Academic literature on the topic 'Interprofessional relations – Australia – Case studies'

This article presents a case study in Australia's race relations, focusing on tensions between urban Aborigines and recently resettled African refugees, particularly among young people. Both of these groups are of low socio-economic status and are highly visible in the context of a predominantly white Australia. The relationship between them, it is argued, reflects the history of strained race relations in modern Australia and a growing antipathy to multiculturalism. Specific reasons for the tensions between the two populations are suggested, in particular, perceptions of competition for material (housing, welfare, education) and symbolic (position in a racial hierarchy) resources. Finally, it is argued that the phenomenon is deeply embedded in class and race issues, rather than simply in youth violence.

In the early 1980s Perth was probably the most important city in Australia for Cultural Studies. Through that decade many intellectuals who became leaders in Australian Cultural Studies and important players in Cultural Studies outside of Australia worked in Perth. Among them were John Fiske, John Frow, John Hartley, Tom O’Regan, Lesley Stern, Graeme Turner and, a decade later, Ien Ang. This essay discusses the presence of these academics in Perth and advances some reasons why Perth became so important to Cultural Studies in Australia. It also discusses the kind of Cultural Studies that became privileged in Perth and considers some of the reasons for this. Perth Cultural Studies in the 1980s was primarily text-based and focused on screen-related popular culture, especially television programs and popular film. Cultural Studies in Perth developed in a city thought of as marginal to Australia, in institutions that were either not universities or, in the case of Murdoch University, was a very new university, by cosmopolitan academics who mostly came from either elsewhere in Australia or from the United Kingdom.

This article discusses the ways in which the relations among professional and non-professional participants in co-creative relations are being reconfigured as part of the shift from a closed industrial paradigm of expertise towards open and distributed expertise networks. This article draws on ethnographic consultancy research undertaken throughout 2007 with Auran Games, a Brisbane, Australia-based games developer, to explore the co-creative relationships between professional developers and gamers. This research followed and informed Auran's online community management and social networking strategies for Fury ( http://unleashthefury.com ), a massively multiplayer online game released in October 2007. This paper argues that these co-creative forms of expertise involve coordinating expertise through social-network markets.

This article combines framing analysis and critical textual analysis in a qualitative investigation of the ways in which popular culture texts, in particular articles in Australian women's magazines, frame transnational celebrity activism. Using three recent case studies of commercial representations of popular female celebrities – Nicole Kidman in Marie Claire (Australia), Angelina Jolie in Vogue (Australia) and Emma Watson in Cleo (Australia) – this study dissects framing devices to reveal the discursive tensions which lie beneath textual constructions of celebrity humanitarianism. Through a focus on United Nations Women's Goodwill Ambassadors, and their exemplary performances of popular humanitarianism, I argue that feminist celebrity activists may inadvertently contradict the cause of global gender equality by operating within the limits of celebrity publicity images and discourses. Moreover, the deployment of celebrity women, who have built their vast wealth and global influence through the commodification of Western ideals of beauty and femininity, betrays an approach to humanitarianism, which is grounded in the intersection of neocolonial global capitalism, liberal feminism and the ethics of competitive individualism.

In recent years, a number of case studies have reported a growth in the extent of direct employee involvement in specific workplaces in Australia. On the basis of secondary analysis of the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey data, the author demonstrates that this is in fact a more general phenomenon, even at workplaces where unions have traditionally been well organized. At the same time, the overall pattern of growth has been tempered by a smaller but not insignificant number of deaths as schemes have been discontinued. Suggestion schemes and quality circles have been the techniques most likely to show a high rate of attrition as well as growth, thus demonstrating a high degree of instability. It is suggested that the changing nature of employee involvement, as well as its fluidity, has potential implications for managements and trade unions.

Whilst technology use has always been a part of the practice of health care delivery, more recently, information technology has been applied to aspects of clinical work concerned with documentation. This thesis presents an analysis of the ways that two professional groups, one clinical and one ancillary, at a single hospital cooperatively engage in a work practice that has recently been computerised. It investigates the way that a clinical group???s approach to and actual use of the system creates problems for the ancillary group. It understands these problems to arise from the contrasting ways that the groups position their use of documentation technology in their local definitions of professional status. The data on which analysis of these practices is based includes 16 hours of video recordings of the work practices of the two groups as they engage with the technology in their local work settings as well as video recordings of a reflexive viewing session conducted with participants from the ancillary group. Also included in the analysis are observational field notes, interviews and documentary analysis. The analysis aimed to produce a set of themes grounded in the specifics of the data, and drew on TLSTranscription?? software for the management and classification of video data. This thesis seeks to contribute to three research fields: health informatics, sociology of professions and social science research methodology. In terms of health informatics, this thesis argues for the necessity for health care information technology design to understand and incorporate the work practices of all professional groups who will be involved in using the technology system or whose work will be affected by its introduction. In terms of the sociology of professions, this thesis finds doctors and scientists to belong to two distinct occupational communities that each utilise documentation technology to different extents in their displays of professional competence. Thirdly, in terms of social science research methodology, this thesis speculates about the possibility for viewing the engagement of the groups with the research process as indicative of their reactions to future sources of outside perturbance to their work.

The demands on health and social care organisations require professions to work more collaboratively. During pre-registration training, health care and social work students learn within practice settings, supported by practice mentors. These settings are rich learning environments to experience interprofessional working (IPW) and for students to learn together through interprofessional practice learning (IPPL). There is, however, evidence that students' experiences of both are varied or limited. The value placed on IPW, and IPPL, is therefore of interest. This thesis will investigate practice mentors' attitudes to IPW and IPPL, and explore their perspectives of the enablers and barriers to these occurring in practice settings. A mixed-methods case study approach was used to measure the attitudes of practice mentors from health and social work, and to identify enablers and barriers to IPW, and IPPL for students. Online surveys and semi-structured face to face interviews were carried out with a range of professions within one Scottish health board and associated local authority. Results showed that attitudes to IPW, and IPPL for students were generally positive. Attitudes were not significantly affected by governing body, gender, area of work, years of experience, or prior experience of IPE. IPW was perceived to be enabled by shared processes and policies, IPPL for staff, effective communication, established teams, and shared processes and policies. Proximity to other professions and shared spaces encouraged informal communication and positive interprofessional relationships. Regular structured IPPL opportunities for students were limited. However, where opportunities did occur, this was linked to areas where practice mentors perceived that there was a strong interprofessional team identity. Although attitudes to IPW, and IPPL for students are positive, further work is needed to identify systems for improving IPW, to strengthen professions' identity as interprofessional teams, and to increase IPPL opportunities for students.

This thesis explores the question of intercultural personhood in two 'mainstream' Australian cases within interpersonal, intercultural relations in Australian contexts in the second half of the twentieth century. The problem is viewed through three disciplinary lenses: those of communication, psychology and sociology. A qualitative, interdisciplinary approach integrates these through an inductive biographical research design. Within cross-cultural communication studies, a host culture such as that of the Anglo-Australian majority is seen in a monolithic and static way to which Australians of other cultural backgrounds are seen to adapt. These studies give no place to the changes which members of the majority undergo. 'Intercultural personhood', a term coined by Kim (1988, 2001), describes the kinds of 'ethnic' individuals who through negotiating their identities within personal, social and mass communication contexts, both host and ethnic, move beyond the bounds of their own cultural heritage to embrace both their former cultural identity and the new 'host' (viz Australian) identity. In this thesis, the elements of cross-cultural adaptation theory and of 'intercultural personhood' are applied to the intercultural experience of 'mainstream' Australians. From preliminary memory work workshops and focus groups, the cases of two mainstream individuals who show some evidence of 'intercultural personhood' and make identity claims comparable with 'ethnic' adapters are then developed through biographical method. Their life accounts are drawn on for the exploration of issues of identity and personhood within interpersonal, intercultural relations. Major focus is given to the social psychology of Harre (1983, 1993, 1998), whose work provided both a conceptualisation and a methodological tool for the problem. In Harre's work, three dimensions of personhood, namely consciousness, agency and biography are identified together with the psycho-social processes through which an individual's identity and orientation to their culture is appropriated, transformed and publicised. This publication is then rejected or incorporated into the culture through processes of conventionalisation. These four psycho-social processes are explored in my study through an adaptation of assisted biography method (De Waele & Harre, 1979). The strength of the psycho-social approach of Harre lies in its ability to get below the surface behaviours to an analysis of the theory of self which individuals, as 'singular' beings, bring into play in their interactions within themselves and with one another. While this approach draws on social contexts to support the transformations, it is not designed to explicate to a sufficient degree the conditions under which such theories of self are activated and within which changes in identity occur and are maintained. For this reason it is essential to incorporate a sociological framework to understand the influence of the conditions within which such experiences are played out. Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) cultural, relational sociology is coupled with Harre's (1983, 1993, 1998) theory of personal and social being in that it brings together the individual and the society in a way which proves fruitful for ongoing analysis of the biographical data collected within the communication and psycho-social framework of the earlier research. Bourdieu's critique of a methodology based on biography points to the 'illusion' that is created through a biographical interview process. Taking this critique of biography into the study of interpersonal, intercultural relations meant a shift from the communication interactions and psycho-social analysis undertaken to an analysis of the various social constructions evident within the elements of the life account and a search for the cognitive imprint of social structures as durable dispositions within the persons. These dispositions are evident from within a social trajectory of the life and they are applied to the intercultural encounters recounted by the participants in their autobiographies. The addition of Bourdieu's (1984, 1987) sociology strengthens the ability to view the individual and the society through a single lens and to position the individual life course as secondary within a broader and primary analysis of social structure and social structuring as a means of interpreting lives. Its weakness lies in the degree of 'voluntariness' brought into effect as individuals both chart their course through life and are pushed and pulled by the various social forces at work within their trajectories. Within the scope of this thesis, these two approaches, that is, a psychological and a sociological one, are illustrated and incorporated into an interdisciplinary model for the study of interpersonal, intercultural relations. Further rigorous research to validate the components and the relationships of the model and to investigate these strengths and weaknesses more thoroughly is foreshadowed. This interdisciplinary model of interpersonal, intercultural relations is the major contribution of this work to the field of intercultural communication. Advances which are achieved through use of psychology, sociology and biographical research method as a tool through this study are also identified. The thesis concludes with a review of the contributions of the thesis and a discussion of the implications for future research on interpersonal, intercultural relations.

Bibliography: leaves 135-143. An anthropological analysis of an industrial dispute that occurred within the East Gippsland forest industry, 1997-1998 and how the workers strove to acheive better working conditions for themselves, and to share in the wealth they had created.

The study uses racialisation as a lens to understand the racist experiences of ordinary Asian Australians. It examines the racialisation processes underlying these experiences and explores the strategies employed to respond to and mitigate the impact of being racialised. It addresses the need to develop the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of racialisation and anti-racism in light of the dearth of research work on these especially in Australia. Different elements from various theories were drawn to frame the empirical investigation since no single theory was adequate as anchor for this qualitative study. In-depth interviews and focus groups with 64 Asian Australians generated rich narratives that provided interesting insights on the personal, political, and spiritual dimensions of human experience that connect the lives of racialised subjects. Deconstructing stories of racialised subjects laid bare the essence of racist experiences by revealing insights into when and how race becomes a salient signifier of difference. Racialisation provides a productive way of understanding racist experiences since it allows for the unpacking of the multi-layered linked processes of racial categorisation, racial differentiation and problematisation, marginalisation and exclusion, inferiorisation and devaluation. These processes are ordinarily part of the experiences of minority people. They constitute what can be called 'everyday racialisation'. The study uses stress-coping theory to examine the long-term and cumulative impact of being part of a racialised group. It shows how exposure to racism stressors has multifarious effects on the health and well-being of racialised subjects. The everyday racialisation of minority groups affects their socio-psychological functioning and limits the life chances and economic opportunities available to them. In addition, the study demonstrates how Asian Australians cope with the stress of their everyday racialisation by drawing from their personal repertoire of discursive, cognitive and behavioural strategies. These, in combination with outside support mechanisms, make up what can be termed ?everyday anti-racism? strategies. Racialisation provides valuable insights into when, how and why racialised subjects deploy these different strategies to negotiate, contest and bridge the constraints and boundaries imposed on them. The study offers an integrated model for understanding racialisation experience and lays the foundation for developing further the concepts of 'everyday racialisation' and 'everyday antiracism'.

Relatedness has been a fundamental notion in recent studies of Aboriginal personhood. My research asks how people who ‘form a mob' decide with whom to do this and for how long. The concept of relatedness—while useful—distracts the ethnographic gaze away from those relations not captured by relatedness—away from considering non-realisations, and different ways of relating to others (e.g., Aboriginal ways of relating to non-Indigenous people). Three case studies illustrate that we need clearer understanding of relatedness and its non-realization. The first two are concerned with non-relating between kin and the ensuing emotional burden carried by all involved. The last case study, about relations between Aboriginal camps and non-Indigenous neighbours, offers a glimpse into non-relating without toxicity, and shows why this template does not work in the intra-Aboriginal domain.

The federal government of Australia has established an innovative although uneven record in shared governance initiatives in a climate of political stability and broad social inclusion policies. The participatory reform agenda has the potential to increase citizen empowerment, improve government transparency and accountability, and develop the capacities of the administrative arm. Changes to Australian Public Service (APS) practice are now aimed at better support for citizen-centric policy formation and, in some examples, shared governance. Nevertheless, policy consultations remain at the high-risk/high gain end of citizen-government-APS relations. This chapter scopes the concept and contexts of policy co-production both as a technique of engagement and a desirable outcome in shared governance for representative democracies. It assesses policy engagement from the perspective of citizens as agents, not targets. Using a constructivist approach, the chapter assesses the impact of contextual factors, the new participatory reform agenda, and the design features on two consultations conducted in 2011: Clean Energy Legislation, and Digital Culture Public Sphere. Major factors impacting on policy coproduction are found to be context-specific and issue-specific, and outside the direct control of public service agencies. Theoretically, the constructivist approach combines the literature on modes of e-government research, on e-government success factors and participatory media, with evidence of institutional reform agendas and the evidence provided by the case studies. Methodologically, the data is drawn from public domain materials.

The federal government of Australia has established an innovative although uneven record in shared governance initiatives in a climate of political stability and broad social inclusion policies. The participatory reform agenda has the potential to increase citizen empowerment, improve government transparency and accountability, and develop the capacities of the administrative arm. Changes to Australian Public Service (APS) practice are now aimed at better support for citizen-centric policy formation and, in some examples, shared governance. Nevertheless, policy consultations remain at the high-risk/high gain end of citizen-government-APS relations. This chapter scopes the concept and contexts of policy co-production both as a technique of engagement and a desirable outcome in shared governance for representative democracies. It assesses policy engagement from the perspective of citizens as agents, not targets. Using a constructivist approach, the chapter assesses the impact of contextual factors, the new participatory reform agenda, and the design features on two consultations conducted in 2011: Clean Energy Legislation, and Digital Culture Public Sphere. Major factors impacting on policy coproduction are found to be context-specific and issue-specific, and outside the direct control of public service agencies. Theoretically, the constructivist approach combines the literature on modes of e-government research, on e-government success factors and participatory media, with evidence of institutional reform agendas and the evidence provided by the case studies. Methodologically, the data is drawn from public domain materials.