Meeting in the mist: Key considerations in a collaborative research partnership with people with mental health issues

Objectives: This study explored the experiences of an established collaborative research group, which were collected as data to gain research skills. Currently ideas about user involvement and knowledge transfer have not been considered together, indicating possible gaps in knowledge. Participants: Eight members of the group took part, including five people using local mental health services, an assistant and an occupational therapist from local services, and an academic. Methods: Experiences of collaborative working were explored in phases. Structured individual reflections were recorded and shared for initial analysis. A group discussion prepared for constant comparative analysis, which synthesized the emerging themes. Results: Participants had gained and shared skills, understanding and knowledge. "Meeting in the mist" was a metaphor to explain the journeys experienced by participants, within a collaborative cycle. This cycle was central to a visual model, "Creating space", which suggested the importance of allowing sufficient time and space to work for a shared vision of the future. A final theme was the "warp factor", which drew on relativity theory to highlight the sense of innovation. Conclusions: Collaborative work can be based on knowledge transfer and ideas about user involvement, generating tangible benefits for all involved, including engaging in productive occupations.     

Prenatal Depression and Infant Temperament: The Moderating Role of Placental Gene Expression

Prior research has demonstrated the link between maternal depression during pregnancy (i.e., prenatal depression) and increased neurodevelopmental dysregulation in offspring. However, little is known about the roles of key hypothalamic–pituitary axis regulatory genes in the placenta modulating this association. This study will examine whether placental gene expression levels of 11β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (HSD11B2), glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1), and mineralocorticoid receptor (NR3C2) can help elucidate the underlying mechanisms linking prenatal depression to infant temperament, particularly in infants with high negativity and low emotion regulation. Stored placenta tissues (N = 153) were used to quantify messenger ribonucleic acid levels of HSD11B2, NR3C1, and NR3C2. Assessments of prenatal depression and infant temperament at 6 months of age were ascertained via maternal report. Results found that prenatal depression was associated with increased Negative Affectivity (p < .05) after controlling for postnatal depression and psychosocial characteristics. Furthermore, the association between prenatal depression and Negative Affectivity was moderated by gene expression levels of HSD11B2, NR3C1, and NR3C2 such that greater gene expression significantly lessened the association between prenatal depression and Negative Affectivity. Our findings suggest that individual differences in placental gene expression may be used as an early marker of susceptibility or resilience to prenatal adversity.     

Factors Affecting Australia's Refugee Policy: The Case of the Kosovars

This article seeks to explain Australia's refugee policy and to identify the various objectives and factors that influence the development of that policy.
Australia's refugee programme seeks to: provide a humanitarian response and protection to individual refugees; participate responsibly in the international community; honour its Convention obligations; further the interests of the people of Australia; meet high standards of administration and; acknowledge as much as possible changes in refugee populations.
In fulfilling these objectives, Australian governments must weigh and balance various competing factors. These include: humanitarian responsibility, international obligations, social, political, economic and foreign policy factors, as well as efficient administration.
In balancing the relative importance of these factors, the Federal government hopes to fulfil all its refugee and humanitarian objectives. However, the pluralistic nature of Australian society and the often conflicting ideals associated with protection of Australia's interests and the preservation of the rights of refugees, means that fulfilment of these objectives is difficult.
This article examines the Australian government's response to the Kosovar conflict, to assess the relative success Australia had in fulfilling its refugee policy objectives and identifying the various factors that produced the final result.     

Developing Anti-Oppressive Empowering Social Work Practice with Older Lesbian Women and Gay Men

Summary Available studies suggest that around 10 per cent of the populationmight self-identify as a lesbian woman or gay man (Davies andNeal, 1996). It follows that social workers will engage witholder people who are homosexual. It does not follow that theywill know who they are, as this is a group often characterizedby its invisibility. This paper reports the results of a small-scale,exploratory study which examined how older lesbian women andgay men perceived their needs should they become ill or disabledas they age (Langley, 1997). Their concerns were viewed in thecontext of their past as well as present lives, and oppressionwas a unifying theme. Some of the findings are examined in orderto highlight key challenges for social work practice. Theseinclude: (i) working with invisibility and fear of oppression;(ii) developing awareness and recognition of lesbian and gayrelationships and supportive networks; (iii) the need for anti-oppressiveempowering services which match the needs and circumstancesof older lesbian women and gay men; (iv) importantly, the needfor greater awareness of the heterosexist assumptions whichinfluence institutional responses and individual practice.     

Who is it That Would Make Business Schools More Critical? Critical Reflections on Critical Management Studies

We suggest in this paper that whilst exploring how to make business schools more critical we must also turn a critical and reflexive lens upon ourselves, critical management thinkers. Our endeavour is outlined here as a 'reflexive journey' in which we turn upon ourselves, academics who identify as 'critical' thinkers, the theories we use to analyse others. Our focus is upon critical management education. We use three vignettes drawn from our previous research. One is of graduands from the postgraduate programmes on which two of us teach, the second an analysis of knowledge transfer programmes in which we have participated, and the third a study of the construction of academic identities. The first study shows the academic teacher may become an internalized, judgemental gaze, the second that what we see as a critical approach may be construed by our students as another 'truth' that fails to encompass the complexities of organizations and management, and the third encourages us to ask some questions about our own positions. This causes us to ask some uncomfortable questions about our own positions as critical management scholars and the ways in which we conceptualize business schools and our colleagues who work in them.     

Improving research about us,with us: a draft framework for inclusive autism research

It is both epistemologically as well as ethically problematic if the autistic voice is not heard in relation to social scientific research seeking to further develop knowledge of autism. Ever since autism first emerged, it has remained medicalised and almost exclusively the preserve of non-autistic researchers. More recently, autistic individuals have begun to contribute to autism research. However, the vast majority of research in autism is still undertaken on autistic people, rather than with them, and is often not concerned with improving the day-to-day lives of people with autism. We discuss the concepts of participatory research and emancipatory research before presenting a draft framework for what we regard as truly inclusive research in autism. Our proposals are firmly based on ideas developed by the members of a university-based group of autistic adults (the Asperger’s Consultation Group) as well as the knowledge and experience of the other contributors.     

Finding Meaningful Support: Young People's Experiences of “Risky” Environments

This paper reports on the qualitative phase of a New Zealand study of young people who had been exposed to “risky” environments from a young age. These young people had experienced traumatic events such as abuse, violence, addictions, mental health issues, and many had been excluded from school. The young people (aged between 13 and 17) were users of multiple services (statutory and nongovernmental services including: child welfare, juvenile justice, remedial education, and mental health services). Qualitative interviews (n?=?109) explored young people's experiences in their families, communities, education, and their perspectives on support provided by services and their own support networks. Three thematic clusters emerged as central motifs in young people's experiences and are the focus of this article: navigating “risky” environments; services and support; and, working to find different pathways.     

Military‐Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Intimate Relationship Behaviors: A Developing Dyadic Relationship Model

The protracted conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and an all‐volunteer military has resulted in multiple war zone deployments for many service members. While quick redeployment turnaround has left little time for readjustment for either the service member or family, dealing with the long‐term sequelae of combat exposure often leaves families and intimate partners ill‐prepared for years after deployments. Using a modified grounded theory approach, digitally recorded couple interviews of 23 couples were purposefully selected from a larger sample of 441 couples to better understand the impact of war zone deployment on the couple. The veteran sample was recruited from a randomly selected cohort of men in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Overall, it was found when veterans experiencing deployment‐related PTSD reenter or start new intimate relationships they may bring with them a unique cluster of interrelated issues which include PTSD symptoms, physical impairment, high rates of alcohol and/or drug abuse, and psychological and physical aggression. These factors contributed to a dynamic of exacerbating conflict. How these couples approached relationship qualities of mutuality, balanced locus of control and weakness tolerance across six axes of caregiving, disability, responsibility, trauma, communication, and community impacted the couple's capacity to communicate and resolve conflict. This dyadic relationship model is used to help inform implications for clinical practice.     

A multivariate analysis of adverse childhood experiences and health behaviors and outcomes among college students

Objective: This study investigated associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) prior to age 18 years and multiple health behaviors (eg, cigarette and other substance use) and outcomes (eg, obesity, depression) for a large college sample. Participants: 2,969 college students from seven universities in the state of Georgia were included in the analysis. Methods: Web-based surveys were completed by students (45–60 minutes) during the spring semester, 2015. Results: Findings indicate that more ACEs are associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, ADHD symptoms, cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, and BMI, in addition to lower levels of fruit and vegetable intake, and sleep. Conclusion: ACEs may carry forward in the lifespan to influence a range of unhealthy outcomes among college students. College intervention programs may benefit by recognizing the pervasiveness of ACEs and their associations with health behaviors and outcomes, and include interventions across more than one health behavior.