Manualized treatment programs for FSD : research challenges and recommendations

The use of manualized treatment programs offers a useful research framework for assessing psychotherapeutic interventions for female sexual dysfunctions (FSDs), but it does not address all issues related to methodological rigor and replication, and raises new research issues in need of discussion. Aims. The goals of this manuscript are to review the literature on treatment trials utilizing manualized psychotherapy treatments for FSD and to explore the benefits and research issues associated with the flexible use of treatment manuals. Methods. The method used was the review of the relevant literature. Results. While the use of manualized treatments for FSDs can address certain methodological issues inherent in psychotherapy research, flexibility in manual administration is necessary in order to allow tailoring for individual needs that can be beneficial to both the participant and the research. The flexible use of manuals, as opposed to strict manual adherence, may also be more relevant for clinical utility. Conclusions. In order to administer manualized treatments for FSDs with appropriate flexibility, while also maximizing internal validity and replicability, the authors recommend that predetermined decision rules be utilized to guide individual tailoring, that potential gaps in the manual be identified and addressed, and that differing levels of motivation and readiness for treatment be taken into consideration in the treatment protocol. Hucker A and McCabe MP. Manualized treatment programs for FSD: Research challenges and recommendations.

How to make the rhetoric of joined-up government really work

"Joined-up' government and 'whole-of-government' approaches have evolved over the past two decades from the simple 'one-stop-shop' concept to much more formal organisational structures mandated at the highest levels. In many cases, the participants in these developments were learning on the job, as they responded to community and political demands for better service delivery and more accountability. This paper looks back at some of those developments and proposes a schema to assess and place policies, strategies and programs.

Fines and infringements

Many Victorian Acts, regulations and local council laws allow for the issue of infringement notices (often called "on-the-spot" fines) for offences under those enactments. Most commonly, infringement notices are issued for minor summary offences, including parking and traffic offences, public transport offences, public order offences (such as littering or drinking in a public place, alcohol-related offences and offensive behaviour) and additional offences including shop theft, careless driving, and certain offences relating to carrying knives. The penalty to be paid under an infringement notice is usually set by the legislation that creates the offence.

The Infringements Act 2006 (Vic) ("Infringements Act") came into effect on 1 July 2006 and regulates the infringements system in Victoria. The Infringements Act operates retrospectively and applies to all fines and infringement notices, whether issued before or after 1 July 2006.

Racialized urban America and Holocaust film : negotiating the limits of representation

Sidney Lumet’s influential film The Pawnbroker (1964) is one of the earliest films to consider the encounter between Holocaust narratives and low-income, urban American racial minorities. As much concerned with contemporary ‘race relations’ in the United States as it is with the Nazis’ persecution of Europe’s Jews, the film intertwines the story of Holocaust survivor Sol Nazerman with the social tensions of 1960s America, represented in his relationship with the young Puerto Rican shop assistant Jesus Oritz. The film stylistically juxtaposes raw footage of concentration camp existence with dismal images of New York slum life. Against these backdrops, the protagonist’s climactic ‘silent scream’ emblematically merges the repressed trauma of the survivor with the filmmaker’s interest in race relations, a theme that has undergone various transformations in a number of films since. One film that contemporizes this encounter is Richard LaGravenese’s Freedom Writers (2007). As opposed to the tragic outcome of the pawnbroker’s induction into urban America, here the Holocaust is a redemptive tool that permits inner-city Black and Latino youth to contextualize their own suffering. After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, this group of ‘at-risk’ sophomores to inspired to collaborate on an ultimately successful effort to bring Miep Geis, the woman who sheltered Anne Frank, to speak at their high school. Foregrounded by the 1992 Los Angeles riots, gentiles teacher Erin Gruwell and savior Miep Geis transform the Holocaust from an amplified parallel of American slums into an event that permits the children of American postcoloniality to triumph in spite of their socio-economic circumstances. Underlining the tension between the Jewish specificity and unprecedented nature of the Holocaust, and the need to generate Holocaust narratives that intersect with intrinsically racialized American narratives, such films have significant implications for how collective memories of suffering are constructed and contested.

Barriers to avoiding fast-food consumption in an environment supportive of unhealthy eating

Objective
To investigate factors (ability, motivation and the environment) that act as barriers to limiting fast-food consumption in women who live in an environment that is supportive of poor eating habits.

Design
Cross-sectional study using self-reports of individual-level data and objectively measured environmental data. Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with frequency of fast-food consumption.

Setting
Socio-economically disadvantaged areas in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.

Subjects
Women (n 932) from thirty-two socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods living within 3 km of six or more fast-food restaurants. Women were randomly sampled in 2007–2008 as part of baseline data collection for the Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality (READI) study.

Results
Consuming low amounts of fast food was less likely in women with lower perceived ability to shop for and cook healthy foods, lower frequency of family dining, lower family support for healthy eating, more women acquaintances who eat fast food regularly and who lived further from the nearest supermarket. When modelled with the other significant factors, a lower perceived shopping ability, mid levels of family support and living further from the nearest supermarket remained significant. Among those who did not perceive fruits and vegetables to be of high quality, less frequent fast-food consumption was further reduced for those with the lowest confidence in their shopping ability.

Conclusions
Interventions designed to improve women's ability and opportunities to shop for healthy foods may be of value in making those who live in high-risk environments better able to eat healthily.

Carnaby Street undressed

Carnaby Street Undressed is a story of fashion, music and eye opening insights into London's Carnaby Street in its 1960s heyday, told by the owners of the fashion shops that defined the iconic Street, and the popular musicians who were part of the “the scene”. This includes The Who lead sing Roger Daltrey, Donovan, Frank Allen from the Searchers, Gary Leeds from The Walker Brothers, and Peter Noone from Herman’s Hermits. The film is the story of a generation that rebelled against the grey conformity of the 1950s with a cultural revolution emanating from Carnaby Street from where it spread across the globe changing fashion and music forever. This a story about a street of firsts: the first time music was played in a shop, the first time men and women's clothes were sold in the same shop, the first time there was fashion for children, the first time the national flag was used as a fashion item, and the first time clothes had colour - lots of bright colours. The film reveals the cultural, philosophical and practical background and responses to these innovations.

Effective writing for health professionals : a guide to getting published

Written by a best-selling academic author, Effective Writing for Health Professionals provides insights and strategies for publishing designed for nurses, midwives and health professionals