Search

Funeral workers (FWs) work within increasingly medicalized and commodified death-management systems. This study explored Worker Health and Safety (WHS) impacts in contemporary death management on Australian and Irish FWs. Mixed methods combined a survey and interviews. Survey data were descriptively summarized, interviews thematically analyzed, and a schematic systems model developed of the combined results. Survey participants (n = 45) reported psychosocial hazards from work pressures, competition, and fatigue. Psychosocial hazards were more frequently reported than physical hazards by Australian FWs. Physical hazards were of greater concern to Irish FWs. Themes from 11 interviews were: Personal Attributes, Work Demands, and Socio-Cultural Context. All FWs reported conflicts between individual capacities, work demands, and resources, resulting in hazardous personal states including difficulty sleeping and stress. Respectfully manually handling human remains and "event management" demands for increasingly elaborate funerals created negative WHS impacts. This research informs risk management for FWs and other workers in the increasingly complex death-care industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex workers' humor has received comparatively little attention in the literature to date, and work that does consider this phenomenon focuses on humor in face-to-face contexts. Increasingly, elements of sex workers' labor and community building take place online. This article examines the emergence of sex work humor in online spaces, considering how this humor provides evidence of resilience within this community. The article uses a critical discourse analysis approach blended with a cultural studies lens to examine 171 discrete texts drawn from sex work communities in Australia and New Zealand. These include social media postings from peer-led organizations and correspondence between sex workers and their clients, which was profiled in news media during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The humor evident within these texts falls into three major categories: humor about clients; humor as a mechanism of discussing stigma and discrimination; and humor as an agent of activism and social change. The findings indicate that humor can be evidence of resilience among sex-working communities, that it is politically productive and effective from a communications perspective, and present the possibility that it may also contribute to resilience. The presence of humor in online sex work spaces of sociality further highlights the importance of these spaces for community building, and draws attention to additional harms created by deplatforming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores a dark 'style' in the context of Australian cinema through the prison film, 'Chopper.' Representation of imprisonment through the lighting and color stylistics; Elements of black humor; Perspective on the film's violent moments.

This study explored stress and well-being among emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs) who remotely provide crisis intervention to medical emergencies through telehealth support. Semistructured interviews with 16 EMDs were conducted, and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify themes in the data. Results indicated that despite their physical distance from the crisis scene, EMDs can experience vicarious trauma through acute and cumulative exposure to traumatic incidents and their perceived lack of control, which can expound feelings of helplessness. Three superordinate themes of operational stress and trauma, organizational stress, and posttraumatic growth were identified. Practical implications are suggested to enable emergency services organizations to counteract this job-related stress and promote more positive mental health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper provides a perspective from two cultures and suggests ways to improve relationships between the Australian White fellas and First Nation (Aboriginal) populations. Several differences are highlighted especially the lack of formal protracted wars with the natives that characterized most other countries in the setting up of the British Empire. It is suggested that a great deal more work needs to be done with the way First Nation people were seen as non-human until 1970, a topic that seems either talked out or denied depending on whom you talk to. Modern efforts focus on positive and collaborative ways to remedy the problems from those who stand firmly in both camps. Its seems to this writer that more needs to be known about the elder, the dream world and other levels of consciousness that influence the transmission of essential knowledge. With some hesitation I have gone along with the idea of making Western suggestions, but I know what I would rather have. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crime scene is a critical element of criminal investigations and where forensic science begins. Inadequately managed scenes lead to poor evidence and risk of wrongful convictions. Reports from the United States and the United Kingdom highlight that some crime scene examiners (CSEs) outperform their peers, leading to less unsolved cases. What neither report explained was why some CSEs excel. We identified the attributes of top-performing CSEs using job analytical techniques with 72 police investigators, forensic scientists, senior police managers, and 18 top CSEs from across Australia. We analyzed the data and found seven distinct critical skill sets for top performance in CSE: knowledge, life experience, professionalism, approach to life, communication, cognitive abilities, and stress management. In this paper we present the critical skills and discuss the multiple ways that top CSEs positively impact the work of criminal investigators and other CSEs, as well as the impact they have upon efficiencies within forensic laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]