June's featured stories
Youth Studies Australia
CALL FOR PAPERS
Youth Studies Australia is the quarterly journal by the Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies (ACYS). In the editorial to the June edition, Youth Studies Australia editor Sue Headley writes:
"In Australia, we are fortunate to have researchers who are interested in carefully examining youth-related issues, and a peer review system that allows us to evaluate their research within a recognised and rigorous framework of assessment. The use of a double-blind review process ensures that research is independently and anonymously evaluated by experts in the relevant field, thus maximising the reliability of the assessment. The peer review process is slow, and can be arduous for all concerned, but we believe it is essential to ensure that 'Youth Studies Australia' is a dependable and respected explanatory source for the youth field.
"Youth Studies Australia (YSA) has an expansive view on research. We encourage papers on a wide range of research areas of relevance to young people's lives. We are interested in research that extends the knowledge base of the youth studies community and is useful in practical, policy and/or theoretical contexts.
"[The June 2009] issue is a good example of the diversity, relevance and usefulness of current research in the youth studies field."
Feature articles are outlined below. Intending authors can contact Sue Headley at the Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, ph: (03) 6226 1748.
Articles in the June edition of Youth Studies Australia
Youth Studies Australia v.28, n.2, 2009, pp.5-13.
Summary: In this research, 300 doctors in Victoria were asked to make decisions about a hypothetical patient's competence and confidentiality. It appears that assumptions embedded in relevant law, the vague nature of existing legal criteria and the diversity in assessment practices all have the potential to act as obstacles to young people's claim to rights in the medical context.
Youth Studies Australia v.28, n.2, 2009, pp.14-22.
Summary: Many people had great expectations of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities when it came into effect in January 2008. However, Judith Bessant asks whether the provision for seeking exemptions from the charter has undermined its capacity to effectively counter age-based discrimination and, paradoxically, permitted practices that clearly breach the basic human rights of young people.
Youth Studies Australia v.28, n.2, 2009, pp.23-31.
Summary: How do funding providers make informed decisions about funding youth work programs and services? One provider in New Zealand commissioned a group of participant-researchers to explore the question 'What is youth work of value?' and then develop a model of best practice. The findings have implications for both youth work practitioners and funding providers.
Youth Studies Australia v.28, n.2, 2009, pp.32-40.
Summary: Little is known about how to appropriately adapt mentoring programs for young people from the Horn of Africa, even though they have been arriving in Australia in significantly increasing numbers. These young people face unique challenges as a result of their age, ethnicity, migration and direct/indirect trauma experiences. The results of this research will help mentoring providers appropriately tailor programs for Horn of African young people.
Youth Studies Australia v.28, n.2, 2009, pp.41-49.
Summary: TAFE discipline procedures only apply to cyberbullying events that occur on campus, but this study found that some online incidents occurring off campus affect young people's experience of TAFE and students wanted staff to deal with them. Unlike conventional bullying, it appears that young people think cyberbullying shouldn't be defined by specific physical locations.
Youth Studies Australia v.28, n.2, 2009, pp.50-57.
Summary: Two music programs were developed specifically to meet therapeutic objectives for newly arrived immigrant and refugee students and for adolescent boys in a residential care facility. The author's observations justify further research to establish whether music can support and nurture the social, physical and mental wellbeing of young people, particularly those who are vulnerable and at risk.