Interpreting the WHOQOL-Brèf: Preliminary Population Norms and Effect Sizes

Since publication use of the WHOQOL-Brèf has rapidly risen. However, as yet no population norms have been published as a reference point against which researchers can interpret their findings. This study provides preliminary population norms for this purpose. Randomly sampled community residents from two studies were pooled and used to examine the properties of the WHOQOL-Brèf by age group, gender and health status. The results showed that general norms for the WHOQOL-Brèf domains were 73.5 (SD=18.1) for the Physical health domain, 70.6 (14.0) for Psychological wellbeing, 71.5 (18.2) for Social relationships and 75.1 (13.0) for the Environment domain. In general scores declined slightly by age group. For females scores were stable across the lifespan with an accelerated decline after the age of 60 years. Males exhibited a more consistent and even decline across the lifespan. There were significant differences in WHOQOL-Brèf scores when reported by health status, with those in poor health obtaining scores that were up to 50% lower than those in excellent health. Effect sizes between different health status levels are reported. These preliminary norms and effect sizes may be used as reference points for interpreting WHOQOL-Brèf scores. They provide additional information to the numerous national studies already reporting on the validity of the WHOQOL-Brèf.     

Administrative Metadata to Support the Acquisition of Continuing E-Resources

What is administrative metadata? Why is it important? How are libraries handling administrative metadata for continuing electronic resources? What ILS vendors have products available? This article describes solutions developed by four academic libraries to manage administrative metadata and access to electronic resources. Pennsylvania State University Libraries and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries developed systems that track the acquisitions process and provide access to e-resources. Stanford University Libraries focused on providing access to electronic resources. The Tri-College Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges in Pennsylvania) created a database to track the licensing aspect of the acquisitions process. The article also describes efforts currently underway to develop standards and best practices for managing electronic resources. Serials Review 2003; 29:276–281.     

The question of discrimination: skilled migrants' access to Australian employment

Following a decade of increasing non English-speaking background (NESB) migration to Australia, including the migration of unprecedented levels of NESB professionals, this article examines two recent studies which report cases of direct and indirect labour market discrimination. The first relates to qualifications recognition for migrant doctors. Key findings include a growing trend to federal government intervention (in alliance with the medical professional bodies) to limit the entry and registration of migrant doctors, as well as the potential for English language ability to negatively impact on pre-registration examination outcomes.
The second study concerns labour market outcomes achieved by an élite sample of Australia's skilled migration programme – migrant engineers of prime workforce age and advanced level English, with fully recognized qualifications pre-migration. Based on longitudinal research conducted over a three year period, this study reports significant evidence of employer bias by region of origin, operating in favour of English-speaking background (ESB) and European origin engineers, compared with those of Asian or Middle Eastern origin.
The findings of both studies are contextualized by reference to a 1997 study (based on the Australian census) which reports the employment outcomes obtained by migrant professionals by country of origin, including the length of time taken to achieve professional integration.     

“Picking Winners”: The Recent Transformation of Australia's Skilled Migration Policy

From 1980 to 1996, Australian researchers identified consistently inferior labor market outcomes for professionals from non‐English‐speaking background source countries. In 1997, the incominy conservative government initiated a major review of Australia's skilled migration program, based on a determination to ‘select for success’among applicants. Subsequent initiatives included mandatory English language testing, rigorous qualifications screening, incentives for international students to migrate, and abolition of income support in the first two years postarrival. This article provides a detailed analysis of factors leading to this policy transformation. Labor market outcomes for 2001 are defined, including a halving of unemployment among recently arrived migrants.     

Asian female students in Australia: Temporary movements and student migration

The most significant population movement affecting Australia in recent years has been a dramatic growth in the number of short term arrivals. Within these arrivals overseas students have become prominent, given the rapid expansion of Australia’s ‘export education’ industry throughout the past decade. By 1994, 87,000 overseas students were studying in Australia — the vast majority of these Asian in origin. While a substantial literature has evolved concerning overseas students’ temporary migration and settlement, there has been only limited demographic analysis undertaken to date, including minimal attempt to explore the participation and specific student experience of women. This paper seeks to address this omission through presentation of a detailed analysis of the characteristics of Asian female students within the overall student movement, together with a preliminary exploration of issues related to their personal and academic transition.     

Measuring Social Isolation in Older Adults: Development and Initial Validation of the Friendship Scale

Although there are many excellent published scales measuring social isolation, there is need for a short, user-friendly, stand alone scale measuring felt social isolation with good psychometric properties. This study reports the development and preliminary validation of a short, user-friendly scale, the Friendship Scale. The six items measure six of the seven important dimensions that contribute to social isolation and its opposite, social connection. The psychometric properties suggest that it has excellent internal structures as assessed by structural equation modelling (CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.02), that it possesses reliability (Cronbach α = 0.83) and discrimination when assessed against two other short social relationship scales. Tests of concurrent discriminant validity suggest it is sensitive to the known correlates of social isolation. Although further work is needed to validate it in other populations, the results of this study suggest researchers may find the Friendship Scale particularly useful in epidemiology, population surveys or in health-related quality of life evaluation studies where a parsimonious measure of felt social support or social isolation is needed.