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South Australians (south + australian)
Terms modified by South Australians Selected AbstractsPalliative care in aged care facilities for residents with a non-cancer disease: results of a survey of aged care facilities in South AustraliaAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 2 2005Carol Grbich Objectives:,This study reports the results of a cross-sectional study of residential aged care facilities in South Australia which sought to quantify the extent of specialist palliative care involvement in residential aged care facilities as well as identifying the current need for palliative care. Method:,A questionnaire was completed by 51 Directors of Care from 51 of 90 facilities targeted, representing a response rate of 57% and representing 20% of the total number of South Australian licensed beds. Facilities responding were representative of residential aged care facilities in South Australia for location, type of funding and level of care. Results:,Thirty facilities (59%) used specialist palliative care services during 2001 with the average number of residents consulted being four. There were 627 deaths recorded in the 2785 licensed beds, a death rate of 23%. The majority of these deaths were from non-cancer diseases (83%) and up to two-thirds of all deaths occurred away from low care facilities, usually in an acute care setting. Main reasons for transfer away from the facility were; an acute care episode requiring other expertise, rapid deterioration of the resident, care needs beyond the facility, or the general practitioner or family requested a transfer. Care Directors estimated that 7% of their current residents would be considered palliative and the majority of these had non-cancer diseases (78%). Conclusion:,These findings indicate that palliative care is an important aspect of care in residential aged care facilities for clients with a non-cancer diagnosis. [source] The Diverging Geographies of Social and Business Interaction Patterns: a Case Study of Rural South AustraliaGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2000P.J. Smailes Major changes in personal mobility and in country town service provision have taken place in rural South Australia in the period 1968,69 to 1992,93. The later part of this period was one of major rural recession across Australia as a whole. The impact of this recession is considered by investigating changes in three different geographies of rural South Australians. These are their affective identification with place, their local social interaction and their commercial service consumption. There has been a shift of both commercial and social activity up through the hierarchy of settlement, but this is much more pronounced in the case of commercial activity. These differential rates of change are weakening the once mutually reinforcing links between community self-identification, social interaction and trading patterns. The full impact of the rural crisis commencing in 1982,83 on social and commercial spatial patterns is unlikely to have been achieved by 1992,93, and adjustment is likely to continue. [source] The relationship between self-reported health status and the increasing likelihood of South Australians seeking Internet health informationAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2010Nova Reinfeld-Kirkman Abstract Objective: To determine the proportion of South Australians seeking health information on the Internet and the relationship between searches for health information and self-reported health status. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 3,034 South Australians in 2008 using a clustered, multi-stage, self-weighting area sample. Results: Compared to 2001, rates of Internet usage were 48% higher and Internet health seeking increased by 57%. All participant categories, except those in school or younger than 25, showed an increase in use of the Internet and online health information seeking. In multiple logistic regression, poorer self-reported physical and mental health were associated with greater likelihood of Internet health information searches but also less use of the Internet. Conclusions: South Australians' use of the Internet as a source of health information has risen between 2001 and 2008, even among groups that historically made little use of the Internet to search for health information. In Australia, health information on the Internet may be appropriately targeted towards groups who have previously been under-serviced in this medium. [source] The use of conjoint analysis to elicit community preferences in public health research: a case study of hospital services in South AustraliaAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 1 2000Stephen Jan Aims: To demonstrate the use of conjoint analysis (CA) in public health research through a survey of the South Australian community about aspects of their public hospital services. Methods: A series of focus groups determined the most important attributes in choice of hospital services. These were built into a CA survey, using the discrete choice approach. The survey was posted to a representative sample of 700 South Australians. Theoretical validity, internal consistency and non-response bias were all investigated. Results: Some 231 individuals returned the questionnaire. The attribute, ,improvement in complication rates' was positively associated with choice of hospital. Three attributes were found to be negatively associated with such choice: ,waiting times for casualty', ,waiting times for elective surgery' and, anomalously, ,parking and transport facilities'. Travel time' and the cost attribute, ,Medicare levy' were not statistically significant. Trade-offs between the significant attributes were estimated, as were satisfaction or utility scores for different ways of providing hospital services. Results concerning internal consistency and internal validity were encouraging, but some potential for non-response bias was detected. Conclusion: A high premium is placed on the quality of hospital care and members of the community are prepared to choose between hospitals largely on the basis of outcomes and length of waiting times for elective surgery and in casualty. Implications: CA can yield potentially policy-relevant information about community preferences for health services. [source] Access to dental care among adults with physical and intellectual disabilities: residence factorsAUSTRALIAN DENTAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009A Pradhan Abstract Background:, There is limited information about access and barriers to dental care among adults with disabilities. Methods:, A mailed questionnaire survey of carers of 18,44-year-old South Australians with physical and intellectual disabilities (care recipients; n = 485) in family homes, community housing and institutions. Bivariate associations were tested using chi-square tests. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95 per cent confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for irregular dental visits (IDV). Results:, Carers from family homes and community housing were more likely to report problems in obtaining dental care than those at institutions (p < 0.001). Lack of dentists with adequate skills in special needs dentistry (SND) was the most frequently reported problem for carers from family homes and community housing. IDV were less likely (p < 0.01) for care recipients in institutions and community housing than in family homes. After adjusting for care recipients' age, gender and disability, odds of IDV was lower in community housing (OR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.1, 0.3) and in institutions (OR = 0.1, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.3) relative to family homes. Conclusions:, Care recipients in institutions and community housing had better access to dental care than those at family homes. The shortage of dentists in SND and treatment costs needs to be addressed. [source] Nonnutrient anthropogenic chemicals in seagrass ecosystems: Fate and effectsENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 3 2009Michael A. Lewis Abstract Impacts of human-related chemicals, either alone or in combination with other stressors, are important to understand to prevent and reverse continuing worldwide seagrass declines. This review summarizes reported concentrations of anthropogenic chemicals in grass bed,associated surface waters, sediments, and plant tissues and phytotoxic concentrations. Fate information in seagrass-rooted sediments and overlying water is most available for trace metals. Toxicity results in aqueous exposures are available for at least 13 species and a variety of trace metals, pesticides, and petrochemicals. In contrast, results for chemical mixtures and chemicals in sediment matrices are uncommon. Contaminant bioaccumulation information is available for at least 23 species. The effects of plant age, tissue type, and time of collection have been commonly reported but not biological significance of the chemical residues. Experimental conditions have varied considerably in seagrass contaminant research and interspecific differences in chemical residues and chemical tolerances are common, which limits generalizations and extrapolations among species and chemicals. The few reported risk assessments have been usually local and limited to a few single chemicals and species representative of the south Australian and Mediterranean floras. Media-specific information describing exposure concentrations, toxic effect levels, and critical body burdens of common near-shore contaminants is needed for most species to support integrated risk assessments at multiple geographical scales and to evaluate the ability of numerical effects-based criteria to protect these marine angiosperms at risk. [source] | ||||||||||