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The advent of post-industrialism in western societies saw social theorists pay greater attention to the blurring of traditional work and life conceptual categories and the growing role of service professions. Further, much of the theorisation around the human service professions has focussed on occupational stress and professional burnout. This focus on the challenges to worker health has limited considerations of how human service professionals can thrive, and not just survive, in demanding employment contexts. In response, the paper considers the 'lifeworld' as a conceptual resource that can encourage new ways of thinking about the work of human service professionals, as well as reworks this resource using the concept of affect to expand consideration of the interconnected, inter-subjective, bodily and emotive nature of human service work. The paper concludes by presenting a heuristic tool that can make these concepts more accessible to professional discourses and can facilitate their use within collaborative research with the human service professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of placebo has had a long history in medicine, and has evolved over time with the introduction of randomised controlled trials for testing health treatment, the increasing research done around the psychotherapies, the development of complementary and alternative medicine approaches to health, as well as the conceptual contributions from academic disciplines like psychology and anthropology. In recent years, discourses about placebo have pursued a number of key directions, and the current review paper explores these developments. For example, psychology has looked at placebo in terms of classical conditioning and the role of anxiety. Anthropology on the other hand has focused on the role of meaning and ritual in the placebo effect and psychotherapy research has encouraged an examination of the effects of the therapeutic relationship. Our review paper concludes by outlining directions ahead for future scholarship and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the impact of casualised and independent contractor work place arrangements on the psycho-social health of 72 workers in regional Victoria. It contributes to our understanding of the crisis in rural Australia in its use of qualitative methods focusing on the impact of work on health and well-being. There is some evidence in the literature that casualised work arrangement enhance the health and well-being of workers by giving them a sense of autonomy and freedom to negotiate their conditions of work. On the other hand, these arrangements may make an already vulnerable group even more vulnerable to uncertain work conditions, poor pay and uncertainty for their future with a significantly negative impact on their health and wellbeing. The results of these interviews support this latter perspective and show that these workers do not experience freedom and autonomy, but rather lowered social status, insecurity and serious limitations to their ability to manage their health, psychological wellbeing and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living kidney donation is an alternative treatment option for end-stage renal failure. Prospective donors are protected from risk by counselling and assessment processes, to ensure they are fully informed about all the stages of donation. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 25 living kidney donors from across New Zealand, this article discusses donors' experience of the pre-donation screening process, donation workup coordination, psychological preparation, and post-operative follow-up care and support. In particular, the article examines donor perceptions of the informed consent process. The findings indicate that donors' experience of the consent process may be at odds with the New Zealand Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights 1996. Instead of a primary healthcare focus on the threshold elements of informed consent, this study indicates that more effort should be made to adequately inform donors and to clearly spell out each stage of the donation process to better meet donors' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining work and family can be a significant source of tension and conflict. For young dual-earner couples especially it is a challenge to find a balance. We examine the impact of negative work-to-family and family-to-work spillover on feelings of depression and life satisfaction, as well as crossover effects between partners. Of particular interest are differences between married and cohabiting partners. Dyadic data stemming from a subsample of the Belgian survey 'Relationships in Flanders' (2010) are used (N newlywed couples = 376, N recently cohabiting couples = 344). Regressions confirm that both work-to-family and family-to-work spillover are major stressors. In line with gender role theories, men seem somewhat more affected by family-to-work spillover; women by work-to-family spillover, also when their partner allows work to interfere with family. Overall, the cohabiting do not feel more distressed, but do feel less satisfied with life. Moreover, interesting differences appear when comparing both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) has been a central plank in the mental health policies of many Anglophone countries in recent years. This emphasis reflects the triumph of modern rationalism in two senses. First, the appeal of CBT to policy makers rests largely on its claims of being evidenced-based and quickly effective. Second, it is committed to a view of eudemonia (the good life) in which rationality predominates over non-rationality to generate the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Both aspects, which appeal to policy makers, warrant sociological interrogation. This article provides a brief history of CBT to highlight the rhetoric of rationalism it has espoused successfully. Then, using the UK Depression Report as a point of departure, it compares this success of CBT with the criticisms it has encountered. Both positions of advocacy and critique are examined in relation to disciplinary knowledge and professional interest work. These orientations from poststructuralist accounts of the modern episteme, on the one hand, and neo-Weberian sociology of the professions, on the other, help us understand the current controversy surrounding CBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]