‘Ngulluck Katitj Wah Koorl Koorliny/ Us mob going along learning to research together’ : drawing on action research to develop a literature review on Indigenous gendered health and wellbeing

This paper describes the collaborative work practices of the Health and Wellbeing Node within the National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN). The authors reflect on the processes they used to research and develop a literature review. As a newly established research team, the Health and Wellbeing Node members developed a collaborative approach that was informed by Action Research practices and underpinned by Indigenous ways of working. The authors identify strong links between Action Research and Indigenous processes. They suggest that, through ongoing cycles of research and review, the NIRAKN Health and Wellbeing Node developed a culturally safe, respectful and trulycollaborative way of working together and forming the identity of their work group. In this paper, they describe their developing work processes and explain the way that pictorial conceptual models contributed to their emerging ideas.

Children’s physical activity, health and physical education in isolated rural contexts : the views of parent educators in Queensland

This paper describes the views of parent educators of their children’s levels and types of physical activity. The study was conducted at two mini-schools in western Queensland. These are occasion where students who undertake formal education through various Schools Distance Education, come together for a week of educational activity. Parents (mostly mothers) were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The interview data were then analysed for dominant themes using a constant comparison method. The emergent themes related to nutrition and physical activity. Within the physical activity theme, notions of the great outdoors, work and organised sport skill development also emerged.

Porosity: Establishing the relationship between drying parameters and dried food quality [SpringerBriefs in Food, Health, and Nutrition]

The preservation technique of drying offers a significant increase in the shelf life of food materials, along with the modification of quality attributes due to simultaneous heat and mass transfer. Variations in porosity are just one of the microstructural changes that take place during the drying of most food materials. Some studies found that there may be a relationship between porosity and the properties of dried foods. However, no conclusive relationship has yet been established in the literature. This paper presents an overview of the factors that influence porosity, as well as the effects of porosity on dried food quality attributes. The effect of heat and mass transfer on porosity is also discussed along with porosity development in various drying methods. After an extensive review of the literature concerning the study of porosity, it emerges that a relationship between process parameters, food qualities, and sample properties can be established. Therefore, we propose a hypothesis of relationships between process parameters, product quality attributes, and porosity.

Child health and the income gradient : evidence from Australia

The positive relationship between household income and child health is well documented in the child health literature but the precise mechanisms via which income generates better health and whether the income gradient is increasing in child age are not well understood. This paper presents new Australian evidence on the child health–income gradient. We use data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), which involved two waves of data collection for children born between March 2003 and February 2004 (B-Cohort: 0–3 years), and between March 1999 and February 2000 (K-Cohort: 4–7 years). This data set allows us to test the robustness of some of the findings of the influential studies of Case et al. [Case, A., Lubotsky, D., Paxson, C., 2002. Economic status and health in childhood: the origins of the gradient. The American Economic Review 92 (5) 1308–1344] and Currie and Stabile [Currie, J., Stabile, M., 2003. Socioeconomic status and child health: why is the relationship stronger for older children. The American Economic Review 93 (5) 1813–1823], and a recent study by Currie et al. [Currie, A., Shields, M.A., Price, S.W., 2007. The child health/family income gradient: evidence from England. Journal of Health Economics 26 (2) 213–232]. The richness of the LSAC data set also allows us to conduct further exploration of the determinants of child health. Our results reveal an increasing income gradient by child age using similar covariates to Case et al. [Case, A., Lubotsky, D., Paxson, C., 2002. Economic status and health in childhood: the origins of the gradient. The American Economic Review 92 (5) 1308–1344]. However, the income gradient disappears if we include a rich set of controls. Our results indicate that parental health and, in particular, the mother's health plays a significant role, reducing the income coefficient to zero; suggesting an underlying mechanism that can explain the observed relationship between child health and family income. Overall, our results for Australian children are similar to those produced by Propper et al. [Propper, C., Rigg, J., Burgess, S., 2007. Child health: evidence on the roles of family income and maternal mental health from a UK birth cohort. Health Economics 16 (11) 1245–1269] on their British child cohort.

Psychological health and the risk of diabetes mellitus in Australian women: A 21-year prospective study

Background Symptoms of depression can be recurrent or limited to one episode. This study discusses the prospective association between psychological health, measured as change in depression symptoms, and the risk of diabetes mellitus in Australian women. Methods Data obtained from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy. Depression was measured using the Delusions-Symptoms: States Inventory. To examine possible transitions over time, depression was grouped into four categories and assessed at different phases over the 21-year period. Multiple logistic regression models and sensitivity analysis to assess the robustness of our analytical strategy were performed. Results Three hundred and one women reported diabetes 21 years after the index pregnancy. Almost one-third of the women who reported depression symptoms continued to report these at a subsequent follow-up (FU) phase. About 1 in 20 women who had not reported depression symptoms at the 5-year FU did so at the subsequent 14-year FU. In prospective analyses, we did not find a significant association between diabetes and negative change (not depressed to depressed, at subsequent phase); however, for women with positive history of symptoms of depression and women with persistent symptoms, there was a 1.97-fold (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14–3.40) to 2.23-fold (95% CI: 1.09–4.57) greater risk of diabetes. Conclusions Our study suggests that an increased risk of diabetes is significantly associated with persistent depression symptoms. It highlights the importance of recognizing depression symptoms in terms of women's psychological wellbeing and thus provides a basis for targeting those most at risk.

Religion, spirituality, and mental health and social behaviour in young adulthood: A longitudinal study

Background The concept spirituality appears to be gaining increasing attention for its potential relationship to mental health, despite there being an absence of consensus on what spirituality is or whether it can be distinguished from religion (or religiousness) in operational terms. Spirituality is a term that is embraced within secular and non-secular contexts alike. As a consequence, spirituality as a concept encompasses forms of religiosity that are embedded in traditional religion and those that have little or no connection to traditional religious teachings. The emergence of religious/spiritual beliefs that depart from traditional religious thought represents one key feature of widespread religious change in contemporary societies. Non-traditional religious/spiritual beliefs need to be viewed within this context and thus be differentiated from traditional religious/spiritual beliefs when investigating connections between religion, spirituality, and mental health. Aims The current study seeks to compare the mental health of those whose beliefs are rooted in religious tradition with those whose beliefs deviate from traditional religious thought. The two main objectives of this study are: (1) to determine the extent to which religious background predicts endorsement of traditional and non-traditional religious/spiritual beliefs and church attendance in young adulthood, and; (2) to determine whether differential relationships exist between current religiosity, religious background, and mental health in young adulthood, and whether any observed differences are attributable to other characteristics of respondents like sociodemographic factors and health-risk behaviours. Methods Data were derived from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy, a longitudinal, prospective study of maternal and child health from the prenatal period to 21 years post-delivery. Religiosity was assessed among the study children in young adulthood from three items measured at the time of the 21-year follow-up. Religious background was assessed from information provided by the study mothers in earlier phases of the study. Young adult responses to items included in the Young Adult Self Report (Achenbach, 1997) were used to assess cases of anxiety/depression and externalising behaviour, and delusional ideation was assessed from their responses to the 21-item Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI) (Peters & Garety, 1996). Results Belief in a spiritual or higher power other than God was found to be positively related to anxiety/depression, disturbed ideation, suspiciousness and paranormal ideation, high total PDI scores, as well as antisocial behaviour in young adulthood, regardless of gender. These associations persisted after adjustment for potential confounders. By contrast, young adults who maintain a traditional belief in God appear to be no different to those who reject this belief in regard to anxiety/depression. Belief in God was found to have no association with antisocial behaviour for males, but was observed to have a weak negative relationship with antisocial behaviour for females. This association failed to reach statistical significance however, after adjustment for other religious/spiritual and social characteristics. No associations were found between young adult belief in God and disturbed, suspicious or paranormal ideation, although a positive relationship was identified for high total PDI scores. Weekly church attendance was observed to reduce the likelihood of antisocial behaviour in young adulthood among males, but not females. Religious ideation was found to more prevalent among young adults who attend church on either a weekly or infrequent basis. No long-term effects on anxiety/depression or antisocial behaviour were evident from maternal belief in God, church attendance or religious affiliation in the young adults’ early lives. However, maternal church attendance predicted religious ideation in young adulthood. Offspring of mothers affiliated with a Pentecostal church in the prenatal period appear to have a high rate of religious ideation and high total PDI scores. Paranormal ideation in young adulthood appears to have no association with maternal religiosity in a young adult’s early life. Conclusion The findings from this study suggest that young adults who endorse non-traditional religious/spiritual beliefs are at greater risk for poorer mental health and aberrant social behaviour than those who reject these beliefs. These results suggest that a non-traditional religious/spiritual belief system involves more than mere rejection of traditional religious doctrine. This system of belief may be a marker for those who question the legitimacy of established societal norms and values, and whose thoughts, attitudes and actions reflect this position. This possibility has implications for mental health and wellbeing at both an individual and a societal level and warrants further research attention.

The effectiveness of communication interventions in providing older people with information on access to in-home health and social care services: A systematic review protocol

The objective of this review is to locate, critically appraise and synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of communication strategies for providing older people access to information regarding in-home health and social care services. The review question is: What is the effectiveness of communication interventions in providing older people with information about in-home health and social care services?

[await full-text]Evaluation of QAS Workplace Health and Safety Action Plan

This report identifies the outcomes of a program evaluation of the five year Workplace Health and Safety Strategy (2012-2017), specifically, the engagement component within the Queensland Ambulance Service. As part of the former Department of Community Safety, their objective was to work towards harmonising the occupational health and safety policies and process to improve the workplace culture. The report examines and assess the process paths and resource inputs into the strategy, provides feedback on progress to achieving identified goals as well as identify opportunities for improvements and barriers to progress. Consultations were held with key stakeholders within QAS and focus groups were facilitated with managers and health and safety representatives of each Local Area Service Network.

The impact of a self-development coaching programme on medical and dental students’ psychological health and academic performance: A randomised controlled trial

Background Psychological distress is well-documented worldwide among medical and dental students. Few studies have assessed the impact of self-development coaching programs on the students’ psychological health. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a self-development coaching programme on the psychological health and academic performance of preclinical medical and dental students at Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia. Methods Four-hundred and twenty-two participants (n = 422, 20–22 years) fulfilled the study requirements and were invited into a parallel-randomised controlled trial that was partially blinded. Participants were stratified by faculty, gender, and academic year, and then randomised. A total of 156 students participated in the intervention group (IG) and 163 students participated in the control group (CG). The IG received the selfdevelopment programme, involving skills and strategies aimed to improve students’ psychological health and academic performance, through a two-day workshop. Meanwhile, the CG attended an active placebo programme focussing on theoretical information that was delivered through a five-hour workshop. Both programmes were conducted by the same presenter during Week 1 of the second semester of the 2012–2013 academic year. Data were gathered immediately before (T1), one week after (T2) and five weeks (T3) after the intervention. Psychological health was measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), the General Self-Efficacy (GSE), and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Academic performance was measured using students’ academic weighted grades (WG). Student cognitive and emotional perceptions of the intervention were measured using the Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ). Results Data from 317 students, who completed the follow ups, were analysed across the three time periods (IG, n = 155; CG, n = 162). The baseline variables and demographic data of the IG and CG were not significantly different. The IG showed short-term significant reductions in depression and anxiety in compared to CG from T1 to T2. The short-term changes in stress, GSE and SWLS of the IG were not significantly different from those of the CG. While both groups showed a significant change on most of the psychological variables from T1 to T3, no significant differences were found between the groups in this period. In addition, no significant difference was found in WG between the IG and CG after the intervention. No harms relevant to the intervention were reported. Conclusion The investigated self-development coaching programme showed only a short-term improvement on depression and anxiety compared with an active control. There was no effect of the intervention on academic performance.

Health and guardianship law: Children, consent and the refusal of blood products: A recent Queensland case

This column provides a summary of the recent decision of The Hospital v T [2015] QSC 185

Barriers to good occupational health and safety (OHS) practices by small construction firms

The construction industry has long been considered to have unacceptably high injury and fatality rates. Previous research has shown that small construction companies sustain higher injury rates than large companies. However, despite the industry being dominated by a very large number of such small companies, little is known of their occupational health and safety (OHS) needs, practices and constraints. This paper takes a first step in aiming to identify the principal barriers that affect good OHS performance of small construction companies so that effective OHS practices can be developed to improve this in future. The contents of the literature are first summarised, in which three critical barriers to good OHS practice in small construction firms are proposed. They are : cost, time, lack of safety awareness and concern. The results of a questionnaire survey carried out with South East Queensland construction personnel are presented, which largely confirm what is suggested by the literature research and also succeed in providing an indication of their ranking in terms of importance and suggestions for overcoming these barriers. The research results provide a better understanding of the issues that restrict good OHS practice in small construction companies and potential measures for improvement.

Resilience: A new integrative approach to health and mental health research

We know from anecdote and research, science and art, that human resilience is a powerful, seemingly ubiquitous force. What is needed is a better understanding of the properties, variations, and applications of that concept to health and well-being. In this paper we put forth two definitions of resilience: Sustainability of purpose in the face of stress, and recovery from adversity. We review current thinking in the social sciences on the nature of biological, psychological and socio-community processes that may confer resilience. In doing so, we encourage greater attention to aspects of biopsychosocial resourcefulness as a dimension of influence on health and mental health distinct from measures of risk found in standard models of public health inquiry. Multi-level, longitudinal, and intervention methods are advocated for research and applications of the concept with conceptual guidelines for the examination of laboratory, diary, and community indicator data on manifestations of resilience across the life span.