It can be quite difficult to have your creativity on tap : balancing client expectations and artistic practice in the tattoo industry

Tattoo artists work in a commission structure. Their artistic practice, possibly more than in any other creative career, requires the complete approval of the client prior to the creation of the final work. An unsatisfactory tattoo cannot be on-sold, discarded or easily replaced. Rarely can a tattooer practice their art without external participation. Therefore, tattoo artists come up with a number of strategies to manage their client base to ensure that the art they are asked to create satisfies both the client and their own artistic skills and preferences. Drawing on phenomenological research conducted for my PhD investigating artistic persona, this paper will explore the strategies tattoo artists use to construct their portfolios, manage the tattoo consultation and design process, and develop their own artistic skills, in order to build a successful and rewarding career in the tattoo industry.

Thabo Meli revisited : the pernicious effects of results-driven decisions

Despite the hackneyed expression that ‘judges should interpret the law and not make it’, the fact remains that there is some scope within the separation of powers doctrine for the courts to develop the common law incrementally. To this extent, the courts can effectively legislate, but only to this limited extent if they are to respect the separation of powers doctrine. On occasion, however, the courts have usurped the power entrusted to Parliament, and particularly so in instances where a strict application of the existing law would lead to results that offend their personal notions of what is fair and just. When this occurs, the natural consequence is that lawyers, academics and the public in general lose respect for both the judges involved as well as the adversarial system of criminal justice. In order to illustrate this point, attention will focus on the case of Thabo Meli v United Kingdom in which the Privy Council, mistakenly believing that it could not reach its desired outcome through a strict application of the common law rule of temporal coincidence, emasculated the rule beyond recognition in order to convict the accused. Moreover, the discussion to follow will demonstrate that not only was the court wrong in its belief that the case involved the doctrine of temporal coincidence, but the same result would have been achieved had the Council correctly identified the issue as one of legal causation and correctly applied the principles relating thereto.

Making decisions about fertility : three facts GPs need to communicate to women

Background Average annual fertility rates in industrialised countries have been below two children per woman for the past 3 decades. The reasons behind women’s childbearing behaviour are complex. However, a lack of awareness regarding the consequences of delayed childbearing and the inability of reproductive technologies to overcome the ‘biological clock’ may be contributory factors.

Objective A narrative review guided by the research question: What do women need to know about the consequences of delayed childbearing in order to make informed decisions about their fertility?

Discussion There are three facts that women need to know in order to make informed decisions around their fertility: Some women want to have more children than they are able to have because they postpone childbearing; there can be medical consequences to delaying childbearing and; some women’s ideas about their fertility don’t match the ‘the scientific facts’. General practitioners are well placed to play a strategic role in the provision of timely, relevant information to help women make informed decisions about their fertility. Further research is needed to identify the most appropriate ways for GPs to communicate this information.

Assessing client outcomes in youth justice services : current status and future directions

Youth justice services are increasingly expected to demonstrate that the services and programs they provide lead to measurable outcomes. This paper considers how client outcomes other than recidivism, which are considered important to youth justice service providers, might be conceptualized and reliably assessed. We conclude that there is a need to develop methods of assessment that are consistent with the principles of evidence-based assessment and we make a number of suggestions for the development of practice in this area.

Introducing mental health and substance use screening into a community-based health service in Australia : usefulness and implications for service change

Mental health issues such as depression or anxiety and alcohol or other drug (AOD) problems often remain undiagnosed and untreated despite their prevalence in the community. This paper reports on the implementation and evaluation of an AOD and depression/anxiety screening programme within two Community Health Services (CHS) in Australia. Study 1 examined results from 5 weeks of screening (March–April 2008) using the Patient Health Questionnaire (two- and nine-item, Kroenke et al. 2001, 2003), the Conjoint Screen for Alcohol and other Drug Problems (Brown et al. 2001) and the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (Humeniuk & Ali 2006). Of the 55 clients screened, 33% were at risk of depression or anxiety, 22% reporting moderate-severe depression. Thirteen per cent were at risk of substance use disorders. A substantial proportion of at-risk clients were not currently accessing help for these issues from the CHS and therefore screening can facilitate identification and treatment referral. However, the majority of eligible clients were not screened, limiting screening reach. A second study evaluated the screening implementation from a process perspective via thematic analysis of focus group data from six managers and 14 intake/assessment workers (April 2008). This showed that when screening occurred, it facilitated opportunities for education and intervention with at-risk clients, although cultural mores, privacy concerns and shame/stigma could affect accuracy of screen scores at times. Importantly, the evaluation revealed that most decisions not to screen were made by workers, not by clients. Reasons for non-screening related to worker discomfort in asking sensitive questions and/or managing client distress, and a reluctance to spend long periods of time screening in time-pressured environments. The evaluation suggested that these problems could be resolved by splitting screening responsibilities, enhancing worker training and expanding follow-up screening. Findings will inform any community-based health system considering introducing screening.

Illness in old age is part of an individual's fate and must be approached with acceptance

Older members of the Greek community see aging and the ill health that may accompany it as an inevitable part of life. They associate illness very closely with God’s will, and largely believe their state of health is an aspect of fate and / or luck that they do not have control over and must simply accept. This paper, based on research conducted in Melbourne, Australia, describes the way in which the experience of old age is understood in the worldview of this group. The words fate and luck (τύχη = tyche; γραφτό = graphto) are often used by older Greeks to characterize their situation. Luck, to this group, is not random. The term (τύχη) was used in classical times to refer to a kind of minor deity that controlled the fortune of the Greek city states, and an element of this idea of intention remains today. In the modern context, luck comes from God, and for this group, is part of γραφτό, or destiny, something that is written. In its usual usage in Greek, γραφτό refers to something that must happen to a person because it is predetermined and cannot not occur. The meaning that these older Greek individuals give to the word luck in the modern world is manifested in their acceptance of the problems of aging and their approach to coping with their own experience.

Workers, a neglected voice in environmental decisions

The European Aarhus Convention is the only public law convention devoted to public participation in environmental matters. The Convention has application broadly to Australia as many of the Convention’s provisions are reflected in Australian environmental law. The Convention has an ambitious aim being, to engage civil society in effective public participation at all levels of environmental decision-making. Trade unions and workers as members of civil society are granted rights under the Aarhus Convention to participate in environmental decisions. However in spite of this, the trade union movement has largely ignored the Convention. This article examines the potential rights which the Convention grants to trade unions and workers and explores the broader debate regarding the involvement of unions in environmental matters.