Advance care planning for older people: The influence of ethnicity, religiosity, spirituality and health literacy.

In this discussion paper we consider the influence of ethnicity, religiosity, spirituality and health literacy on Advance Care Planning for older people. Older people from cultural and ethnic minorities have low access to palliative or end-of-life care and there is poor uptake of advance care planning by this group across a number of countries where advance care planning is promoted. For many, religiosity, spirituality and health literacy are significant factors that influence how they make end-of-life decisions.

Do marketing and alcohol treatment/public health experts think televised alcohol advertisements abide by regulatory guidelines?

Televised alcohol advertisements in the United Kingdom must abide by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice Code, which provides guidelines concerning advertisements not implying, condoning or encouraging immoderate, irresponsible or antisocial drinking. Previously, 75 per cent of 373 general public respondents were shown one of seven advertisements rated a breach of at least one guideline. This study assessed whether experts in marketing ( = 25) and alcohol treatment/public health ( = 25) perceived the same seven television alcohol advertisements as complying with the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice Code.

"I was pretty sure I had the 'flu": qualitative description of confirmed-influenza symptoms.

Influenza is a common infectious disease, yet its diagnosis is rarely confirmed, rather is presumed in the presence of non-specific clinical symptoms. Public health organisations enlist the lay person in the diagnostic process, as infection containment initiatives focus on encouraging individuals with influenza-like illness to stay at home, seeking medical attention only in the presence of complications. While lay self-diagnosis of influenza has been confirmed to be neither specific nor sensitive, little is known about how people with confirmed-influenza infection describe their illness.

Primary healthcare NZ nurses' experiences of advance directives: understanding their potential role.

Advance directives are one aspect of advance care planning designed to improve end of life care. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation released their first mission statement in 2010 concerning advance directives suggesting an increase in the use of these. A burgeoning older population, expected to rise over the next few years, places the primary healthcare nurse in a pivotal role to address the challenges in constructing advance directives.

Making sense of drinking: the role of techniques of neutralisation and counter-neutralisation in negotiating alcohol consumption.

This article contributes to the understanding of how students neutralise potential feelings of guilt and stigmatisation regarding their alcohol consumption. We report findings from two qualitative studies with students at a UK university. The aim of the research was to uncover the range and ways in which neutralisation and counter-neutralisation techniques are used by drinkers and abstainers/near-abstainers in managing their alcohol position.