The psychosocial impact of caregiving on young people who have a parent with an illness or disability: Comparisons between young caregivers and noncaregivers

Objective: To investigate the psychosocial impact of young caregiving by empirically validating prominent qualitative themes.. This was achieved through developing an inventory called the Young Caregiver of Parents Inventory (YCOPI) designed to assess these themes and by comparing young caregivers and noncaregivers. Method: Two hundred forty-five participants between 10 and 25 years completed questionnaires: 100 young caregivers and 145 noncaregivers. In addition to the YCOPI, the following variables were measured: demographics, caregiving context, social support, appraisal, coping strategies, and adjustment (health, life satisfaction, distress, positive affect). Results: Eight reliable factors emerged from the YCOPI that described the diverse impacts of caregiving and reflected the key themes reported in prior research. The factors were related to most caregiving context variables and theoretically relevant stress and coping variables. Compared with noncaregivers, young caregivers reported higher levels of young caregiving impact, less reliance on problem-solving coping, and higher somatization and lower life satisfaction. Conclusions: Findings delineate key impacts of young caregiving and highlight the importance of ensuring that measures used in research on young caregivers are sensitive to issues pertinent to this population.

Listening to young people's voices: Youth sports leaders' advice on facilitating participation in sport

This article reports on a study that accepts the proposal that we listento the voices of young people in relation to sport and physical recreation.The study sought the advice of young sports leaders on what can be done to facilitate young people’s involvement in sport. The study used group interviews (Nominal Group Technique) with over 600 14–18-year-olds toelicit responses to a single question, ‘What can be done to help young people participate in sport?’ This article focuses on young people’s views on issues to do with climate and conditions. We argue that, while their advice offers support for some current initiatives in youth sport, it also provides new insights and challenges and suggests a reordering of existing priorities for youth sport and leisure provision.

How young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience mental health: Some insights for mental health nurses

This article reports on part of a study that looked at the mental health of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) young people. The research sought to learn from CALD young people, carers, and service providers experiences relevant to the mental health of this group of young people. The ultimate goal was to gain insights that would inform government policy, service providers, ethnic communities and most importantly the young people themselves. To this end, qualitative interviews were undertaken with 123 CALD young people, 41 carers and 14 mental health service providers in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. Only one aspect of the study will be dealt with here, namely the views of the young CALD participants, which included risk factors, coping strategies and recommendations about how they could be supported in their struggle to maintain mental health. One of the most important findings of the study relates to the resilience of these young people and an insight into the strategies that they used to cope. The efforts of these young people to assist us in our attempts to understand their situation deserve to be rewarded by improvements in the care that we provide. To this end this article sets out to inform mental health nurses of the results of the study so that they will be in a position to better understand the needs and strengths of their CALD clients and be in a better position to work effectively with them.

Young people's socialisation into sport: A case study of an athletics club

This paper explores young people's (9 to 15 years old) early socialisation into sport. We draw on data from an 18-month-long ethnography of the junior section of an athletics club in England, using field notes, interviews and a psychometric questionnaire. We begin by noting a trend towards increasing numbers of younger children participating in adult-organised, community-based sport. Within this context, we investigate the extent to which Siedentop's [(1995) Junior Sport and the evolution of sport cultures, Keynote presentation to the Junior Sport Forum, Auckland, New Zealand] three main goals for young people's participation in sport, i.e. the educative, public health and elite development, are met in specific, local junior sport settings such as Forest Athletics Club (FAC). We report that most of the young people participating in the Introductory Groups at FAC begin their socialisation into sport by 'sampling' a range of sports and other activities that are available to them. We note the key features of the sampling phase for these young people, including their involvement in sports and other activities in addition to athletics, their reasons for participation, the place of competition and the importance of friendship. We report that FAC created a climate for the Samplers, intentionally or not, conducive to the development of Siedentop's educative goal, and to a lesser extent the public health and elite development goals. In concluding, we note the implications of the study for community-based programmes run by clubs.

Physical activity and young people: Beyond participation

The quantitative literature on physical activity participation patterns leaves many questions about the place and significance of physical activity in the lives of young people unanswered. This paper begins to address this absence by attempting to understand physical activity from the point of view of young people and in relation to other aspects of their lives. It discusses interviews with 28 female and 34 male students from three Australian high schools chosen because they provided the opportunity to include students from different geographical, social and cultural locations. Students were asked to reflect upon their past and current engagement in physical activity, and the impact of factors such as their location, family, and school in their access and interest. Different spaces and places proved important in the nature of the physical activity available, its significance to young people and the kinds of identities which could be constructed.

Influence of gender on mental health literacy in young Australians

Objectives: To determine the effects of gender on mental health literacy in young people between 12 and 25 years of age. Design: Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing was employed to conduct a cross-sectional structured interview focusing on young people's awareness of depression and psychosis. Participants: The sample comprised 1207 young Australians (539 males and 668 females) between the ages of 12-25 recruited from two metropolitan and two regional areas within Victoria. Six hundred and six respondents were presented a depression vignette and 601 were presented a psychosis vignette. Results: Female respondents (60.7%) were significantly more likely to correctly identify depression in the vignette as compared to male respondents (34.5%). No significant gender differences were noted for the psychosis vignette. Males were less significantly likely to endorse seeing a doctor or psychologist/counsellor for the treatment of psychosis. Males were also significantly more likely than females to endorse alcohol as a way of dealing with depression and antibiotics as useful for dealing with psychosis. Conclusion: Gender differences in mental health literacy are striking. Males showed significantly lower recognition of symptoms associated with mental illness and were more likely endorse the use alcohol to deal with mental health problems. Such factors may contribute to the delays in help seeking seen in young males. Further research is needed to delineate how these gender differences in young people may obstruct help seeking, early intervention and other aspects of mental health service delivery.

Out of the generosity of your heart: Are we creating active citizens through compulsory volunteer programmes for young people in Australia?

Using governmentality as a theoretical framework, we examine two Australian policy areas where young people are disciplined into becoming good, active citizens. These policies-mutual obligation through the work for the dole programme, and school-based active citizenship programmes similar to American service learning programmes-both mirror volunteer-ope activities, in a social context where volunteers are viewed as good citizens. In this study, we present findings from a qualitative study that addresses the question of whether young people will develop active citizenship through compulsory volunteer-type programmes. The findings show that first, young people are very conscious of the lack of choice involved in these programmes and that this weakened their sense of agency. Second, the programmes failed to develop positive community attitudes and active social behaviours. These results suggest that policies that compel individuals to contribute to society may actually weaken their citizenship identities.

The place and meaning of physical activity, physical education, and physical culture in the lives of young people living in rural Queensland

Young people living in rural and regional areas are often reported as being less physically active than are young people living elsewhere. An understanding of this phenomenon will inform policies and strategies to address this finding. One source of valuable information is a qualitative understanding of how social relations and cultural meanings influence young people's opportunities and choices in relation to physical activity as told by young people themselves. The study reported here forms a component of a national project to gain insights into young people's engagement with physical activity and physical culture. Data has been collected for over two years with 15 young people residing in rural areas throughout Queensland, using semi- structured interviews. This paper reports the findings of the research. [Author abstract, ed]

Telepaediatrics and diabetic retinopathy screening of young people with diabetes in Queensland

We have examined the feasibility of a telemedicine-enabled screening service for children and adolescents with diabetes in Queensland. There are approximately 1400 young people with diabetes in Queensland and only about two-thirds of them are screened in accordance with international guidelines. A regional retinal screening service was established using a non-mydriatic digital retinal camera. Seven centres volunteered to participate in the study. During a five-month pilot trial, 83 of the young people with diabetes who attend these centres underwent digital retinal screening (3.7%). Retinal images were sent via email to a paediatric ophthalmologist for review and results were returned via email. A copy of each participant's results was forwarded by mail to the referring diabetes doctor and the participant and family. The majority of the image files (96%) were rated as excellent or good. Only one participant was identified as having an abnormal result. Participants and their families expressed satisfaction with the digital retinal screening process.

Cultural and gender influences on age identification

Age identification plays a significant role in young adults" mass, interpersonal, intergenerational, and intercultural communication. This research examines cultural and gender influences on young people's age identity by measuring the social age identity of male and female young adult members of five cultures varying in individualism/collectivism (Laos, Thailand, Spain, Australia, and the U.S.A.). We found cultural influences on age identity to be both unexpected in nature and modest in effect. American and Laotian respondents had similar and nominally higher levels of age identity than Australian, Thai, and Spanish respondents, with all having a markedly different age identities than those of Japanese respondents as reported by other researchers. No direct effect for gender on age identity emerged, though American females were more age identified than all other respondents. Across cultures, the social identity scale was found to be a reasonably adequate measure of age identity.

The effect of introducing radiographer reporting on the availability of reports for Accident and Emergency and General Practitioner examinations: a time-series analysis

This study explores whether the introduction of selectively trained radiographers reporting Accident and Emergency (A&E) X-ray examinations or the appendicular skeleton affected the availability of reports for A&E and General Practitioner (GP) examinations at it typical district general hospital. This was achieved by analysing monthly data on A&E and GP examinations for 1993 1997 using structural time-series models. Parameters to capture stochastic seasonal effects and stochastic time trends were included ill the models. The main outcome measures were changes in the number, proportion and timeliness of A&E and GP examinations reported. Radiographer reporting X-ray examinations requested by A&E was associated with it 12% (p = 0.050) increase in the number of A&E examinations reported and it 37% (p

A flexible and practical framework for reporting on ecologically sustainable development for wild capture fisheries

The principles of sustainable development (or ecologically sustainable development as it is known in Australia) are now accepted as the foundation for natural resource management worldwide and there are increasing community expectations that they will be implemented explicitly. Previous attempts to assess sustainable development for fisheries have mostly failed because the methods have been too restrictive, often attempting to develop a single set of indicators. In 2000, all the fishery agencies and major stakeholder groups in Australia supported the development of a National ESD Framework. This initiative resulted in a practical system being generated through the results of a series of case studies and stakeholder workshops. The Australian National ESD Framework divides ESD into eight major components within the three main categories of ecological well-being, human well-being and ability to contribute: Four main steps are used to complete an ESD report for a fishery: (1) identify relevant issues, (2) prioritise these using risk assessment, (3) complete appropriately detailed reports on each issue and (4) compile the material into a report. The tools to assist this process are now available and have been used to generate reports for many Australian fisheries. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.