Beth R. Crisp’s research while affiliated with Deakin University and other places

Over the past decade, greater emphasis has been placed on the role of the land-based gambling industry to respond to problem gambling behaviour in their venues. Despite this, there is a lack of clear information advising best practice responses by gambling venue employees. This article reviews strategies, practices, and policies employed by land-based gambling venues concerning their employees' role in preventing gambling-related harm and responding to problem gambling behaviours. A systematic search strategy was applied to source peer-reviewed literature which identified 49 articles. The synthesised results were arranged and presented across five categories: (1) the identification of gamblers with potential problems in the venue; (2) gambling venue staff responses to gamblers with potential problems; (3) gamblers' perspectives around venue responsibilities and interactions with gamblers with potential problems; (4) corporate social responsibility programs and the identification of gamblers with problems in the venue; and (5) gambling venue staff needs. The results suggest that most activity performed by venue staff concerning their response to problem gambling is limited to observing and documenting risky behaviours and then discussing this internally with other venue staff. Action which moves beyond this, such as approaching and interacting with identified gamblers of concern, rarely occurs. The results of this review suggest that a focus on the identification and intervention specifically with identified gamblers of concern is a particularly unhelpful aspect of the role of venue staff. The results also indicate that a rethinking of the role frontline staff play in addressing problem gambling is necessary.

Stitching refers to a range of textile crafts which involve use of needles, such as sewing, knitting, crochet, tapestry, embroidery or quilting to create clothing, homewares or other objects. Mostly undertaken by women, there have long been stitchers for whom this activity is inherently a spiritual activity. The rhythmic pattern of the work is said to enable mindful practice or a space to meditate on other concerns or contemplation on religious or spiritual texts, and the connections enabled through stitching may be significant. Stitching has traditionally been a way in which women could mould their identities while helping one another or making charitable donations. At the same time, stitching can aid processes of mourning, remembering and resistance. However, there are many women for whom stitching is the antithesis of an activity which they would denote as being spiritual, especially those for whom stitching is a task or chore they are required to undertake. Stitching has become associated with exploitative practices, including poor pay and poor working conditions. In contrast to those who stitch by choice and can exercise agency over what and when they create, those who stitch for a living are subject to timelines and restrictions on what they create, and hence are less likely to experience stitching as a spiritual activity. This paper contributes to the spirituality literature by demonstrating why a generalised delineation of actions per se, as spiritual or not, is problematic.

In 2020, the Australian Government proposed a new model of higher education funding that purported to incentivise study in national priority areas. However, despite shortages of social workers, the initial proposal doubled the student fee contribution for a social work degree. The Save Social Work Australia campaign was established by the Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work to redress errant assumptions underpinning the funding of social work education and to lobby for social work to be funded at the same level as other allied health programs. A successful social media campaign resulted in the reclassification of social work prior to promulgation of the legislation as one of only two academic disciplines to achieve this outcome. This article demonstrates that social media can be an effective tool for social workers engaged in political lobbying. • IMPLICATIONS • Social work academics successfully lobbied the Federal Government to improve the funding of social work education in Australia. • Social media can be an effective tool for social workers engaged in political lobbying.

Religious beliefs are central to the identity of many people, often signalled by their physical appearance, for example, clothing, hair or jewellery. If prevented from such a form of self-expression, some take action against what they consider a contravention of their human rights. The predominance of this discourse can obscure the possibility that there are others who are forced to signal a religious viewpoint which they may not subscribe to. This chapter explores the wearing of hijab by Afghan women who have lived in Australia less than 10 years. While some choose to wear hijab, there were others who spoke of being forced to wear hijab as a form of domestic violence. Furthermore, whereas for some, not wearing hijab represents a freedom to dress in accordance with their understandings of Australia as a secular society, a few felt that wearing clothes which marked them as Islamic increased the likelihood of attracting xenophobia and discrimination. Hence, for many women, decisions around hijab represented compromise between the demands of their family, the Afghan community and the wider Australian society, rather than a free choice. Consequently, if social workers assume women’s religious beliefs and identity are congruent with their appearance they may inadvertently be contributing to women’s oppression. As such, this chapter explores notions of anti-oppressive practice when working with Muslim women living in non-Muslim majority countries, particularly in respect of dress codes which are associated with Islam.

Utilising Bacchi’s framework ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ the literature on managing academic workloads was analysed to explore why workload allocation models are deemed essential in the contemporary university and the assumptions which underpin workload allocations. Whether due to the need for efficient use of scarce resources or ensuring equity for staff, workload allocation models are promoted as an accurate measure of each individual’s workload and as a measure of accountability. The literature privileges the views of staff whose workloads are ‘managed’ but unable to do their work within their contracted hours. Universities justify long hours of unpaid overtime as a norm of professionalism. Critical issues for managers are identified, and suggestions to enable them to be more effective in the process of workload allocation are presented.

Bystander interventions play an important contribution to efforts to prevent violence against women and arts-based interventions have been effective as part of a range of health promotion programmes. You the Man is a theatre-based programme, which contributes to violence prevention efforts in community settings. Requiring a single actor and minimal props, the programme consists of a 30–35 min play about intimate partner violence and sexual assault followed by a moderated post-performance panel discussion including staff from local support agencies. Although it has received positive feedback in a range of settings, the only previously published evaluation involved establishing short and long-term impacts on American high school students. This article examines the short-term impacts from attending You the Man events on a different audience, i.e. Australian adults. Anonymous online surveys conducted prior and 4 weeks after events were completed by 41 participants of whom 29 were female and 12 were male, three-quarters of whom were aged between 18 and 49, and who attended events at university campuses (46.3%), in workplaces (34.1%), at sporting clubs (12.2%) and community centres (7.3%). At follow up, participants regarded the severity of abusive and coercive behaviours as being higher than at baseline, their capacity to intervene as a bystander had increased, as had the number of sources of support they would recommend to someone experiencing gender-based violence. Hence, theatre-based programmes can positively affect attitudes in relation to gender-based violence, increase bystander knowledge about safe ways to intervene and positively affect intended bystander intervention.

Gender roles and gender stereotypes are culturally and socially constructed. Previous studies suggested that the Afghan community is a male-dominated and conservative society, where men are more visible in social activities, and women remain responsible mainly for household tasks. This research aimed to show Afghan women’ perceptions of gender roles and the possibilities for and barriers in Australian society to change those roles after their settlement in Australia. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 21 Afghan women who had been living in Australia between 6 months and 10 years. The interviews were conducted face to face or by telephone, in either Farsi (Persian) or English. An inductive thematic analysis was used to explore the data and build themes. Afghan women were aware of gender roles, patriarchy, and gender inequality, and they hoped to address those issues now as they live in a society that offers more freedom to women. Moving to Australia had enhanced women’s possibilities, self-confidence and skills and inspired many to go beyond traditional stereotypes and seek out options previously denied to them on the basis of their gender. However, their attempts at realising gender equality often met with the disapproval of their family or the wider Afghan community.

Help seeking for domestic violence is complex and multifaceted, and settling in a new country might make the help-seeking process more challenging and complicated. This study explored the barriers to seeking help for domestic violence, specifically experienced by Afghan women after settling in Australia. The study involved 21 semistructured interviews with newly arrived Afghan women. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed, and the data were analysed thematically. The barriers Afghan women experienced were embodied in cultural norms to stay in marital relationships, demands to preserve the family’s reputation, personal circumstances, and women’s experiences with, and perspectives on, available services. The findings suggest that policy and practice should recognise those barriers and respond to them in a culturally appropriate way. IMPLICATIONS • Domestic violence services’ procedures and processes should be developed based on an understanding of multiple layers of oppression and barriers to seeking help for migrant women. • Service providers should apply an intersectional lens along with antioppressive perspectives to address barriers to domestic violence services women experience at different levels. • Social workers in domestic violence services need relevant training to provide culturally appropriate services to migrant women.