The Indigenous Counselling and Nicotine (ICAN) QUIT in Pregnancy Pilot Study protocol: a feasibility step-wedge cluster randomised trial to improve health providers' management of smoking during pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION: Indigenous women have the highest smoking prevalence during pregnancy (47%) in Australia. Health professionals report lack of knowledge, skills and confidence to effectively manage smoking among pregnant women in general. We developed a behaviour change intervention aimed to improve health professionals' management of smoking in Indigenous pregnant women-the Indigenous Counselling And Nicotine (ICAN) QUIT in Pregnancy. This intervention includes webinar training for health professionals, an educational resources package for health professionals and pregnant women, free oral nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for pregnant women, and audit and feedback on health professionals' performance.The aim of this study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of the ICAN QUIT in Pregnancy intervention to improve health professionals' provision of evidence-based culturally responsive smoking cessation care to Australian Indigenous pregnant smokers. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This protocol describes the design of a step-wedge cluster randomised pilot study. Six Aboriginal Medical Services (AMSs) are randomised into three clusters. Clusters receive the intervention staggered by 1 month. Health professionals report on their knowledge and skills pretraining and post-training and at the end of the study. Pregnant women are recruited and followed up for 3 months. The primary outcome is the recruitment rate of pregnant women. Secondary outcomes include feasibility of recruitment and follow-up of participating women, and webinar training of health professionals, measured using a designated log; and measures of effectiveness outcomes, including quit rates and NRT prescription rates. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: In accordance with the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council guidelines, this study has been developed in collaboration with a Stakeholder and Consumer Aboriginal Advisory Panel (SCAAP). The SCAAP provides cultural consultation, advice and direction to ensure that implementation is acceptable and respectful to the Aboriginal communities involved. Results will be disseminated to AMSs, Aboriginal communities and national Aboriginal bodies

Social protection 2.0: unemployment and minimum income benefits

This report focuses on unemployment and minimum income benefits for people of working age. Individuals with short or no employment records (mainly young people), the self-employed, those with non-standard working arrangements, and the long-term unemployed are often not entitled to higher-tier, or any, unemployment benefits. No Member State was identified where more than 80% of those entitled to minimum income benefits receive them. Benefit recipients at higher risk of having an inadequate income include those without access to social housing in areas with high housing costs, unemployed individuals whose most recent job was low paid and the long-term unemployed people. The report also investigates the rejection of applications (frequently, around 30% are rejected), the digitalisation of application processes (most common for unemployment benefits) and economic activation requirements (typically, 1-6% of benefit recipients annually are sanctioned for not complying with activity requirements) and service entitlements

The new political economy of public sector wage-setting in Europe: introduction to the special issue

This special issue (SI) brings the industrial relations scholarship on the public sector into dialogue with the comparative political economy (CPE) literature on growth models/regimes. While the former has paid great attention to the public sector, in CPE the public sector has been analysed less, and mostly as subaltern to the export-sector's actors, interests and institutions. We posit that the public sector matters for CPE in its own right for three reasons. First, the state remains today the single largest employer in virtually every European economy, providing incomes to a large segment of the middle class. Second, public employers' wage bill - one of the largest items of governments' current expenditures - is funded by the taxpayers. Hence, public sector wage policy is fiscal policy, ultimately pursued by public/political employers. Third, public employers are simultaneously public managers and political sovereigns acting in the shadow of hierarchy. Case-study contributions to the SI detail how these insights matter within different European growth regimes: (1) the Mediterranean demand-led growth regime (France, Italy, Spain and Portugal), (2) the German export-led growth regime, (3) the Nordic balanced growth regime (Denmark and Sweden) and (4) the FDI-led Eastern European growth regime (Czechia and Slovakia)

Socio-economic literature review report on care regime at country level : Spain

In the framework of the Origami project - home care - this deliverable analyses the home care sector in Spain

The Impact of inflation on real wage dynamics: causes, policy responses and impacts

Work Package 2 ; Deliverable 2.1MAINSOC is a joint project of 6 partner organizations from five countries financed by the European Commission under Social Prerogatives and Specific Competencies Lines (SOCPL) Programme. The objective of the MAINSOC project is twofold. First, to analyse the impact of the inflation crisis on real wage dynamics and wage differentials across sectors and groups of workers, paying attention to the asymmetric impact on those at the bottom of the wage scale and the role of industrial relations institutions to explain differences across countries. Second, to analyse the role of government policies, social partners' involvement, and industrial relations institutions in managing the inflation crisis, adapting to a new scenario, and guaranteeing inclusive growth in six EU countries

Self-employment in the EU: job quality and developments in social protection

Ensuring greater social protection for self-employed people has been the subject of much policy debate in recent years. In 2019, the Council of the European Union adopted a recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. Sudden reductions in income during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of many self-employed workers. Using data from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey, this report examines the working conditions of different groups of self-employed people. It analyses measures taken at EU Member State level to better protect self-employed individuals against the risks of unemployment, workplace accidents and sickness, and presents lessons learned from measures implemented during the pandemic

Professional patios, emotional studios: locating social ties in European art residences

To foster creativity through sociality, residences put artists together. At the same time, in their quest for originality, artists often opt for individualism. Little is known on how physical collocation in residences affects artistic sociality. Addressing this gap, we draw on a combination of interviews, observations, and surveys, analysed with an innovative mixture of abductive coding, computational space analysis, and statistical network modeling. This allows us to unveil how room sharing and object usage relate to friendships and collaborations between residents. Along with explicit individualism of artists, we spot plenty of social ties between them. And these ties are positively related to joint material embeddedness. Simultaneously, the two main types of residential zones - working studios and leisure areas - appear to encourage the types of social ties inverse to our expectations. Our findings inform the practice of artistic residence organising and the proposed approach enables explanatory analysis of the relation between material space and sociality in various settings

Worker participation and representation: the impact on risk prevention of AI worker management systems

This report analyses artificial intelligence-based worker management (AIWM) systems in relation to workers' psychosocial risks and the role of worker representation structures in preventing such risks. It draws on existing literature to examine the consequences stemming from AIWM and investigates how workers' representatives can prevent and mitigate unwanted outcomes. However, worker representation can face obstacles due to the powerful yet enigmatic nature of AIWM as well as the power balance between employers and employees per sector, where further research would be required to find solutions

Diverging Destinies? A Long-term Outlook into Women's Work and Gender Roles in It-aly and Spain

This article analyses how social and economic transformations over the last two decades have shaped women's position in the work and family spheres in Italy and Spain, two countries often clustered together with other Southern European countries and yet exhibiting distinct features. Taking a long-term outlook, we discuss patterns of change of labour market indicators and gender-role attitudes during periods of economic growth, recession and recovery, to identify the implications of such changes for models of female socio-economic integration and gender equality issues in both countries. We show that the divergent trends have situated the two countries in significantly different positions. While Italy seems to be on a trajectory of continuity, with no significant change in female labour market integration, Spain shows a fundamental path-departure from the distinctive characteristics of the Southern model, with the 2008 economic downturn acting as a catalyst for change regarding women's work and family roles.Aquest article analitza com les transformacions socials i econòmiques de les dues darreres dècades han configurat la posició de les dones a les esferes laboral i familiar a Itàlia i Espanya. Tot i que se sol considerar que tots dos països corresponen al perfil de països del Sud d'Europa, les dades analitzades mostren característiques diferents. Adoptant una perspectiva a llarg termini, analitzem els patrons de canvi dels indicadors del mercat laboral i les actituds pel que fa als rols de gènere durant els períodes de creixement econòmic, recessió i recuperació. Això permet identificar les implicacions d'aquests canvis per als models d'integració socioeconòmica de les dones i les qüestions d'igualtat de gènere a tots dos països. Les troballes revelen que les tendències divergents a Itàlia i Espanya han col·locat aquests dos països en posicions clarament diferents. Mentre que Itàlia sembla que segueix una trajectòria de continuïtat, sense canvis notables en la integració femenina al mercat laboral, Espanya ha experimentat un allunyament fonamental de les característiques típiques del model del Sud d'Europa. En aquest context, la recessió econòmica del 2008 ha actuat com un catalitzador per al canvi en els rols laborals i familiars de les dones.Este artículo analiza cómo las transformaciones sociales y económicas de las dos últimas décadas han configurado la posición de las mujeres en las esferas laboral y familiar en Italia y España. Aunque suele considerarse que ambos países corresponden al perfil de países del Sur de Europa, los datos analizados muestran características significativamente distintas. Adoptando una perspectiva a largo plazo, analizamos los patrones de cambio de los indicadores del mercado laboral y las actitudes en cuanto a los roles de género durante los periodos de crecimiento económico, recesión y recuperación. Ello permite identificar las implicaciones de estos cambios para los modelos de integración socioeconómica de las mujeres y las cuestiones de igualdad de género en ambos países. Los hallazgos revelan que las tendencias divergentes en Italia y España han colocado a estos dos países en posiciones claramente diferentes. Mientras que Italia parece seguir una trayectoria de continuidad, sin cambios notables en la integración femenina en el mercado laboral, España ha experimentado un alejamiento fundamental de las características típicas del modelo del Sur de Europa. En este contexto, la recesión económica de 2008 ha actuado como un catalizador para el cambio en los roles laborales y familiares de las mujeres

The social-ecological system framework of urban wetlands: the role of collective management at local level

The social-ecological system of wetlands supports biodiversity and enhances the mental well-being of urban inhabitants. However, wetlands in Latin America face pressures from urban expansion, agriculture, governance conflicts, and poorly enforced regulations driven by economic activities, resulting in biodiversity loss and diminished ecosystem services. This study applies the social-ecological system framework to identify ecosystem services and evaluate factors influencing collective actions and governance effectiveness for urban and peri-urban wetlands. The case study is based in Cali, Colombia, using 33 semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and field visits. We find that facilitators such as leadership, networking, social capital, and community-based rules drive positive outcomes, enhancing ecosystem services. In contrast, barriers to collective action in wetland governance include low resource dependence, diverse actors, exclusion of groups, large resource size, pollution, conflicts, and property-rights issues, leading to ecosystem degradation. Additionally, our research shows how ecosystem services are influenced by environmental conflicts, property-rights systems, and community-led initiatives. Collaboration between communities and public agencies is crucial, enhancing local governance efficiency and ecosystem services