Mental health and wellbeing of Australian police and emergency services employees.

Answering the Call, the Australian National Police and Emergency Services Mental Health and Wellbeing Study, surveyed 14,868 Australian ambulance, fire and rescue, police, and state emergency service employees. Emergency services personnel had lower rates of mental wellbeing and higher rates of psychological distress and probable PTSD than the general adult population. Overall 30% had low wellbeing, 21% had high and 9% had very high psychological distress, and 10% had probable PTSD. An estimated 5% had suicidal ideation and 2% had a suicide plan in the past 12 months, while 16% binge drink at least weekly. Only one in five of those with very high psychological distress or probable PTSD felt they received adequate support for their condition. These findings highlight the risk of mental health conditions associated with work in the emergency services sector

Reciprocal relationships between trajectories of loneliness and screen media use during adolescence

Adolescence is the peak period for loneliness. Now a ubiquitous part of the adolescent landscape, electronic screens may provide avenues for ameliorating feelings of loneliness. Conversely, they may act as risk factors for the development of such feelings. Although cross-sectional studies to date have investigated the relationship between screen use and loneliness, longitudinal studies are needed if causal and directional associations are to be investigated. Utilising an accelerated longitudinal design and online survey we collected four waves of data from 1919 secondary school adolescents aged 10–15 years over two years. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models tested whether changes in five types of screen use (i.e., total screen time, social media use, gaming, passive screen use, and web use) are associated with changes in loneliness in the subsequent time-point, or changes in loneliness are associated with changes in screen use in the subsequent time-point. We found significant reciprocal associations between screen use and loneliness, with the strongest associations between social networking and electronic gaming and quality of friendships. These findings highlight that any significant increase in an adolescent's screen use may be a potential indicator of changes in quality of friendships or feelings of isolation

Reviews of Justice in transition: community restorative justice in Northern Ireland (Anna Eriksson; Uffculme: Willan Publishing, 2009) and Torture, truth and justice: the case of Timor-Leste (Elizabeth Stanley; Abingdon: Routledge, 2009)

[Extract] The process of reviewing these two books inevitably involves bringing to the fore a range of preconceived ideas, conceptions, images and theoretical stances by the reviewer. It is important to acknowledge at the outset that from my point of view there is not enough critical literature on restorative justice and transitional justice. Both these books take a critical reflexive approach to restorative and transitional justice paradigms within the specific settings of Northern Ireland and Timor-Leste. Because of this reflexive stance they provide refreshing and informative reading. They are both situated, contextualised readings of restorative and transitional\ud justice that draw from these particular historical examples to enrich our understanding of the broader dynamics of justice in 'post' conflict societies