Speaking Out About Reducing Alcohol-Related Harm on Children and Young People

This report was prepared for the Commissioner for Children and Young People in Western Australia. The interviews and online survey canvassed young people’s views on a broad range of topics. These included knowledge of standard drinks and the national alcohol guidelines, the main influences on their decisions about drinking alcohol, their concerns about harms that arise from alcohol consumption and their views and ideas on strategies to reduce these harms.

Groups were comprised of young people with a range of alcohol consumption patterns and varied socio-economic backgrounds. Interviews were also undertaken with Aboriginal young people, young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those considered at increased likelihood of engaging in highrisk alcohol consumption. Some issues specific to different groups have been noted and are identified in the report. However, due to the low numbers of young people involved, caution should be used in extrapolating the comments to the broader population of young people.

Trends in Young People's Wellbeing and the Effects of the School-to-Work Transition

This briefing paper explores the link between wellbeing and the stages of transition of participants from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) from 1995 to 2006. The paper also examines trends in the physical, emotional and psychological health of young people. The report finds that, although young people are generally disability-free, there are some concerning trends in their wellbeing over time. Notable changes in life satisfaction ratings of young people are also observed during the transition process and coincide with different milestones at different stages.

(Free registration to LSAY is required to access this paper)

Guide to the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations

This paper, by Safe Work Australia, provides an overview of the structure of the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations, cross references to relevant additional Regulations, and references to provisions of the Model Work Health and Safety Act. This Guide will help readers identify what duties or rights are contained in each Part of the Regulations. Where defined terms are provided by the Regulations, a non-exhaustive list of these has been included. Click on this link to access the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations.

Therapeutic Residential Care in Australia : Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Therapeutic residential care is becoming an increasingly relevant out-of-home care option for children and young people with multiple and complex needs. It is a new and developing approach in Australia, one aimed not simply at containment of the “hard cases” - as is often the case in traditional residential care—but rather at actively facilitating healing and recovery from the effects of abuse, neglect and separation from family. In this Issues Paper, therapeutic residential care is described and contrasted with other models of out-of-home care. The theory and evidence supporting the use of this form of care are examined and used to develop a set of key elements, which, it is argued, should guide the provision of therapeutic residential care in Australia.

This growing interest in how best to offer a healing, therapeutic environment within the context of residential care led to a proposal to hold a national workshop, which was endorsed by the Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Advisory Council (CDSMAC) in late 2009. The National Therapeutic Residential Care Workshop was subsequently held in Melbourne in September 2010. The workshop brought practitioners and service providers together with researchers and government policy-makers. This paper, by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, draws on the proceedings of that workshop, Australian and international literature, and information about current models offered by jurisdictions within Australia to provide a picture of the increasing investment in therapeutic residential care and the key elements that characterise this model of care.

People Living With Psychotic Illness : a SANE response

A study of thousands of people with psychotic illness provides evidence of the need to provide more support and better-coordinated community mental health services in Australia. The important new study People Living with Psychotic Illness released by the Department of Health and Ageing is the largest ever carried out in Australia on the impact of conditions such as schizophrenia.

This paper from SANE Australia summarises the key findings of the Department's report, and outlines the action needed in response to them. SANE Australia has identified several areas for action including:
• Wider education across the community to identify people who may be in need of assessment;• More access to psychosocial rehabilitation/recovery programs to continue education and find employment;• Focused assistance to help people manage and reduce symptoms and continued research to improve effectiveness of treatments;• Regular focus on physical health including targeted quit smoking resources; • Simplify the system so people can connect with the support they need;• More education and support to GPs treating people with psychotic illness;• More public housing including supported accommodation.

People Living With Psychotic Illness 2010

This report, from the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, is part of the National Mental Health Strategy. It is the second national survey of psychotic illness which was conducted in 2010 to provide updated estimates of the number of people being treated for psychosis and to determine who these people are, the health services they receive and the impact of these illnesses.The survey provides information on adults aged 18-64 years with psychotic illness in contact with public specialised mental health services, as well as those receiving mental health services from non-government organisations. See also: People living with psychosis: A SANE response

7 Billion+ - new UNSW population site

The world’s population is growing extremely quickly with another billion people added in a little over a decade. In this special website, 7 billion +, the University of New South Wales presents guidance and food for thought from some of its many independent academic experts, with a focus on Australia.  Topics covered are:

• Health systems
• Water
• Food security
• Ageing population
• Energy
• Economy
• Climate

Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite writes in the health systems section, "Keep going at this rate, and there will be an earth inevitably so depleted and unhealthy that it will support none of us. And after two million years of human existence, ... Exit, Homo sapiens: a drastic solution to the population problem." He also warns that in Australia we will need one million aged care workers by 2025 to support our ageing population.

Comorbidity booklets from NDARC

The National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre has launched a series of new resources for those living with both substance use and mental health issues. The five booklets – Anxiety and Substance Use, Mood and Substance Use, Personality and Substance Use, Psychosis and Substance Use, and Trauma and Substance Use – are targeted at consumers of mental health and alcohol and other drug services Australia-wide.

Click here to order copies.

Pharmaceuticals in the environment

This week's Health Report on ABC's Radio National had an in-depth report on the hazards of pharmaceuticals entering our waterways via waste water.  Reporter Corinne Podger interviewed Dr Stuart Khan who heads the Trace Chemical Contaminants research team at the University of NSW, David Cunliffe, principal water quality advisor with the South Australian Department of Health, Professor Alistair Boxall from York University and Dr Richard Cuthbert from Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  All expressed great concern about where prescription drugs end up if flushed down the sink or when leaving our bodies. 

Apparently 300 million prescriptions are filled each year in Australia, and many are quite toxic. One study found alarming levels of antibiotics in vultures, and another found male fish taking on female characteristics after ingesting oestrogen from contraceptive pills. More studies are needed on the effects on drinking water and on humans and other plants and animals and there are calls for better prescribing and better disposal of unwanted drugs.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript here.

New diabetes clinical care guidelines

The National Evidence-Based Clinical Care Guidelines for Type 1 Diabetes for Children, Adolescents and Adults has been developed by the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group and the Australian Diabetes Society.

This guideline is an update of the NHMRC approved Clinical practice guidelines: Type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents (2005). The scope of the guideline has been extended to address the needs of adults and the transition period from adolescence to adulthood, including pregnancy. This is the first Australian evidence-based guideline for type 1 diabetes that addresses clinical care across the whole lifespan.

Allergic rhinitis (hay fever) in Australia

Hay fever effects a vast number of Australians each year and over $220 million was spent last year in prevention methods. About 3.1 million Australians, or 15% of the population, suffer from hay fever, making it one of the most common chronic respiratory conditions in Australia, according to a report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

ANZ Journal of Surgery toolkit

ANZ Journal of Surgery is dedicated to the promotion of outstanding surgical practice and research of contemporary and international interest in Australia and New Zealand. Freely available on their website is a Toolkit linking you to definitions, classification data, and suturing and knot tying. They also give free access to some articles.

Myocardial Infarction Topic Resource

The Myocardial Infarction Topic Resource Center was created to help clinicians keep up to date with the latest news and advances in the diagnosis and treatment of myocardial infarction. The site includes links to a number of review articles and patient resources.

National Ageing Research Institute

A new webpage listing tools and resources developed by NARI (alone or in collaboration with other organisations) has been added to NARI (National Ageing Research Institute) website. This section includes links directly to the tool/resource and links to the Research section of the NARI website that provides details of project staff, project partners, funding source, project summary and report.

Women's Health

Women’s Health Study reveals resilient rural women are still short-changed in health. A special report on rural-urban differences from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH), based at the Universities of Newcastle and Queensland, highlights the resilience of rural women during drought. Rural women have poorer health in general and worse access to health services than those in cities- and the health care they get is inadequate. The risk and prevalence of diabetes and hypertension are much higher for women (of all ages) with increasing distance from major cities. Rural women were more likely to die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and ischaemic heart disease than women in urban areas. The report shows that women in rural areas have higher levels of risk factors for heart disease. Obesity, which is strongly associated with increased risk of diabetes and hypertension, is much higher for country women of all ages. Read more here.

Two new drug and alcohol reports

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has this week released these reports:
Drugs in Australia 2010: tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, provides a comprehensive summary of Australians' consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and use of treatment services. It also includes information about drug-related health issues, and drugs in the context of crime and law enforcement. 

In 2010, 15% of Australians aged 14 years or over were daily smokers, and 24% were ex-smokers. 59% had never smoked. Daily smoking rates have fallen by more than a third over the past two decades, from 24% in 1991.  78% of Australians over 12 had consumed alcohol over the previous year in 2010, including 46% who drank at least weekly.  Most people drank at levels that did not put them at risk of harm, but 28% of males and 11% of females drank alcohol at levels that put them at risk of alcohol-related harm over their lifetime. In addition, 23% of males and 9% of females consumed alcohol in quantities that put them at risk of alcohol-related injury from a single drinking occasion at least weekly. An estimated 13.1% of people aged 14 years or older had driven a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol in 2010.

Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2009-10: report on the National Minimum Data Set reveals that around 170,000 treatment episodes for alcohol and other drug use were provided in Australia in 2009-10. Almost half were for treatment related to alcohol use-the highest proportion observed since the collection began in 2001. As with previous years, counselling was the most common type of treatment offered. One in ten episodes involved more than one type of treatment.

Dementia guide for occupational therapists

Osborne Park Hospital in WA has published a resource called Dementia: Osborne Park Hospital Guide for Occupational Therapists in Clinical Practice, and it is available freely online.  It is an evidence-based guide developed by clinicians for clinicians.  “To our knowledge there was, and is, no comparable resource available in Australia or in other parts of the world, and as such is both innovative and will lead to excellence in occupational therapy services through the consistent use of current evidence-based interventions.” says Heather Freegard, Project Coordinator, WA Dementia Training and Study Centre, Curtin University.

The contents include : definitions and natural course of dementia, occupational therapy guidelines and standards for dementia care, occupational therapy strategies for aspects of dementia care (Driving, ADL, wandering etc), and a section on the caring role of families.

New mental health app for young men

The Work Out app, designed specifically for young men was launched for trial last week by the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler.  Developed independently by the Inspire Foundation and the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Research Institute, it aims to encourage help-seeking by young men  for their mental health.

“About one in four young people aged between 16 and 24 experience a mental disorder, yet more than 80 per cent of young men do not seek the help they need, often because of stigma or they feel that asking for help is a sign of weakness,” Mr Butler said. “They are more likely to try and ‘tough it out’ or may turn to alcohol and illicit drugs to mask the symptoms of depression or other mental illnesses.”  The idea is that young men can access help via this app in a non-intimidating way. It guides people through a mental health survey, gives advice for improving their wellbeing and shares tips and advice from various role models.

Lung cancer report

The rate of new cases of lung cancer among women has risen while the rates for men have fallen, according to a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Cancer Australia. Lung cancer in Australia in 2011 : an overview is the first comprehensive summary of national statistics on lung cancer in Australia. "The report shows the number of new lung cancers increased markedly in both sexes between 1982 and 2007," said AIHW spokesperson Chris Sturrock. "But when the age structure and size of the population are taken into account, lung cancer incidence fell by 32% in men but rose by 72% in women."

The differing directions in lung cancer incidence rates in men and women may be attributed to the fact that smoking rates in men decreased from the 1960s but for women, the rates did not decrease until the 1970s. Data in this report provide a comprehensive picture of lung cancer in Australia including how lung cancer rates differ by geographical area, socioeconomic status, indigenous status and country of birth.

Assisted reproductivity technology report

In 2009, there were 70,541 assisted reproductive technology treatment cycles undertaken in Australian and New Zealand. Of these cycles, 17.2% resulted in a live delivery and in total, 13,114 liveborn babies were born following ART treatment in 2009. The most important trend in ART treatment has been the increase of single embryo transfer, from 48.3% in 2005 to 69.7% in 2009. This trend has resulted in significant reduction of multiple delivery rate from 14.1% in 2005 to 8.2% in 2009. Read all the details in the AIHW's recently released report, Assisted reproductive technology in Australia and New Zealand 2009. 

Do not damage and disturb: on child protection failures and the pressure on out of home care in Australia

This monograph written by Jeremy Sammut from the Centre for Independent Studies, argues that the rising size, cost, and complexity of the out-of-home care system in Australia is directly linked to child protection failures. Children are entering care later and more damaged, and are spending longer in care due to the misguided emphasis placed on family preservation by child welfare agencies.

Facilitating the use of research evidence

The Millbank Quarterly: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Population Health and Health Policy has released a free virtual issue on facilitating the use of research evidence. This virtual issue includes, in chronological order, free access to twenty-two articles that have published in the Quarterly between 2001 and 2011.

Increase in use of methamphetamine: Findings from the DUMA program

The latest Drug Use Monitoring in Australia data shows that the continuing decline in methamphetamine use since 2004 has ended, with rates of use among police detainees increasing in both 2010 and 2011. Self-report data also indicates that methamphetamine is considered by users to be higher in quality and easier to obtain in 2011 compared with earlier years.

Read the report from the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program here.

Infection rates available on the MyHospitals website

Rates of hospital-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) infections have been made available, for the first time, on MyHospitals, a website managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). To access the data you need to follow the Safety and Quality link once you have found the relevant hospital.
MyHospitals is an Australian Government initiative to inform the community about hospitals, by making it easier for people to access information about how individual hospitals are performing. The website is available at http://www.myhospitals.gov.au/.

Trends in palliative care in Australian hospitals

Trends in palliative care in Australian hospitals , a new AIHW report, provides an overview of the nature and extent of palliative care separations in public and private hospitals across Australia for the 10-year period from 1999-00 to 2008-09. These separations may have occurred in a dedicated palliative care ward, a hospice or in other admitted patient beds in a hospital. The report indicates that there has been a substantial increase in the number of palliative care separations in admitted patient settings over time.

Attitudes towards people with mental disorders

An article in the most recent issue of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental disorders: Findings from an Australian National Survey of Mental Health Literacy and Stigma  reports on a national survey focusing on stigmatising attitudes towards people with mental illness. It was found that schizophrenia was most commonly associated with dangerousness, unpredictability and a preference for not employing someone with the condition. On the other hand, social phobia was frequently perceived as being due to personal weakness. Thus, anti-stigma interventions are likely to be more successful if they focus on individual mental health conditions rather than mental illness in general.

[Reavley NJ, Jorm AF (2011). Aust & NZ J of Psych, doi:10.3109/00048674. 2011.621061]. Contact your health library if you would like the full text and have trouble obtaining it.

Exercise and bones

Listening to ABC Radio National's Health Report this week I discovered that my daily walks were not helping my low bone density.  Exercise and Bones involved an interview with Robin Daly, Professor of Exercise and Ageing at Deakin University in Melbourne.  He presented the findings of research he's been involved with to show that "if we can increase bone mass by about 10% [in children] we can delay the development of osteoporosis by 13 years and potentially reduce fracture risk by 50%."

Daly stressed the importance of building weight-bearing exercise regimens into schools which significantly increase their bone density and set them up for later life.  In adults, weight bearing exercise and resistance training maintain bone density.  But walking isn't enough because our bones are already used to that type of impact and need to be "surprised" into doing more stressful things, such as multidirectional movement, jumping or hopping.

Obesity and injury report

Obesity and injury are major health burdens on society and the need has arisen to establish the relationship between the two.  "Obesity and injury in Australia: a review of the literature" is a new AIHW report which overviews the existing literature to investigate obesity–injury relationships. 

Most evidence suggests that obesity increases the risk of injury, especially from falls, trips or stumbles, and resulting musculoskeletal injury. This may be somewhat offset by the possible protective effects of fat mass as cushioning and of increased bone density in weight-bearing joints. Sleep apnoea increases road injury risk and is strongly associated with obesity.  In children the relationship is complex and evidence limited, but the risk of falls is higher for obese children, probably increasing rates of face, tooth and musculoskeletal injuries. Obesity is also a risk factor during pregnancy, with increased rates of injury to mother and baby. 

The average length of stay in hospital is significantly longer for obese injured patients, and they have greater requirements for respiratory support relative to the non-obese. Also, obese injured patients are more likely to suffer complications of care during the period in hospital following injury. 

Think differently on health equity: report

According to a new report by the Global Action on Health Equity Network (HealthGAEN), co-founded by researchers at the Australian National University, “Health inequity is still a major problem in the Asia Pacific region. There is no biological reason for the 23 year difference in life expectancy between countries in Asia Pacific or the 12 year difference in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian males. As Asia Pacific is home to over 60 per cent of the world’s population, improving the conditions for health and health equity here would vastly improve global health equity, ”ANU Associate Professor and chair of HealthGAEN Sharon Friel said. The report brings together a range of evidence on what can and must be done to improve health inequity.

Health expenditure Australia 2009–10

Over $120 billion was spent on health goods and services in Australia in 2009–10, according to a report released by the AIHW. The report, Health expenditure Australia 2009–10, shows that total health expenditure was $121.4 billion in 2009-10—up by $7.9 billion since 2008–09.
This report looks at the period from 1999–00 to 2009–10 and includes important information about the costs of health care in Australia, in terms of both the total number of dollars spent and the proportion of Australia’s national income that is spent on health. It also looks at the types of health goods and services that attracted funding and where that funding came from. The report also examines Australia’s health spending from an international perspective—how it compares with the region and with other developed economies.