Background: Individuals with Down syndrome are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because they are recognised as significantly immunocompromised. Yet their voices regarding their lived experiences of pandemic lockdowns have not been sought or heard. Aim: This study aims to describe the lived experiences of people with Down syndrome during the…

Surf therapy programs have been successfully utilised with vulnerable populations worldwide. This study is the first to examine the effects of a surf therapy program on the psychosocial functioning of young men at high risk of adverse life outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand. A single-group pre-test post-test research design, with repeated measures…

The Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS), PEDS: Developmental Milestones (PEDS: DM) and PEDS tools (i.e., the PEDS and PEDS:DM combined for use) are parent-reported screening tools frequently used to identify young children requiring early intervention. An ideal screening tool for all contexts would be brief, inexpensive with…

'Vulnerability' is a key concept used to understand the ethical implications of conducting refugee-focused research. This case study illustrates the need to follow Luna's (2009) call for a shift from a 'labels' to a 'layers' approach to vulnerability by analysing how two university ethics committees responded to issues of informed consent in two…

Background: Within Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ), disability policy is directed at increasing choices for disabled people. However, funding to individuals remains insufficient to address wider social inequities that exist. While people with learning disability enjoy the freedom of living independently, they can be at risk of poor health outcomes and…

Background: Previous research has shown two-way associations between rental tenure, poorer housing quality, and health outcomes, but little research has looked at relative housing contributions to health outcomes. Aims: We investigated whether tenure and/or dwelling condition were associated with housing-sensitive hospitalizations and whether any…

Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a common experience among preadolescent girls and a robust risk factor and precursor to eating pathology (EP). Although the relationship between BD and EP has been well documented, there is less research exploring the factors that may make this relationship more or less pronounced. In the current study, we investigated…

A variety of antenatal risk factors have been established as being detrimental to a child's developing language ability. Our aim was to examine the relationship between exposure to cumulative risk (CR), including antenatal maternal, perinatal, and maternal health characteristics, and children's preschool language ability. Analyses were comprised…

As health-related mobile apps have proliferated in recent years in USA and Australia, counsellor opinions were solicited to aid development of therapeutic apps. After being informed of the therapeutic potential of time and location-based reminders, 33 drug and alcohol counsellors from New Zealand and Australia answered an anonymous online survey.…

The impact on researchers of working with sensitive data is often not considered by ethics committees when approving research proposals. We conducted interviews with eight research assistants processing clinical notes on emergency department presentations for deliberate self-harm and suicide attempts during a suicide prevention trial. Common…

This study investigated the impact of an emergent literacy intervention on the language quality and quantity used during shared reading interactions of 14 teenage mothers (M = 19;9, SD = 1;3) and their young children (M = 2;1, SD = 0;8). Mothers participated in a seven-week emergent literacy intervention focused on a range of behaviours they could…

Everyone feels lonely some of the time. However, chronic loneliness can impair learning, affect physical and mental health, and is even linked to early death. Loneliness is thus not only a personal matter; it is a public health concern. Schools provide spaces and opportunities for friendships. By bringing together students from different…

Research Findings: Optimal sleep is important for children's learning and development. "Sleep disordered breathing" (SDB) refers to a spectrum of conditions from simple snoring to obstructive sleep apnea that is common in childhood and interrupts sleep. We examined pathways between SDB and academic performance of children (N = 163, M…

Using Michel Foucault's theories of biopolitics, about risk and security, I examine the welfare policies of the National Coalition Government in New Zealand (2008-2017). This government attempted to mitigate risk by projecting possible challenges and solutions to 'vulnerable populations'. Welfare was re-defined in monetarist economic terms, as…

Purpose: It is known that the consumption of fruits and vegetables in children is declining despite wide-spread national and international policy attempts to increase consumption. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of children's consumption of fruits and vegetables so as to facilitate better health education targeting.…