Communicating climate change: public responsiveness and matters of concern

Since climate change captured global attention in the 1990s, the private individual, addressed as a member of a concerned public, has occupied a focal position in the discourse of environmental amelioration. Recently, a range of prominent books, films and television programs &mdash; for example, Tim Flannery&rsquo;s The Weather Makers (2005), Al Gore&rsquo;s An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and ABC TV&rsquo;s Carbon Cops (2007) &mdash; have promoted the role of the individual as the &lsquo;starting point&rsquo; for effective environmental action. These texts assume that the provision and comprehension of sufficient information to the public about climate change will change individual habits and practices. This accords with the &lsquo;information-deficit model&rsquo; in environmental communication research, a concept that asserts a direct connection between individual awareness and response, and collective action. This paper discusses the limitations of this model, pervasive in both popular and official approaches to climate change. It will interrogate the philosophical assumptions that underlie it, in which nature and culture are polarised and the human is positioned in a certain, and separate, relationship to the non-human world &mdash; an inheritance of the very logic that enables the continued exploitation of nature. Applying Bruno Latour&rsquo;s notion of a &lsquo;matter of concern&rsquo; to climate change, where the gathering of a range of irreducible forces and im/materialities continually produce these phenomena, this paper proposes that, in thinking about climate change as essentially unrepresentable, a different mode of public engagement with the issue is asserted.<br /

Governing the contagious body: genital herpes, contagion and technologies of the self

Genital herpes is a prevalent sexually transmitted viral infection. While genital herpes is not life-threatening, it can cause physical discomfort and psychosocial difficulties, and may increase the risk of contracting HIV. Given that genital herpes cannot be cured, both the condition itself, and the possibility of passing it on to others, becomes a part of the everyday reality of those individuals diagnosed with genital herpes. In this article we explore the ways in which people with genital herpes attending the Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) clinic govern their `contagious bodies'. The discussion draws on the Foucauldian concept of governmentality, and uses Foucault's idea of ethics as a framework to identify the technologies of the self by which individuals with genital herpes govern their own thoughts and behaviours in relation to the contagiousness of the condition. Implications for practice and other ways of thinking about what happens in the STI clinic context are suggested

The Use of Restrictive Measures in an Acute Inpatient Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

© . This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/There are significant issues associated with the use of restrictive measures, such as seclusion and restraint, in child and adolescent mental health care. Greater understanding of how restrictive measures are used is important for informing strategies to reduce their use. In this brief report we present a 12-month audit (1/1/2010-31/12/2011) of the use of restrictive measures (seclusion, physical restraint) in one child and adolescent acute inpatient mental health unit in Australia. The study highlights the need for continued efforts to reduce the use of restrictive measures in child and adolescent mental health services

The views of women in prison about help-seeking for intimate partner violence: at the intersection of ‘survivor’ and ‘offender’

Women represent the fastest growing section of prison populations across the Western world (Jeffries & Newbold, 2016), with ‘gender responsive’ theories of crime proposing that experiences of victimization often create offending pathways dissimilar to those of male offenders (see Bloom, Owen, & Covington 2005; Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009). Women’s experiences prior to incarceration have been shown, for example, to be characterized by high rates of child abuse, rape, and intimate partner violence (IPV) (Lynch, Fritch, & Heath, 2012). Of particular concern is the findings of one US study, that three quarters 75% of incarcerated women reported a history of physical violence perpetrated by an intimate partner (Browne, Miller, & Maguin, 1999). A more recent study, by Lynch, Fritch, and Health (2012) has also reported that 90% of female prisoners report physical and sexual violence from their partners in the year prior to incarceration. While such experiences may be important antecedents to a range of personal problems, which, in turn, lead to offending, these studies highlight how women who are in prison represent a group who potentially have an ongoing vulnerability to IPV after release (Cross, 2016). And yet, despite many prisoners returning to the same relationships and geographic contexts/communities that existed prior to incarceration, relatively little is known about the post-release experiences of women prisoners and the types of services that might be made available to maintain their safety

The forgotten victims: prisoner experience of victimisation and engagement with the criminal justice system

Many women in prison have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). As this form of violence is often intergenerational and entrenched, women in prison are widely considered to be at particular risk of ongoing victimisation following release from custody. And yet, their support needs often go unrecognised, and it is likely that a range of barriers exists that prevent exprisoners from accessing services. This research documents a series of interviews with both incarcerated women and service providers in one Australian jurisdiction to arrive at an understanding of help-seeking behaviour and how this might inform service responses. It is not concerned with advancing current understandings of why women come into contact with the justice system, although it is clear that services and programs that prevent IPV will contribute to reduced criminal justice involvement. Te analysis is positioned within a review of current theories of how people seek help from both formal and informal sources and how these theories might apply to women in prison. Tese theories suggest that any individual who experiences IPV must: 1) recognise and define the abusive situation as intolerable; 2) decide to disclose the abuse and seek help; and 3) select a target for the disclosure and where to subsequently seek help from. At the same time, the ability to seek help is infuenced by a broad range of individual, interpersonal and socio-cultural factors. Socio-culturally, for example, IPV is ofen viewed through the lens of particular social, religious and cultural institutions where male–female power inequalities are reinforced. Figure 1 provides a summary of those factors that infuence help-seeking at each stage of the process. Te interviews with women in prison clearly illustrated the need for service providers to ofer support at each of these three stages; they also illustrated how the process of re-entering the community leaves many women who have been released from prison feeling insufciently empowered to access help independently. Te interviews with service providers highlight that although services are available to victims of IPV, they rarely provide the type of support required to engage ex-prisoners. Te research suggests there is much that can be done to prepare women for their eventual release back into the community and to support them in the period following release. Specialist safety services are needed to provide education and information about IPV, to assess the particular risks faced by women in prison, to broker service access with community agencies and to provide general support and advocacy. In short, a dedicated integrated response to community reintegration is indicated that can help to break the cycle of victimisation and incarceration that is characteristic of the lives of many women in Australian prisons

Restraint use in acute and extended mental health services for older persons

Author version made available in accordance with publisher copyright policy.Restraint of older persons in inpatient and residential care is used to control aggression, and prevent falls and other adverse outcomes. Initiatives to reduce these practices are being implemented worldwide. However, there has been little examination of restraint practice in psychiatric services for older persons. This paper reports a retrospective comparative analysis of restraint use in three acute and two extended care psychiatric inpatient wards in Australia. The analysis involved examination of restraint incidents and comparison of restrained and non-restrained patients. There was significant variation in restraint use between wards. On one acute ward, 12.74% of patients were restrained, although restraint use declined during the data collection period. Patients with dementia were restrained at higher rates than patients with other diagnoses, and restrained patients stayed in hospital for a longer duration. Restraint occurred early in admission, and few differences emerged between those restrained once or multiple times. Mechanical restraint was more prevalent than physical restraint, with restraint predominantly used to manage aggression and falls. Findings provide new data on restraint in older persons' psychiatric services. Greater conceptual understandings of behaviours associated with dementia and the unique needs of patients with these disorders may assist in reducing restraint use in these settings

The use of restraint in four general hospital emergency departments in Australia

Author version made available in accordance with publisher copyright policy.Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate restraint use in Australian emergency departments (EDs). Method: A retrospective audit of restraint incidents in four EDs (from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011). Results: The restraint rate was 0.04% of total ED presentations. Males and females were involved in similar numbers of incidents. Over 90% of restrained patients had a mental illness diagnosis and were compulsorily hospitalised. Mechanical restraint with the use of soft shackles was the main method used. Restraint was enacted to prevent harm to self and/or others. Median incident duration was 2 hours 5 minutes. Conclusions: In order to better integrate the needs of mental health clients, consideration is needed as to what improvements to procedures and the ED environment can be made. EDs should particularly focus on reducing restraint duration and the use of hard shackles

E-learning for self-management support: Introducing blended learning for graduate students - A cohort study 13 Education 1303 Specialist Studies in Education 11 Medical and Health Sciences 1117 Public Health and Health Services

Background: E-learning allows delivery of education in many diverse settings and researchers have demonstrated it can be as effective as learning conducted in traditional face-to-face settings. However, there are particular practices and skills needed in the area of providing patient self-management support (SMS), that may not be achievable online. The aim of this study was to compare three approaches in the training of university students regarding the preparation of a Chronic Condition Self-Management Care Plan: 1) traditional face-to-face delivery of SMS training, 2) an e-learning approach and 3) a blended approach (combining e-learning and face-to-face teaching). Methods: Graduate entry physiotherapy students and medical students at Flinders University were recruited. Depending on the cohort, students were either exposed to traditional face-to-face training, e-learning or a blended model. Outcomes were compared between the three groups. We measured adherence to care plan processes in the preparation of an assessment piece using the Flinders Program Chronic Care Self Management tools. A total of 183 care plans were included (102 traditional, 52 blended, 29 e-learning,). All students submitted the Flinders Program Chronic Care Plan for university assessment and these were later assessed for quality by researchers. The submission was also assigned a consumer engagement score and a global competence score as these are integral to successful delivery of SMS and represent the patient perspective. Results: The blended group performed significantly better than the traditional group in quality use of the Flinders Program tools: Problem and Goals (P < 0.0001). They also performed significantly better in the total care plan score (P < 0.0001) and engagement score (P < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between the groups for the Partners in Health tool. Conclusions: In this pilot study, the blended learning model was a more effective method for teaching self-management skills than the traditional group, as assessed in the development of a chronic condition self-management care plan. We anticipate that future research with identical groups of students would yield similar results but in the meantime, academics can have confidence that blended learning is at least as effective as traditional learning methods

Five-year review of absconding in three acute psychiatric inpatient wards in Australia

Author accepted manuscript (Post-Print) made available in accordance with publisher copyright policy. Under 12 month embargo, available from 2 February 2016

Regional responses to the challenge of delivering integrated care to older people with mental health problems in rural Australia

This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (2 May 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s copyright policyObjective: Integrated care has been identified as means of managing the demands on the healthcare budget while improving access to and quality of services. It is particularly pertinent to rural health services, which face limited access to specialist and support services. This paper explores the capacity of three rural communities in South Australia to deliver integrated mental health support for older people. Methods: Thirty-one interviews were conducted with local health and social service providers from mental health, community health, general practice, residential aged care, private practice, NGOs and local government as part of a larger action research project on service integration. Results: Participants highlighted differences in service delivery between the communities related to size of the community and access to services. Three structural barriers to delivery of integrated care were identified. These are as follows: fragmentation of governmental responsibility, the current funding climate, and centralisation and standardisation of service delivery. Conclusion: We conclude that despite a focus upon integrated care in mental health policy, many features of current service delivery undermine the flexibility and informal relationships that typically underpin integration in rural communities