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This article reviews and evaluates the academic integrity research conducted in Australasia over a 30-year period from 1990-2020. It presents an analysis of studies on academic integrity including those on contract cheating as an increasing area of concern in higher education. The authors divide the research according to the diverse stakeholders--students, faculty, staff, and institutions of higher learning. Keeping in mind that maintaining and promoting a culture of academic integrity is everyone's business, and that there is no simple solution, the authors recommend a combination of strategies to promote and maintain a culture of academic integrity in higher education now and into the future.

Maintaining academic integrity is an area of major importance for today's institutions of higher learning. Despite universities having in place academic integrity policies and procedures, findings from semi-structured interviews with 26 academics from four, public Western Australian universities suggest that responses to incidences of student plagiarism are inconsistent and not aligned with the responses expected of them by their institution as set out in these institutional documents. Using thematic analysis, an SIA model is proposed which categorises the reasons for these inconsistencies under Student, Academic and Institutional factors. It suggests that if academics prioritise the student and themselves, their responses are more likely to be inconsistent and not aligned with the responses expected from them by their institution. Recommendations to help develop a shared understanding of plagiarism include online, academic integrity modules for all staff. This shared understanding will lead to more consistent and aligned responses which in turn will help maintain the reputation of the institution and the integrity of its awards.

Maintaining academic integrity is important for today's institutions of higher learning and this involves academic staff responding to breaches by their students. Plagiarism by students (student plagiarism) continues to be an area of concern, especially with the use of the Internet to find, copy and, sometimes, pay for ready-made essays and assignments. This form of academic misconduct ultimately affects not only the students and academic staff, but also the reputation of the institution itself and the integrity of its awards. Despite the need for consistency in addressing student plagiarism, it appears that the responses of academic staff to student plagiarism remain varied and inconsistent. This paper seeks to systematically review the key findings from the literature over the past three decades on academic staff responses to student plagiarism in universities. Despite the research showing that academic staff appear to respond to student plagiarism in varied and inconsistent ways, the factors and reasons why they do so remain unclear. It is suggested that more research to better understand academic staff and their identities, perceptions and belief systems may help find workable solutions to address these inconsistencies.

The National Elder Abuse Prevalence Study, conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, was the first major national study to gauge the prevalence and nature of elder abuse in Australia. [The phrase, "conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies", was added to the preceding sentence on 19 October 2023, after first online publication.] A survey of older people aged 65 years and older living in private dwellings was carried out in 2020, with 7000 participants across the nation who were interviewed by telephone. The survey data suggested that 14.8 per cent of the population aged 65 and older who live in the community (rather than residential care settings) have experienced elder abuse in the past 12 months. Psychological abuse was found to be the most common subtype (11.7 per cent), followed by neglect (2.9 per cent), financial abuse (2.1 per cent), physical abuse (1.8 per cent) and sexual abuse (0.7 per cent). Interconnected with an experience of elder abuse were poorer physical health, poorer psychological health and a lower sense of social support. The findings demonstrate that elder abuse has strong familial dynamics, with perpetrators involving intergenerational and intimate partner relationships to a significant extent. Most older people who experienced elder abuse tended to manage the experience themselves—not seeking help, taking actions which would not expose the perpetrator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent Children's Lawyers (ICLs) are appointed to represent the best interests of children and young people in family law matters. Their role has three main, interrelated facets: to facilitate children and young people's participation in proceedings relevant to their care (the participatory function), to gather evidence and to manage the litigation and play 'honest broker' by bringing a child focus to proceedings. Recent empirical research conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has established that the participatory function is complex and contested and that family law professionals, parents, children and young people ascribe differing levels of importance to the three facets of the ICL role. There are varied approaches among ICLs to how they conceive of, and/or undertake the participatory function. In some areas, practices in this regard do not meet the expectations of others, including judicial officers, parents, children and young people. This paper draws on the AIFS ICL Study to consider the nature and efficacy of the ICL role, with a particular focus on ICLs' participatory function and the perceptions and Impact of the varying approaches to this function emerging from quantitative and qualitative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2009, the Commonwealth Attorney General in Australia announced a Family Relationship Centres/ Legal Assistance Partnerships Program, (the 'Better Partnerships' program). Its aim was to assist separated or separating families, 'by providing access to early and targeted legal information and advice when attending Family Relationship Centres' ( Mc Clelland, 2009). After contextualizing this significant shift in policy and practice, the present paper reports on largely positive key results of an evaluation of the program by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The paper concludes with reflections on future challenges and possibilities regarding ongoing collaboration between Australia's legal and family relationship sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the research about the short-term physical, emotional and financial well-being after a separation presented in a seminar held at the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) on March 15, 2011. Dr. Belinda Hewitt describes the research which examines the differences in health and economic outcomes after separation. She notes the extent of any differences in the said outcomes between initiators and non-initiators of separation.

The article discusses aspects of grandparenting and the 2006 family law reforms in Australia. It provides data which suggests the importance to maintain the same level of contact with grandparents as was occurring before parental separation. It notes the consistency of the data with recognition in the 2006 family law reforms that children have a right to maintain their relationship with their grandparents and other people who play a beneficial role in their lives.

The article discusses the commonality of shared care time for all children under 18 years of age, regardless of their parents' timing of separation in Australia. It examines the extent to which there have been changes in the proportion of separating families experiencing shared care time since 1997. It cites the small number of datasets used to address the changes in shared or equal care time including the survey data collected by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).