Contested Concepts in Violence Against Women: ‘Intimate’, ‘Domestic’ or ‘Torture’?

Abstract

Ritualistic, overwhelmingly violent bikie gang or cult-inflicted abuse of women, entrenched by co-opting third party cult or gang members, has been referred to as ‘domestic violence’, ‘intimate violence’ or ‘intimate partner violence’. The present article questions the aptitude of these terms to convey the realities of this violence, in light of the experiences of women attending a South Australian domestic violence service, all of whom were escaping violent partners who were members or associates of bikie gangs and cults. The paper asks, ‘is torture an appropriate term for such violence?’ and discusses the impact of social, legal, organisational and human rights parallel states that collaborate to make it almost impossible for these women to escape this violence and make it difficult for social workers to work effectively with them. The paper concludes that the State needs to adopt a human rights rather than legal focus when addressing the issue of violence against women.     

Practice experience and social work education

Abstract

This paper examines the arguments that are often put in favour of social work academics having direct practice experience in order to enhance their teaching effectiveness. The paper looks at the number of ways that social work academics can gain up to date knowledge of practice developments and explores what constitutes an effective teacher. It concludes that recent direct practice experience will be of limited use in assisting social work academics to become effective teachers and that there are other ways that academics can become aware of practice developments that are in line with the other professional requirements on academics such as research and knowledge generation.     

Social Care Work in the Recent Past: Revisiting the Professional/Amateur Dichotomy

Abstract

The present article challenges the received wisdom of the distinctiveness of professional social work in Australia and its dichotomous juxtapositioning against work undertaken by those without formal social work qualifications. Findings are presented from a qualitative study of Australian Catholic sisters’ experiences of social care work in the recent past, based on indepth interviews with sisters who collectively worked in a variety of fields from the 1950s to the time of writing. Sisters’ accounts of work with marginalised people reveal many similarities with the values and principles of social work. This suggests a blurred line between “professional” social work and “amateur” social care work. In an era of reconsideration of many certainties, Australian social work could profitably reflect on its commonalities with, and differences from, practice domains outside professional social work.     

Who Enrolls in Teen Parent Education Programs? An Emphasis on Personal and Familial Characteristics and Services Received

This study describes personal and familial characteristics of 58 teenage mothers enrolled in Mama Club, a free community-based teen parent education program. It also identifies types of services and support participants received and program elements perceived to be important for attending Mama Club. Most participants were raised single-parent households (55.0 %), reported having mothers who were teenage parents (64.8 %), were impoverished (86.0 %), not enrolled in school (54.5 %), and unemployed (81.8 %). Participants primarily received assistance from Medicaid (86.5 %), Food Stamps (67.3 %), and family members (40.0 %); only 5.5 % received money from their child’s father. Teen parent education programs should educate parenting teenagers about available assistance programs and involve diverse community partners to establish a seamless referral system.     

A feminist history of Australian midwifery from colonisation until the 1980s

This paper uses a feminist interpretation and secondary sources to describe the history of Australian midwifery from colonisation until the 1980s. There have been too few midwife scholars who have had access to or used primary data collections to describe the role and place of midwives in the colonising community. I draw on a range of biography, medical literature and work by sociologists and economic historians to produce a limited picture of the history of professional midwifery. This helps to explain the position of midwives today and the problematic relationship we often have with medicine.     

The First Interview in Child Protection: Social Work Method and Process

SUMMARY. A particularly problematic aspect of practice is the initial investigation into non-accidental injury. This article describes a social work approach which will be of interest to other disciplines in seeking to understand social work method. Within a task-centred framework, the author outlines three major tasks in initial child protection interviews: safeguarding the child, obtaining an explanation, and establishing a working alliance with the parent. An exploratory interview, following up an allegation of non-accidental injury, is then analysed to highlight the actual social work process or technical moves within it Although a single example is limited in the number of factors it can illustrate, the principle of trying to establish collaborative alliances is clear, if not always possible. The case example should prove useful in training, from whence it has been developed.     

Adult children of parents with mental illness: navigating stigma

The experiences of children who live with parental mental illness are becoming increasingly recognized. However, there remains a limited body of knowledge in relation to an individual's longer term experiences. This study sought adult children's experiences of childhood parental mental illness. It generated reflections of 13 adult children who had lived with parents with mental illness during their childhood. The narrative design of the study facilitated a voice for participants. The paper presents one main theme of the findings. The findings offer a unique insight into childhood awareness of social stigmas and children's behavioural changes to avoid disclosure of parental mental illness. Participants noted that they were aware of social stigmas associated with mental illness during their childhood. This contributed to their fear of disclosure to others that fuelled a culture of familial secrecy, reinforcing the children's own sense of difference. Further work is required to enhance community understanding about the familial journeys of parental mental illness and the impact of negative‐natured stigmas.     

Why Do People Become Modern? A Darwinian Explanation

A procession of cultural changes, often referred to as “modernization,” is initiated as a society undergoes economic development. But cultural change continues to be rapid in societies that industrialized several generations ago. Much of the change in both developed and developing societies is a progressive abandonment of the norms, values, and beliefs that encourage behavior consistent with the pursuit of genetic fitness. The kin influence hypothesis suggests that these changes are part of a cultural evolutionary process initiated by the replacement of largely kin‐based communities with social groups consisting largely of non‐kin. Kin have an interest in encouraging one another to behave in ways consistent with the pursuit of reproductive success, and a high level of social exchange between kin will tend to maintain norms that prescribe such behaviors. When social exchange between kin is reduced, these norms begin to relax. Cross‐national comparisons of measures that reflect attitudes and behavior support the hypothesis by showing that cultural differences between countries can be substantially explained by their position on a cultural continuum that begins with social networks widening so that they become less kin‐based.