Predictors of awareness of standard drink labelling and drinking guidelines to reduce negative health effects among Australian drinkers

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: This study examined rates of awareness of standard drink labelling and drinking guidelines among Australian adult drinkers. Demographic predictors of these two outcomes were also explored.

DESIGN AND METHODS: Online survey panel participants aged 18-45 years(n = 1061; mean age = 33.2 years) completed an online survey assessing demographics, alcohol consumption patterns, awareness of standard drink labels and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines, and support for more detailed labels.

RESULTS: The majority (80%) of participants had seen standard drink labels on alcohol products; with younger drinkers, those from a regional/rural location and high-risk drinkers significantly more likely to have seen such labelling. Most respondents estimated at or below the maximum number of drinks stipulated in the NHMRC guidelines. However, their estimates of the levels for male drinkers were significantly higher than for female drinkers. High-risk drinkers were significantly less likely to provide accurate estimates, while those who had seen the standard drink logo were significantly more likely to provide accurate estimates of drinking levels to reduce the risk of long-term harms only. Just under three-quarters of respondents supported the inclusion of more information on labels regarding guidelines to reduce negative health effects.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The current standard drink labelling approach fails to address high-risk drinkers. The inclusion of information about NHMRC guidelines on alcohol labels, and placing standard drink labelling on the front of products could improve awareness of what constitutes a standard drink and safe levels of consumption among Australian drinkers.

An assessment of interventions that target risk factors for elder abuse

Although there is increasing concern about both the prevalence of, and harms associated with the abuse of older adults, progress in the development of interventions to prevent its occurrence has been slow. This paper reports the findings of a systematic review of the published literature that identified studies in which the outcomes of preventative interventions are described. A total of eight different intervention trials, published since 2004, are described across the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention and in terms of the types of risk factor that they target. The current evidence to support the effectiveness of these interventions is not only limited by the small number of outcome studies but also the poor quality of evaluation designs and the focus of many interventions on single risk factors. It is concluded that work is needed to strengthen the evidence base that supports the delivery of interventions to prevent elder abuse.

Engineering searchable encryption of mobile cloud networks : when QoE meets QoP

Mobile cloud computing can effectively address the resource limitations of mobile devices, and is therefore essential to enable extensive resource consuming mobile computing and communication applications. Of all the mobile cloud computing applications, data outsourcing, such as iCloud, is fundamental, which outsources a mobile user's data to external cloud servers and accordingly provides a scalable and always on approach for public data access. With the security and privacy issues related to outsourced data becoming a rising concern, encryption on outsourced data is often necessary. Although encryption increases the quality of protection (QoP) of data outsourcing, it significantly reduces data usability and thus harms the mobile user's quality of experience (QoE). How to strike a balance between QoP and QoE is therefore an important yet challenging task. In this article we focus on the fundamental problem of QoP and QoE provisioning in searchable encryption of data outsourcing. We develop a fine-grained data search scheme and discuss its implementation on encrypted mobile cloud data, which is an effective balance between QoE and QoP in mobile cloud data outsourcing.

Privacy, surveillance, and the democratic potential of the social web

This chapter argues that theories about privacy would benefit from embracing deliberative democratic theory on the grounds that it addresses harms to democracy, and widens our understandings of privacy infringements in social networking environments. We fi rst explore how social networking services (SNS) have evolved through diff erent phases and how they enable political deliberation. Subsequently, we discuss more traditional individualistic and intersubjective theories of privacy in relation to social networking and point out their limitations in identifying and redressing social networking-related harms. We then critique emerging claims concerning the social value of privacy in the context of the social Web. Here we point out how these theories might identify non-individualized harms, yet, at the same time, suff er important challenges in application. We conclude by arguing that deliberative democratic theory can add some critical insights into the privacy harms encountered on the contemporary “social Web” that are only imperfectly understood by individualistic and social conceptions of privacy

'A gender for change'

Women’s imprisonment campaigns gathered momentum in Victoria, Australia from the late 1970s onwards. Advocates and activists, operating from feminist and often prison abolition principles, used direct action, public education, lobbying and legal tools to create pressure for change in the women’s prison system. Campaigns focused on challenging various harmful and dangerous practices and conditions affecting women in prison, including forced sterilization and the use of prescription drugs for control; lack of access to children and family; excessive strip-searching; the punitive transfer of women to men’s high-security prisons and more (Carnaby, 1998; Cerveri et al., 2005; Cotter, 2008; George, 1993, 1995; Hampton, 1993; Hancock, 1982; Hannon, 2006). Whilst some of these practices have ceased over the past few decades, many of the issues persist, albeit in different forms, and new problems have emerged for anti-prison activists. This paper offers a reflection on some of the complexities present in anti-prison activism focused on ameliorating some of the immediate harms imprisoned women face and the necessary negotiations with the penal state.

Patron banning in the nightlife entertainment districts: a key informant perspective

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol-related harm in and around licensed venues is associated with substantial costs. Many interventions have been introduced in an effort to combat these harms, and one such intervention is known as patron banning. Patron banning involves prohibiting patrons who have been violent or disorderly in a licensed venue in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related harm. It can be implemented by the venue, by members of police, or by liquor accords. This study aimed to obtain key informant perspectives on the benefits of patron banning as well as on the effectiveness of patron banning in reducing alcohol-related harm. METHOD: Thirty-six key informants provided perspectives on patron banning through in-depth interviews that were part of a larger study. RESULTS: Key informants were supportive of patron banning for reducing alcohol-related harm, noting that it had many benefits including increased venue safety, general risk management, and deterrence of antisocial behavior. Although processes for banning were not always consistent, identification scanners were generally recognized as a way to ensure that patron banning was enforced. CONCLUSIONS: Key informants viewed patron banning as an effective measure for increasing patron safety and reducing alcohol-related harms.

Identifying pedagogy and teaching strategies for achieving nationally prescribed learning outcomes

With the globalisation of university education, national frameworks are commonly used to prescribe standardised learning outcomes and achieve accountability. However, these frameworks are generally not accompanied by guiding pedagogy to support academics in adjusting their teaching practices to achieve the set outcomes. This paper reports the results of a scoping review of health science literature aimed at identifying pedagogy and teaching strategies relevant to achieve the learning outcomes specified by the Australian Qualifications Framework at a master's degree level. Eight practical teaching messages emerged from the review and three broad pedagogical trends were identified: the need to use authentic disciplinary-based learning activities; ensure that students are able to discover different perspectives about future practice and bring student reflection about their own knowledge into curricula. More critically, the review highlights that academics attempting to translate national learning outcome frameworks into their teaching practices face a complex and time-consuming task which may involve searching beyond their own disciplinary focus to identify practical teaching strategies to meet prescribed learning outcomes.

"I can sit on the beach and punt through my mobile phone" : the influence of physical and online environments on the gambling risk behaviours of young men.

Gambling is rapidly emerging as an important public health issue, with gambling products causing considerable health and social harms to individuals, families and communities. Whilst researchers have raised concerns about online wagering environments, few studies have sought to explore how factors within different gambling environments (both online and land-based) may be influencing the wagering, and more broadly the gambling risk behaviours of young men. Using semi-structured interviews with 50 Australian men (20-37 years) who gambled on sport, we explored the ways in which online and land-based environments may be risk-promoting settings for gambling. This included the appeal factors associated with gambling in these environments, factors that encouraged individuals to gamble, and factors that encouraged individuals to engage in different, and more harmful types of gambling. Interviews were conducted over the course of a year (April 2015 - April 2016). We identified a number of situational and structural factors that promoted risky gambling environments for young men. In the online environment, gambling products had become exceedingly easy to access through mobile technologies, with young men subscribing to multiple accounts to access industry promotions. The intangibility of money within online environments impacted upon risk perceptions. In land-based environments, the social rituals associated with peer group behaviour and sport influenced risky patterns of gambling. The presence of both gambling and alcohol in pub environments led individuals to gamble more than they normally would, and on products that they would not normally gamble on. Land-based venues also facilitated access to multiple forms of gambling under the one roof. We identified a number of factors in both land and online environments that when combined, created risk-promoting settings for gambling among young men. By exploring these contextual conditions that give rise to gambling harm, we are better able to advocate for effective public health responses in creating environments that prevent harmful gambling.

Parents who supply sips of alcohol in early adolescence: a prospective study of risk factors

BACKGROUND: Parents are a major supplier of alcohol to adolescents, often initiating use with sips. Despite harms of adolescent alcohol use, research has not addressed the antecedents of such parental supply. This study investigated the prospective associations between familial, parental, peer, and adolescent characteristics on parental supply of sips. METHODS: Participants were 1729 parent-child dyads recruited from Grade 7 classes, as part of the Australian Parental Supply of Alcohol Longitudinal Study. Data are from baseline surveys (Time 1) and 1-year follow-up (Time 2). Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regressions tested prospective associations between Time 1 familial, parental, peer, and adolescent characteristics and Time 2 parental supply. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted model, parental supply was associated with increased parent-report of peer substance use (odds ratio [OR] = 1.20, 95% confidence ratio [CI], 1.08-1.34), increased home alcohol access (OR = 1.07, 95% CI, 1.03-1.11), and lenient alcohol-specific rules (OR=0.88, 95% CI, 0.78-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Parents who perceived that their child engaged with substance-using peers were more likely to subsequently supply sips of alcohol. Parents may believe supply of a small quantity of alcohol will protect their child from unsupervised alcohol use with peers. It is also possible that parental perception of peer substance use may result in parents believing that this is a normative behavior for their child's age group, and in turn that supply is also normative. Further research is required to understand the impacts of such supply, even in small quantities, on adolescent alcohol use trajectories.

Risk, regulation, and financial incentives for living kidney donation

In his comprehensive review of the hazards of existing,largely unregulated markets in human kidneys, Koplin(2014) argues that advocates of regulated markets mayunderestimate the potential physical, psychosocial andfinancial harms risked by vendors. He acknowledges, however,that market proponents will likely be undeterred incalling for “trials” or “pilot studies” of financial incentivesin developed countries on the grounds that the experienceof international black markets is of limited predictive valuein anticipating the outcomes of regulated markets. We contendthat there is good evidence to support the concernthat living vendors would be at higher risk of adversehealth outcomes compared to altruistic donors in the contextof a regulated market. This has important implicationsnot only for the informed consent of prospective vendors,but also for the potential regulations that would berequired to mitigate these risks. We argue here that pilotstudies would be at the very least premature until suchtime as market proponents have sufficiently engaged withpotential harms to prospective kidney vendors.

Tackling correctional corruption

Corruption is a problem in prisons about which we hear very little, except when there is an escape from custody or other scandal that makes the media. The closed nature of correctional institutions has made the activities that go on within them less visible to the outside world. While some persons might be inclined to dismiss correctional corruption as an issue, this view ignores the scale of criminality and misconduct that can go on in prison and the impact it can have upon not just the good order of the prison or the rights of prisoners but on the prospects for successful reintegration of ex-prisoners into society.This book is the first to examine the phenomenon in any detail or to suggest what might be done to reduce its incidence and the harms that can arise from it. Andrew Goldsmith, Mark Halsey and Andrew Groves argue that it is not enough to tackle corruption alone. Rather there should be a broader attempt to promote what the authors call ‘correctional integrity’.

Key stakeholder perspectives of drink restrictions in Newcastle, Australia

Background: The problems associated with alcohol consumption in or around licensed premises in the nighttime economy are extensive. One intervention designed to address these problems is drink restrictions. The aim of the current study is to gain different key stakeholder perspectives on drink restriction interventions, including their ability to reduce alcohol-related harms. Method: This study involves an analysis of key stakeholder perspectives on the introduction of drink restrictions. Interviews were conducted with 23 key stakeholders, including venue licencees, security, and police from Newcastle, Australia. Drink restrictions, including limits on shots and umber of drinks, were part of a mandatory set of interventions, which were implemented as a result of legislative change in New South Wales. As such, key stakeholders were able to provide insight into the implementation and practicality of the restrictions. All interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.Results: Overall, key stakeholders were mixed in their support for drink restrictions, particularly because of the issues associated with customer preloading and practicality of enforcement. Stakeholders remained unconvinced of the impact of the restrictions on reducing harm. Conclusions: Key stakeholders believe that drink restrictions would almost certainly be more likely to reduce alcohol-related harm in the nighttime economy as part of a larger intervention. However, it is unclear how much impact they have as a standalone harm reduction measure.