Employment and Mental Illness: Some Relevant Concepts
It is a surprising in some ways that the interaction between employment and mental health or illness has not been subject to greater scrutiny, considering the amount of time the average person spends at work in his lifetime and the risks to mental health that the working environment provides. Probably the stigma of mental illness from the point of view of the employee, and the financial concerns about liability from the point of view of the employer, link together to hinder the exploration of the topic. Nevertheless, contemporary views of health promotion and the Social Determinants of Health recognise the impact of employment on health and mental health and various strategies like Health Promoting Workplaces suggest ways of ameliorating the risks and improving employee health overall. It is however necessary to consider a wide definition of employee health to encompass (a) the health of individuals who perform work for a living, (b) the average forty year period of the life span in which employees are in the work environment, (c) the traditional concerns of work related injury but it is not restricted to this, and (d) the health promotion aims of quality of life or state of optimum health and striving to reach one's potential. This paper explores employment and mental illness with this definition of employee health in mind. The main discussion areas are: employment and its link to the burden of mental illness, risks within contemporary employment, and social relationships in the workplace. Employment must be considered in the genesis and treatment strategies of mental illness, and dialogue about mental illness needs to play a greater part in the employer-employee master narrative.
Introduction to 'New Thoughts about Work: Theoretical and Practical Aspects'
The chapters in this ebook were developed from papers presented at the Second Global conference, The Value of Work: Exploring Critical Issues in Prague on Monday 31st October to Wednesday 2nd November. The Conference was organised by Inter-Disciplinary.Net which is a global network for dynamic and transdisciplinary research and publishing. The papers presented at the conference were a thought provoking mix of theoretical and practical aspects of work. Academics and practitioners from many disciplines and countries discussed the presentations. The chapters of this ebook are a result of the serious reflections by the authors of those discussions. This ebook makes a worthwhile contribution to the study of work because some chapters offer new insights about work and other chapters extend the boundaries of knowledge areas of work. As a transdisciplinary approach to work the collection of chapters provides much to connect many of the disparate disciplines that have to date dominated the publications in this field. Within the parts of the ebook two general themes emerge from the papers: changes and constancies of work and the meaning of work as self-fulfilment or oppression. The authors' methods of handling their subject matter have shown that these themes exist in the context of both knowledge-based work that characterises work in this century and manufacturing work that still exists but dominated 20th century work. ... This collection of papers represents thoughts from new scholars in the transdisciplinary area of work as they prepare their doctoral studies and undertake post doctoral research. It also brings to the fore thoughts of seasoned researchers and practitioners about work and its value. It is a significant contribution to the field and as such will be useful for those interested in new trends in the study of work.
Making Opportunities out of the Global Crisis of Migration
Because of conflict and poverty induced displacement more people are on the move and living away from their home countries than ever before. There are 214 million international migrants in the world today with 15.4 million of those being refugees. Most of the irregular migrants have a tenuous existence living with a constant fear of deportation. They are unable to get work, have bank accounts or live in family groups. Migration is now a sustained crisis, with developing countries bearing most of the burden of these irregular migrants. The three durable solutions of repatriation, local integration and resettlement are continually being applied to the problems of migration. But these old solutions do not work. We need to make new opportunities where few existed before. Using the protracted refugee situation of the migrants from Burma who are living in Thailand as an example, this chapter puts forward some innovative ideas to make opportunities out of the global crisis of migration.
A patient centered approach to improving rural quality of health care
This project aims to address one of the gaps in the Australian Rural Health Information Framework (Bullock, 2009) by seeking the patient's opinions of their experiences of rural and urban health services. Seeking consumers' opinions is consistent with the National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement (2010) and the new patient engagement standard proposed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (2010).