Learning to be drier : a case study of adult and community learning in the Australian Riverland

This article explores the adult and community learning associated with 'learning to be drier' in the Riverland region of South Australia. Communities in the Riverland are currently adjusting and making changes to their understandings and practices as part of learning to live with less water. The analysis of adult and community learning derived from this research identifies six different forms of learning. These are, learning to produce, learning to be efficient, learning to survive, learning to live with uncertainty, learning to be sustainable and learning to share. These forms of learning do not occur in isolation and separately from each other but to the contrary are occuring simultaneously with and alongside each other. Further, it is argued that the people and communities in the Riverland, through learning to live with the effects of climate change and less water, are at the forfront of learning to be drier.

Patient education and self-management programs in arthritis

♦ Arthritis self-management programs (ASMPs) are integrated into many clinical practice guidelines and policies, and are the core business of Arthritis Foundations.

♦ Australian Arthritis Foundations are embarking on a National Quality Assurance Program which should raise awareness and improve confidence in such programs.

♦ ASMPs aim to empower people, improve quality of life while living with chronic disease, increase healthy activities and improve self-monitoring — each of which can assist with clinical management, but can be difficult to evaluate.

♦ Although there is modest high-quality evidence of traditional “clinical outcomes” from ASMPs, these programs are strongly endorsed by consumers, are being used as a vehicle for healthcare reform, and have the potential to substantially improve public health.

♦ Coordinated national delivery of patient education programs has the potential to improve healthcare and outcomes for people with arthritis.

Surrender to the market : thoughts on anthropology, the body shop, and intellectuals

The direction of anthropology over the last century is tied to the shifts from colonialism to postcolonialism and from modernism to postmodernism. These shifts have seen the thoroughgoing incorporation of the world population into the economic, political and juridical domain established through the last throes of colonialism and the transmutations of capitalism and the State. Anthropology, a discipline whose history shows close and regular links with colonial government, also transforms in association with the world it describes and partly creates. Two dominant trends in contemporary anthropology--applied consultancy and historicist self-reflexivity--are compared for the ways they represent the transmutation, which is characterised, following Fredric Jameson as 'the surrender to the market'. In this way it is asserted that just as the discipline had hitherto revealed its links to colonialism, it now reveals its links to globalisation through a form of commodified self-obsession. To illustrate this quality the paper considers the global chain of cosmetics stores, The Body Shop, as an example of 'late capitalism' and the moral juridical framework of globalisation. Finally, it treats these developments in anthropology as more generally affecting intellectuals and knowledge production through the promotion of intellectual 'silence'.

Sexuality, body esteem and physical disability

The thesis investigated sexuality and body esteem in people with physical disabilities and developed a psychometrically valid measure to assess these dimensions. Physical disability was associated with significant psychological challenges, sexual and body dissatisfaction and limited opportunities for sexual relationships. The thesis highlighted the importance of sexuality for physically disabled people.

Body image and psychological, social, and sexual functioning

This thesis examined the nature of the body image construct, as well as the relationships between body image and self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and social functioning. Body image was demonstrated to play an important role in the everyday lives of adolescent boys and girls, and men and women throughout adulthood.

Dual disability : the inherent difficulties in service provision and client management

Dual disability is a particularly important area of study, as the co-occurence of intellectual and psychiatric disability presents signficant challenges to professionals within the health and disability services. Four case studies are presented.

Opportunity and risk management for complex oil and gas developments

The thesis examines complex new oil and gas field developments, when growing the business from current capabilities and practice to the frontiers of undeveloped reservoirs. The contributors to complexity were identified, and an integrated methodology for opportunity and risk management, assessment and analysis was developed to produce more credible forecasts.

Socio-cultural messages, body image, and body change strategies in men

The thesis found that men received information about the ideal male body from perceived media messages and peers through encouragement, teasing, or modelled behaviours. Body mass index (BMI) also influenced participant's perceptions of their body-image and the strategies they used to change their shape. Sexual partners generally held positive views of men's body shape and weight. The portfolio examines the barriers experienced by individuals with co-occuring disorders within the current treatment system, by analysing four case studies.

Research on school and community-based curriculum practice in aboriginal, multicultural and migrant education

This research studies some key problems in relation to curriculum reform in multicultural and migrant education: social concepts of multicultural education, divergent curriculum theories informing practice, the facilitation process in regard to project self-study and action research and the development of cultural perspectives in general curriculum pedagogy.