemented in times of a favourable economic environment and/or high demand for labour but may be withdrawn once those conditions deteriorate. This paper outlines three critical limitations of the management-oriented work-life balance literature. I argue that organisational approaches alone cannot bring about more balanced work-life conditions and that the scope of the current discussion needs to be systematically broadened to incorporate insights provided by research in other disciplines.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005219
Work/life balance through a critical ‘gender lens’ : A cross-country comparison of parental leave provisions and take-up in Australia and Sweden
- Authors: Zacharias, Nadine
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...]
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Workplace aggression experiences and responses of Victorian nurses, midwives and care personnel
- Authors: Hills, Danny , Lam, Louisa , Hills, Sharon
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Collegian Vol. 25, no. 6 (2018), p. 575-582
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- Description: Background: Workplace aggression is a major work health and safety, and public health concern. To date, there has been limited investigation of population level exposure and responses to workplace aggression from all sources, and little evidence on the experiences, reporting and support-seeking behaviour of nurses, midwives and care personnel in Australian settings. Aim: To determine the 12-month prevalence of aggression experienced by nurses, midwives and care personnel from sources external and internal to the organisation, and the reporting behaviours and support sought from employers, health services, Trade Unions, work health and safety agencies, police and legal services. Methods: An online survey of the membership of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation – Victorian Branch was conducted between 1 st May and 30th June 2017. Findings: In the previous 12 months, 96.5% of respondents experienced workplace aggression, with 90.9% experiencing aggression from external sources and 72.3% from internal sources. A majority indicated they just accepted incidents of aggression, and most rarely or never took time off work, sought medical or psychological treatment, or sought organisational or other institutional support, advice or action. Levels of satisfaction with institutional services were mostly neutral to poor. Discussion: Victorian nurses, midwives and care personnel work in aggressive and violent workplaces. The incivility endemic in health care likely sets the climate for the generation of and exposure to so much explicit aggression and violence. It appears that any systems or processes instituted to protect health care personnel from harm are failing. Conclusion: More targeted and effectively operationalised legislation, incentives and penalties are likely required. Further research may elaborate the extent of the impact of exposure to workplace aggression over time.
Work–family balance : Perspectives from higher education
- Authors: Pillay, Soma , Abhayawansa, Subhash
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Higher Education Vol. 68, no. 5 (2014), p. 669-690
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- Description: The article examines different types of work–family pressures amongst people working within the Australian university sector. We were specifically interested in work–family experiences between domestic and migrant Australians. Among the major findings, domestic Australians experience greater levels of work–family imbalance across most of the measures used. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
‘The sun is far away, but there must be the sun’ : Chinese students’ experiences of an international teaching practicum in China
- Authors: Jin, Aijing , Parr, Graham , Hui, Leng
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Educational Research Vol. 62, no. 4 (2020), p. 474-491
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- Description: Background: Small cohorts of pre-service teachers (PSTs) have been successfully undertaking teaching practicums in a range of international settings for more than 40 years, as part of their initial teacher education studies. Most research into these international teaching practicums (ITPs) has concentrated on the benefits for western PSTs and their western academic mentors, but limited attention has been paid to the experiences, benefits and challenges of non-western practicum partners. The study addresses this gap in the literature by focusing on Chinese students’ perceptions of a three-week international teaching practicum in China. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of Chinese students who were taught by Australian PSTs as part of an international teaching practicum in China. Method: Using content analysis methods and a border-crossing theoretical framework, this small scale qualitative case study analysed, in depth, the reflective writing of Year 7 (12- to 13-year-old) and Year 11 (16- to 17-year-old) students from three schools across two different cities in China. Findings: The analysis indicated that students enjoyed the practicum experience, with many of the older students showing a nuanced appreciation of the cultural and pedagogical contrasts between the Australian PSTs’ teaching of English and that of their usual Chinese teachers. While some students were concerned that the Australians’ teaching did not adequately prepare them for high-stakes national tests, others reported that their whole attitude to learning English had changed so that English was now one of their favourite subjects as a result of being taught by the Australian pre-service teachers. Conclusions: Through investigating local Chinese students’ experiences of an international teaching practicum, this study contributes to the now substantial body of literature that affirms the value of such intercultural education programmes. The study argues for the value of intercultural ‘crossing over’ experiences for non-western as well as western practicum partners, and urges educational researchers to listen to the voices of local students when researching international teaching practicums. © 2020 NFER.
“Be Careful, Cowboy” : The translation and mutation of the western genre in Red Hill
- Authors: Moll, Nicholas
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Critical Arts Vol. 31, no. 5 (2017), p. 115-127
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- Description: The western genre has long been hailed as an iconic expression of the United States’ history and culture. However, the 2010 Australian film Red Hill (dir. Patrick Hughes, 2010) actively engages the genre’s tropes, styles, and conventions. In doing so, the film converts the ideas of a ruggedly individualistic frontier, key to the western genre and the popularised notions of nineteenth-century United States expansion, to the contemporary Australian context, providing a translation and mutation of the western genre. This paper argues that, through disassociation of the western genre from the United States, Red Hill’s frontier is made Australian over the course of the film, exploring the lingering traumas and ongoing violence of a specific colonisation process. Drawing on theories of genre, history, and postcolonialism, this paper investigates the exploration of national character, history, and boundaries through the western genre. In doing so, this paper situates the western genre as having a nationalistic function in general, rather than one associated with any particular nation, and as providing a touchstone for ideas of history and themes of colonial expansion in a contentious landscape of class, race, and society.
“Facing the wall” – “equal” opportunity for women in management?
- Authors: Wood, Glenice , Newton, Janice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Equal Opportunities International Vol. 25, no. 1 (2006), p. 8-24
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- Description: Purpose – To explore the failure of equal opportunity policies to counteract the barrier of children for women in management by considering male and female managers’ views on work culture, family division of labour and childlessness. Design/methodology/approach – Thirty Australian managers (19 male, 11 female) were interviewed as a follow up to a larger study in 1996, in order to extend inquiries around the issues of children, childlessness and senior management aspirations. Findings – Managers acknowledge the impediment that children are to a woman’s career path. They also have an awareness of patterns of delayed childbearing and potential childlessness. This awareness is confirmed through first hand experience in the families and at work. Managers also use a language of sacrifice and loss regarding their own or others’ failure to partner and procreate, as well as some reference to freedom and lifestyle. Furthermore there are diverging discourses on company loyalty and company greed given in relation to competing family loyalties and obligations. Finally, acknowledgement of gendered inequality (and some blindness to it) is indicated by both male and female managers. Research limitations/implications – Although based on a small sample from one country, the findings do imply that it is unwise to assume that women committed to a career do not want children. The option of having both is not made easy. Practical implications – Family policy for senior management should continue to be considered. Originality/value – Recognition of the complexity and diversity of attitudes to children, family and work contributes to a critique of overdrawn notions of types of women (Hakim, 2001).
“If I can't do it, who will?” Lived experiences of australian emergency nurses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Authors: Jackson, Megan , Porter, Joanne , Peck, Blake , Mesagno, Christopher
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Emergency Nursing Vol. 49, no. 5 (2023), p. 733-743
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- Description: Introduction: The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 180,000 health care workers have died in the fight against COVID-19. Emergency nurses have experienced relentless pressure in maintaining the health and well-being of their patients, often to their detriment. Methods: This research aimed to gain an understanding of lived experiences of Australian emergency nurses working on the frontline during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative research design was used, guided by an interpretive hermeneutic phenomenological approach. A total of 10 Victorian emergency nurses from both regional and metropolitan hospitals were interviewed between September and November 2020. Analysis was undertaken using a thematic analysis method. Results: A total of 4 major themes were produced from the data. The 4 overarching themes included mixed messages, changes to practice, living through a pandemic, and 2021: here we come. Discussion: Emergency nurses have been exposed to extreme physical, mental, and emotional conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A greater emphasis on the mental and emotional well-being of frontline workers is paramount to the success of maintaining a strong and resilient health care workforce. © 2023 Emergency Nurses Association