A Reflection on Critical Methodology: Accountability and Beneficiary Participative Evaluation in Third Sector Research

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Enabled by the underpinnings of critical theory, this article discusses research methodology developed with the aim of...     

Caterpillar phenology predicts differences in timing of mountain chickadee breeding in urban and rural habitats

Urban Ecosystems - To ensure the survival of their offspring, birds need to precisely time their reproduction: when offspring have the highest demand for food, food resources should be most...     

Domestic Outsourcing,Housework Time,and Subjective Time Pressure: New Insights From Longitudinal Data

Hiring household help could reduce housework time and alleviate subjective time pressure. Associations are assumed to be particularly apparent for women because they spend more time on housework than men. But empirical evidence on whether hiring help actually saves time or relieves time pressure is scant and inconclusive, chiefly because of data and methodological limitations. This study improves on earlier ones in that the authors examined panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n = 5,124 couples) that enable modeling techniques that take account of selection effects, possible reverse causality, and unobserved heterogeneity. Contrary to some earlier studies, the authors show that outsourcing does in fact reduce housework time, narrow gender gaps, and lower women's subjective time pressure. They conclude that domestic outsourcing may save time and reduce subjective pressure for some women, but one consequence may be increased inequality between women who can and cannot afford domestic help.     

Learning from Mental Health Lived Experience and the Influence on Students’ Practice

This study explored how learning from mental health lived experience influenced Australian social work students’ practice during their first fieldwork placement. Involvement of mental health consumers in social work education is gaining momentum, yet little is known about how this type of learning informs students’ practice. Ten social work students participated in semistructured interviews and one focus group. Findings suggest that learning from lived experience promoted social work practice that honoured the expertise of mental health consumers and privileged personal recovery. Factors such as organisational culture and supervisor attitudes were found to mediate the students’ attempts to privilege lived experience.     

Why do women continue to smoke in pregnancy?

Smoking during pregnancy not only impacts on the woman's health but that of her unborn child. Women most likely to continue smoking throughout pregnancy are generally of lower age, socio-economic status, level of education and occupational status. Women who continue to smoke during pregnancy often feel criticized by society. They feel guilt and personal conflict at not quitting. Lack of long-term positive outcomes from anti-smoking campaigns may result form ignorance surrounding socio-economically disadvantaged women's life circumstances. Current interventions often ignore the emotional and psychological stressors associated with pregnancy; they do not address the altered physiological processes that occur during pregnancy. A review of the literature pertaining to women who smoke throughout pregnancy is presented. Women want an individualised approach to smoking cessation advice, with health care workers having knowledge of the woman's social situation and viewpoints. This paper reveals that the woman's perspective has largely been ignored. Indeed health care professionals have attempted to manipulate women to stop smoking rather than engage in mutually respectful dialogue.     

Work and Family: How Does the (Gender) Balance Change as Children Grow?

This article investigates how work–family balance and the gender division of labour differ according to whether children are in early childhood, middle childhood or the early teen years. It uses measures of both behaviour and attitudes, drawing on two nationally representative Australian data sets, the Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey and the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia. Women have more responsibility for care than men, but with older children there is greater gender equity in the division of labour, a less pressing domestic burden and less maternal time stress. This occurs because women recalibrate their commitments to work and home, not because domestic labour is redistributed between mothers and fathers. Further, it does not hold if women replace unpaid with paid labour; mothers who work full time have high total workloads and high stress levels regardless of the age of children. Fathers are more satisfied with their work–family balance the more they participate in childcare and the more they feel supported by their workplace to access family‐friendly work policies.     

Lessons from the courtroom: Perspectives from child welfare attorneys and supervisors

Despite a history of child welfare worker performance difficulty in the courtroom, there has been little documentation regarding specific training needs for worker courtroom practice skills. This study expands the literature on child welfare courtroom practice skills by documenting child welfare worker conduct via perspectives from courtroom attorneys and child welfare supervisors. Separate focus groups with child welfare attorneys and supervisors were held to ascertain best and concerning practices for child welfare workers in the courtroom. Focus group participants identified themes related to preparation, adversarial nature of court proceedings, testimony, reasonable efforts, appearance and mannerisms, esteem of workers, duality of worker roles, and support. Study results have implications for focusing and improving training and supervision.     

Review Article: Recurring themes for changing times

Social work education in Israel has been strongly influenced by North American models and by an early decision to integrate it into the university system. The result is a constant tension between the objectives of academic excellence and social relevance. The schools of social work have still to find the right balance between the theoretical and practical aspects of social work education, and to cope adequately with the multi-cultural nature of Israeli society. New challenges are posed by rapid developments in legislation, service technology and the economics of the welfare system.