Career Pathways into Retirement in the UK: Linking Older Women's Pasts to the Present

Understanding of how women's experiences in retirement are shaped by their pre‐retirement lives is limited. In this paper we utilize an innovative mix of measures to examine the link between career histories and expectations and experiences of retirement. Analysis of timeline data capturing the long working lives of a sample of older women identifies five different pathways into retirement. We explore these trajectories in detail to determine how they are shaped and their links to different outcomes in later life. The analysis shows how different career histories unfold and how they shape expectations and experiences of retirement. Long, professional career pathways leave women feeling enabled in retirement, women following more fragmented pathways are more constrained, and some trajectories, including pathways involving transitions into professional careers in later life, can leave older women financially and emotionally vulnerable in older age.     

Validation of the Australian Midwifery Standards Assessment Tool (AMSAT): A tool to assess midwifery competence

Background

There is no current validated clinical assessment tool to measure the attainment of midwifery student competence in the midwifery practice setting. The lack of a valid assessment tool has led to a proliferation of tools and inconsistency in assessment of, and feedback on student learning.

The Exploration Phase of Replication Strategies: The Role of Autonomous Action for Reverse Knowledge Flows

Replication strategies rely on the exploration of new knowledge. An important source of new knowledge is the transfer of unit level experience to headquarters, a process referred to as reverse knowledge flows. Such knowledge flows are fraught with difficulty as formal mechanisms often break down due to diverging business interests of unit and headquarters managers. This study brings together research on knowledge stickiness and autonomous action to provide a new avenue for understanding reverse knowledge flows. By drawing on an exploratory study of a franchise network, we provide an insight into how autonomous action reduces initiation stickiness but potentially increases implementation stickiness. Our analysis suggests that the role of autonomous action for reverse knowledge flows is moderated by unit managers’ resource expectations that emerge as a result of autonomous action. Exploring the interplay of autonomous action and knowledge stickiness provides new explanatory means for understanding reverse knowledge flows in replicator organizations.     

A comparative study of crisis communication strategies between Mainland China and Taiwan: The melamine-tainted milk powder crisis in the Chinese context

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to identify and compare the crisis communication strategies (CCSs) that organizations used to respond to a congenetic melamine-tainted milk crisis in two Chinese societies (i.e., Mainland China and Taiwan), and (2) to explore the underlying political and media system reasons that led to the differences. Content analysis and discourse analysis of media coverage were used. The most significant finding is that Sanlu (a Mainland China-based organization) and KingCar (a Taiwan-based organization) demonstrated inverse pattern of the CCS adoption. Specifically, according to Coombs’ (1998) defense-accommodation continuum, Sanlu's CCSs moved from defensive to accommodative pole as time went by whereas, in contrast, KingCar started with accommodative strategies and moved towards the defensive pole gradually. Besides, the results showed that both organizations adopted denial, corrective action and apology strategies. However, on the Sanlu part, the most frequently used strategy was denial, while KingCar used justification most often. Moreover, this paper suggests that besides cultural dynamics, political and media systems also play a part in corporate selection of CCSs, and they are among the most important factors that should be taken into account to explain the differences in societies even with an identical traditional culture.     

How young Chinese depend on the media during public health crises? A comparative perspective

Under the framework of media system dependency theory, this study investigates and compares traditional media dependency and Internet dependency in public health crisis situations in the context of Mainland China. 373 college students participated in the survey. Empirical data demonstrated that, during public health crises: (1) traditional media and the Internet play different roles for individuals; (2) higher level of threat perception leads to more intense Internet dependency, but does not do the same to traditional media dependency; (3) individuals’ Internet dependency intensity is higher than their traditional media dependency intensity; and (4) the Internet may influence the behavior of young Chinese more directly.     

Overeducation and the skills of UK graduates

Summary.  During the early 1990s the proportion of a cohort entering higher education in the UK doubled over a short period of time. The paper investigates the effect of the expansion on graduates' early labour market attainment, focusing on overeducation. We define overeducation by combining occupation codes and a self-reported measure for the appropriateness of the match between qualification and the job. We therefore define three groups of graduates: matched, apparently overeducated and genuinely overeducated. This measure is well correlated with alternative definitions of overeducation. Comparing pre- and post-expansion cohorts of graduates, we find with this measure that the proportion of overeducated graduates has doubled, even though overeducation wage penalties have remained stable. We do not find that type of institution affects the probability of genuine overeducation. Apparently overeducated graduates are mostly indistinguishable from matched graduates, whereas genuinely overeducated graduates principally lack non-academic skills and suffer a large wage penalty. Individual unobserved heterogeneity differs between the three groups of graduates but controlling for it does not alter these conclusions.     

The Impact of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Use on the Sexual Health of Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Qualitative Study in Seattle,WA

This study explores the impacts of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use on the sexual health of men who have sex with men (MSM). The authors conducted in-depth interviews with MSM who use PrEP (n = 14). Data was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. PrEP use reduced fear and shame associated with sex and facilitated greater sexual satisfaction and intimacy. Although participants generally viewed PrEP as empowering and beneficial, they also experienced PrEP-related stigma. The authors’ analysis emphasizes the importance of understanding the reasons MSM use PrEP and highlights opportunities for reducing harm and fostering sexual health among MSM who are using or considering PrEP.     

The Sociology of Mental Health: A Brief Review of Major Approaches

The article emphasises the importance of making sense of the theoretical debate in the sociology of mental health in order to 'position' the wide range of studies that have contributed to this field within three main approaches. The article indicates ways in which various studies have proved highly influential and continue to form the basis for research, policy and practice. Sociological concepts such as stigma continue to resonate as they highlight the sense in which negative social attitudes often make life harder for those who are already experiencing distress. The politics of risk in mental health, which has become a particularly powerful force in recent years, has made the prevailing climate more and not less stigmatising for those identified with 'mental illness'. The article concludes by arguing that the sociology of mental health continues to offer the conceptual and theoretical foundation from which negative associations can be challenged and overturned.