Academic literature on the topic 'Social workers – legal status, laws, etc – australia'

South Korea has faced many social issues due to long working hours, lack of rest areas, and poor rest facility environments for cleaners, security guards, department store workers, etc. Discussions have been ongoing about mandating the installation of rest facilities. From August 18, 2022, Article 128–2 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, concerning the installation of rest facilities, was enforced. Consequently, employers in all industries are required to install rest facilities, and laws have been established to ensure these facilities meet certain standards. Accordingly, this study investigated the current status of rest facility installations and the awareness of the law’s enactment in Korean industrial sites. The results, analyzed by gender, age, managerial status, industry, and size of the business, indicated that younger people were less satisfied with the rest facilities. Managers were more knowledgeable about the legal regulations than workers. In the service industry, compared to other industries, smaller businesses were less likely to have rest facilities and were less aware of the legal regulations. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data to help establish the rest facility installation laws in Korea.

Broke out since December of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a global challenge that seriously affected the development of various economies in the world, including Vietnam. According to the Ministry of labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam (MOLISA), more than 5,000 migrant workers have to return home and risk losing their jobs and income. In addition, the migrant workers who still stay abroad are also subject to myriad difficulties in their lives and health situation, underemployment and reduced income, discrimination, prejudice and xenophobia etc. To clarify the legal and practices issues regarding protecting the rights of Vietnamese migrant workers in the context of COVID-19, the article focuses on analyzing (i) the status of Vietnamese migrant workers and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on this group; (ii) the regulations of Vietnam related to the rights of migrant workers; (iii) the policies have been adopted by the Vietnamese Government to protect the rights of Vietnamese migrant workers during the pandemic, and (iv) recommendations for implementation of policies and laws to ensure the rights of Vietnamese migrant workers in similar circumstances. Keywords: Human Rights, Migrant’s Rights, Covid-19 Pandemic, Vietnamese Migrant Worker, Labourer’s Rights.

The administrative and legal status of a health care worker gives a possibility to determine his place and role in public administration and other public relations. The rights and responsibilities of health care workers are of great scientific and practical importance, especially in view of the ongoing health care reform processes in the country. Given this, it is important to study the peculiarities of the formation of certain rights and responsibilities of medical workers, which constitute their current legal status, over a significant period of history of the Ukrainian state. The article provides a historical and legal analysis of the development of the legal status of a health care worker, the beginning of the establishment of the first norms of behavior and professional responsibilities of medical workers in Ukraine, as well as legal acts governing the legal regulation of the legal status of medical workers in different years of existence of the Ukrainian state. The importance of research in the context of modern health care reforms for the formation of its individual areas of implementation is emphasized. In Ukraine, as in every country, the legal regulation of the legal status of health care workers has its own genesis. The field of health care dates back to the establishment of the statehood by East Slavic tribes in the ninth century and various subjects in the field of treatment were singled out. Thanks to the work of the first "doctors" of Kievan Rus, medical knowledge and skills were spread out, the foundations of deontological norms of behavior and professional responsibilities were formed, and the interest of the state authorities in providing medical care to the population appeared. "Kyiv-Pechersk Paterik" contains a list of responsibilities of that time doctors that lived in monasteries, namely, they had to do menial work, caring for the sick; be tolerant in dealing with them; do not care about personal enrichment. The first professional duties of a secular doctor were contained in the "Svyatoslav's Miscellany " in 1076, compiled for the Chernihiv prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich from the " Miscellany " of the Bulgarian King Simeon (X century). Among such responsibilities was the provision of surgical care - the ability to cut the skin, amputate limbs, burn wounds, fight suppuration. The first basic act, which determined the legal status of medical workers was "Rules governing the professional work of medical staff" (hereinafter - the Rules), was approved by the SNC of the USSR on April 17, 1924. It established qualification requirements for medical positions. According to Art. 1 of this document, the medical staff included persons who had the qualifications of a doctor, dentist, obstetrician, assistant doctor, pharmacist, nurse or brother (medical), masseur. To hold the position of a doctor, it was necessary to obtain the appropriate qualification in a medical institute or university, or a higher medical school of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (hereinafter - the USSR) or the former Russian Empire. At the same time, such a right was granted to persons who had obtained medical education and the qualification of a doctor of medicine abroad and had passed an examination at a higher medical school in the USSR. Such professionals could engage in both medical practice and hold administrative positions in the field of medicine. Physicians, in agreement with the administration, were given the right to have a personal seal stating their qualifications. The rules also determined the features of medical intervention (surgery, hypnosis, anesthesia, etc.). For example, a doctor had the right to use anesthesia only with the consent of the patient or in the case of his infancy or mental illness, or fainting of parents or guardians. In case of urgent surgical intervention, the doctor had to consult with a fellow surgeon. Otherwise, he had to make decisions alone. Doctors were required to report such medical interventions to health departments within 24 hours. The health care system in 1969-1991 was based on the norms enshrined in the Fundamentals of the Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on Health Care (1969) and the Law of the Ukrainian SSR "On Health Care" (1971). (hereinafter - the Law), which emphasized that public health is one of the most important tasks of the Soviet state and the duty of all state bodies and public organizations. The basics of the legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on health care served as a kind of legislative basis, on the basis of which other laws and bylaws regulating the health of citizens were subsequently adopted. The law provided the duty to maintain medical confidentiality, which meant that doctors and other medical and pharmaceutical workers were not allowed to disclose information about illnesses, intimate and family life of citizens, which they found out as a result of their professional duties. To sum up, we can identify the main historical stages of formation of the legal status of a health care worker: 1) IX century, the times of Kievan Rus - the first mention of the duties of that time doctors ("Kiev-Pechersk Paterik", "Svyatoslav's Miscellany " 1076); 2) The times of the USSR in 1919 - the first attempt to streamline medical activities and outline the legal status of medical workers, including the provision of certain social and material guarantees ("Rules governing the professional work of medical staff", approved by the USSR SNK April 17, 1924), Resolution of the SNC of the USSR "On Improving the Situation of Medical and Sanitary Workers" of June 10, 1920). 3) 1969-1991, Ukraine in the Soviet period - strengthening democratic principles in public and state life, a new codification of Soviet law (Fundamentals of the legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on health care (1969), the Law of the Ukrainian SSR " On health care "(1971)) Moreover, we can identify the basic principles of health care in Ukraine, which were formed over a long period of history of the Ukrainian state, due to the different legal and economic situation of the country and, due to historical and legal development that became decisive for the current legal status of medical workers. These are such principles as: recognition of health care as a priority of society and the state, availability and free medical care, democracy, provision of state guarantees, observance of medical secrecy, etc.

Pekerja rumahan belum banyak dikenal dan keberadaannya tidak terlihat sebagai kelompok masyarakat produktif, bahkan data statistik tidak mengkategorikan perempuan pekerja rumahan sebagai golongan pekerja, tetapi sebagai ibu rumah tangga. Informalisasi pekerja rumahan berdampak pada kondisi kerja yang tidak menguntungkan, upah rendah, tidak ada kontrak kerja, tidak ada jaminnan sosial, jam kerja panjang, rentan atas resiko kecelakaan kerja, dsb. Tulisan ini dimaksud dapat menjawab persoalan hukum atas perlindungan pekerja rumahan, menggunakan data sekunder, dengan pendekatan perundang- undangan namun tetap diisi kajian sosiologi dan antropologi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kaburnya status hubungan kerja pekerja rumahan menyebabkan hilangnya sejumlah hak pekerja, dan keadaan ini merupakan dampak dari fleksibilitas hubungan kerja. Pemerintah tidak bisa menghilangkan tanggungjawab pengawasan dan perlindungan meskipun sektor informal belum tercakup sebanyak sektor formal dalam UU Ketenagakerjaan Homeworkers have not been widely known and their existence is not seen as a productive community group, even the statistical data do not categorize women homeworkers as workers, but as housewives. Informalization of homeworkers has an impact on unfavorable working conditions, low wages, no employment contracts, no social security, long working hours, vulnerability to the risk of workplace accidents, etc. This paper was intended to be able to answer legal issues regarding the protection of homeworkers, using secondary data, with a legal approach but still filled with sociology and anthropology studies. The results of the study indicated that the blurring of the status of work relations of homeworkers caused the loss of a number of workers' rights, and this situation was an impact of the flexibility of work relations. The government could not eliminate the oversight and protection responsibilities even though the informal sector had not been covered as much as the formal sector in the Major Labour Laws.

Korea has been implementing a policy of restricting birth from the 1960s to the 1990s amid explosive population growth after the Korean War. In the provinces, the rural population and the population of small cities have been concentrated in large cities and metropolitan areas due to lack of jobs, infrastructure, and capital. Korea's population began to decline in 2021 after peaking in 2020, and in 2023, it became a country with the lowest birth rate in the world at 0.72, and will soon become a super-aging society. The government has enacted the Framework Act On Low Birth Rate In An Aging Society, the Special Act on Local Autonomy Decentralization and Balanced Regional Development, and the Special Act On Support For Depopulation Regions to promote balanced regional development and to prepare legal policies to cope with population decline and local extinction. In Korea, there are many places where baby cries have stopped, and the equity of the burden of tax and social security costs between generations is a problem due to the low birth rate and the aging society, and the burden of social welfare costs is increasing in local governments. In this paper, after analyzing the current status of Korea's legislation on population decline and regional extinction response, we propose a plan to enact the Regional Revitalization (Regional Revitalization) Act since there are many population decline response laws, but there is no general law on regional extinction response. In addition, although encouraging immigration is not a fundamental measure to respond to population decline and regional extinction, the promotion of flexible local immigration policies in countries such as Australia, the United States, and France is becoming a major factor in population growth, so a regional-led local immigration system must be devised. do. In addition, in the case of Europe, when a city is created as a smart city, it is common for the population to concentrate, and as the population decreases in cities or rural areas with underdeveloped social infrastructure due to ICT convergence technology, cities in population-decreasing areas We review the issue of smart city creation within the city. In addition, when population decreases and regions disappear, there is no need to continuously expand and create cities as is currently the case, so the issue of introducing an appropriate location planning system to create a compact city (compressed city) is reviewed. In addition, we examine the expansion of the scope of use of the living population support introduced by the Depopulation Area Act and the concept and requirements of the related population, and review the issue of introducing a corporate hometown love donation tax to respond to population decline and regional extinction. Lastly, since population decline and regional extinction cannot be resolved through financial support alone, implementation of institutional guarantees for marriage and family community guaranteed under the Constitution, establishment of a livable local environment and infrastructure, provision of sufficient jobs and guaranteed income, transportation, education, and culture. I hope that the Constitution will be amended to create an equal living environment in the metropolitan area and local areas by guaranteeing accessibility to medical care, etc.

The Communist Party based its attitude to religion on Marxism-Leninism as a scientific and theoretical framework. As a critical theory of the capitalist society Marxism examined the phenomenon of religion and religious feelings in civil society and designed a project of a future socialist society. One can say that Marxism looks at the phenomenon of religion from the angle of a class society, from a materialistic viewpoint and while using the historical research method. The source of religion is in man’s alienation first from himself, then from other people and, finally, from society itself. Marxism surpasses the criticisms of religion dating back to the Enlightenment as well as the vulgar-marxist criticisms that associated religion and religious feeling with human ignorance and delusion. Marxism places religion into the historical framework including the social and economic setting which is changing, developing and thus producing or bringing about changes in religious consciousness. In their practice, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia or what was later the League of Communists of Yugoslavia had an attitude to religion and the church that was a mixture of some original Marxism but also, in much larger measure, of dogmatic, Leninist-Marxist and most often administrative –pragmatic stands which suited the then balance of political power in the state or at lower administrative levels. This attitude was also conditioned by the situation in the party, the state, Yugoslavia’s international position, the situation in the church, etc. In this context, one can say that in the actual laws and regulations governing the legal status of the church and the issue of the religious rights and liberties of citizens the atheist approach predominated, i.e. the approach that was solely and exclusively determined in relation to God. This approach seems to have predominated due to the negative experience gained by the workers’ movement in Yugoslavia between the two World Wars as well as during the course of the Second World War when the majority of church activists adopted a negative attitude to the National Liberation Movement (NLM). The process of atheization which was launched immediately following the end of the Second World War, in addition to formally playing a major role in establishing and giving legitimacy to the new social system of government, was also ongoing, in terms of its attitude to the churches, on at least two levels: 1) depoliticization of all religious communities; and 2) supression of the idea that religious attributes should be identified as national attributes in the established and traditional churches and religious communities (Serbian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Islamic Religious Community).

This article is devoted to the study of the state of implementation of the control functions by the representative bodies of Ukraine. It states that, depending on their legal status, representative bodies represent the interests of the territorial community and make decisions on its behalf. They perform representative, rule-making, control functions and powers within their competence. They also contribute to the realization of the rights and interests of the population of the autonomous region and to the solution of the region's vital activities. The Ukrainian Parliament implements the powers defined by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine at the national level. The article reveals the function of representative control, as a function of the above-mentioned bodies, which should ensure their interaction with civil society (individuals and legal entities) and other branches of state power, which is built on the basis of their subordination, accountability and control to representative bodies. Attention is focused on the fact that the relations of local self-government bodies with enterprises, institutions and organizations that are not communally owned by the respective territorial communities are built on a contractual and tax basis and on the basis of control within the limits of the powers granted to local self-government bodies by law. It is noted that control over the exercise of delegated powers of executive bodies by local self-government bodies is entrusted to the relevant local state administrations and the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and in the cases provided for by law, to ministries and other central bodies of executive power, their territorial bodies. At the same time, control should be carried out by analyzing the acts of local self-government bodies, providing information by local self-government bodies on the implementation of delegated powers of executive bodies, conducting inspections of the activities of executive bodies of village, settlement, and city councils. It is emphasized that local self-government bodies can take the initiative to carry out measures of state supervision (control) at enterprises, institutions and organizations that are not in communal ownership, as well as in relation to natural persons – entrepreneurs who use the labor of hired workers, by submitting official by persons of local self-government bodies of the corresponding appeal on the issues of exercising the powers delegated to them by the executive authorities. In general, effective control by representative bodies of local self-government is one of the important means of providing them with comprehensive economic and social development in the territory under their jurisdiction. It is noted that public awareness of the activities of communal enterprises gives the public the opportunity to control the legality and reasonableness of the decisions of local self-government bodies regarding the creation and operation of such enterprises, the need for their financing, the proper performance by such enterprises of the tasks set for them, their compliance with the legislation of Ukraine, in the areas defined by the legislation of Ukraine limits, use of funds, property that is communal property. The activity of supervisory boards of communal enterprises, which are formed in accordance with Article 78 of the Economic Code of Ukraine, serves as a good help for the implementation of control functions of both representative bodies and the public. The creation of supervisory boards aims to improve the management system of utility companies, make them more competitive and partially eliminate corruption risks. It is in the implementation of control and awareness of both representative bodies and the relevant territorial community regarding the state of affairs in the relevant territorial unit that people's rule is manifested. Therefore, control functions both over legal entities and individuals under the control of local self-government, and over local bodies themselves must be carried out in accordance with internationally recognized principles of such control. One of these international acts is the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Attention is drawn to the fact that parliamentary control is an integral component of one of the highest forms of exercising people's power – its representative, mediated form. It is an important tool that helps the parliament to obtain the necessary information about the performance of duties and the exercise of powers by the executive authorities. The Ukrainian Parliament, as a representative of the entire people, controls the use of budget funds, compliance with laws, the effectiveness of the work of ministries and other departments, etc., taking the form of state control. The article describes the forms of parliamentary control. It is noted that one of the negative dynamics of parliamentary control is the lack of a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of the application of adopted laws. It is proposed to expand the boundaries of the analysis of the practice of applying laws, supplementing it with a number of new tools of parliamentary control, including consultations with interested parties. The significant shortcomings of the current mechanisms of parliamentary control, the attitude of the people's elected officials to its implementation, are revealed, and relevant proposals for its improvement are developed, such as: temporary introduction of the imperative mandate; the introduction of public councils at state authorities of all branches of state authority and local self-government.

Contemporary society is concerned about successful functioning of its members and their effective participation in social interrelations therefore the adaptation of children living in foster homes is perceived as a relevant social issue. In the context of developing democratic ideas increasing attention is being paid towards the problem of adaptive behavior and its development in children without parental care. It is influenced by important social, political, value and legal changes having occurred in the last several decades in Lithuania in a context of which the attitude towards children without parental care, their social status, foster care and development is also changing. While adopting more laws and resolutions on the issues of child’s foster care, development and healthcare there appear more possibilities to solve a lot of relevant questions in child foster care and training institutions. In the context of democracy increasing attention is paid towards social integration of children living in foster institutions, their involvement and participation into social life. The goals and objectives of Lithuanian educational system reflect the intention to prepare a person for life, who is able to analyze reality individually or with other people, also adequately deal with the problems, plan the future and successfully adapt to the constantly changing, dynamic society. These objectives allow to discover a variety of aspects of the organization of educational activities in foster homes. The problematic issue arises while preparing foster home pupils for independent living: Are the educational system and conditions at foster homes sufficient and adequate in process of preparation for independent life? The article actualizes the educational significance of preparing teenagers for independent life. Interviews with foster home staff evaluate the current situation of foster homes, disclose the education system, work achievements (strengths), discuss the developmental problems and identify deficiencies of preparation for independent living in foster homes. The aim – to assess the preparation of foster home pupils for independent living within the context of foster homes, revealing the positive and improvable aspects of the foster home educator’s point of view. Analyzing the features of foster home preparation for independent living in care institutions, the study involved 17 foster home staff, based on their opinion about their personal work experiences and points of view. In order to understand home educational activities, to review the pupils’ preparation for independent living opportunities, educational reality, to find out and identify problems, provide opportunities for improving the situation, the interview method was used. Instant analysis revealed that home care workers initiated a variety of activities: encourage children to solve problems, analyze situations and make decisions. It is also practiced by demonstration of adult example, analyzing the situation and promoting the search for solutions. Workshops are organized, situations and educational environment is created in which the pupils are encouraged to act independently, provide practical training skills that enable learners to try themselves in different activities (household work, cooking, etc.). However, according to the assessment of the current situation in foster homes, it is clear that there are not optimal functions performed by the formation of practical skills and preparing for independent living of children without parental care. Interviews revealed that foster homes lack „real practices“ when most children are able to buy food, count the money, pay for services, cook, and independence is developed mostly by the potential circumstances. Comments on the survey suggest that the lack of practical activities, funding and real-world examples in foster homes prevent realization of the set goals, implement ideas for youngsters to prepare for independent living, to acquire domestic skills and do not create conditions for independent personal development (learning). Discussing the opportunities for improvement of foster home preparation for independent living, almost unanimously expressed material financial base and the improvement of household demand. Foster home staff believes that the conditions under which pupils can cook themselves face with the real everyday life, keep their own budgets, learn, acquire new knowledge or skills may be one of the most successful assumptions for training (learning) to live independently when they came out foster homes.

"Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his own instincts and ideas. . The debate surrounding the self reliance will be meaningless if issues related to women in a large country like India will not only be inappropriate but sometimes even misleading. Women specific and women related legislations have been enacted to safeguard the rights and interest of women, besides protecting against discrimination, violence, and atrocities and also to prevent socially undesirable practices. Despite the constitutional mandate of equal legal status for the girl child, the same is yet to be realized. The de jure laws have not been translated into de facto situation for various reasons such as illiteracy, social practices, prejudices, cultural norms based on patriarchal values, poor representation of women in policy-making, poverty, regional disparity in development, lack of access and opportunity to information and resources etc. According to the Uttar Pradesh Govt. sources, female life expectancy is less than 55 years and the under-five mortality rate is as high as 141 per thousand. Australia was the first country to develop a gender-sensitive budget, with the Federal government publishing in 1984 the first comprehensive audit of a government budget for its impact on women and girls. Empowerment of women is essentially the process of upliftment of economic, social and political status of women, the traditionally underprivileged ones, in the society. It involves the building up of a society wherein in women can breathe without the fear of oppression, exploitation, apprehension, discrimination and the general feeling of persecution which goes with being a woman in a traditionally male dominated structure. One major therapy prescribed by woman empowerment advocates is empowering women through legislation for ensuring participation in political decision making. Such an approach provides the women with a constitutional platform to stand up to men, to raise their voice on issues concerning women oppression, subjugation and related issues and thus in effect, providing them with an identity in an orthodox male dominated socio-political set up, in addition to providing a much needed forum to seek redressal of problems directly affecting them: the true essence of empowerment. The present paper attempts to look into the dynamism of the process whereby women empowerment is achieved (?) through legislation or women participation in the Panchayati Raj Institution. KEYWORDS: Self Reliance, Gender Bugdeting, Women empowerment, Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Workplace wellness programs raise the question: Who owns the health and sickness of the employee? Once, they belonged to the person and his/her doctor, in a kind of binary health relationship. Now companies have made it a triangular relationship. But actually, it's rectangular - the government is also shaping this relationship by occupying a fourth corner. As Nikolas Rose (1989) points out in his exploration of the place of individual in the corporate state, history suggests that it might be the government whose corner is dominant. Rose notes that "Taylorism", the scientific pursuit of maximum efficiency of human labour which was fashionable early last century, is now seen not just as the creation of industrialists like Henry Ford. Much more broadly, it reflected a philosophy current in the western industrialised nations like the US, UK and Germany. Achieving optimum output from men and machines was "part of a wide family of political programmes that sought to use scientific knowledge to advance national efficiency through making the most productive use of material and human resources." Reflecting prevailing political climates, national governments had already begun to introduce legislation which regulated the relationship between capital and labour. Ostensibly, these laws were intended to protect the rights of workers, but Rose suggests that their ultimate motivation was to ensure the nation received social dividends from the labour market. That was then. Now, social dividends from employment may be different but governments are still pursuing them. It was a labour government in Australia in the 1980s which first required employees to fund their own aged pensions (by trading off pay increases for superannuation). In another manifestation of their worry about the costs of an ageing population, governments are now prodding workers to become their own health managers, through the agency of wellness programs at work. Wellness programs really began to flourish in the last 20 years, most visibly in the Unites States where pressure from the employee health insurance system and high participation targets set by the Federal Government have made them the rule. "As a result, work-site health promotion programs are becoming increasingly prevalent. In 1985, 65 percent of work sites with 50 or more employees offered at least one health promotion activity. The [Government's] Healthy People 2000 goals aim to increase this proportion to 85 percent and to increase employee participation in these programs." (Meurer et al. 1997, p. 384) In other countries, pressure from insurance/litigation may be weaker, but employers have increasingly seen workplaces as suitable locations for health campaigns targeted at their employees, and governments have become supportive of such programs because of the public health benefits and convenience. They might be viewed as privatised community health promotion. In Australasia: "The idea of using workplaces as sites to promote health is attractive from a public health point of view. It provides an opportunity for adults to gain access to health promotion initiatives and enables them to participate in programs planned according to their needs in a familiar physical and social setting. It also provides an opportunity for health promotion efforts to extend to the worker's home and involve his/her family." (Williams 1991, p. 490) From an employer's perspective, workers' sickness has always been a matter of interest because of the duty of care. In the distinctive social environment of work, their health has belonged at least partly to the company, but the wellness programs may be further stripping away the autonomy of health. Moral philosopher R S Downie and his co-writers (1990) believe that health promotion is not value-free. "It endeavours to persuade people to adopt certain lifestyles.") It attempts to transfer to the employees values held by the organisation, promoting a particular lifestyle - in this case, a healthy one. Participation in wellness programs provides benefits which flow in two directions. The company donates the resources which allow the employees to avoid sickness and to live healthier lives. The employees donate a longer and more productive working life to the company and society. In this way, these programs conform with the dominant current management philosophy describing the relationship between employee and employer. Just as Hirschhorn (1988) describes how workers won social freedoms in exchange for psychological "unfreedoms" (the work ethic) in the industrial revolution , so Rose describes how modern, caring management practice is all about "aligning the wishes, needs and aspirations of each individual who works for the organisation with the successful pursuit of its objectives". A win-win situation? In some organisations, some employees may not see it that way. The fact that wellness programs are declared "voluntary" may not necessarily rectify a perception of compulsion. Employees may believe that nothing is truly voluntary at work. With these concerns in mind, Stokols et al. (1995) advocate ethical guidelines to prevent job discrimination based on health status and related potential conflicts of interest. They say that the bottom-line benefits to management of health-promotion campaigns cannot legitimately include discriminating against employees who refuse to make healthy lifestyle choices. Discrimination might exist on another level. What is the company to make of workers who choose to continue an unhealthy lifestyle which may put them at greater risk of a succumbing to a health hazard at work? The most well-known of such consequences is the predisposition to bronchial illness caused by smoking. Of course, there are two sources of sickness at work; self-induced and work-induced. Smoking cigarettes may cause self-induced sickness. Mining asbestos may cause work-induced sickness. If it was once clear who was responsible for which sickness, the advent of workplace wellness programs has reduced the clarity. Such health promotion can make it seem that the employer has taken responsibility for both self-induced and work-induced sickness, or perhaps the worker has. Wellness programs are culturally ambiguous. Their very introduction signifies the employer's care for employees' health, but the function of the program is to teach the employees how to take responsibility for it. So Blewett and Shaw (1995) wonder whether health promotion programs change the balance of responsibility between employer and employee. The origin of this issue, they suggest, is in the World Health Organisation's 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, which describes health promotion as "the process of enabling individuals and communities to increase control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health." (cited in Blewett & Shaw 1995, p. 462) The writers argue that the health promotion rhetoric is increasingly focused on promoting 'self-responsibility' for health in the workplace, and the skills of health self-care. If governments value wellness programs, and business likes them, is the workplace a conducive cultural setting for wellness to be marketed? Do workplace health promotion programs obviate the well-documented communication barriers from which community programs suffer? It seems they might. "Worksites afford a high degree of leverage for influencing the health of the population," according to Stokols et al. (1995, p. 1136) "Leverage" is a reference to the big percentage of the population (the employed) they reach, as well as the power of persuasion in a workplace. The persuasion can derive from the corporate culture which employers strive to create in their organisations - a mono-culture whose values are aligned with those of all members. It can also derive from company rules - all members of the organisation, whether value-sharers or value-rejectors, are captured by the requirement to conform with wellness objectives. Thus, in western industrial democracies, where smoking is banned it is usually because they are places of work. It is necessary to ask the question: Do employees exposed to health promotion at work make good use of self-care skills. Williams (1991) notes that the uptake of health promotion campaigns, not at work but in the broad community, is greatest among those who least need the benefits - that is, it correlates with socio-economic status. Wellness programs in industrial settings provide opportunities for health promotion to reach lower-paid trades and "blue-collar" employees not well served by these community campaigns. However, poor health behaviours are based on life-long habits, usually reinforced by people's lifestyles, reference groups and family structure. These habits take time and persistence to counteract. It is only in the long term that participation gives employees positive benefits, and therefore positive reinforcement for their healthy efforts. Noblet and Murphy (1995, p. 18) report that "early workplace programs relied heavily on behaviour change techniques as their health promotion strategy." Therefore, many failed to produce lasting change because they did not take advantage of the complex social and cultural structure that exists within each workplace. The writers suggest that recently "activities have expanded beyond risk reduction strategies to a settings approach that addresses the social, organisational, environmental and cultural factors." (Noblet and Murphy 1995, p. 18) In conclusion, it is likely that the motivation for companies to run health promotion campaigns will increase, but wellness may be a concept which fits somewhat awkwardly in the employer-employee relationship. Perhaps care for employees is the factor which will bring outcomes beneficial to all. Farnell (1987) expresses such care this way: An organisation's health comprises three components, its financial health, its organisational health (openness, trust, morale, etc) and the personal health of its members. No employer should consider the organisation in good shape without addressing each component. References Blewett, V. and Shaw, A. "Health promotion, handle with care." Journal of Occupational Health and Safety Australia and New Zealand 11 (1995): 461-5. Downie, R., Fyfe, C. and Tannahill, A. Health Promotion - Models and Values, Oxford UP: Oxford,1990. Farnell, L."Corporate culture change - the healthy way." Journal of Occupational Health and Safety Australia and New Zealand 3 (1987): 46-52. Hirschhorn, L. The workplace within: psychodynamics of organizational life. Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press,1988. Leigh, J. and Harrison, J. "Reduction of Ischaemic heart disease risk factors following direct probabilistic risk communication in the workplace.", Journal of Occupational Health and Safety Australia and New Zealand 7 (1991): 467-72. Meurer, L., Meurer, J. and Holloway, R. "New models of health care in the home and in the work site.", American Family Physician 56 (1997): 384-7. Noblet, A.J. and Murphy, C. "Adapting the Ottowa Charter for Health Promotion to the Workplace Setting." Health Promotion Journal of Australia 5 (1995): 18-22. Rose, N. Governing the soul: the shaping of the private self. London: Routledge, 1989. Stokols, D., Pelletier, K. and Fielding, J. "Integration of medical care and worksite health promotion.", Journal of the American Medical Association 273 (1995): 1136-42. Williams, P. 1991, "Planning factors contributing to on-going health promotion programs." Journal of Occupational Health and Safety Australia and New Zealand 7 (1991): 489-94.

Forensic social work is defined as the specialty that focuses on the interface between the legal system and the human service system. Forensic psychiatric social work is a subspecialty of forensic social work. Treatment issues arise in forensic social work due to the nature of working within the two systems, but some are specific to forensic psychiatric social work due to the nature of balancing the needs of the patient with the protection of society. Issues that are relevant to forensic psychiatric social work are, applying psychosocial rehabilitation strategies in a forensic setting, the paradox of custody vs. caring, issues surrounding confidentiality and the use of authority, bargaining and persuasion as tools for social work practice. The author identified these issues as each of them was raised during a specific case that the author was actively involved with. The focus of the study is to explore the issues by discussing them in relation to this case. The literature is reviewed and suggestions are made as to how the management of the case could have been improved. Recommendations are also made for the field of social work, specifically in the field of forensic psychiatry.

This was a phenomenological study undertaken to understand women's experience of the workers' compensation system. Eleven women were interviewed. They ranged in age from twenty-five to sixty-five years and represented diverse socio-economic and educational backgrounds. All women were from a non-indigenous background. The initial question to women was "Can you tell me what it is like to be involved in the workers' compensation system?" The narratives were analysed and interpreted using Hycner's (1985) phenomenological guidelines. Five core themes were found: negative versus positive/neutral experiences, the workplaces response and role in the process, women's experiences of payouts and tribunals, reasons why women may not claim workers' compensation, and the impact of the process on each women and their family(s). Acker's theory of 'gendered institutions' was used to understand why "many apparently gender-neutral processes are sites of gender production" (Acker, 1992b, p. 249). The experiences of the eleven women suggested that the workers' compensation system in Queensland is gendered; 'The women indicated that the workers compensation process was a disincentive to making a claim. WorkCover was viewed as siding with the employer, bureaucratic in nature and lacking values associated with empathy, sympathy and caring. Recommendations for improvements to the workers' compensation included: establish legal obligations and enforcement of occupational health and safety responsibilities to injured or ill workers; adoption of occupational health and safety values by employers; change the attitudes of employers (recognising women as breadwinners and workers are not disposable); a single case manager to advocate for injured or ill workers; recognition of mental and emotional consequences of an injury or illness provision of rehabilitation that recognises mental and emotional factors as well as the importance of family participation; greater involvement of employers and employees in the rehabilitation process; and finally, improved service delivery which involves consistency, ethics, clarity, (regarding the WorkCover process for injured workers and employers), accountability and involvement of all parties. The knowledge embedded in the interviews, expressed through core stories and themes, was essential to making women's voices visible and providing an insight into service delivery based on women's experiences and needs.

The purpose of this study was to examine forensic social workers' levels of knowledge about skepticism toward Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in light of the controversy that surrounds the diagnosis. Relationships between demographic and professional practice variables and workers' levels of knowledge and skepticism were analyzed to assess the possible etiology of skepticism toward DID.

This PhD project by publication begins to explore how Scottish adult support and protection (ASP) policy and practice carves out its role and remit. It examines the ways that concepts like “abuse”, “vulnerability” and “protection” have been constructed, both by individual practitioners and at a policy level. The submission comprises five papers published in peer-reviewed journals and this contextualising document, which knits together the work and draws out overall conclusions and implications. The papers themselves report on a literature review, a further analysis of case study research into ASP practice and a critical policy comparison. The case study research was conducted immediately prior to legislative changes in Scotland with respect to ASP, and the policy comparison was conducted subsequently to these changes. Overall, the findings highlight the ways that a social constructionist approach can usefully deepen our understandings of ASP. That is, they show how understanding concepts like “protection”, “vulnerability” and “abuse” to be actively constructed in unique and complex contexts can promote criticality in policy-making, practice and research.

"August 2006"
Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Law, 2007.
Bibliography: p. 343-364.
Abstract -- Candidate's certification -- Acknowledgements -- Acronyms -- Chapter one -- Chapter two: Linking public participation to environmental decision making and natural resources management -- Chapter three: The right to public participation -- Chapter four: Implementing the right to public participation in environmental decision making : the participation of indigenous peoples in the conservation and management of protected areas -- Chapter five: The legal and policy regime for the participation of indigenous peoples in the conservation and management of protected areas in Australia -- Chapter six: The legal and policy regime for the participation of indigenous peoples in the conservation and management of protected areas in Uganda -- Chapter seven: Implementing public participation in environmental decision making in Australia and Uganda : a comparative analysis -- Chapter eight: The right to public participation in enviromental decision making and natural resources management : summary and conclusions -- Bibliography.
In recognition of the importance of public participation as a basis for good governance and democracy, Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary General to the United Nations, has noted that: "Good governance demands the consent and participation of the governed and the full participation and lasting involvement of all citizens in the future of their nation. The will of the people must be the basis of governmental authority. That is the foundation of democracy. That is the foundation of good governance Good governance will give every citizen, young or old, man or woman, a real and lasting stake in the future of his or her society". The above quotation encapsulates the essence of what this thesis has set out to do; to examine the concept of public participation and its application in environmental governance within the context of the participation of indigenous peoples in the conservation and management of protected areas in Australia and Uganda. The concept of public participation is of such intrinsic importance that it has emerged as one of the fundamental principles underpinning environmental governance and therefore forms the basis for this study. -- Environmental governance, as a concept that captures the ideal of public participation, is basically about decisions and the manner in which they are made. It is about who has 'a seat at the table' during deliberations and how the interests of affected communities and ecosystems are represented. It is also about how decision makers are held responsible for the integrity of the process and for the results of their decisions. It relates to business people, property owners, farmers and consumers. Environmental governance is also about the management of actions relating to the environment and sustainable development. It includes individual choices and actions like participating in public hearings or joining local watchdog groups or, as consumers, choosing to purchase environmentally friendly products. -- The basic principles behind good governance and good environmental decision making have been accepted for more than a decade. The 178 nations that attended the Rio Summit in 1992 all endorsed these nvironmental governance principles when they signed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Rio Declaration) - a charter of 27 principles meant to guide the world community towards sustainable development. The international community re-emphasised the importance of these principles at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. -- The right to public participation in nvironmental decision making and natural resources management is one of the 27 principles endorsed by the nations of the world and is embodied in the provisions of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration.
Environmental decisions occur in many contexts. They range from personal choices like whether to walk or drive to work, how much firewood to burn, or whether to have another child. They encompass the business decisions that communities or corporations make about where to locate their facilities, how much to emphasise eco-friendly product design and how much land to preserve. They include national laws enacted to conserve the environment, to regulate pollution, manage public land or regulate trade. They take into account international commitments made to regulate trade in endangered species or limit acid rain or C02 emissions. -- Environmental decisions also involve a wide range of actors: individuals; local, state and national governments; community and tribal authorities such as indigenous peoples; civic organisations; interested groups; labour unions; national and transactional corporations; scientists; and international bodies such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Trade Organisation. -- Each of the actors have different interests, different levels of authority and different information, making their actions complex and frequently putting their decisions at odds with each other and with ecological processes that sustain the natural systems we depend on. -- Accordingly, this thesis aims to examine participation in environmental decision making in a way that demonstrates these complexities and interdependencies. It will explore the theoretical and conceptual basis for public participation and how it is incorporated into international and domestic environmental and natural resources law and policy. -- It will examine public participation in the context of the legal and policy framework for the conservation and management of protected areas and will use case studies involving the participation of indigeneous peoples in Australia and Uganda to provide the basis for a comparative analysis. -- The thesis will also faces on a comparative analysis of the effectiveness and meaningfulness of the process for public participation in environmental decision making in Australia and Uganda. There is extensive literature on the purposes to which participation may be put; the stages in the project cycle at which it should be employed; the level and power with regard to the decision making process which should be afforded to the participants; the methods which may be appropriate under the different circumstances, as well as detailed descriptions of methods; approaches and forms or typologies of public participation; and the benefits and problems of such participation.
However, there is not much significant literature that examines and analyses the meaningfulness and effectiveness of the contextual processes of such participation. This is despite the widespread belief in the importance and value of public participation, particularly by local and indigenous communities, even in the face of disillusionment caused by deceit, manipulation and tokenism. Accordingly, the thesis will use case studies to demonstrate the meaningfulness and effectiveness or otherwise of public participation in environmental decision making in protected area management. -- Increasingly, the terminology of sustainable development is more appropriate to describe contemporary policy objectives in this area, with an emphasis on promoting local livelihood and poverty alleviation within the constraints of ecosystem management. However, the domestic legal frameworks, and institutional development, in Australia and Uganda tend to reflect earlier concepts of environmental and natural resources management (referred to as environmental management in this thesis). There are some significant differences between a North (developed) nation and a South (developing) nation, in terms of the emphasis on economic objectives, political stability, resources and legal and administrative capacity. The thesis intends to explore these differences for the comparative analysis and to draw on them to highlight the complexities and interdependencies of public participation by indigenous peoples in environmental decision making, natural resources and protected area management.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
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This study is concerned with how educational legislation shapes and uses freedom for the purpose of governing the parent. The key question guiding the study was: How does the Act constitute the ‘parent’ as a subject position responsible for schooling the child? Central to the work is an examination of the School Education Act 1999 (the Act) using Foucault’s thinking on governmentality. This is prefaced by historical accounts that bring together freedom and childhood as contrived styles of conduct that provide the governmental logic behind the Act. The study reveals how the Act shapes and uses the truth of freedom/childhood to construct the responsible parent as a style of conduct pegged to a neo-liberal political rationality of government. It is this political rationality that provides the node or point of encounter between the technologies of power and the self within the Act which forms the ‘responsible’ identity of the parent as an active self-governing entrepreneur made more visible by the political construction of ‘others.’ This is a legal-political subjectivity centred on the truth of freedom/childhood and a neo-liberal rationality of government that believes that any change to our current ethical way of being in relation to educating the child would ruin the very freedoms upon which our civilised lifestyle depends. In essence, the Act relies on the production of ‘others’ as the poor, Aboriginal and radical who must be regulated and made autonomous to constitute the ‘parent’ as an active consumer whose autonomous educational choices are an expression of responsibility in relation to schooling the child

This thesis is an investigation of the impact of commercial game farming on former farm workers in the Bushman's River area of the Eastern Cape. In its examination of the broader economic and political changes that have facilitated a move from agriculture to game farming, it analyses how these changes affect farm workers. The main concern of the thesis is the ways in which farm workers (at the local level) respond to changes at the national and global level (legal and political changes, the advent of tourism, and the injection of foreign capital and businessmen into the area). Lack of knowledge about their rights under the current political dispensation, as well as the perceived need for mediation between themselves and foreign landowners, points to a general sense of powerlessness. Feelings of alienation from local government structures aimed at fulfilling this function indicate a significant gap between the statute at the national level and the local reality. Local reality is informed by a strong conservatism which is generated by African Independent Church structures and local Xhosa perceptions of manhood and respectability. This conservative discourse leads to a frame of reference which is largely informed by pre-1994 interactions with farmers and government. This results in a situation in which farm workers, largely unaware of their rights in the new dispensation, operate as they did in the past; waiting for landowners to decide their fate for them. What ensues is a lack of meaningful interaction with government and landowners, perpetuating their subjugation and cynicism as to whether government structures are in fact working in their interests. The thesis comes to three main conclusions. The first is that game farming has been negatively received by farm workers due to the associated threats of unemployment and eviction. The second is that despite high levels of subjugation, even the very poor are agents to some degree. The creation of a masculine identity which is internally articulated, as opposed to outwardly expressed, and the grounding of reputation in the family suggest that farm workers have developed mechanisms to deal with their disempowered position. Lastly, farm workers are in possession of social capital which has made it possible for them to deal with their low status in the societal hierarchy. This includes the Church, family and fellow community members. These coping strategies have however proved a disadvantage in the current era because they prevent direct communication with landowners, government and NGOs.

In British Columbia, individuals with a mental disorder can be hospitalised against their will under the Mental Health Act (1999), when a physician determines that "protection of the person or others" is an issue. Involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation involves a major infringement of an individual's civil liberty. When patients or their representatives disagree with the treatment teams about their involuntary hospitalisation, they can apply for an appeal hearing named the review panel under the Mental Health Act (1999). From a theoretical perspective, the traditional medical model and the social constructionist model, which offer different views concerning individuals with mental illness who are hospitalised against their will, are presented. This theoretical contrast underscores a major dilemma faced by mental health professionals in fostering client self-determination, while they are providing services on the principle of beneficent protection. An empowerment model of social work practice is then described to illustrate how services can be provided to help mental patients regain a sense of control over their lives. Concerns about the current legislation regarding involuntary hospitalisation are also discussed. To supplement the limited number of studies currently available on review panels, a quantitative descriptive study was conducted at Riverview Hospital, the only tertiary psychiatric hospital in British Columbia, surveying the experiences of 39 social workers and physicians with review panels. A questionnaire consisting of 22 Likerttype items was used. Four categories were identified: (a) patient-related issues, (b) effects of review panels on treatment teams, (c) role conflicts, and (d) operational issues. Despite the apparent lack of formal training, social workers and physicians generally reported having adequate knowledge of review panels. Social workers and physicians who were involved more frequently with review panels appeared to have more positive attitudes towards them. Their training pertaining to the Mental Health Act was also significantly related to their attitudes. Neither patients nor their families reportedly had adequate knowledge of the review panel process. Although some positive effects of review panels were acknowledged, staff generally had mixed attitudes about review panels. Guided by an empowerment model, these findings have important implications for social work practice. These include the need for further professional training, improved communication between health professionals and legal advocates, education for patients and families, and the support of patients' collective action, so that review panels can be a more empowering experience for mental patients.