Examining limits of confidentiality in real-life consultations: concerns and considerations

This paper examines how confidentiality is discussed in real-life consultations. The Australian Psychological Society Code of Ethics states that clients are to be informed about the legal limits of confidentiality prior to engaging in psychological counselling and repeated when required. Training in confidentially is also an accreditation requirement for Honours, Masters, and Professional Doctorate programs. However little research has examined how limits of confidentiality are introduced and negotiated within real-life consultations. An initial consultation between a client and a provisionally registered psychologist was used as the data for this paper. Discursive analysis revealed that whilst the psychologist complied with her professional obligation by informing the client of the limits of confidentially before counselling began, the way in which the psychologist enacted this made it difficult for the client to ask questions or seek clarification about these limits. Further, when the psychologist explicitly asked for client confirmation of understanding and acceptance of these limits, exactly what the client confirmed and accepted is unclear. Given that breaches of confidentiality are registration board matters, this lack of clarity and limiting of client interaction is concerning. Discussion will note the limits of this data along with the utility of examining confidentiality within reallife consultations

Opening the consultation: how is this achieved between patient and physiotherapist?

Patients often give their reason for seeking health assistance in the opening phase of a health consultation. This opening phase normally involves two parts: first, an opening solicitation spoken by the health professional followed by the patient’s reason for the visit. However, how this is accomplished in real-life physiotherapy consultations is not well understood. That is, there has been limited research that has focused on the detailed discursive practices and strategies physiotherapists and patients use to organise problem presentation within real-life consultations. The aim of this presentation is to address this by identifying the discursive practices and strategies that physiotherapists and patients use in the opening phase of an initial consultation

A critical consideration of the use of therapeutic recordings in the training and professional development of psychologists

There is little critical consideration of the discursive features of recordings of therapy. This paper moves beyond a focus on what is being done by the therapist to the client and focuses on how psychological practice is discursively co-produced, and how power and ideological assumptions about psychology practice are oriented to and made relevant by therapist and client

Sex, gender and gender identity in Australian sport

Western society has stereotypical expectations of how men and women should behave, think, and act. Women are expected to be gentle, sensitive, emotional, and talkative; men to be competitive, independent, unemotional, and objective (Fiebert & Meyer, 1997). Women who violate these cultural norms may be punished or threatened with psychological isolation, economic hardship, and social ostracism (Unger & Crawford, 1996). In the sporting context however such violations are encouraged and deemed necessary for athletic success to be achieved. For example to be a successful female athlete it is necessary to possess the same traits, characteristics, and behaviours as male athletes (Anshel, 1994; Cote & Salmela, 1996). Hence what is considered appropriate outside of sport may not be considered appropriate within sport, and vice-a-versa. Researchers of gender issues within sport psychology have assumed the existence of stereotypical notions of sex and gender in sport without first establishing if these stereotypical notions are context specific. They have not investigated the particular construction of sex, gender, and gender identity within sport. By not investigating the existence of stereotypical constructs, researchers risk propagating old myths in a new context. This paper addresses the questions of what is male and female, masculine and feminine in sport? How are these notions constructed? Furthermore how do these influence sporting performance? This paper critically explores sex, gender, and gender identity in sport. It examines sport in Australia as a separate and unique social context that may produce and reproduce engendered behaviour

A modeling case for high atmospheric oxygen concentrations during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic

Changes in atmospheric oxygen concentration over Earth history are commonly related to the evolution of animals and plants. But there is no direct geochemical proxy for O2 levels, meaning that estimations rely heavily on modeling approaches. The results of such studies differ greatly, to the extent that today's atmospheric mixing ratio of 21% might be either the highest or lowest level during the past 200 m.y. Long-term oxygen sources, such as the burial in sediments of reduced carbon and sulfur species, are calculated in models by representation of nutrient cycling and estimation of productivity, or by isotope mass balance (IMB)—a technique in which burial rates are inferred in order to match known isotope records. Studies utilizing these different techniques produce conflicting estimates for paleoatmospheric O2, with nutrient-weathering models estimating concentrations close to, or above, that of the present day, and IMB models estimating low O2, especially during the Mesozoic. Here we re-assess the IMB technique using the COPSE biogeochemical model. IMB modelling is confirmed to be highly sensitive to assumed carbonate δ13C, and when this input is defined following recent compilations, predicted O2 is significantly higher and in reasonable agreement with that of non-IMB techniques. We conclude that there is no model-based support for low atmospheric oxygen concentrations during the past 200 m.y. High Mesozoic O2 is consistent with wildfire records and the development of plant fire adaptions, but links between O2 and mammal evolution appear more tenuous

Broadband stimulated four-wave parametric conversion on a tantalum pentoxide photonic chip

We exploit the large third order nonlinear susceptibility (?(3) or “Chi 3”) of tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) planar waveguides and realize broadband optical parametric conversion on-chip. We use a co-linear pump-probe configuration and observe stimulated four wave parametric conversion when seeding either in the visible or the infrared. Pumping at 800 nm we observe parametric conversion over a broad spectral range with the parametric idler output spanning from 1200 nm to 1600 nm in infrared wavelengths and from 555 nm to 600 nm in visible wavelengths. Our demonstration of on-chip stimulated four wave parametric conversion introduces Ta2O5 as a novel material for broadband integrated nonlinear photonic circuit applications

Online suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours talk: A scoping review protocol

The anonymity that the internet and social media affords users means that suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours can be talked about with a sense of freedom and disinhibition that is often not possible in face-to-face contexts. Better understanding online suicidal thoughts and/or behaviour talk is critical as more people turn to online spaces for support. Without this the potentiality of such spaces as sites for suicide prevention and intervention is likely to remain unrealised. Currently there are no scoping or systematic review syntheses focusing on internet and/or on social media suicidal thoughts and/or behaviour talk. This lack of synthesis is problematic as it makes it more difficult for online suicide prevention and intervention practices, policies, and our understanding of suicide to advance in a coherent and evidence-based manner. A scoping review protocol following Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step modified framework has been developed to address this synthesis gap. It aims to systematically map the empirical literature that has investigated online suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours talk. It is anticipated that review outcomes could inform the training of health practitioners and peer/professional online moderators in how to best talk with people experiencing suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours. Outcomes could also form an evidence-base for developing policies and practices that focus on online places as safe spaces to talk about suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours. Developers of safe language guidelines could also use the outcomes to audit how well current guidelines reflect empirical evidence. Outcomes could enable researchers to design future online suicidal thoughts and/behaviours talk studies that extend our understandings of suicide leading to potential refinements of contemporary suicide theories/models

Suicide capability within the ideation-to-action framework: A systematic scoping review

Suicide capability is theorised to facilitate the movement from suicidal ideation to suicide attempt. Three types of contributors are posited to comprise suicide capability: acquired, dispositional, and practical. Despite suicide capability being critical in the movement from ideation-to-attempt, there has been no systematic synthesis of empirical evidence relating to suicide capability that would enable further development and refinement of the concept. This study sought to address this synthesis gap. A scoping review was conducted on suicide capability studies published January 2005 to January 2022. Eleven electronic databases and grey literature sources were searched returning 5,212 potential studies. After exclusion criteria application, 90 studies were included for final analysis. Results synthesis followed a textual narrative approach allocating studies based on contributors of suicide capability. Most studies focused on investigating only one factor within contributors. Painful and provocative events appear to contribute to acquired capability more so than fearlessness about death. Whilst emerging evidence for dispositional and practical contributors is promising, the small number of studies prevents further conclusions from being drawn. An unexpected additional cognitive contributor was identified. The focus of a single factor from most studies and the limited number of studies on contributors other than acquired capability limits the theoretical development and practical application of suicide capability knowledge. Given that suicide is a complex and multifaceted behaviour, future research that incorporates a combination of contributors is more likely to advance our understandings of suicide capability

Suicidal behaviours and moderator support in online health communities: a scoping review

Objectives: Online support can be a crucial source of support for individuals experiencing suicidal behaviours, with forum moderators being pivotal in terms of the role they play in times of personal mental health emergencies. This study identified what is empirically known about the professional practices of health professionals who are online mental health forum moderators and provide support to individuals experiencing suicidal behaviours. Design: The Levac, Colquhoun and O’Brien extension of the Arksey and O’Malley scoping review framework was used. Search strategy: The Psychology Collection (EBSCO), PsycINFO (EBSCO), Web of Science, Taylor and Francis Online, SAGE Journals and Science Direct databases were searched for articles that featured a result relating to an online forum; included participants who worked as online moderators or facilitators and focused on suicide or self-harm. Results were limited to peer-reviewed articles published in English from 1990 onwards. As a quality assurance measure, grey literature (nonacademic literature) was not included. Reference lists of included articles were hand-searched. Results: There were 397 articles initially identified after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, with five articles included for synthesis. All articles received a moderate quality rating. Only one article featured a moderator who was a qualified health professional; the moderators in the remaining articles were volunteers who undertook preservice training. We found that there is little research that examines the professional working practices of online moderators who support individuals experiencing suicidal behaviours. Conclusions: The dearth of research focusing on the professional practices of online forum moderators is cause for concern given that individuals experiencing suicidal behaviours are increasingly turning to online forums when in crisis. Future research should focus on online moderators’ practice through interviewing moderators about their professional practices and by examining online moderator practice as it occurs in situ