To Feel Better: A Personal Account of my Eating Disorder

Eating disorders are complex mental health disorders. The following stories and moments apply psychological skills, knowledge, and perspective to my personal struggles with bulimia. The personal narratives vary greatly in word count. Please be aware some scenes may be disturbing or uncomfortable

Move us and shake us: adapting to new challenges

With the increase in fees and student expectations, universities are facing pressures and challenges to maintain and improve the student experience. This paper will analyse the impact of the physical move of the Centre for Achievement and Performance (CfAP) into the main campus library. To do this, it will examine the integration of CfAP into the Library and Learning Services (LLS); the enhancement of the CfAP services through collaboration with Academic Librarians and the Service Development team shall be explored. Finally, it will focus on the impact of a converging service to the student body. The initial challenges faced by both CfAP and LLS staff were changes in the physical space and learning how the library operates. The physical move also resulted in a change in CfAP’s operations. There was a reduction in our physical space and a change in triage as the library’s helpdesk became the first point of contact for students wanting to access our support. This has proven more challenging than anticipated because we had to relinquish some control of established practices and cope with an increase in demand for our services. As a result of the move and operational changes CfAP now has more advocates, awareness of our role has increased, and students have immediate access to guidance. This has all contributed to a more flexible service. CfAP has adapted to work with the new professional colleagues within LLS to offer a holistic service, and we will share our experiences and offer tips to anyone facing changes to practice

Review of alcohol and drug treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

This review provides an overview of treatments for problem alcohol and other drug (AOD) use for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes information on the available research and discusses core principles for providing treatment. The review outlines how effective mainstream treatment approaches can be adapted to be more suitable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being or worldview. It also highlights that services, such as those offered by Aboriginal community controlled health organisations are in a unique position to offer culturally secure treatment approaches. The barriers to accessing treatment are discussed as well as recommendations for future strategic directions in service delivery such as collaboration and two-way learning. This review is part of a suite of knowledge exchange products that includes a summary, video, and factsheet

Assessment of Feeding Behavior in Laboratory Mice

The global obesity epidemic has heightened the need for an improved understanding of how body weight is controlled, and research using mouse models is critical to this effort. In this perspective, we provide a conceptual framework for investigation of feeding behavior in this species, with an emphasis on factors that influence study design, data interpretation, and relevance to feeding behavior in humans. Although we focus on the mouse, the principles presented can be applied to most other animal models. This document represents the current consensus view of investigators from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers (MMPCs)

‘Trying to pin down jelly’ - exploring intuitive processes in quality assessment for meta-ethnography

Background: Studies that systematically search for and synthesise qualitative research are becoming more evident in health care, and they can make an important contribution to patient care. However, there is still no agreement as to whether, or how we should appraise studies for inclusion. We aimed to explore the intuitive processes that determined the ‘quality’ of qualitative research for inclusion in qualitative research syntheses. We were particularly interested to explore the way that knowledge was constructed. Methods: We used qualitative methods to explore the process of quality appraisal within a team of seven qualitative researchers funded to undertake a meta-ethnography of chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain. Team discussions took place monthly between October 2010 and June 2012 and were recorded and transcribed. Data was coded and organised using constant comparative method. The development of our conceptual analysis was both iterative and collaborative. The strength of this team approach to quality came from open and honest discussion, where team members felt free to agree, disagree, or change their position within the safety of the group. Results: We suggest two core facets of quality for inclusion in meta-ethnography - (1) Conceptual clarity; how clearly has the author articulated a concept that facilitates theoretical insight. (2) Interpretive rigour; fundamentally, can the interpretation ‘be trusted?’ Our findings showed that three important categories help the reader to judge interpretive rigour: (ii) What is the context of the interpretation? (ii) How inductive is the interpretation? (iii) Has the researcher challenged their interpretation? Conclusions: We highlight that methods alone do not determine the quality of research for inclusion into a meta-ethnography. The strength of a concept and its capacity to facilitate theoretical insight is integral to meta-ethnography, and arguably to the quality of research. However, we suggest that to be judged ‘good enough’ there also needs to be some assurance that qualitative findings are more than simply anecdotal. Although our conceptual model was developed specifically for meta-ethnography, it may be transferable to other research methodologies

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