Australian Journal of Social Issues最新文献

Young people who transition to adulthood while transitioning from out-of-home care, like their peers not in care may face several challenges in early adulthood. These include, high housing costs, fixed (often low) incomes, limited access to jobs and further education, developing and consolidating personal relationships and pressures from family. This paper presents data from a PhD study using ethnography, life course theory and qualitative interviewing over 10 months in the field. The focus was on the transition from out-of-home care for young people aged 18 to 23 years. Young people discussed study, jobs, housing and mental health support. They experienced a range of family relationships both supportive and disruptive. This paper focuses on two key findings from the study: (1) Relationships, especially those with family members, carers and services are critical for young people to be supported and obtain resources; and (2) Leaving care represents a fundamental break in identity. These findings offer learnings for extended care programs. Delaying the transition from care up to age 21 years is a welcome reform, allowing time to support young people to (re)establish safe family relationships as adults and consolidate who they are becoming, now they are no longer a ‘kid in care’.

Middle childhood offers a crucial window to identify and support children at risk of adverse outcomes in adolescence. This retrospective cohort study examined how data from multiple systems could identify children with the greatest need for support during middle childhood and early adolescence. Using individual level linked records from health, education, child protection and justice system for children who were enrolled in Northern Territory government schools in Year 1, we studied the relationships between system involvement/school engagement in middle childhood (ages 5–9) and subsequent system involvement/service usage during early adolescence (ages 10–13). Latent class analysis identified five distinct groups with varying patterns of system involvement. Notably, one group (12.1%) exhibited frequent contact with multiple systems, high school mobility between remote and urban regions, and high educational risk, contributing disproportionately to service usage. Early system involvement during middle childhood often preceded escalating service needs in adolescence, with early multi-system contact emerging as a leading indicator of service use in later years. Our findings highlight the potential benefits of a ‘systems thinking’ approach, with coordinated cross-agency responses and enhanced early interventions to better support vulnerable children, especially those engaged with multiple systems.

This article draws on a recent study of the meaning of home for children and young people after parental separation to provide a way of shifting adult attention beyond prevailing focus on the amount of time children spend with each parent, towards a greater attentiveness to children and young people's views on how their living arrangements look and can work effectively for them. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 68 children and young people aged 8–18 years, and 39 of their parents. Participants were recruited mainly through social media, family and relationship support services, and professional networks. Overall, we found that children and young people's descriptions of what home meant to them and how they sought to make a home conveyed the centrality of relationships and safety to shaping home. We consider how our findings can be used by family law system professionals in their work with families to support more meaningful discussions about post separation parenting, at a time of significant legislative change designed to encourage greater focus on children's best interests and voices.

This qualitative study aimed to understand how migration experiences shape wellbeing and quality of life (QoL) for Asian-born men who have sex with men (MSM) who are living with HIV in Australia, and to identify relevant support needs. Drawing from intersectionality theory, this paper reports findings from semi-structured interviews with Asian-born MSM (n = 9), as well as key informants working in the HIV sector (n = 9, total n = 18). Data were analysed using an inductive thematic technique focused on the intersections of structural racism/migration, homophobia/sexuality and HIV/HIV-related stigma. Participants described a multiplicity of ways in which QoL was diminished from their intersecting experiences, including key themes of (i) ‘living in limbo’ and (ii) ‘fear of rejection and disclosure’. However, participants also described positive experiences, such as (iii) the ability to more openly express their sexuality, and a cultivation of self-confidence to advocate for themselves and others (‘navigating the politics of belonging’). The findings highlight unique structural and social challenges to QoL that migration and living with HIV can generate. These findings signal a need to redouble efforts within the HIV response to advance QoL for people living with HIV in a manner that is affirming, comprehensive and draws on cultural strengths.

The distribution of specialist health services is usually uneven by location due to limited resources, which is a problem for people with complex needs. In this context, how can a hub and spoke model offer appropriate services for people with intellectual disability and mental health needs? The data were individual and group interviews with people using and delivering the services in Australia. Data were analysed against a hub-and-spoke analytical framework. The findings were that health services benefited from funded, local positions. These local professionals liaised between local mental health, health and disability providers. They also liaised with other local areas and centralised, specialist intellectual disability mental health services. The implication is that specific local positions can be a bridge between generic and specialist services to improve services for people with specific support needs. This program worked well in a geographically large area with a scattered population and decentralised health system.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures have a deep, enduring connection to water. However, since Australia's colonisation in 1788, water management has shifted, creating ongoing issues for these communities. Notwithstanding the universal recognition of safe drinking water as a human right, significant inequities persist, particularly affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Excluding Indigenous knowledge systems from drinking water policy design has exacerbated these issues. Contemporary discourse acknowledges the importance of integrating Indigenous knowledge into drinking water policy. Yet, the extent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander influence on current drinking water policy remains unclear. Our realist review addresses two questions: (1) What evidence supports engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in drinking water policy design at macro, meso and micro levels? (2) What contextual factors and mechanisms influence this engagement? We systematically searched electronic databases and grey literature, resulting in five peer-reviewed studies and 33 grey literature sources. Our findings suggest that addressing complex water issues requires significant and permanent investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance and self-determination in policy design, implementation and evaluation. We propose a roadmap highlighting enablers and barriers, noting that future research should explore capacity-building for Indigenous water operators and decision-makers.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is considered Australia's landmark disability support policy reform. The Scheme's implementation has revealed several benefits but also critical shortcomings. The Scheme's benefits have not been equitably distributed with people living in regional, rural and remote areas receiving less. The Australian Government's Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2023 provided recommendations for improvements to ensure equitable benefits for all Australians. We use a distributed rural proofing lens to explore how processes, recommendations and actions described in the Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme considered regional, rural and remote contexts. The Review offered ideas for improving services for regional, rural and remote people with disability; however, it failed to adequately consider these contexts. The Independent Review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme missed a key opportunity to rural proof Australian disability support policy. Future disability policymaking requires active engagement of regional, rural and remote people with disability and use of relevant service provision concepts to ensure regional, rural and remote people with disability equitably benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions to finances and relationships were significant. Analysing Australian longitudinal survey data from May 2020 and August 2021, this study examines the Family Stress Model, which posits that financial stress influences relational dynamics within households. Our analysis indicates a significant reduction in financial stress during the observed COVID-19 periods, likely buffered by government support measures and adjusted household budgets. However, financial stress remained significantly higher among certain demographics, including middle-aged adults, households with dependents and lower-income households. Financially stressed individuals experienced lower relationship satisfaction and coparenting quality. In May 2020, financially stressed unpaid carers, in particular, reported lower relationship satisfaction, and those with children reported inferior coparenting interactions. This study underscores the uneven distribution of pandemic-related financial stress and its cascading effects on family relationships in Australia.

Entrenched social inequalities mean that Australia's schooling system is far from achieving the Alice Spring's (Mparntwe) Education Declaration's equity goal. This is associated with Australian schools being among the most socially segregated within the OECD. The Federal government's Productivity Commission has identified that the concentration of disadvantaged students into disadvantaged schools is a systemic inefficiency impeding student learning. In response to the Productivity Commission's findings, the O'Brien Review recommended the tracking and reporting of the socioeconomic diversity of schools and systems. This would require major school accountability reforms to the National Report on Schooling in Australia as it does not report on the associations between school segregation, school composition, and student outcomes. This is due to the Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia not specifying how to measure school segregation, school socioeconomic context, nor how they relate to schooling outcomes. The next National School Reform Agreement could improve the accountability of governments and schools for student equity groups through the measurement and reporting of systemic barriers to student learning. This article suggests a rage of measures and reporting mechanisms to enable such reforms.

Sport remains a male-dominated industry despite increasing numbers of women participating and working in a variety roles and contexts. In many sports, women report negative experiences and face gendered challenges as elite players, community players, coaches and referees. This case study of one Australian sport builds on the concept of gender regimes to examine experiences of gender harassment of women in a variety of roles. Gender harassment is sometimes overlooked as one of the dimensions of sexual harassment, but it nevertheless marginalises women and contributes to creating unsafe environments. Despite the presence of women in leadership positions, as coaches, referees and on boards, gender harassment occurred. Women in overt positions of power experienced more gender harassment than other roles, while off-court officials and managers reported the fewest incidences of gender harassment. These findings suggest that women in power continue to face harassment, as they violate traditional notions of leadership, providing clear policy implications. Younger women aged 18–29 also reported higher incidences of gender harassment than all other age groups. Dismantling masculine hegemony in sport and advancing gender equality, including educating stakeholders on the importance of gender equality, should be a priority to reduce harm against women in sport.