title: The quality of life of single mothers making the transition from welfare to work.
abstract: This study examined the quality of life of single mothers making the mandatory transition from welfare to work. The Australian government purported that the benefits of making this transition would include higher incomes, better social participation, and improved wellbeing. It is currently unknown, however, how single mothers currently engaged in welfare to work programs evaluate their quality of life. Quality of life scores for 334 single mothers engaged in welfare to work in Australia were compared with normative data. Participants reported significantly lower quality of life scores than the general population for all quality of life domains, highlighting the need to carefully examine welfare to work policies to ensure they promote participants' quality of life.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC 3125, Australia. kay.cook@deakin.edu.au
authors.forename: Kay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Elise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.forename: Hayley
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McKenzie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection; D004651:Employment; D035082:Federal Government; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D011788:Quality of Life; D012016:Reference Values; D015406:Single Parent; D012946:Social Welfare; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work