Ambivalence in the provision of intergenerational care to older Australians and neighbourhood watch (short stories)

This thesis examines ambivalence in the provision of intergenerational care to older Australians through analysing disciplinary and discursive literatures, reviewing fiction and memoir and writing an anthology of short stories about caring for older people. This enables a unique and complementary dialogue between two knowledges—one derived from official knowledge or institutional discourse about care and caring, the other from unofficial knowledge derived from fiction and memoir—to probe ambivalence more deeply

Report on research findings: Improving access to social and economic services for people with disability in Lao PDR

This workshop will present the findings from the Australian Aid funded research “Improving Access to Social and Economic Services for People with Disability in Lao PDR (2013-16)”. The research has been conducted by a team from Curtin University School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, with our Implementing Partner LDPA, through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare

Identifying the Needs of Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Children in Thailand: A Focus on the Perspectives of Children

This research reports on the under-researched needs of urban refugee and asylum-seeking children living in precarious circumstances in Bangkok, Thailand. Further, it takes an unconventional approach and utilizes child-centred research methods to privilege the perspectives of children. It then compares children’s perspectives with those of adults who are their parents/guardians and key informants who are service providers and policy advocates. Qualitative research methods, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews and drawing with children, were employed in late 2014. This article reports remarkable findings on the similarities and differences between the perspectives of children and adults. The similarities and differences are contextualized in light of the supports and services available to improve the children’s wellbeing

Uptake of HIV testing and treatment in an isolated population with access to free and universal healthcare

This Western Australian study analysed clinical information from 344 people with AIDS, and experiential data from a sample of 36 people with AIDS to investigate 2 relevant issues: the timing of HIV testing and uptake and experiences of HIV drug treatment. We found that the proportion of people presenting with AIDS before being diagnosed with HIV infection ('AIDS-presenters') fell from 47% in 1985-1987 to 20% in 1991-1993. Since antiretroviral therapy (ART) became available in 1987, two-thirds of Western Australian people with AIDS who knew of their HIV infection prior to the development of AIDS have consistently elected to take recommended HIV treatment. Four phases of the treatment experience were identified. It is concluded that 'AIDS-presentation' is unlikely to reduce further and that the timing of testing and issues of treatment acceptance are only understood when the experiences of people with illness are examined using a patient-centred approach

Female sex work in Yangon, Myanmar

BackgroundMyanmar (Burma), with an upper estimate of 400,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, faces a dangerous and potentially devastating epidemic. Female sex workers in the country are one of the most affected populations with high prevalence rates of both HIV and sexually transmitted infections (33.5% women with HIV in one study population).MethodsA qualitative study was undertaken in Yangon at the end of 2002 to investigate the social and demographic features contributing to the transmission of HIV among female sex workers in urban Myanmar.ResultsThe research findings indicate that female sex workers in Myanmar are marginalised and difficult to access for research enquiry due to a variety of legal, political, cultural and social factors. Their reported rates of unsafe sexual practice, insufficient HIV/AIDS education, social stigmatisation, poor access to and quality of health services as well as inadequate public health programs make them particularly vulnerable to HIV and STIs.ConclusionsThis paper advocates several feasible steps to improve the situation. There needs to be national recognition that the HIV epidemic amongst female sex workers is a priority development problem with major societal implications requiring change to national social norms and values. A sustained partnership must be developed between all key stakeholders, including sex trade representatives, to enable the development and implementation of integrated target-specific HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. Finally, sex workers need to be guaranteed access to basic and general health services providing non-discriminatory and high quality care

Effective mine risk education in war-zone areas: a shared responsibility

The focus of this paper is effective health education and promotion in the field of mine awareness, or what has more recently been re-titled 'mine risk education'. According to the United Nations, mine risk education comprises educational activities that aim to reduce the risk of injury from landmine/unexploded ordnance (UXO) through raising awareness and promoting behavioural change and includes public information dissemination, education and training, and community mine action liaison. Specifically, this paper is an empirical study of mine risk education practices using data collected during the implementation of a mine risk education programme that commenced in Lao PDR in 1996 and is ongoing. In particular, it considers lessons learned from the programme's monitoring and evaluation process. The authors argue that in a country such as Lao PDR, where communities have lived with UXO infestation for over 25 years, more mine risk education is not necessarily needed. This paper concludes that common programmes of mine risk education using top-down educational methods, based on the assumption that ignorance of landmine/UXO risk is the key factor in mine accidents, are inadequate. Evidence from the literature on health promotion and the experience of the programme indicate that there is a need to supplement or replace existing common mine risk education practices with techniques that incorporate an understanding of the economic, social and political circumstances faced by communities at risk

A new cohort of refugee students in Perth: Challenges for students and educators

Today's migration patterns have shifted in ways that bring new challenges to educators. New refugee arrivals in developed countries are an extremely diverse group. As a result, multiple approaches must be developed addressing the needs of diverse, multicultural and multilingual refugee and migrant populations. It has been clearly demonstrated that refugee children and adolescents are vulnerable to the effects of pre-migration, most notably exposure to trauma. In educational settings refugee students bring new challenges; many experienced educators are facing for the first time. The main aims of the project were to investigate and explore ways in which refugee adolescent youth perceive their experience of transition and resettlement into Australia and to examine the challenges faced by adolescent refugees in acquiring an Australian education. The research used a case study approach within a qualitative framework based on focus group interviews with 45 young refugees, school visits, in depth key informant interviews and accumulation of documentary data. The research approach interwove migration, resettlement and identity formation into an understanding of psychosocial wellbeing and educational experiences of adolescent refugees in Western Australia. This study argues that government departments (health, education and community development) need to work together to create a supportive and enabling environment to improve the wellbeing of refugee adolescents and provides preliminary recommendations for further research into strategies that will improve educational and mental health outcomes for these young people