The miracle worker

Helen Keller’s fight to speak, to understand, to love aided by her teacher Annie Sullivan was nothing short of a miracle. This is her story. Crossbow Productions staged six performances of The Miracle Worker at the Brisbane Powerhouse in June 2009 to raise awareness of people living with disabilities. The play was shadow signed for the hearing impaired and tactile tours of the set were held before each performance for the vision impaired. Over 200 hearing and vision impaired attended and 70 of these had never been to the theatre before. I’m deaf and we should be able to go to anything, and you’ve done that for us. As a blind person, I got a great deal from it. I found it extremely moving. There should be a thousand or so in the audience rather than a hundred so that everyone can experience it.

A national framework for disaster health education in Australia

INTRODUCTION: Recent events have heightened awareness of disaster health issues and the need to prepare the health workforce to plan for and respond to major incidents. This has been reinforced at an international level by the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, which has proposed an international educational framework. ----------- OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to outline the development of a national educational framework for disaster health in Australia. ----------- METHODS: The framework was developed on the basis of the literature and the previous experience of members of a National Collaborative for Disaster Health Education and Research. The Collaborative was brought together in a series of workshops and teleconferences, utilizing a modified Delphi technique to finalize the content at each level of the framework and to assign a value to the inclusion of that content at the various levels. ----------- FRAMEWORK: The framework identifies seven educational levels along with educational outcomes for each level. The framework also identifies the recommended contents at each level and assigns a rating of depth for each component. The framework is not intended as a detailed curriculum, but rather as a guide for educationalists to develop specific programs at each level. ----------- CONCLUSIONS: This educational framework will provide an infrastructure around which future educational programs in Disaster Health in Australia may be designed and delivered. It will permit improved articulation for students between the various levels and greater consistency between programs so that operational responders may have a consistent language and operational approach to the management of major events.

Geekdom for Grrrls health : Australian undergraduate experiences developing and promoting women’s health in cyberspace

There is an increasing global reliance on the Internet for retrieving information on health, illness, and recovery (Sillence et al, 2007; Laurent et al, 2009; Adams, 2010). People suffering from a vast array of illnesses, conditions, and complaints, as well as healthy travelers seeking advice about safe practices abroad, and teens seeking information about safe sexual practices are all now more likely to go to the internet for information than they are to rely solely on a general practitioner or physician (Santor et al, 2007; Moreno et al, 2009; Bartlett et al, 2010). Women in particular seek advice and support online for a number of health-related concerns regarding issues such as puberty, conception, pregnancy, postnatal depression, mothering, breast-cancer recovery, and ageing healthily (van Zutphen, 2008; Raymond et al, 2005). In keeping with this increasing socio-technological trend, the Women’s Health Unit at the Queensland University of Technology (Q.U.T), Brisbane, Australia, introduced the research, design, and development of online information resources for issues affecting the health of Australian women as an assessment item for students in the undergraduate Public Health curriculum. Students were required to research a particular health issue affecting Australian women, including pregnancy, pregnancy terminations, postnatal depression, returning to the work force after having a baby, breast cancer recovery, chronic disease prevention, health and safety for sex-workers, and ageing healthily. Students were required to design and develop websites that supported people living with these conditions, or who were in these situations. The websites were designed for communicating effectively with both women seeking information about their health, and their health practitioners. The pedagogical challenge inherent in this exercise was twofold: firstly, to encourage students to develop the skills to design and maintain software for online health forums; and secondly, to challenge public health students to go beyond generating ‘awareness’ and imparting health information to developing a nuanced understanding of the worlds and perspectives of their audiences, who require supportive networks and options that resonate with their restrictions, capabilities, and dispositions. This latter challenge spanned the realms of research, communication, and aesthetic design. This paper firstly, discusses an increasing reliance on the Internet by women seeking health-related information and the potential health risks and benefits of this trend. Secondly, it applies a post-structural analysis of the de-centred and mobile female self, as online social ‘spaces’ and networks supersede geographical ‘places’ and hierarchies, with implications for democracy, equality, power, and ultimately women’s health. Thirdly, it depicts the processes (learning reflections) and products (developed websites) created within this Women’s Health Unit by the students. Finally, we review this development in the undergraduate curriculum in terms of the importance of providing students with skills in research, communication, and technology in order to share and implement improved health care and social marketing for women as both recipients and providers of health care in the Internet Age.

Faculty and employee ownership of inventions in Australia

A recent decision by the Australian High Court means that, unless faculty are bound by an assignment or intellectual property (IP) policy, they may own inventions resulting from their research. Thirty years after its introduction, the US Bayh-Dole Act, which vests ownership of employee inventions in the employer university or research organization, has become a model for commercialization around the world. In Australia, despite recommendations that a Bayh-Dole style regime be adopted, the recent decision in University of Western Australia (UWA) v Gray1 has moved the default legal position in a diametrically opposite direction. A key focus of the debate was whether faculty’s duty to carry out research also encompasses a duty to invent. Late last year, the Full Federal Court confirmed a lower court ruling that it does not, and this year the High Court refused leave to appeal (denied certiorari). Thus, Gray stands as Australia’s most faculty-friendly authority to date.

Compliance, normality and the patient on peritoneal dialysis

Monitoring and enhancing patient compliance with peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a recurring and problematic theme in the renal literature. A growing body of literature also argues that a failure to understand the patient's perspective of compliance may be contributing to these problems. The aim of this study was to understand the concept of compliance with PD from the patient's perspective. Using the case study approach recommended by Stake (1995), five patients on PD consented to in-depth interviews that explored the meaning of compliance in the context of PD treatment and lifestyle regimens recommended by health professionals. Participants also discussed factors that influenced their choices to follow, disregard, or refine these regimens. Results indicate that health professionals acting in alignment with individual patient needs and wishes, and demonstrating an awareness of the constraints under which patients operate and the strengths they bring to their treatment, may be the most significant issues to consider with respect to definitions of PD compliance and the development of related compliance interventions. Aspects of compliance that promoted relative normality were also important to the participants in this study and tended to result in greater concordance with health professionals' advice.

Australia and New Zealand CBNG development and environmental implications

Following the success of Coalbed Natural Gas (CBNG) operations in the United States, companies in Australia and New Zealand have been actively exploring and developing this technology for the last two decades. In particular, the Bowen and Surat basins in Queensland, Australia, have undergone extensive CBNG development. Unfortunately, awareness of potential environmental problems associated with CBNG abstraction has not been widespread and legislation has at times struggled to keep up with rapid development. In Australia, the combined CBNG resource for both the Bowen and Surat basins has been estimated at approximately 10,500 PJ with gas content as high as 10 m3/tonne of coal. There are no official estimates for the magnitude of the CBNG resource in New Zealand but initial estimates suggest this could be up to 1,300 PJ with gas content ranging from 1 to 5 m3/tonne of coal. In Queensland, depressurization of the Walloon Coal Measures to recover CBNG has the potential to induce drawdown in adjacent deep aquifer systems through intraformational groundwater flow. In addition, CBNG operators have been disposing their co-produced water by using large unlined ponds, which is not the best practice for managing co-produced water. CBNG waters in Queensland have the typical geochemical signature associated with CBNG waters (Van Voast, 2003) and thus have the potential to impair soils and plant growth where land disposal is considered. Water quality from exploration wells in New Zealand exhibit the same characteristics although full scale production has not yet begun. In general, the environmental impacts that could arise from CBNG water extraction depend on the aquifer system, the quantity and quality of produced water, and on the method of treatment and disposal being used. Understanding these impacts is necessary to adequately manage CBNG waters so that environmental effects are minimized; if properly managed, CBNG waters can be used for beneficial applications and can become a valuable resource to stakeholders.

Healthy sexual development : a multidisciplinary framework for research

A group of Australian researchers from a range of disciplines involved in studying children's sexual development developed a framework for researching healthy sexual development that was acceptable to all disciplines involved. The 15 domains identified were: freedom from unwanted activity; an understanding of consent; education about biological aspects; understanding of safety; relationship skills; agency; lifelong learning; resilience; open communication; sexual development should not be “aggressive, coercive or joyless;” self-acceptance; awareness and acceptance that sex is pleasurable; understanding of parental and societal values; awareness of public/private boundaries; and being competent in mediated sexuality.

Towards beneficence for young children in research : challenges for bioethics committees

Bioethics committees are the focus of international scrutiny,particularly in relation to their application of the principle of beneficence,ensuring that risks incurred in research are outweighed by benefits to those involved directly and to the broader society. Beneficence, in turn, has become an international focus in research with young children, who hitherto had been rarely seen or heard in their own right in research.Twenty years ago, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 raised global awareness of children’s human rights to both participation and protection, and articulation of children’s rights came to inform understandings of young children’s rights in research. In the intervening period, countries such as Australia came to favour child protection and risk minimisation in research over the notion of children’s bone fide participation in research. A key element of the protection regime was the theoretical understanding of young children as developmentally unable and, therefore, unfit to understand, consent to and fully participate as research participants. This understanding has been challenged in recent decades by new theoretical understandings of children’s competence, where children can be seen to demonstrate competence, even at an early age, in consenting to, participating in and withdrawing from research. The paper draws on these understandings to provide insights for human research gatekeepers, such as bioethics committees, to deal with the challenges of research with young children and to realize the benefits that may accrue to children in research.

Values, wellness and the social sciences curriculum

Recent initiatives in values education in Australia emphasise the importance of the process of valuing and general methodologies that foster this in the classroom. Although a range of strategies are available, this chapter argues that inquiry-based approaches in the Social Sciences play a significant role in linking valuing processes with decision making skills. Collectively, these approaches prompt the development of reasoning and self awareness which also impact on student wellness. This chapter proposes some curriculum approaches to foreground values education in the Australian Social Sciences classroom. It argues that valuing is an important life skill that can be cultivated in the classroom through specific valuing strategies. It contends that the development of the capacity to make informed value choices is a critical factor in promoting wellness and resilience in students and in preparing them for the decision making skills required for effective participation in society.

Loneliness and classroom participation in adolescents with learning disabilities : a social cognitive view

Students with learning disabilities (LD) often experience significant feelings of loneliness. There is some evidence to suggest that these feelings of loneliness may be related to social difficulties that are linked to their learning disability. Adolescents experience more loneliness than any other age group, primarily because this is a time of identity formation and self-evaluation. Therefore, adolescents with learning disabilities are highly likely to experience the negative feelings of loneliness. Many areas of educational research have highlighted the impact of negative feelings on learning. This begs the question, =are adolescents with learning disabilities doubly disadvantaged in regard to their learning?‘ That is, if their learning experience is already problematic, does loneliness exacerbate these learning difficulties? This thesis reveals the findings of a doctoral project which examined this complicated relationship between loneliness and classroom participation using a social cognitive framework. In this multiple case-study design, narratives were constructed using classroom observations and interviews which were conducted with 4 adolescent students (2 girls and 2 boys, from years 9-12) who were identified as likely to be experiencing learning disabilities. Discussion is provided on the method used to identify students with learning disabilities and the related controversy of using disability labels. A key aspect of the design was that it allowed the students to relate their school experiences and have their stories told. The design included an ethnographic element in its focus on the interactions of the students within the school as a culture and elements of narrative inquiry were used, particularly in reporting the results. The narratives revealed all participants experienced problematic social networks. Further, an alarmingly high level of bullying was discovered. Participants reported that when they were feeling rejected or were missing a valued other they had little cognitive energy for learning and did not want to be in school. Absenteeism amongst the group was high, but this was also true for the rest of the school population. A number of relationships emerged from the narratives using social cognitive theory. These relationships highlighted the impact of cognitive, behavioural and environmental factors in the school experience of lonely students with learning disabilities. This approach reflects the social model of disability that frames the research.

Householder experiences with resource monitoring technology in sustainable homes

The use of feedback technologies, in the form of products such as Smart Meters, is increasingly seen as the means by which 'consumers' can be made aware of their patterns of resource consumption, and to then use this enhanced awareness to change their behaviour to reduce the environmental impacts of their consumption. These technologies tend to be single-resource focused (e.g. on electricity consumption only) and their functionality defined by persons other than end-users (e.g. electricity utilities). This paper presents initial findings of end-users' experiences with a multi-resource feedback technology, within the context of sustainable housing. It proposes that an understanding of user context, supply chain management and market diffusion issues are important design considerations that contribute to technology 'success'.

Information and communication technologies : catalysts for sustainable development

The concept of sustainable urban development has been pushed to the forefront of policy-making and politics as the world wakes up to the impacts of climate change and the effects of modern urban lifestyles. Today, sustainable development has become a very prominent element in the day-to-day debate on urban policy and the expression of that policy in urban planning and development decisions. As a result of this, during the last few years, sustainable development automation applications such as sustainable urban development decision support systems have become popular tools as they offer new opportunities for local governments to realise their sustainable development agendas. This chapter explores a range of issues associated with the application of information and communication technologies and decision support systems in the process of underpinning sustainable urban development. The chapter considers how information and communication technologies can be applied to enhance urban planning, raise environmental awareness, share decisions and improve public participation. It introduces and explores three web-based geographical information systems projects as best practice. These systems are developed as support tools to include public opinion in the urban planning and development processes, and to provide planners with comprehensive tools for the analysis of sustainable urban development variants in order to prepare the best plans for constructing sustainable urban communities and futures.

Community engagement and groundwater investigation in a rural/peri urban basaltic aquifier system, Tamborine Mountain, South East Queensland

The Tamborine Mt area is a popular residential and tourist area in the Gold Coast hinterland, SE Qld. The 15km2 area occurs on elevated remnant Tertiary Basalts of the Beechmont Group, which comprise a number of mappable flow units originally derived from the Tweed volcanic centre to the south. The older Albert Basalt (Tertiary), which underlies the Beechmont Basalt at the southern end of the investigation area, is thought to be derived from the Focal Peak volcanic centre to the south west. The Basalts contain a locally significant ‘un-declared’ groundwater resource, which is utilised by the Tamborine Mt community for: • domestic purposes to supplement rainwater tank supplies, • commercial scale horticulture and • commercial export off-Mountain for bottled water. There is no reticulated water supply, and all waste water is treated on-site through domestic scale WTPs. Rainforest and other riparian ecosystems that attract residents and tourist dollars to the area, are also reliant on the groundwater that discharges to springs and surface streams on and around the plateau. Issues regarding a lack of compiled groundwater information, groundwater contamination, and groundwater sustainability are being investigated by QUT, utilising funding provided by the Federal Government’s ‘Caring for our Country’ programme through SEQ Catchments Ltd. The objectives of the two year project, which started in April 2009, are to: • Characterise the nature and condition of groundwater / surface water systems in the Tamborine Mountain area in terms of the issues being raised; • Engage and build capacity within the community to source local knowledge, encourage participation, raise awareness and improve understanding of the impacts of land and water use; • Develop a stand-alone 3D Visualisation model for dissemination into the community and use as a communication tool.

Informed learning: a pedagogical construct attending simultaneously to information use and learning.

The idea of informed learning, applicable in academic, workplace and community settings, has been derived largely from a program of phenomenographic research in the field of information literacy, which has illuminated the experience of using information to learn. Informed learning is about simultaneous attention to information use and learning, where both information and learning are considered to be relational; and is built upon a series of key concepts such as second–order perspective, simultaneity, awareness, and relationality. Informed learning also relies heavily on reflection as a strategy for bringing about learning. As a pedagogical construct, informed learning supports inclusive curriculum design and implementation. This paper reports aspects of the informed learning research agenda which are currently being pursued at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The first part elaborates the idea of informed learning, examines the key concepts underpinning this pedagogical construct, and explains its emergence from the research base of the QUT Information Studies research team. The second presents a case, which demonstrates the ongoing development of informed learning theory and practice, through the development of inclusive informed learning for a culturally diverse higher education context.

Clients’ understanding of the role of nurse practitioners

Introduction: Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have an emerging role in the Australian healthcare system. However, there remains a dearth of available data about public understanding of the NP role. ---------- Aim: To evaluate clients’ understanding of the role of the NP and their satisfaction with education received, quality of care and NP knowledge and skill. ---------- Method: All authorised NPs working in a designated NP position in Western Australia and those working in three area health services in New South Wales (NSW) were invited to recruit five consecutive clients to complete the self-administered survey. ---------- Results: Thirty two NPs (NP response rate 93%) recruited 129 clients (client response rate 90%). Two thirds of clients (63%) were aware they were consulting an NP. The majority rated the following NP related outcomes as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’: education provided (89%); quality of care (95%); and knowledge and skill (93%). Less than half reported an understanding that NPs could prescribe medications (40.5%) or interpret X-rays (33.6%). Clients of NPs practising in a rural or remote setting were more likely than those in an urban setting to have previously consulted an NP (p=0.005), and where applicable would to prefer to see a NP rather than a doctor (p=0.022). ---------- Discussion: Successful implementation and expansion of the NP role requires NP visibility in the community. Despite high levels of satisfaction more awareness of the scope of the NP role is required.