Policies and programmes to end homelessness in Australia: Learning from international practice

Parsell C, Jones A, Head B. Policies and programmes to end homelessness in Australia: Learning from international practice. Many welfare states throughout the industrialised world have recently implemented policies to achieve targeted reductions in homelessness. These policy and welfare initiatives differ across national contexts. They are similar, however, in moving away from social programmes that have essentially ‘managed homelessness’ towards interventions that seek to permanently end homelessness. Australia has recently adopted similar homelessness policy objectives. This article examines the manner in which Australian homelessness policy has been converging with international policy directions. More specifically, the article scrutinises Australian social programmes adopted from the UK and USA as a means to achieve strategic goals of reducing homelessness. It argues that although Australian homelessness policy objectives are converging with international policy, Australian programmes modelled on international successes do not have some of the elements shown elsewhere to be crucial for achieving sustainable reductions in homelessness. This may become central to explaining programme outcomes in future years. Key Practitioner Message: ?Strategies aimed at permanently ending homelessness represent a significant shift to contemporary professional practice;?Homelessness programmes internationally are now characterised by their branding or identification with evidence‐based models;?It is important to critically scrutinise these models, examining their core elements and the manner in which they are appropriated and incorporated across jurisdictions.     

Older people’s perspectives on dignity: the benefits and challenges of a qualitative longitudinal approach to researching experiences of later life

Abstract

This article discusses findings from a qualitative longitudinal study of dignity in later life, which focused on the perspectives of older people at a time when their need for help and support was increasing as a result of long-term illness. It reflects critically on the methodology for its ability to generate knowledge about this eventful and unstable period of the life-course. It is argued that a longitudinal qualitative approach provides the optimum conditions for researching older people’s perspectives on their health and illness as well as on their experiences of being helped and supported. It sheds light on the changes they faced in their relationships, their home environments and their daily lives as well as how they dealt with these changes while maintaining their dignity.     

A NEW PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSING LARGE SETS OF CORRELATIONS

In this paper, a new test of the hypothesis that all the correlations between a set of variables are zero is proposed. It is based on the asymptotic behaviour of the largest of the observed correlation coefficients. Here “asymptotic” refers to the size of the correlation matrix considered. Simulations show that the critical levels, calculated using the asymptotic theory, are conservative but quite accurate, even for small correlation matrices.     

"Circumcision", culture,and health-care provision in Tower Hamlets,London

Tower Hamlets (London, England) has a sizable Somali community whose members maintain close links with their families in Africa. The London Black Women's Health Action Project (LBWAP) was established in Tower Hamlets, in 1982, to address the health needs of Somali women, especially those related to female circumcision. The major focus in the UK has been on protecting girls from undergoing this practice, with little attention to the needs of women who have already been circumcised. Of 200 Somali women interviewed by LBWAP, 61% had been infibulated in their native country by people with no medical training. Among the long-term health consequences were dysmenorrhea, recurrent urinary problems, urethral damage, and painful intercourse. Although deinfibulation can be obtained, both health care professionals and circumcised women tend to be unaware of this service. LBWAP has proposed a study to assess the expressed health care needs of circumcised Somali women and match these desires with actual health care provision. To raise the consciousness of British health care professionals, parallels between female circumcision and the indiscriminate, unnecessary use of episiotomy are being made.     

Manufacturing Motherhood: The Shadow Work of Nannies and Au Pairs

This paper explores how working mothers and paid child care providers interpret the division of mothering labor in the context of in-home care. The nannies, au pairs, and working mothers interviewed for this study make sense of their shared mother-work in the context of a dominant belief system that values intensive mothering. Consequently, in addition to negotiating the allocation of mothering tasks, they must also negotiate the meanings assigned to these tasks: specifically, they manufacture an image of shared mothering that contradicts their day-to-day practice.     

Whose problem? Disability narratives and available identities

In this article, the author demonstrates that contemporary culturaldisability discourses offer few positive resources for peoplewith impairments to draw upon in constructing positive personaland social identities. Examining the emergence of the DisabilityArts Movement in Britain, consideration is given to alternativediscourses developed by disabled people who have resisted thepassive roles expected of them and developed a disability identityrooted in notions of power, respect and control. It is suggestedthat these alternative discourses provide an empowering ratherthan a disabling basis for community development and communityarts practice and should be embraced by workers in these fields.     

Generating Conflict for Greater Good: Utilizing Contingency Theory to Assess Black and Mainstream Newspapers as Public Relations Vehicles to Promote Better Health among African Americans

The potential use of strategic conflict management ( Wilcox and Cameron, 2006; Cameron, Wilcox, Reber and Shin ( in press) as a health advocacy tool in US African-American and mainstream newspapers, arguing that escalation of conflict can increase effectiveness of health-related news releases. For health communicators focusing on at-risk populations with poor health outcomes, such goals would include increased awareness of health problems and solutions, along with increased motivation arising from indignation over health disparities. Content analysis of 1,197 stories in 24 Black and 12 mainstream newspapers showed that more conflict factors were present in Black vs. mainstream newspapers, suggesting a way to strategically place health messages in news releases disseminated to newspapers that motivate at-risk publics to better health. The findings suggest that conflict factors such as racial disparity data regarding health issues may enhance media advocacy.     

Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Thriving: What Can Be Learned?

Using the data from two ongoing studies of resilience and thriving, one of gay men growing up in heterosexist environments, the other of women living with AIDS, we review how qualitative approaches have enabled researchers to grapple with conceptual, methodological, and ethical dilemmas related to the study of resilience and thriving. We discuss the implications our values as researchers have on determining who is thriving; the powerful social, cultural, and political contexts that must be considered when investigating the effects of and resistance to adversity; and the implications of conceptualizing thriving as a process. Finally, we consider the opportunities opened up by qualitative analysis and suggest some avenues for future research.