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- Publication1,4-dihydroxy quininib attenuates growth of colorectal cancer cells and xenografts and regulates the TIE-2 signaling pathway in patient tumours(Impact Journals LLC, 2019)
; Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer associated deaths in developed countries. Cancer progression and metastatic spread is reliant on new blood vasculature, or angiogenesis. Tumour-related angiogenesis is regulated by proand anti-angiogenic factors secreted from malignant tissue in a stepwise process. Previously we structurally modified the small anti-angiogenic molecule quininib and discovered a more potent anti-angiogenic compound 1, 4 dihydroxy quininib (Q8), an antagonist of cysteinyl leukotriene receptor-1 with VEGF-independent bioactivity. Here, Q8, quininib (Q1) and five structural analogues were assayed for anti-tumorigenic effects in pre-clinical cancer models. Q8 reduced clone formation of the human colorectal cancer cell line HT29-Luc2. Gene silencing of CysLT1 in HT29-Luc2 cells significantly reduced expression of calpain-2. In human ex vivo colorectal cancer tumour explants, Q8 significantly decreased the secretion of both TIE-2 and VCAM-1 expression. In vivo Q8 was well tolerated up to 50 mg/kg by Balb/C mice and significantly more effective at reducing tumour volume in colorectal tumour xenografts compared to the parent drug quininib. In tumour xenografts, Q8 significantly reduced expression of the angiogenic marker calpain-2. In summary, we propose Q8 may act on the TIE-2-Angiopoietin signalling pathway to significantly inhibit the process of tumour angiogenesis in colorectal cancer.
- PublicationThe 2019-2020 bushfires and COVID-19: The ongoing impact on the mental health of people living in rural and farming communities(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, 2021-02)
; ; ; ; ; - PublicationAbleism(Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)
; People living with disability may face significant barriers in work, study, sport and joining in everyday activities. Community attitudes and experiences of discrimination can further impact on a person's wellbeing, with the resultant ableism leading to perceptions of the disabled as weak and needy, and experiences of rejection and oppression. Allied health professionals are constantly called on to recognise the multi-layered impact of ableism on those who seek their help, while simultaneously challenging their own perceptions and stereotypes. The chapter starts with definitions and statistics to contextualise the concept of disability within the contemporary Australian environment. The link between ableism and mental health is critically examined, and poignantly brought to life in the personal experiences of three individuals as they navigate living with invisible and visible disabilities. Experiential activities that encourage the learner to test and challenge societal stereotypes, their own perceptions and gain a greater understanding of environmental, social and institutional barriers faced by people living with disability conclude this chapter.
- PublicationAboriginal mothers in prison in Australia: a study of social, emotional and physical wellbeing(John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2019-06)
; Objective: To describe the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of Aboriginal mothers in prison.
Methods: Cross-sectional survey, including a Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (5-item version) administered to Aboriginal women who self-identified as mothers.
Results: Seventy-seven Aboriginal mothers in New South Wales (NSW) and 84 in Western Australia (WA) participated in the study. Eighty-three per cent (n=59) of mothers in NSW were in prison for drug-related offences, 64.8% (n=46) of mothers in WA were in prison for offences committed under the influence of alcohol. Sixty-eight per cent (n=52) of mothers in NSW and 35% (n=28) of mothers in WA reported mental health problems. Physical (PCS) and Mental (MCS) component scores of SF-12 varied for mothers in NSW and WA. Mothers in NSW experienced poorer health and functioning than mothers in WA (NSW: PCS 49.5, MCS 40.6; WA: PCS 54.4, MCS 48.3) and high levels of psychological distress (NSW: 13.1; WA 10.1).
Conclusions: Aboriginal mothers in prison have significant health needs associated with physical and mental health, and psychological distress.
Implications for public health: Adoption of social and emotional wellbeing as an explanatory framework for culturally secure healthcare in prison is essential to improving health outcomes of Aboriginal mothers in prison in Australia.
- PublicationAboriginal owned and jointly managed national parks: Caring for cultural imperatives and conservation outcomesIn Australia, Indigenous people contest the idea that any place, land, sea or sky, can be undisturbed wilderness; everywhere has a story and a cultural context. Aboriginal land management is conceptualised as 'Caring for Country', where Country is home; cared for in the proper way, it is 'quiet'. By contrast, land, sea or sky that is uncared for, where forms of traditional custodianship have been disrupted and denied access, is 'wild', without songs and ceremonies (Rose 1996, 19). 'Country', as an IUCN cultural value, underpins a great diversity of management regimes in Australia, from state-owned national parks to Indigenous lands, owned under freehold or native title. Indigenous Protected Areas comprise 44.6 per cent of the National Reserve System not including Aboriginal owned and jointly managed national parks and other co-management arrangements. This chapter examines Indigenous participation in the Australian conservation estate with a focus on Aboriginal owned and jointly managed national parks in New South Wales, and the caring of land for cultural imperatives as well as biodiversity conservation outcomes. A first-hand account of Aboriginal land management from the Chairperson of the Board of Mutawintji National Park, Warlpa Kutijika Thompson, explores the relationship of Aboriginal Owners to the conservation estate, reinforced through the relational values of Aboriginal land management and through the power of storytelling.
This chapter examines Indigenous participation in the Australian conservation estate with a focus on Aboriginal owned and jointly managed national parks in New South Wales, and the caring of land for cultural imperatives as well as biodiversity conservation outcomes. Aboriginal land management is conceptualised as ‘Caring for Country’, where Country is home; cared for in the proper way, it is ‘quiet’. Aboriginal owned and jointly managed national parks also make a significant, if more modest contribution to the National Reserve System. The pastoralists displaced the Aboriginal owners during the 1870s. Bullets, disease and dispersal greatly diminished the Aboriginal population of the area. The rent that’s paid by the State to the Aboriginal Owners of Mawintjis is paid into three accounts; one of them is land purchase; the other one is for seeding and the third for community development. - PublicationAccessing elite nurses for research: Reflections on the theoretical and practical issues of telephone interviewingThis paper addresses two very interesting and relevant issues in terms of nursing and nursing research, one because of its relationship to matters of elitism, nursing empowerment, oppression and the researchers' responsibilities to gather data from all parts of the professional nursing spectrum. The other because it offers a practical and well-considered insight into an under utilised and yet simple approach to gathering research data (even for nonelite groups).
- PublicationAcknowledging The Empty Space: A Framework to Enhance Support of People Left Behind When Someone is Missing
In the preparation phase for the writing this booklet, the research team (from the University of New England), including myself, Dr Sarah Wayland, and Professor Myfanwy Maple, developed a mixed methods research design. This means combining quantitative data – through an online survey – with qualitative analysis of key informant interviews, as well as a scoping review of all available literature. The study sought to explore:
- What might be the best practice guidelines for providing crisis and ongoing counselling to families of missing people?
- What advancements have there been in the counselling field that may be relevant to families and friends of missing people in Australia?
- How can information regarding supportive interventions be conveyed appropriately to health professionals seeking to support this population group?
The gathering of data from individuals with lived experience had approval from the University of New England Human Research Ethics Committee (HE18-029). The scoping review of the literature followed the framework of Arksey and O’Malley (2005) in identifying therapeutic interventions, reflections on counselling and additional scope for the role of other professionals and the community in responding to families of missing people. The link for the survey was shared, with gratitude, by the FFMPU, via State and Territory police jurisdictions, via the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC), via charities such as the Missing Persons Advocacy Network (MPAN), and other social media pages who respond to the needs of families of missing people.
As lead researcher, I also interviewed professionals working in the research or service delivery space, identifying therapeutic trends for those who required counselling support while the person was missing via key informant interviews. These interviews included the FFMPU and Ms Cecilia Hammell from the University of Wollongong, a PhD candidate currently exploring people's ability to tolerate uncertainty and the coping strategies they use to manage the emotions they are experiencing. I also had discussions with Dr Lonneke Lenferink, currently with Utrecht University. Lonneke's recent study examined mechanisms and treatment of psychopathology in people exposed to a potential traumatic loss. The final draft was reviewed by Professor Myfanwy Maple, and a sensitivity reader with lived experience was employed to ensure the booklet accurately identified the lived experience of those living in the space of ambiguity.
Section One provides an introduction to what typically occurs when someone is missing. I discuss how we define a missing person, how often it occurs – by relying on newly released data from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) (2017) – and I also begin to weave together what happens when we don't have answers, especially in a solution-focused society intent on solving mysteries.
Section Two reviews the current empirical research and grey literature available – the technical reports, information guides and support documents available to families of missing people.
Section Three explores the role of 'others' – the people who sit outside of the lived experience of having someone missing, such as the counsellors, police, other families and friends, and the media – and proposes ways in which they can be mindful about how to interact with families and friends of missing people. This section is highlighted for professionals and key collaborators of support to help them in the journey of support provision.
In conclusion, and throughout the pondering of the question presented earlier, this framework reflects on the fact that there is no answer to how much a person can bear, but I am reassured that supportive interventions and social connectedness can ease the burden of not knowing.
- PublicationAddressing child protection challenges in a low socio-economic community: Ensuring youth and community voices in local government planningHigh rates of child protection reports in a regional local government area provided impetus for seeking better engagement with youth and community that would inform the council's youth strategic plan and community responses. This approach was seen as a step to address social issues relevant to youth and reduce child protection demand in the area.
The regional local government area was created in 2016 through merger of three smaller disparate local government areas. High needs, low socio-economic status, increasing child protection service demand, and limited cohesion and coordination due to previous funding arrangements based on past local government boundaries, were identified as contributing factors to youth issues in the area. The council was identified as key stakeholder and lead organisation by the state child protection agency. The council sought to enhance its coordination role with community agencies and build a more cohesive service network across the various communities. The state child protection agency was working with council to enhance local responses to identified needs, including targeted child protection, family support and youth services. To achieve this the council sought to undertake an independent consultation process that would engage with community, services, and importantly youth, to inform future planning and improved responses to youth needs.
This presentation will discuss the consultation and youth engagement process used and key findings that informed local government and local service strategic planning. The lessons from this process may be relevant to other regions in the development of youth strategic/action plans and community responses where high rates of child protection issues have been identified. - PublicationAddressing the protracted Burmese refugee situation in ThailandMigrants have escaped intra-national conflict within Burma by seeking refuge in Thailand for over 30 years. But recent development projects in eastern Burma have further displaced segments of Burma's ethnic population, with approximately 150,000 refugees now dispersed throughout nine refugee camps in Thailand. Additionally, an estimated 2-4 million 'self-settled' refugees reside in communities along the Thai-Burmese border and in Thailand's larger cities. Both categories of migrants are referred to as the 'asylum-migration' nexus, and represent the visible side of human rights abuse in Burma.
- PublicationAdoptions from foster care through Family and Community Services (FACS)(2017-12-19)
; The file contains raw de-identified data from administrative records from FACS in relation to children adopted from care in NSW from 2003 to 2014. The file contains demographic data in relation to the adopted child, the adoptive family and aspects of the child protection and adoption circumstances. - PublicationAdult cancer survivors' health literacy skills and their management of chronic issues secondary to oncologic treatments in AustraliaThe dataset was collected with an online questionnaire via Qualtrics. The Health Literacy Questionnaire survey is comprised of 8 demographic questions and 26 health literacy questions.
- PublicationAdult Cancer Survivors’ Health Literacy Skills and Their Management of Chronic Issues Secondary to Oncologic Treatments in Australia(University of New England, 2022-05-04)
; ; Background
Health literacy is an important determinant of health outcome for adult cancer survivors and their management of chronic issues secondary to oncologic treatments. It is postulated that the cancer survivors’ health literacy skills are inversely correlated to their long-term management of sustained and widespread health-related issues after the conclusion of cancer treatments. Health literacy embodies a set of skills that transcends cancer survivors’ cognitive abilities. It extends to community-based health literacy interventions, such as home visits; education to participate in health screening initiatives and preventive health programs. Cancer survivors are often impacted by complex and long-term health care needs that require decision making in a highly stressful environment. Although there has been limited research in this field, the rising number of Australian cancer survivors requires further and more robust investigations on their health literacy skills for the management of long-term health issues.
This is the first Australian study exploring the level of health literacy of cancer survivors and their management skills using the internationally validated Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). The study addressed the different needs of cancer survivors including their individuals’ literacy skills, their ability to engage with their health care providers; the ability to appraise relevant information, and to apply that information to their daily life.
Aims and objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of health literacy of Australian adult cancer survivors attending two private multidisciplinary clinics and their management of health issues secondary to oncologic treatments. The objective was to provide recommendations, based on the results, aimed at improving survivors’ health literacy levels and their management skills of chronic health issues after the conclusion of cancer treatments.
Research question
The study research questions were: What is the level of health literacy of adult cancer survivors? What is the level of health literacy of adult cancer survivors and their management skills of chronic issues secondary to oncologic treatments?
- PublicationAdversity and Identity: Self-Defining Stories about Trauma and RecoveryHow adversity impacts on identity is important for understanding mental health and designing interventions. This research aims to record the narratives of people who have experienced adversity, to describe factors that are important to the individual dealing with adversity and to analyse the influence of adversity on identity through self-narratives. Using McAdam's (2006) self-defining stories as a methodology this research asked participants who had experienced adversity with ill-health, work, relationships and migration to talk about how the experience affected their sense of themselves. Analysis of the stories revealed that the participants engaged with the problems that were presented with the adversity using their imagination in a process called 'dark creativity', changed their actions and behaviours and negotiated varied relationships at many levels. In this process they evolved a new identity better suited to future challenges. According to their self-assessment these participants successfully survived adversity. Revenge and anger did not appear significantly in these self-defining stories. The participants used their inner personal resources to move their lives forward constructively. From a theoretical point of view this research builds on resilience, life events, and post-traumatic stress/growth literature in three ways, self-defining stories expand the contextual environment for life conducting research years after adversity allows the long term impact to be demonstrated. This research assists the mental health practitioner to recognise how self-healing occurs. The self defining stories indicate the usefulness of tackling problems, changing behaviour and gaining from worthwhile relationships. Withdrawing from destructive relationships conserves energy that is wasted on revenge and anger.
- PublicationAdversity and identity: Self-defining stories about workThis research is part of a wider study into the impact of adversity on a person's identity. This research asked people who had experienced very significant psychological trauma at work to tell their story about the way they were affected and how they have come to understand the experience as time had gone on. How adversity at work impacts on identity is important for understanding mental health and designing interventions.
- PublicationAdvice for running a successful research teamAim: To explore what is meant by a 'research team' and offer practical suggestions for supporting an effective and productive, collaborative research team. Background: Collaborative research has become one of the main objectives of most higher education institutions and running effective research teams is central to achieving this aim. However, there is limited guidance in the literature about how to run or steer a research team. Data sources: Search engines /databases used: CINAHL, Nursing and Allied Health Source, Primo search, Google search and Health Collection to access research articles and publications to support this topic. Literature search was extended to the end of 2014. Review methods: Publications were reviewed for relevance to the topic via standard literature search. Discussion: Research teams vary in size and composition, however they all require effective collaboration if they are to establish successful and flexible working relationships and produce useful and trustworthy research outputs. This article offers guidance for establishing and managing successful collaborative research relationships, building trust and a positive research team culture, clarifying team member roles, setting the teams' research agenda and managing the teams' functions so that team members feel able to contribute fully to the research goals and build a culture of support and apply 'emotional intelligence' throughout the process of building and running a successful research team. Conclusion: Collaboration is a central component of establishing successful research teams and enabling productive research outputs. This article offers guidance for research teams to help them to function more effectively and allow all members to contribute fully to each team's goals. Implications for practice/research Research: teams that have established trust and a positive team culture will result in more efficient working relationships and potentially greater productivity. The advice offered reinforces the value of having research teams with diverse members from different disciplines, philosophical roots and backgrounds. Each of these members should be able to contribute skills and expertise so that the parts of the team are able to develop 'synergy' and result in more productive, positive and rewarding research experiences, as well as more effective research.
- PublicationAfrican migrants and stress coping strategies in Australia: Implications for social work
This research investigates resettlement stress among African migrants in Australia and how migrants manage stress. The research used 30 semi-structured interviews with African migrants in Western Australia. Participants used various strategies, including reliance on family as a community and on God – usually constructed by alliance rather than kinship – to manage stress. The article’s key contribution highlights the multilayered approach for social work to integration strategies for migrants. The study identifies three significant issues emerging: the importance of ‘families’ as community networks, the experience of discrimination and the significance of faith in God as crucial migrant support factors.
- PublicationAfter suicide: where have we been and where are we heading?Each year over 2000 Australians end their lives by suicide. Following each suicide, spouses, partners, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, friends, extended family members, friends, mentors, and colleagues all commence a new chapter in their lives, lives devoid of the person now deceased. Internationally, and within Australia, researchers continue to find that those bereaved by the suicide death of a first degree relative are at increased risk of suicidal ideation, self-injurious behaviours and death by suicide. This risk is also evident among others associated with the deceased. Yet, so far there is no way of knowing the ways in which those connected to the deceased, but who are not traditionally thought of as bereaved (i.e. beyond the limits of first degree kinship), may react when faced with the suicide loss of a person to whom they were connected. Thus, to better address the needs of those in the Australian population at risk of suicide, and bereaved by suicide, it is vital that a way to define and identify these individuals is identified. This will result in providing support to those who require it in order to promote and maintain good health and longevity within this population. Understanding the realities of those who are affected by suicide death is vital for the entire field of suicidology - prevention, intervention and postvention. This presentation will review progress made thus far in the post suicide field and provide a vision for future directions.
- PublicationAlberta Child Welfare: Opportunities for Better Processes and OutcomesContemporary Western approaches to protecting children and families have come under increasing scrutiny by the broad community. politicians, professionals and service users as a result of perceived system failings. In an environment of unrelenting media attention, policy makers and practitioners have critically reflected on system issues and practice, and placed increased emphasis on delivering better outcomes for children and families. Alberta's Child and Family Services embracing of Outcomes Based Service Delivery (OBSD) reforms is an example of reshaping the ways in which families and children receive assistance to improve their safety and wellbeing. In this article, I outline and critically analyse the complex issues faced in child welfare, and identify some key reform opportunities and strategies that exist to refashion and improve the ways we can protect children and better help families and communities.
- Publication'An all-consuming cumulonimbus of pain': a scoping review exploring the impact of ambiguous loss when someone is missing and the counselling interventions relevant to the experience2019 marks the twentieth anniversary of the 1999 landmark publication Ambiguous loss: learning to live with unresolved grief by Emeritus Professor Pauline Boss. The book, and its exploration of uncertainty, has invited ambiguous loss into the grief counselling space, as a way to provide specialised care for families and friends of missing people. This scoping review aims to examine the breadth of literature regarding counselling interventions from the previous work of Boss to the present day, as a way to enhance quality of life for people left behind when someone is missing. The literature highlights the experience of trauma relating to complicated mourning, as well as opportunities for post-traumatic growth while people wait for news of their loved ones. The results of the review, and suggestions for future research and therapeutic interventions, demonstrate that families of missing people need specialised support when they access grief counselling. The review demonstrates how counsellors can extend their knowledge of grief interventions and learn to tolerate uncertainty themselves in order to provide support to this important group of individuals post-loss and potentially prior to a confirmed bereavement.
- PublicationAnalysing and representing narrative data: The long and winding roadThe analysis stage of a narrative inquiry project presents particular challenges. Finding the most suitable method of data analysis and presentation of the findings takes time and effort. It is important to make the most use of the data collected and to represent participants' narratives in a coherent and meaningful way. This paper reviews some of the analytic lenses used in narrative inquiry and explores some of the difficulties in representing narrative data. Using an example from a PhD study conducted into childhood sexual abuse, the researcher describes reasons for choosing a social constructionist approach, the intertwined processes of data analysis and writing up the thesis. Several data analysis processes were explored the process of analysis of narrativebiographical interviews was chosen (Rosenthal and Fisher-Rosenthal 2004). The practicalities of finding a suitable approach to data analysis are described. How this process could have been improved is examined, with the wisdom of hindsight.