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Some of Australia’s most severe and protracted workforce shortages are in public sector community mental health (CMH) services. Research identifying the factors affecting staff turnover of this workforce has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to identify work factors negatively affecting the job satisfaction of early career health professionals working in rural Australia’s public sector CMH services.

In total, 25 health professionals working in rural and remote CMH services in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, for NSW Health participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews.

The study identified five work-related challenges negatively affecting job satisfaction: developing a profession-specific identity; providing quality multidisciplinary care; working in a resource-constrained service environment; working with a demanding client group; and managing personal and professional boundaries.

These findings highlight the need to provide time-critical supports to address the challenges facing rural-based CMH professionals in their early career years in order to maximise job satisfaction and reduce avoidable turnover.

Overall, the study found that the factors negatively affecting the job satisfaction of early career rural-based CMH professionals affects all professionals working in rural CMH, and these negative effects increase with service remoteness. For those in early career, having to simultaneously deal with significant rural health and sector-specific constraints and professional challenges has a negative multiplier effect on their job satisfaction. It is this phenomenon that likely explains the high levels of job dissatisfaction and turnover found among Australia’s rural-based early career CMH professionals. By understanding these multiple and simultaneous pressures on rural-based early career CMH professionals, public health services and governments involved in addressing rural mental health workforce issues will be better able to identify and implement time-critical supports for this cohort of workers. These findings and proposed strategies potentially have relevance beyond Australia’s rural CMH workforce to Australia’s broader early career nursing and allied health rural workforce as well as internationally for other countries that have a similar physical geography and health system.

While ageing with an intellectual (learning) disability has been subject to increased research in recent years, there remains little knowledge regarding the daily practice issues that disability workers struggle most to support in this cohort. The purpose of this paper is to gain feedback directly from staff regarding the problems they experience in daily work, and to evaluate whether any changes to legislation or practice could potentially alleviate identified areas of concern.

A Delphi project was conducted over three rounds with participants from rural areas of New South Wales (NSW). The panel was composed of support workers who assist people ageing with a learning disability. Participants were asked their perceptions of the main practice issues facing them while they provide support.

The panel identified 29 issues that were considered problematic in the provision of support to people ageing with a learning disability. A thematic analysis indicated three main themes of access to services; time constraints; and funding.

The participants in this study were all disability workers employed by non-government organisations in rural NSW, and as such, many of the issues identified may be specific to this population cohort and geographic setting. Any generalisation of these results to other locations or populations must be considered within these limitations.

Identification of the issues facing disability staff may facilitate government, health care providers and disability organisations to proactively plan to address current and future problem areas. The consequent effect of improving practices can assist individuals to receive better support and lead to a corresponding improvement in their quality of life. The current implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia is an ideal opportunity for cross-sectoral collaboration to change practice to facilitate better support for a highly vulnerable group of the community.

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the themes identified by Wark et al.’s paper and to highlight commonalities and differences between the Australian and the UK social and health care regimes. It also points to evidence about other implications for policy and practice of the increasing numbers of people growing older who have learning disabilities.

The commentary analyses some policy and practice documents and identifies a range of other research and commentary on this topic.

Wark et al. have identified areas of importance for supporting older people with learning disabilities, particularly access to suitable and acceptable services and the importance of sufficient support worker time. They also identify gaps in the research on people’s needs and service responses. The commentary also highlights other factors for consideration in work with this group of people, particularly the implementation of personalisation policies in social care and integration between health and social care services.

There is a need for further research into developing policy and practice for health and social care for older people with learning disabilities. Some of the evidence supports the case for specialist involvement, particularly by nursing professionals.

The paper and this commentary highlight the challenges associated with the increasing number of older people with learning disabilities in contemporary debates about the role of the state and professional specialists.

The imperative to conserve resources and minimize operational expenses has spurred a notable increase in the adoption of lean manufacturing within the context of the circular economy across diverse industries in recent years. However, a notable gap exists in the research landscape, particularly concerning the implementation of lean practices within the pharmaceutical industry to enhance circular economy performance. Addressing this void, this study endeavors to identify and prioritize the pivotal drivers influencing lean manufacturing within the pharmaceutical sector.

The outcome of this rigorous examination highlights that “Continuous Monitoring Process for Sustainable Lean Implementation,” “Management Involvement for Sustainable Implementation” and “Training and Education” emerge as the most consequential drivers. These factors are deemed crucial for augmenting circular economy performance, underscoring the significance of management engagement, training initiatives and a continuous monitoring process in fostering a closed-loop practice within the pharmaceutical industry.

The findings contribute valuable insights for decision-makers aiming to adopt lean practices within a circular economy framework. Specifically, by streamlining the process of developing a robust action plan tailored to the unique needs of the pharmaceutical sector, our study provides actionable guidance for enhancing overall sustainability in the manufacturing processes.

This study represents one of the initial efforts to systematically identify and assess the drivers to LM implementation within the pharmaceutical industry, contributing to the emerging body of knowledge in this area.

This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) as an efficient discharging agent for indigo-dyed denim fabrics and identification of key variables for its cost-efficient implication.

Response surface methodology, which is a statistical technique for the optimization of process variables, was used to study the effect of three key variables, i.e. KMnO₄ concentration, printing paste pH and reaction time on whiteness and strength of discharged printed fabric. Regression models were developed to predict response variables, i.e whiteness, tensile strength and tear strength of discharge printed denim.

It was found that some captivating discharge printing effects could be produced using appropriate KMnO₄ concentration, printing paste pH and reaction time without any significant loss in the fabric strength.

This study highlights the practical implication of KMnO₄ to be used as a safe and effective discharging agent under different conditions and to optimize the parameters using statistical analysis to ensure minimum loss in textile properties. The use of denim has evolved over the decades from a rough and tough workwear to highly fashionable apparel. Various dry and wet processing techniques have been introduced in recent years for the value-addition of denim – discharge printing is one of them. As lab to bulk reproducibility requires some sort of experience and adjustments in main parameters, the practical feasibility on the bulk scale should be adjusted in advance by means of the lab scale experimentation.

The KMnO₄ oxidation process is considered eco-friendly because manganese dioxide, which is formed when permanganate is reduced, can be recycled. Thus, the use of KMnO₄ can be considered as an eco-friendly safe process for the discharging of indigo dyes.

This study investigates the impact of US political sanctions on innovation and fraudulent activities within Iranian businesses affected by sanctions. Additionally, it explores the moderating role of intellectual capital in the relationship between sanctions and innovation/fraud.

The study employs a difference-in-differences methodology to compare Iranian companies before and after sanctions. It analyzes 23 sanctioned companies from 2013 to 2023, matched with non-sanctioned counterparts.

The empirical findings reveal a modest negative association between sanctions and innovation, with no discernible connection between sanctions and fraudulent practices. Notably, the study uncovers a significant divergence in companies’ reactions to sanctions, contingent upon their intellectual capital. Companies with substantial intellectual capital witness notable improvements in innovation endeavors, while those lacking robust intellectual capital exhibit an uptick in fraudulent activities in response to sanctions. These findings are robust across various sensitivity analyses, underlining their reliability and validity.

The study underscores the pivotal role of intellectual capital in mitigating the adverse effects of sanctions on innovation. Consequently, policymakers and practitioners should prioritize investments in intellectual capital development, acknowledging its significance as a fundamental driver of organizational resilience and competitive advantage.

The findings contribute to the literature by revealing the nuanced effects of sanctions on innovation and fraudulent practices while highlighting the crucial role of intellectual capital. This enriches understanding of regulatory compliance, corporate behavior and the importance of intellectual capital in organizational resilience and ethical conduct.

There is an on-going debate about the role of workplace internet leisure (WIL) and whether it is a vice or virtue. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of WIL on workplace outcome variables such as employee satisfaction (ES) and employee productivity in the Malaysian context.

Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that yielded 282 responses. Partial least square technique using SmartPLS-3 was used to test the study hypotheses.

Findings reveal that workplace WIL, workplace WIL policy and workplace autonomy orientation (WAO) affect employees’ satisfaction. Additionally, the mediating role of ES was found to be significant.

The findings of this study are valuable for both managers and policy makers. These results can benefit the managers of conventional banks in Malaysia to decide how to enhance employees’ satisfaction and productivity by focusing on the key drivers such as WIL, workplace internet leisure policy (WILP) and WAO.

This is a pioneering study which suggests that moderate use of WIL can have a positive and significant effect on workplace outcome variables. Moreover, this study theorised ES as a mediating variable; this helps to explain how organisations can transform workplace resources in term of internet leisure, WILP and WAO into high productivity by elevating employees’ satisfaction.