Power and Child Protection: The Need for a Child Welfare Service Users' Union or Association

Abstract

This paper reports a study in which parents who had received child protection intervention set out to develop a “Service Users' Guide” to help parents newly receiving intervention better understand and cope with the process. The study took place in Ontario, Canada between 2004–2009. Ninety-five parents took part in 13 focus groups and 20 individual interviews. A mix of Participatory Action and grounded theory methods were used to enable parents to develop their service uses guide. As the study progressed it quickly became evident that the biggest issue parents face when receiving intervention is an imbalance in power between themselves and workers. This paper describes the problems this power imbalance causes for parents and presents a potential solution suggested by parents themselves – the development of a child welfare service users' association or union. Parent's ideas about why this association is needed, how it could function, and the benefits it might bring, are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the benefits a service users' association might bring not only for those receiving child welfare intervention, but all social work services.     

Demand Functions in Decision Modeling: A Comprehensive Survey and Research Directions

A variety of mathematical forms have been developed to characterize demand functions which depend on a firm's operational and marketing activities. Such demand functions are being increasingly used by researchers in economics and different functional areas of business. We provide a comprehensive survey of commonly used demand models which depend on (i) price, (ii) rebate, (iii) lead time, (iv) space, (v) quality, and (vi) advertising. Our survey includes single firm–demand models in each category, as well as game theoretic multifirm models involving strategic interaction among the firms. We observe that certain types of functional forms, such as linear, power/iso‐elastic, multinomial logit, and multiplicative competitive interaction, have been widely used to construct various demand models in all six categories, but that a large majority of publications deal with categories (i) and (v) of demand models. For each of the six categories, we survey relevant functional forms in the representative papers, and discuss the main properties, the advantages, the disadvantages, and comment on possible future research directions. We also present discussions of the applications of these analytical demand models in empirical studies. The article ends with a summary of our major findings.     

Benefits of caseload midwifery to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A discussion paper

Background

Exposure to alcohol prenatally can result in a child being diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Affected infants experience lifelong impairments that can involve, physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional difficulties that impact on their functional capacity. Effective prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is critically needed in Australia. Reduction in the prevalence of this disorder will only be possible if we prevent alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Maternity leave and the employment of new mothers in the United States

We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the relationships between maternity leave coverage and U.S. womens post-birth leave taking and employment decisions from 1988 to 1996. We find that women who were employed before birth are working much more quickly post-birth than women who were not. We also find that, among mothers who were employed pre-birth, those in jobs that provided leave coverage are more likely to take a leave of up to 12 weeks, but return more quickly after 12 weeks. Our results suggest that maternity leave coverage is related to leave taking, as well as the length of time that a new mother stays home after a birth.All correspondence to: Jane Waldfogel. Funding for this project was provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the William T. Grant Foundation. We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. Responsible editor: Daniel S. Hamermesh.     

Addressing the midwifery workforce crisis: evaluating an employment model for undergraduate midwifery students at a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia

Background and aims

In Victoria, maternity services are under significant strain due to increased numbers of women giving birth and critical workforce shortages. Hospitals have experienced challenges in adequately staffing maternity units, particularly on postnatal wards. In 2008, a tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne introduced a model where undergraduate midwifery students were employed as Division 2 nurses (SMW_Div2) (enrolled nurses), to work in the postnatal area only. This study explored the pilot employment model from the perspective of the SMW_Div2 and hospital midwives.

Methods

A web-based survey was administered to hospital midwives and the SMW_Div2s in the employment model in January 2010. The survey explored the views of midwives and SMW_Div2s regarding the perceived impact of the model on workforce readiness, recruitment and retention, and clinical competence and confidence.

Findings

Forty-seven of 158 midwives (30%) and five of nine SMW_Div2s employed in the model responded to the survey. Both groups considered the model to have benefits for the organisation, including increased: student workforce readiness; clinical confidence and competence; and organisational loyalty. Both groups also considered that the model would facilitate: workforce recruitment; a teaching and learning culture within the organisation; and enhanced partnerships between students, hospitals and universities. Caution was expressed regarding workload and the need for ongoing support for SMW_Div2s working in the model.

Discussion and conclusion

SMW_Div2s and midwives were positive about the introduction of the paid employment model at the Women's. The findings are consistent with evaluations of similar programs in the nursing setting. The employment model has potential short and long term individual and organisational advantages, which is important in the context of increasing births and workforce shortages. Progression of such models will be contingent on the collaboration and cooperation of the various stakeholders involved in maternity workforce and education.     

Experiences of health service providers establishing an Aboriginal-Mainstream partnership to improve maternity care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in an urban setting

Australian policy encourages multiagency partnerships between hospitals and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Service planners remain unsure about how to implement such partnerships in maternity care, and there is a lack of appropriate tools designed to gauge the state of such partnerships for the Australian Indigenous context. In 2013, two Aboriginal health services and a major tertiary hospital partnered to deliver best practice maternity care to Indigenous families in Brisbane, Australia. A participatory action research approach underpinned this study. Semi-structured qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with 21 of the partnership staff. All interviewees emphasized the partnership’s commitment to improving long-term health and wellbeing for Indigenous families. Strategic planners were more likely to report a positive partnership than staff involved in service delivery who had diverse views. This highlights the challenges of change management when conducting such a significant service redesign in this cross-cultural context. We detail changes made within the partnership in response to the findings and provide suggestions for future development of an evaluation tool to review the state of Aboriginal-Mainstream Partnerships.     

Maternity health care: The experiences of Sub-Saharan African women in Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia

Background

Increasing global migration is resulting in a culturally diverse population in the receiving countries. In Australia, it is estimated that at least four thousand Sub-Saharan African women give birth each year. To respond appropriately to the needs of these women, it is important to understand their experiences of maternity care.

Low birth weight in Aboriginal babies--a need for rethinking Aboriginal women's pregnancies and birthing

Low birth weight in Aboriginal babies has become a persistent quandary as their average birth weight continues to be lower than that of non-Aboriginal babies. Arguments, reviews and research abound to explain this difference which is deemed unacceptable and needing resolution. A précis review of current theories and findings around low birth weight in Aboriginal babies is presented as a background for much needed alternative considerations of this issue. The low birth weight dilemma requires urgent rethinking of Aboriginal women's experiences and feelings of their pregnancies and possible effects on their unborn babies. There is a critical need for empowerment of Aboriginal women that goes beyond rhetoric and dominant ideologies about what is best for them and their babies, and genuinely enables them to assume control and self-determinism in ways that might make a significant difference, including importantly to their babies’ birth weights.