Bookreview: The animals reader: the essential classic and contemporary writings. By L. Kalof and A. Fitzgerald. Oxford: Berg 2007. ISBN: 9781845204709

519BookreviewTheanimals reader: the essential classic and contemporary writings. By L. Kalofand A. Fitzgerald. Oxford: Berg. 2007. xvi + 386 pp. £15.99 paperback. ISBN:9781845204709SAGE Publications, Inc.200810.1177/1474474008094826EmmaPowerMacquarie UniversityThismultidisciplinary text draws together key historical and contemporary readingsto intro- duce readers to ongoing debates surrounding the roles and placeof animals in society. Highlighting the shifting nature of human–animaldivisions, it challenges readers to rethink contemporary animal practicesand encourages them to be alert to the differences, continu- ities and interconnectionsbetween people and animals. The book's six themed sections examine the philosophicaland ethical underpinnings of human–animal relations, as well as animals'roles as pets, food, spectacle, symbols and scien- tific objects, in a predominatelyWestern context. An examination of `Animals as Philosophical and Ethical Subjects'provides a strong foundation for the collection and encourages readers toconsider how the categorization of animals impacts on both the opportunitiesof people and their ethical obligations to animals. Contributions drawn fromAristotle, Singer, Regan and Nussbaum, among others, introduce contrastingperspectives on the question of animal rights and provide a challenging introductionto later sections. Kalof and Fitzgerald discuss their choice of pieces that`have had a major influence in how the Western world thinks about animals'.While they certainly achieve this goal, the inclu- sion of contemporary non-Westernperspectives in the book's introductory section (and in addition to Levi-Strauss'contribution later in the book) would complement the text and fur- ther challengereaders' conceptions of human–nature and human–animal divisionsin Western society by highlighting alternative ways of seeing and engagingwith animals. The editors' selection of often contrasting pieces sparks debatewithin the text. With its succinct introductions, which contextualize chaptershistorically and within the broader field of human–animal studies,this text provides a comprehensive introduction to key debates in a formatthat is accessible to undergraduate students

Better pathways to living successfully with aphasia: Translating a national aphasia rehabilitation research program into clinical practice

Improved translation of health research knowledge into clinical practice is required to provide people with aphasia with effective and equitable health treatments. However, implementation of research outcomes can be slow leading to poorer health outcomes. Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE) approaches trialed in individual aphasia rehabilitation studies have demonstrated that research knowledge can be translated into clinical practice to improve communication access for people with aphasia. This paper describes a multilayered KTE strategy developed by mapping a national aphasia research program onto The Knowledge-to-Action-Process Framework (Graham et al., 2006) to maximize the effective translation of research evidence into clinical practice

Housing, home ownership and the governance of ageing

'Active ageing' has become core to ageing policy internationally. This paper argues that housing, and specifically home purchase, is fundamental to the governance of active ageing in liberal welfare states such as Australia, the UK, the US and Canada. Specifically, the paper expands understanding of how neoliberally inflected active ageing agendas are advanced in conjunction with housing consumption, and builds new knowledge of the governance of asset-based welfare, the investor subject, and housing marginality, showing how these practices and identities are governed temporally through ideas about what it means to age well. Arguments are advanced through analysis of Australian government ageing and age-connected housing strategies in the 20 years to 2015. These strategies construct three key connections between housing and ageing. First, housing is framed as a base (or location) for active ageing, with secure, appropriate and affordable housing depicted as enabling participation. Second, home ownership is positioned as an individual responsibility. In this framing home ownership becomes a 'choice' and means through which individuals can demonstrate responsibility by self-insuring against the fiscal risks of older age. Third, home ownership is connected to the activation of ideal ageing identities by enabling home owners as productive agers (the home as a form of income) and active consumers (home as a resource to fund prudential and age-defying consumption in older age). Significantly, in framing home ownership as an individual responsibility and choice the importance of structural factors shaping housing access are downplayed. This is a question of key geographical significance, foregrounding an interlinked agenda of not just how, but where, ageing should take place

Information exchange in chatroom conversations of people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI)

This study describes how people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) exchange information in small chatroom groups. Each of the ten participants with moderate-severe TBI and twelve control participants conversed with two unknown communication partners in a moderated chatroom on two occasions. Rates of information exchange were measured. Statistically significant differences were found in the: (1) frequency of information requests made by TBI participants and (2) frequency of information giving and negotiation/repair by communication partners of TBI participants (both reduced in the TBI group). Further research is required to validate results and explore the impact of alternate chatroom compositions

Training paid caregivers to improve their conversations with people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Paid caregivers are frequently involved in the lives of people with TBI with cognitive-communication disorders but no research has evaluated training to improve their interactions. This paper describes an RCT that evaluates a communication partner-training program for paid caregivers of people with TBI. Training was found to improve the skills of paid caregivers and have a significant impact on conversations that involved people with TBI. The long-term effectiveness of the intervention was demonstrated with skills maintained at 6-months follow-up. This research has implications for health professionals that work both with paid caregivers and people with severe TBI

Speech pathologists’ experiences with stroke clinical practice guidelines and the barriers and facilitators influencing their use: a national descriptive study

BACKGROUND: Communication and swallowing disorders are a common consequence of stroke. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been created to assist health professionals to put research evidence into clinical practice and can improve stroke care outcomes. However, CPGs are often not successfully implemented in clinical practice and research is needed to explore the factors that influence speech pathologists’ implementation of stroke CPGs. This study aimed to describe speech pathologists’ experiences and current use of guidelines, and to identify what factors influence speech pathologists’ implementation of stroke CPGs. METHODS: Speech pathologists working in stroke rehabilitation who had used a stroke CPG were invited to complete a 39-item online survey. Content analysis and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: 320 participants from all states and territories of Australia were surveyed. Almost all speech pathologists had used a stroke CPG and had found the guideline “somewhat useful” or “very useful”. Factors that speech pathologists perceived influenced CPG implementation included the: (a) guideline itself, (b) work environment, (c) aspects related to the speech pathologist themselves, (d) patient characteristics, and (e) types of implementation strategies provided. CONCLUSIONS: There are many different factors that can influence speech pathologists’ implementation of CPGs. The factors that influenced the implementation of CPGs can be understood in terms of knowledge creation and implementation frameworks. Speech pathologists should continue to adapt the stroke CPG to their local work environment and evaluate their use. To enhance guideline implementation, they may benefit from a combination of educational meetings and resources, outreach visits, support from senior colleagues, and audit and feedback strategies

Organolithium bases in flow chemistry: a review

Flow chemistry is a continually emerging and ever-growing area of synthetic organic chemistry. It provides an orthogonal approach to traditional batch chemistry, oftentimes allowing for more efficient routes to desired target molecules. It is generally accepted that flow chemistry offers a valuable change to the process landscape. From a process perspective, there are many advantages associated with flow chemistry over traditional batch chemistry, the most prominent of which is an increased safety profile with the use of highly reactive chemical species, such as organolithiums. These reagents are highly valuable species for the efficient synthesis of pharmaceutical intermediates. Disadvantageously, use of these reagents on commercial scale is severely hindered by the highly energetic nature of the reaction intermediates and their concomitant safety risk. Flow chemistry provides a viable platform for use of these reagents, offering a high degree of control over reaction parameters. In this review, we present a comprehensive account of the published literature implementing the use of organolithium reagents as strong bases for deprotonation reactions in flow systems

Casual conversations between individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their friends

Aim: To investigate casual conversation with friends following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: Nine participants with severe TBI and nine matched controls recorded a casual conversation with a friend. Exchange Structure Analysis was used to provide rates of information giving, requesting and repair. Results: Participants with and without TBI produced similar rates of information giving and requesting. Friends of the participants with TBI produced significantly lower rates of information giving when compared to the controls, but achieved comparable rates of requesting and repair. Conclusions: Casual conversations with friends may be a useful rehabilitative context for people with TBI

Assessing the outcomes of a clinical trial: Primary outcome measures only tell part of the story

Identifying outcome measures that are sensitive to change and meaningful to participants is a challenge when designing clinical trials of complex communication interventions. Outcome measures encompassing participants’ perceptions of clinically meaningful change and their experience of the treatment process are frequently neglected. This paper presents an overview of the outcome measures used in a 3 arm clinical trial which aimed to investigate (i) social skills training for the person with TBI alone (which we have termed the TBI SOLO condition) and (ii) training communication partners to deal with difficult communication behaviors (the JOINT condition) compared to a delayed waitlist CONTROL condition. The paper asks two research questions: 1. What information did the self-report of perceived communication ability using the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire, and qualitative measures provide in addition to blinded ratings on the Adapted Kagan Scales, the primary outcome measure? 2.How did participants perceive the training experience as measured through post treatment interviews

Communication skills of people with severe traumatic brain injury can be improved by training everyday communication partners: Findings from a single-blind multi-centre clinical trial

This controlled group comparison study examined the effectiveness of everyday communication partner (ECP) training for people with TBI. 44 participants with severe TBI and their ECPs were allocated to a) TBI SOLO group where the person with TBI was trained; b) JOINT group where the communication partner was also trained; or c) a delayed CONTROL. Conversations were videotaped pre and post training and rated by two blind assessors on conversational skills. Training ECPs was more efficacious than training the person with TBI alone. Involving communication partners in treatment appears crucial for improved communication interactions for people with severe TBI