Bibliography - Action Research

This bibliography draws on the Institute's catalogue and on the Australian Family and Society Abstracts database to bring you a combined list of Australian and overseas material on action research which is held in the Institute's library. Items can be borrowed via the inter library loan system, from the Institute or other participating organisations.

Note also the separate list of Online resources on the topic.

Compiled in September 2002, the bibliography has the following sections:

Aboriginal families and communities
Action research in practice
Action research theory
Adolescents
Best practice
Community development
Early intervention
Evaluation

Handbooks
Health
High risk groups
Interagency collaboration
Participatory research
Poverty
Peer support
Prevention
Women

Aboriginal families and communities

Boughton, B
Popular education, capacity-building and action research: increasing Aboriginal community control of education and health research.
Casuarina, NT: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health, 2001, 29p (Occasional paper no.005 2001), and Online (234K)

Why have decades of academic research into the conditions of Aboriginal life not yet substantially reduced the socio-economic and health inequality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people? Put simply, research tends to consolidate the power of researchers and their institutions, rather than building the power of the communities and their organisations who are being researched, the author suggests. If this is so, he asks, how might the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health (CRCATH) break this pattern? The author's objective in this occasional paper is to document and reflect upon the process which a small research team in Central Australia developed in order to break with the historical pattern of unequal exchange between research institutions and the Aboriginal communities they study. The research methodology combined conventional social research with techniques borrowed from the fields of community organising and popular education. After two years, clear benefits had begun to emerge in terms of increased community capacity to direct and control the research. This paper aims to ensure that the lessons learned from this experience inform future attempts within and beyond the CRCATH to institutionalise greater Aboriginal community control over education and health research.

Colin, T; Garrow, A
Thinking, listening, looking, understanding and acting as you go along: steps to evaluating Indigenous health promotion projects.
Alice Springs, NT: Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia (CRANA), 2nd ed., 1998, 69p, illus.

This guide is based on experience in remote Indigenous communities in Central Australia, and is aimed at anyone interested in evaluation. It includes practical ways of developing relevant health promotion project evaluation. This guide takes a participatory approach, with the focus on including participants views and doing the evaluation for the benefit of the participants. It is action oriented - oriented toward achieving action which will improve the health promotion project that is being evaluated. The guide is divided into the following sections: evaluation - what is it?; steps to planning evaluation; and worksheets to use in planning the evaluation of projects.

Fogarty, P
Lifting the lid: Vinnies Emergency Accommodation/ Reconnect - Deniliquin.
Parity v.14 no.6 Jul 2001: 18-19, illus

An early intervention program funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, Vinnies Reconnect, works with young people aged 12 to 18 years who are homeless or who have recently left home. This article describes the aims and rationale of the service which is located in southwest NSW. Work with local Aboriginal communities is discussed and action research findings of Vinnies Reconnect are outlined.

Ivanitz, M
Culture, ethics and participatory methodology in cross-cultural research.
Australian Aboriginal Studies no.2 1999: 46-58

The purpose of this paper is to identify methodological issues and approaches that are relevant to the use of research methods that are sound from both Aboriginal and academic perspectives. The practical ambivalence of doing fieldwork with human beings who have their own ideas of how fieldwork should progress and about how research results should be used is taken into account. Issues discussed include: culture as a foundation; ethics and methodology; action research approach; participatory research methods; the collective, the individual and participation; and where the control rests.

Salisbury, C
A health service and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnership to develop and plan mental health services.
Australian Journal of Primary Health - Interchange v.4 no.4 1998: 18-30, figures

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of an action research partnership between the Tweed Valley Health Service (TVHS) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community for the development and delivery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health services. This partnership was based upon Labonte's (1989) view of empowerment where it is suggested that to be empowered means to have increased capacity to define, analyse and act upon one's problems. It was proposed that the establishment of a 'partnership' based upon these principles would assist in operationalising indigenous community participation in TVHS planning. To achieve this type of 'partnership', the health service had to be willing to enter the partnership and to give the authority to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Outcome Council to seek and trial solutions on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health matters. Key outcomes were defined as the extent to which the re-organised services proved to be acceptable and utilised by the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. Outcomes were operationalised through measures of service utilisation and consumer satisfaction with accessibility, process and outcomes. The study trialed participatory action research 'as a method for indigenous participation in mental health service planning and development and concludes that it is a valid model for cross cultural research and health service development in a complex medical setting. (Journal abstract)

Smith, Danielle
Community action to promote child growth in Gapuwiyak: final report on a participatory action research project.
Casuarina, NT: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, 2004

In the Improving Child Growth in the Northern Territory project, Indigenous community members in Gapuwiyak in Arnhem Land negotiated a family centre strategy that has its basis in Indigenous understandings of poor child development and which takes into account Indigenous social and cultural values and processes. This report discusses the community development approach used and covers the project methodology and process, results, and recommendations. There is also discussion of factors that were central to the success of the project and those that limited the achievement of project outcomes.

Tsey, K [et al]
Indigenous men taking their rightful place in society: a preliminary analysis of a participatory action research process with Yarrabah men's health group.
Australian Journal of Rural Health v.10 no.6 Dec 2002: 278-284

Men's groups are increasingly being accepted as an important strategy in improving health and wellbeing, especially in Indigenous communities. However, it is hard to find systematic documentation and evaluation of such initiatives in the literature. This paper analyses the formative stages of a participatory action research (PAR) process which aims to engage and support the members of the Yarrabah Men's Health Group plan, implement and evaluate their activities. Data for the paper are based on a combination of a review of relevant literature, analysis of project documentation, participant observation and discussion and reflection with the participants of the men's group. The paper highlights the importance of (a) using a reflective approach, such as PAR, to engage men's support groups to clearly define the principles and values which both define them and to which they aspire and (b) personal development, education and employment, as a prerequisite for Indigenous men taking greater control and responsibility for their lives. These types of micro-level studies have important implications for the way community development is perceived and approached in Indigenous settings. There are also implications for the roles that academic researchers can play in supporting and adding value to community-driven initiatives to the mutual benefit of both parties. (Journal abstract)

Tsey, K [et al]
A microanalysis of a participatory action research process with a rural Aboriginal men's health group.
Australian Journal of Primary Health v.10 no.1 2004: 64-71

Our recent paper (Tsey, Patterson, Whiteside, Baird, and Baird, 2002) analysed the early stages of a participatory action research process (PAR) designed to support members of a rural Aboriginal men's group to take greater control and responsibility for the factors influencing their health and wellbeing. This follow-up paper focusses on key challenges and opportunities associated with the PAR process. Among other things, the paper highlights: a need for training providers and policy-makers to give more attention to the issue of community development skills and how to promote the uptake of such skills more widely in Indigenous settings; the importance of taking a 'solution-focussed approach' in line with the principles of PAR when doing community development work; a need for relevant training and creation of real employment opportunities to be central to strategies designed to support rural Aboriginal men to take their rightful place; a need for the men's group to promote the broad spectrum of its activities more widely so as to minimise an image problem that the men's group is only for men having problems; and, above all, an urgent need for the men's group organisers to play leadership roles through, for example, dialogue with local gay men so as to jointly come up with ideas to make the men's group more accessible for all men, including gay men. (Journal abstract)

Woods, W; Wanatjura, E; Colin, T; Mick, J; Lynch, A; Ward, N
Atunypa wiru malparara malparara: the strength of working together.
In: Weeks, W. and Quinn, M. eds. Issues facing Australian families: human services respond. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia, 3rd ed., 2000, p91-100

The NPY Women's Council, its background and the way it works are described in this chapter which incorporates explanations from NPY Women's Council members on what human services projects, services and action research have been undertaken. The focus is on using the Malparara way. Malparara means, in the context of the projects, two workers, working together on a project, one of whom is a non-Anangu woman employed for her specific professional skills, and other a senior Anangu woman (Anangu workers are usually senior women with local authority and respect, speaking local languages but not confident in speaking English in public).

Action research in practice

Community based health promotion: evaluation and development.
Research Matters: Newsletter of the South Australian Community Health Research Unit v.7 no.1 Mar 1998: 4-5, figures

This brief overview provides an outline of an action research project which was designed to encourage practitioners to reflect on their practice in the area of health promotion and to develop appropriate evaluation method in community-based health promotion. The six community-based health initiatives in metropolitan Adelaide who worked on the project are listed, the key themes are examined, the benefits from funding community-based health promotion are considered and the lessons for evaluation are revealed.

Meet the Stronger Families Fund projects.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.1 Autumn 2002: 10-15, and Online (640K)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull1/projects.pdf

In this article, a sample of projects which have been approved for funding from the Stronger Families Fund and are up and running provide answers to the following four questions about their project: The project setting; Why is the project needed? What are you trying to do in this project? and, How are you going about it? The projects are: Ashmont Community Resource Centre, Wagga Wagga; Enfield Child Development and Family Centre; Goodwood Connect; Creating Capable Communities; Building Strong and Healthy Families in Derby Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation; Families NOW - Beenleigh Families Information Centre; Strengthening Families in the Eastern Goldfields - Goldfields Men's Health.

Brooker, L
Interviewing children.
In: MacNaughton, G., Rolfe, S. A. and Siraj-Blatchford, I. eds. Doing early childhood research: international perspectives on theory and practice. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2001, p162-177

This chapter provides an account of two educational research projects, both involving English children just beginning school, to illustrate some of the issues to be considered when interviewing young children for research purposes. In the first project, the author used action research strategies in an effort to foster autonomy and independent, reflective learning among children in their first year of school. The second project was an ethnographic study of the home and school learning of children four to five years old. In both projects, the use of interviews played an important role.

Johnson, K.
The elephant and action research.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.3 Winter 2003: 3-5.

The Stronger Families Learning Exchange (SFLEX) will be involved in the development of a series of resources over the next twelve months. Each of these reflect themes emerging from the Stronger Families Fund projects. There are three different kinds of themes: content themes dealing with the impact of the project on the community in which it works; process themes which examine how the project has undertaken its work; and conceptual themes which look at overarching contributions made by the Stronger Families Fund project to strengthening families. This article proposes a means by which the SFLEX training and support team can work together to document the learning that is emerging from the different projects in an action research framework.

MacNaughton, G
Action research.
In: MacNaughton, G., Rolfe, S. A. and Siraj-Blatchford, I. eds. Doing early childhood research: international perspectives on theory and practice. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2001, p208-223

Action research is about undertaking research with people to create and study change in and through the research process. In early childhood settings, it can produce changes in the ways things are done and changes in ways of understanding what is done. This chapter discusses an action research study that attempted to change how early childhood staff understood and practiced gender equity in their services. The author's intention is to show how action research works in practice and how to ground it theoretically.

MacNaughton, G, ed.; Rolfe, S A, ed.; Siraj-Blatchford, I, ed.
Doing early childhood research: international perspectives on theory and practice.
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2001, 306p

In this publication the authors indicate how to select the appropriate questions and methods to investigate issues in early childhood. As well as a chapter on Doing research for the first time, by Sharon Ryan and Sheralyn Campbell, this book contains the following chapters, all of which are separately indexed, and can be retrieved by either author or title: Research as a tool by Sharne A Rolfe and Glenda MacNaughton; The research process by Glenda MacNaughton and Sharne A Rolfe; Paradigms, methods and knowledge by Patrick Hughes; Ethics in early childhood research by Margaret M Coady; Design issues by Alan Hayes; Quantitative designs and statistical analysis by Linda Harrison; Qualitative designs and analysis by Anne Edwards; Equity issues in research design by Susan Grieshaber; Surveys and questionnaires: an evaluative case study by Iram Siraj-Blatchford and John Siraj-Blatchford; Interviewing children by Liz Brooker; Interviewing adults by Leslie Cannold; An ethnographic approach to researching young children's learning by Iram Siraj-Blatchford and John Siraj-Blatchford; Action research by Glenda MacNaughton; Direct observation by Sharne A Rolfe; Policy research by Ann Farrell; and Developing reciprocity in a multi-method small-scale research study by Mindy Blaise Ochsner.

MacNaughton, G; Smith, K
Action research, ethics and the risks of practicing freedom for early childhood professionals.
Australian Journal of Early Childhood v.26 no.4 Dec 2001: 32-38

'Fourth generation' action research, as envisaged by Kemmis and McTaggert (1986) embodies educational transformation and emancipation through using critical reflection and social critique as key research processes. In this article the author argues that reconceptualist action research offers a space in which early childhood practitioners can practice reflection as an ethico-political act, and in doing so work with more effect for equity in early childhood. Central to this possibility is the capacity and desire of early childhood professionals to consciously reflect to 'free' themselves from knowledge and practices that fix a true and certain way to think, act and be as an early childhood professional. Learning how to risk traditional knowledges and traditional practices supports the pursuit of freedom and thus allows ethical practice to be genuinely transformative. (Journal abstract)

Mason, J; Noble, C
Reflecting on focus group research.
Women Against Violence - An Australian Feminist Journal no.9 Dec 2000: 52-60

In this article the authors reflect on a research project that aimed to explore the experiences of child welfare practitioners, particularly in relation to the application of feminist theory to child welfare practice. They highlight the several ways in which the research participants presented alternative conceptualisations of the research process itself and of researcher and researched roles in perpetuating violence against women. These reflections demonstrate the importance of awareness of, and sensitivity to, the power some women hold over other women even less powerful than themselves. The authors argue that an important aspect of participatory feminist action research must be vulnerability to the challenging of power, whoever holds it. (Journal abstract)

Morris, A; Gale, H
Action research: the intersection of action, practice, research and community involvement in recognising maternal alienation.
In: Politics, action and renewal: 4th Australian Women's Health Conference - Proceedings. Strathfieldsaye, Vic: Australian Women's Health Network, 2001, p255-260

This paper examines an action research project established in 1999 by the Northern Women's Community Health Centre in conjunction with the University of Adelaide to examine the effects of male abuse on mother-child relationships. Specifically, the paper examines the issue of 'maternal alienation', a term coined by the project to describe the manner in which children are alienated from their mothers through abusive tactics practised by their fathers. The paper opens by describing the relationship between the Northern Women's Community Health Centre and the University of Adelaide, and then reports the findings of the project.

Price, C
What is action research in Reconnect?
ALAR Journal: Action Learning and Action Research v.7 no.2 Oct 2002: 61-66

Reconnect is an early intervention youth program of the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services. It has developed a program-wide action research capacity to assist its continuous improvement, and this article presents an information piece for use by new staff that has been developed by action research consultant Yoland Wadsworth, in collaboration with a number of the Reconnect action research facilitators. The piece describes research in actual practice; what makes it 'research'; what makes it participatory; and finding the time to 'build in' action research. Examples are presented to illustrate the discussion.

Sarantakos, S
Social research.
South Melbourne, Vic: Macmillan Education, 2nd ed., 1998, 488p, tables, figures

This introductory text on social research is designed for students undertaking undergraduate courses in social sciences and related disciplines. Its main aim is to introduce methods and techniques of social research and their methodological frameworks, and to demonstrate their purpose, relevance and effectiveness. The text also integrates popular methodologies and methods, and presents a relatively complete and pluralistic model of social research, in both theory and practice. It introduces the most popular statistical techniques employed by social researchers and discusses the use of computers in social research. This second edition contains added sections on action research and evaluation research, and computer aided analysis. It fully integrates computer aided analysis with a discussion of quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Seymour, F W & Davies, E
Using action research to facilitate change in child protection services.
Journal of Community Psychology v.30 no.5 Sept 2002: 585-590

The authors have been involved in the planning and development of services for child abuse investigation and therapy. As well as the development of those services, the authors have also retained an interest in the suitability of various research models that could be applied to their work. In this article they describe action research, the model of research that they think best describes their activities, and illustrate this in relation to their efforts in the area of improving services to children and their families where allegations of sexual abuse have occurred.

Steensma, Herman. and van der Vlist, Rene.
Action research to reduce sickness absenteeism: a case study.
Concepts and Transformation vol.3 no.3 1998: 179-206

This action research project was started to reduce absenteeism due to sickness among Dutch factory workers. Managers and workers participated in the project, which was very successful. The article pays particular attention to the change process and to the characteristics of action research.

van Beinum, Hans.
On the practice of action research.
Concepts and Transformation vol.3 no.1 1998: 1-29

This article presents some of the major aspects of engaging in action research. It describes how action research is often unpredictable and how the role of the researcher unfolds as the research progresses.

Action research theory

Aldridge, G
Bridging the gap between theory and practice aka 'what is best practice in moving to best practice'.
In: Robertson, S. et al, eds. THEMHS Conference 1998: Making history, shaping the future: proceedings. Balmain, NSW: The Mental Health Services Conference of Australia and New Zealand, 1999, p127-131

Mental health services are constantly under pressure from accreditation bodies, consumers and funding bodies to introduce new 'best practices' into everyday clinical practice. However there appear to be widely divergent methods for bringing these changes about. This paper presents and critiques various models for the introduction of new practices into mental health services. Reference is made to topical issues in mental health such as the treatment of schizophrenia, family intervention and mental health assessment. The paper argues that traditional ways of introducing new procedures into a service are unlikely to be successful and describes an action research mode which systematically attempts to successfully introduce new practices into a service. The thesis of this paper is that the gap between knowing what practices a service should employ and actually introducing these into common practice can only be bridged by a systematic application of mental health and change management expertise. (Author abstract, edited)

Branigan, E.
But how can you prove it? Issues of rigour in action research.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.2 Spring - Summer 2002: 12-13.

Many of the people who are involved with the Stronger Families Fund projects, as well as those in government departments and the wider research community, may be coming into contact with action research for the first time with the Commonwealth Government's Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. The question of whether action research is rigorous is often raised when people encounter action research for the first time. Although action research has a different kind of methodology from some of the more scientific or experimental forms of research with which people may be more familiar, it is still a rigorous method of research. This article explains how action research achieves rigour in its careful application of multiple methods techniques.

Cherry, N
Action research: a pathway to action, knowledge and learning.
Melbourne, Vic: RMIT University Press, 1999, 144p (Qualitative research methods series)

This book has been prepared to assist people who are undertaking, supervising or examining action research. It describes the origin of the action research method; explores the layers and strands of work that are involved; offers a practical guide to uncovering the issues which arise from the method; reviews the status of this method relative to other research methodologies; explores the notion of subjectivity; describes other ways to strengthen the extent to which the findings of action research can be generalised; includes accounts by recent and current postgraduate students who discuss why they chose this particular method and how it worked for their thesis.

DePoy, E., Hartman, A. and Haslett, D.
Critical action research: a model for social work knowing.
Social Work v 44 n 6 November 1999: 560-570

In response to the important philosophical and methodological questions being asked in social work, this article presents a model for social work knowing that is founded on the tenets of critical theory synthesized with principles and practices from action research. The model provides the essential empirical support for social work interventions and outcomes and is consistent with the social work code of ethics and the social work profession's commitment to elimination of oppression. An example of the process, the Maine Adolescent Project, is used to illustrate the implementation of the model.

Ingamells, A
Counting ourselves in or out: community work and the industry training agenda.
In: 'Promoting Inclusion - Redressing Exclusion: the Social Work Challenge' conference proceedings, Joint Conference of the AASW, IFSW, APASWE and AASWWE, September 1999. Barton, ACT: Australian Association of Social Workers, 1999, v.1, p399-405

Attempts by Queensland community workers to find ways of addressing community development training needs are described in this paper which is part of an action research PhD which documents the group's efforts to see where the potential for, and limits of, cooperation between the Industry Training Agenda and the emerging local community work training agenda lie.

MacNaughton, G, ed.; Rolfe, S A, ed.; Siraj-Blatchford, I, ed.
Doing early childhood research: international perspectives on theory and practice.
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2001, 306p

MacNaughton, G
Rethinking gender in early childhood education.
St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2000, 269p

This book confronts nine common myths about gender equity in early childhood and attempts to reveal how everyday gender matters in young children's lives, highlighting how everyday teaching practices influence the gendering of young children's identities. Feminist interpretations of early childhood teachers' research stories are used in order to revitalise work for gender reform within early childhood education. Each chapter presents cameos of children's play, as well as teachers' stories which are the result of an 18 month action research study undertaken between 1991 and 1993. The central argument is that power relations weaving between everyday pedagogies in early childhood form a regime of truth about the developing child and the teacher's role and responsibility towards the developing child.

Mason, J; Noble, C
Reflecting on focus group research.
Women Against Violence - An Australian Feminist Journal no.9 Dec 2000: 52-60

Rice, P L; Ezzy, D
Qualitative research methods: a health focus.
South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1999, 295p, tables, figures

Aiming to demystify the process of qualitative research, particularly health related research in Australia, this book examines the following issues: history and philosophy of qualitative research methods, including ethnography, phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, feminism, hermeneutics and postmodernism; issues of rigour, methods of sampling, relationships between researchers and researched, and ethics and politics of research process; qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviewing, focus groups, narrative analysis, memory work and participatory action research; process of data analysis, including computer-aided analysis; qualitative research proposals for funding; how to write for publication; and dissemination and evaluation of qualitative research findings. Each chapter also provides extended examples of research that has utilised the particular method. The book targets health care students and health professionals.

Safyer, Andrew W., Griffin, Margaret L. and Colan, Neil B.
Methodological issues when developing prevention programs for low income, urban adolescents.
Journal of Social Service Research vol. 23 nos. 3/4 1998: 23-46

This article reports on the developmental stages of an action research project. Project Opportunity is a prevention program for low-income, urban adolescents. It tests innovative conceptual model that utilizes the workplace both to access teens who are dependents of low-wage employees and to provide services to the youths and parents at the site. Methodological lessons learned from implementing the Project are presented. Research considerations in selection of subjects, measures and procedures must be adapted to match the specific challenges facing the families. Additional considerations not typically reported are critical, including establishing credibility among the various constituents, negotiating for access to families and build staff commitment to an evaluation.

Sarantakos, S
Social research.
South Melbourne, Vic: Macmillan Education, 2nd ed., 1998, 488p, tables, figures

Philosophically influenced by the synergistic theories of community development and participatory action research (PAR), the following two programs are discussed in this paper: the Community Public Health Planning in Rural and Remote Areas Project; and the Sustainable Rural Health Services Program. Comparisons and contrasts are made between the programs which are aimed at disadvantaged groups in rural Queensland.

Seymour, F W & Davies, E
Using action research to facilitate change in child protection services.
Journal of Community Psychology v.30 no.5 Sept 2002: 585-590

Styhre, Alexander, Kohn, Kamilla and Sundgren, Mats.
Action research as theoretical practices.
Concepts and Transformation vol.7 no.1 2002: 93-105

In many instances theory is seen as being in opposition to practice. However, this paper argues that theoretical practices are actually the key elements of action research.

Turner, Colleen.
Action research and better outcomes for community projects.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.2 Spring - Summer 2002: 6-7.

This article examines how an action research approach might improve the process of attaining goals and achieving effective outcomes for Stronger Families Fund projects. It is argued that an action research approach provides a valuable means of assessing or evaluating how such projects develop, and the outcomes that may result, thus improving the quality of the projects at a number of levels.

Adolescents

Fogarty, P
Lifting the lid: Vinnies Emergency Accommodation/ Reconnect - Deniliquin.
Parity v.14 no.6 Jul 2001: 18-19, illus

Goff, S
Restraint of love: participatory action research into the meaning of family violence to young people.
Lismore, NSW: Workplace Research, Learning and Development (WoRLD) Institute, Southern Cross University Press, 1998, 346p

This publication is devoted to the issues of family violence and young people. The author, together with other contributors, present the results of a large project entitled, The Young People and Family Violence Participatory Action Research Project 1992 - 1995. The book links family violence and youth at risk, provides a case study of the use of participatory action research (PAR) in this context, includes the voices of both survivors and social workers, and provides integrated handbook for PAR interventions. The survivors' chapters are not presented as solutions to the problem, but as descriptions of how individuals confronted their experiences and how they arrived at the position which they describe. The co-researchers' chapters describe the same process of confrontation, consideration and inclusion in action, but from the point of view of the intervener rather than the survivor.

Malone, K
Dangerous youth: youth geographies in a climate of fear.
In: McLeod, J. and Malone, K. eds. Researching youth. Hobart, Tas: Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, 2000, p135-148

A focus of this chapter is working with young people to effect change. Using a multidisciplinary and multi-method approach to data collection, and drawing from findings from two Australian sites (Braybrook and Frankston, Victoria) of an international participatory action research project (the Growing Up In Cities project), the author explores the impact of a 'climate of fear' on young people's spatial behaviour. She discusses how 'moral panics' informed by 'underclass ideologies' have brought into focus conflicts over space use and the introduction of forces to segregate and purify space. The author argues that, fuelled by stereotypical representations of urban youth as dangerous predators, this global phenomenon of segregation is a product of late modernity and is determined in terms of age, ethnicity and class. She proposes that in order to reveal the multiplicity of the youth environmental experience, methods of enquiry need to be designed that include mapping the micro-geographies of youth. (Introduction)

Best practice

Bryce, H; Drielsma, P
Early intervention home visiting: evaluated and revisited! Evaluation of a preventative model to strengthen isolated families.
Children Australia v.27 no.1 2002: 20-27, tables, figures

This article is a follow-up of a paper describing a proposed 'best practice' model for a home visiting service for first-time parents (Drielsma, 1998). The results of three years implementation and evaluation of a pilot of that model in a geographically isolated semi-metropolitan high growth area on the Central Coast, NSW are presented and discussed. The service uses paid professionals within the context of a 'Family Centre' with a volunteer network to offer ongoing home visiting support to first-time parents who are facing social and geographical isolation and who have few supports and resources to meet their needs. Importantly, the service has relied on close collaboration with child health services and a partnership with other community agencies and the local community itself. The external evaluation used a mix of Action Research and quantitative tools. This showed that the pilot model effectively engaged 'high-risk' families in a non-stigmatising way. Further, these families were networked to an array of other mainstream child health and family support services. The essence of this model was described through an Action Profiling process and this correlated closely with the model's structural parameters of operation. (Journal abstract)

Community development

Fitzpatrick, M
So you've got a good idea: how to do community projects.
Melbourne, Vic: Council on the Ageing Victoria, 2000, 108p

The Council on the Ageing Victoria (COTA Vic) carried out the Coordination and Support Project, funded by VicHealth and the Department of Human Services Victoria, under the Positive Wellbeing for Older People (PWOP) grants scheme in 1999. This handbook on how to do community projects is one of the outcomes of the Coordination and Support Project. It records the experience, knowledge and successes gained by participants in the 39 PWOP projects, so that participants in new community projects can learn from earlier ones. Sections in the handbook include examining your assumptions, getting funding, cultural diversity, evaluation, and project workers.

Johnson, J
Poverty in Australia: developing community dialogue: report of a qualitative research study.
Fitzroy, Vic: Brotherhood of St Laurence, 2002, 18p, figures

Part of the Understanding Poverty project, this report is intended to promote dialogue about poverty within the community and to encourage the public to put pressure on the federal government to develop relevant policy. The paper features excerpts from six focus group discussions held in June 2001. Ideas on poverty are discussed among the following groups: older socially aware activists, youth, low to middle income families and higher income families. Some of the discussions revolve around definitions of poverty and the trend from community to individualism.

Munford, R, [et al].
Action research with families / whanau and communities.
In: Munford, R. & Sanders, J. eds. Making a difference in families: research that creates change. St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2003, p93-112.

The authors discuss research they conducted in New Zealand to identify what social service interventions were effective in supporting families to achieve positive change in their relationships and parenting, and in developing problem solving strategies. They consider the application of participatory action and community development practices as a basis for research leading to social change. They discuss the research methodology, including several questions that arose along the way. The key challenge they identify is how to carry out truly participatory and cooperative research that forges new partnerships.

Early intervention

Crane, P; Richardson, L
Reconnect action research kit.
Canberra, ACT: Department of Family and Community Services, 2000, various pagings, and Online
http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/aboutfacs/programs/yo uth-reconnect_action_research_kit.htm

This kit is designed to explain 'action research' and how it 'fits' into the Federal Government's Reconnect Program, an early intervention program which addresses the needs of young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and their families. The kit is to help Reconnect services build the capacities of their communities to deliver early intervention programs at the local level. It includes information about how action research can contribute to positive outcomes for young people, their families, Reconnect services and other community agencies. It provides practical examples and tools for applying action research.

Fogarty, P
Lifting the lid: Vinnies Emergency Accommodation/ Reconnect - Deniliquin.
Parity v.14 no.6 Jul 2001: 18-19, illus

Lienert, T
Doing an action research evaluation.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.1 Autumn 2002: 16-20 and Online (299K)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull1/tl2.pdf

There are many different ways of doing action research evaluations. This article outlines how action research evaluations will be used by projects in the Stronger Families Fund. It is intended to serve as an introduction for Stronger Families Fund projects, but also to be of interest to others working in the field of early intervention and prevention.

Price, C
What is action research in Reconnect?
ALAR Journal: Action Learning and Action Research v.7 no.2 Oct 2002: 61-66

Evaluation

Community based health promotion: evaluation and development.
Research Matters: Newsletter of the South Australian Community Health Research Unit v.7 no.1 Mar 1998: 4-5, figures

Adams, J
Introducing Stronger Families Learning Exchange.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.1 Autumn 2002: 2-3, and Online (222K)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull1/intro.pdf

As part of its Stronger Families and Communities Strategy, the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services has contracted the Australian Institute of Family Studies to provide a 'learning exchange' to support parents, families and communities in their role of caring for young children. This introduction to the Learning Exchange explains that it will provide special training and support in action research evaluations to Stronger Families Fund projects, and a Clearinghouse, offering a range of services.

Cherry, N
Action research: a pathway to action, knowledge and learning.
Melbourne, Vic: RMIT University Press, 1999, 144p (Qualitative research methods series)

Fielder, J
Action research: where the action is.
Perth, WA: Curtin Indigenous Research Centre, 1999, 16p (Discussion paper no.26/1999)

By examining recent research that highlights problems of participatory action research as well as its value, the author identifies some concerns about establishing a simplistic binary opposition between 'new paradigms' and 'traditional' research. The author's purpose in this article is to outline some of the discursive and institutional problems that emerge in an academic research context, and to argue for a more open and flexible model that recognises other research methodologies rather than outrightly rejecting them. The author suggests that the research questions or issues should determine the methodology, rather than the methodology driving the research. For many researchers, participatory action may be appropriate, but the opportunity to hear about, read, apply and borrow from other approaches should be actively encouraged.

Fitzpatrick, M
So you've got a good idea: how to do community projects.
Melbourne, Vic: Council on the Ageing Victoria, 2000, 108p

Lienert, T
Doing an action research evaluation.
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.1 Autumn 2002: 16-20 and Online (299K)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull1/tl2.pdf

Lienert, T
Why use action research?
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin no.1 Autumn 2002: 4-5, and Online (103K)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull1/tl.pdf

The author provides an overview of what action research is, and the use of an action research approach to evaluate programs.

Partnerships Against Domestic Violence (Australia); CultureShift
Claiming back community : the final report for the Partners for Prevention participatory action research study.
Canberra, ACT: Partnerships Against Domestic Violence, Office of the Status of Women, 2001, 283p, and Online (4087K)

Through this study, the Domestic Violence Prevention Council inquired into the way in which families and friends recognise family violence when it is taking place, how they respond to the help seeker's requests and what value personal support actions have. The Council wanted to generate a 'sense' of community participation in responding to family violence and to raise awareness about the issues. The research method included those seeking and giving help in a facilitated and on-going inquiry relationship that operated within an inquiry 'partnership' with participating agencies. The inquiry moved in iterative cycles, from one set of propositions to the next, exchanging reported workshop data between the groups. This report constitutes the collective consensus of these perspectives. It assimilates the study's findings, and aims to provide a strategic resource to augment the social capital potential of personal support. The report includes an executive summary; an analysis of the context of personal support; discusses problems made visible by the study, and illustrates them by participants' quotes, secondary references and survey data; looks at the nature of personal support; describes how the study responded to the key problems and what was learned from this response about community development and social capital, particularly with regard to personal support; describes the proposed community development strategy to develop personal support in the ACT, which is captured in 21 recommended actions; and concludes with a description of the study's evaluation strategies and its research method.

Rice, J
Reference groups that really work.
ALAR Journal: Action Learning and Action Research v.7 no.1 Apr 2002: 37-45, tables

Reference groups refer to a group of people drawn from the community, fulfilling the roles of both a steering committee and an advisory committee. This paper draws on the author's experiences as a consultant running reference groups over the past few years. The author outlines the aims and usefulness of reference groups, and how to ensure that reference groups are effective.

Rice, P L; Ezzy, D
Qualitative research methods: a health focus.
South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1999, 295p, tables, figures

Stayner, R; Foskey, R; Ramasubramarian, L
The continuing effects of action research projects: final report to the Department of Family and Community Services.
Armidale, NSW: Institute for Rural Futures, University of New England, 2000, 141p

In 1995-96 the Department of Social Security funded 80 community-based initiatives called Action Research Projects (ARPs) as a component of the Community Research Project. A comprehensive report on the experience of these initiatives was prepared at the conclusion of the funding. The Department of Family and Community Services then contracted the Rural Development Centre at the University of New England to document and analyse the subsequent experience of twelve of the ARP sites, their related organisations and their communities, in order to help develop a better understanding of the potential longer-term effects of community-driven initiatives to enhance the well being of individuals and families with low incomes. The research project was interested in learning from both successful and unsuccessful project experiences. This was to provide some research based advice to FaCS to enable the department to be more effective in managing and facilitating the development of future community-based initiatives.

Tobin, M
Project report: Youth At Risk of Deliberate Self Harm YARDS Project: reducing repeated deliberate self harm (DSH) among youth: the impact of service development and enhanced clinical development.
Synergy: Newsletter of the Australian Transcultural Mental Health Network Winter 2000: 5, 35-37

In response to recommendations from the NSW Mental Health Expert Working Party, the Youth At Risk of Deliberate Self Harm YARDS Project was developed. This paper describes the project's model of intervention, discussing issues of: target group; the service enhancements; the service enhancement process; the action research process; periodic assessment of change; results of the project; and client feedback. Problems with evaluation are addressed.

Handbooks

Deakin University, Faculty of Education, Open Campus Program, Deakin University, School of Social and Cultural Studies in Education and Open Campus Program.
The Action research reader.
Deakin University; Geelong, Vic. : 1998; 1 v. (various pagings).

Produced principally for units ECE632, EAE430, ECR603 (Action research : rationale and planning) offered by the Faculty of Education's School of Social and Cultural Studies in Education in Deakin University's Open Campus Program.

McNiff, Jean and Whitehead, Jack.
Action research : principles and practice.
RoutledgeFalmer; London ; New York : 2002; xi, 163 p.

Describes and explains the practices of action research and its underlying values. It provides new case-study material and an emphasis on the educational significance of action research as well as providing an overview of current methodological discussion

Methods manual: engaging communities in participatory action research.
Southport, Qld: South Coast Public Health Unit, Queensland Health, 2002.

A companion document for the Queensland Health's Supportive Environments for Active Living (SEAL) Strategic Framework, this manual provides a methodology for implementing one of the four elements of SEAL, the People element. It provides guidelines on: engaging a community, building social capital, establishing a partnership within the community, communicating with the wider community, implementing a participatory action research (PAR) data collection and analysis process, developing action plans, obtaining community feedback on action plans, managing the ongoing implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SEAL plans for action.

Reason, Peter and Bradbury, Hilary.
Handbook of action research : participative inquiry and practice.
SAGE; London : 2001; xlii, 468 p.

Selener, Daniel.
Participatory action research and social change.
Cornell Participatory Action Research Network, Cornell University; Ithaca, NY : 1998; 358 p.

Stringer, Ernest T.
Action research.
SAGE; Thousand Oaks, Calif. London : 1999; xxv,229 p.

'Community-based action research seeks to involve as active participants those who have traditionally been called subjects and is intended to result in a practical outcome related to the lives or work of the participants. Author Ernest T. Stringer provides a series of tools that assist the researcher in working through the research process. Action Research, Second Edition provides a simple but highly effective model for approaching action research.'--BOOK JACKET

Winter, Richard and Munn-Giddings, Carol.
A handbook for action research in health and social care.
Routledge; London ; New York : 2001; xvi, 281 p.

Health

Community based health promotion: evaluation and development.
Research Matters: Newsletter of the South Australian Community Health Research Unit v.7 no.1 Mar 1998: 4-5, figures

Atkins, C; McCaughey, J
Community auditing government: the Social Justice Report Card.
In: Hancock, L. ed. Women, public policy and the state. South Yarra, Vic: MacMillan Education Australia, 1999, p235-246, tables, figures

This chapter outlines a project that documents and highlights the impact of recent government reforms on women in Victoria. The project, carried out by the People Together Project (PTP), is titled the Social Justice Report Card (SJRC) and forms part of the program of action research undertaken by the PTP in the areas of health, education, community services, justice and employment. The concept of SJRC is described and the following issues are examined: Public Community Inquiry; Women's Community Audits; survey by the Victorian Women's Coalition; rating of government's success in area of social justice; socially just government; socially unjust government; and reasons why the community should audit government.

Brown, S; Johnson, K; Wyn, J
Minimising the health impacts of gambling: Horn of Africa community.
Australian Journal of Primary Health v.7 no.1 2001: 124-127, tables

This paper describes a project with women from the Horn of Africa who were concerned about the impacts of gambling on their community's health. It draws on a two-year action research study, which examined the health implications of gambling for women living in Melbourne's Western Metropolitan Region. Members of the Horn of Africa community designed ways of consulting with their communities and were trained and employed as co-researcbers and cultural consultants to the project. They then conducted focus groups, assisted in the data analysis and used the findings to develop and implement strategies, which were aimed at reducing the negative effects of gambling. Women were then trained and employed as peer educators. The project involved collaboration between women, community elders and mainstream support services. The community undertook management of the project and the women evaluated the project themselves. (Journal abstract)

Harvey, C; Fossey, E; Plant, G; Epstein, M; Findlay, R; Graham, C; Lucas, L; Schoofs, L
Challenging myths: research can benefit individuals and services, as well as researchers reflections on doing research in 'the community'.
In: Robertson, S. et al, eds. THEMHS Conference 1998: Making history, shaping the future: proceedings. Balmain, NSW: The Mental Health Services Conference of Australia and New Zealand, 1999, p101-106

Research is generally assumed to benefit the wider community, but less importance is typically attached to whether it benefits the 'researched'. This ethical position is challenged by the consumer movement, and by those advocating participatory action research methodologies. In practical terms, this ethical position also hinders full consumer participation in research projects in terms of effective recruitment, as well as consumer involvement in the design, development and implementation of projects. This paper describes a quantitative research project that has attempted to incorporate consumer participation. Individual feedback for consumers and service providers has been developed, the relevance of which has been evaluated by consumers. The authors believe they have demonstrated that, with thoughtful design, quantitative research projects may provide meaningful information and knowledge not only to the researchers, but also to the research participants. (Author abstract)

Madden, K
Access to bulk-billing general practitioners in Tasmania.
Australian Journal of Primary Health v.8 no.1 2002: 87-90, tables, figures

Access to basic health care services is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. Imposition of fees for service restricts access to care, particularly for people on low incomes. In recent years there has been a slight national decline in bulk-billing by general practitioners that has been more pronounced in Tasmania. Evidence from Tasmania suggests significant numbers of general practitioners in some areas of the state are charging gap fees to Health Care and Pension Concession Cardholders. Local qualitative and quantitative data indicate that low-income earners are delaying or avoiding seeking health care because they are unable to afford the cost. (Journal abstract)

Rice, P L; Ezzy, D
Qualitative research methods: a health focus.
South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1999, 295p, tables, figures

Robinson, A
At the interface of health and community care: developing linkages between aged care services in a rural context.
Australian Journal of Rural Health v.7 no.3 Aug 1999: 172-181

Issues concerning the development of linkages across the interface between acute and community aged care services in a small regional Australian city are explored in this paper. A participatory action research project that took place over a two year period involving an Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) is described. The findings highlight a field characterised by ineffective linkages within and between the various sectors and a lack of understanding of the operation of the rural aged care system among nurses working in regional hospitals.

Scott, J; Smyllie, S; Campbell, B; Bush, R
Comparison and contrast of two programs which aim to increase community capacity and facilitate sustainable and responsive health systems in Queensland.
In: Leaping the boundary fence: using evidence and collaboration to build healthier rural communities: proceedings of the 5th National Rural Health Conference, Adelaide, March 1999. Deakin West, ACT: National Rural Health Alliance, 1999, p393-399, and Online
http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-10767-19991208-http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/fifthconf/program.htm

Tsey, K [et al]
A microanalysis of a participatory action research process with a rural Aboriginal men's health group.
Australian Journal of Primary Health v.10 no.1 2004: 64-71

High risk groups

Reed, J
Vulnerable adults project: Adelaide City Council/ Home and Community Care Project.
Parity v.15 no.5 May 2002: 22-23

The Vulnerable Adults Project, managed by the Adelaide City Council, targets homeless people between 40-65 with high and complex needs such as substance abuse or alcohol problems and mental illness. The author describes how the project hopes to ensure long term tenancy support for these people, who are at risk of losing their community based tenure. She also points out the difficulties of making services accessible to people with complex needs, and the importance of collaborative work among service providers.

Interagency collaboration

Robinson, A
At the interface of health and community care: developing linkages between aged care services in a rural context.
Australian Journal of Rural Health v.7 no.3 Aug 1999: 172-181

Participatory research

Fitzpatrick, M
So you've got a good idea: how to do community projects.
Melbourne, Vic: Council on the Ageing Victoria, 2000, 108p

Gibbs, A
Social work and empowerment-based research: possibilities, process and questions.
Australian Social Work v.54 no.1 Mar 2001: 29-39

Social work research, emphasising the use of rigorous, scientific and evidence-based approaches, has a tendency to exclude the subjects or participants of research, from either acting in co-researcher capacity, or from significantly influencing the course that research involving them will take. This article highlights the need for an inclusive approach with an aim to empower participants, through their greater participation in and decision-making control over research. Three specific research strategies are discussed to illustrate empowerment-based research in social work: action research, collaborative enquiry, and kaupapa Maori research (where Maori self-determination and constructions of knowledge are the starting points for research). The article discusses the possibilities and process of empowerment-based research in social work and highlights the emerging issues for researchers using this approach. (Journal abstract)

Ivanitz, M
Culture, ethics and participatory methodology in cross-cultural research.
Australian Aboriginal Studies no.2 1999: 46-58

Leggett, A & Ramos, J
A program for building university undergraduates capacities in participatory action research, foresight, learning and innovation.
ALAR Journal: Action Learning and Action Research v.7 no.2 Oct 2002: 35-38.

This article reports on a program based on encouraging the development of generic personal and professional capacities that enable people to apply their knowledge, passion and creativity. The program has the following main aims: to establish new ways of building capacities in a university environment; to provide participants with access to the tools and knowledge base in order to enable them to be engaged and build their understanding of anticipatory action learning, research and innovation; and to resolve the challenge of increasing the numbers of participation while managing logistics, costs and authenticity.

Smith, Danielle
Community action to promote child growth in Gapuwiyak: final report on a participatory action research project.
Casuarina, NT: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, 2004

Tsey, K [et al]
A microanalysis of a participatory action research process with a rural Aboriginal men's health group.
Australian Journal of Primary Health v.10 no.1 2004: 64-71

Poverty

Generis, M
Impacts of poverty on children.
Brotherhood Comment Aug 2000: 8-9, and Online (whole issue 173K)
http://www.bsl.org.au.pdfs/commentaug00.pdf

The Children's Task Force commissioned the Brotherhood of St Laurence to write a status report on the nature of, impact and potential responses to child poverty in Australia. This publication, 'No child...', by Alison McClelland, former Director of Social Action and Research at the Brotherhood, has recently been released and looks at the effects of child poverty. This article provides a brief overview of some of the findings from the report including: material and psychological hardship and stress; isolation and exclusion; and longer term impacts on adults.

Johnson, J
Poverty in Australia: developing community dialogue: report of a qualitative research study.
Fitzroy, Vic: Brotherhood of St Laurence, 2002, 18p, figures

MacDonald, F; Sieman, D
Families, work and welfare.
In: Saunders, P, ed. Reforming the Australian welfare state. Melbourne, Vic: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2000, p206-223

How helpful is the concept of welfare dependency, with its implications of a culture of dependency, as a diagnosis of the problems associated with being a sole parent, having a disability, or being unemployed? In attempting to answer this question, this chapter presents sketches of the lives of two families who might be described as welfare dependent and who were involved in the Brotherhood of St Laurence's Life Chances Study. Issues addressed include: poverty, low income and being unemployed; social and economic change; employment as a pathway out of poverty; and strategies that actually help. Criticisms are made of Australia's mutual obligation policy.

McClelland, A
Wages, social security and poverty.
Impact Dec 1999: 8-9

Both the wage and social security system make important contributions to sustaining living standards in Australia. An important implication is that there is no clear dichotomy between work and social security, especially over a lifetime. Rather, there is a growing interface between the two, with a range of combinations becoming increasingly prevalent. The existence of this interface raises significant concerns, the author of this article argues. These are related to the effects of high effective marginal tax rates faced by many people on low incomes and the need for wage supplementation for low wage workers.

Pawar, M; McClinton, J
Towards poverty alleviation in rural Australia: a first step.
Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Social Research, Charles Sturt University and Regional Social Development Centre, La Trobe University, 2000, 69p, tables

A brief history of poverty in Australia is provided in the introductory chapter of this document which addresses issues of: defining poverty and rural; the extent and nature of rural poverty; rural poverty versus urban poverty; rural services; and poverty alleviation in Australia. The poverty alleviation approach and research method of an action research study are discussed. This study entitled A Feasibility Study for a Poverty Alleviation Project in Rural Australia, aimed to understand what the experience of poverty means to people in rural communities and to work with those people in identifying ways and means of alleviating or relieving such poverty. Issues examined include: perceptions of poverty; unemployment; low pay; lack of services; decline in agriculture; farm families; the elderly; causes of poverty; use of programs; hiding poverty; initiating poverty alleviation; and recruitment of volunteers.

Peer support

Brown, S; Johnson, K; Wyn, J
Minimising the health impacts of gambling: Horn of Africa community.
Australian Journal of Primary Health v.7 no.1 2001: 124-127, tables

Prevention

Special section: primary prevention of mental disorder and promotion of mental health.
Journal of Mental Health v 7 n 5 October 1998: 437-518

This issue contains the following articles: An overview of primary prevention by G.W. Albee and K. Ryan; Changing concepts of prevention in mental health by E. L. Cowen; Primary prevention mental health programs for children and adolescents are effective by J. A. Durlak; The making, unmaking and remaking of primary prevention by M. F.. Shore; Prevention science and collaborative community action research: combining the best from both perspectives by R. P. Weissberg and M. T. Greenberg; Investing in parents' development as an investment in primary prevention by L. A. Bond and C. E. Burns; Cost analysis and primary prevention: a sound idea whose time has come by S. T. Goldston.

Halford, W K
Australian couples in millennium three: a research and development agenda for marriage and relationship education.
Canberra, ACT: Department of Family and Community Services, 2000, 118p and Online (408K)
http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/vIA/families/$file/australian_couples.pdf

Prepared for the Department of Family and Community Services as a background paper for the National Families Strategy, this report examines in detail issues under the following broad headings: significance and nature of strong marriage and couple relationships; the major determinants of strong couple relationships; current knowledge about relationship education; challenges and opportunities in making marriage and relationship education more effective; and specific research and development proposals - a series of action research proposals for extending the accessibility and effectiveness of marriage and relationship education.

Women

Leonard, Rosemary
Doing feminist action research: examining women's participation in third sector organisations for older people.
Third Sector Review v.9 no.2 2003: 81-93

This paper examines the issues arising from doing feminist action research. The research aimed to investigate and enhance the participation of older women from three community organisations within their organisations and in government policy forums. In keeping with an action research paradigm, the project followed cycles of reflecting, planning and acting. Nine issues emerged, mostly reflecting difficulties with power. Initially, the participants exhibited a lack of power by being silent, giving too willing consent and attributing success to others. Researchers curbed their own power by limiting their input, their desire for research data, and their power as authors. Considerable empowerment was achieved. (Journal abstract)