Measuring Recovery in Parents Experiencing Mental Health Problems.

Parenting is a fundamental life domain with increasing evidence suggesting the parenting role has the capacity to inform and promote mental health recovery. Two reviews examined the current tools available to assess parenting in the context of recovery. Review one identified 35 quantitative measures of parenting used in interventions for parents with mental health problems.

Communicating end-of-life care goals and decision-making among a multidisciplinary geriatric inpatient rehabilitation team: A qualitative descriptive study.

Background: In geriatric inpatient rehabilitation settings, where the goal is to optimise function, providing end-of-life care can be challenging.

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore how end-of-life care goals and decision-making are communicated in a geriatric inpatient rehabilitation setting.

Design: The design is a qualitative descriptive design using semi-structured individual and group interviews.

Efficacy of online lifestyle interventions targeting lifestyle behaviour change in depressed populations: A systematic review.

Background: It is well established that depression and non-communicable diseases are highly co-morbid and bi-directional in nature. 'Lifestyle medicine' has recently gained traction in the field of psychiatry, aimed at improvement of both physical and mental health. Online interventions can be an effective and inexpensive alternative or supplement to therapy that is delivered using more traditional modes, overcoming barriers that may prohibit people from accessing treatment by promoting flexibility and accessibility.

Nutritional Intake in Australian Football Players: Sports Nutrition Knowledge and Macronutrient and Micronutrient Intake.

This study compared the energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient intake in elite and sub-elite Australian football players and compared nutritional intake to current recommendations. Sports nutrition knowledge was also quantified and compared between elite and sub-elite players. Nutritional intake was quantified in elite ( = 35) and sub-elite ( = 31) players using the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool.

Ketamine and rapidly acting antidepressants: Breaking the speed of sound or light?

There is an urgent need for rapidly acting antidepressants. Current therapies share a delayed onset of action, contrasting with drugs of abuse that have rapid psychotropic effects but cause tolerance and dependence. A key uncertainty is whether there is a finite speed limit imposed by the critical role of homeostatic adaptive mechanisms that underpin the efficacy and onset of available psychotropic agents and whether this is mutable with emerging agents with potential rapid onset, in particular ketamine.

Justification of Wife Beating in Adolescents: Associated Beliefs and Behaviors.

Socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents who are exposed to social norms related to violence against women are more likely to experience or be perpetrators of intimate partner violence. This study evaluated factors hypothesized to be associated with acceptance of wife beating among 240 male and female adolescents aged 10-16 years participating in a World Vision program in Armenia. Acceptance of wife beating was associated with relational victimization, perceived social support, and parent and community boundaries and expectations, but was not associated with overt victimization or aggression.

The Effects of Victim Age, Perceiver Gender, and Parental Status on Perceptions of Victim Culpability When Girls or Women Are Sexually Abused.

This study investigated perceptions of victim culpability in sexual assaults against girls and women according to victim age, perceiver gender, and perceiver parental status. Overall, 420 jury-eligible participants completed an online survey recording their attributions of guilt, responsibility, and blame toward 10-, 15-, and 20-year-old girls and women in relation to sexual assault. Attributions of culpability were affected by whether the victim physically or verbally resisted the abuse, wore sexually revealing clothes, or was described as having acted promiscuously.

Using Art for Health Promotion: Evaluating an In-School Program Through Student Perspectives.

The value of incorporating arts-based approaches into health promotion programs has long been recognized as useful in affecting change. Such approaches have been used in many schools across Australia and have been found to promote general well-being and mental health. Despite these positive findings, few programs have used or evaluated an integrated arts-based approach to achieve health and well-being goals.

A Systematic Review of the Impact of Healthcare Reforms on Access to Emergency Department and Elective Surgery Services: 1994-2014.

This systematic review sought to identify whether health care reforms led to improvement in the emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) and elective surgery (ES) access in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The review was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42015016343), and nine databases were searched for peer-reviewed, English-language reports published between 1994 and 2014. We also searched relevant "grey" literature and websites.

Economic Evaluation of a Pilot School-Based Dental Checkup Program.

The objectives of this study were to perform an economic evaluation of a targeted school-based dental checkup program in northern metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria. A 12-mo retrospective case-control cohort analysis using the decision tree method evaluated the incremental cost-utility and cost-effectiveness ratio (ICUR/ICER) for passive standard care dental services and an outreach pilot intervention completed in 2013. A societal perspective was adopted.

Exploring Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice Associated With Meditation Among Patients With Melanoma.

Aim: To explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with meditation among people with melanoma and investigate the relationship between perceived stress, trait mindfulness, and meditation. Factors associated with interest to participate in an online meditation program were also explored.

Methods: A survey-based cross-sectional study of 291 patients attending a melanoma outpatient clinic assessed knowledge of meditation, attitudes toward meditation using Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory (DMPI), and meditation experience.

Patient perspectives on a personally controlled electronic health record used in regional Australia.

Background: Personally controlled electronic health records (PCEHRs) are being implemented throughout Australia; yet few studies have investigated patients' experiences of using a PCEHR.

Aim: To explore patients' experiences and perspectives of using a locally developed PCEHR implemented in an Australian health service.

Method: Twelve patients completed individual semi-structured telephone interviews, which underwent inductive analysis.

The prevalence, age distribution and comorbidity of personality disorders in Australian women.

Objective: We aimed to describe the prevalence and age distribution of personality disorders and their comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders in an age-stratified sample of Australian women aged ⩾25 years.

Methods: Individual personality disorders (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, histrionic, narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive), lifetime mood, anxiety, eating and substance misuse disorders were diagnosed utilising validated semi-structured clinical interviews (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders, Research Version, Non-patient Edition and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders). The prevalence of personality disorders and Clusters were determined from the study population ( n = 768), and standardised to the Australian population using the 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics census data.

Family Violence in Domestic Homicides: A Case Study of Women Who Killed Intimate Partners Post-Legislative Reform in Victoria, Australia.

This article examines the impact of legislative reforms enacted in 2005 in Victoria, Australia, on legal responses to women charged with murder for killing their intimate partner. The reforms provided for a broader understanding of the context of family violence to be considered in such cases, but we found little evidence of this in practice. This is partly attributable to persistent misconceptions among the legal profession about family violence and why women may believe it necessary to kill a partner.

The Impact of Vocational Education and Training Programs on Recidivism: A Systematic Review of Current Experimental Evidence.

Although the association between unemployment and offending is well established, relatively little is known about the impact of vocational education and training programs on re-offending, with much of the previous work in this area failing to control for, or correct, selection bias. This article reports the findings of a systematic review, which considers the findings of only those studies that have used experimental or quasi-experimental designs to evaluate vocational training and employment program outcomes for adult offenders. The analysis identifies key features, based on these studies, of those programs associated with the best outcomes and recommends selection criteria for those who are most likely to benefit from prison vocational education and training.

Translating Osteoporosis Prevention Guidelines.

Objective: In Australia, the social gradient of chronic disease has never been as prominent as in current times, and the uptake of preventive health messages appears to be lower in discrete population groups. In efforts to re-frame health promotion from addressing behavior change to empowerment, we engaged community groups in disadvantaged neighborhoods to translate published preventive guidelines into easy-to-understand messages for the general population.

Method: Our research team established partnerships with older aged community groups located in disadvantaged neighborhoods, determined by cross-referencing addresses with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, to translate guidelines regarding osteoporosis prevention.

Exploring Behavioral Sleep Problems in Children With ADHD and Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Objective: This study (a) compared behavioral sleep problems in children with comorbid ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with those with ADHD and (b) examined child/family factors associated with sleep problems.

Method: Cross-sectional study comparison of 392 children with a confirmed ADHD diagnosis (ADHD+ASD, n=93, ADHD, n=299) recruited from 21 peadiatric practises in Victoria, Australia. Data were collected from parents.

Brief Report: Associations Between Self-Reported Paternal Relationships, Anger, Alcohol, and Intimate Partner Violence in a Prison Sample.

This study investigates the association between family relationships, anger, alcohol use, and self-reported intimate partner violence (IPV). Participants were 55 male prisoners who completed a survey about their family relationships, anger, alcohol use, and aggression. Exposure to parental IPV predicted rates of self-reported perpetration of IPV, suggesting the importance of understanding more about the developmental pathways to IPV if effective prevention, intervention, and assessment strategies are to be developed for use with this high-risk population.

Development and Validation of the Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ).

The utility of a narrative approach to identity and its role in psychological functioning are becoming increasingly recognized across various fields of inquiry. The current study aimed to develop a quantitative, self-report measure of the awareness of narrative identity and how globally coherent one's autobiographical memories are perceived to be, specifically, in terms of temporal ordering, causal associations, and the perception of unifying themes. The construct validity and reliability of the Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ) were assessed across three studies.

Toward a Clinically Meaningful Taxonomy of Violent Offenders: The Role of Anger and Thinking Styles.

Violent offender rehabilitation programs aim to reduce the risk of re-offending in known offenders by addressing a range of different treatments needs, often with core intervention targets of improving anger regulation and altering antisocial beliefs and thinking styles. Such programs have proven efficacy in reducing recidivism for some, but not all, violent offenders, and little is known about the effects of these programs on different offender types. This study investigates whether subtypes of violent offenders can be meaningfully identified and considers how this influences short-term treatment outcomes.

The Efficacy of a Brief Behavioral Sleep Intervention in School-Aged Children With ADHD and Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Objective: Sleep problems are common in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and ADHD and impact adversely on child and parent well-being. The study evaluated the efficacy of a brief behavioral sleep intervention in children with comorbid ADHD-ASD.

Method: A subsample of children with ADHD-ASD ( n = 61; 5-13 years; 89% male) participating in the Sleeping Sound With ADHD study were included in the current investigation.

PTEX is an essential nexus for protein export in malaria parasites.

During the blood stages of malaria, several hundred parasite-encoded proteins are exported beyond the double-membrane barrier that separates the parasite from the host cell cytosol. These proteins have a variety of roles that are essential to virulence or parasite growth. There is keen interest in understanding how proteins are exported and whether common machineries are involved in trafficking the different classes of exported proteins.