These results suggest that physical disability, helplessness and passive coping have a significant impact on the levels of pain and depression experienced by RA patients.

The results of this study have implications for the overall management of RA. In addition to the medical treatment, the experience of pain and depression in RA should be addressed through an intervention programme designed to enhance coping strategies.

Current literature on the sociology of health views medical dominance as a structural feature of the health division of labour, and a body of literature has developed exploring the structural components contributing to the subordination of the allied health professions. In this paper, nursing literature describing the nature and source of nurses' perceptions, complaints and dissatisfactions with their profession, and sociological analyses of the position of nurses within the structure of the health care delivery system, were employed to provide a framework for assessing the degree to which structural medical dominance of the nursing profession impinges on nurses' perceptions of dominance and how these perceptions affect nurses' workplace satisfaction. A 69-item questionnaire covering aspects of doctor-nurse, doctor-patient, nurse-patient and nurse-hospital administration relationships was developed. One-hundred and thirty-three Australian nurses and 108 British nurses completed the questionnaire, in which they ranked their own level of professional satisfaction and the level of satisfaction they perceived doctors to experience. Results indicated that Australian and British nurses were not only dissatisfied with many aspects of their work environment, such as their pay and working conditions, but also experienced dissatisfaction with their professional status while perceiving the medical profession to be highly satisfied. British nurses were significantly more dissatisfied with their own profession and perceived the medical profession to be more authoritarian than did Australian nurses. No difference between Australian and British nurses' perceptions of degree of medical autonomy was found. The implications of nurses' perceived discrepancy in workplace satisfaction between nurses and doctors in the delivery of health care are discussed in terms of the structural barriers created by medical dominance. Recommendations for the training of nurses and the implications of the findings for nurse practitioners are made, together with suggestions for further research.

As new technology continues to computerise the way professionals do their work, it is important for organizations to identify and measure the risks to health and wellbeing associated with these changes. Further research with professional groups is needed to support effective risk management decisions.

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The aim of this study was to identify common themes in speech-language pathologists' perceptions of factors that increase and decrease their experiences of job stress, their satisfaction with their jobs and the profession, and their opinions about why people chose to leave the speech-language pathology profession. The participants' perceptions about the relationships between job stress, work satisfaction and job and profession retention were also explored. Sixty members of Speech Pathology Australia from a range of geographical and professional contexts were asked to participate in telephone interviews. Eighteen speech-language pathologists agreed to participate (30% response rate), and took part in semi-structured telephone interviews. Two researchers independently coded transcripts of the interviews for themes. Eight major themes were identified. These were positive aspects of the profession, workload, non-work obligations, effectiveness, recognition, support, learning and autonomy. The themes that emerged from analysis of these interviews provide new evidence about the positive and negative aspects of working as a speech-language pathologist, and provide preliminary insights into potential reasons as to why speech-language pathologists choose to remain in or leave the profession.

Individual workstyles in response to workload demands and stressors, including working with heightened muscle tension and mental fatigue, were significantly associated with musculoskeletal symptoms. Future risk management strategies should have a greater focus on the identification and management of those organizational factors that are likely to encourage and exacerbate adverse workstyles.

The health care environment is undergoing rapid change. This has major implications for health science education programmes. The extent to which university education prepares graduates for the requirements of the workplace has become an important issue in the health science literature. The present study investigated the perceptions of 144 graduate occupational therapists regarding the adequacy of their undergraduate education at the University of Sydney in equipping them for the workplace. The findings indicated that occupational therapy graduates perceived significant gaps between the knowledge and skills gained during their undergraduate course and those required in the workplace, particularly in the areas of communication with other health professionals and the general public, knowledge of the health industry and workplace management. This paper considers the implications of workplace requirements and expectations for the occupational therapy course curricula.