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This paper focuses on collaboration between Australian preschool and primary school teachers co-located on same sites, with a view to understanding and strengthening collaboration for supporting continuity of practice across preschool and primary school settings. Based on findings from a narrative inquiry study framed by Freire's notion of dialogic encounters, we examine teachers' challenges to collaboration within an Australian public education system, understood through their perspectives and enactment of their professional identities as collaborators in this physically shared space. We present a possible framework for creating a shared space in which preschool and primary teachers collaborate to support continuity of learning for children.

Background: Recent deliberations by Australian public health researchers and practitioners produced an ethical framework of how decisions should be made to distribute pandemic influenza vaccine. The outcome of the deliberations was that the population should be considered in two categories, Level 1 and Level 2, with Level 1 groups being offered access to the pandemic influenza vaccine before other groups. However, the public health researchers and practitioners recognised the importance of making space for public opinion and sought to understand citizens values and preferences, especially First Nations peoples. Methods: We conducted First Nations Community Panels in two Australian locations in 2019 to assess First Nations people's informed views through a deliberative process on pandemic influenza vaccination distribution strategies. Panels were asked to make decisions on priority levels, coverage and vaccine doses. Results: Two panels were conducted with eighteen First Nations participants from a range of ages who were purposively recruited through local community networks. Panels heard presentations from public health experts, cross-examined expert presenters and deliberated on the issues. Both panels agreed that First Nations peoples be assigned Level 1 priority, be offered pandemic influenza vaccination before other groups, and be offered two doses of vaccine. Reasons for this decision included First Nations people's lives, culture and families are important; are at-risk of severe health outcomes; and experience barriers and challenges to accessing safe, quality and culturally appropriate healthcare. We found that communication strategies, utilising and upskilling the First Nations health workforce, and targeted vaccination strategies are important elements in pandemic preparedness and response with First Nations peoples. Conclusions: First Nations Community Panels supported prioritising First Nations peoples for pandemic influenza vaccination distribution and offering greater protection by using a two-dose full course to fewer people if there are initial supply limitations, instead of one dose to more people, during the initial phase of the vaccine roll out. The methodology and findings can help inform efforts in planning for future pandemic vaccination strategies for First Nations peoples in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In response to the threat of COVID-19 infection, Australia mandated a 14 day quarantine period in a designated facility for all travellers returning from overseas from late March 2020. These facilities were usually hotels, or hotel-like serviced apartments, and also included a repurposed former mining village in the Northern Territory. This paper aimed to investigate the experiences of risk of people quarantined in designated supervised facilities in Australia, which has not been systematically explored before.Methods: In this qualitative study semi-structured interviews were conducted with 58 participants quarantined between March 2020 and January 2021. Participants were returned Australian citizens and residents who were required to undergo mandatory supervised quarantine for COVID-19. Interviews were conducted using video teleconferencing (via Zoom), transcribed and coded, then analysed thematically.Results: While participants generally supported the concept of quarantine to protect the Australian public, they were critical of elements of it where they felt exposed to risk (COVID-related or not). They also described instances where infection control within the system seemed inadequate. For some, particularly those quarantined with small children, they reported that the facilities were inadequate or inappropriate for health and wellbeing. Using thematic analysis, three major themes were identified that related to problems in the existing system: perception of being subjected to high risk through lax standards of COVID protection in the quarantine process; risks to the community identified in quarantine; and risk in non-hotel managed quarantine facilities.Conclusions: There are systemic issues with infection control in hotel quarantine, which can be further undermined by individual non-compliance. Risks to safety for those in quarantine can be reduced, both in terms of infection control within hotel quarantine and, in the case of the Northern Territory facility, timely in-person medical care as needed for non-COVID conditions. Systems of infection control need ongoing review to ensure that people entering quarantine are protected from known risks of infection at every stage. Medical services in quarantine facilities should be examined to ensure timely and appropriate non-COVID medical services are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, the growing assisted reproductive technologies (ART) industry has recently received some public criticism. Much of this criticism centres on the concern that doctors are increasingly motivated by profit, rather than patient interests. These concerns appear to suggest that the growing business of ART generates conflicts of interest (COI) for clinicians. While media reports may be rhetorically compelling, claims that ART practice is distorted by COI must be supported by empirical evidence. This preliminary study sought to engage with people involved with the ART industry and map out their concerns related to COI in ART. A small convenience sample of eight professionals was interviewed. Here, we present the major themes uncovered, including a richer understanding of the 'interests' of various parties involved in Australian ART. We then propose a strategy for how this topic could be constructively explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: This paper reports on the findings from 6 focus groups conducted with Australian medical students. The focus groups sought students' perspectives on how the influence of commercial interests on medical practice and education could be managed. Method: We conducted 6 focus groups with medical students in New South Wales, Australia. Participants were recruited via student‐run medical society and faculty e‐mail lists. Forty‐nine students from 6 medical schools in New South Wales participated. The research team reflected on the extent to which students uncritically appealed to science in the abstract as a management solution for conflicts of interest. Data analysis was largely inductive, looking for uses of scientific terminology, EBM, and appeals to “science” in the management of COI and applied theoretical analyses of scientism. Results: The students in our study suggested that science and evidence‐based medicine, rather than ethics or professionalism, were the best tools to deal with undue influence and bias. This paper uses philosophy of science literature to critically examine these scientistic appeals to science and EBM as a means of managing the influence of pharmaceutical reps and commercial interests. We argue that a scientistic style of reasoning is reinforced through medical curricula and that students need to be made aware of the epistemological assumptions that underpin science, medicine, and EBM to address the ethical challenges associated with commercialised health care. Conclusion: More work is needed to structure medical curricula to reflect the complexities of practice and realities of science. However, curricula change alone will not sufficiently address issues associated with commercial interests in medicine. For real change to occur, there needs to be a broader social and professional debate about the ways in which medicine and industry interact, and structural changes that restrict or mitigate commercial influences in educational, research, and policy settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on an empirical investigation of how Australia's cervical screening program came to be the way it is. The study was carried out using grounded theory methodology and primarily uses interviews with experts involved in establishing, updating or administering the program. We found strong differences in experts' normative evaluations of the program and beliefs about optimal ways of achieving the same basic outcome: a reduction in morbidity and mortality caused by invasive cervical cancer. Our analysis demonstrates how variations in values and preferences associated with key concepts underpinning public health such as benefit, harm and burden led to different perspectives on the purpose of an organized cervical screening program. These variations were largely driven by different bases of professional experience. Differently conceived purposes in turn led to conflict over how the program should be operationalized. Following Frith's model of empirical bioethics, the results of the study both draw on and inform the existing public health and screening ethics literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the overview of National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) of Australia. Topics include the Pap tests received by women from general practitioners (GPs), the importance of consent in delivering health care, and the chances of women to be inform by combining communication, opportunistic testing, and screening participation.

In their 2010 book, Lorna Weir and Eric Mykhalovskiy conceptualised the role of vigilance in unknown and emerging infectious disease threats. Theirs is a macro-level account which draws on empirical data to describe vigilance as a set of technical and political arrangements that govern collection, analysis, interpretation and communication of data as it pertains to unknown threats. In this paper we expand their work to detail a conceptual analysis of the role of vigilance at the micro-level during periods of high infectious disease threat. Our data are daily press conferences and associated non-discursive tools in New South Wales (NSW), Australia during times of heightened COVID-19 risk. This paper is a conceptual analysis that draws on theories of vigilance and related concepts to show how a key aspect of vigilance is making previously unseen threats visible or present. Communications formulated and encouraged three types of vigilance as a set of governing relations: institutional or authority-based; individual outward-facing; and individual inward-facing. We also describe the relationship between vigilance and related concepts that are used in response to anticipated public threats. Authority based vigilance involved contact tracing and policing of movement and behaviours. In individual outward facing vigilance people were asked to be alert to, analyse, and react to risk in their immediate environment. Inward facing vigilance required people to gather and react to information about their own behaviours and within their own bodies. There was a relationship between different types of vigilance; as risk increased and authority-based vigilance was less successful in containing the spread of infection, individual vigilance had a stronger role to play. This extension of vigilance at the micro-level sees some of the same unintended consequences as Weir and Mykhalovskiy describe at the global level, particularly in how burdens are inequitably distributed and experienced., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Transition from primary school to high school can be a time of significant stress for young people. Social connection may mitigate the stress experienced by young people, yet their play activities, which are a key source of connection and friendship, have not been examined. The aim of the study was to capture the play behaviours of children in outdoor school environments., Methods: Children's play behaviours in their final year of primary school and those in their first year of high school were captured using a standardised tool (Tool for Observing Play Outdoors). Observations occurred in school outdoor environments during break times in the South Australian autumn of 2021. Frequencies and types of play were compared between year levels using descriptive statistics and contingency tables. Data were collected from four schools (two metropolitan and two regional), which were all from a similar level on the Index of Educational Disadvantage. Four observation sessions were held at each school., Results: Parents of 42 (16 girls) primary school students and 85 (33 girls) high school students gave permission for their children to participate. Physical play was the most frequent activity observed in both primary school and high school followed by expressive play. Year level was significantly associated with the type of play engaged in., Conclusion: Findings demonstrate children in the first year of high school continue to engage in physical and social play albeit less than those in the final year of primary school. Further research is needed to determine whether the physical and social environment or onset of puberty is more influential on changes in children's play., (© 2023 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Occupational Therapy Australia.)

Antimicrobial resistance makes the misuse of antibiotics in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) a significant concern. Family members influence antibiotic prescribing for RACF residents, but there is limited understanding of the beliefs and knowledge that drive their involvement. Drawing on a fictional scenario, forty-six participants with a parent aged 75 or over took part in eight dialogue groups exploring family members' perspectives on antibiotic use and risks in older relatives. Main themes were identified using framework analysis. Participants supported judicious use of antibiotics in RACFs, but perceived vulnerabilities of older people, both structural and physiological prompt family pressure for antibiotics. Empirical antibiotic use became more acceptable when pathways to a prompt diagnosis are not apparent or confidence in RACF monitoring and care is lacking. The role of antibiotics in end-of-life decision-making was significantly under-recognised. Overall, elevation of discussion around antibiotics and end of life care are required., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Chris Degeling, Julie Hall, Amy Montgomery, Jane Williams and Saniya Singh declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Judy Mullan holds a non-executive Board of Directors position with an Australian aged care provider., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The impact of head and neck position (HNP) on horse welfare has received much attention in the scientific literature within the last two decades. Studies have identified physiological and behavioral signs of distress in horses ridden for prolonged time in an HNP with their noseline behind the vertical (BTV), which may compromise their welfare. The objective of this study was to compare potential differences of HNPs shown in horse sales photographs advertised in an Australian horse sales magazine (Horse Deals) from the years 2005 and 2018. In addition, factors potentially impacting HNPs, such as type of tack presented in (e.g., noseband type), riding discipline, and competition experience of the horse, were investigated. The sample population (n = 570) comprised horses ridden with headgear and bit in walk, trot, or canter/gallop, advertised in an Australian horse sales magazine. Issues from April 2005 and October/November 2018 were selected. Head and neck position was categorized as BTV, on the vertical (OV), slightly in front of the vertical (IFV), or extremely in front of the vertical (EIFV; any HNP >30° IFV). Data were analyzed using the chi-squared test and post hoc testing via a multiple regression approach through SPSS and test of proportions via the Z-score calculator for two independent population proportions. Analysis of combined data from years 2005 and 2018 showed 47.0% (n = 570) of the horse sample population were advertised with HNPs BTV. Behind-the-vertical HNP was observed as the predominant HNP (57.8%; n = 268) in the warmblood/eventers/show/performance (WESP) category (P < .0005). In 2005, 53.4% (n = 303) of the sample population were ridden BTV compared with 39.7% (n = 267) in 2018 (P < .001), 12.9% (n = 303) were OV in 2005 compared with 15.0% (n = 267) in 2018 (P > .05), and 10.9% (n = 303) were IFV in 2005 compared with 27.3% (n = 267) in 2018 (P < .0004). These results suggest a positive development with fewer vendors/riders selecting images where the horse's nose was BTV. However, this may be explained by the larger proportion of horses advertised in the WESP category in 2005 (63.0%; n = 303) versus 2018 (28.5%; n = 267), and the WESP category predominantly comprised of dressage, jumper, and eventing horses. In addition, the reduction of HNPs BTV from 53.4% (n = 303) in 2005 to 39.7% (n = 267) in 2018 could be attributed to the observation that in 2018, a larger proportion of horses were listed in categories that do not require the horses to be worked with a flexed HNP referred to as "on-the-bit" (e.g., western, endurance, Australian sStock horses). The HNP BTV remains preferential by a substantial proportion of the horse-owning public when advertising horses for sale, particularly in disciplines where the horse is worked in a flexed HNP or "on-the-bit.", (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)