Australian evidence on corporate governance attributes and their association with forward-looking information in the annual report

We investigate the role played by a firm’s corporate governance framework in the decision to voluntarily disclose forward-looking information in the published financial reports of Australian companies in 2000 and 2002. With respect to the year 2000, the corporate governance category, audit quality, consisting of the presence and independence of the audit committee, its meeting frequency, the use of a big 6 auditor and the auditor’s independence, is positively associated with the disclosure of forward-looking information. The corporate governance category, board committees, consisting of the appointment and independence of a compensation committee and the creation of a nomination committee, and the overall efficacy of the corporate governance system are also positively associated with the disclosure of forward-looking information. However, corporate disclosure does not seem to be driven by the same factors in 2002 since in that year none of the governance categories is significantly associated with the firm’s decision to publish forward-looking information in financial reports.

Item validity of the physical demands from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles for functional capacity evaluation of clients with chronic back pain

This study assessed the item validity of 15 of the physical demands from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), as evaluated in a new approach to functional capacity evaluation (FCE) for clients with chronic back pain, the Gibson Approach to FCE (GAPP FCE). Fifty-two occupational therapists were sent the specifications of the items in the GAPP FCE procedures and were asked to rate the items in terms of item-objective congruence, relevance and difficulty. A response rate of 59.2% was obtained. The majority of the therapists agreed that most of the items were congruent with the objectives based on the definition of the physical demands from the DOT. The items evaluating Balancing and Pushing and Pulling had the lowest item-objective congruence. The evaluation of Balancing and the Lifting, Carrying and Pushing and Pulling of loads greater than light-medium weight (10-16 kg) were not considered significantly relevant. Concerns were raised about the difficulty and safety of the evaluation of Lifting, Carrying and Pushing and Pulling with clients with chronic back pain, particularly if the therapist evaluates the manual handling of medium to heavy loads. These results may have implications for other FCEs, particularly those which are based on the DOT, or when assessing clients with chronic back pain.     

A RATIONALE FOR FAMILY THERAPY SPECIALIZATION IN EARLY INTERVENTION

Over the past two decades, professionals providing intervention to families with children with disabilities have witnessed a philosophical shift from individually oriented care to family-centered care. Although the relevance of family therapy to these families has been formally acknowledged through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the integration of the fields of family therapy and developmental disabilities has not yet occurred to any signigicant degree. Awareness of critical issues associated with developmental disabilities and the potential impact on the family system is vital to the process of family-centered intervention. In this paper we address the need for family specialists to become knowledgeable about early intervention considerations relevant to young children with disabilities and their families.     

Care of Empowerment? A Disability Rights Perspective

This paper challenges the notion of "care", arguing that people who need support in their daily lives have been constructed as "dependent people". Instead, the author argues, if we want to empower people we must learn from the Independent Living Movement, from the people who struggled against segregation and insisted that access to personal assistance over which they have control is a civil rights issue. The paper takes issue with Clare Ungerson's perspective on the new direct payments legislation. This legislation is an important stage in the achievements of a civil rights movement and social researchers have a moral responsibility to collaborate with this movement in any work which they develop on issues which are not of mere academic interest but which concern people's rights to choice and control in their lives.     

Personal and Political: A Feminist Perspective on Researching Physical Disability

Feminist theory and methodology have much to offer in understanding how disability research has been experienced as alienated research by disabled people. However, feminist research has failed to apply its principles to disability and disabled women's subjective reality has found no place in mainstream feminist work. The paper identifies the challenges for feminism in addressing the interests and reality of disabled women, asserting that it is not helpful to focus on 'double disadvantage'. Disability research itself has much to learn from feminist methodology, in particular the principle of making the personal political. The role of non-disabled researchers as allies of disabled people is discussed, and the importance of research which turns the spotlight on the way in which non-disabled society oppresses disabled people. Finally, it is asserted that disability research and politics are of general relevance because the experience of disability is an integral part of a society characterised by fundamental inequalities and ideologies which divide people against each other.     

Reclaiming the Emotional Aspects of the Therapist-Family System

The shift from first to second order cybernetics has made the concept of the therapist-family system part of the everyday discourse of family therapy. In spite of this shift, there is little focus in family therapy literature on the emotional aspects of the therapist-family system. Relevant process concepts available to us at present, such as induction or accommodation, are poorly defined and inadequate. Three reasons for the neglect of the emotional aspects of family therapy are explored. They are, firstly, more recent theoretical and technical directions, secondly, the politics of gender and thirdly, the enduring difficulty of working with and writing about our own and families' powerful emotions. Finally, following a case example, some psychoanalytic concepts are described and discussed. It is possible that concepts such as counter-transference and projective identification may enrich family therapists' understanding of what is happening within the therapist-family system.     

The relationship between gambling accessibility and Hong Kong people's participation in gambling activities

Prior foreign research showed significant positive relationship between geographical accessibility, gambling advertising and gambling behaviors. This paper, using data from two studies, describes and discusses the change in prevalence of gambling in Hong Kong with the liberalization of gambling activities in Macau. Results mirror the findings of foreign studies. Analysis showed that the groups who indicated that they were mostly influenced by the increased number of Macau casinos and gambling advertising were those aged 20–39, those with tertiary or above education, and the problem and pathological gamblers. Policy makers and gaming operators' effort to implement responsible gambling policies to prevent gambling addiction are discussed.     

非营利部门员工从业动机研究: 利他主义的反思

作为一个宗旨驱动型组织,非营利组织主要依靠其员工来提供服务并满足组织利益相关者的期望与需求。然而,基于何种动机个体才会选择到非营利组织而不是营利或公共组织从业呢？对此问题的理解要比非营利组织为了从数量和质量上招募到理想员工而采取何种竞争战略更为优先。与营利部门和公共部门不同,非营利部门有其独特的员工及其服务动机谱系,利他主义也只能代表非营利部门的其中一面。相对于诸多学者所使用的“内因-外因”传统两分法分析框架,从员工在非营利部门从业的服务约束性（积极性/被动性）和服务导向性（利他性/利己性）维度构建的非营利部门员工从业动机矩阵将员工从业动机分为四种类型,这将有助于我们理解员工显性从业选择行为下实际的隐性需求,并可成为未来实证分析的基础。     

Traditional birth attendant training and local birthing practices in India

Training birth attendants (TBAs) provide essential maternal and infant health care services during delivery and ongoing community care in developing countries. Despite inadequate evidence of relevance and effectiveness of TBA training programmes, there has been a policy shift since the 1990s in that many donor agencies funding TBA training programmes redirected funds to providing skilled attendants during delivery. This study aimed to assess the ways in which a TBA training programme in India has been successful in disseminating evidence-based knowledge on birthing practices. TBAs practicing within 16 villages targeted by training programme initiatives were administered with structured questionnaires. The post training birthing practices of trained (24) and untrained (14) TBAs was compared and birthing practices adopted by women assisted by trained (16) and untrained (9) TBAs was analysed. Positive post training practices were hand washing, use of a clean blade for cutting the cord, immediate breastfeeding and weighing of babies. Nevertheless, the training could be further improved with up to date and evidence-based information and more comprehensive instructions. The findings suggest an integration of local and evidence-based knowledge is needed to improve the training. Raising community awareness of public health measures related to maternal and child health is also recommended.     

The third therapeutic system: faith healing strategies in the context of a generalized AIDS epidemic

Faith healing in sub-Saharan Africa has primarily been studied qualitatively among Pentecostal-Charismatic groups, and considered as its own phenomenon with little attention to its relationship to other modes of healing. Using data from Malawi, a religiously diverse African country with high HIV prevalence, we find that faith healing is pervasive across multiple religious traditions. For individuals, attending a faith healing congregation is associated with lower levels of generalized worry about AIDS, and this association is driven by those who switched churches before AIDS became widespread in rural areas. Use of condoms and traditional medicine are, on the other hand, positively associated with worry about AIDS. We argue that faith healing can be understood as a third therapeutic system that coexists with the well-documented biomedical and traditional systems. The success of faith healing approaches lies in their unique ability to combine individual-pragmatic and communal-ritualized aspects of healing to inform interpretations of the AIDS epidemic and its consequences.