Working Together for Mental Health: Evaluation of a one-day mental health course for human service providers

BACKGROUND: The Working Together For Mental Health course is an 8-hour course designed to demystify mental illness and mental health services. The main target group for the course is people working in human service organisations who provide services for people with mental illness. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to all participants attending the course during 2003 (n = 165). Participants completed the questionnaire before and immediately after the course, and at three month follow-up. RESULTS: A response rate of 69% was achieved with 114 people completing the questionnaire on all three occasions. The responses showed a significant improvement in the self-assessed knowledge and confidence of participants to provide human services to people with a mental health problem or disorder, three months after the course. There was no significant improvement in participants' attitudes or beliefs about people with a mental health problem or disorder at three month follow-up; however, participants' attitudes were largely positive before entering the course. CONCLUSION: The Working Together For Mental Health course was successful in improving participants' confidence and knowledge around providing human services to people with a mental health illness

Mycobacterium tuberculosis releases an antacid that remodels phagosomes

International audienc

AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge

AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge

Effects of diversity and identity of the neighbouring plant community on the abundance of arthropods on individual ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) plants

The diversity of plant community can greatly affect the abundance and diversity of arthropods associated to that community, but can also influence the composition or abundance of arthropods on individual plants growing in that community. We sampled arthropods and recorded plant size of individual ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris Gaertner ssp. vulgaris [synonym Senecio jacobaea L. (Asteraceae)], plants transplanted into 70 experimental grassland plots that differed in plant diversity (1–9 species) or that were kept without vegetation. The arthropod fauna was dominated by the specialist aphid Aphis jacobaeae Schrank (Hemiptera: Aphididae). The abundance of aphids on ragwort plants decreased significantly with increasing plant diversity. The abundance of other arthropod species was not affected by the diversity of the surrounding plant community. Plant size was also not affected by the diversity of the surrounding plant community, but varied significantly among monocultures. Ragwort plants were largest in monocultures of legumes. Aphid abundance on ragwort plants, however, was not related to the size of the individual ragwort plants, but was high in monocultures consisting of Tanacetum vulgare L. (Asteraceae) plants. This plant is morphologically similar to ragwort. Even though we observed significant effects of plant diversity, ragwort plants were considerably larger – and the abundance of aphids and other arthropods on ragwort plants substantially higher – in plots without vegetation than in vegetated plots. Our results show that the presence and the diversity of neighbouring plants can provide associational resistance to focal plants growing in that community. We conclude that the surrounding plant community directly affects the abundance of arthropods on focal ragwort plants, and not via the effects of neighbouring plants on the performance of the focal plants.

Kitchen garden programs in schools - developing basic health-related literacies and more

Abstract of paper presented at PHAA 42nd Annual conference, Melbourne, 16-18 September 2013

Tansley review: are litter decomposition and fire linked through plant species traits?

Conservation Biolog