The self reported confidence of newly graduated midwives before and after their first year of practice in Sydney, Australia

BackgroundGraduates from a new, 3-year Bachelor of Midwifery program joined those educated through the 1 year, postgraduate route (for those already qualified as nurses) for the first time in New South Wales (NSW) Australia in 2007. Many hospitals offer transition support programs for new graduates during their first year of practice though there is little evidence available to inform these programs.ObjectivesTo establish the new midwife's confidence in working to the 14 “National Competency Standards for the Midwife”¹ and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Definition of a Midwife and to explore whether the new midwife's confidence changed over the new graduate year. In particular the study set out to determine whether there were any differences in the confidence of new graduates from undergraduate or postgraduate programs.DesignPre and post survey with comparisons longitudinally and within undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts.SettingsThree Area Health Services in Sydney and surrounding areas, Australia.ParticipantsA convenience sample of all new graduate midwives employed in the three Area Health Services in the early months of 2008.MethodsNew graduate midwives rated their level of confidence (1–10) in working to the 14 National Competency Standards for the Midwife and the ICM Definition of a Midwife during their first weeks of employment and after the completion of their first year of practice.ResultsMidwives prepared through the undergraduate and postgraduate routes commenced their first year of practice with similar levels of confidence. The confidence of these midwives increased modestly over the first year of practice. Those from postgraduate programs were significantly more confident than those from undergraduate programs on four competencies after the first year of practice. Participant's self reported confidence in working to the ICM Definition of a Midwife was low.ConclusionsOur profession and community need strong, confident midwives and it is in all our interests to look to ways we can best achieve this. While the findings of this study should be treated with caution, this study suggests that there is room for improvement in the way we support newly graduated midwives to build their confidence over their first year of practice. Further research is needed to identify the needs of newly graduated midwives and how best we can support them to develop as strong and confident practitioners through their first year of practice.     

Students and the Consumer Credit Market: Towards a Social Policy Agenda

The rise in access to complex consumer credit arrangements has taken place against a backdrop of a call for increased individual responsibility. Consumers are required to behave in a way which recognizes both their rights and responsibilities. But how much responsibility should they be expected to shoulder in critical areas of complex choice? Students represent a particular group of novice, sometimes vulnerable and often targeted consumers, who may display limited financial capability and responsibility. In addition to arguments for a more nuanced understanding of individual responsibility in different environments, the role of commercial agents and their marketing practices, which can have major implications for social policy, should also be considered. From the perspective of both students and relevant agencies and organizations, this article examines the nature, role and limitations of individual responsibility in managing credit and debt. While the social and economic system confers rights on lenders, their responsibility in marketing remains limited. It is argued that a framework for more responsible marketing of credit is a critical element of social policy acting as a bridge between individual responsibility and regulation. Qualitative research is used to illustrate the argument for marketing's social responsibility from the point of view of students entering credit arrangements to meet short‐term needs but with long‐term implications.     

The ‘compliant’, the ‘pacified’ and the ‘rebel’: experiences with Swiss disability insurance

Switzerland’s social policies in the field of disability have been significantly reshaped over the last two decades by reducing the number of allowances awarded and by increasing the recourse to vocational rehabilitation measures. What stances do individuals who experience the implementation of these policies adopt? What kind of tests are they subjected to? How can we explain the posture they adopt – be it ‘compliant’, ‘pacified’ or ‘rebellious’ – when facing the (re)assignations of their identity and professional status? Drawing on interviews conducted with individuals who have recently been involved in programmes set up by Swiss disability insurance, we highlight their uncertainties and concerns relating to their place in society, as well as their reactions to disability insurance’s interventions.     

Subtypes of French Pathological Gamblers: Comparison of Sensation Seeking,Alexithymia and Depression Scores

Recent data suggest the importance of identifying subtypes of pathological gamblers. This research studies sensation seeking, alexithymia and depression among a general population of French gamblers who play different types of game. Those games include games available in cafés (two cafés located in Paris suburb) like lottery, scratch-cards, etc., horse betting at the racetrack (five racetracks closest to Paris), slot machines and traditional games (roulette and card games) at the casino of Enghien-les-Bains (casino nearest to Paris). Sensation seeking was measured with the SSS form V, alexithymia with the TAS-20, and depression with the BDI-13. Pathological racetrack gamblers (42 males; mean age 29.1 years), who play active games involving skills, have the highest sensation seeking scores and are the most prone to alexithymia. Pathological gamblers playing the slot machines (12 males; 15 females; mean age 35.7 years) and games available in cafés (57 males; mean age 32.6 years), thus playing passive games that involve chance only, have low sensation seeking scores. Slot machines gamblers display alexithymia and have the highest depression scores. Pathological gamblers playing traditional games (15 males; mean age 37.8 years), games that involve strategy, do not perform well on any of these scales. These findings are consistent with the idea that clinically distinct subgroups of pathological gamblers can be identified. People displaying typical features could be attracted by specific games.     

Localized globalization: A multi‐local,multivariate investigation of quotative be like1

We conduct a multi‐local, multivariate analysis of be like in comparable datasets from three discontinuous geographic settings (the U.S.A., England, and New Zealand). Previously, comparative cross‐variety analysis of this form has been fundamentally hampered by key methodological differences. A methodologically coherent analysis reveals that the ‘classic factors’ ( Tagliamonte and D’Arcy 2007 : 203) grammatical person and content of the quote, as well as the effect of mimesis, are transferred to the receptor variety, albeit with varying degrees of completeness. Other conditioning factors are particularized to the local system into which be like is adopted, which leads us to define its spread as a case of weak transfer. We suggest that there are at least two explanations for this finding: (1) global innovations must be considered in light of the local systems into which they are adopted; and (2) the form and amount of contact must be correlated with respect to the knowledge transfer they allow.     

性别失衡背景下大龄未婚男性的商业性行为——基于中国农村地区的研究发现

基于2008年安徽省CH市JC区的调查数据,通过与同年龄段已婚男性的对比,对性别失衡背景下中国农村大龄未婚男性的商业性行为、安全套使用情况及其影响因素进行分析。研究发现,在中国性别失衡背景下,男性婚姻挤压导致大龄未婚男性难以获取正常、稳定的性行为,商业性行为作为一种有效的替代和弥补方式,其发生率在农村地区的大龄未婚男性当中存在显著升高的可能性;相对于较高的商业性行为发生率而言,大龄未婚男性的安全套使用率处于较低的水平,使得大龄未婚男性的商业性行为具有高风险特征。