Practicing food anxiety: Making Australian mothers responsible for their families’ dietary decisions

Concerns about the relationship between diet, weight, and health find widespread expression in the media and are accompanied by significant individual anxiety and responsibilization. However, these pertain especially to mothers, who undertake the bulk of domestic labor involved in managing their families’ health and wellbeing. This article employs the concept of anxiety as social practice to explore the process whereby mothers are made accountable for their families’ dietary decisions. Drawing on data from an Australian study that explored the impact of discourses of childhood obesity prevention on mothers, the article argues that mothers’ engagements with this value-laden discourse are complex and ambiguous, involving varying degrees of self-ascribed responsibility and blame for children's weight and diets. We conclude by drawing attention to the value of viewing food anxiety as social practice, in highlighting issues that are largely invisible in both official discourses and scholarly accounts of childhood obesity prevention

Governance and Susceptibility in Conflict Resolution: Possibilities Beyond Control

Governmentality analysis offers a nuanced critique of informal Western conflict resolution by arguing that recently emerged alternatives to adversarial court processes both govern subjects and help to constitute rather than challenge formal regulation. However, this analysis neglects possibilities for transforming governance from within conflict resolution that are suggested by Foucault's contention that there are no relations of power without resistances. To explore this lacuna, I theorise and explore the affective and interpersonal nature of governance in mediation through autoethnographic reflection upon mediation practice, and Levina's insights about the relatedness of selves. The paper argues that two qualitatively different mediator capacities - technical ability and susceptibility - operate in concert to effect liberal governance. Occasionally though, difficulties and failures in mediation practice bring these capacities into tension and reveal the limits of governance. By considering these limits in mediation with Aboriginal Australian people, I argue that the susceptibility of mediator selves contains prospects for mitigating and transforming the very operations of power occurring through conflict resolution. This suggests options for expanded critical thinking about power relations operating through informal processes, and for cultivating a susceptible sensibility to mitigate liberal governance and more ethically respond to difference through conflict resolution

Differences in COVID-19 Outcomes Among Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: First vs Later Surges

Background Outcomes of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) have improved throughout the pandemic. However, whether outcomes of COVID-19 in the type 1 diabetes (T1D) population improved over time is unknown. Therefore, we aim to investigate differences in COVID-19 outcomes for patients with T1D in the US. Method We analyzed data collected via a registry of patients with T1D and COVID-19 from 56 sites between April 2020 and January 2021. First, we grouped cases into First Surge (04/09/2020 - 07/31/2020, n=188) and Late Surge (08/01/2020 - 01/31/2021, n=410). Then, we compared outcomes between both groups using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Results Adverse outcomes were more frequent during the first surge including Diabetic Ketoacidosis (32% versus 15%, p<0.001), severe hypoglycemia (4% versus 1%, p=0.04) and hospitalization (52% versus 22%, p<0.001). The First surge cases were older (28 +/- 18.8 years versus 18.8 +/- 11.1 years, p<0.001), had higher hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels (Median (IQR): 9.3 (4.0) versus 8.4(2.8), <0.001) and use public insurance (n(%): 107 (57) versus 154 (38), p <0.001). There were five times increased odds of hospitalization for adults (OR 5.01 (2.11,12.63) in the first surge compared to the late surge. Conclusion COVID-19 cases among patients with T1D reported during the first surge had a higher proportion of adverse outcomes than those presented in a later surge

Adapting MAIN to Irish (Gaeilge)

Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is a fast-changing, endangered language. Almost universal bilingualism (i.e. almost all Irish speakers also speak English), frequent code-switching to English, and loan words are features of the sociolinguistic context in which the language is spoken. This paper describes the adaptation of the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings - Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN, Gagarina et al., 2019) to Irish. Data was collected using the retell mode (Cat story) and the comprehension questions. Eighteen children participated ranging in age from 5;3 to 8;7 (six female and 12 male). Results suggest that story structure is not sensitive to exposure to Irish at home and indicate that MAIN Gaeilge (Irish) is a promising tool for assessing language in Irish-speaking children from a range of Irish language backgrounds

GUBERNAMENTALIDAD

Este estudio revisa el desarrollo del análisis propuesto por Michel Foucault sobre el poder político en términos de gubernamentalidad, y esboza sus características principales. Se examina el despliegue de esta perspectiva, centrándose particularmente en cómo este enfoque genealógico del análisis de la conducta de todos y cada uno ha sido acogido y desarrollado en el mundo angloparlante. Se evalúan algunas de las críticas fundamentales que han sido planteadas a la analítica de la gubernamentalidad, y se arguye en favor de la productividad continua y la creatividad de estas maneras de analizar la emergencia, naturaleza y consecuencias de las artes de gobierno

‘We definitely need more SLTs’: The transgender community’s perception of the role of speech and language therapy in relation to their voice, language, and communication needs

According to Sydor (2013), it is critical to include all vulnerable, hard-to-reach groups in research in order to identify their specific needs. Transgender individuals can be considered as belonging to such groups. Speech, language, and non-verbal communication are often strongly related to gender. For transgender individuals experiencing mismatches between existing communication behaviours and their true gender, changes to these aspects of communication can help improve quality of life and mental health. Research has indicated that speech and language therapy (SLT) can successfully support the transgender (TG) community’s communication needs but, internationally, this intervention is under-utilised (Gelfer and Tice 2013; Hancock and Garabedian 2013). This qualitative study aimed to investigate the TG community’s understanding of the role of SLT in relation to their voice, language, and communication needs. It also explored how the TG community access the available care pathways and what factors are considered when making decisions relating to their participation in SLT. Two main themes, communication and SLT were identified. This study identified a continuing need to raise awareness of the breadth of the role of SLT within the TG community. As there is no defined referral pathway to SLT services, the research highlighted a need for the SLT profession to provide details of all trans-competent clinicians and to ensure that other members of the medical profession who interact with the trans community utilise this information to provide appropriate referrals.Keywords: transgender; communication needs; speech and language therapy; qualitative research; hard-to-reach; thematic analysi