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The purpose of this article is to introduce the cross-disciplinary competency standards for work-related assessments, why they are needed and how they have been developed in New South Wales (NSW). Cross-disciplinary competency standards communicate the benchmarks for effective performance of work-related assessments. They outline what is expected of rehabilitation professionals, including the ability to apply and transfer competence across different conditions and workplace contexts. Outcomes in occupational rehabilitation are affected by the efficacy of the work-related assessments performed, which is dependent upon competent, clinical decision-making by rehabilitation professionals. However, in Australia, Work-related assessment practice is not governed by universally accepted competency standards or by any competency-based training/education and assessment system. To enhance professional practice, WorkCover NSW has developed cross-disciplinary competency standards for work-related a ssessments. The competencies provide (i) quality standards for professional workplace training and development, (ii) benchmarks for assessing the competence of rehabilitation professionals, (iii) a framework for evidence-based practice, (iv) benchmarks for measuring service quality and (v) "real world" learning outcomes and assessment criteria for professional education programs.

Current health policies emphasize partnership between professional groups, between agencies and with users, to ensure more integrated health and social care services. However, a number of reasons have been consistently identified as inhibiting interprofessional working. Among the many factors identified are poor communication, conflicting power relations and role confusion, and these present immense challenges to those who wish to offer interprofessional education and training opportunities. East Gloucestershire NHS Trust worked in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire (formerly the Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education) to overcome these problems and deliver an important postqualifying interprofessional training for those working with people with serious mental illness - the Thorn-based 'Diploma in Integrated Approaches to Serious Mental Illness'. This collaborative initiative represents a good model by which practitioners of all disciplines can be trained to a high standard and meet the requirements of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. This paper describes the initiative and identifies the extent to which the course has, by mirroring the practice it is seeking to generate, 'pulled together' to ensure interprofessional, intersectoral and professional/user collaboration. The key challenges associated with interprofessional working (with people with serious mental illness and with others) and with course implementation and how these were met are discussed and further opportunities are identified.

We used meta-analysis to review 55 evaluations of the effects of mentoring programs on youth. Overall, findings provide evidence of only a modest or small benefit of program participation for the average youth. Program effects are enhanced significantly, however, when greater numbers of both theory- based and empirically based "best practices" are utilized and, when strong relationships are formed between mentors and youth. Youth from backgrounds of environmental risk and disadvantage appear most likely to benefit from participation in mentoring programs. Outcomes for youth at-risk due to personal vulnerabilities have varied substantially in relation to program characteristics, with a noteworthy potential evident for poorly implemented programs to actually have an adverse effect on such youth. Recommendations include greater adherence to guidelines for the design and implementation of effective mentoring programs as well as more in-depth assessment of relationship and contextual factors in the evaluation of programs.

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Since the introduction of welfare reform more job training programs have become available to welfare recipients; however, these programs rarely undergo thorough assessments of their effectiveness in improving the psychological well-being of participants. The purpose of this study was to examine how career search efficacy may change among welfare (n = 14) and non-welfare recipients (n = 27) enrolled in a 10-week work training program that included classroom instruction, job simulation practice, and an internship. Results suggested that both welfare and non-welfare recipients improved on two career search efficacy factors (interviewing and network efficacy) from the start to end of the training program. © 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. all Rights Reserved.

Three samples of urban Latina and African-American women in hospitality training programs were assessed on their perceived self-efficacy. In Sample 1, the typical Latina (n = 25) and African-American (n = 71) woman was a young, single, mother of three children who had received benefits for over six years and who, at the start of a two-week training program, reported low self-efficacy and moderate social desirability. Sample 2 participants were mostly single Latina (n = 25) or African-American (n = 49) mothers who received six weeks of training/internship, but reported no significant change in their level of self-efficacy, social desirability, or hopefulness from pre- to post-training. Sample 3 (16 Latinas, 36 African-Americans) was a subset of women from the first sample who were interviewed by telephone four months after completing the two-week training program and were now employed. These working women reported a significant increase in their level of self-efficacy compared to the start of training. Results suggest that some minority women may benefit from job skill training in terms of their sense of mastery over their life situation, although the impact of such training may not emerge until after they have been actively employed. © 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

The potential significance of employers' collective action for economic performance is widely acknowledged, but has not been complemented with corresponding theory-guided research on the probability of collective action and the conditions for effective action. This article examines the nature of, the conditions for, and the consequences of employers' collective action on further training, a crucial component of a successful high-skill strategy for industries and nations. The collective action perspective shares the core assumptions of human-capital theory, but integrates the possibility of collective action as a solution to some of the market failures associated with investment in transferable human capital. This alternative view also predicts in what labour-market settings such action is likely to occur, building on Olson's work and theories of employers' collective action. We suggest that employers' collective action is more likely to succeed in ensuring transferability and encouraging employee investment than is the use of sanctions against employers to promote employer-financed transferable training.

Objectives: The objective of this controlled intervention study was to quantify the efficacy of skin protection (SP) measures and ultraviolet B (UVB) hardening in the prevention of hand dermatitis in bakers' apprentices. Method: SP measures were compared against UVB hardening in a controlled clinical trial of 94 apprentices. The apprentices were assigned to the intervention arms class-wise. Bakers' apprentices involved in a previous follow-up study served as additional controls representing no intervention. The apprentices were interviewed and examined in a standardised was at the beginning of the training and at 4 monthly follow-ups. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) was measured at the back of the hands. Results: Demographic profile and atopy criteria were equally distributed in the two intervention arms and the control group. Point prevalence of hand dermatitis after 6 months was highest in the controls (29.1%) followed by the UVB (19.4%) and the SP group (13.3%). UVB hardening and SP measures reduced hand dermatitis prevalence by 9.7% (95%CI: -8.5 to 28.1) and 15.7% (95%CI: -2.4 to 33.9), respectively. Application of SP measures reduced the odds ratios (ORs) for hand dermatitis 0.8-fold (95%CI: 0.17-3.70) and 0.33-fold (95%CI: 0.09-1.23) compared with the UVB group and the controls, respectively. These clinical trends were confirmed by statistically significant differences in TEWL values. TEWL values were consistently higher in the UVB group than in the SP group (P = 0.002). Conclusions: This study provided evidence, based on significant differences in TEWL levels, that general SP measures may be more effective than UV light hardening of the skin, which in turn was more effective than no intervention. This trend was supported by the frequency of development of clinical hand dermatitis, although differences did not reach statistical significance. A multi-centre trial is recommended to confirm the efficacy of SP measures in a larger randomised study. © Springer-Verlag 2002.