Patricia Fronek

The Development of a Scale to Assess the Training Needs of Professionals in Providing Sexuality Rehabilitation Following Spinal Cord Injury

The training needs of rehabilitation professionals in the area of sexuality and sexual function, particularly following spinal cord injury (SCI) has received little attention in the literature. Specifically, there is negligible theoretical discussion related to staff training needs, as well as a paucity of standardised scales to measure these needs. A conceptual model was developed encompassing staff knowledge, comfort, and attitudes towards sexuality following SCI. Using this model, a scale was developed, evaluated, and refined. Factor analysis supported the construct validity of the scale in measuring the existing conceptual model outlined but highlighted the existence of a separate construct related to personal approaches from clients. The subsequently named Knowledge, Comfort, Approach and Attitudes towards Sexuality Scale (KCAASS) demonstrated high levels of internal consistency across the four conceptual domains. The KCAASS has utility for rehabilitation facilities interested in identifying and targeting training initiatives related to addressing client sexuality needs following SCI.

Towards healthy professional-client relationships: the value of an interprofessional training course.

Boundary violations that threaten professional-client relationships are rarely discussed at the coalface. There is an assumption that healthcare practitioners have the skills necessary to manage professional boundary dilemmas with clients. The issue, if addressed, is usually confined to discipline specific education and training. A one-day Professional Boundaries for Health Professionals (PBHP) training program was developed in response to real life practice dilemmas experienced by health practitioners across the continuum of care. The program was delivered to 109 participants throughout the state of Queensland, Australia, from government and non-government organizations. Participants were doctors, nurses, allied health (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, dietitians, speech therapists), therapy assistants and personal care staff from a diverse range of hospital and community settings. Evaluations of PBHP suggest that the interprofessional learning context was valued with specific advantages identified in the use of adult learning approaches, the teaching of ethical decision making principles, the value of supervision and peer support and the opportunities provided for critical reflection. The effectiveness of training for healthcare practitioners in this area is discussed as a meaningful way of developing skills and engendering collaborative relationships between professional (e.g., occupational therapist, social worker) and paraprofessional (e.g., therapy assistant, personal care worker) groups. A combination of intensive training in professional boundaries and opportunities for ongoing professional development are important for all health practitioners.

Review of sociological literature on intercountry adoption

This review surveys sociological literature on intercountry adoption from 1997 to 2010. The analysis finds a preponderance of literature from the United States, reflecting its place as a major receiving country, and a focus on adoption experience organised by reference to the adoption triad: adoptive parents, adoptees, birth families. Reflecting the power imbalances in intercountry adoption, the voices and views of adoptive parents dominate the literature. There is an emerging literature generated by researchers who are intercountry adoptees, while birth families remain almost invisible in this literature. A further gap identified by this review is work which examines intercountry adoption as a global social practice and work which critically examines policy.

Insights from the Family Conference: Observations in Rehabilitation

Family conferences are regularly conducted in a number of settings. However, the published literature offers limited insight into the conference environment as created by the interdisciplinary team. The level of client participation in this process remains unclear. A participatory observation study was conducted with an accidental sample in a spinal injuries rehabilitation setting. Language and behaviours exhibited by family conference members provided data for analysis. The findings indicate that individuals with a disability were participatory members in the family conference and were able to express their point of view even if it differed from the view of the professional team. However, the finding that family members were less engaged in the process suggests that they have different needs to the person with a disability and these needs might have to be met in a different way. It is important that professionals develop an awareness of their own language and behaviours and the potential impact of these factors on the individual and the family in family conference processes.

Too hot to handle: Reflections on professional boundaries in practice

Professional boundaries between practitioners and clients are essential to the delivery of ethical and professional health services yet often prove difficult to address. A research agenda was initiated comprising a literature review, needs assessment, the development, implementation and evaluation of a Professional Boundaries for Health Practitioner (PBHP) training course. This agenda led the authors to critically reflect on the barriers of rumours, dismissiveness and time that were identified to the provision of training in this field. From these reflections, an interprofessional training framework was developed. This paper focuses on the importance of two facets of reflective practice in this process. These were (1) the importance of the integration of reflection and critical thinking skills in practitioner training; (2) critical reflection undertaken by the authors in identifying barriers to practitioner participation in work based training and determining the scope and nature of training that enhances ethical practices and meets practitioner needs.

Controversy and Its Implications for the Practice of Contemporary Social Work in Intercountry Adoptions: A Korean-Australian Case Study

Abstract Korean–Australian intercountry adoption has been practiced for 30 years. This longevity provides unique opportunities to develop critical perspectives on a complex, global practice. This paper presents understandings drawn from a study that explores Korean intercountry adoption using Actor Network Theory. It argues that the practice of intercountry adoption in Australia has been shaped by adoption-driven influences and characterised by controversy and competing discourses. It concludes that contemporary understandings necessitate a global, contextual, and critical view that is inclusive of emerging voices and alternate discourses. The challenge for practitioners and policy makers is to ensure the complex nature of the phenomenon is understood by all stakeholders. This will involve remaining child-focused, promoting multilevel interventions, incorporating research findings, and resisting wholly positive discourse that promotes singular perspectives. An awareness of how the internet is used to forge networks and promote discourses is crucial in ensuring multiple perspectives are considered in this contentious practice field.

'This Neo-Natal Ménage À Trois': British Media Framing of Transnational Surrogacy

Abstract Background: Media framing can influence people’s perceptions of social changes in family building, and has the potential to influence their future actions. Objectives: to analyse the type of framing and construction used in British newsprint of transnational commercial surrogacy. Methods: UK newspapers were searched using the search engine Lexis-Nexis. One hundred and ninety-seven articles were analysed. Content analysis was undertaken to identify the use of gain, loss, neutral, alarm and vulnerability frames, as well as type of construction (i.e. ethical, social, legal, financial and medical). Four researchers independently analysed articles using a coding strategy. Results: Differences between serious (mainly legal, financial), middle-market (legal) and tabloid (social, financial) newspapers were found. There were three main foci; buying babies – affordable only to those wealthy enough to pay for it; the legal complications of transnational surrogacy – reporting a sense of the legal system lagging behind this practice; and gay families – repeatedly questioning their suitability as parents – demonstrating a prevailing heterosexual stereotype about reproduction and parenting. Conclusions: Stereotyping was prevalent and the welfare of children and medical aspects of transnational surrogacy were minimally addressed, indicating the media selectively influences its readership.

Moral outrage: social workers in the Third Space

ABSTRACT Injustice is at odds with social works mandate to promote social justice, human rights and ethical responsibility. In nations such as the UK, Australia and the USA, ideologies of the far right exert strong influences on social policy. In this critical commentary, we argue that shifts from welfare states to privatisation, the return of the deserving and undeserving as ‘strivers’ and ‘shrivers’, ‘lifters’ and ‘leaners’, and policies that violate the human rights of refugees and other disenfranchised groups have activated moral outrage within the social work profession. Moral distress, ethical responsibilities and, for some, fears of complicity when unjust policies become practice, suggest that a moral response is required. A new form of online activism in a Third Space has emerged that juxtaposes traditional social work activism in ways that are responsive to social works moral imperatives, and is a panacea for moral outrage within a global context. Such actions pose ethical complexities and are not without risk. Stéphane Hessel offers a framework to understand how peaceful civil disobedience and radical approaches are legitimate expressions of moral outrage that transcend indifference and despair. We explore the new social work activism emerging in the Third Space drawing from Hessels philosophies.

History Repeating . . . Disaster-Related Intercountry Adoption and the Psychosocial Care of Children

Disasters are prevalent with devastating effects on vulnerable populations that include the elderly, disabled, women and children. Historical responses to vulnerable children and families post-disaster raise questions concerning further harms to children rescued by adoption in the aftermath of devastation. This article offers critical and historical perspectives on child removal for adoption in the context of disaster and the psychosocial care of children affected by disaster. It brings into question whether removal, especially permanent removal for adoption, is in their interests. This article concludes that efforts are needed by the international community to ensure that past abuses do not recur.

Operation Babylift: advancing intercountry adoption into Australia

Abstract The Vietnam War played a significant role in the institutionalisation of intercountry adoption (ICA) in Australia. The fall of Saigon provided the leverage needed for proponents of ICA to engage the governments of Western countries in ensuring previously arranged adoptions were completed. The humanitarian discourse that surrounded the airlift of children from Saigon, Operation Babylift, precipitated private- and government-sponsored mass evacuation of “orphans” who were adopted despite the lack of substantive evidence of their orphan status with no attempts at supported reunification. Though adoption from Vietnam to Australia was short-lived, it opened the doors for other government-sanctioned adoption programs within two years.