Managing professional identity within a changing market environment: New Zealand optometrists’ responses to the growth of corporate optometry

ABSTRACT

This research investigated the effects of changes in the market environment for optometry services and products on the professional identity of New Zealand optometrists. It explored three issues. First, ways participants’ location within either the independent or corporate sectors shaped their professional identities. Second, ways potential ethical conflicts between participants’ healthcare and retailing identities were resolved. Last, participants’ opinions concerning the future of their profession. Twelve male and fourteen female optometrists were interviewed. Nineteen participants worked within independent optometry practices. Seven worked within practices that were part of international optometry chains. Six participants were recent graduates, the rest experienced optometrists. All participants identified primarily as healthcare professionals. All recognised that practising optometry within a commercial market created the possibility of ethical conflicts between healthcare and business imperatives. There were differences in the ways participants managed this boundary, with participants working within corporate optometry seeming more comfortable with the business aspects of their profession. All participants thought the profession was changing and several suggested that the future of independent optometry was limited. The article concludes that recent changes within the market environment of optometry have heightened tensions between optometrists’ medical and entrepreneurial identities and contributed to changing work patterns within the profession.     

Strengthening field education in aging through university-community agency partnership: the Practicum Partnership Program

The Practicum Partnership Program (PPP), an innovative field education model developed and implemented by six demonstration sites over four years (2000-2004), uses a structured university-community partnership, or consortium, as the foundation for designing, implementing, and evaluating internships for graduate social work students specializing in aging. This paper describes the site consortia and PPP programs, presents evaluation findings, and identifies future directions for the PPP. Student learning outcomes were positive and both students and consortia agencies reported positive PPP experiences. The PPP model underscores the value of the community agencies as equal partners in educating future geriatric social workers.     

Sing … Then Think: Musical Interventions and Nondeliberative Forms of Practice in Social Work Groups

ABSTRACT

The positive effects of music have been demonstrated worldwide in many fields including social work, psychology, medicine, and education. Musical interventions including music listening, lyric analysis, and singing have also been found effective in group work. This article, guided by Norma Lang’s nondeliberative theory, aims to provide the “why,” “when,” and “how” of incorporating music into social work groups. It also provides the reader with a toolbox of musical interventions and the encouragement to utilize these “artful, actional, and analogic” activities in group work.     

IMAGES OF FAMILY LIFE OVER THE FAMILY LIFECYCLE

Based on an analysis of 20 family photo albums, this study investigates how the family's depiction of its geographical boundaries as well as of its kin and friendship networks varies over the lifecycle. Results indicate that the geographical boundaries of the family system expand and contract over the lifecycle and are most constricted during the childrearing years. Kin and friends are most likely to be included in the family album during the pre-parental stage and when school age children are present. A more exclusively kin-oriented image of family life emerges during the pre-school years and at late stages of the lifecycle. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.     

Disability and Self-help: A Case Study of the Spinal Injuries Association

This paper provides an 'insider' view and suggests that organised self-help has a role to play in improving the quality of the lives of disabled people. Through a discussion of the work of the Spinal Injuries Associations, it shows the kinds of services that can be provided, controlled and run by disabled people themselves. Finally, it considers the implications of the self-help approach for the work of professionals and suggests that such an approach should be seen as complementary to medical and administrative approaches.