Attendant care program direct funding pilot evaluation

The Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) is piloting a direct funding project in conjunction with the Attendant Care Program (ACP). The direct funding pilot aims to complement the objectives of the ACP, which provides support to individuals with physical disabilities with a range of tasks and activities to allow them to live and participate in their communities. The evaluation compares three ACP funding options, which differ in who employs the attendant carers, who receives the funding from DADHC and who is responsible for management and reporting: • Employer model – the service provider is the attendant carers’ employer; in some organisations, clients can chose to participate in some attendant carer management decisions, such as recruitment. DADHC pays the funds to the service provider and the service provider is accountable to DADHC for the management of funds and reporting. Thirty two service providers are registered with DADHC to provide this model. • Cooperative model – the client is the attendant carers’ employer; the service provider supplies administrative and management support. DADHC pays the funds to the service provider and the service provider is accountable to DADHC for the management of funds and reporting. One provider offers this model. • Direct funding – the client is responsible for all attendant carer employment and management. DADHC pays the funds directly to the client, who is accountable to DADHC for the management of funds and reporting. The pilot project is providing funds directly to ten current ACP clients for the direct purchase of personal care services. This is intended to provide clients with greater control over the choice and management of the support they receive as well as to promote more flexible and responsive services for clients

Imagination and sociodramatic play using Minecraft and FaceTime as a digitally-mediated environment

This research investigates how children located in separate homes use the psychological function of imagination to engage in sociodramatic play using networked digital technologies. Specifically, it examines how 7- to 8-year-old children create imaginary play situations in the same Minecraft: Education Edition digitally-mediated environment whilst synchronously using the FaceTime video-communication tool to discuss their play. Drawing on cultural-historical conceptualizations of play, findings identified in this study describe how children reworked and combined elements of reality via imagination to enable online sociodramatic play. This study provides theoretical insight into how adults may best foster children’s imagination in digitally-mediated environments to support online sociodramatic play, of especial benefit to children during periods of lockdown associated with the global pandemic

Generation and Screening of a BAC Library from a Diploid Potato Clone to Unravel Durable Late Blight Resistance on Linkage Group IV

We describe the construction and screening of a large insert genomic library from the diploid potato clone HB171(13) that has been shown to express durable quantitative field resistance to Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of potato late blight disease. Integrated genetic mapping of the field resistance quantitative trait locus with markers developed from populations segregating for Rpi-blb3, Rpi-abpt, R2, and R2-like resistance, all located on linkage group IV, has positioned the field resistance QTL within the proximity of this R gene cluster. The library has been successfully screened with resistance gene analogues (RGA) potentially linked to the R gene cluster. Over 30 positive BAC clones were identified and confirmed by PCR and Southern hybridisations to harbour RGA-like sequences. In addition, BAC end sequencing of positive clones has corroborated two BAC clones with a very high level of nucleotide similarity to the RGA probes utilised

Parents with psychosis : a pilot study examining self-report measures related to family functioning

The aims of this study were to examine the utility of various self-report instruments related to family functioning in families where a parent has a psychotic disorder, and to explore associations between these instruments and symptoms in the parent. Twenty-one parents with a psychotic disorders participated in the study. All participants were able to complete the questionnaires and the majority of parents reported levels of parental competence in the average range. Most parents (90%) perceived themselves to be effective parents, however 30% reported low levels of satisfaction with the parenting role. There were significant associations between objective measures of negative symptoms and self-report scores related to problems in ways of coping, and problems with parent-child interactions. Many individuals with psychosis were able to report areas of perceived need related to their role as parents and to the functioning of their families, however there are several limitations in the use of these instruments in this setting.<br /

The flipped classroom for medical students

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111810/1/tct12328.pd