The contribution of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to understanding and promoting the interests of young people making the transition from care to adulthood

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) acknowledges that young people without parental care are entitled to special support and assistance from the State. In detailing their expectations, the UN Committee have issued Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children which recognise that State parties have a number of responsibilities towards care leavers. The paper explores how the UNCRC reporting process, and guidelines from the Committee outlining how States should promote the rights of young people making the transition from care to adulthood, can be used as an instrument to track global patterns of change in policy and practice. Content analysis of State Party Reports and Concluding Observations from 15 countries reveals that to date there has been limited engagement with understanding and promoting the needs of this group in the reporting process; although where a government is committed to developing legislation and practice then this does find its way into their national reports. Data supplied by affiliates of the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC) reveals that national concerns, political ideology, public awareness, attitudes and knowledge of the vulnerability of care leavers influence service responses to protect and promote the rights of this group and the attention afforded to such issues in reports to the Committee. Findings also suggest that global governance is not simply a matter of top down influence. Future work on both promoting and monitoring of the impact of the UNCRC needs to recognise that what is in play is the management of a complex global/national dynamic with all its uneven development, levels of influence and with a range of institutional actors involved.     

Seeking control in the midst of uncertainty: Women’s experiences of choosing mode of birth after caesarean

Problem

Clinical practice guidelines indicate that over 80% of women with a previous caesarean should be offered a planned vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC), however only one third of eligible women choose to plan a VBAC. To support informed choices for birth after caesarean, it is necessary to understand the factors that influence women’s decision-making.

Principles that underpin effective school-based drug education

This study identifies the conceptual underpinnings of effective school-based drug education practice in light of contemporary research evidence and the practical experience of a broad range of drug education stakeholders. The research involved a review of the literature, a national survey of 210 Australian teachers and others involved in drug education, and structured interviews with 22 key Australian drug education policy stakeholders. The findings from this research have been distilled and presented as a list of 16 principles that underpin effective drug education. In broad terms, drug education should be evidence-based, developmentally appropriate, sequential, and contextual. Programs should be initiated before drug use commences. Strategies should be linked to goals and should incorporate harm minimization. Teaching should be interactive and use peer leaders. The role of the classroom teacher is central. Certain program content is important, as is social and resistance skills training. Community values, the social context of use, and the nature of drug harm have to be addressed. Coverage needs to be adequate and supported by follow-up. It is envisaged that these principles will provide all those involved in the drug education field with a set of up-to-date, research-based guidelines against which to reference decisions on program design, selection, implementation, and evaluation.     

Housing as Health Capital: How Health Trajectories and Housing Paths Are Linked

This article explores the relationships between housing and health inequalities. It locates housing within a network of health resources that can either promote well-being or increase susceptibility to disease. Housing thereby contributes to the accumulation, or depletion, of the health capital of individuals and communities. Qualitative interviews in three British regions help specify the links between health capital, on the one hand, and the network of resources, environments, events, institutions, and social relations comprising the housing system, on the other. The findings show why, from a health capital/health-resources-network perspective, a segment of the housing system (owner-occupation) that generally appears therapeutic can have the opposite effect for people whose resilience is low or whose health is in decline .     

Exploring Autonomy in Group Work Practice with Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

Preserving the autonomy of individuals with intellectual disabilities in group work is challenging. Group workers often experience inadequate guidance about autonomy—an individual's capability to act independently without influence by others. Group workers can enhance autonomy through group activities that promote self-efficacy, empowerment, and the ability to make decisions. Fostering autonomy requires that the group workers be knowledgeable and aware of personal biases, analyzing their expectations and actions. To promote the autonomy of persons with intellectual disabilities in group work practice, the authors make recommendations to strengthen the IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups in this area.     

The Management of Circulations: Biopolitical Variations after Foucault

This paper provides a review of the reception of Foucault's later work on biopolitics within management and organization studies and contrasts this with the reception of these ideas in sister fields of research in the social sciences. In his later work, Foucault developed original conceptions of power, including ‘biopolitics’, ‘the apparatus of security’ and ‘neo‐liberal governmentality’, which marked a departure from his conception of disciplinary power. This paper explores these concepts and elaborates the implications of these ideas for management studies. The structure of this argument is divided as follows. The first section outlines Foucault's concept of biopolitics and neo‐liberal governmentality, distinguishing these systems of control clearly from the concept of disciplinary power. The second section then undertakes a synthesis and evaluation of the extent to which these ideas have been developed within the field of management and organization studies. The final section provides a discussion of how these concepts have been used within other social sciences, distinguishing between three key approaches to their development in terms of: (a) the concept of governmentality; (b) the concept of immaterial labour; and (c) the concept of biocapital. Based on this analysis, a framework is developed which can serve as a basis for future research into the significance of these new biopolitical systems of control for management studies.     

OECD's ‘Better Life Index’: can any country be well ranked?

We critically review the Better Life Index (BLI) recently introduced by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We discuss methodological issues in the definition of the criteria used to rank the countries, as well as in their aggregation method. Moreover, we explore the unique option offered by the BLI to apply one's own weight set to 11 criteria. Although 16 countries can be ranked first by choosing ad hoc weightings, only Canada, Australia and Sweden do so over a substantial fraction of the parameter space defined by all possible weight sets. Furthermore, most pairwise comparisons between countries are insensitive to the choice of the weights. Therefore, the BLI establishes a hierarchy among the evaluated countries, independent of the chosen set of weights.