Problem gambling and family violence: family member reports of prevalence, family impacts and family coping

This article reports on the Australian arm of a large-scale study of the patterns and prevalence of co-occurrence of family violence and problem gambling in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.AbstractThere exists only a small number of empirical studies investigating the patterns of family violence in problem gambling populations, although some evidence exists that intimate partner violence and child abuse are among the most severe interpersonal correlates of problem gambling. The current article reports on the Australian arm of a large-scale study of the patterns and prevalence of co-occurrence of family violence and problem gambling in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. The current study screened 120 help-seeking family members of problem gamblers in a range of clinical services for both family violence and problem gambling. The main results showed that 52.5% reported some form of family violence in the past 12 months: 20.0% reported only victimisation, 10.8% reported only perpetration and 21.6% reported both victimisation and perpetration of family violence. Parents, current and ex-partners were most likely to be both perpetrators and victims of family violence. There were no gender differences in reciprocal violence but females were more likely to be only victims and less likely to report no violence in comparison to males. Most of the 32 participants interviewed in depth, reported that gambling generally preceded family violence. The findings suggest that perpetration of family violence was more likely to occur as a reaction to deeply-rooted and accumulated anger and mistrust whereas victimisation was an outcome of gambler’s anger brought on by immediate gambling losses and frustration. While multiple and intertwined negative family impacts were likely to occur in the presence of family violence, gambling-related coping strategies were not associated with the presence or absence of family violence. The implications of the findings for service providers are discussed.Authored by Aino Suomi, Alun C Jackson, Nicki A Dowling, Tiffany Lavis, Janet Patford, Shane A Thomas, Peter Harvey, Max Abbott, Maria E Bellringer, Jane Koziol-McLain and Sue Cockman

Time domain data extraction, radio altimetry, and application of ATS data Quarterly report, 1 Apr. - 30 Jun. 1971

Meteorological research in time domain data extraction, radio altimetry, and application of ATS data as hydrological tool in remote tropical region

Dynamics of earth and planetary atmospheres: A brief assessment of our present understanding

The present understanding of planetary atmospheres, the application of this knowledge to terrestrial problems, and the research needs in these overlapping areas are assessed

Transforming Foodways: Sustainability Sensemaking Processes among Finnish Food Companies

Food companies are central actors in driving sustainability transformations at the interface of production and consumption. Still, only limited attention has been directed to how sustainability-related meanings are being created within various food industry organizations. In this article, we explore the characteristics of the sustainability sensemaking and -giving processes among food companies and analyze how these processes influence sustainability-related transformations of current foodways. Our analysis is based on qualitative data (transcripts and notes) from interviews with managers from 15 Finnish food companies. By using organizational sensemaking literature, we shed light on the companies’ cultural talk and social meaning creations of sustainability. Our findings indicate that food companies’ sustainability sensemaking is an intra- and inter-organizational, social process occurring between the individual and organizational spheres of the organizations. Food companies act as sensegivers, as they actively communicate with stakeholders to achieve the position of a knowledgeable sustainability forerunner. Sustainability has been normalized in the talk and action of food companies, but the discursive space offered by them is limited to weak sustainability perspectives. While socio-material transgressions of current foodways may emerge, we argue that a shift from communicating and commercializing sustainability to a focus on ecological material aspects and ecological sensemaking is essential for transforming foodways towards strong sustainability

Affects and Emotions in Cultural Research - Cornucopia or Pandora’s box?

nonPeerReviewe

Couple and family therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: The objectives of this review will be to: assess the efficacy of couple and family therapies for adult PTSD, relative to 'no treatment' conditions, 'standard care', and structured or non‐specific individual psychological therapies; examine the clinical characteristics of studies that influence the relative efficacy of these therapies; and critically evaluate methodological features of studies that bias research findings

Full modelling of high-intensity focused ultrasound and thermal heating in the kidney using realistic patient models

Objective: High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy can be used for non-invasive treatment of kidney (renal) cancer, but the clinical outcomes have been variable. In this study, the efficacy of renal HIFU therapy was studied using nonlinear acoustic and thermal simulations in three patients. Methods: The acoustic simulations were conducted with and without refraction in order to investigate its effect on the shape, size and pressure distribution at the focus. The values for the attenuation, sound speed, perfusion and thermal conductivity of the kidney were varied over the reported ranges to determine the effect of variability on heating. Furthermore, the phase aberration was studied in order to quantify the underlying phase shifts using a second order polynomial function. Results: The ultrasound field intensity was found to drop on average 11.1 dB with refraction and 6.4 dB without refraction. Reflection at tissue interfaces was found to result in a loss less than 0.1 dB. Focal point splitting due to refraction significantly reduced the heating efficacy. Perfusion did not have a large effect on heating during short sonication durations. Small changes in temperature were seen with varying attenuation and thermal conductivity, but no visible changes were present with sound speed variations. The aberration study revealed an underlying trend in the spatial distribution of the phase shifts. Conclusion: The results show that the efficacy of HIFU therapy in the kidney could be improved with aberration correction. Significance: A method is proposed by which patient specific pre-treatment calculations could be used to overcome the aberration and therefore make ultrasound treatment possible.Comment: Journal paper, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2018