State of the Art in Risk Analysis of Workforce Criticality Influencing Disaster Preparedness for Interdependent Systems

The objective of this article is to discuss a needed paradigm shift in disaster risk analysis to emphasize the role of the workforce in managing the recovery of interdependent infrastructure and economic systems. Much of the work that has been done on disaster risk analysis has focused primarily on preparedness and recovery strategies for disrupted infrastructure systems. The reliability of systems such as transportation, electric power, and telecommunications is crucial in sustaining business processes, supply chains, and regional livelihoods, as well as ensuring the availability of vital services in the aftermath of disasters. There has been a growing momentum in recognizing workforce criticality in the aftermath of disasters; nevertheless, significant gaps still remain in modeling, assessing, and managing workforce disruptions and their associated ripple effects to other interdependent systems. The workforce plays a pivotal role in ensuring that a disrupted region continues to function and subsequently recover from the adverse effects of disasters. With this in mind, this article presents a review of recent studies that have underscored the criticality of workforce sectors in formulating synergistic preparedness and recovery policies for interdependent infrastructure and regional economic systems.     

The Effects of Parenthood on Workforce Participation and Income for Men and Women

This paper examined the effects of parenthood on workforce participation for men and women in the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 30-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1,265 individuals born in New Zealand in 1977. The findings suggested that the effects of parenthood on workforce participation were different for men and women. For women, parenthood was associated with decreasing participation in paid employment and fewer hours worked. For men, however, parenthood was not associated with decreased workforce participation and in some cases was associated with increased working hours. These findings had consequences for personal income, with 83–90 % of the total gender income gap in this cohort being attributed to gender differences in the effects of parenthood. These findings suggest that parenthood has markedly different effects on workforce participation and income for men and women.     

Promises and Possibilities: The Application of Research in the Area of Child Maltreatment to Policies and Practices

In this closing commentary, we discuss the policy implications of research concerning child maltreatment. We describe the links between the topics reviewed in this special issue and interventions for child victims as well as the state of research concerning consequences of maltreatment more broadly. We further discuss the implications of current research for policy and practice. We close by describing important directions not only for future research, but also for interventions to reduce adverse effects of maltreatment on children. Throughout our commentary, we highlight limitations in the application of empirical findings to actual child victims and we offer concrete suggestions for ways of improving this applicability.     

The impact of routine assessment of past or current mental health on help-seeking in the perinatal period

BackgroundClinical practice guidelines now recommend that women be asked about their past or current mental health as a routine component of maternity care. However, the value of this line of enquiry in increasing engagement with support services, as required, remains controversial.AimThe current study aimed to examine whether assessment of past or current mental health, received with or without referral for additional support, is associated with help-seeking during pregnancy and the postpartum.MethodsA subsample of women drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (young cohort) who reported experiencing significant emotional distress during pregnancy (N = 398) or in the 12 months following birth (N = 380) participated in the study.ResultsMultivariate analysis showed that women who were not asked about their emotional health were less likely to seek any formal help during both pregnancy (adjOR = 0.09, 95%CI: 0.04–0.24) and the postpartum (adjOR = 0.07, 95%CI: 0.02–0.13), as were women who were asked about these issues but who were not referred for additional support (antenatal: adjOR = 0.26, 95%CI: 0.15–0.45; postnatal: adjOR = 0.14, 95%CI: 0.07–0.27). However, considerable levels of consultation with general practitioners, midwives and child health nurses, even in the absence of referral, were evident.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that enquiry by a health professional about women's past or current mental health is associated with help-seeking throughout the perinatal period. The clinical and resource implications of these findings for the primary health care sector should be considered prior to the implementation of future routine perinatal depression screening or psychosocial assessment programmes.     

Early Motherhood and Long‐Term Economic Outcomes: Findings From a 30‐Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined linkages between early motherhood (before age 20) and long‐term economic disadvantage, using data from a birth cohort of 509 New Zealand‐born women followed to age 30. Associations between early motherhood and economic outcomes were examined using linear and logistic regression models and were adjusted for a range of prepregnancy factors. The findings suggested that early motherhood was associated with several indicators of economic disadvantage at age 30, including working fewer hours, welfare dependence, lower personal incomes, and exposure to economic hardship. These associations remained statistically significant even after extensive adjustment for confounding factors. These findings suggest that having a child before age 20 leads to long‐term economic disadvantage that persists for at least a decade.     

Maltreatment and Internal Representations of Relationships: Core Relationship Themes in the Narratives of Abused and Neglected Preschoolers

This study examined whether the predominance of particular themes in maltreated pre-schoolers' stories about relationships is related to type of maltreatment they experienced. The MacArthur Story Stem Battery was administered to 49 maltreated and 22 non-maltreated children. Children's representations of self and other were extracted from the resulting stories using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Method. Significant differences were found among the physically abused, sexually abused, neglected, and comparison subgroups with respect to the predominance of specific relationship themes in their stories. Both physically abused and neglected children represented the self as angry and opposing others more frequently than non-maltreated children. Neglected children represented others as hurt, sad, or anxious more frequently than both abused and non-maltreated children. Compared with all other children, sexually abused children represented others more frequently as liking them, and compared with physically abused children, expressed more frequent wishes to be close to others. This study supports the hypothesis that maltreated children's internal representations of relationships are related to their experiences of specific types of maltreatment.     

Community and Individual Factors Associated with Cigarette Smoking Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) have higher rates of cigarette smoking than their heterosexual counterparts, yet few studies have examined factors associated with cigarette smoking among YMSM. The present study sought to understand how different types of gay community connection (i.e., gay community identification and involvement, gay bar/club attendance) were associated with smoking among YMSM recruited through venue-based sampling in Los Angeles, California (N = 526). Structural equation modeling was used to isolate direct and indirect effects of gay community connection on smoking through cognitive and psychological mediators (i.e., psychological distress, health values, internalized homophobia). Findings indicate YMSM cigarette smoking prevention and intervention must be tailored to address the direct and indirect influences of the gay community.     

Australian Social Work Reviewers 2010

Abstract

Children placed in out-of-home care are a particularly disadvantaged group in society, who have often been exposed to trauma and socioeconomic disadvantage. As a result, they experience poorer health outcomes than children in the general population, especially mental health outcomes. One health outcome that has yet to be researched thoroughly is overweight and obesity of children placed in out-of-home care. Hence, the overall goal of this paper was to review the extant literature over the last decade on weight-related issues for children in out-of-home care, with particular emphasis on overweight and obesity. The findings of the review revealed that there is a lack of rigorous Australian research in relation to prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in children in out-of-home care; there is a lack of strategies or interventions designed specifically to combat overweight and obesity in children in out-of-home care; and one of the major limitations of Australian research to date is the use of self-report measures to assess the weight status of children in out-of-home care. It was concluded that prevention and intervention strategies are needed that target children as they enter out-of-home care.     

Workforce/Population,Economy, Infrastructure,Geography, Hierarchy,and Time (WEIGHT): Reflections on the Plural Dimensions of Disaster Resilience

The concept of resilience and its relevance to disaster risk management has increasingly gained attention in recent years. It is common for risk and resilience studies to model system recovery by analyzing a single or aggregated measure of performance, such as economic output or system functionality. However, the history of past disasters and recent risk literature suggest that a single-dimension view of relevant systems is not only insufficient, but can compromise the ability to manage risk for these systems. In this article, we explore how multiple dimensions influence the ability for complex systems to function and effectively recover after a disaster. In particular, we compile evidence from the many competing resilience perspectives to identify the most critical resilience dimensions across several academic disciplines, applications, and disaster events. The findings demonstrate the need for a conceptual framework that decomposes resilience into six primary dimensions: workforce/population, economy, infrastructure, geography, hierarchy, and time (WEIGHT). These dimensions are not typically addressed holistically in the literature; often they are either modeled independently or in piecemeal combinations. The current research is the first to provide a comprehensive discussion of each resilience dimension and discuss how these dimensions can be integrated into a cohesive framework, suggesting that no single dimension is sufficient for a holistic analysis of a disaster risk management. Through this article, we also aim to spark discussions among researchers and policymakers to develop a multicriteria decision framework for evaluating the efficacy of resilience strategies. Furthermore, the WEIGHT dimensions may also be used to motivate the generation of new approaches for data analytics of resilience-related knowledge bases.