Are Area-Level Measures of Employment Associated with Health Behaviours and Outcomes?

Accessible employment suited to residents’ needs is an important equity issue and social determinant of health and wellbeing, and a balanced jobs-housing ratio within a region has the potential to provide health benefits. This paper aims to provide evidence on the associations between employment and health, and the potential pathways, as well as identifying spatial indicators that can be used to measure urban employment, a construct of liveability. We used 2011 census data to create and test two area-level spatial measures of urban employment with geo-coded population health behaviour and outcome data (2011 VicHealth survey) in 5206 employed adults living in urban Victoria, Australia. Those living in areas with higher levels of local employment had reduced odds of a longer commute (OR 0.87). The odds of a longer commute time was also greater for those who lived in an area where more people commuted to work by private vehicle (OR 1.20), and less for those who lived in local areas where more people travelled to work by public transport (OR 0.85) or active travel (OR 0.80). The odds of reporting longer sitting times was less for those who lived in a local area where more people commuted to work by private vehicle (OR 0.65). Those who had a longer commute times, regardless of travel mode, had greater odds of reporting more sitting during a typical weekday (OR 1.67). In turn, those who spent more time sitting had significantly greater odds of reporting poorer self-rated health (OR 1.34). Such work provides evidence to policy-makers to help build the argument for which area-level attributes are needed to support urban employment across a region.     

Investigating the Marketization of the Nonprofit Sector: A Comparative Case Study of Two Nonprofit Organizations

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - It has been well documented in recent years that nonprofits are becoming increasingly marketized. What is less well...     

Using an empirical binomial hierarchical Bayesian model as an alternative to analyzing data from multisite studies

This article explores the statistical methodologies used in demonstration and effectiveness studies when the treatments are applied across multiple settings. The importance of evaluating and how to evaluate these types of studies are discussed. As an alternative to standard methodology, the authors of this article offer an empirical binomial hierarchical Bayesian model as a way to effectively evaluate multisite studies. An application of using the Bayesian model in a real-world multisite study is given.     

Setting a Context for Explaining Risk

Agency representatives often believe that if they could only find ways to explain risk data more clearly, communities would accept risk that scientists see as minimal, and take seriously risks scientists see as serious. While explaining the data effectively is important, agencies and industries need to place a greater priority on understanding community concerns, involving communities in risk decisions, and developing trust and credibility.     

Results of a National Symposium on Risk Communication: Next Steps for Government Agencies

A national symposium of risk communication practitioners and researchers was held in 1994 to discuss next steps to improve government agencies'risk communication practices. The symposium focused on three issues which a survey of researchers and practitioners indicated were priorities for risk communication research: integrating outside concerns into agency decision-making; communicating with communities of different races, ethnic backgrounds and incomes; and evaluation of risk communication. There are indications that the working assumptions underlying these issues are shifting in several distinctive ways. For example, a shift from simply communicating risk to forging partnerships with communities was clearly evident throughout the symposium. Communicating with different social, ethnic, and racial groups gained recognition as a vital component of the risk communication research agenda. Agencies themselves should be the subject of study, according to many symposium participants who were concerned less about the so-called irrationality of the public and more about the reluctance of agencies to encourage risk communication.     

A qualitative exploration of parenting representations amongst mothers with young children on the edge of care

Mothers who are at risk of losing custody of their children represent a vulnerable population whose voices are seldom heard. Exploring their perspectives of parenting, their child and the relationship with their child—their ‘parenting representations’—can improve our understanding of their struggles and inform interventions. Research in this area so far has been predominantly quantitative, meaning valuable information about subjective experiences is often lost. The present study sought to address this gap by thematically analysing interviews with eight mothers with under-3-year-olds on the edge of Local Authority care, completed at the beginning of a therapeutic intervention. Results are reported around five themes: ‘Idealistic portrayal of the child and the relationship’, ‘Struggling as a parent’, ‘Shadows of the past’, ‘The child and motherhood as comfort’ and ‘Anxiety about loss and fighting for the child’. The parenting struggles of mothers in this population are complex and multi-faceted, fuelled by unresolved relational trauma, fears of further pain, adversity and difficulties in accessing and trusting support. Successful interventions are likely to require comprehensive, long-term approaches that holistically address mothers' unmet physical and emotional needs and begin with building relational trust.