Background: "Convivial encounter" provides a new lens for understanding social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, characterised by shared activity and friendly interactions with strangers without intellectual disabilities. Places, props and support practices facilitate incidental convivial encounters. This study explored…

Background: Australian disability services must comply with quality standards defined by federal government. Standards are abstract, focus on paperwork and rarely describe what good service quality looks like in practice. This research explored frontline day service staff's perceptions of good service quality to identify ways that it may be better…

Background: The social relationships model was developed to describe positive relationships between support staff and people with intellectual disability. We evaluated an educational intervention based on this model. Method: Eighteen staff supporting 5 adult service users with severe or profound intellectual disability from 3 day services received…

Background: Research shows that up to 43% of disability support workers (DSWs) report poor psychosocial work outcomes (e.g., stress, job burnout, low job satisfaction). This study examined whether the job demand-control-(support) model offers a valid explanation of DSW burnout and work engagement. Method: 325 DSWs completed online measures of…

Belonging is emerging as an important concept for early childhood education and care. However, it is one that requires further theorisation beyond everyday or romanticised understandings. The politics of belonging provides a potentially productive focus for thinking about belonging in early childhood education and care because of its attention to…

Background: The quality of support provided to people with disability who show challenging behaviour could be influenced by the quality of the behaviour support plans (BSPs) on which staff rely for direction. This study investigated the content validity of the Behaviour Support Plan Quality Evaluation tool (BSP-QEII), originally developed to guide…

The costs of treating youth who sexually harm others can exceed $200,000 Australian (US$220,000) per annum when they are placed in a residential type facility in either Australia or North America. Following the financial meltdown of the past two years, North American based residential-style programs have found themselves under increasing financial…

Background: Having an objective means of evaluating the quality of behaviour support plans (BSPs) could assist service providers and statutory authorities to monitor and improve the quality of support provided to people with intellectual disability (ID) who exhibit challenging behaviour. The Behaviour Support Plan Quality Evaluation Guide II…

Background: Most people with a disability want to remain living in their own home as they age. Without additional support, people with a disability may not be able to avoid moving into residential aged care, attending day programs, or becoming isolated from participation in the wider community. This study examined whether participants perceived…

Objective: The teaching of child psychiatry in Australian medical schools is under review: the content, the placement of the field within medical curricula, and the appropriate teaching and learning methods are all contested. The authors developed a 1-day program in the 9-week child and adolescent health course conducted in the final two semesters…

Treatment outcome studies demonstrate that day-hospital programs are effective in the treatment of eating disorders. Few descriptions are available on the specifics of treatment, particularly the process of therapy. The group therapy modality is thought to provide important therapeutic benefits. The present study aimed to examine the association…

Background: As part of an international, multicentre project, the service and support needs of Australian family carers were investigated. Method: A sample of 1,390, 448 family carers completed a self-report survey, including an adaptation of the Family Needs Survey (FNS) and several open-ended questions. A mixed method design was used, employing…

The aim of this handbook is to provide a quick reference source for a number of different publics. It should be of regular assistance to adult and other educators, personnel officers and social workers, whose advice and help is constantly being sought about the availability of adult education facilities in their own, or in other States. The aim in…

The image of the YMCA as a physical education club for boys is changing. Sydney's YMCA offers adult education programs for both daytime and evening groups with a wide range of course offerings. (MW)

A day hospital program for the treatment of patients with long-term anorexia nervosa (AN) is described. This program forms part of a comprehensive system of day programs that reflect and incorporate patients' varying degrees of readiness for change and attempt to match patients' readiness for change to the interventions offered in treatment.…