Karen Lane - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Karen Lane
Beyond the limited efficiency and economy goals of neoliberal health policy lies the promise of g... more Beyond the limited efficiency and economy goals of neoliberal health policy lies the promise of genuine health services reform. In maternity care in particular, recent policy
Journal of Global Health, 2016
Journal of Global Health, 2016
Tasa 2008 Re Imagining Sociology the Annual Conference of the Australian Sociological Association 2008 2 5 December 2008 the University of Melbourne, 2008
Current government policy in Victoria, as elsewhere, is seeking to change the provision of matern... more Current government policy in Victoria, as elsewhere, is seeking to change the provision of maternity care from an obstetric-led system to a flatter, more collaborative system that brings midwives to the front line as primary carers, at least in the public sector. However, dominant medical discourses continue to exert a sedimentary effect on contesting claims from midwives that deny the high-risk nature of the majority of births and which valorise the competence of the female body. Although there have been modifications in maternity arrangements (and the incumbent government is currently considering more), medical discourses continue to legitimate obstetric power via legal and professional structures, fortify the obstetric 'habitus', infect mainstream popular consciousness and undermine autonomous midwifery practice. Drawing from research material gleaned from in-depth interviews with nine obstetricians and thirty midwives conducted in 2004 and 2005, I argue that alternative discourses may strategically undermine obstetric dominance. Specifically, reversing stereotypes; inverting the binary opposition and privileging the subordinate term (or substituting the negative for positive); and defamiliarizing what is perceived to be fixed and given, all play on the ambiguities of representation and present social activists (midwives, childbirth educators and women) with valuable opportunities to challenge fundamentalist medical orthodoxies.
Tasa 2012 Proceedings of the Australian Sociological Association Conference 2012, 2012
Professional workers - midwives and obstetricians - within 15 caseload maternity units were inter... more Professional workers - midwives and obstetricians - within 15 caseload maternity units were interviewed to evaluate their response to collaborative care models. The evidence shows that new discourses and models have the potential to disrupt the 'silo effect' of old professional boundaries and to facilitate a realignment between midwives and obstetricians along more egalitarian lines. However change is not automatic. Among other conditions, a coalition of 'change champions' is necessary to build cultures of respect and recognition among all staff.
On Line Opinion, May 6, 2009
Midwifery Preparation For Practice, 2010
Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice Revue Canadienne De La Recherche Et De La Pratique Sage Femme, Jan 13, 2008
Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice, 2005
Midwifery Preparation For Practice, 2006
Proceedings of the Politics of Recognition Identity Respect and Justice Conference, 2005
Tasa 2001 Conference 13 15 December 2001 the University of Sydney, 2001
Advances in Medicine and Biology, 2013
Midwifery Pathways to Healthy Nations Congress Proceedings 27th Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives Brisbane Australia 24 28 July 2005 Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, 2005
Nursing Review, Apr 3, 2012
Women and Birth, 2013
Provision of personalised, continuous care focused on &am... more Provision of personalised, continuous care focused on 'well women' is now central to midwifery identity and work ideals, but it remains difficult in hospital contexts shaped by increased demand and by neoliberal policies. Previous accounts of occupational and work-family conflicts in midwifery and nursing have pointed to the 'moral distress' associated with managing conflicting expectations in health workplaces. This paper examines these issues in the Australian context and considers further the ethical implications of midwives not feeling 'cared for' themselves in health care organisations. Qualitative research in several Victorian maternity units included use of interviews and observational methods to explore staff experiences of organisational and professional change. Data were coded and analysed using NVivo. Midwives reported frequent contestation as they sought to practice their ideal of themselves as caregivers in what they reported as often 'uncaring' workplaces. To interpret this data, we argue for seeing midwifery caring as embodied social practice taking place within 'organisation carescapes'. Theoretical analysis of the moral and ethical dimensions of the contemporary organisational structure of maternity care suggests that a practice-based and dialogical ethic should form the core principle of care both for women in childbirth and for their carers.
The Australian Journal of Midwifery, 2002
Journal of Sociology, 1985
was deeply feared. The authors found that, no doubt attributable in part to the negative publicit... more was deeply feared. The authors found that, no doubt attributable in part to the negative publicity, in every case the company had made some effort to prevent a reoccurrence, usually by changing the procedures which had enabled the offence to occur in the first place. In some cases, for instance, the new procedure involved directors acknowledging in writing that they had seen and read internal company documents of which previously they had been able to plead ignorance. The book concludes with two long and excellent chapters spelling out ways in which publicity might be put to use systematically to deter or remedy corporate wrong-doing. My only criticism of the work is that it places a little too much faith in the power of publicity. The journalistic expose of the Watergate scandal leading ultimately to the fall of President Nixon was, the authors say, ’the laser which enabled the U.S. body politic to remove an ominous cancer’. The tragedy of Watergate, however, was that it was seen by many as vindication of the system, as an illustration of the self-cleaning nature of the U.S. political process, and not as an indication of the need for radical changes to prevent further such abuses. Similarly, while it is valuable to stress the reformative affects of publicity in relation to corporate wrong-doing, it must also be recognized that exploitative and manipulative behaviour are an inherent part of capitalist enterprise which will only be eliminated, if at all, by far more radical policy prescriptions than the authors envisage.
Beyond the limited efficiency and economy goals of neoliberal health policy lies the promise of g... more Beyond the limited efficiency and economy goals of neoliberal health policy lies the promise of genuine health services reform. In maternity care in particular, recent policy
Journal of Global Health, 2016
Journal of Global Health, 2016
Tasa 2008 Re Imagining Sociology the Annual Conference of the Australian Sociological Association 2008 2 5 December 2008 the University of Melbourne, 2008
Current government policy in Victoria, as elsewhere, is seeking to change the provision of matern... more Current government policy in Victoria, as elsewhere, is seeking to change the provision of maternity care from an obstetric-led system to a flatter, more collaborative system that brings midwives to the front line as primary carers, at least in the public sector. However, dominant medical discourses continue to exert a sedimentary effect on contesting claims from midwives that deny the high-risk nature of the majority of births and which valorise the competence of the female body. Although there have been modifications in maternity arrangements (and the incumbent government is currently considering more), medical discourses continue to legitimate obstetric power via legal and professional structures, fortify the obstetric 'habitus', infect mainstream popular consciousness and undermine autonomous midwifery practice. Drawing from research material gleaned from in-depth interviews with nine obstetricians and thirty midwives conducted in 2004 and 2005, I argue that alternative discourses may strategically undermine obstetric dominance. Specifically, reversing stereotypes; inverting the binary opposition and privileging the subordinate term (or substituting the negative for positive); and defamiliarizing what is perceived to be fixed and given, all play on the ambiguities of representation and present social activists (midwives, childbirth educators and women) with valuable opportunities to challenge fundamentalist medical orthodoxies.
Tasa 2012 Proceedings of the Australian Sociological Association Conference 2012, 2012
Professional workers - midwives and obstetricians - within 15 caseload maternity units were inter... more Professional workers - midwives and obstetricians - within 15 caseload maternity units were interviewed to evaluate their response to collaborative care models. The evidence shows that new discourses and models have the potential to disrupt the 'silo effect' of old professional boundaries and to facilitate a realignment between midwives and obstetricians along more egalitarian lines. However change is not automatic. Among other conditions, a coalition of 'change champions' is necessary to build cultures of respect and recognition among all staff.
On Line Opinion, May 6, 2009
Midwifery Preparation For Practice, 2010
Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice Revue Canadienne De La Recherche Et De La Pratique Sage Femme, Jan 13, 2008
Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice, 2005
Midwifery Preparation For Practice, 2006
Proceedings of the Politics of Recognition Identity Respect and Justice Conference, 2005
Tasa 2001 Conference 13 15 December 2001 the University of Sydney, 2001
Advances in Medicine and Biology, 2013
Midwifery Pathways to Healthy Nations Congress Proceedings 27th Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives Brisbane Australia 24 28 July 2005 Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, 2005
Nursing Review, Apr 3, 2012
Women and Birth, 2013
Provision of personalised, continuous care focused on &am... more Provision of personalised, continuous care focused on 'well women' is now central to midwifery identity and work ideals, but it remains difficult in hospital contexts shaped by increased demand and by neoliberal policies. Previous accounts of occupational and work-family conflicts in midwifery and nursing have pointed to the 'moral distress' associated with managing conflicting expectations in health workplaces. This paper examines these issues in the Australian context and considers further the ethical implications of midwives not feeling 'cared for' themselves in health care organisations. Qualitative research in several Victorian maternity units included use of interviews and observational methods to explore staff experiences of organisational and professional change. Data were coded and analysed using NVivo. Midwives reported frequent contestation as they sought to practice their ideal of themselves as caregivers in what they reported as often 'uncaring' workplaces. To interpret this data, we argue for seeing midwifery caring as embodied social practice taking place within 'organisation carescapes'. Theoretical analysis of the moral and ethical dimensions of the contemporary organisational structure of maternity care suggests that a practice-based and dialogical ethic should form the core principle of care both for women in childbirth and for their carers.
The Australian Journal of Midwifery, 2002
Journal of Sociology, 1985
was deeply feared. The authors found that, no doubt attributable in part to the negative publicit... more was deeply feared. The authors found that, no doubt attributable in part to the negative publicity, in every case the company had made some effort to prevent a reoccurrence, usually by changing the procedures which had enabled the offence to occur in the first place. In some cases, for instance, the new procedure involved directors acknowledging in writing that they had seen and read internal company documents of which previously they had been able to plead ignorance. The book concludes with two long and excellent chapters spelling out ways in which publicity might be put to use systematically to deter or remedy corporate wrong-doing. My only criticism of the work is that it places a little too much faith in the power of publicity. The journalistic expose of the Watergate scandal leading ultimately to the fall of President Nixon was, the authors say, ’the laser which enabled the U.S. body politic to remove an ominous cancer’. The tragedy of Watergate, however, was that it was seen by many as vindication of the system, as an illustration of the self-cleaning nature of the U.S. political process, and not as an indication of the need for radical changes to prevent further such abuses. Similarly, while it is valuable to stress the reformative affects of publicity in relation to corporate wrong-doing, it must also be recognized that exploitative and manipulative behaviour are an inherent part of capitalist enterprise which will only be eliminated, if at all, by far more radical policy prescriptions than the authors envisage.