Search

Author(s): Sally Robinson [sup.1], Kristen Foley [sup.1], Tim Moore [sup.2], Kylie Valentine [sup.3], Jala Burton [sup.1], Amy Marshall [sup.1], Melissa O'Donnell [sup.4], Chris Brebner [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.1014.4, 0000 [...], Purpose The perspectives of children and young people with disability who experience domestic and family violence are under-researched, impeding the development of approaches that meet their needs. Knowledge gaps stem from the layered discursive positioning of disability, childhood/youth, or domestic and family violence in addition to the methodological, ethical and pragmatic complexity of research needed to understand their priorities and be attuned to their lived experience. This article explores methodological, ethical and practical challenges to centring their voices in research about domestic and family violence. Method A conceptual framework of feminist disability theory and intersectionality informed our co-designed research, across three phases: (1) quantitative large-scale data linkage and case file analysis; (2) qualitative research with children and young people, their families and service providers and (3) stakeholder engagement workshops. Results We reflect on how our research was able to prioritise the contextual agency of children and young people with disability, ways it could not, and other constraints. Conclusion Children and young people with disability experiencing domestic and family violence hold an expert and unique vantage point on what happens to them. Amplifying their priorities for directing policy and organisational change requires more of researchers in terms of methods, but also more flexibility in how projects are funded to enable creativity and innovation. We call for collective attention to frameworks for supported decision-making and child ethics to progress inclusive research which recognises the importance of participation for children and young people with disability.

Background: The paper draws on empirical evidence from a project investigating service responses to disabled women and children experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV). Service provision in these sectors is often rationed due to resource constraints, and increasingly marketised, and disabled people often do not have their needs met. Their opportunities for participation in policy and practice are also constrained. Aims and objectives: Our aim is to bring critical studies of intersectionality into dialogue with 'evidence-making' scholarship on policy implementation, to allow for new analyses of the inclusion of lived experience expertise in policy. We ask: What are the potential drivers for new forms of practice and evidence making in policy and service settings? Methods: The multi-method study comprised literature and policy review and qualitative research about the experience and implementation of an early intervention violence prevention support programme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mothers (n=27) and children (n=7), and service providers (n=28). Findings: Many mothers did not identify as disabled, although they discussed the effects of impairment. However, children were all diagnosed, and diagnosis was a means of accessing funding and services. The service was focused on brokering responses to family needs, and formal participation mechanisms for clients were not prioritised. Discussion and conclusion: Resource constraints and workforce capacity are ongoing concerns in the disability and violence prevention sectors. Relationships that facilitate trust, agency and choice remain key. Insights from critical policy scholarship suggest opportunities to recognise existing relationships as participation, with implications for policy and practice.

Direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment for the blood-borne virus hepatitis C has shifted conceptions of the disease from a chronic infection – and, in some legal contexts, a "disability" – towards a non-permanent impairment capable of "cure". The shift in treatment has also led to a shift in law. This paper explores the shift in Australian social security and migration judgments by drawing from performance studies research on disability and recovery. It examines legal performances before and after the introduction of DAA treatment to track the way in which "disability" is performed in earlier cases and to problematise "cure" in later cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the challenges of providing social housing to individuals with complex support needs and potential policy responses. It discusses the limitations in resources and workforce capacity that hinder the provision of intensive support. The article suggests policy development options such as increasing the availability of social housing, establishing cohort-specific programs, and implementing Housing First principles. It also highlights the varying eligibility criteria for accessing social housing across different jurisdictions and the need for integrated and intensive support programs. The text emphasizes the importance of person-centered support, increased workforce capacity, and policy development to address the housing needs of vulnerable individuals. Additionally, it discusses the challenges faced by younger people in accessing housing support and the impact of housing on health outcomes. The text also addresses the inefficiencies of social housing registries and the negative impacts of long waiting times on applicants. It emphasizes the need for better management of registries, comprehensive support, and case management for effective service delivery. The text acknowledges the tensions between meeting demand for social housing and encouraging people to transition out of social housing. It concludes that social housing is crucial for vulnerable populations and that policy interventions are needed to address the housing crisis. The given text is a list of references for various research reports and articles related to housing and homelessness in Australia. These resources cover a range of topics and provide valuable insights and analysis for library patrons conducting research on these specific topics. [Extracted from the article]

The need to grapple with hepatitis C‐related stigma and discrimination in Australian health‐care settings has been recognised in public policy, and work is underway to address it. But how likely are people to raise a complaint when they experience stigma or discrimination? And how effective and accessible are complaints mechanisms? Given complaint procedures are considered important parts of the delivery of safe and ethical health care, these are important questions that have yet to be substantially explored. Drawing on interviews with people with lived experience of hepatitis C (n = 30), this article considers how affected people feel about complaints processes and the act of complaining. Alongside these perspectives, we discuss complaint mechanisms, and the views of stakeholders who work with hepatitis C‐affected communities in policy, health, legal and advocacy roles (n = 30) on the institutional and cultural dynamics of complaint. We draw on Sara Ahmed's Complaint! and Fraser et al.'s work on drug‐related stigma to analyse these concerns that have yet to be researched, and argue that the (unlikely) prospect of successful complaint is a key part of the network of forces that perpetuate stigma, discrimination and disadvantage among people who have (lived with) hepatitis C. Although people with lived experience are often powerful advocates and acutely aware of the deficiencies in the quality of their treatment, our interviews suggest that the obstacles they face to accessing health care are seen as commonplace, intractable and insurmountable; and, that mechanisms for addressing them—where they exist at all—treat complaints in narrowly individualising terms and expose complainants to dismissal. Following Ahmed, we call for a 'troubling' of complaints—responding to them not as individual problems but rather as collective, structural concerns, necessitating new approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Health Organization's goal of achieving hepatitis C elimination by 2030 is inspiring the use of novel methods to find, diagnose and treat people living with the virus. Globally, rates of hepatitis C treatment uptake have declined. Data-driven public health approaches, including case finding, notification and contact tracing, are being developed and implemented to reach the elimination goal. Drawing on interviews with policymakers, lawyers, peers and others who work with people with hepatitis C, we analyse perceptions of the use of data-driven interventions to achieve elimination, and concerns about risks. While interviewees expressed some enthusiasm for data-driven interventions, they were apprehensive about the possible effects of data collection processes and systems and/or believed that people with hepatitis C were. They noted concerns about the sharing of people's health data without active consent, and worried that data-driven approaches could perpetuate hepatitis C-related stigma and discrimination. We explore these concerns through the concept of data justice, which helps to account for complexities, risks, and challenges. We argue that data-driven interventions to increase access to treatment will be effective and beneficial only if they also address, or at least do not increase, the barriers to treatment caused by stigma, criminalisation and structural inequities faced by many people with hepatitis C. Such interventions should also be designed to mitigate the limitations of the most usual models of data collection and use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with (a history of) hepatitis C have concerns about privacy and the confidentiality of their health information. This is often due to the association between hepatitis C and injecting drug use and related stigma. In Australia, recent data breaches at a major private health insurer and legislative reforms to increase access to electronic health records have heightened these concerns. Drawing from interviews with people with lived experience of hepatitis C and stakeholders working in this area, this article explores the experiences and concerns of people with (a history of) hepatitis C in relation to the sharing of their health records. It considers the potential application of health privacy principles in the context of hepatitis C and argues for the development of guidelines concerning the privacy of health records held by health departments and public hospitals. Such principles might also inform reforms to legislation regarding access to health records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a list of references cited in a research article or report on the topic of hepatitis C. The references cover a range of subjects related to hepatitis C, including the experiences of patients, the social and material aspects of treatment, stigma and discrimination, access to treatment, and the implications of cure. The references include academic articles, research reports, and books, providing a comprehensive overview of the current literature on hepatitis C. [Extracted from the article]

The article examine the significant role of housing in experiences of poverty in Australia. It highlights how housing costs can increase the effects of poverty, impact access to basic necessities, and make it challenging to address the root causes of poverty. It emphasizes the unequal distribution of these housing-related challenges, with groups at the highest risk of poverty also facing homelessness and relying on Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS).

In Australia, the response to HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B has largely been through the constructed category of 'blood borne viruses' which treats these viruses as an interconnected set of conditions with respect to their mode of transmission. In this paper, we explore how people understand their viral infection, and compare the logics underpinning these different understandings. In-depth interviews were conducted with 61 participants who were either living with a blood borne virus or were the family members of people living with them. Our analysis reveals that the viral infection was often described as 'just a condition that needs to be managed', albeit in potentially exhausting ways. This understanding hinged upon a biomedical logic in which viral invasion was seen as causing illness and in turn necessitating biomedical intervention. In contrast, some participants with hepatitis B presented their infection as a condition unintelligible through Western biomedical logics, defined instead by symptomology – in terms of 'liver disease', and/or 'liver inflammation'. This focus on symptomology calls into question the soundness of prevention and management responses to hepatitis B based in biomedical logics and reveals the extent to which living with a virus involves multiple, sometimes incompatible, cultural logics. The different logics underpinning HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B reveal shortcomings of framing these viruses together as a coherent single construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]