The living standards of families with children reporting low incomes

The Government has high-profile child poverty targets which are assessed using a measure of income, as recorded in the Household Below Average Income series (HBAI). However, income is an imperfect measure of living standards. Previous analysis suggests that some children in households with low income do not have commensurately low living standards. This report aims to document the extent to which this is true, focusing on whether children in low-income households have different living standards depending on whether their parents are employed, self-employed, or workless

To the Editor:

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98180/1/j.1547-5069.1992.tb00704.x.pd

The Plays of Sean O'Casey 1919-1964: Innovation, History and Form

This thesis provides a radical re-reading of O'Casey's early work, which sheds new light upon the later plays. The orthodox reading of the so called 'Dublin Plays' - The Shadow of a Gunman (1923), Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926) - as a triumph in theatrical naturalism that is never matched in the later plays, is here strongly countered. The thesis seeks to demonstrate that far from being dramatic failures, the later plays are fresh and dynamic, a logical and natural progression from the formal and thematic experiments within the early plays. The thesis argues that it is the critical labelling of O'Casey's first plays as 'comedies' or 'realist dramas', which has led to the prevailing view of the last plays as theatrically flawed. This distorting critical prism has resulted in an underplaying of O'Casey's significant contribution to theatrical innovation in the first half of the twentieth century. O'Casey's work has received comparatively little recent critical attention, particularly from British academics. This is clearly no academic accident: O'Casey's marginalisation by scholars is directly linked to the way theatre critics misinterpreted his plays from 1924 onwards, when they received their first performances at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. This study considers the complex dynamics of national and theatre politics that underpin these critical misunderstandings and explores why O'Casey has often been dismissed as a dramatist of character. Discussing plays from The Harvest Festival to The Moon Shines on Kylenamoe, I explore why each play becomes more experimental in form and analyse why O'Casey's critics and public alike gradually become alienated from what they perceive as the new experimental style of his later work. Chapter 1 considers O'Casey's early plays with special reference to the use of space in The Shadow of Gunman. In chapter 2 I examine the use of repetition as a controlling dramatic technique in Juno and the Paycock, chapter 3 explores the re-writing of history as drama through O'Casey's re-dramatisation the Easter Rising in The Plough and the Stars, chapter 4 focuses on O'Casey's engagement with European, especially German, Expressionism in The Silver Tassie; and his experimentation with what we now label 'Absurdist' techniques, as well as dance and song in Within the Gates which provides the subject for chapter 5. The later plays are discussed in chapter 6, where their formal and thematic innovations are considered in relation to the contemporary developments in the cinema and Absurdist drama

Applying the Kirkpatrick model: Evaluating an Interaction for Learning Framework curriculum intervention

Global perspectives and interpersonal and intercultural communication competencies are viewed as a priority within higher education. For management educators, globalisation, student mobility and widening pathways present numerous challenges, but afford opportunities for curriculum innovation. The Interaction for Learning Framework (ILF) seeks to help academics introduce curriculum change and increase peer interaction opportunities. Although the framework has many strengths to recommend it, the ILF does not provide a process by which academics can easily evaluate the outcomes produced by its implementation. In this paper, we examine the efficacy of a popular four level training evaluation framework – the Kirkpatrick model – as a way to appraise the outcomes of ILF-based curriculum interventions. We conclude that the Kirkpatrick model offers educators a straightforward basis for evaluation of interventions, but that as with any model the approach to evaluation should be adapted to the particular setting and circumstances

The Masquerade : March - Two Step

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/2178/thumbnail.jp

Examining the content validity of the Birthing Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET) within a woman-centred framework.

Introduction: The environment for birth influences women in labor. Optimal birthing environments have the potential to facilitate normal labor and birth. The measurement of optimal birth units is currently not possible because there are no tools. An audit tool, the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET), was developed to assess the optimality of birthing environments. The BUDSET is based on 4 domains (fear cascade, facility, aesthetics, support), each comprising design principles that are further differentiated into specific assessable design items. In the process of developing measurement tools, content validity must be established. The aim of this study was to establish the content validity of the BUDSET from the perspective of women and midwives. Methods: This was a mixed-methods study with a survey assessing agreement with BUDSET items and in-depth interviews. Survey results were analyzed using an item-level content validity index and a survey-level validity index. Interview data were analyzed using a directed content analysis approach. The study was conducted in 2 locations¿a major maternity hospital and a midwifery research center, both in Australia. Study participants were 10 women and 2 midwifery academics. Results: The survey revealed that content-related validity varied according to the BUDSET domain, with the domains of facility and support established as content valid by most participants. The domains of the fear cascade and aesthetic were less strong, particularly among pregnant women. Interview data analysis provided content validity evidence of both the fear cascade and aesthetic domains. A further 4 subthemes of fear cascade also were identified: foreign space, medical-hospital-emergency, being sterile/clinical, and protecting the woman from the environment. Content validity evidence for facility and support domains also was established. Discussion: This study has established that the BUDSET is content valid for assessing the optima ity of birthing environments. Some further refinement of the tool is now possible

Publicly-funded homebirth models in Australia

Background: Publicly-funded homebirth programs in Australia have been developed in the past decade mostly in isolation from each other and with limited published evaluations. There is also distinct lack of publicly available information about the development and characteristics of these programs. We instigated the National Publicly-funded Homebirth Consortium and conducted a preliminary survey of publicly-funded homebirth providers. Aim: To outline the development of publicly-funded homebirth models in Australia. Methods: Providers of publicly-funded homebirth programs in Australia were surveyed using an on-line survey in December 2010. Questions were about their development, use of policy and general operational issues. A descriptive analysis of the quantitative data and content analysis of the qualitative data was undertaken. Findings: In total, 12 programs were identified and 10 contributed data to this paper. The service providers reported extensive multidisciplinary consultation and careful planning during development. There was a lack of consistency in data collection throughout the publicly-funded homebirth programs due to different databases, definitions and the use of different guidelines. Discussion: Publicly-funded homebirth services followed different routes during their development, but essentially had safety and collaboration with stakeholders, including women and obstetricians, as central to their process. Conclusion: The National Publicly-funded Homebirth Consortium has facilitated a sharing of resources, processes of development and a linkage of homebirth services around the country. This analysis has provided information to assist future planning and developments in models of midwifery care. It is important that births of women booked to these programs are clearly identified when their data is incorporated into existing perinatal datasets. © 2011 Australian College of Midwives

Preliminary calibration of a generic scramjet combustor

The results of a preliminary investigation of the combustion of hydrogen fuel at hypersonic flow conditions are provided. The tests were performed in a generic, constant-area combustor model with test gas supplied by a free-piston-driven reflected-shock tunnel. Static pressure measurements along the combustor wall indicated that burning did occur for combustor inlet conditions of P(static) approximately equal to 19kPa, T(static) approximately equal to 1080 K, and U approximately equal to 3630 m/s with a fuel equivalence ratio approximately equal to 0.9. These inlet conditions were obtained by operating the tunnel with stagnation enthalpy approximately equal to 8.1 MJ/kg, stagnation pressure approximately equal to 52 MPa, and a contoured nozzle with a nominal exit Mach number of 5.5

Multiparous women's confidence to have a publicly-funded homebirth: A qualitative study

Background: Hospital birth is commonly thought to be a safer option than homebirth, despite many studies showing similar rates of safety for low risk mothers and babies when cared for by qualified midwives with systems of back-up in place. Recently in Australia, demand has led to the introduction of a small number of publicly-funded homebirth programs. Women's confidence in having a homebirth through a publicly-funded homebirth program in Australia has not yet been explored. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the reasons why multiparous women feel confident to have a homebirth within a publicly-funded model of care in Australia. Methods: Ten multiparous English-speaking women who chose to have a homebirth with the St George Hospital Homebirth Program were interviewed in the postnatal period using semi-structured, open-ended questions. Interviews were transcribed, then a thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Women, having already experienced a normal birth, demonstrated a strong confidence in their ability to give birth at home and described a confidence in their bodies, their midwives, and the health system. Women weighed up the risks of homebirth through information they gathered and integration with their previous experience of birth, their family support and self-confidence. Discussion: Women choosing publicly-funded homebirth display strong confidence in both themselves to give birth at home, and their belief in the health system's ability to cope with any complications that may arise. Implications for practice: Many women may benefit from access to publicly-funded homebirth models of care. This should be further investigated. © 2010 Australian College of Midwives

Violence toward nurses, the work environment, and patient outcomes

Purpose: To relate nurses' self-rated perceptions of violence (emotional abuse, threat, or actual violence) on medical-surgical units to the nursing working environment and to patient outcomes.Design: Cross-sectional collection of data by surveys and primary data collection for 1-week periods on 94 nursing wards in 21 hospitals in two states of Australia.Methods: Nursing Work Index-Revised (NWI-R); Environmental Complexity Scale (ECS) PRN-80 (a measure of patient acuity); and a nursing survey with three questions on workplace violence; combined with primary data collection for staffing, skill mix, and patient outcomes (falls, medication errors).Findings: About one third of nurses participating (N=2,487, 80.3% response rate) perceived emotional abuse during the last five shifts worked. Reports of threats (14%) or actual violence (20%) were lower, but there was great variation among nursing units with some unit rates as high as 65%. Reported violence was associated with increased ward instability (lack of leadership; difficult MD and RN relationships). Violence was associated with unit operations: unanticipated changes in patient mix; proportion of patients awaiting placement; the discrepancy between nursing resources required from acuity measurement and those supplied; more tasks delayed; and increases in medication errors. Higher skill mix (percentage of registered nurses) and percentage of nurses with a bachelor of science in nursing degrees were associated with fewer reported perceptions of violence at the ward level. Intent to leave the present position was associated with perceptions of emotional violence but not with threat or actual assault.Conclusions: Violence is a fact of working life for nurses. Perceptions of violence were related to adverse patient outcomes through unstable or negative qualities of the working environment. Perceptions of violence affect job satisfaction.Clinical Relevance: In order to manage effectively the delivery of nursing care in hospitals, it is essential to understand the complexity of the nursing work environment, including the relationship of violence to patient outcomes. © 2009 Sigma Theta Tau International