RQF portfolio
Social Work and Human Services Discipline
Panel 11: Law, Education and Professional Practices
RFCD codes:3702 60% 3902 25%: 3903 15%
SEO codes:7503 50% 7501 25% 7599 25%
Name of Researcher / Level / M/F / FTE / ECR / RFCD Code / SEO Code1 Karen Bell / B / F / 1.0 / Yes / 3702 / 7599
2 Wendy Bowles / C / F / 1.0 / 3902 / 7501
3 Andrew Crowther / B / M / 1.0 / Yes / 3211 / 7503
4 Sandra Mackey / B / F / 1.0 / Yes / 3211 / 7503
5. Robyn Mason / B / F / 1.0 / Yes / 3902 / 7599
6. Elizabeth Moore / B / F / 1.0 / 3903 / 7503
7. Lynelle Osburn / B / F / 1.0 / 3702 / 7599
8. Manohar Pawar / D / M / 1.0 / 3702 / 7503
9. Kate Seymour / B / F / 1.0 / Yes / 3702 / 7503
10. Bruce Valentine / B / M / .5 / Yes / 3702 / 7503
TOTAL
9.5 FTEFour Best Outputs
Karen Bell
Bell, K. (2006) An overview of assisted reproduction in Australia and directions for social research. Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society 4(1)
AJETS is a national peer reviewed journal which is included on the Academic Journals Database (this lists peer reviewed, scholarly ‘internationally respected’ journals only). Reviewers of the paper described it as ‘an excellent overview’, ‘well written, comprehensive and intelligent’ and as ‘setting the agenda for renewed research into an area … of growing importance’. The paper has been cited in submissions by Women’s Forum Australia to two government inquiries (one Victorian – Inquiry into the Infertility Treatment Act, one Commonwealth – Inquiry into Legislative Responses to the Lockhart Review). The paper is listed on an international, quality-controlled database- Policy Pointers (UK based).
Barton, H., Bell, K., & Bowles, W. (2005) Help or hindrance? Outcomes of social work student placements. Australian Social Work, 58(3)
Australian Social Work is the national journal of the Australian Association of Social Workers – the professional association responsible for accreditation of social workers and social work degrees. It is a peer reviewed publication. The paper was rated 4/5 - 5/5 by reviewers in terms of its original contribution, relevance to the profession, topicality and usefulness to students and practitioners. The paper has also elicited interest from other universities to engage in follow-up collaborative research into student placements. The paper has also been used for workforce planning purposes (e.g. ACT Dept Health 2007 Allied Health & Clinical Placements in ACT Health).
Alston, M., Allan, J., Dietsch, E., Wilkinson, J., Shankar, J., Osburn, L., Bell, K., Meunstermann, I., Giorgas, D., Moore, E., Jennett, C., Ritter, L., Gibson, R., Grantley, J., Wallace, J., Harris, J. (2006) Brutal neglect: Australian rural women’s access to health services. Rural and Remote Health 6 (online), 2006: 475.
Rural and Remote Health is a peer reviewed journal. The article reports on a large scale research project by the Gender, Women & Society Community of Scholars and reports on a national survey of over 800 women using quality of life indicators across a range of variables. The article has been used by Women’s Health Victoria(2006) in relation to women and social connectedness,by the Australian Department of Health & Ageing as part of their information service on primary health care, and, inter alia, by NSW Health for its inquiry into equity and distributive justice in non-metropolitan areas(2007).
Alston, M., Whittenbury, K., Bell, K., Brown, A., McKinnon, J., Williams, R., Mitchell, R., Allan, J., Dowling, J., Wicks, A., Valentine, B., Hamilton, P., McKinnon, N. (2005) SERPS Up: Support, Engagement and Retention of Postgraduate Students – a model of postgraduate support, Australian Journal of Adult Learning. 45(2)
This paper - published in the national, peer reviewed journal of Adult Learning Australia - conceptualises a model of support for postgraduates and reports on an evaluation survey of SERPS. The issue of support, engagement and retention of mostly rural-based, part-time postgraduate students is important to the higher education sector. In addition to the significance of the content, the actual process of researching and writing the article has also had positive outcomes. The co-authors were all part of the SERPS group at the time ofpublication and a sub-group conducted a panel presentation at the National Women’s Studies Association (USA) International Conference, 2005.
Wendy Bowles
Collingridge, M., Miller, S and Bowles, W. 2001. ‘Privacy and Confidentiality in Social Work’, Australian Social Work, Vol 54, No2, pp.3 – 13.
This paper, argues that confidentiality has been privileged over the more fundamental principle of privacy in social work and examines some of the implications for professional practice. Australian Social Work is the national journal for social in Australia and is internationally accepted as the voice of Australian social work. This paper has been cited by 4 other international authors publishing in social work ethics. Several academics have contacted the author to comment that they use it in their teaching. Google: 5
Barton, H., Bell, K., & Bowles, W. 2005. ‘Help or Hindrance? Outcomes of social work student placements’. Australian Social Work vol. 58, no. 3, pp.301-312.
This paper, written with other members of the group, is a qualitative study about supervisors’ perceptions of whether the benefits outweigh the costs of taking a social work student on placement. On balance, the 43 respondents reported that the benefits do outweigh the costs. Benefits include the work actually completed by students and also the professional development, critical reflection experienced by supervisors as a result of having a student on placement. The article has generated requests for the survey instrument from other universities in Victoria who wish to extend the study.
Bowles, W., & Duncombe, R. 2005. ‘A Satellite Model for Rural and Remote Education’. Rural Society. vol 15, no. 3, pp. 284-295.
This article presents a model for encouraging professional development in supervision of social work students in rural placements. It argues that employment of the model will constitute one strategy to address rural recruitment and retention issues for regional, rural and remote social work and human service workers. Rural society is a refereed journal examining rural social issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective and is accessed by professional practitioners, academics and a range of people concerned with rural issues.
Bowles, W., Collingridge, M., Curry, S. and Valentine B., 2006. Ethical Practice in Social Work an applied approach, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.
Published in UK/USA Open Univ Press as well as in Australia by Allen &Unwin, this book argues for a new approach to professional practice that incorporates ‘ethical activism’ – a model with ethics as the basis for empowering professional practice. Endorsed by two major international authors in social work ethics, the book offers an innovative analysis integrating ethical theory and political philosophy into a challenging framework for action. Review in Australian Social Work forthcoming.
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Dr Andrew Crowther
Crowther A, Administration and the Asylum in Victoria 1860s-1890s, in Coleborne C and Mackinnon D, 2003, St Lucia, Qld, University of Queensland Press.
This text is held at 82 Australian libraries, including 25 University libraries; UNSW, CSU, UTS, USyd, UWS, CQU, Griffith, JCU, USC, QUT, FUSA, Adelaide, ACU, LaTrobe, Deakin, RMIT, Monash, UniMelb, VictoriaUni, ECU, Murdoch and UWA. The book is used as a text to support undergraduate degrees. Copies of the text are also held at the Parliament of Australia Parliamentary Library and the NSW police library.
Crowther A (ed) 2004, Nurse Managers; A Guide to Practice, Melbourne, Ausmed.
Crowther A, Counselling your staff, in Crowther A 2004 ibid
Crowther A, Managing relative’s concerns, In Crowther A 2004 ibid
This text has been adopted as a Quality Improvement ‘Recommended Resource’ by the US Government Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The text is used as a staff resource by a number of Australian public and private Health Care providers. The book is also used as a recommended text in degree programmes at several universities and by TAFE.
Sandra Mackey
Mackey, S 2005 ‘Phenomenological nursing research: methodological insights derived from Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenology’ International Journal of Nursing Studies, 42(20), pp.179-186.
Nursing qualitative research has been criticised for failing to adequately lay the philosophical foundations upon which research methods are built and so this paper has important implications for the quality of future nursing research. This article was described by the reviewer as “a very clear exposition of Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenology, which is quite rare and therefore would be of great interest to many nurse researchers.” The article has generated enquiries from PhD students in South Africa and Canada. It was one of the 10 most downloaded articles from the journal on Science Direct between October – December 2005. Published in an international peer reviewed journal; Impact Factor 1.073. Citations: Scopus 3; Google Scholar 4.
Mackey, S and Goddard, L 2006, ‘The experience of health and wellness in mothers of young children with intellectual disabilities’, Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 10(4), 305-315
This article, published in an international peer reviewed journal, reports on an application of phenomenological methodology to what the reviewer described as “an area of great importance that is not given sufficient appraisal.” Only having been published in December 2006 citations are not yet appearing however the article has consistently been on the journal’s list of 50 most frequently read articles since February 2007, being number 10 on this list in July 2007. Its quality is evident in my being invited to present (one of only 20 international invitees) the paper at the Global Summit on the Wellbeing of People with Intellectual Disabilities to be held in Shanghai in October 2007.
Robyn Mason
Mason, R. (2001) ‘Sexual assault crisis care: Making the most of rural partnerships’, Women Against Violence, Issue Ten, July 23-31
This article broke new ground in that it outlined hitherto under-researched features of rural practice in the sexual assault support field. The literature on rural social work and welfare practice was applied to a critical analysis of a rural sexual assault program involving partnerships among social workers, police and medical personnel in a provincial city. In this way the article connected emerging research on rural social work practice with observed practice in a rural women’s support service. It has been cited in Australian Institute of Family Studies work on rural support services. Google: 2.
Green, R. & Mason, R. (2002) ‘Managing Confidentiality in Rural Welfare Practice in Australia’, Rural Social Work Vol 7, Issue 1, June, 34-43
This article, in the only national journal devoted to rural social work, reported research from the first empirical study of ethical issues facing rural social welfare workers in rural Victoria. The research is significant in that it considers the extent to which codes of professional ethics, invariably developed by urban and city-based professionals, can be adapted to meet the very different demands experienced by rural practitioners. These include visibility, lack of privacy for workers and service users, the way that personal information about people is managed and the way support services are organised in such an environment. Google: 7
Green, R., Gregory, R. & Mason, R. (2003) ‘It’s no Picnic: Personal and Family Safety for Rural Social Workers’, Australian Social Work Vol 56, No 2, June 94-106
This article, in the national journal of the profession, continued to report research from the previously mentioned study. The article had a focus on the issues of safety for social welfare workers and their families when they are working in rural communities, especially in fields of contention such as child protection and sexual assault. Again, the findings reported were significant in that there is very little known about the lived experience of rural social workers and how they manage the real and potential threats to their wellbeing that may result from their work, especially their visibility and location. Google: 4
Green, R., Gregory, R. & Mason, R., (2006) ‘Professional distance and social work: Stretching the elastic?’, Australian Social Work, Vol. 59, No. 4, December, pp. 449-461
Here the authors build on previous individual and collective research into rural and feminist practice to examine the related issue of professional distance. This is a debate in social work - a profession that values professional status and expertise, but strives for contextual flexibility. The authors offer a new framework for considering this dilemma – a practice continuum with the freedom to make ethical decisions on the basis of the specific client context. The article has been well received, with a refugee support service in Sydney seeking to collaborate with the authors about how this issue affects bi-cultural workers.
Elizabeth Moore
Moore, E. (2002), Not Just Court: Family Violence in Rural New South Wales: Aboriginal Women Speak Out, Centre for Rural Social Research, CharlesSturtUniversity, NSW.
This is a report of the author’s original research. The methodology involved the conduct of focus groups to identify the experiences of rural Aboriginal women of court process in seeking safety from family violence. Two focus groups, conducted at each of three rural New South Wales (NSW) towns, included individual women and social service practitioners respectively. This work gave voice to rural Aboriginal women about the limitations of the NSW legal response in achieving safety, and is cited in national publications of the Australian Institute for Family Studies and National Child Protection Clearing House.
Moore, E (2003) Rural women, family violence and the New South Wales AVO Scheme: Aboriginal women speak out. In R.O’Hagan, M.Alston, S.Spriggs Editors, Setting the Agenda for Rural Women: Research Directions. Centre for Rural Social Research: CharlesSturtUniversity, Wagga Wagga, Australia, pp. 88-99
This peer reviewed conference paper is based on a report of the author’s original research entitled Not Just Court (2003). It summarised the findings about the experiences of family violence and the inhibitors for rural Aboriginal women in using the legal protections available through the New South Wales civil jurisdiction. It argued for changes to policy and programme changes that would improve the effectiveness of the civil protection system. The paper engaged rural women in debate about the issues and engaged them in the pursuit of policy change.
Moore, E (2004) Toward praxis in Wagga Wagga: New South Wales legal responses to family violence. In E. Moore Editor, Wellbeing of Women: Conference Proceedings. Community of Scholars, Centre for Rural Social Research: CharlesSturtUniversity, Wagga Wagga, Australia, pp. 39-51
This peer reviewed conference paper is a critique of the recommendations of the New South Wales (NSW) Law Reform Commission’s review of the Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) statutory provisions. It uses secondary statistical data on crime rates and AVO applications and determinations to demonstrate the potential value of evidence based approaches to monitoring the justice response toward incidents of family violence. It promotes the engagement of justice and social service personnel with academic researchers in the implementation of collaborative evidence based practice. Its focus on local initiatives aimed to influence government policy development. In 2005 the NSW Attorney General commenced a pilot specialist domestic violence court in Wagga Wagga.
Moore, E. (2004) Designing case management systems in juvenile justice contexts. In Australian Journal of Case Management. Vol.6, No.2,pp. 3-9
This theoretical paper draws on literature from the case management practice and criminology literature specific to juvenile justice practice. It sets out an original community integrated model of practice for statutory organisations responsible for supervision of young people charged with a criminal offence. The model was developed in light of the author’s engagement in professional practice and policy advice within New South Wales that spans twenty years. In 2006 the Department of Disability Housing and Community Services of the Australian Capital Territory used the model to develop a case management system for young offenders.
Lynelle Osburn
Witherby, Angus, Stayner, Richard, Foskey, Ros and Osburn, Lynelle Public Transport Service Delivery, Evaluation of the Demonstration and Methodology Project 2001–2002Report to Transport NSW, Institute of Rural Futures University of New England, Armidale
The report resulted in the expansion of the number of positions and the role of ‘rural transport co-ordinators’ in rural NSW which has improved the interactions and communication between all levels of transport providers: government, private, NGOs, and particular services (like health or disability). This report to government changed conditions for people in rural and remote areas. In NSW, there are now 13 Transport Coordinators - 2 Sydney Metropolitan Coordinators and 11 in rural and regional areas.
Onyx Jenny, Osburn Lynelle, Bullen Paul and Wood Craig 2004 Social Capital and Ecological Sustainability: Broken Hillin Moore, E (ed) Well Being of Women, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. Pp. 61-70
To our knowledge this was one of the first pieces of research that linked older women, social capital and ecological sustainability in a single piece of research. This was original research based in remote NSW. It acted as a platform for additional research to be undertaken in youth and other groups. The impact is in practice and in expanding the horizons of researchers into matters that concern women – beyond caring.
Onyx Jenny and Osburn Lynelle 2004 Social Capital and Sustainable Development: The Case of Broken Hillin, Dale, A. and Onyx, J. (eds) Social Capital and Sustainable Development: A Dynamic Balance, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, pp. 176-192
This case study looked in depth at the operation of a Centre for Community and its attempts to engage a whole community through community roundtables and task focused groups. It offers insights into the management of community based organisations and social capital. This article is used directly in the training of post-graduates in community service organisations for critical appraisal and analysis. This article cause substantial structural and administrative changes in the organisation it was researching resulting in power and authority being returned to the community. The impact is in practitioner education.
Onyx Jenny, Osburn Lynelle and Bullen Paul 2004 Response to the Environment: Social Capital and Sustainability, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 11, 20-27
This research based article focused on the activities and concerns of people in remote towns about environmental sustainability and identified those people most likely to be amenable and active in programs for sustainability and renewal. This article informs the targeting of environment programs to particular groups in communities. It is used more by practitioners than by academics or researchers. The impact is in practice.
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Manohar Pawar
Pawar, M. and Cox, D. (2004) Community Informal Care and Welfare Systems: A training manual. (2nd Edition). CRSR, CSU: Wagga Wagga.