Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Cheers.
This qualitative study illuminates the health care and life experiences of women on isolated pastoral stations in remote Australia who look after babies and children. The women care for their families in singular isolation, caught in the culture of the bush. Adaptation to or retreat from such a life is a unique process for each woman.
This qualitative in-depth study investigates the work and life experiences of 18 female doctors and nurses in remote Australia. The study begins to unravel some of the events and relationships in the women's lives that keep them working and living in remote areas. The study also examines social and working conditions that cause the women to leave, and concludes that action must be taken at both government and local levels to support female health professionals who work in remote locations. This may be achieved by the means of a health promotion action model to underpin such initiatives as the 1999 Commonwealth Government 'fly-in-fly-out' initiative, in which sessional female doctors provide women's health services in remote areas.
Retention of rural doctors remains difficult because of complex factors that influence decisions of medical families. This study explores the reasons why Queensland rural doctors left their communities during 1995. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with contactable former rural doctors who claimed that they had entered rural practice with the intention to stay for a substantial period of time. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using NUD.IST software. Participants appeared to be subject to a dynamic balance between opposing pressures to stay and pressures to leave. In time, they became susceptible to 'triggers' to leave. These triggers were sometimes locality-specific and could be difficult to address, particularly without early intervention. We believe that it should be possible to develop strategies that address specific concerns of rural doctors, particularly if they are identified early. The optimum period of stay in rural practice should be reconsidered, such that moderate stays should be rewarded in a way that retains the doctors in some form of rural, or near-rural practice.
This paper reports a study of child abuse notification in a small remote country town in Queensland, Australia. Aims were to investigate how strongly residents felt about child abuse; how likely they were to notify suspected abuse; indicators of abuse; notification facilitators and inhibitors; and the notification process. A cross-sectional survey design was used involving semi-structured interviews with a simple random sample of 60 living groups. Residents felt strongly about child abuse. They were more likely to notify physical and sexual abuse than neglect and emotional abuse. They emphasized obvious physical indicators, but also recognized behavioral and emotional indicators. Residents would notify primarily out of concern for the child's welfare but would hesitate to notify because of fear of retaliation against the child, because they had a relationship with the suspect family, because the suspect family presented a positive public image, and because respondents valued family privacy. Residents were more likely to notify locally accessible professionals rather than geographically distant statutory authorities. Women were more involved than men in the process, and residents discussed possible notification within their intimate social networks before notifying. Some results are related to the specifically rural context. Implications are developed for rural policy, services and public education.