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Prevalence of Sexual Strangulation/Choking Among Australian 18–35 Year-Olds
No full textIn Australia, strangulation has been explicitly criminalized in all states and territories. However, it continues to be a "normalized" sexual practice despite its potentially fatal consequences and associated short and long-term sequelae. This research aimed to establish the prevalence of strangulation during sex and examine predictors of positive perceptions toward sexual strangulation in Australia. Confidential, cross-sectional online surveys were conducted with 4702 Australians aged 18-35 years. Participants were 47% cis-men, 48% cis-women, and 4% trans or gender diverse. A total of 57% reported ever being sexually strangled (61% women, 43% men, 79% trans or gender diverse) and 51% reported ever strangling a partner (40% women, 59% men, 74% trans or gender diverse). Differences were found across genders on all variables of sexual strangulation, including frequency of engagement, level of pressure on the neck, consequences, wanting and enjoyment, and how consent was given/received. However, when split by gender, sexual orientation of men and women revealed further differences in behaviors, consequences, and wanting, particularly among straight and bisexual women. After accounting for exposure to strangulation in pornography and previous experience of sexual strangulation, positive perceptions of being strangled (R2 = .51) and strangling a partner (R2 = .53) were predicted by ratings that it could be done safely and social normative factors. These findings suggest strangulation is common during sex among young Australians. Non-stigmatizing education strategies are needed to engage with young people so they have a better understanding of the risks involved and how to negotiate consent and safety regarding sexual strangulation
Evaluating benefits of remote microphone technology for adults with hearing loss using behavioural and predictive metrics
No full textOBJECTIVE: To investigate the benefit of remote-microphone (RM) systems for adults with sensory hearing loss. DESIGN: Speech recognition in quiet and in background noise was assessed. Participants with hearing loss underwent testing in two device conditions: hearing aids (HAs) alone and HAs with a RM. Normal hearing participants completed testing in the unaided condition. Predictive speech intelligibility modelling using the Hearing-Aid Speech Perception Index (HASPI) was also performed on recordings of HA processed test material. STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty adults with sensory hearing loss and 10 adults with normal hearing participated. RESULTS: Speech recognition for participants with hearing loss improved significantly when using the RM compared to HAs alone fit to Phonak's proprietary prescription. Largest benefits were observed in the most challenging conditions. At the lowest signal-to-noise ratio, participants with hearing loss using a RM outperformed normal hearing listeners. Predicted intelligibility scores produced by HASPI were strongly correlated to behavioural results. CONCLUSIONS: Adults using HAs who have significant difficulties understanding speech in noise will experience considerable benefits with the addition of a RM. Improvements in speech recognition were observed for all participants using RM systems, including those with relatively mild hearing loss. HASPI modelling reliably predicted the speech perception difficulties experienced
Music facilitation styles and behaviours across the health-care continuum: explanatory multiple case studies
No full textBACKGROUND: Understanding how music group facilitators work across the health-care continuum has received sparse research attention. METHODS: An explanatory multiple case study design was used to identify approaches employed by experienced facilitators. Five music facilitators working in contrasting areas of practice were interviewed and video recorded engaging with the same groups at three timepoints. RESULTS: All facilitators demonstrated four common behaviours: applying a consistent structure for each session; creating a positive and relaxing atmosphere for the work; engaging with varying musical repertoire and activities; and offering clear instructions for the participants. Their styles of practice were found to be shaped by their personality, educational background, as well as the size of the group, health conditions, and cultural identities of their music participants. CONCLUSION: These skilled facilitators showed flexibility, always aiming to accommodate participants' needs, and revealing new evidence of a common approach to music facilitation across different types of participant groups
Stigma Towards People Living with Co-occurring Schizophrenia Spectrum and Substance Use Disorders: A Scoping Review
No full textAbstract
This scoping review mapped the extant research literature examining stigma towards people living with co-occurring schizophrenia spectrum and substance use disorders (SZSUD). Five online databases were searched for research published before September 2023. Eighteen relevant studies were identified, including six from the perspective of people living with SZSUD and 12 exploring public stigma towards the conditions. The majority of studies (
n
= 11) explored stigma from care providers, including healthcare, mental healthcare, and addiction clinicians and carers. In general, responses to people living with SZSUD were more negative than towards people living with either condition alone. People living with SZSUD identified numerous challenges associated with experienced, anticipated, internalised, and perceived stigma. Additional research is required to determine the extent and scope of the stigma faced by people living with SZSUD and how stigma manifests in other types of interpersonal relationships. Implications and additional recommendations for future research are discussed
A review of hot sedimentary aquifer geothermal resources in Australia
No full textNumerous currently operating, past and potential future geothermal energy projects in Australia depend on heat from hot sedimentary aquifer (HSA) sources. The relevant aquifers cover a range of geographical and geological settings. Currently operating geothermal energy projects in Australia (excluding ground source heat pumps) predominantly utilise 40–70°C aquifers in the Gippsland Basin, Otway Basin and Perth Basin. Economic assessments have demonstrated that heat from these sources is significantly cheaper than heat from natural gas. Electrical power has previously been generated using 87–99°C water from aquifers in the Great Artesian Basin in South Australia and Queensland, but those generators are now decommissioned. A project to generate power using >150°C groundwater from deep in the Otway Basin in 2010 was suspended and subsequently abandoned when initial production did not meet commercial requirements. Several new projects, particularly in Western Australia, are in the stage of technical and economic pre‐feasibility for geothermal power generation from >150°C groundwater. Preliminary techno‐economic assessments may be favourable, but existing regulatory constraints pose major impediments to further development of hot sedimentary aquifers in parts of Australia
Considering the past, present and future: making the case for a hauntological approach to youth
No full textYoung people’s emergent position in the life-course means that they are widely perceived to embody the future, with their ‘successes’ and ‘failures’ in youth considered important portents of the future viability, prosperity, and moral character of wider society. In many regards, this futurist lens is reflected in research within youth studies, including in the extensive youth transitions literature and in temporal and relational streams of research exploring young people’s ‘imagined futures’ in the context of rising precarity, uncertainty and risk in the contemporary period. While this emphasis on the future is undoubtedly important, it has contributed to the significance of the past in young people’s lives being overlooked and, moreover, often erroneously characterises the future as somehow temporally disembodied from what precedes it. In this article, I argue that there is a need for more meaningful engagements with the past in contemporary youth studies. Specifically, I suggest there is considerable value in Jacques Derrida's (1994. Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International. New York, NY: Routledge) concept of hauntology for enriching current understandings of youth. This article describes how hauntology’s pantemporal focus represents an increasingly timely and important conceptual tool through which to capture, analyse, and address the structural and temporal complexities confronting contemporary generations of youth
Professional development through collaborative action research for early career academics - a collaborative auto-ethnography during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textEarly career academics (ECAs) constitute a significant part of the teaching responsibilities in higher education. However, ECAs, especially those employed on sessional or fixed-term contracts are particularly impacted by a lack of sustainable professional development. This article presents findings from collaborative reflection by a small group of ECAs. They explored their experiences in learning to use pedagogical action research in their own teaching facilitated by an academic developer. This collaborative autoethnographic study collected data from verbal and written reflections by all four authors, including field notes, journals, email exchanges, and group meeting recordings. A grounded approach was used to facilitate the data collection and analysis processes. The data analysis process was also guided by inductive thematic analysis. Authors’ reflections included the action research experience, and their respective teaching and teacher’s identities. These findings show that pedagogical action research was effective in helping the authors understand ourselves better as teachers which fostered our teaching practice. The collaborative reflection environment also created a stronger and supportive environment for teaching, increasing teachers’ professional confidence and a sense of belonging, which was extremely beneficial during the prolonged lockdowns
Associations of neighbourhood attributes with depression in mid-age and older adults: the moderating role of traffic-related air pollution and neighbourhood socioeconomic status
No full textWe aimed to examine whether features of the natural, built and socioeconomic neighbourhood environments were related to depressive symptoms in Australian mid-age and older adults; and whether traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) (NO2) and area-level SES moderated the associations. A total of 4141 of participants (Mage = 61 years) were included in this cross-sectional study. Neighbourhood environmental characteristics included percentages of parkland, blue space and commercial land use, population density (persons/hectare), street intersection density (intersections/km2) within 1 km residential buffers. Annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were included. In total-effect models, greater street intersection connectivity was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Population density was positively associated with depressive symptoms in direct-effect models. Residents from disadvantaged areas with low levels of NO2 and with greater commercial land use coverage reported fewer depressive symptoms. In contrast, residents were more likely to report depressive symptoms with greater coverage of commercial land use in high SES neighbourhoods with low levels of NO2. Street connectivity and population density play a role in the maintenance of mental health in older adults. NO2 and area-level SES are moderators of commercial land use-depression associations, and this knowledge can better inform planning of commercial destinations and facilities in urban environments
Artificial Intelligence and Education: End the Grammar of Schooling
No full textPurpose
The purpose is to stimulate imagination of artificial intelligence (AI) and education beyond current schooling.
Design/Approach/Methods
The approach this article took is a broad review of literature on learning, teaching, schooling, and technological development and evidence-based reasoning about the possible future of education in the context of AI.
Findings
Schools could be transformed with the advancement of technology, especially generative AI. The changes should start with student-driven personalizing learning and problem-oriented pedagogy.
Originality/Value
The value of the article lies with the unique definitions of personalized learning and problem-oriented pedagogy as well as the contribution of AI to support a new form of learning
A Chance to have a Voice: The Motivations and Experiences of Female Victim-Survivors of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence who Joined a Lived Experience Research Group
No full textAbstract
Purpose
Having individuals with lived experience as co-researchers collaborate in research has increasingly become recognized as empowering for those involved and necessary for translational research. However, there has been limited exploration of how lived experience involvement as co-researchers in design, implementation and dissemination is experienced by those undertaking these influential roles. This study aimed to explore victim-survivors’ (of domestic, family and sexual violence) motivations for joining a lived experience research group and understand their experiences of taking part in setting the research agenda.
Methods
Seven in-depth face-to-face interviews took place with women from a lived experience group based at a university. Reflective thematic analysis led to development of four main themes.
Results
The first theme,
making a difference
, speaks to personal reasons that empowered participants to become a part of the new co-researcher group.
Having that collective experience
explains the benefits victim-survivors experienced from joining the group and shows to the importance of feeling supported by others with similar experiences.
Wounds that are still very raw
describes the emotional challenges that could arise when committing to the work of a lived experience group and the potential for re-traumatization. Finally, the theme
there’s no blueprint for this
addresses the innovative work victim-survivors engaged in to build a meaningful, research-active group. Motivation to participate in a lived experience group was influenced by their own past experiences. While having their voices heard was important for some, the stronger desire was to create meaningful change for other victim-survivors.
Conclusions
Future research should focus on how to support and meaningfully engage victim-survivors to undertake co-researcher roles, acknowledging the potential for re-traumatization. Future guidelines for establishing lived experience research groups are necessary