Accommodation needs for carers of and adults with intellectual disability in regional Australia: Their hopes for and perceptions of the future

Introduction: This article provides an in-depth investigation of the accommodation circumstances of a population of aging adults with intellectual disability living at home with parents or in supported accommodation in an Australian regional centre. Given the ageing of both the carer and adult population with intellectual disability our research explored the accommodation needs and perceptions of future lifestyle issues from the perspective of both the carers and the adults with intellectual disability. This study aimed to describe these accommodation circumstances related to a regional/rural location and did not make direct comparisons with urban/metropolitan situations. Methods: A mixed methods approach, specifically an explanatory design, participant selection model was utilised for the overall study. This article reports on the qualitative study consisting of data from both free response open-ended survey questions and semi-structured interviews with selected adults with intellectual disability and their carers. This study explored and described participants’ experiences and perceptions regarding their accommodation needs and future lifestyle issues. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify a representative sample of participants for interviews. The interview questions were guided by the results of the quantitative first study phase. Data were analysed by content analysis for major themes emerging from the interview and free response survey data. Results: A total of 146 carers (mean age 61.5 years; range 40–91 years) and 156 adults with intellectual disability (mean age 37.2 years; range 18–79 years) participated in the study. Data saturation was reached after 10 interviews were undertaken with carers (mean age 60 years) and 10 with adults with intellectual disability (no age criteria applied). Six major themes were identified: ageing, family issues, living at home, living away from home, government support and funding, and future needs. The perceptions and views of both adults with intellectual disability and their carers around these major themes are reported and discussed. Conclusions: This study indicates that there is a lack of suitable, available, supported accommodation for people aged 18 years and older with intellectual disability in this Australian regional centre. Consequently, aging parents caring at home have little choice but to continue in their caring role. For those caring away from home, existing services are decreasingly seen as fitting the ideal life they want for the person with intellectual disability for whom they care. The told experiences, perceptions and views of older carers of and adults with intellectual disability have highlighted their increasing vulnerability to the ‘disability system’. The findings suggest that government and disability services must acknowledge the changing needs of people with intellectual disability in connection with their advancing age and the urgency of increasing care needs due to the advancing age of their carer/s. The overwhelming feeling is that the carer’s voice will only be heard when the situation reaches crisis point. For many carers and their families this has already occurred

Диагностика патриотической культуры студентов

В статье раскрываются основные структурные компоненты патриотической культуры личности: гностический, мотивационный, эмоционально-волевой, поведенческий и нормативно-оценочный. Описывается алгоритм измерения сформированности патриотической культуры личности на основе шкалы суждений. Для обработки результатов опроса использован шкалограммный анализ Л. Гутмана

Structural role of the tyrosine residues of cytochrome c

The tertiary structures of horse, tuna, Neurospora crassa, horse [Hse65,Leu67]- and horse [Hse65,Leu74]-cytochromes c were studied with high-resolution 1H n.m.r. spectroscopy. The amino acid sequences of these proteins differ at position 46, which is occupied by phenylalanine in the horse proteins but by tyrosine in the remaining two, and at positions 67, 74 and 97, which are all occupied by tyrosine residues in horse and tuna cytochrome c but in the other proteins are substituted by phenylalanine or leucine, though there is only one such substitution per protein. The various aromatic-amino-acid substitutions do not seriously affect the protein structure

Safety and immunogenicity of TetractHib (a vaccine combining DTP vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type b conjugate vaccine) administered to infants at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age

The safety and immunogenicity of TETRActHIB (a vaccine combining diphtheria and tetanus toxoids-pertussis vaccine (DTP) with Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine (polyribosyl ribitol phosphate conjugated to tetanus protein) (PRP-T)) was assessed in 131 Cape Town infants immunised at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age. Serological responses to all component antigens were measured before the first dose and at 18 weeks of age. In addition, anti-PRP antibodies were measured at 9 and 18 months of age to determine long-term immunogenicity. The vaccine was well tolerated by infants and no significant side-effects were reported. Responses to Hib at 18 weeks of age were good in that most infants achieved a level of anti-PRP antibodies <". 0.15 μg/ml, indicative of short-term protection, and 70% achieved a level<". 1 μg/ml, indicative of long-term protection. The proportions of children with protective levels<". 0.15 μg/ml and<". 1 μg/ml were similar at 9 and 18 months of age, i.e. approximately 75% and 45%, respectively. Responses to tetanus and diphtheria toxoids were excellent and all infants achieved protective serological levels. Responses to pertussis were moderate in that approximately 65% achieved 'protective' serum levels of pertussis agglutinins, i.e. titres <". 320. In conclusion, this study has shown that the DTP /PRP-T vaccine is safe, immunogenic and well tolerated in infants immunised at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of age. TETRActHIB is therefore suitable for inclusion in the World Health Organisation Expanded Programme on Immunisation (WHO EPI) schedule

From Marx to Gramsci to us: Laboratory to prison, and back

Marx and Gramsci remain two of the most constant presences and inspirations for those on the left. Yet there is a persistent sense that we have still to get them right. Perhaps this indicates that sources like this are now fully classics, to be returned, and returned to. In the case of Marx and Gramsci, a series of major works published in the Brill Historical Materialism series breaks new ground as well as returning to older controversies, both resolved and unresolved. Apart from remaining arguments concerning the status of materials unpublished in their own lifetimes, the major tension that emerges here is that between the task of immanent, contextual philology and the challenge of reading ‘Marx for today’ or ‘Gramsci for today’. The tension between text and context, and the question of what travels, conceptually persists

Outcomes of the South African National Antiretroviral Treatment Programme for children: The IeDEA Southern Africa collaboration

Objectives. To assess paediatric antiretroviral treatment (ART)outcomes and their associations from a collaborative cohortrepresenting 20% of the South African national treatment programme.Design and setting. Multi-cohort study of 7 public sectorpaediatric ART programmes in Gauteng, Western Cape andKwaZulu-Natal provinces. Subjects. ART-naive children (.16 years) who commenced treatment with .3 antiretroviral drugs before March 2008.Outcome measures. Time to death or loss to follow-up were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Associations between baseline characteristics and mortality were assessed with Cox proportional hazards models stratified by site. Immune status, virological suppression and growth were described in relation to duration of ART.Results. The median (interquartile range) age of 6 078 childrenwith 9 368 child-years of follow-up was 43 (15 - 83) months, with 29% bein

Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis and host RNA expression in Africa

Improved diagnostic tests for tuberculosis in children are needed. We hypothesized that transcriptional signatures of host blood could be used to distinguish tuberculosis from other diseases in African children who either were or were not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV

Co-operation in Drug Treatment Services: Views of Offenders on Court Orders in Scotland

Accessing client perspectives about cooperation in substance misuse treatment offers important information to enhance services and improve drop-out rates. This article reports upon qualitative data from a localized study of service needs of offenders in Scotland who were undertaking community-based court orders. The views of 27 men and 2 women on their current and recent treatment offers rich insights into factors influencing their cooperation in treatment. In contradiction to the voluntaristic ideology of treatment services, their voices identify the criminal justice system as offering strong support in the completion of treatment programmes

Fluctuation-Facilitated Charge Migration along DNA

We propose a model Hamiltonian for charge transfer along the DNA double helix with temperature driven fluctuations in the base pair positions acting as the rate limiting factor for charge transfer between neighboring base pairs. We compare the predictions of the model with the recent work of J.K. Barton and A.H. Zewail (Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA, {\bf 96}, 6014 (1999)) on the unusual two-stage charge transfer of DNA.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure