Socioeconomic status as a mediator of the relationship between depression and rurality in Australian adolescents
- Authors: Newnham, Krystal , Boyd, Candice , Newnham, Karyn , Aisbett, Damon , Francis, Kristy
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 13, no. 2 (2008), p. 26-32
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- Description: The purpose of this study was to establish whether socioeconomic status would mediate the relationship between rurality and depression in a sample of Australian adolescents. Participants were 65 rural and 64 urban secondary school students from Years 11 and 12 who completed a survey that included a brief demographic questionnaire and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale. Schools were selected for their degree of rurality as measured by the Accessibility and Remoteness Index for Australia, and the socioeconomic status of each individual was estimated via postal code using the Socio-Economic Index of Australia. Although a significant relationship between degree of rurality and depression was found, socioeconomic status did not mediate this relationship. These results suggest that the relationship between rurality and depression for young people is not due to simple differences in socioeconomic status between urban and rural areas. Other features of 'place' must be considered in accounting for rural-urban differences in adolescent depression.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003006059
Coping with stigma : Coming out and living as lesbians and gay men in regional and rural areas in the context of rural confidentiality and social exclusion
- Authors: Gottschalk, Lorene
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 12, no. 2 (2007), p. 31-46
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- Description: The lesbian and gay community largely depend on each other to organise services and support. This informal system (in that it is removed from the State) enjoys some success in Melbourne where there is a sizeable lesbian and gay population, but does not work so well in regional and rural Victoria where the lesbian and gay population is smaller and more dispersed. This study, conducted for the Department of Human Services (Grampians Region) in Victoria, found that gay men and lesbians experience similar types of stigma and discrimination in rural areas as those in urban centres, but that this was exacerbated by the lack of anonymity in the smaller communities. Furthermore it was found that few services and little support were available for lesbians and gay men in regional and rural areas and indeed were difficult to provide in the context of rural confidentiality and social exclusion.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005681
The development of 'expert-ness': Rural practitioners and role boundaries
- Authors: Gregory, Raeleene , Green, Rosemary , McLaren, Suzanne
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 12, no. 2 (2007), p. 16-21
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- Description: Health and welfare practitioners have reported challenges in their personal and professional lives brought about by the realities of dual and multiple relationships in small communities. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative grounded theory study of 70 such practitioners living and working in rural Victoria. Australia, with regard to the development of worker expertise in dealing with personal and professional role boundary issues. The research findings suggested that this group of rural health and welfare practitioners dealt with personal and professional boundary issues through a process of sensitive decision-making and strategic behaviour that became increasingly intuitive over time. Participants oftern adopted elastic and fluid boundaries using their personal experience and local knowledge to inform their professional judgement. These findings have implications for practitioners, for employers, and for educators.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005777
Welfare workers' experiences of rural practice - similar but different
- Authors: Green, Rosemary
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 12, no. 1 (2007), p. 41-46
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- Description: This research project investigated the experiences of six rural welfare professionals living in the Western region of Victoria, Australia. In particular, this paper reports on their experiences of managing dual and multiple roles, confidentiality and their privacy. The six participants, five women and one man, were purposely chosen for in-depth interviews using criterion sampling from 23 survey respondents who participated in a larger rural practice study. Issues of particular interest to participants were managing confidential information gathered from formal and informal sources, providing services that are non-stigmatising, managing complex ethical dilemmas arising from fual and multiple roles, and lack of anonymity and privacy. Participants' experiences of these issues had varied considerably. Some expressed feeling of anxiety and stress, while others expressed strong confidence about their management of these matters in their daily practice. Many participants were anxious about whethr their practice fully met the ethical guidelines of the profession, however they felt their practice appropriate to the context. Most of the participants commented that their pre-service education did not adequately address rural issues or prepare them for their work role in small communities.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005771
Barriers to higher education for Australian rural students
- Authors: Sewell, Jessica
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 10, no. 2 (2006), p. 23-27
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- Description: This article considers the barriers to higher education currently faced by rural students in Australia. Three barriers to participation in higher education for rural students that appear consistently in the literature are financial pressures, family and community attributes, and physical location. Results of recent studies in this area suggest that these factors often coexist to create one, complex and intertwined barrier which needs to be approach by all involved in a collaborative and cooperative way in order to provide rural people with equitable access to higher education.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001979
Interpretive phenomenological approaches to rural mental health research
- Authors: Aisbett, Damon
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 11, no. (2006), p. 52-58
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- Description: While researchers in the fields of social work and nursing have recognised the usefulness of qualitative research methods for many years, researchers in psychology have tended to lag behind in their understanding of the value and applicability of qualitative approaches. The aims of this article are to consider the role of qualitative research in psychology, to outline the various steps involved in conducting qualitative data collection and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) for those not versed in these techniques, and to provide a case example of the applicability of these methods to rural adolescent mental health research. The final section of this article includes a detailed discussion of the advantages and limitations of IPA.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001977
Social inequity, clinical pragmatism, and the rural practitioner
- Authors: Boyd, Candice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 10, no. 2 (2006), p. 36-37
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- Description: C1
- Description: 2003004370
The emergence of water markets in Australia and implications for rural social work
- Authors: Mason, Robyn , McDonald, John , Ollerenshaw, Alison
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 11, no. (2006), p. 6- 17
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- Description: The aim of this paper is to consider the implications for rural social work practice of the widespread and severe drought coupled with the emergence of water markets in Australia. The National Water Initiative was signed at the June 2004 Council of Australian Governments meeting with the aim of producing a nationally-compatible, market, regulatory and planning-based system of managing water resources to optimise economic, social and environmental outcomes. The National Water Commission and the National Competition Council have since assessed progress on the implementation of the initiative: none of their reports gives adequate consideration to the impact of water reform on rural communities. In this paper, we draw upon previous research and written submissions made to the Commission and the Council to examine the social and political consequences of the drought and the emergence of water markets. We discuss the implications for rural practice, and conclude by proposing seven recommendations to assert the role of rural social workers as change agents. This role could encompass community education and advocacy, piloting schemes such as community water banks, reinstating community development in social work curriculum, and facilitating collaborative rural partnerships.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001997
40 degrees above or 40 degrees below zero : Rural social work and context in Australia and Canada
- Authors: Bodor, Ralph , Green, Rosemary , Lonne, Robert , Zapf, Michael
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work Vol. 9, no. December (2004), p. 49-59
- Full Text: false
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- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000963
Only in exceptional circumstances! : Education in Australia for rural social work and welfare practice
- Authors: Green, Rosemary
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work Vol. 8, no. 1 (2003), p. 50-57
- Full Text: false
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- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000510