Surveillance, sanctions, and behaviour modification in the name of far-right nationalism : the rise of authoritarian ‘welfare’ in Australia
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: The Challenge of Right-wing Nationalist Populism for Social Work : a Human Rights Approach p. 135-150
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Social work in Australia : content, content and challenges
- Authors: Noble, Carolyn , Goetz, Ottmann
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Social work in XXI Century St.: Challenges for academic and professional training p. 12-22
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- Description: This chapter outlines in broad terms the type of professional training required for students to enter the social work profession in Australia. Attention is given to its context in the higher education sector, its program content including theory, skills and practicum and outlines the challenges for the 21stcentury for graduates. In Australia there are two levels of professional training with different entry pathways. The first is the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) which is a 4 year undergraduate program and the second is Master in Social Work Qualifying (MSW(Q) which is a 2 year post graduate degree.
COVID-19 and the welfare state : social work’s practice and policy
- Authors: Noble, Carolyn , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Post-Pandemic Welfare and Social Work: Re-imagining the New Normal Chapter 19 p. 220-227
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- Description: This chapter attempts to situate social work within the wider social and political context of the post-pandemic
Post-pandemic social work and the death of neoliberalism
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Post-Pandemic Welfare and Social Work: Re-imagining the New Normal Chapter 4 p. 39-50
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- Description: The COVID-19 pandemic in conjunction with ecological, financial and political crises foregrounds the inadequacies and failures of neoliberal modes of governance that have become the bedrock of polities around the globe. The pandemic highlighted that most governments were not able to protect the health and wellbeing of their citizens bringing into full public view an astonishing discrepancy between governmental claims and experienced events. As a result, political leaders were scrambling to re-define the role of the state as guarantor of social welfare, to re-create a sense of humanitarian solidarity, and to re-invent the commons amidst threadbare, marketised health and social care. Ultimately, a sizeable segment of vulnerable ‘consumers’ was left without a protective safety net. And while communities rallied, providing much-needed social support to vulnerable citizens, national governments appeared to be ‘missing in action’. This chapter traces the tension between the neoliberal administration of health and welfare and the social imaginary of safety that underpins public opinion outlining socio-political currents that are transforming neoliberalism. The chapter argues that this tension translates into a new challenge for social work to ‘re-cognise’ that the neoliberal dogma, albeit incrementally changing, still permeates current human services approaches and our own thinking and to become aware of new possibilities. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Goetz Ottmann and Carolyn Noble; individual chapters, the contributors.
Post-pandemic social work and the welfare state
- Authors: Noble, Carolyn , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Post-Pandemic Welfare and Social Work: Re-imagining the New Normal Chapter 1 p. 1-14
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- Description: This edited book offers a critical commentary to the social, political and cultural shifts that underpin the post-pandemic ʼnew normal’. At the time of completing this edited book, most pandemic containment measures have been lifted ushering in a new socio-political landscape. Contributors to this book agree that the pandemic revealed the cracks in welfare systems resulting from decades of underfunding and posited a rethink of its value and function. COVID-19 has reminded us of our vulnerability and dependence on others. It has debunked the myth of the ideal of the self-contained, self-sufficient and independent subject at the core of liberal political and moral philosophy that is also manifest in pre-COVID-19 interpretations of welfare and visions of care. The chapter argues that post-pandemic welfare must be expanded to include relational aspects that link all beings in their inter-dependence with the planetary ecosystem. We affirm that Critical social work is a strategic activity where social workers are taking on a networked leadership role promoting grassroots activism and more democratic decision-making towards a more sustainable and equitable future. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Goetz Ottmann and Carolyn Noble; individual chapters, the contributors.
Right-wing nationalist populism and social work : some definitions and features
- Authors: Noble, Carolyn , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: The Challenge of Right-wing Nationalist Populism for Social Work : a Human Rights Approach p. 1-14
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- Description: The rise of right-wing nationalist populism in our increasingly uncertain world poses serious threats to already marginalised groups such as women, migrants, asylum seekers, Indigenous people, and members of ethnic and minority communities. This chapter explores some definitions of right-wing nationalist populism and describes many of its features. We argue that the rise of right-wing populism poses a major challenge to social work’s practice foundations and professional stake in promoting human and democratic rights for all. If unaddressed, populist nationalism has the potential to erode even further the humanist fabric of our societies, making welfare contingent upon ethnicity, social status and level of economic ‘activation’. The challenge for social work is to oppose right-wing populist policies and practices wherever they manifest, and to promote effective, non-violent alternatives that can capture the popular political imaginary. While the threat to human rights-based social work is serious, it also harbours the possibility that the ensuing confrontations will renew and strengthen the profession’s commitment to non-violent, inclusive, socially just practice.
The first year : the support needs of parents caring for a child with an intellectual disability
- Authors: Douglas, Tracy , Redley, Bernice , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol. 72, no. 11 (Nov 2016), p. 2738-2749
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Exploring community-based aged care with Aboriginal elders in three regional and remote Australian communities : a qualitative study
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Social Work & Policy Studies: Social Justice, Practice and Theory Vol. 1, no. 001 (2018), p.
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- Description: While a small body of literature focuses on various facets of aged care services delivered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, very little is known about the support needs and preferences of Indigenous Elders who ‘return to country’. This article addresses this gap. It explores the support needs of Indigenous Elders who return to their communities after having lived elsewhere for prolonged periods of time. It provides an overview of the key themes emerging from group sessions and semi-structured interviews with 11 Aboriginal Elders and 12 representatives of regional health and social care organisations conducted between 2012 and 2013. The article argues that the quest of Elders to strengthen kinship systems should not be seen as a barrier but as an opportunity to develop aged care services that resonate with the needs of Indigenous Elders and with their kinship network. The findings presented in the article are structured around the themes of empowerment and choice; community-based kinship care; and enhancing program flexibility. The article argues that it is crucial for Aboriginal community care services to be grounded in Indigenous culture. To address the wider socio-cultural project of Aboriginal Elders (i.e. to re-connect with their families, strengthen the kinship system and, re-create their cultural roles) when designing aged care services not only ensures that services are relevant to Indigenous Elders, it also ensures that services are culturally safe and address the psychosocial needs of Elders returning to country as well as their families. The article lends further weight to research that reports that a mainstream approach to the aged care of Indigenous Elder is likely to produce poor care outcomes.
The need to know : the information needs of parents of infants with an intellectual disability-a qualitative study
- Authors: Douglas, Tracy , Redley, Bernice , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol. 73, no. 11 (Nov 2017), p. 2600-2608
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- Description: Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the information needs of parents of infants with an intellectual disability in the first year of life. Background: Parents whose infant has an intellectual disability need access to information if they are to facilitate optimal care for their child. A lack of timely, accurate information provision by health professionals, particularly nurses and midwives, can increase parental stress and hinder access to the supports they and their infant require. Design: A qualitative descriptive methodology was used for the study. Methods: Qualitative interviews were undertaken with parents of 11 children with intellectual disabilities in Victoria, Australia in 2014. Data were analysed using descriptive thematic analysis. Findings: Parents experienced challenges accessing quality information during the first year of their child's life. Parents required incremental information provision to build a strong knowledge base to facilitate optimal care for their infants. Three types of knowledge were identified as crucial for parents: knowledge about (1) the infant's condition; (2) the infant's specific needs and (3) available supports and services. Health professionals were the key resource to access this information. Conclusion: Health professionals’ responsibilities include providing relevant, timely information to parents of infants with intellectual disabilities. This study conceptualises three types of information parents need to develop a strong knowledge base to guide their infant's care and provides guidance concerning the optimal timing for the delivery of information. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Barriers and enablers to safeguarding children and adults within a disability services context : insights from an Australian delphi study
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz , McVilly, Keith , Anderson, Julie , Chapman, Jessica , Karlyawasam, Imalka
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Social Policy and Administration Vol. 51, no. 3 (2017), p. 488-510
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- Description: Research conducted in the 1990s revealed the tragic irony that exposure to the disability support system, and particularly to its institutional forms, was a major risk factor related to the neglect and abuse of children and adults with a disability. Subsequently, a range of policies have been introduced to minimize risk. However, recurring events of abuse and neglect in the disability services sector in high and middle income countries demonstrate that processes geared to safeguard children and adults with a disability from abuse and neglect remain insufficient. To establish the wider fabric of organizational factors that contribute to effective safeguarding practices within the Australian disability support sector, a modified online Delphi study was conducted, capturing the views of disability services staff and managers (n = 249) regarding barriers and enablers to effective safeguarding. This study identified issues concerning organizational culture, management practice, workforce development, client capacity building and contextual factors. During Round Two of the Delphi, participants were asked to rate the categorized enabler statements according to importance on a 10-point Likert scale, to ascertain the degree of consensus. A total of 262 of the statements were regarded as important or very important. The Delphi result highlighted the considerable gap between the wider systemic and cultural processes that, in the eyes of disability services staff and management, contribute to good safeguarding practice and the safeguarding measures currently in place. The article calls for a holistic approach to safeguarding that addresses procedural issues and to the transformation of the wider systemic and cultural fabric of an organization. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Goetz Ottmann” is provided in this record**
A moment of fuzziness : connections between shifting notions of ‘home’ and welfare arrangements ‘back home’ for Black Zimbabwean migrants living under COVID-19 travel restrictions in Australia
- Authors: Chihota, Clement
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Post-Pandemic Welfare and Social Work: Re-imagining the New Normal Chapter 17 p. 197-209
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- Description: This chapter makes connections between shifting notions of ‘home’ and welfare arrangements to support relatives ‘back home’, among first-generation Black Zimbabwean migrants living in Australia under COVID-19 travel restrictions. Using anecdotal evidence and harnessing elements of constructivist and structuralist theory, the chapter reflects on how a binary opposition between ‘kumusha/ekhaya’ (meaning the place of origin and belonging) and ‘kumasango/ingangeni’ (literally, ‘the jungle’ - and in this context - any other location that is not kumusha/ekhaya) was largely operative for this community, prior to the pandemic. As a sense-making structure, this opposition promoted resiliency as challenges associated with resettling in Australia were assigned to the kumasango/ingangeni category, meaning they could be expected, while kumusha/ekhaya served as the idyllic ‘counterweight’ (i.e. the place of restoration and regeneration, always within reach, when required. The imposition of COVID-19 travel restrictions between early 2020 and late 2021 disrupted and fuzzified this ʼneat’ conceptual structure and instigated recalibrations of the meaning and location of ‘home’ for this community. As further argued, this shift in the relationship with kumusha/ekhaya, which could be occurring in other places hosting the Zimbabwean diaspora, may have long-term impacts on the informal welfare system, which has helped to sustain livelihoods in Zimbabwe for the past two decades. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Goetz Ottmann and Carolyn Noble; individual chapters, the contributors.
Giorgio Agamben : sovereign power, bio-politics and the totalitarian tendencies within societies
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz , Brito, Iris
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work p. 223-232
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- Description: This chapter focuses on Giorgio Agamben’s work on power, sovereignty, bare life, and bio-politics. Agamben argues that the state of exception (where the state no longer orders forms of life, creating a kind of no-man’s-land where rules are made by those in charge) is the original political relation that continues to define the workings of the modern state. An example of this state of exception is the concentration camp, a place where human beings whose political rights are for some reason forfeited (e.g. ethnic or religious minorities, refugees, militant Islamists) are being stored and often destroyed. The structure of the camp, Agamben states, exists and endures in many other forms. He urges us that ‘it is this structure of the camp that we must learn to recognise in all its metamorphoses’. How Agamben’s work is relevant to social work and how his analysis is valuable in critical social work education and practice is explored in this chapter. © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Christine Morley, Phillip Ablett, Carolyn Noble, and Stephen Cowden.
Alain Touraine : the politics of collective action
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz , Noble, Carolyn
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work p. 465-476
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- Description: This chapter takes as its starting point Touraine’s work on new social movements that explains how social change occurs. Touraine’s work focuses on how people come together to challenge and alter cultural and socio-political boundaries of a social, institutional or political system deemed to be discriminatory or oppressive. Becoming involved in social action against social disadvantage and injustice, and struggling for changes in law, public policy and the political culture can empower people to take control of their lives. Linking community development and social action with social movements theory and practice is, we argue, the most effective and salient method for the advancement of a more progressive social work practice. How this analysis influences the teaching and practice of community development and social action to advance a more progressive, transformative social work practice is explored. © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Christine Morley, Phillip Ablett, Carolyn Noble, and Stephen Cowden.
Nationalist Populism and Social Work
- Authors: Noble, Carolyn , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Human Rights and Social Work Vol. 3, no. 3 (2018), p. 112-120
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- Description: This article outlines how the current rise in right-wing populism poses a threat to social work’s humanist positioning within western democracy and what strategies are needed to restore faith in the liberal democratic institutions that are committed to human rights and a polity that provides for all its citizens despite their diversity and often opposing interests. Using the example of the rise of ethnic-nationalist populism in the twentieth century in Europe, we forget at our peril how easily human rights can be both compromised and undermined. Today’s social works can learn from social work’s role in supporting the ethnic practices of Nazi Germany and be forewarned. The article highlights how a culture of hyper-productivity, anti-humanist populism, and authoritarian welfare can erode the human rights framework underpinning social work. By focussing on contemporary social work’s more progressive stance with its commitment to anti-oppressive practice, its linkages with civil society and community activism, and its commitment to carve out a prominent political space for advancing a human rights agenda, we hope to learn lessons from the past and act collectively to protect and return confidence to a universal human rights agenda for a progressive social work practice. © 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Placement interviews at the interface of cultural diversity and standardised requirements
- Authors: Koeck, Clara-Maria , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Advances in social work and welfare education Vol. 20, no. 1 (2018), p. 108-121
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- Description: Field education placements permit social work students to gain practical experience employing the knowledge and skills they acquired in the classroom. Access to field education placements is dependent upon placement interviews during which candidates have to display their professional and personal suitability. Placement interviews are challenging for all students. For international students, they are particularly challenging as they represent a litmus test as to whether they have achieved a sufficient degree of cultural adaptation. To date, little attention has been paid to the way placement interviews are experienced by international students. This article addresses this gap. The article is based on a qualitative study involving semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five international students focusing on the way placement interviews were experienced, how students felt prepared for them, and the degree to which language proficiency, cultural difference, social connectedness, discrimination, and Australian workplace culture represented a challenge. The findings suggest that international students need be to better informed about opportunities associated with field placement and the often implicit requirements and expectations associated with it. The authors argue that they would benefit from targeted educational resources ranging from English language tuition to interview role play.
Key design considerations using a cohort stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial in evaluating community-based interventions : lessons learnt from an Australian domiciliary aged care intervention evaluation
- Authors: Mohebbi,Mohammadreza , Sanagou, Masoumeh , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International journal of statistics in medical research Vol. 6, no. 3 (2017), p. 123-133
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- Description: The ‘stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial’ (SW-CRT) harbours promise when for ethical or practical reasons the recruitment of a control group is not possible or when a staggered implementation of an intervention is required. Yet SW-CRT designs can create considerable challenges in terms of methodological integration, implementation, and analysis. While cross-sectional methods in participants recruitment of the SW-CRT have been discussed in the literature the cohort method is a novel feature that has not been considered yet. This paper provides a succinct overview of the methodological, analytical, and practical aspects of cohort SW-CRTs.We discuss five issues that are of special relevance to SW-CRTs. First, issues relating to the design, secondly size of clusters and sample size; thirdly, dealing with missing data in the fourth place analysis; and finally, the advantages and disadvantages of SW-CRTs are considered. An Australian study employing a cohort SW-CRT to evaluate a domiciliary aged care intervention is used as case study. The paper concludes that the main advantage of the cohort SW-CRT is that the intervention rolls out to all participants. There are concerns about missing a whole cluster, and difficulty of completing clusters in a given time frame due to involvement frail older people. Cohort SW-CRT designs can be successfully used within public health and health promotion context. However, careful planning is required to accommodate methodological, analytical, and practical challenges.
‘I walk from trouble’ : exploring safeguards with adults with intellectual disabilities – an Australian qualitative study
- Authors: Ottmann, Goetz , McVilly, Keith , Maragoudaki, Margarita
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Disability and Society Vol. 31, no. 1 (2016), p. 47-63
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- Description: People living with intellectual disabilities have a right to be safe from abuse and neglect and have a right to be included in the decision-making process determining safeguards that will affect them. However, the research evidence that could underpin good professional practice in terms of co-producing safeguards against abuse and neglect directly involving people with intellectual disabilities is largely missing. This article, based on qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews conducted during the first half of 2014, seeks to strengthen this evidence base. It reports on the prevention strategies identified by 12 adults with intellectual disabilities about how to stay safe and compares these with the findings of similar research. The article suggests that a comprehensive safeguarding approach comprises both life course-focused safety training and access to assisted decision-making. The article argues that given the plethora of risk situations encountered by people living with intellectual disability, assisted decision-making should take the form of a co-creation process that is situation specific and grounded in everyday life. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.
Ode to form
- Authors: Mestrom, Sanne
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Visual art work
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Soil moisture, organic carbon, and nitrogen content prediction with hyperspectral data using regression models
- Authors: Datta, Dristi , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Teng, Shyh Wei , Schmidtke, Leigh
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22, no. 20 (2022), p.
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- Description: Soil moisture, soil organic carbon, and nitrogen content prediction are considered significant fields of study as they are directly related to plant health and food production. Direct estimation of these soil properties with traditional methods, for example, the oven-drying technique and chemical analysis, is a time and resource-consuming approach and can predict only smaller areas. With the significant development of remote sensing and hyperspectral (HS) imaging technologies, soil moisture, carbon, and nitrogen can be estimated over vast areas. This paper presents a generalized approach to predicting three different essential soil contents using a comprehensive study of various machine learning (ML) models by considering the dimensional reduction in feature spaces. In this study, we have used three popular benchmark HS datasets captured in Germany and Sweden. The efficacy of different ML algorithms is evaluated to predict soil content, and significant improvement is obtained when a specific range of bands is selected. The performance of ML models is further improved by applying principal component analysis (PCA), a dimensional reduction method that works with an unsupervised learning method. The effect of soil temperature on soil moisture prediction is evaluated in this study, and the results show that when the soil temperature is considered with the HS band, the soil moisture prediction accuracy does not improve. However, the combined effect of band selection and feature transformation using PCA significantly enhances the prediction accuracy for soil moisture, carbon, and nitrogen content. This study represents a comprehensive analysis of a wide range of established ML regression models using data preprocessing, effective band selection, and data dimension reduction and attempt to understand which feature combinations provide the best accuracy. The outcomes of several ML models are verified with validation techniques and the best- and worst-case scenarios in terms of soil content are noted. The proposed approach outperforms existing estimation techniques.
Current programs and future needs in health literacy for older people : a literature review
- Authors: Lê, Quynh , Terry, Daniel , Woodroffe, Jess
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet Vol. 17, no. 4 (2013), p. 369-388
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- Description: Inadequate health literacy occurs more amongst older adults and can result in difficulties synthesising information and communicating with health professionals, increased emergency visits and hospitalizations, poor uptake of preventative interventions, increased mortality, and ultimately greater health care costs. A literature review was conducted that identified 12 articles that discussed and examined health literacy interventions among older adults. It revealed few papers exist which highlight programs that examine health literacy outcomes for older adults. The review identified evidence-based best-practice models of health literacy interventions need to be further developed to meet the health literacy needs of aging population. © 2013 Copyright Quynh Le, Daniel R. Terry, and Jess Woodroffe.