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This paper is concerned with the socio-spatial and ethical politics of redistribution, specifically the allocation of natural resources rents from political and economic cores to the economic and geographical peripheries whence the resource originated. Based on a case study of the coal seam gas sector in Queensland's Surat Basin, this paper focuses on the operation of the Queensland State Government's regional development fund for mining and energy extraction-affected regions. Employing an environmental justice framework, we critically explore the operation of these funds in ostensibly helping constituent communities in becoming resilient to the worst effects of the 'staples trap'. Drawing on secondary demographic and housing data for the region, as well as primary information collected from key respondents from mid-2018 to early 2019, we show that funds were distributed across all of the local government areas, and allocated to projects and places primarily on a perceived economic needs basis. However, concerns were raised with the probity of the funds' administration. In terms of recognition justice, the participation of smaller and more remote towns and local Indigenous communities was hampered by their structural marginalisation. Procedurally, the funds were criticised for the lack of local consultation taken in the development and approval of projects. While spatially concentrated expenditure may be the most cost-effective use of public monies, we argue that grant application processes should be open, transparent and inclusive, and the outcomes cognisant of the developmental needs of smaller communities, together with the need to foster regional solidarity and coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the application of Constructivist Grounded Theory (C-GT) methodology for social work research. First, it argues that C-GT methodology is well aligned with social work as the two value the individual in the context of their environmental influences. Both also prioritise the importance of respecting and valuing the participant or individual, seeing their perspective as unique and significant. Finally, this research methodology's systematic yet flexible guidelines align with social work ethics, which also focus on the importance of professional integrity. The paper then provides an example of a C-GT PhD study in relation to an area of social work practice, that is, stability in statutory kinship care in Queensland, Australia. The paper details the specific recruitment and sampling of participants, data collection and coding analysis examples from the PhD study. The examples evidence the relevance of C-GT methodology and its application for research in the area of social work practice, specifically statutory kinship care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stand-alone strangulation offence was introduced in Queensland, Australia in 2016. One of the elements of the Queensland strangulation offence is that the victim did not consent to the strangulation. This paper reviews the harms and dangers associated with strangulation before overviewing the debates about the use of strangulation during sex. Drawing on focus group discussions conducted with domestic violence support workers and men's behaviour change workers, we discuss four overlapping themes identified in the discussions. These were perceptions that: strangulation during sex is normalised; consent is not informed; it happens in the context of coercive control; and the requirement of consent opens a loophole in the strangulation offence. Considering the issues raised, and the clear risks and harms, we suggest that consideration should be given to whether it is ever possible to consent to strangulation and we consider possible reforms such as following the two-tiered approaches to consent used in the England and Wales law and elsewhere in Australia. We also conclude that law reforms such as these are partial solutions and there is significant need for more community education about the risks and harms of strangulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) police liaison programs were established around Australia from the late 1980s onwards to ameliorate discriminatory relationships between LGBTIQ people and police. With specialized training to better understand LGBTIQ issues, police liaison officers can provide support to LGBTIQ people as victims, offenders, or witnesses. Interestingly, very few LGBTIQ people seek support from these officers, even though many know they exist. This paper reports the results of a survey of a sample of LGBTIQ community members across two Australian states (Queensland and New South Wales) that explored why LGBTIQ people seek support from LGBTI police liaison officers. An online questionnaire asked LGBTIQ people about their perceptions of, and experiences with, police generally, and LGBTI police liaison officers specifically. Similar to past research, our analysis primarily found high levels of awareness of liaison officers, but very few participants accessed them. Further, and concerningly, the participants were generally reluctant to seek them out for support. Key implications of our findings for policy and practice development in police and LGBTIQ community services are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives:: The study describes the implementation and adaptation of a brief intervention model as routine clinical practice in an acute care service.Methods:: An action research process informed the evaluation and design of the intervention.Results:: The model's theoretical framework enhanced clinical practice and benefited consumers, though it was too rigid to be implemented in an acute care setting, so was adapted to suit this environment.Conclusions:: This paper highlights the value in realigning practice with fundamental engagement principles to improve practice outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Demand for places in postgraduate psychiatry training programmes has increased over recent years. All systems have capacity limits, and concerns have been raised regarding the sustainability of the current intake. This paper presents a modelling exercise to exploring the presence and strategies to resolve bottleneck in the Queensland training programme. Methods: Mathematical modelling based on the RANZCP training regulations and the characteristics of the accredited training programme. Results: A training bottleneck was identified which has been impacted by increased training intake, demand for Advanced Training certificates, and location factors. Conclusions: This investigation raises important questions regarding the future management of postgraduate training in psychiatry in Queensland that may be applicable more widely across Australia and New Zealand. In particular, it highlights the large impact that can result from even small incremental increases in trainees across varying levels of the postgraduate programme and the importance of limiting trainee intake in a manner proportional to the availability of mandatory terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theme of mistrust in resettlement contexts is largely overlooked in refugee discourses. Through a qualitative inquiry of post-migration experiences of four women raising children alone in Brisbane, Australia, this paper outlines how the presence of mistrust could at times create difficult resettlement circumstances for these women, who then needed to negotiate additional obstacles in everyday life. The definition of social mistrust used here is a form of deliberate and ongoing suspicion about lone refugee women’s choices and lifestyles from other community members. Importantly, the women achieved a sense of well-being despite experiencing mistrust, both in inter-group and intra-group contexts, indicating that they conceptualised access to and benefits from social networks with different emphases on trust. Sociocultural narratives of mistrust, particularly gender-specific perspectives can enrich refugee discourses and challenge established notions of trust inherent to understandings of social networks in resettlement. The findings discussed in this paper contribute to debunking the ‘myth’ of homogeneity in relation to refugee groups and demonstrate the diversity of experiences among sub-groups of refugee women. The theme of mistrust, particularly among women, is an oft-neglected aspect and requires further attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 is a standardised diagnostic interview commonly used in population-based mental health surveys, but has not been used in community-residing Indigenous Australians. This paper seeks to determine whether the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 can produce valid diagnostic information when compared with a diagnostic interview in an urban Indigenous Australian sample. Method: This research was conducted over 10 weeks with adult Indigenous clients of two participating Aboriginal Medical Services in South-East Queensland. Using a cross-sectional, repeated-measures design, participants were administered the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 by an Indigenous interviewer and within 2 weeks attended a second appointment with an Indigenous clinical psychologist, who produced a diagnostic summary. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 diagnoses were compared with the diagnostic summaries and clinical concordance between the two measures was calculated. Results: The diagnostic accuracy of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 differed by module. The Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression modules had good utility in diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive episodes, respectively; however, the Mania module that provides diagnoses of bipolar disorder was found to be unsuitable for this population. Although there were no identified contraindications for the use of the Generalised Anxiety and Alcohol Use Disorder modules, further research on the diagnostic accuracy of these modules is warranted. Conclusions: The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 can accurately diagnose some common mental disorders in an Indigenous Australian population, but was found to be unsuitable for others. Given these findings, care should be taken when using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 in epidemiological prevalence studies with Indigenous Australian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Suicide is a leading cause of maternal mortality. Suicidality during and around the time of pregnancy can have detrimental impacts on a child's development and outcomes. This paper examines prevalence, demographic characteristics, and timing of initial contact with first responders and health services for a cohort of women who experienced suicidality during and around the time of pregnancy. Methods: Findings are drawn from the Partners in Prevention (PiP) study, a population-wide linked data set of suicide-related attendances by police or paramedics in Queensland, Australia. A sub-cohort of women was identified, who were between 6 months preconception and 2 years postpartum at the time of a suicide-related contact with police or paramedics (PiP-Maternal). Findings are compared to other girls and women who had a suicide-related contact with police or paramedics (PiP-Female). Prevalence, demographic characteristics, timing of contact with first responders and health services, re-presentations, and mortality are reported. Results: The PiP-Maternal cohort comprised 3020 individuals and 3400 births. Women in the PiP-Maternal cohort were younger, more likely to be of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and live outside of a major city than the PiP-Female cohort. There were high rates of out-of-hours calls to police and ambulance, and similar perceived seriousness of the call between women in the PiP-Maternal and PiP-Female cohorts. Women in the PiP-Maternal cohort were less likely to be admitted to an emergency department within 24 hours, even after matching on covariates. Prevalence of suicidality for women who were pregnant and up to 2 years postpartum was 1.32% (95% CI = [1.27, 1.37]). Conclusion: Vulnerabilities and high rates of contact with police or paramedics, coupled with lower levels of follow-up, highlight the critical need to improve service responses for women with mental health needs during these phases of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the significance of how staff in residential aged care facilities interpret the non-verbal communication and behaviour of residents vis-a-vis their assessments of residents' preferences and ability to participate in decision-making. It highlights the risks associated with staff members' failure to interpret residents' non-verbal communication and behaviour with reference to residents' backgrounds and prior experiences. It also considers how non-verbal communication implemented by staff may impact residents' emotional state and, as a consequence, decision-making abilities. Drawing on interview data with aged care staff from Queensland and Victoria, it demonstrates that care staff in residential facilities appear to rely heavily on non-verbal signals in assessing the decision-making capacity and preferences of residents with dementia. It also indicates that many staff fail to consider residents' non-verbal communication and behaviour with due consideration of residents' individual histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small tourism businesses are essential to Australia's economy and development, particularly in regional and rural areas, where a majority of these firms are located. It is important to understand the operation of regional small tourism business, to create strategies for their sustained success into the future. This research paper explores collaboration as an operation of small tourism businesses, by understanding the extent to which small tourism firms face challenges in collaborating at different stages of their business life cycle, and how these challenges to collaboration can be overcome. Collaboration is the selected concept examined within this study as it exposes businesses to shared knowledge, resources, marketing, and capabilities, which these businesses alone would not typically possess. To understand this further, reponses about collaborative behavior were gathered from 24 small tourism operators/managers from The Granite Belt region in South-East Queensland, Australia. Tourism operators recognized several hindrances to successful collaboration: (1) a limited understanding of what collaboration is and how it can be enacted, (2) the informal nature of current collaborations, (3) unbalanced efforts from stakeholders within the collaborations, (4) competition between stakeholders, (5) differing opinions of collaborating businesses, and (6) perceived failure or misdirected leadership from local governing bodies. Using these challenges, a framework was developed that makes recommendations to tourism scholars, organizations, operators, and local councils on how to overcome these hindrances by improving communication, formalizing selected collaborative efforts, and reporting on collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the processes undertaken to maximise cultural competence in a complex research project and illustrate how this enhanced the quality of the research and impact of the research outcomes.Methods: An epidemiological survey of the mental health of Indigenous people in custody in Queensland was conducted using culturally informed research processes.Results: The research process that enhanced cultural competence is described. The research outcomes were positive in terms of participant and community experiences, participation rates, publications and other research outputs, capacity building and translation of research findings.Conclusions: This paper describes in practical terms how to conduct culturally informed research and how this approach enhanced the scientific rigour of a complex Indigenous health research project. Indigenous health research should be conducted using a culturally competent method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical documentation is a fundamental component of patient care. The transition from paper based to electronic medical records/electronic health records has highlighted a number of issues associated with documentation practices including duplication. Developing new ways to document the care provided to patients and in turn, persuading clinicians to accept a change, must be supported by evidence that a change is required. In Australia, there has been a limited number of studies exploring the clinical documentation practices and beliefs of clinicians. Objective: To gain an in-depth understanding of clinician documentation practices. Method: A qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with clinicians (allied health professionals, doctors (physicians) and nurses) working in a tertiary-level hospital in South-East Queensland, Australia. Results: Several themes emerged from the data: environmental factors, including departmental policy and systemic issues, and personal factors, including verification, clinical reasoning and experience influencing documentation practices. Conclusion: Our study identified that the documentation practices of clinicians are complex, being driven by both environmental and systemic factors and personal factors. This in turn leads to duplication and some redundancy. The documentation burden of duplication could be reduced by changes in policy, supported by multidisciplinary documentation procedures and electronic systems aligned with clinician workflows, while retaining some flexible documentation practices. The documentation practices of individuals, when considered from the perspective of enhancing quality care, are considered legitimate and therefore will continue to form part of the health (medical) record regardless of the format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illuminating the physical difficulties experienced by hotel room attendants in delivering service quality at five-star hotels on the Gold Coast region of South East Queensland, Australia, our research was founded on socialist-feminist and critical theory epistemologies. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 46 hotel room attendants. We used a qualitative, social-constructivist, grounded theory methodology to render the empirical material into a basic social structural process of tasking. Tasking offers a conceptual framework of room attendants' daily employment experiences as they transform hotel rooms to prescribed standards. Tasking illustrates the high physical demands placed on room attendants, tantamount to exploitation from their own perspectives. Tasking contributes to research on employment experiences in hospitality, particularly on hotel praxis, delivery of quality customer service and the operational demands placed on room attendants. This paper presents the results of the first in-depth examination of the daily functions and roles of hotel room attendants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The aim of the current paper is to analyse time trends of non-fatal suicidal behaviour (NFSB) and its repetition at the Gold Coast in 2005-2015. Methods Data on presentations for NFSB were obtained from the Emergency Department (ED) Information System. Potential cases were identified through keyword searches, which were further scrutinised and coded. Annual person-based age-standardised rates for NFSB were calculated. Chi-square test, Poisson regression and Cox proportional hazards regression were used.Results: There was a significant increase in the age-standardised rates of NFSB for males (incidence Rate Ratio = 1.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04-1.07) and females (iRR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.04-1.07). Age-specific rates showed significant increases for all age groups, except 25-34 and 55+ for females. Different types of poisoning were the predominant method of NFSB (poisoning only - 61.7% of episodes), followed by cutting (23%). Within the first year after the index episode, 13.4% of subjects repeated NFSB. Multivariate Cox regression model showed that sex, age and method predicted repetition.Conclusion: The increasing trends of NFSB and relatively high repetition rates emphasise the need for preventative actions. Monitoring of NFSB at the ED level should be further extended in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical pharmacy service delivery is currently a significant challenge in remote areas. Mount Isa Base Hospital provides clinical pharmacy support to ten remote sites across an area of over 300,000 square kilometres. These sites do not have on-site pharmacists available and, due to the vast distances and unpredictable travel conditions, the outreach pharmacist from Mount Isa Base Hospital only visits sporadically. Provision of direct patient care and advice on medication safety with this model was restricted and insufficient. Telepharmacy provides an opportunity for these services to be vastly expanded. In an attempt to increase pharmacist accessibility for remote hospital sites, the Mount Isa Base Hospital pharmacy department developed an inpatient telepharmacy service. Telehealth equipment is being used to communicate directly with patients and hospital staff, review inpatient medication charts, generate patient medication lists, identify and resolve clinical interventions and provide medication-related advice and counselling. As a result of this implementation, all patients and health professionals in remote north-west Queensland hospitals now have access to a pharmacist. The number of inpatient medication reviews, clinical interventions and patient-pharmacist/clinician-pharmacist interactions occurring at each remote hospital site has increased. Since service initiation, 106 medication-related reviews have been completed via telepharmacy, including 48 patient interactions, and 111 medication-related interventions have been made. This paper outlines the process for the development of an inpatient telepharmacy service for remote hospitals and discusses the benefits and limitations associated with implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime script analysis was used to analyze intimate partner violence diversity by identifying variables significantly associated with different script tracks. Qualitative thematic analysis using official police administrative data from Queensland, Australia, was used to develop an intimate partner violence protoscript (n = 40), followed by quantitative hierarchical cluster analysis and cross-tabulations to examine diversity within scripts. Four diverse script tracks were identified: "escalating jealousy," "persistently possessive," "controlling victim agency," and "enduring argument." Intimate partner diversity exists with divisions based on statistically significant variables. Implications for situational crime prevention and the use of mixed methods for strengthening crime script analysis are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnographic practice in contentious and high-risk spaces raises important ethical and methodological questions. When working with grassroots activists who actively avoid forms of surveillance, the boundary between consensual observation and potentially harmful documentation becomes difficult to discern. This article aims not only to identify the gaps in qualitative research methodologies for scholars working with grassroots activists, but also to think of practical ways in which researchers should mitigate concerns both for participants and themselves. Based on fieldwork in Australia, the author explores the ethical, methodological, and emotional dilemmas of conducting research with activists as a militant ethnographer. The article argues that activist-centred project designs must consider the challenges between the researcher's mandate to collect data and their responsibility to uphold security culture both in and outside activist spaces. Reflexive research ethics, further, should be a part of ongoing research engagement to address the emotional tensions overlooked in standardized ethical protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While violence against women and domestic violence can be seen throughout Australia, emerging evidence suggests that intimate partner femicide (IPF) is more common in rural spaces than urban ones. This study examined 100 IPF cases to determine the rate of femicide and frequency of common risk factors in rural areas of Queensland, Australia. The study also explored how victims accessed services and the characteristics of rural IPF and male offenders. Findings indicated that IPF is more common in rural areas and associated risk factors are similar between urban and rural cases. Rural IPF was more likely to occur during a current relationship and offenders were found to be less likely to conceal their actions. These differences suggest that the physical and social isolation of rural spaces may facilitate higher rates IPF. Implications discuss the need for rural-focused policies and responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe an online essay-style examination preparation group. Methods: The process of the establishment – including recruitment, rules and characteristics – of 'Stranger than Fiction' is outlined. Results: Over the 10-week period, 66 essays were submitted, and 40 essays were marked. Sixteen out of 30 registered candidates submitted at least one essay, and 11 out of 17 registered markers marked at least one essay. Conclusion: 'Stranger than Fiction' is a novel approach to create a supportive environment where trainees are given opportunities to practise critical essay questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Effective primary healthcare services have been identified by the World Health Organization as the most equitable approach to enhancing universal healthcare. Robust models of mentoring for registered nurses (RNs) transitioning to primary healthcare roles have yet to be described in the Australian context. A robust mentoring model can support RNs to fulfill their potential, bridging the gap between theory and practice. In 2015, the peak body for nurses in primary health care (PHC) began developing a transition to practice program, including embedded mentoring to support newly graduated and more experienced registered and enrolled nurses. This quality improvement study reports the experiences and perspectives of nurses participating as mentors in two separate offerings of the program delivered between 2019 and 2021. Method: A two-phase concurrent mixed methods evaluation utilized data from pre- and post online surveys and post program meetings. Quantitative items underwent descriptive analyses. Thematic analysis of free-text responses and comments was conducted independently by two researchers. Mentors voluntarily provided self-report data and were informed that data is routinely collected to support continuous quality improvement processes for all programs. An Information Sheet informed mentors of data usage, confidentiality, and options to withdraw without penalty from the program at any time. Results: Seventy-nine mentors were recruited to support two groups of nurses (N = 111). Mentor self-rated overall satisfaction with program participation was 86.67% (very or extremely satisfied). Mentors described being "witness to mentee growth," "having facilitated access to learning" and receiving "unexpected benefits" including personal and professional growth and enhanced enthusiasm for their role in PHC. Conclusion: The embedded mentoring reported in this article combined a focus on skills acquisition and professional identity with the provision of a range of resources and support activities. Sustainable mentoring programs will be an important mechanism for supporting the expanding roles required of nurses working in primary health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population health data, collected worldwide in an effort to monitor mortality and morbidity of mothers and babies, namely, perinatal data, are mandated at a federal level within Australia. The data are used to monitor patterns in midwifery, obstetric and neonatal practice, health outcomes, used for research purposes, funding allocation and education. Accuracy in perinatal data is most often reported via quantitative validation studies of perinatal data collections both internationally and in Australia. These studies report varying levels of accuracy and suggest researchers need to be more aware of the quality of data they use. This article presents findings regarding issues of concern identified by midwives relating to their perceptions of how technology affects the accuracy of perinatal data records. Perinatal data records are perceived to be more complete when completed electronically. However, issues regarding system functionality, the inconsistent use of terminology, lack of data standards and the absence of clear, written records contribute to midwives’ perceptions of the negative influence of technology on the quality of perinatal data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-engaged research takes place at a complex social site that has both a history and a future as well as encompassing the project activities of the researchers and community members. We argue that a crucial methodological aspect of undertaking such research is the development of trust relationships between researchers and community. We propose that for each research project, this relationship can best be understood as a 'sphere of engagement', after Ingold's 'sphere of nurture', and that trust and care are emergent and binding qualities of this sphere. Tracing the development of trust relationships in a case study, using the idea of security-based trust and harmony-based trust, we conclude that trust, and the related concept of care, bind together people, events, histories and futures beyond the dichotomous and time-delimited relationship of a research contract, and carry the sphere of engagement of researchers and community beyond the life of any one project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic overprescribing is a global issue that significantly contributes to increased antimicrobial resistance. Strengthening antimicrobial prescribing practices should be considered a priority. The emergency department (ED) represents a setting where antibiotics are frequently prescribed, but the determinants that influence prescribing choices are complex and multifaceted. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study to investigate the contextual factors that influence antibiotic prescribing choices among clinicians in the ED. The study employed video-reflexive ethnography (VRE) to capture prospective clinical decision-making in situated practice. Data collection involved fieldwork observations, video observations, and delivery of facilitated group reflexive sessions, where clinicians viewed a selection of recorded video snippets relating to antibiotic prescribing. Study was conducted across two EDs within the same health service in Australia. A total of 29 clinical conversations focusing on antibiotic prescribing were recorded. Additionally, 34 clinicians participated in group reflexive sessions. Thematic analysis from the transcribed data yielded four themes: 'importance of clinical judgment', 'usability of prescribing guidelines', 'managing patient expectations', and 'context-dependent disruptions'. Our findings provide insights into the challenges faced by clinicians in navigating complex ED environment, utilising electronic decision-support tools and engaging in discussions about patient treatments with senior clinicians. The findings also indicate that VRE is useful in visualising full complexity of the ED setting, and in initiating meaningful discussions among clinical teams. Integrating the use of VRE in everyday clinical settings can potentially facilitate the implementation of pragmatic solutions for delivering effective antibiotic stewardship practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known outside of the United States about the risk of violence-related death among young people who have had contact with the youth justice system (justice-involved young people). We examined violence-related deaths among justice-involved young people in Queensland, Australia. In this study, youth justice records for 48,647 young people (10–18 years at baseline) who were charged, or experienced a community-based order or youth detention in Queensland, Australia (1993–2014) were probabilistically linked with death, coroner, and adult correctional records (1993–2016). We calculated violence-related crude mortality rates (CMRs) and age- and sex-standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). We constructed a cause-specific Cox regression model to identify predictors of violence-related deaths. Of 1,328 deaths in the cohort, 57 (4%) were from violence. The violence-related CMR was 9.5 per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval [95% CI] [7.4, 12.4]) and the SMR was 6.8 [5.3, 8.9]. Young Indigenous people had a greater risk of violence-related death than non-Indigenous people (cause-specific hazard ratio [csHR] 2.5; [1.5, 4.4]). Young people who experienced detention had more than twice the risk of violence-related death than those who were charged only (csHR 2.5; [1.2, 5.3]). We found that justice-involved young people have a risk of dying from violence that far exceeds that of the general population. The rate of violence-related death found in this study is lower than that in U.S.-based studies, which most likely reflects lower population level firearm violence in Australia. In Australia, young Indigenous people and those released from detention appear key groups to target for violence prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding patterns of health care use in the last year of life is critical in health services planning. Aim: To describe hospital-based service and palliative care use in hospital in the year preceding death for patients who died of heart failure or cardiomyopathy in Queensland from 2008 to 2018 and had at least one hospitalisation in the year preceding death. Design: A retrospective data linkage study was conducted using administrative health data relating to hospitalisations, emergency department visits and deaths. Participants and setting: Participants included were those aged ⩾60 years, had a hospitalisation in their last year of life and died of heart failure or cardiomyopathy in Queensland, Australia. Results: Of the 4697 participants, there were 25,583 hospital admissions. Three quarters (n = 3420, 73%) of participants were aged ⩾80 years and over half died in hospital (n = 2886, 61%). The median number of hospital admissions in the last year of life was 3 (interquartile range [IQR] 2–5). The care type was recorded as 'acute' for 89% (n = 22,729) of hospital admissions, and few (n = 853, 3%) hospital admissions had a care type recorded as 'palliative.' Of the 4697 participants, 3458 had emergency department visit(s), presenting 10,330 times collectively. Conclusion: In this study, patients who died of heart failure or cardiomyopathy were predominantly aged ⩾80 years and over half died in hospital. These patients experienced repeat acute hospitalisations in the year preceding death. Improving timely access to palliative care services in the outpatient or community setting is needed for patients with heart failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Electricity Market Operator generates one-day ahead electricity demand forecasts for the National Electricity Market in Australia and updates these forecasts over time until the time of dispatch. Despite the fact that these forecasts play a crucial role in the decision-making process of market participants, little attention has been paid to their evaluation and interpretation. Using half-hourly data from 2011 to 2015 for New South Wales and Queensland, it is shown that the official half-hourly demand forecasts do not satisfy the econometric properties required of rational forecasts. Instead there is a relationship between forecasts and forecast horizon similar to a term structure model of interest rates. To study the term structure of demand forecasts, a factor analysis that uses a small set of latent factors to explain the common variation among multiple observables is implemented. A three-factor model is identified with the factors admitting interpretation as the level, slope and curvature of the term structure of forecasts. The validity of the model is reinforced by assessing the economic value of demand forecasts. It is demonstrated that simple adjustments to long-horizon electricity demand forecasts based on the three estimated factors can enhance the informational content of the official forecasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to problematize individualistic strategies developed in western institutions to address violence against women and suggests more collective responses that engage refugee men. The data comes from a qualitative research project in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Thirty-one interviews with frontline workers from domestic violence and refugee settlement organizations reveal dissenting voices that challenge the hegemony of dominant groups who either advocate gender equality or overemphasize cultural differences. These dissenting voices suggest new knowledge being mobilized by refugees and associated communities, presenting opportunities for nongovernmental organizations and community groups to find ways to align across their differences toward a common goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to provide the first psychometric evaluation of the newly developed, digitally animated assessment instrument: the Interactive Child Distress Screener (ICDS). The latent factor structure of the novel ICDS was first established using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on 15 pairs of animated items using a community sample (N = 266) of child–parent dyads. EFA results support a two-factor structure representing two broad domains of internalizing and externalizing difficulties (r =.52) and comprised 12 items. The reliability of the factors was strong with ordinal alpha and omega coefficients above.84 and.87, respectively, for each of the subscales. Convergent validity for the overall sample was supported with established child and parent-reported measures of internalizing and externalizing problems; however, the ICDS factors demonstrated convergence greater in magnitude with other child-reported measures such as the Me and My School Survey. Satisfaction and utility ratings by children indicated that the digital format was highly acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the catastrophic 2019 and 2020 bushfire season and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, Queensland's Courier Mail regularly celebrated firefighters and health workers as national archetypes. By positioning them as the 'new Anzacs', the Courier Mail was able to communicate an understanding of the crises using a rhetoric that was familiar, unthreatening and reassuring. The firefighters, both professional and volunteer, were easily subsumed into the mythology's celebration of national identity. As Queensland's health workers were predominantly female, urban-based and educated, the article used a more modern iteration of the Anzac mythology better suited to this different context. The emergence of a 'kinder, gentler Anzac' in the 1970s and its focus on trauma, suffering and empathy proved equally useful as a rhetorical tool. Both approaches were underpinned by a move away from a narrow military context to the Anzac mythology's standing as a civic religion that celebrates more universal values such as courage, endurance, sacrifice and comradeship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Estimate impact of socioeconomic factors and remoteness from tertiary hospital on incidence/duration of Australian mental health admissions. Methods: Retrospective analysis of incidence/duration of public mental health unit admissions (2018–19). Covariates included Indigenous population, potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPH) and socioeconomic disadvantage. Results: Regional distance from hospital was correlated with socioeconomic disadvantage (ρ : p < 0.01). Population identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander was associated with distance from hospital, socioeconomic disadvantage and PPH (ρ : p < 0.01). Bed days per capita was explained (R 2adj: 0.48) by distance and socioeconomic disadvantage (p < 0.0001). A 1% increase in distance from hospital was associated with a 0.37% decrease in per capita bed days. Admission rate per capita across Queensland and WA was explained (R 2adj: 0.36) by distance, education/occupation and state (p < 0.05). Across Queensland and WA a 1% increase in distance from hospital was associated with a 0.05% decreased incidence of admission. Conclusions: Rural Australians face high mental illness burden, socioeconomic disadvantage and limited service provision. Overcoming the additional disadvantages of reduced likelihood of admission to and reduced time in hospital with increasing distance from hospital will require increased outreach proportional to remoteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The long-term mental and physical health consequences of childhood maltreatment have been well documented. Less known are the longer-term consequences of childhood maltreatment, specifically the extent to which childhood maltreatment predicts adult life success. Objectives: To prospectively assess the extent to which childhood experiences of physical, sexual, emotional abuse and childhood neglect predict life success at 30 years of age. Participants and Setting: Data are from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a pre-birth cohort study which follows children from conception to 30 years of age. Methods: Details of childhood maltreatment are from two sources; child safety agency notifications (and substantiations) linked to the survey data with self-reports of childhood experiences of maltreatment obtained at the 30-year follow-up using the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Life success is a 9-item composite measure (alpha = 0.76) obtained at the 30-year follow-up. We use logistic regression models (with control for covariates) to examine the association between overall as well as specific forms of childhood maltreatment on adult life success. We further test these models using different cut-offs and propensity analyses to adjust for loss to follow-up. Results: Childhood maltreatment whether measured by agency report or self-report predicts overall low life success; agency substantiation OR = 1.88(1.14,3.08) & self-report OR = 2.60 (2.10,3.25). Self-report physical abuse, OR = 2.37(1.72,3.28); sexual abuse, OR = 2.85(2.05,3.96); emotional abuse, OR = 2.53(1.85,3.45) and neglect, OR = 2.36(1.83,3.03) all predict higher levels of low life success. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the long-term consequences of childhood maltreatment extend to a wide range of day-to-day circumstances and extend into mid- to later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective : Children and adolescents in care experience higher rates of mental illness. No studies have looked at differences in treatment effect amongst age groups for children/young people in care accessing mental health services. This study aims to determine if age is associated with outcomes for children and adolescents in care receiving treatment from a specialist mental health service in Queensland, Australia. Method : This 5-year retrospective cohort study consisted of a sample of 1338 children and adolescents in care aged 0–17 with pre- and post-treatment data. The Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) and the Health of the Nations Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) were used to assess functioning and mental health outcomes. Results : Data analysis revealed significant differences between the age groups. Age 0–4 also showed significantly greater improvement on a number of domains when compared with older age groups, including overactivity and attention, scholastic and language skills, emotional symptoms, peer relationships, and family life and relationships. Conclusion : This study demonstrated positive outcomes for all ages, yet better outcomes for the younger age groups in a cohort of children and adolescents in care attending a specialist mental health service. It highlights the importance of providing mental health interventions to children/young people in care, particularly age 0–4. Further, it calls for validated measures for young children to be utilised across mental health services to aid research in this area and optimise outcomes for this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, a taskforce was assembled to address increasing rates of domestic violence in Queensland, Australia. The Not Now, Not Ever report outlines a strategy to address domestic violence through 121 recommendations. This plan for reform resulted in a series of changes, particularly for agencies such as the Queensland Police Service (QPS). This study examines the impact of the recommendations on police-recorded domestic violence incidents in the state. Findings indicate that the changes resulted in an initial significant increase, followed by a significant decreasing trend in police-recorded incidents. However, this impact is not experienced equally across regions and districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE key findings from a qualitative case study that was conducted in response to one regional Queensland state school's identified need for a customised approach to parent engagement in the early years. Data was collected via six semi-structured focus group interviews with parents (n = 18) of children in the Preparatory year level at the school. A priori analysis of the data revealed three key barriers to parents' engagement with the school: communication, consistency and family commitments. The intention of this study was to capture parents' perspectives and experiences in order to customise and strengthen the school's approach to parent engagement. The key findings and implications presented herein contribute to the body of knowledge on parent engagement practices in early childhood education settings. Moreover, this article emphasises the importance of the development of an individualised approach to parent engagement that is informed by parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased levels of stress and alcohol consumption. This study examined the effect of resilience on the relationship between stress and changes in alcohol consumption in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. A cross-sectional survey of 502 adults in Queensland, Australia (mean age = 45.68 (16.61)), found 23.9% of individuals had increased their alcohol consumption since the start of the pandemic. Regression modelling demonstrated a significant association between perceived stress and change in alcohol consumption. The study also revealed resilience was a moderating factor, where high levels of resilience buffered against increases in alcohol consumption associated with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main risk of serious harm at major public figure gatherings comes not from terrorists or criminal activity but from fixated persons, many of whom have a serious mental illness. This paper reviews a collaborative mental healthpolice diversionary model for assessing and managing mentally ill individuals who attend major events because of their fixation on a dignitary or some idiosyncratic cause. Method: We examine the role of a multidisciplinary fixated threat assessment service during the pre-operational, operational and post-operational phases of major events in Queensland in 2014, including the G20 World Leaders' Summit. The benefits and challenges of this unique approach are reviewed. Results: The royal visit and G20 Finance Ministers' Meeting presented opportunities for the Queensland Fixated Threat Assessment Centre to develop and refine its approach to assessing and managing the threat posed by fixated persons at such events. Based on this experience, we also developed a typology to assist in the assessment of mentally ill people who present at public figure gatherings. In the week prior to the G20 Summit, six fixated people required hospitalisation for acute psychosis. A further 18 cases were identified during the event, one of whom was an involuntary patient whose leave from hospital was revoked as a consequence of his concerning behaviour at one of the G20 venues. There were no other admissions to hospital during the event, but in the remaining cases, where indicated, follow-up was arranged through the treating mental health service or general practitioner. There were no disruptive incidents involving fixated individuals during the G20. Conclusion: This novel diversionary model for assessing and intervening with concerning, fixated persons at major events proved effective in mitigating the risk posed by these individuals. It also highlighted the need for police, security and mental health services to consider the fixated in major event planning, for the safety of the event, the public and vulnerable mentally ill, fixated persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic and family violence (DFV) disproportionately affects women and children in Australia and globally. On average, one in three women experiences DFV during adulthood and the majority of these women identify as mothers. The prevalence of DFV is higher for Indigenous women and their experiences disproportionately range at the more severe end of physical abuse. For women affected by DFV, mothering during and post this type of victimization is complicated by strategic entrapment, undermining of the mother–child relationship, and threats of harm directed at children and mothers. While a substantial body of literature has examined the experiences of mothers affected by DFV more broadly, research on the experiences of Indigenous mothers affected by DFV remains scarce. Research evidence is further limited when trying to understand the specific constraints experienced by mothers affected by DFV in regional settings. This article examines the experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous mothers affected by DFV in regional Queensland, Australia. Data derived from 17 qualitative face-to-face interviews are used to explore the lived experiences of these mothers. Findings identify the immediate and long-term effects of DFV on mothers and children, including similarities and differences in women's experiences of mothering in the context of DFV, experiences of entrapment in an abusive relationship, experiences of post-separation abuse, strategies used to mitigate its impact on children, and surviving as a female-headed single-parent household in regional settings. While mothers in this study shared a number of similar experiences, regionality, the risk of cultural disconnectedness, and socio-structural marginalization disproportionately affected Indigenous mothers in this study. Findings raise key implications for supporting mothers and children's safety and recovery, access to safe and sustainable housing in regional towns, and the empowerment of Indigenous women to overcome the lasting effects of colonization and disproportionate experiences of disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid rising rates of prison violence, corrective service agencies worldwide are increasingly championing body-worn cameras as a tool with the potential of making the prison environment safer. Little is known, however, whether this technology makes correctional officers feel safer while carrying out their duties in an environment with higher rates of violence than most other occupations. Using survey data and interviews with correctional officers in Queensland, Australia, this study shows that for many correctional officers, body-worn cameras do not improve feelings of safety or have a civilizing effect on prisoner behavior. Most correctional officers do believe, however, that the presence of body-worn cameras reduces the threat of false allegations and thereby improves their "professional" safety. This study also considers whether officers' perceptions of physical or professional safety vary by officer characteristics, body-worn camera usage, and prison type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproductive coercion is any interference with a person's reproductive autonomy that seeks to control if and when they become pregnant, and whether the pregnancy is maintained or terminated. It includes sabotage of contraceptive methods and intervention in a woman's access to health care. Our study sought to explore the prevalence and associations with reproductive coercion within Queensland, Australia, where legislation addressing domestic violence and abortion are largely state based and undergoing a period of law reform. The study was a retrospective analysis of 3,117 Queensland women who contacted a telephone counseling and information service regarding an unplanned pregnancy. All data were collected by experienced counselors regarding circumstances within a current pregnancy between January 2015 and July 2017. Overall, experience of current domestic violence was significantly more likely to co-occur with reproductive coercion (21.1%) compared with reproductive coercion identified in the absence of other domestic violence (3.1%). Furthermore, significantly more mental health issues were reported by 36.6% of women affected by reproductive coercion, compared with 14.1% of women with no reproductive coercion present. Disclosure for reproductive coercion, violence, and mental health issues was much higher among women who made a repeat contact to the counselors about their pregnancy (17.8%) compared with those who disclosed at first contact (5.9%). These findings demonstrate the importance for health services to ensure that appropriate screening (and re-screening) for reproductive coercion is completed as a distinct part of screening for violence during a health care relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We shed new light on the processes through which institutions are created and changed by investigating the question how does institutional entrepreneuring unfold in an already organized world. We conducted a longitudinal case study of the field of scientific research production in Australia, which changed over three decades through entrepreneuring processes associated with the creation of a new 'Smart State' place in the city of Brisbane in Queensland. A new place is a form of organizing human activity that has materiality and meaning at a specific geographic location. Our findings showed how field change was interwoven with place creation through four processes of entrepreneuring: structural emancipation, dissociating and reimagining place meanings, bricolaging of place forms and co-evolving place identities. These entrepreneuring processes constituted the field as a flow of 'becoming' that spilled over into temporary and provisional settlements in local places. Our findings make important contributions through: (1) deepening understanding of how organizational fields change through multilevel, distributed, cascading and often unreflexive processes of entrepreneuring in an already organized world; (2) bringing attention to a relationship between institutions and place, in which place is both the medium and outcome of institutional entrepreneuring; and (3) providing new insight into embedded agency by illustrating how institutions in 'becoming' continually (re)produce the resources and possibilities for agency within gradual institutional change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There has been limited qualitative inquiry aimed at understanding the gendered and unique experiences of women living with HIV in high-income countries. In Australia, the relatively small number of women living with HIV means they have been largely overlooked in social, clinical, and policy representations of HIV over time. Objectives: To explore the experiences of women living long-term and aging with HIV, to understand the complex intersections between their health and social trajectories. Methods: Data were collected as part of Living Positive in Queensland, a longitudinal qualitative study of the experiences of living long-term and aging of people living with HIV in Queensland, Australia. This study analysed data from three annual, semi-structured interviews with the 11 female participants. Results: Women negotiated gendered roles and identities as they grappled with ongoing and intertwined health and psychosocial challenges over their life course. Development of co-morbidities, experiences of stigma, gendered social roles, financial precarity, and limited social support amplified the challenges of living with HIV and cumulatively impacted women’s health and wellbeing as they aged with HIV. Conclusion: The health and wellbeing of women living with HIV are adversely impacted by intersecting complex health issues, HIV-related stigma, gendered identities, social disadvantage, and aging. Greater attention to the unique needs of women living with HIV is necessary to reduce the prevalence of psychological distress, financial stress, and vulnerability to social isolation which, in turn, lead to poorer health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The greater proportion of children with a life-limiting condition (LLC) and their families want to remain at home as much as possible. Building capability in paediatric palliative care (PPC) for generalist health and social care professionals in nonmetropolitan regions through the Quality of Care Collaborative Australia (QuoCCA) has improved access to palliative care for families, regardless of where they live. Aim: To understand the experience of families whose child has received specialist PPC, to ensure future service capability development is informed by lived experience. Design: A retrospective, descriptive study in which parents participated in a semi-structured telephone interview guided by Discovery Interview methodology. Inductive thematic analysis identified the major learnings from participants. Participants: Parents caring for a child referred to the specialist PPC service, who received a pop-up visit and whose child is stable or who are more than 6months bereaved. Results: Eleven parents (n=9 mothers; n=2 fathers) of children with an LLC (n=5) or whose child had died (n=6) participated in an interview. The overarching themes and subthemes were as follows: (1) burden of suffering, in which parents described grieving for the life once anticipated, confronting many life transitions and seeking quality of life for their child and (2) umbrella of support, in which parents built partnerships with professional support, activated a network of care around their family and sought responses to their whole family’s needs. Conclusion: Parents caring for a child with an LLC described significant personal, familial, social and existential adjustments. This study integrates a relational learning approach with QuoCCA education grounded in the relationships between children, families and professionals. Learning from lived experience in PPC education enhances the preparedness of generalist health and social care professionals to join a child and their family throughout their various life transitions and facilitates the goal to remain at home within their community for as long as possible. Education in PPC is an imperative component of service models, enabling regional services to gain confidence and capability in the context of a dying child and their family, empowered and informed through the voice of the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Australian prisons has been the subject of numerous studies. In this article, we build on recent research suggesting that sentencing in domestic violence cases might be an important contributor to this overrepresentation of Indigenous people. We broaden the existing research by examining differences for Indigenous and non-Indigenous defendants in domestic violence cases across a range of sentencing outcomes including imprisonment, probation, fines, and good behavior orders. We also consider whether the degree of geographic remoteness of the court influences these sentencing outcomes. To accomplish this, we use administrative court data from Queensland, Australia, and employ a multinomial hierarchical modeling strategy appropriate for nested court-level multilevel data. The findings further support recent Australian research suggesting that there are sentencing disparities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in relation to domestic violence, and in particular, that harsher sentences such as imprisonment are disproportionately reserved for Indigenous defendants. Our research demonstrates that these disparities in the likelihood of imprisonment occur irrespective of defendants' domestic violence protection order (DVO) breach histories and the location of the sentencing court. Based on the findings, we conclude with a discussion of possible ways forward. Although there is no question that Indigenous women should be safe and free from violence, supporting a harsher sentencing regime for those who breach DVOs is not effective. Instead, we argue that flexible strategies that work within and for Indigenous communities in Australia are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: HealthPathways is a clinical information portal developed in New Zealand that enables general practitioners to manage and refer their patients in a local context. We analyzed specialist outpatient appointment costs in Mackay, Queensland before and after HealthPathways implementation. Methods: We retrospectively examined specialist outpatient costs for patients referred by Mackay general practitioners for conditions with varying levels of HealthPathways implementation. Ranked from most clinical pathways available to none, chronic diabetes, cardiology, respiratory, and urology visits from January to March 2015, pre-pathways, and January to March 2017, post-pathways, were assessed. Monte Carlo simulation was used to estimate cost changes. Per-visit costs were multiplied by visit numbers to estimate policy impact. Results: The mean cost per visit increased from $220 to $305 for diabetes and $270 to $323 for respiratory, and decreased from $296 to $257 for cardiology and $444 to $293 for urology. The policy impact for each disease group over 3 months after accounting for visit numbers was a likely saving of $30 360 for diabetes and $10 270 for cardiology, and a likely cost increase of $24 449 for respiratory and $20 536 for urology. Conclusions: We observed that conditions with more comprehensive clinical pathways cost Mackay HHS substantially less following implementation. Costs for low and no pathway implementation referrals increased slightly over the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The longer-term effectiveness of silicone and pressure burn scar interventions was evaluated at 12-months postburn. Design: Parallel group, randomised trial. Setting: Hospital outpatient clinics, research centre. Participants: Children referred for burn scar management following grafted or spontaneously healed acute burn injuries or scar reconstruction surgery. Interventions: Participants were randomised to: (1) topical silicone gel only, (2) pressure garment only, or (3) combined topical silicone gel and pressure garment. Main measures: Primary outcomes were scar thickness (blinded ultrasound measurement) and itch intensity (caregiver proxy-report, numeric rating scale). Results: Of 153 participants randomised who received the interventions (silicone n = 51, pressure garment n = 49, combined n = 53), 86 were followed-up at 12-months postburn (n = 34, n = 28, n = 24). No differences were identified for the primary outcomes using intention-to-treat analysis. Scar thickness mean difference (95% confidence interval) = 0.00 cm (−0.04, 0.05); −0.03 cm (−0.07, 0.02); 0.03 cm (−0.02, 0.08) and scar itch = 0.09 (−0.88, 1.06); −0.21 (−1.21, 0.79); 0.30 (−0.73, 1.32) for silicone vs pressure; silicone vs combined and combined vs pressure respectively. No serious adverse effects occurred. Conclusion: Similar to short-term results, the combined intervention offered no statistically or clinically significant benefit for improving the primary outcomes compared to each intervention alone. No differences in the primary outcomes were identified between the silicone and pressure alone groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a conceptual article arising from, and grounded in, research with a government-funded primary school serving high-poverty communities in Queensland, Australia. It is one response to the last 10 years of participatory research work led by the three authors of this article (the school principal and two academics). In this article, we write about three concepts that have emerged out of our joint work: (1) communities-in-formation, (2) emerging equalities, (3) material participation. We discuss how and why we have undertaken this kind of partnership and conceptual research and offer some suggestions for others who are interested in undertaking similar work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminalisation theory scholars have examined important questions regarding what behaviours should be criminalised and why. More recently, greater attention has been paid to linking normative accounts with empirical and historicised analyses of criminalisation practices. Building on recent work on modalities of criminalisation as a methodological tool for contextual criminalisation research, this article introduces a second analytical approach for better understanding how criminal laws are made: processes of criminalisation. We discuss the findings of a pilot study of 143 criminal law statutes enacted in three Australian jurisdictions (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria) from 2012–2017. We conclude that a processes approach supports a nuanced appreciation of the conditions under which criminal law statutes are produced, and facilitates scrutiny of whether legislative enactments are evidence-based and a product of meaningful consultation and genuine democratic participation in law-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Reductions in suicidal and self-harm presentations to emergency departments (EDs) since COVID-19 indicate changes in help-seeking behaviours, but it is unknown if hospital avoidance equally affects all population groups.Method: Socio-demographic and clinical information relating to suicidal and self-harm presentations to EDs in Queensland, Australia, were compared for the period before (March-August 2019) and since the COVID-19 outbreak (March-August 2020).Results: Since COVID, Indigenous Australians and persons with less severe suicidal and self-harm presentations had significantly reduced presentations, while persons younger than 18 years had more presentations. Less suicidal presentations resulted in an admission to inpatient care.Conclusions: Patterns of reduced attendance to ED in some groups suggest the need for innovative and community-based models of care to help prevent suicides during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staff members in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) make prioritization decisions to determine which aspects of care are most important and thus should be attended to first. Prioritization can potentially result in substandard care if lower priority tasks are delayed or left undone, known as "missed care." This study investigated the contexts in which prioritization dilemmas arise in RACFs and the influences on prioritization decision-making. Thirty-two staff members participated in a think-aloud task during a prioritization activity, a demographic questionnaire, a post-sorting interview, and a semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Prioritization dilemmas occurred in response to high workloads, inadequate staffing, unexpected events, and conflicting demands. Seven influences on prioritization decision-making were identified. In some instances, these influences were seen to be in conflict, making prioritization decision-making challenging. Efforts to prevent missed care should consider the influences on staff members' decision-making and aim to reduce prioritization dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]