Perceived Workplace Discrimination on the Basis of Parent Status in Australia: Who Is Vulnerable and How Does It Link to Mothers' and Fathers' Mental Health?

This study focused on employees' perceived discrimination due to parenthood; and mental health, occupational stress and turnover intention. Methods: Survey (2016) of an Australian convenience sample of employed parents: women ( n = 2950) and men ( n = 1318). Results: Forty-two percent of all mothers reported missing out on promotion ( n = 1234/2950); one-third reported negative comments from managers ( n = 805/2950, 27%) or colleagues ( n = 832/2950, 28%).

How the mental health of working parents in Australia changed during COVID-19: A pre- to during pandemic longitudinal comparison.

Background: Cross-sectional studies indicate that mental health has deteriorated in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, including for parents. However, robust longitudinal studies interrogating change from before to during the pandemic remain rare. The current study analysed data from Australian parents surveyed in 2016 and August 2020.

Does place matter in the implementation of an evidence-based program policy in an Australian place-based initiative for children?

Policy-mandated requirements for use of evidence-based programs (EBP) in place-based initiatives are becoming more common. Little attention has been paid to the geographic aspects of uneven market development and urbanicity in implementing EBPs in large place-based initiatives. The aim of this study was to explore geographic variation in knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of service providers who implemented an EBP policy in Australia's largest place-based initiative for children, Communities for Children.

Maternal and Child Health Nursing education before and during COVID-19: An exploratory descriptive study.

Background: Major disruptions to higher education during COVID-19 resulted in a rapid shift to online learning and associated adaptations to teaching and assessment practices, including for postgraduate programs requiring practical skill development such as nursing and midwifery. Educator perspectives of this transition have not been widely studied.

Purpose: This qualitative descriptive study aimed to describe Australian postgraduate Maternal, Child and Family Health nurse educators' perceptions of COVID-19 impacts on student knowledge of theory and practice, and lessons learned through their responses.

Place-based approaches to improve health and development outcomes in young children: A scoping review.

This scoping review examines the strength of evidence for the effectiveness of public policy-led place-based initiatives designed to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children, their families and the communities in which they live. Study designs and methods for evaluating such place-based initiatives were assessed, along with the contexts in which initiatives were implemented and evaluated. Thirty-two reports relating to 12 initiatives were included.

Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future: Aboriginal parents' views of what helps support recovery from complex trauma.

We aimed to understand support needs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma.Becoming a parent is an exciting yet challenging transition, particularly for parents who have experienced past hurt in their own childhood which can have long lasting effects, including complex trauma. Complex trauma-related distress can make it harder to care for a baby, but the parenting transition offers unique opportunities for recovery.

Healing The Past By Nurturing The Future: A qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis of pregnancy, birth and early postpartum experiences and views of parents with a history of childhood maltreatment.

Background: Child maltreatment can have serious effects on development and physical, social and emotional wellbeing. Any long-lasting relational effects can impede the capacity to nurture children, potentially leading to 'intergenerational trauma'. Conversely, the transition to parenthood during pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum period offers a unique life-course opportunity for healing.

Normal foetal kidney volume in offspring of women treated for gestational diabetes.

Aims: The worldwide prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing. Studies in rodent models indicate that hyperglycaemia during pregnancy alters kidney development, yet few studies have examined if this is so in humans. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of treated GDM with foetal kidney size.

Ethical Considerations in Using Social Media to Engage Research Participants: Perspectives of Australian Researchers and Ethics Committee Members.

Researchers increasingly use social media (SM) to recruit, retain, and trace participants, yet empirical literature investigating the ethics of engaging participants via SM is lacking. We conducted a survey of 401 Australian researchers and human research ethics committee (HREC) members to examine their experience, attitudes, and ethical concerns toward engaging participants via SM. Data revealed that researchers and HREC members share similar concerns and attitudes about using SM in general and in research.

Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future-co-designing perinatal strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma: framework and protocol for a community-based participatory action research study.

Introduction: Child maltreatment and other traumatic events can have serious long-term physical, social and emotional effects, including a cluster of distress symptoms recognised as 'complex trauma'. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people are also affected by legacies of historical trauma and loss. Trauma responses may be triggered during the transition to parenting in the perinatal period.

Using Paid and Free Facebook Methods to Recruit Australian Parents to an Online Survey: An Evaluation.

Background: The prevalence of social media makes it a potential alternative to traditional offline methods of recruiting and engaging participants in health research. Despite burgeoning use and interest, few studies have rigorously evaluated its effectiveness and feasibility in terms of recruitment rates and costs, sample representativeness, and retention.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using Facebook to recruit employed Australian parents to an online survey about managing work and family demands, specifically to examine (1) recruitment rates and costs; (2) sample representativeness, compared with a population-based cohort of parents; and (3) retention, including demographic and health characteristics of parents who returned to complete a follow-up survey 6 weeks later.

Ethical issues in using the internet to engage participants in family and child research: A scoping review.

Background: The internet is an increasingly popular tool in family and child research that is argued to pose new ethical challenges, yet few studies have systematically assessed the ethical issues of engaging parents and children in research online. This scoping review aims to identify and integrate evidence on the ethical issues reported when recruiting, retaining and tracing families and children in research online, and to identify ethical guidelines for internet research.

Methods: Academic literature was searched using electronic academic databases (Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase, ERIC, CINAHL and Informit) and handsearching reference lists for articles published in English between January 2006 and February 2016.

Maternal glucose intolerance reduces offspring nephron endowment and increases glomerular volume in adult offspring.

Background: Animal studies report a nephron deficit in offspring exposed to maternal diabetes, yet are limited to models of severe hyperglycaemia which do not reflect the typical clinical condition and which are associated with foetal growth restriction that may confound nephron endowment. We aimed to assess renal morphology and function in offspring of leptin receptor deficient mice (Lepr /+) and hypothesized that exposure to impaired maternal glucose tolerance (IGT) would be detrimental to the developing kidney.

Methods: Nephron endowment was assessed in offspring of C57BKS/J Lepr /+ and +/+ mice at embryonic day (E)18 and postnatal day (PN)21 using design-based stereology.

Maternal Fat Feeding Augments Offspring Nephron Endowment in Mice.

Increasing consumption of a high fat 'Western' diet has led to a growing number of pregnancies complicated by maternal obesity. Maternal overnutrition and obesity have health implications for offspring, yet little is known about their effects on offspring kidney development and renal function. Female C57Bl6 mice were fed a high fat diet (HFD, 21% fat) or matched normal fat diet (NFD, 6% fat) for 6 weeks prior to pregnancy and throughout gestation and lactation.

Validation of a Three-Dimensional Method for Counting and Sizing Podocytes in Whole Glomeruli.

Podocyte depletion is sufficient for the development of numerous glomerular diseases and can be absolute (loss of podocytes) or relative (reduced number of podocytes per volume of glomerulus). Commonly used methods to quantify podocyte depletion introduce bias, whereas gold standard stereologic methodologies are time consuming and impractical. We developed a novel approach for assessing podocyte depletion in whole glomeruli that combines immunofluorescence, optical clearing, confocal microscopy, and three-dimensional analysis.

Altered ureteric branching morphogenesis and nephron endowment in offspring of diabetic and insulin-treated pregnancy.

There is strong evidence from human and animal models that exposure to maternal hyperglycemia during in utero development can detrimentally affect fetal kidney development. Notwithstanding this knowledge, the precise effects of diabetic pregnancy on the key processes of kidney development are unclear due to a paucity of studies and limitations in previously used methodologies. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the effects of hyperglycemia on ureteric branching morphogenesis and nephrogenesis using unbiased techniques.