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In Deep Waters with Kerryn Goldsworthy, Freelance Writer and Critic
No full textKerryn Goldsworthy has been a freelance writer and critic based in Adelaide since 1998. She is a regular book reviewer for the Fairfax press, Australian Book Review (ABR), and the Sydney Review of Books. She was the editor of ABR from 1986 to 1987 and lectured in literature at the University of Melbourne from 1981 to 1997 following her doctoral studies at the University of Adelaide. She is the author of three books: a short story collection, North of the Moonlight Sonata (McPhee Gribble 1989), Helen Garner (in the OUP Australian Authors series, OUP 1996), and Adelaide, in the UNSW Press series on Australian cities in which leading Australian authors write about their home city (NewSouth 2011). She has edited four anthologies of Australian short fiction and was a member of the editorial team that produced The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature (Allen & Unwin, 2009). In 2013, Kerryn won The Pascall Prize, the only Australia national prize for cultural criticism. She was the inaugural chair of the judges' panel for the Stella Prize (for books by Australian women) 2013-15, and has also been a judge for the Miles Franklin and the then Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Kerryn conducted a popular blog titled ‘Still Life with Cat’ for several years. Her social media presence has now moved to Facebook, but the Blog still remains and is full of delights. I particularly recommend a post from September 2009, which sets out some ground rules for book reviewing. ttp://stilllifewithcat.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/and-bad-bad-review.html. I started our conversation with what I felt was the most obvious subject for discussion, book reviewing
Implications of Variability in Clinical Bedside Swallowing Assessment Practices by Speech Language Pathologists
Get PDFAuthor version made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (12 July 2016) in accordance with publisher copyright. The final publication is available at link.springer.com.Speech language pathology (SLP) clinical bedside swallowing assessments (CBSA) are a cornerstone of quality care for patients in acute hospitals who have dysphagia. The CBSA informs clinical diagnosis and decisions regarding further instrumental assessment, and is used to develop a management plan and monitor progress. However, self-report and retrospective research shows that SLPs are highly variable in their use of assessment components considered by experts to be important for quality CBSA, casting doubt on the validity and reliability of CBSA. This prospective study describes the components included by SLPs when designing a standardised evidence based dysphagia assessment protocol for acute care patients and observed patterns of component use. The findings confirm that SLPs use the CBSA for multiple purposes beyond diagnosis of aspiration risk and dysphagia presence/severity. They are highly variable in their use of certain components, but also demonstrate consistent use of a core set. It is apparent that SLPs prioritise the application of clinical reasoning to tailor their CBSA to the patient over following a highly structured item-based protocol. The variability in component use likely reflects a complex clinical reasoning process that draws on a wide variety of information combined with expert knowledge as is also observed in many other medical specialties. Rather than promoting the standardisation of CBSA protocols that constrain SLP practice to strict item-based assessment protocols, consideration should be given to promoting the value and facilitating the clinical reasoning process that supports the utility of the CBSA for diagnosis, patient centred management and treatment planning.Springer Science+Business Media New Yor
Australian Family Diversity: an Historical Overview 1960-2015
No full textPublished version made available with permission from copyright owners.Over the past three decades, increasing attention has been paid to the diversification of Australian families, particularly with regard to both modes of family formation and family structure. Researchers have provided extensive accounts of, for example, lesbian mother families, families formed through surrogacy, grandparents parenting their grandchildren, and the lives of people who were donor-conceived. These accounts, among many others, have served to expand our understanding of what counts as a family, and the specific experiences and needs of a range of family groups.
At the same time, however, changes in the political landscape have increasingly brought to the fore an emphasis upon one particular form: the heterosexual nuclear family formed through reproductive heterosex. As such, whilst on the one hand we have seen increased recognition and indeed celebration of family diversification, we have also seen something of a push back against this diversification.
The present report was developed in order to facilitate a robust, empirically-based discussion of the topic of family diversification in Australia. The report highlights two key points that address both the fact of diversification outlined above, and concerns that have arisen in response to it:
First, changes to the face of Australian families have been slow yet consistent over the past five decades. Such changes have been brought about by developments in the realm of reproductive science, legislative change, and shifts in public attitudes. In this sense, diversification reflects the reality of Australian society, rather than being the agenda of any one group.
Second, despite changes to the face of Australian families, much remains the same. In other words, the information presented in this report highlights both continuity and change.
In drawing upon data collected by, amongst others, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare, available both publically and through request by the authors, this report presents an overview of key family-related areas. As such, it builds upon the significant work undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies in their Diversity and Change in Australian Families report (de Vaus, 2004) by adding a historical component. Mapping changes and continuity across time provides researchers, policy makers, and members of the public with an informed understanding of Australian family diversification
Co-infections with multiple dengue virus serotypes in patients from 3 different Provinces of Sri Lanka, a dengue hyper endemic country [Poster Abstract]
No full textThis is an open access article under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
P2Y12 Inhibitor Pre-Treatment in Non-ST-Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Decision-Analytic Model
No full textThis article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Abstract: Current guidelines recommend initiation of a P2Y12 inhibitor for all patients with
non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) at the time of diagnosis (pre-treatment);
however, there are no randomized trials directly comparing pre-treatment with initiation at the
time of angiography to support this practice. We explore clinical and institutional parameters
potentially associated with benefit with this strategy in a decision-analytic model based on
available evidence from randomised trials. A decision analysis model was constructed comparing
three P2Y12 inhibitors in addition to aspirin in patients with NSTE-ACS. Based on clinical trial data,
the cumulative probability of 30 day mortality, myocardial infarction (MI) and major bleeding were
determined, and used to calculate the net clinical benefit (NCB) with and without pre-treatment.
Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the relationship between NCB and baseline ischemic
risk, bleeding risk, time to angiography and local surgical revascularization rates. Pre-treatment with
ticagrelor and clopidogrel was associated with a greater than 50% likelihood of providing a >1%
increase in 30 day NCB when baseline estimated ischemic risk exceeds 11% and 14%, respectively.
Prasugrel pre-treatment did not achieve a greater than 50% probability of an increase in NCB
regardless of baseline ischemic risk. Institutional surgical revascularization rates and time to coronary
angiography did not correlate with the likelihood of benefit from P2Y12 pre-treatment. In conclusion,
pre-treatment with P2Y12 inhibition is unlikely to be beneficial to the majority of patients presenting
with NSTE-ACS. A tailored assessment of each patient’s individual ischemic and bleeding risk may
identify those likely to benefit
"Overconfidence" versus "helplessness": A qualitative study on abstinence self-efficacy of drug users in a male compulsory drug detention center in China.
No full textOpen AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: Compulsory drug detention is the most frequent way to control drug use in China; however, it has
often been criticized. This qualitative study aimed to investigate abstinence self-efficacy and its sources of drug
users in a compulsory male drug detention center in Shanghai, China, and the attitudes of the drug users to this
form of rehabilitation.
Methods: Thirty-six participants were interviewed (semi-structured, in depth) about their history of drug use and
rehabilitation, self-evaluation of addiction, motivations to abstain, plans for the future and attitudes toward
rehabilitation. A thematic analysis was undertaken of the transcripts with responses to interview questions being
coded for content.
Results: Two main types of self-efficacy were found – “overconfidence” (n = 16) and “helplessness” (n = 17).
Overconfident participants underestimated their levels of addiction, overestimated their self-control and held
external motivations and attributions. In contrast, helpless participants overestimated their levels of addiction,
underestimated their self-control and had internal motivations and attributions. Compared to overconfident
participants, helpless participants had more relapse history, and were more inclined to interpret relapse as a failure
and attribute relapse to themselves. More helpless participants were abandoned by their family members, and
received blame from the family members instead of encouragement, but their family members motivated them to
abstain. Helpless participants experienced more negative emotions and had worse physical status. They said
compulsory detention was a strong support for them and was the most effective way to abstain; while
overconfident participants said compulsory detention was not necessary and not useful.
Conclusion: It is important to increase the motivation of overconfident drug users and the perceived control of
helpless drug users. Compulsory drug detention has strengths in supporting drug users who feel helpless to resist
drug use. Adjustments and improvements of compulsory drug detention are suggested.
Keywords: Drug use, Abstinence self-efficacy, Compulsory drug detention, Drug policy, Learned helplessness,
Attribution theory, Qualitative metho
Zerangi
No full text‘Zerangi’ is a word in Farsi meaning ‘clever’ that is used to describe one-upmanship. In hectic chaotic Gulf traffic, driving and zerangi go hand in hand
Review of An Introduction to Feminism by Lorna Finlayson.
No full textReview of An Introduction to Feminism by Lorna Finlayson
Review of V.S. Naipaul: An Anthology of 21st Century Criticism edited by Ajay K. Chaubey
No full textReview of V.S. Naipaul: An Anthology of 21st Century Criticism edited by Ajay K. Chaube
