One more tier, no more tears: Students’ perceptions of QUT Library’s 2nd tier learning and study support

This nuts and bolts session discusses QUT Library’s Study Solutions service which is staffed by academic skills advisors and librarians as the 2nd tier of its learning and study support model. Firstly, it will discuss the rationale behind the Study Solutions model and provide a brief profile of the service. Secondly, it will outline what distinguishes it from other modes of one-to-one learning support. Thirdly, it will report findings from a student perception study conducted to determine what difference this model of individual study assistance made to academic confidence, ability to transfer academic skills and capacity to assist peers. Finally, this session will include small group discussions to consider the feasibility of this model as best practice for other tertiary institutions and student perception as a valuable measure of the impact of learning support services.

Active ageing among older adults with lifelong intellectual disabilities : the role of familial and nonfamilial social networks

Little research has examined the extent to which active ageing is facilitated by family and nonfamilial support persons of older adults with intellectual disabilities. This study explores the role played by key unpaid carers/support persons of older adults with lifelong intellectual disabilities in facilitating "active ageing." Little research has examined the extent to which active ageing is facilitated by family and nonfamilial support persons of older adults with intellectual disabilities. This study explores the role played by key unpaid carers/support persons of older adults with lifelong intellectual disabilities in facilitating “active ageing.” All key social network members conceived active ageing to mean ongoing activity. Family and extended family members were found to play a crucial role in facilitating independent living and providing opportunities for recreational pursuits for those living in group homes. Members of religious organizations and group home staff provided the same types of opportunities where family support was absent. The findings suggest the need for improvements in resource provision, staff training, and group home policy and building design.

Consumer guarantees and the supply of educational services by higher education providers

The higher education sector is undergoing a number of significant changes, the implications of which have yet to emerge. One such change is the increasing reliance by higher education providers on the revenue generated by full fee paying international students to fund their operating expenses. The report by the Victorian Ombudsman, Investigation into how Universities Deal with International Students ('Victorian Ombudsman's Report') tabled in the Victorian Parliament on 27 October 2011, provides evidence that Australian higher education providers may be failing to meet their legal obligations to international students. The Victorian Ombudsman's Report is the result of an investigation into four Victorian universities teaching international students with a focus on accounting and nursing schools. The report contains evidence that the universities were admitting students with scores below, or at the lower end of, the International English Language Testing System ('IELTS') score considered acceptable. Alternatively, they were relying upon their own language testing admission standards and not on an independent test like the IELTS test. While the universities provided English language support services for their international students after they had been admitted, the Ombudsman was concerned that the universities 'have not dedicated sufficient resources to meet the level of need amongst international students'.

Support for patients with hepatitis C : An exploratory qualitative study of medical specialists’ perceptions

Objective: To explore the range of meanings about the role of support for patients with hepatitis C by examining medical specialists' perceptions. Method: The study employed a qualitative, open-ended interview design and was conducted in four major teaching hospitals in Adelaide, South Australia. Eight participants (three infectious disease physicians, four gastroenterologists, one hepatologist), selected through purposive sampling, were interviewed about general patient support, their role in support provision, the role of non-medical support and their reasons for not using support services. Results: Main themes included a focus on support as information provision and that patient education is best carried out by a medical specialist. The use of support services was defined as the patient's decision. Participants identified four key periods when patients would benefit from support; during diagnosis, failure to meet treatment criteria, during interferon treatment and following treatment failure. Conclusions: It was concluded that while barriers exist to the establishment of partnerships between specialists and other support services, this study has identified clear points at which future partnerships could be established. Implications: A partnership approach to developing support for patients with hepatitis C offers a systematic framework to facilitate the participation of health professionals and the community in an important area of public health.

Health and community services for trafficked women : an exploratory study of policy and practice

The trafficking of women has attracted considerable international and national policy attention, particularly since the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000), of which the Australian Government has been a signatory since 2005. The provision of health and community services for trafficked women is a central feature of this Protocol, but in Australia service provision is made difficult by how trafficked women are understood and treated in policy and legal terms. This study aimed to explore the provision of health and community services for trafficked women in the Greater Sydney region through a series of interviews with government and non-government organisations. The findings reveal that services have been inaccessible as a result of sparse, uncoordinated, and poorly funded provision. The major obstacle to adequate and appropriate service provision has been a national policy approach focusing on 'border protection' and criminalisation rather than on trafficked women and their human rights. We conclude that further policy development needs to focus on the practical implications of how such rights can be translated into the delivery of health and community services that trafficked women can access and be supported by more effectively.

A study of post diagnosis breast cancer concerns for women living in rural and remote Queensland. Part I : Personal concerns

The findings presented in this paper are part of a research project designed to provide a preliminary indication of the support needs of postdiagnosis women with breast cancer in remote and isolated areas in Queensland. This discussion will present data that focuses on the women’s expressed personal concerns. For participants in this research a diagnosis of breast cancer involves a confrontation with their own mortality and the possibility of a reduced life span. This is a definite life crisis, creating shock and needing considerable adjustment. Along with these generic issues the participants also articulated significant issues in relation to their experience as women in a rural setting. These concerns centred around worries about how their partner and families cope during their absences for treatment, the additional burden on the family of having to cope with running the property or farm during the participant’s absence or illness, added financial strain brought about by the cost of travel for treatment, maintenance of properties during absences, and problems created by time off from properties or self-employment. These findings accord with other reports of health and welfare services for rural Australian and the generic literature on psycho-oncology studies of breast cancer.

Evaluating NEXUS: A suicide prevention program for young people from refugee backgrounds (2007 – 2009)

Although suicide deaths in Australia continue to decline since the peak of 2,720 suicide deaths in 1997, youth suicide and self-harm are a major health issue. In 2006, in the 20 to 24 year age group, suicide accounted for approximately 21% of all male deaths and 14% of all female deaths. There is a lack of solid data on the rates of suicide and self-harm among young people from refugee backgrounds. However, this population faces a significant number of post-resettlement stressors that may add to their vulnerability and increase their risk of suicide and self-harm. The NEXUS program is an innovative strategy developed by the Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma (QPASTT) that aims to reduce risk factors for suicide and self-harm and to promote protective factors among youth from refugee backgrounds living in Brisbane and Toowoomba. QPASTT is a non-government organisation that provides culturally appropriate support services to refugee and humanitarian entrants to Australia. QPASTT’s primary function is to provide counselling, advocacy support and community development activities for survivors of torture and trauma at an individual, family and community level. Since 2002 the NEXUS program has been developed and implemented by QPASTT. Since then, this multi-component program has been funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing through the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS). NSPS funding of local community suicide prevention activities will contribute to the outcomes specified in the strategic framework: Living is for Everyone (LIFE): A framework for prevention of suicide and self-harm in Australia. The focus of this report is the evaluation of the NEXUS program conducted by QPASTT between August 2007 and May 2009.

The knowledge of doing: Exploring the knowledge of support to older people with an intellectual disability

This ethnography presents a contextualised understanding of frontline knowledge used in the support to people ageing with an intellectual disability who live in accommodation and support services in south-east Queensland. The study identified that disability support workers accessed a range of knowledges which they synthesised into a dynamic and responsive locale knowledge, and subsequently translated into everyday acts of support within contexts of multi-faceted complexity. Findings from the study have numerous implications for the knowledge development activities of formal service and educational systems within Australia's newly implemented National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The quik fix study : a randomised controlled trial of brief interventions for young people with alcohol-related injuries and illnesses accessing emergency department and crisis support care

Background: Alcohol is a major preventable cause of injury, disability and death in young people. Large numbers of young people with alcohol-related injuries and medical conditions present to hospital emergency departments (EDs). Access to brief, efficacious, accessible and cost effective treatment is an international health priority within this age group. While there is growing evidence for the efficacy of brief motivational interviewing (MI) for reducing alcohol use in young people, there is significant scope to increase its impact, and determine if it is the most efficacious and cost effective type of brief intervention available. The efficacy of personality-targeted interventions (PIs) for alcohol misuse delivered individually to young people is yet to be determined or compared to MI, despite growing evidence for school-based PIs. This study protocol describes a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telephone-delivered MI, PI and an Assessment Feedback/Information (AF/I) only control for reducing alcohol use and related harm in young people. Methods/design: Participants will be 390 young people aged 16 to 25 years presenting to a crisis support service or ED with alcohol-related injuries and illnesses (including severe alcohol intoxication). This single blinded superiority trial randomized young people to (i) 2 sessions of MI; (ii) 2 sessions of a new PI or (iii) a 1 session AF/I only control. Participants are reassessed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months on the primary outcomes of alcohol use and related problems and secondary outcomes of mental health symptoms, functioning, severity of problematic alcohol use, alcohol injuries, alcohol-related knowledge, coping self-efficacy to resist using alcohol, and cost effectiveness. Discussion: This study will identify the most efficacious and cost-effective telephone-delivered brief intervention for reducing alcohol misuse and related problems in young people presenting to crisis support services or EDs. We expect efficacy will be greatest for PI, followed by MI, and then AF/I at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months on the primary and secondary outcome variables. Telephone-delivered brief interventions could provide a youth-friendly, accessible, efficacious, cost-effective and easily disseminated treatment for addressing the significant public health issue of alcohol misuse and related harm in young people. Trial registration: This trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12613000108718.

Youth off the Streets "Our Place, Walgett Youth and Young Families Project" Project Evaluation.

The Project: • YOTS is a major youth specific agency established in 1991. It is a non-denominational, non-discriminatory and not-for-profit organisation, providing a wide range of services and offering a full continuum of care. It seeks to build on the strengths and positive aspects of marginalised young people and communities. • The 'Our Place, Walgett Youth and Young Families Project' further develops an existing YOTS capacity to provide services to Aboriginal young people. • The project adopted an action-research and community development model in which YOTS worked in partnership with the Youth Sub-committee of the Walgett Interagency. • Specific goals/objectives of the program were to: Coordinate youth and young family activities in partnership with local services and the community to build self-esteem, pride, resilience, motivation and skills; Contribute to the prevention and reduction of homelessness, unstable and unsafe housing and disruptive mobility (Walgett/Redfern) in youth and young families; Increase and improve collaborative engagement between youth and family focused services; and, research, adapt and implement Australian and international best-practice homelessness prevention/reduction initiatives to contribute to new models of practice relevant to rural and regional areas. • The project centred around an out-reach model that focused on providing a safe space with relevant structured activities coordinated by YOTS youth and family workers. Through community and service provider consultation, it was proposed that local services could coordinate strategies and activities and run them, where possible, from the centre, providing ease of access in a safe and supportive context. • Specific activities included: Implementing regular meetings with the stakeholders and community representatives; Developing a Terms of Reference for YOTS presence in the Walgett community; Undertaking a community consultation prior to finalising program activities; Implementing a range of recreational activities (sports, music, arts and crafts) early on in the activity; Implementing young family support initiatives; implementing a volunteering program, including volunteer support to young families through intergenerational volunteering; running a series of Culture and Healing Camps in partnership with local Elders and other services; Running a series of Music Camps; Providing alternative education support and referrals in partnership with local schools; Researching, identifying and adapting other best-practice models.

Children living in HIV families : a review

This review article summarizes the current knowledge about children born or living in families affected by HIV, a topic of recent interest in the HIV field. It also presents a case study of a child's narrative about the implications of living with a HIV parent. The case study is part of a larger study involving both parents and children living with HIV in Bangladesh. The paper discusses the implications of HIV for children, their families, and social services to gain a better understanding of some of the social issues, such as stigma, associated with this illness. The paper recommends that the development of effective social and service interventions using appropriate language, information, and access to social support services are urgently needed to reduce the concerns and increases the life opportunities of children living in HIV families.

A tsunami of unmet needs: Pancreatic and ampullary cancer patients’ supportive care needs and use of community and allied health services

Objective People diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have the worst survival prognosis of any cancer. No previous research has documented the supportive care needs of this population. Our objective was to describe people’s needs and use of support services and to examine whether these differed according to whether or not patients had undergone surgical resection. Methods Queensland pancreatic or ampullary cancer patients (n=136, 54% of those eligible) completed a survey which assessed 34 needs across 5 domains (SCNS-SF34) and use of health services. Differences by resection were compared with Chi-squared tests. Results Overall, 96% of participants reported having some needs. More than half reported moderate-to-high unmet physical (54%) or psychological (52%) needs whereas, health system/information (32%), patient care (21%) and sexuality needs (16%) were described less frequently. The three most frequently reported moderate-to-high needs included ‘not being able to do things they used to do’ (41%), ‘concerns about the worries of those close’ (37%), and ‘uncertainty about the future’ (30%). Patients with non-resectable disease reported greater individual information needs but their needs were otherwise similar to patients with resectable disease. Self-reported use of support was low; only 35% accessed information, 28%, 18% and 15% consulted a dietician, complementary medicine practitioner or mental health practitioner, respectively. Palliative care access was greater (59% vs 27%) among those with non-resectable disease. Conclusion Very high levels of needs were reported by people with pancreatic or ampullary cancer. Future work needs to elucidate why uptake of appropriate supportive care is low and which services are required.

Paediatric death and dying: Exploring coping strategies of health professionals and perceptions of support provision

Without question a child’s death is a devastating event for parents and their families. Health professionals working with the dying child and family draw upon their expertise and experience to engage with children, parents, and families on this painful journey. A delicate and sensitive area of practice, it has strong and penetrating effects on health professionals. They employ physical, emotional, spiritual and problem solving strategies to continue to perform this role effectively and to protect their continued sense of well-being. Aim To explore health professionals’ perceptions of bereavement support surrounding the loss of a child. Methods The research was underpinned by social constructionism. Semi-structured interviews were held with 10 health professionals including doctors, nurses and social workers who were directly involved in the care of the dying child and family in 7 cases of paediatric death. Health professional narratives were analysed consistent with Charmarz’s (2006) approach. Results For health professionals, constructions around coping emerged as peer support, personal coping strategies, family support, physical impact of support and spiritual beliefs . Analysis of the narratives also revealed health professionals’ perceptions of their support provision. Conclusion Health professionals involved in caring for dying children and their families use a variety of strategies to cope with the emotional and physical toll of providing support. They also engage in self-assessment to evaluate their support provision and this highlights the need for self-evaluation tools in paediatric palliative care.

We need to support paedophiles to prevent child sex offending

The sexual abuse of children is, understandably, a key concern for the public. Child sexual abuse can cause long-lasting harms for victims, ranging from relationship difficulties to eating disorders. But misperceptions about those who perpetrate it abound in public debate. Although the terms “paedophile” and “child sex offender” are often used interchangeably, the two are distinct. Paedophiles are sexually attracted to young children. They have either acted on this attraction or fear they might. But not all paedophiles act on their attraction – and this is where support services can help reducing offending. Conversely, not everyone who offends sexually against a child is a paedophile. Some may have a sexual interest in and/or offend against both children and adults. Others do not have a sexual attraction to children but instead act opportunistically...

Monimuotoisuus ja esteettömyys : Näkövammaisten asiantuntijoiden työelämäkokemuksia

The purpose of this study is to analyse education, employment, and work-life experiences of visually impaired persons in expert jobs. The empirical data consists of 30 thematic interviews (24 visually impaired persons, 1 family-member of a visually impaired person, 5 persons working with diversity issues), of supplementary articles, and of statistics on the socio-economic status of the visually impaired. The interviewees experiences of education and employment have been analysed by a qualitative method. The analysis has been deepened by reflecting it against the recent discussion on the concept of diversity. The author s methodological choice as a disability researcher has been to treat the interviewees as co-researchers rather than objects of research. Accessibility in its different forms is a prerequisite of diversity in the workplace, and this study examines what kind of accessibility is required by visually impaired professionals. Access to working life depends on the attitudes prejudices and expectations that society has towards a minority group. Social accessibility is connected with internal relationships in the workplace, and achieving social accessibility is a bilateral process. Information technology has revolutionised the visually impaired people s possibilities of accessing information and performing expert tasks. Accessible environment, good mobility skills, and transportation services enable visually impaired employees to get to their workplaces and to navigate there with ease. Integration has raised the level of education and widened the selection of career options for the visually impaired. However, even visually impaired people with academic degrees often need employment support services. Visually impaired professionals are mainly employed in the public and third sector. Achieving diversity in the labour market is a multiactor process. Social support services are needed, as well as courage and readiness from employers to hire people with disabilities. The organisations of the visually impaired play an important role in affecting the attitudes and providing peer support. Visually impaired employees need good professional skills, blindness skills, and social courage, and they need to be comfortable with their disability. In the workplace, diversity may actualise as diverse ways of working: the work is done by using technical aids or other means of compensating for the lack of eyesight. When an employee must find compensatory solutions for disability-related limitations at work, this will also develop his/her problem-solving abilities. Key words: visually impaired, diversity, accessibility, working life