Practice-based Qualitative Research: Participant Experiences of Walk-in Counselling and Traditional Counselling

Walk-in single session counselling is becoming a more widely used model for delivering mental health services across Ontario. This paper reports findings from the qualitative phase of a mixed method study, exploring the experiences of those attending walk-in counselling (WIC) model compared to the traditional service delivery model employing a wait list. We used a comparative case study design for the qualitative phase. Findings reveal that participant outcomes of the walk-in counselling model is influenced by accessibility, how a participant makes sense of the service, and the degree to which a participant is motivated and able to engage in counselling. WIC supports the mental health system by reducing wait lists associated with traditional service delivery models, and meeting the needs many people identify for immediate consultation. Other participants still perceive themselves as requiring ongoing counselling over time and involving in-depth exploration. This research supports health systems providing access to both models

Sorption–desorption of flucarbazone and propoxycarbazone and their benzenesulfonamide and triazolinone metabolites in two soils

5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, 17 references.Sorption–desorption interactions of pesticides with soil determine the availability of pesticides in soil for transport, plant uptake and microbial degradation. These interactions are affected by the physical and chemical properties of the pesticide and soil and, for some pesticides, their residence time in the soil. While sorption–desorption of many herbicides has been characterised, very little work in this area has been done on herbicide metabolites. The objective of this study was to characterise sorption–desorption of two sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides, flucarbazone and propoxycarbazone, and their benzenesulfonamide and triazolinone metabolites in two soils with different physical and chemical properties. Kf values for all four chemicals were greater in clay loam soil, which had higher organic carbon and clay contents than loamy sand. Kf−oc ranged from 29 to 119 for the herbicides and from 42 to 84 for the metabolites. Desorption was hysteretic in every case. Lower desorption in themore sorptive system might indicate that hysteresis can be attributed to irreversible binding of the molecules to soil surfaces. These data show the importance of characterisation of both sorption and desorption of herbicide residues in soil, particularly in the case of prediction of herbicide residue transport. In this case, potential transport of sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicidemetabolites would be overpredicted if parent chemical soil sorption values were used to predict transport.Peer reviewe

Achieving population-level immunity to rabies in free-roaming dogs in Africa and Asia

Published onlineJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tCanine rabies can be effectively controlled by vaccination with readily available, high-quality vaccines. These vaccines should provide protection from challenge in healthy dogs, for the claimed period, for duration of immunity, which is often two or three years. It has been suggested that, in free-roaming dog populations where rabies is endemic, vaccine-induced protection may be compromised by immuno-suppression through malnutrition, infection and other stressors. This may reduce the proportion of dogs that seroconvert to the vaccine during vaccination campaigns and the duration of immunity of those dogs that seroconvert. Vaccination coverage may also be limited through insufficient vaccine delivery during vaccination campaigns and the loss of vaccinated individuals from populations through demographic processes. This is the first longitudinal study to evaluate temporal variations in rabies vaccine-induced serological responses, and factors associated with these variations, at the individual level in previously unvaccinated free-roaming dog populations. Individual-level serological and health-based data were collected from three cohorts of dogs in regions where rabies is endemic, one in South Africa and two in Indonesia. We found that the vast majority of dogs seroconverted to the vaccine; however, there was considerable variation in titres, partly attributable to illness and lactation at the time of vaccination. Furthermore, >70% of the dogs were vaccinated through community engagement and door-to-door vaccine delivery, even in Indonesia where the majority of the dogs needed to be caught by net on successive occasions for repeat blood sampling and vaccination. This demonstrates the feasibility of achieving population-level immunity in free-roaming dog populations in rabies-endemic regions. However, attrition of immune individuals through demographic processes and waning immunity necessitates repeat vaccination of populations within at least two years to ensure communities are protected from rabies. These findings support annual mass vaccination campaigns as the most effective means to control canine rabies.This study was funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) http://www.ifaw.org/united-kingdom and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) http://www.wspa.org.uk/, with support from the Charles Slater Fund and Jowett Fund. OR is supported by the Royal Society, and JLNW the Alborada Trust. JLNW, OR and ARF receive support from the Research and Policy for Infectious Disease Dynamics Program of the Science and Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security, Fogarty International Centre, National Institute of Health. DLH and ARF are supported by the U.K. Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs project number SEV3500. TJM is supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant number BB/I012192/1. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Introduction : Children, young people and ‘care'

This editorial essay contextualises, and calls for further research on, the topic of childhood, youth and ‘care’. The chapter begins by providing an overview of intersections between the ideas of childhood, youth and care. The edited collection is then situated in relation to recent, rich, multidisciplinary theorisations of care which direct attention to everyday practices and relationships of caring, the complex spatialities of ‘caringscapes’, and the radical politico-ethical possibilities of ‘ethics of care’. However, the essay develops an argument that work in this context has often not engaged directly with children and young people, constituting an absence of work on children and young people’s participation in caring, their presence in designated spaces of/for care, and the potential significance of care as a critically important new lens for (re)thinking childhood and youth. The chapter critiques some of the normative habits, discourses and assumptions underpinning this absence. The editors call for further research with – rather than about – children and young people in relation to care, and highlight the significant contributions of the following chapters in this context

Reflection 2 : Providing care: challenges for practitioners and service-providers

This reflective piece is based on our (re)considerations of care in the lives of young people, and the challenges (and indeed the many positive messages) that authors in this collection of chapters on childhood, youth and care have signalled for practitioners and service providers (for brevity referred to collectively as care [also read caring] stakeholders. The chapters that you will have read in this collection have highlighted the multiple, varied and oftentimes inspiring ways that practitioners work with, care for, or care about, children and young people. Our review of these chapters has highlighted a series of evidence-based messages for us. These occur throughout the book and guide our reflection here. We signal some questions for future reflective practice and to close we set a challenge for practitioners, service providers, and indeed any individual who works with young people and wishes to enhance their caring approach to working with children and young people

“You say potato, I say potato” Mapping Digital Preservation and Research Data Management Concepts towards Collective Curation and Preservation Strategies

This paper explores models, concepts and terminology used in the Research Data Management and Digital Preservation communities. In doing so we identify several overlaps and mutual concerns where the advancements of one professional field can apply to and assist another. By focusing on what unites rather than divides us, and by adopting a more holistic approach we advance towards collective curation and preservation strategies. &nbsp

Preparing Australasian medical students for environmentally sustainable health care

Climate change and environmental degradation are harming the health of Australians and New Zealanders and pose a serious challenge to our health care systems.1, 2 The World Health Organization in 2019 identified climate change and air pollution as the top threat to human health globally;3 a threat clearly visible in the sustained air pollution over south-eastern Australia from bushfire smoke during the 2019–20 bushfire season. The health consequences of the bushfires and the associated prolonged, hazardous air quality prompted the Australian Medical Association and three medical colleges to declare climate change a public health emergency.4 Health care systems also contribute to climate change and environmental degradation. In Australia, health care contributes 7% of the country’s total carbon emissions and produces considerable waste which is either incinerated or sent to landfill.5 Despite these environmental challenges, there has been little response by medical programs to prepare medical graduates to manage the health impacts of climate change, and to practise environmentally sustainable health care. In 2018, we described an initiative to support medical educators and medical student organisations to work collaboratively to develop proposed learning objectives, curricula and learning resources addressing the health effects of climate change.6 This article describes the development of the model graduate outcome statements and learning objectives which have been shared with all medical schools in Australasia

“You say potato, I say potato” Mapping Digital Preservation and Research Data Management Concepts towards Collective Curation and Preservation Strategies

This paper explores models, concepts and terminology used in the Research Data Management and Digital Preservation communities. In doing so we identify several overlaps and mutual concerns where the advancements of one professional field can apply to and assist another. By focusing on what unites rather than divides us, and by adopting a more holistic approach we advance towards collective curation and preservation strategies. &nbsp

Prioritizing research for integrated implementation of early childhood development and maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition platforms

BACKGROUND: Existing health and nutrition services present potential platforms for scaling up delivery of early childhood development (ECD) interventions within sensitive windows across the life course, especially in the first 1000 days from conception to age 2 years. However, there is insufficient knowledge on how to optimize implementation for such strategies in an integrated manner. In light of this knowledge gap, we aimed to systematically identify a set of integrated implementation research priorities for health, nutrition and early child development within the 2015 to 2030 timeframe of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). METHODS: We applied the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative method, and consulted a diverse group of global health experts to develop and score 57 research questions against five criteria: answerability, effectiveness, deliverability, impact, and effect on equity. These questions were ranked using a research priority score, and the average expert agreement score was calculated for each question. FINDINGS: The research priority scores ranged from 61.01 to 93.52, with a median of 82.87. The average expert agreement scores ranged from 0.50 to 0.90, with a median of 0.75. The top-ranked research question were: i) "How can interventions and packages to reduce neonatal mortality be expanded to include ECD and stimulation interventions?"; ii) "How does the integration of ECD and MNCAH&N interventions affect human resource requirements and capacity development in resource-poor settings?"; and iii) "How can integrated interventions be tailored to vulnerable refugee and migrant populations to protect against poor ECD and MNCAH&N outcomes?". Most highly-ranked research priorities varied across the life course and highlighted key aspects of scaling up coverage of integrated interventions in resource-limited settings, including: workforce and capacity development, cost-effectiveness and strategies to reduce financial barriers, and quality assessment of programs. CONCLUSIONS: Investing in ECD is critical to achieving several of the SDGs, including SDG 2 on ending all forms of malnutrition, SDG 3 on ensuring health and well-being for all, and SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all. The generated research agenda is expected to drive action and investment on priority approaches to integrating ECD interventions within existing health and nutrition services

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software