Is the contemporary era behind us?

The advent of new technologies, like personal computers and networking platforms, represents a series of events that have impacted on society as a whole as well as challenging the artworld to reconsider what is 'contemporary'.

Diversity in product familiarity across younger and older adults

This paper reports on the findings of a completed experiment examining levels of familiarity in younger and older adults. Research has shown that older adults use products less intuitively than younger adults, and that familiarity is an essential element of intuitive interaction. This finding influenced the decision to focus on familiarity and to investigate why older adults use products less intuitively than younger adults. By identifying and understanding the differences in familiarity, it is hypothesised that designers will be able to design more usable products for older adults. An empirical study was conducted, investigating the differences in familiarity between younger and older adults with contemporary products. Younger adults demonstrate significantly higher levels of familiarity compared to older adults, and the three groups of older adults demonstrated no significant differences between them. The implications of this finding is discussed.

The evidence-based development of an intervention to address the information needs of adults newly diagnosed with primary brain tumours and their carers

Adults diagnosed with primary brain tumours often experience physical, cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairments and decline in quality of life. Although disease and treatment-related information is commonly provided to cancer patients and carers, newly diagnosed brain tumour patients and their carers report unmet information needs. Few interventions have been designed or proven to address these information needs. Accordingly, a three-study research program, that incorporated both qualitative and quantitative research methods, was designed to: 1) identify and select an intervention to improve the provision of information, and meet the needs of patients with a brain tumour; 2) use an evidence-based approach to establish the content, language and format for the intervention; and 3) assess the acceptability of the intervention, and the feasibility of evaluation, with newly diagnosed brain tumour patients. Study 1: Structured concept mapping techniques were undertaken with 30 health professionals, who identified strategies or items for improving care, and rated each of 42 items for importance, feasibility, and the extent to which such care was provided. Participants also provided data to interpret the relationship between items, which were translated into ‘maps’ of relationships between information and other aspects of health care using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. Results were discussed by participants in small groups and individual interviews to understand the ratings, and facilitators and barriers to implementation. A care coordinator was rated as the most important strategy by health professionals. Two items directly related to information provision were also seen as highly important: "information to enable the patient or carer to ask questions" and "for doctors to encourage patients to ask questions". Qualitative analyses revealed that information provision was individualised, depending on patients’ information needs and preferences, demographic variables and distress, the characteristics of health professionals who provide information, the relationship between the individual patient and health professional, and influenced by the fragmented nature of the health care system. Based on quantitative and qualitative findings, a brain tumour specific question prompt list (QPL) was chosen for development and feasibility testing. A QPL consists of a list of questions that patients and carers may want to ask their doctors. It is designed to encourage the asking of questions in the medical consultation, allowing patients to control the content, and amount of information provided by health professionals. Study 2: The initial structure and content of the brain tumour specific QPL developed was based upon thematic analyses of 1) patient materials for brain tumour patients, 2) QPLs designed for other patient populations, and 3) clinical practice guidelines for the psychosocial care of glioma patients. An iterative process of review and refinement of content was undertaken via telephone interviews with a convenience sample of 18 patients and/or carers. Successive drafts of QPLs were sent to patients and carers and changes made until no new topics or suggestions arose in four successive interviews (saturation). Once QPL content was established, readability analyses and redrafting were conducted to achieve a sixth-grade reading level. The draft QPL was also reviewed by eight health professionals, and shortened and modified based on their feedback. Professional design of the QPL was conducted and sent to patients and carers for further review. The final QPL contained questions in seven colour-coded sections: 1) diagnosis; 2) prognosis; 3) symptoms and problems; 4) treatment; 5) support; 6) after treatment finishes; and 7) the health professional team. Study 3: A feasibility study was conducted to determine the acceptability of the QPL and the appropriateness of methods, to inform a potential future randomised trial to evaluate its effectiveness. A pre-test post-test design was used with a nonrandomised control group. The control group was provided with ‘standard information’, the intervention group with ‘standard information’ plus the QPL. The primary outcome measure was acceptability of the QPL to participants. Twenty patients from four hospitals were recruited a median of 1 month (range 0-46 months) after diagnosis, and 17 completed baseline and follow-up interviews. Six participants would have preferred to receive the information booklet (standard information or QPL) at a different time, most commonly at diagnosis. Seven participants reported on the acceptability of the QPL: all said that the QPL was helpful, and that it contained questions that were useful to them; six said it made it easier to ask questions. Compared with control group participants’ ratings of ‘standard information’, QPL group participants’ views of the QPL were more positive; the QPL had been read more times, was less likely to be reported as ‘overwhelming’ to read, and was more likely to prompt participants to ask questions of their health professionals. The results from the three studies of this research program add to the body of literature on information provision for brain tumour patients. Together, these studies suggest that a QPL may be appropriate for the neuro-oncology setting and acceptable to patients. The QPL aims to assist patients to express their information needs, enabling health professionals to better provide the type and amount of information that patients need to prepare for treatment and the future. This may help health professionals meet the challenge of giving patients sufficient information, without providing ‘too much’ or ‘unnecessary’ information, or taking away hope. Future studies with rigorous designs are now needed to determine the effectiveness of the QPL.

Inferior field loss increases rate of falls in older adults with glaucoma

PURPOSE: To examine the visual predictors of falls and injurious falls among older adults with glaucoma. METHODS: Prospective falls data were collected for 71 community-dwelling adults with primary open-angle glaucoma, mean age 73.9 ± 5.7 years, for one year using monthly falls diaries. Baseline assessment of central visual function included high-contrast visual acuity and Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity. Binocular integrated visual fields were derived from monocular Humphrey Field Analyser plots. Rate ratios (RR) for falls and injurious falls with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were based on negative binomial regression models. RESULTS: During the one year follow-up, 31 (44%) participants experienced at least one fall and 22 (31%) experienced falls that resulted in an injury. Greater visual impairment was associated with increased falls rate, independent of age and gender. In a multivariate model, more extensive field loss in the inferior region was associated with higher rate of falls (RR 1.57, 95%CI 1.06, 2.32) and falls with injury (RR 1.80, 95%CI 1.12, 2.98), adjusted for all other vision measures and potential confounding factors. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and superior field loss were not associated with the rate of falls; topical beta-blocker use was also not associated with increased falls risk. CONCLUSIONS: Falls are common among older adults with glaucoma and occur more frequently in those with greater visual impairment, particularly in the inferior field region. This finding highlights the importance of the inferior visual field region in falls risk and assists in identifying older adults with glaucoma at risk of future falls, for whom potential interventions should be targeted. KEY WORDS: glaucoma, visual field, visual impairment, falls, injury

Transportation behaviours of older adults : an investigation into car dependency in urban Australia

Aim: Increased car dependency amongst Australia's ageing population may result in increased social isolation and other health impacts associated with the cessation of driving. While public transport represents an alternative to car usage, patronage remains low amongst senior cohorts. This study investigates the facilitators and barriers to public transport patronage and the nature of car dependence among older Australians. Method: Data was gathered from a sample of 24 adults (mean = 70.33 years) through a combination of quantitative (remote behavioural observation) and qualitative (interviews) investigation. Results: Findings suggest factors of relative convenience, affordability and health/mobility dictate choices of transport mode. The car is considered more convenient for the majority of suburban trips irrespective of the availability of public transport. Conclusion: Policy attention should focus on providing better education and information regarding driving cessation and addressing aged-specific social aspects of public transport including the accommodation of various health and mobility issues.

Reliability of ultrasonographic measurement of the architecture of the vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius medialis muscles in older adults

Objective To determine the test-retest reliability of measurements of thickness, fascicle length (Lf) and pennation angle (θ) of the vastus lateralis (VL) and gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscles in older adults. Participants Twenty-one healthy older adults (11 men and ten women; average age 68·1 ± 5·2 years) participated in this study. Methods Ultrasound images (probe frequency 10 MHz) of the VL at two sites (VL site 1 and 2) were obtained with participants seated with knee at 90º flexion. For GM measures, participants lay prone with ankle fixed at 15º dorsiflexion. Measures were taken on two separate occasions, 7 days apart (T1 and T2). Results The ICCs (95% CI) were: VL site 1 thickness = 0·96(0·90–0·98); VL site 2 thickness = 0·96(0·90–0·98), VL θ = 0·87(0·68–0·95), VL Lf = 0·80(0·50–0·92), GM thickness = 0·97(0·92–0·99), GM θ = 0·85(0·62–0·94) and GM Lf =0·90(0·75–0·96). The 95% ratio limits of agreement (LOAs) for all measures, calculated by multiplying the standard deviation of the ratio of the results between T1 and T2 by 1·96, ranged from 10·59 to 38·01%. Conclusion The ability of these tests to determine a real change in VL and GM muscle architecture is good on a group level but problematic on an individual level as the relatively large 95% ratio LOAs in the current study may encompass the changes in architecture observed in other training studies. Therefore, the current findings suggest that B-mode ultrasonography can be used with confidence by researchers when investigating changes in muscle architecture in groups of older adults, but its use is limited in showing changes in individuals over time.

Service providers' perceptions of active ageing among older adults with lifelong intellectual disabilities

Background: Considerable attention is currently being directed towards both active ageing and the revising of standards for disability services within Australia and internationally. Yet, to date, no consideration appears to have been given to ways to promote active ageing among older adults with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 Australian professional direct-care support staff (service providers) about their perceptions of ageing among older adults with lifelong intellectual disabilities and what active ageing might entail for an individual from this population who is currently under their care, in both the present and future. Data were analysed against the six core World Health Organization active ageing outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities. Results: Service providers appeared to be strongly focused on encouraging active ageing among their clients. However, their perceptions of the individual characteristics, circumstances and experiences of older adults with intellectual disabilities for whom they care suggest that active ageing principles need to be applied to this group in a way that considers both their individual and diverse needs, particularly with respect to them transitioning from day services, employment or voluntary work to reduced activity, and finally to aged care facilities. The appropriateness of this group being placed in nursing homes in old age was also questioned. Conclusion: Direct-care staff of older adults with intellectual disabilities have a vital role to play in encouraging and facilitating active ageing, as well as informing strategies that need to be implemented to ensure appropriate care for this diverse group as they proceed to old age.

Searching for salvation: An analysis of US religious searching on the World Wide Web

The goals of this research were to answer three questions. How predominant is religious searching online? How do people interact with Web search engines when searching for religious information? How effective are these interactions in locating relevant information? Specifically, referring to a US demographic, we analyzed five data sets from Web search engine, collected between 1997 and 2005, of over a million queries each in order to investigate religious searching on the Web. Results point to four key findings. First, there is no evidence of a decrease in religious Web-searching behaviors. Religious interest is a persistent topic of Web searching. Second, those seeking religious information on the Web are becoming slightly more interactive in their searching. Third, there is no evidence for a move away from mainstream religions toward non-mainstream religions since the majority of the search terms are associated with established religions. Fourth, our work does not support the hypothesis that traditional religious affiliation is associated with lower adoption of or sophistication with technology. These factors point to the Web as a potentially usefully communication medium for a variety of religious organizations. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-economic differences in takeaway food consumption among adults

To examine socioeconomic differences in the frequency and types of takeaway foods consumed. Cross-sectional postal survey. Participants were asked about their usual consumption of overall takeaway food (< four times a month, or ≥ four times a month) and 22 specific takeaway food items (< once a month, or ≥ once a month): these latter foods were grouped into “healthy” and “less healthy” choices. Socioeconomic position was measured using education and equivalised household income and differences in takeaway food consumption were assessed by calculating prevalence ratios using log binomial regression. Adults aged 25–64 years from Brisbane, Australia were randomly selected from the electoral roll (N = 903, 63.7% response rate). Compared with their more educated counterparts, the least educated were more regular consumers of overall takeaway food, fruit/vegetable juice, and less regular consumers of sushi. For the “less healthy” items, the least educated more regularly consumed potato chips, savoury pies, fried chicken, and non-diet soft drinks; however, the least educated were less likely to consume curry. Household income was not associated with overall takeaway consumption. The lowest income group were more regular consumers of fruit/vegetable juice compared with the highest income group. Among the “less healthy” items, the lowest income group were more regular consumers of fried fish, ice-cream, and milk shakes, while curry was consumed less regularly. The frequency and types of takeaway foods consumed by socioeconomically disadvantaged groups may contribute to inequalities in overweight/obesity and chronic disease.

Violent urbanism is us

This paper explores violent urbanism in the recent science-fiction filem District 9 whhich depicts an alien immigration camp, filmed on location in Soweto in 2008 in the midst of a series of violent clashed between indigenous South Africans and the new wave of African immigrants. Violent Urbanism is the State of method of control of bodies and populations by those precise biological techniques that determine geopolitical sites for the control of cities. This film while presented as cinema verite speaks the real invasion of traditional, spatio-disciplinary regimes such as corporate-run detention centres, refugee camps, border control and enforced relocation by those imperceptible techniques which violate the body by reducing it to a biological datum, tool, or specimen to serve the security agenda of the twenty-first century nation-state. These techniques are chemical and biological warfare proliferation; genetic engineering; and surveillance systems, such as biometrics, whose purview is no longer limited to the specular but includes the molecular. District 9 evinces a compelling urban image of contemporary biopolitics that disturbs the received historiography of post-apartheid urbanism. Clearly Johannesburg is not the only place this could or is happening - the reach of biopolitics is worldwide. District 9 visualises with utter precision the corporate hijacking of the biological realm in contemporary cites, just as it asks the unsettling question, who exactly is the "audience" of Violent Urbanism?

Online dating and intimacy in a mobile world

The nature and possibilities for intimacy between adults are changing in the mobile era. Bauman (2003) has decreed this the era of ‘liquid love’, in which intimacy is commodified and committed relationships have been replaced by fleeting connections. In contrast, Giddens (1991; 1993) suggests that the reordering of everyday life in late-stage modernity has given rise to the possibility of a democratization of interpersonal interaction, characterized by reflexive ‘pure relationships’. The purpose of this paper is to consider theoretical debates about intimacy in the mobile era with regard to the contemporary practice of online dating. Drawing on our qualitative research with 23 online daters in Australia, we argue that, while the architecture of online dating is consistent with liquid love, many online daters simultaneously desire the possibilities for consumption afforded by liquid love, while aspiring to the formation of pure relationships and/or more practical forms of caring. This creates tensions in people’s experiences of this form of purposeful meeting, which are reflective of the conflicting socialities of intimacy available to us in the mobile era. At the same time, our research revealed disruptions to these tensions, by illuminating experiences where the consumerist orientation of online dating stimulated processes of reflexive self-discovery amongst our participants.

What our ICT graduates really need from us : a perspective from the workplace

A national Discipline-Based Initiative (DBI) project for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, has sought the opinions of recent graduates of ICT in the workplace to help inform the curriculum. An online survey was devised to question graduates on workplace requirements and university preparation for abilities categorized as: personal interpersonal; cognitive; business and technical. The graduates in employment have highlighted broad mismatches between the requirements of their professional work in these categories and the preparation for employment they received from university. A regression analysis was used to determine influences on graduates’ opinions of the preparation they received at university. The quantitative and qualitative results from this survey could have far reaching consequences for ICT education and this initiative will enable the development of curricula that ensures graduates are equipped with the skills required by the ICT industry.