Introduction: Australian practices for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are lengthy and require specialist expertise. Specialist teams are based in urban locations; they are expensive and have prolonged waitlists. Innovative, flexible solutions are needed to ensure First Nations children living in rural/remote communities have culturally appropriate and equitable access to timely diagnosis and support.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition. Despite FASD being recognized as a clinical disorder there is no globally agreed set of diagnostic criteria. Accurate and timely diagnosis of FASD is imperative to inform clinical care, optimize outcomes for individuals accessing assessments and their families, as well as for research and prevention strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the present study was to integrate cultural considerations and developmental screening into a First Nations child health check. The 'Share and Care Check,' an optimised child health check, was co-designed with a remote Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and led by Aboriginal Health Practitioners/Workers. Of 55 families who completed the Share and Care Check, the majority of participants indicated that their family/child was connected with their tribe and country.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To undertake a qualitative study of a multimodal behavioural intervention and research protocol developed to improve wellness in women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the Women's Wellness with Type 2 Diabetes program (WWDP).
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants who completed the WWDP. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically in an iterative process.
Aims: The current study aimed to examine feasibility of participant recruitment and retention rates for the Women's Wellness with Type 2 Diabetes program (WWDP), and to assess initial efficacy of the program in improving wellbeing outcomes.
Methods: 70 midlife women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) participated in a 12-week wellness-focused intervention, the WWDP. The WWDP involved a structured book (with participatory activities), an interactive website and nurse consultations.
Background: There are many high-quality systematic reviews to inform practice around pressure injury (PI) prevention and treatment. However, they are often unable to provide recommendations for practice and research due to low quality trials.
Objectives: To evaluate current systematic review evidence on the prevention and treatment of PI.
Background: The increasing numbers of surgeries involving high risk, multi-morbid patients, coupled with inconsistencies in the practice of perioperative surgical wound care, increases patients' risk of surgical site infection and other wound complications.
Objectives: To synthesise and evaluate the recommendations for nursing practice and research from published systematic reviews in the Cochrane Library on nurse-led preoperative prophylaxis and postoperative surgical wound care interventions used or initiated by nurses.
Design: Meta-review, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.
Aim: Understanding professionals' views and needs can help advance service provision and improve future training opportunities, Therefore, the current study examined the experiences of Australian and New Zealand professionals who have attended fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)-specific training and the impact of this training on their current practices.
Methods: A total of 52 health and education professionals from Australia and New Zealand completed an online survey that asked about their training experiences; changes in practice following training; their experiences implementing assessments in their workplace; and, for Australian professionals, their experiences of using the recently released Australian Guide to FASD diagnosis.
Results: Respondents described a range of perceived practice changes following training attendance.
Rates of substantiated child abuse and neglect vary significantly across counties. Despite strong cross-sectional support for links between social-contextual characteristics and abuse and neglect, few longitudinal studies have tested relations between these risk factors and substantiated rates of abuse/neglect. The goal of this study was to identify county-level socioeconomic and crime factors associated with substantiated abuse/neglect rates over 13 years (2004-2016).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose In occupational rehabilitation, the biopsychosocial model endorses the role of social factors in worker recovery. We conducted a systematic review to explore three questions examining the role of social support for the return-to-work (RTW) of individuals with work-related injury: (1) What are the worker-identified social barriers and facilitators in RTW; (2) What is the relationship between social factors and RTW; and (3) What is the effectiveness of social interventions for RTW. Methods Systematic searches of six databases were conducted for each research question.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, the effectiveness of the Observed Protective Behaviors behaviors test, a single-session, disclosure-focused, in situ skills training (IST), was evaluated as a standalone program (IST only) or as a booster to the child protective education program, Learn to be safe with Emmy and friends (program + IST). Participants included 281 Year 1 children (5-7 years; 52% male), randomly assigned to IST only, program + IST, program only or waitlist, and followed across 6 months. At each assessment, children completed interviews to assess their intention and confidence to disclose unsafe situations (disclosure intentions and confidence) and their ability to identify unsafe situations (safety identification skills).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPromoting young children's interpersonal safety knowledge, intentions confidence and skills is the goal of many child maltreatment prevention programs; however, evaluation of their effectiveness has been limited. In this study, a randomized controlled trial was conducted examining the effectiveness of the Australian protective behaviors program, Learn to be safe with Emmy and friends™ compared to a waitlist condition. In total, 611 Australian children in Grade 1 (5-7 years; 50% male) participated, with assessments at Pre-intervention, Post-intervention and a 6-month follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite being a key target outcome to prevent child maltreatment, little research has been conducted to examine the prevalence and predictors of interpersonal safety skills in a standardised manner. In this study, interpersonal safety skills were measured in a Year 1-2 student sample through use of a standardised simulated risk scenario, with three primary skills examined: withdrawal from an unknown confederate (motor safety response), verbal refusal of an abduction lure (verbal safety response) and disclosure of confederate presence. Children who participated in this study had not completed any prior behavioural skills training or child protective education programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Child maltreatment has severe short-and long-term consequences for children's health, development, and wellbeing. Despite the provision of child protection education programs in many countries, few have been rigorously evaluated to determine their effectiveness. We describe the design of a multi-site gold standard evaluation of an Australian school-based child protection education program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAustralia needs effective programs to protect children and prevent abuse, but there is little information available for policymakers or families. Using a randomized controlled trial, Learn to BE SAFE with Emmy, a school-based protection program for young children designed by Act for Kids, was evaluated to determine its effectiveness for promoting young children's knowledge and skills. Grade one children (n=245) from 15 classrooms across 5 primary schools completed assessment measures.
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