Region Of South Australia Research Articles

“The Chicken or the Egg”: Barriers and Facilitators to Collaborative Care for People With Comorbidity in a Metropolitan Region of South Australia

Mental health disorder and alcohol and other drug comorbidity is prevalent in Australia. This qualitative study used semistructured interviews (N = 20) to elicit clinicians' and workers' knowledge, experiences, and opinions regarding issues pertaining to service needs of people with comorbidity in a metropolitan region of South Australia. The study revealed barriers to effective access and delivery of comorbidity care by MH and AOD services. Participants reported difficulties with identification, access, suitability, policy, funding, and collaboration between sectors and services responding to comorbidity. Results suggest that these models of practice were inadequate influencing the delivery, consistency, and reliability of comorbidity care.

Using prioritisation tools to strategically restore vegetation communities in fragmented agricultural landscapes

SummaryRestoring native habitats in heavily cleared and fragmented areas such as agricultural landscapes is important to maintain and increase remaining native floral and faunal communities. Identifying priority vegetation types for restoration – as well as the parcels of land where this restoration could take place at a landscape scale – may assist in strategically protecting these biodiversity assets. To prioritise the restoration of terrestrial habitats around an ecologically and culturally significant Ramsar‐listed wetland in South Australia, we used the spatial prioritisation tool Marxan. Originally designed for prioritising the protection of reserve areas, Marxan can also be used to identify parcels of land for restoration purposes. We tested how Marxan prioritised the restoration of four distinct vegetation types around the Coorong and Lower Lakes region of South Australia using the inverse of habitat remnancy as a cost and soil type and distance to ecologically significant bird species as a conservation feature. By prioritising restoration activities around certain landscape features, such as remnant areas, our results indicate that we would be able to strategically restore parcels of native habitat that would maximise biodiversity outcomes. This study highlights the need for robust input data, such as priority vegetation types and bird species associated with these habitats, to ensure informative modelling outputs. It also suggests that other measures, such as the cost of different land types, should be included in future restoration planning. Finally, we illustrate how prioritisation tools such as Marxan can be used by natural resource managers to restore areas within fragmented agricultural landscapes.

Quantifying Service Accessibility/Transport Disadvantage for Older People in Non-Metropolitan South Australia

The proportion of Australia’s population aged 65 years and over is increasing. In a highly mobile society that relies on car transportation for obtaining essential goods and services, challenges exist for the ageing population when their ability to utilise a car as a form of transport diminishes. Limited transport is a particular concern for those living in non-metropolitan areas due to reduced service accessibility. This research aimed to develop a spatial index to quantify the degree of service accessibility/transport disadvantage for the population aged 65 years and over living in the Murray and Mallee region of South Australia. The index developed comprised two components. The first component incorporated accessibility to key services utilised by older people. The second component quantified public transport options. Together, these components formed a composite index that can be used independently or in conjunction with other spatial datasets. The index methodology developed has the capacity to be broadly applied through the adaptation of key parameters specific to other population cohorts and would benefit from application in other non-metropolitan regions within Australia and abroad.

Models of reforestation productivity and carbon sequestration for land use and climate change adaptation planning in South Australia

Environmental management and regional land use planning has become more complex in recent years as growing world population, climate change, carbon markets and government policies for sustainability have emerged. Reforestation and agroforestry options for environmental benefits, carbon sequestration, economic development and biodiversity conservation are now important considerations of land use planners. New information has been collected and regionally-calibrated models have been developed to facilitate better regional land use planning decisions and counter the limitations of currently available models of reforestation productivity and carbon sequestration. Surveys of above-ground biomass of 264 reforestation sites (132 woodlots, 132 environmental plantings) within the agricultural regions of South Australia were conducted, and combined with spatial information on climate and soils, to develop new spatial and temporal models of plant density and above-ground biomass productivity from reforestation. The models can be used to estimate productivity and total carbon sequestration (i.e. above-ground + below-ground biomass) under a continuous range of planting designs (e.g. variable proportions of trees and shrubs or plant densities), timeframes and future climate scenarios. Representative spatial models (1 ha resolution) for 3 reforestation designs (i.e. woodlots, typical environmental planting, biodiverse environmental plantings) × 3 timeframes (i.e. 25, 45, 65 years) × 4 possible climates (i.e. no change, mild, moderate, severe warming and drying) were generated (i.e. 36 scenarios) for use within land use planning tools.

Transition from Remote Indigenous Community to Boarding School: The Lockhart River Experience

The transition to boarding school for students from the remote Indigenous community of Lockhart River on Cape York is a fact of life when they complete Year 7. With the transition to boarding school, Lockhart River mirrors remote Indigenous communities throughout Cape York and the Torres Strait, and remote regions in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Access for remote Indigenous students to quality education provision in major urban centres is a key element of government policy in addressing disadvantage in education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Despite this, there is little in the way of recent research into the transition process in terms of its effectiveness in ensuring the delivery of a quality secondary education. The proposed study will use qualitative methods to examine the transition from a remote Indigenous community from the perspective of the students and their parents and care-givers.

Still Think of Rheumatic Fever in Urban and Regional South Australia

Still Think of Rheumatic Fever in Urban and Regional South Australia

A nose for lizards; can a detection dog locate the endangered pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis)?

ABSTRACTEnvironmental detection dogs have been used in various research and conservation projects. By detecting scent, dogs are capable of finding animals or scats that are virtually undetectable to humans. The endangered pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis) is endemic to heavily fragmented patches of native grassland in the mid-north region of South Australia. The lizards live in spider burrows with entrance diameters of 10–20 mm, which makes them difficult to find. This study presents the first data showing that a dog can detect pygmy bluetongue lizards. The dog showed the ability to distinguish between pygmy bluetongue lizard scent and the scent of sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) and bearded dragon (Pogona barbata). The dog also found more than 30 occupied lizard burrows in the field. Up until now surveys of this endangered lizard have relied on human visual detection of burrows, which is a very labour-intensive process. Although the climate and the ecology of the lizards pose a challenge to detection dogs, this study showed that their use in surveys of pygmy bluetongue lizards could potentially increase efficiency and accuracy, while lowering the cost and the workload.

Heat adaptation and place: experiences in South Australian rural communities

Exposure to extreme heat is a familiar seasonal experience for many rural communities across Australia, which is projected to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change. This has wide-ranging implications for community health and well-being, livelihoods, recreation, and the natural and built environments. In this study, we have examined how rural and remote communities in South Australia experience and respond to extreme heat, and how this is influenced by physical, social and psychological aspects of place. Interviews with participants across different climatic regions of South Australia were analysed using a broad thematic framework that included physical aspects of place, human activities, social and community aspects, and relationships with place; providing a descriptive account of heat impacts and responses. We further suggest that some narratives expressed the construction of a rural or remote identity, with climate being a part of this relationship; suggesting that place identity may be a subjective aspect underpinning appraisals of extreme heat. We discuss the implications for adaptation choices in a warming climate.

Impact of foxes digging for the pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis)

ABSTRACTThe endangered pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis) is endemic to heavily fragmented patches of native grassland in the mid-north region of South Australia. The lizards live in spider burrows, and suitable burrows can be a limiting factor to local populations. The invasive red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a likely predator of the lizards. No previous research has focussed on the effects of foxes on pygmy bluetongue lizards. This article presents observations from three sampling rounds in a single lizard activity season. During each round, burrows were located and lizard presence or absence, fox digging and burrow condition were recorded. Out of 256 monitored lizard burrows, 12 were dug out by foxes. The data show that foxes actively seek to prey on pygmy bluetongue lizards. In several cases, the fox gave up before reaching the lizard. Dug out burrows were quickly abandoned by the surviving lizards and became filled in, reducing the supply of suitable burrows for the population. These data highlight the need for fox management around pygmy bluetongue lizard populations, especially if future management of the species involves relocation, as small newly established populations could be vulnerable to fox predation and secondary effects of burrow destruction.

Socio-ecological lessons for the Anthropocene: Learning from the remote Indigenous communities of Central Australia

Abstract The Anthropocene is generating new demands on societies to learn how to establish flexible and resilient socio-ecosystems. The proposed new epoch, driven in large part by human actions, enhances the need for new knowledge on how modernity could respond effectively to environmental extremes and change. New knowledge can be drawn from various sources, but one vital approach will be to learn from the wealth of ancient, traditional forms of cultural adaptation in societal margins, where people have interacted sustainably with difficult environments throughout the Holocene. To achieve that goal, adaptation research with the Anangu of the Alinytjara Wilurara region in South Australia is critically reviewed through the lens of socio-ecological theory. Complex, interactive local biophysical, cultural and political ecologies must be negotiated to learn to adapt to environmental extremes and change. A social learning approach successfully integrated local Indigenous and external knowledge to identify biophysical vulnerabilities, and generated risk narratives that are helping to guide spatial and systemic adaptation planning on heatwave, wildfire and bushfood management. Yet, political ecologies continue to inhibit support for Indigenous stewardship of local environments. Institutional investment into the knowledge and management activities of Indigenous people could generate sustainable development opportunities, while also providing universal lessons about stewarding local environments through periods of change.

Towards the Creation of a Wine Quality Prediction Index: Correlation of Chardonnay Juice and Wine Compositions from Different Regions and Quality Levels

Wine quality depends upon the composition of the grapes used in its production, which in turn depends on the weather and soil of the growing region together with viticultural practices. Region is used by many winemakers as a proxy for quality but objective quality measures are lacking. This study examined the compositional aspects of Chardonnay wines produced with berries from different regions. Through descriptive analysis, distinct sensory profiles were recognised for three diverse regions in South Australia (Adelaide Hills, Eden Valley, Riverland), which helped to pinpoint compounds relating to higher- and lower-quality Chardonnay wines. Correlations between the content of elements, fatty acids, free volatiles and conjugated glycosides in berries from different quality levels, and the composition of their corresponding wines, were investigated. Higher berry concentrations of linalool, (E)-linalool oxide, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, decanoic acid, vitispirane, Cu, Zn, and behenic acid, and lower °Brix and pH levels were related to higher quality wines.

Why is polypharmacy increasing in aged care facilities? The views of Australian health care professionals.

The prevalence of polypharmacy in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) is high and increasing. Although not necessarily inappropriate, polypharmacy has been associated with drug interactions, adverse drug events, geriatric syndromes and hospital admissions. The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize factors contributing to the increasing prevalence of polypharmacy in RACFs. Seventeen health care professionals from metropolitan and regional Victoria and South Australia identified and prioritized factors using a modified nominal group technique. The top five factors ranked from most important to fifth most important were 'changes in resident mix', 'increasing numbers of prescribers and the reluctance of one prescriber to discontinue a medicine commenced by another prescriber', 'better adherence to clinical practice guidelines', 'increasing reliance on locums' and 'greater recognition and pharmacological management of pain'. Reasons for the increase in polypharmacy are multifactorial. Understanding the factors contributing to polypharmacy may help to guide future research and develop interventions to manage polypharmacy in RACFs.

Farmers' perceptions of health in the Riverland region of South Australia: 'If it's broke, fix it'.

To explore perceptions of health among South Australian farmers. Descriptive qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews. Two rural towns in the Riverland region of South Australia. Fifteen adults involved in farming within the Riverland region of South Australia, from a variety of farming industries; age range 23-70 years old; 53% male, 47% female. Perceptions and definitions of health. Participants described an ecological understanding of health across individual, farm, and community domains. Participants perceived health as being able to function and complete farm work. Participants reported that farm work helped to maintain fitness, but the multiple stress and hazards associated with farming had a significant influence on health. Participants described how health was influenced by community activities and social support from friends and families. Women were reported to take a lead role in health. Health providers can frame interventions to resonate with the perceptions of health held by people, shaped and formed by the context of farming. Further research is needed to explore farmers' perceptions of health in different locations, from different industries and from a range of age groups.

The impact of sheep grazing on the depth of spider burrows and of burrows selected by the pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis)

Context Grazing by domestic stock can potentially influence ecosystems positively or negatively, depending on the grazing regime and intensity. The pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis) is an endangered species, restricted to fragmented grasslands in the Mid North region of South Australia, predominantly grazed by sheep. These lizards refuge in vertical burrows. They do not dig their own burrows, instead relying on co-existing spiders for this essential resource. Aims We investigated how sheep grazing influenced spider burrows, and predicted the following: that grazing sheep might trample and destroy shallow burrows; that burrows in grazed habitat with less vegetative cover would have higher temperatures in summer; and that, by way of compensation, spiders would dig deeper burrows in grazed habitat. Methods We monitored 12 30m×30m plots monthly, over two austral spring/summer periods (September–March 2012–14). We recorded the number, depth and occupant of all spider burrows in those plots in each survey. We also measured temperatures inside artificial burrows in grazed and ungrazed habitat over a 3-day period in September 2014. Key results Mean burrow depth increased with grazing. This was not because individual burrows became deeper, but because the shallowest burrows were lost where there were sheep. Burrows were significantly hotter in grazed habitat, but lizards consistently chose deeper, cooler burrows. In the subset of burrows that were occupied by lizards, there was no difference in depth between grazed and ungrazed treatments. We detected no difference in spider digging activity between grazed and ungrazed plots. Conclusions Sheep grazing can destroy shallow burrows, probably through trampling, and because sheep produce burrow filling debris. However, grazing did not affect deeper burrows occupied by pygmy bluetongue lizards. Implications This short study indicated that moderate levels of grazing have low impact on deeper burrows suitable for pygmy bluetongue lizards and for lizard persistence. It explains how sheep and lizards have co-occurred for so long, but leaves open the question of how the loss of shallow burrows affects populations of the burrow-digging spiders that are an essential component of the lizard environment.

Are residents of aged care facilities willing to have their medications deprescribed?

There has been recent interest in deprescribing, particularly among older people. No previous studies have assessed whether residents of aged care facilities are willing to have their medications deprescribed. Understanding residents' attitudes toward deprescribing is important for developing deprescribing interventions. To investigate residents' willingness to have their medications deprescribed. This was a cross-sectional survey of 232 residents aged ≥65 years from six residential aged care facilities (RACFs) across metropolitan and regional South Australia. Overall, 163 of the 232 residents (70.3%) took ≥9 regular medications. All participants completed the 10-item Patients' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (PATD) questionnaire. Overall, 40.5% of residents reported a desire to stop taking one or more of their medications. If their doctor said it was possible, 78.9% of residents were willing to have one or more of their medications deprescribed. Residents taking ≥9 medications were more likely to feel that they were taking a large number of medications compared to residents taking <9 medications (50.3% vs 14.5%, P<0.01), and were more likely to believe one or more of their medications was causing side effects (14.7% vs 10.1%, P=0.02). However, residents taking ≥9 regular medications were not significantly more likely to want to reduce their number of medications than residents taking <9 medications. Deprescribing interventions are likely to be acceptable to residents' of RACFs, with a high willingness to discontinue medicines if doctors say it is possible. This highlights the importance of the proactive involvement of health care professionals in an individualized deprescribing process.

A thirsty little lizard: drinking by the pygmy bluetongue lizard

ABSTRACTThe pygmy bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua adelaidensis) is an endangered scincid lizard, endemic to the Mid North region of South Australia, where it occupies heavily fragmented patches of native grassland. Pygmy bluetongue lizards live in spider burrows and rarely venture far from their burrows. This limits their access to free standing water, and it was previously unknown whether lizards acquired all the water they needed from their food, or whether they could access an alternative source of water. This paper presents 27 observations of lizards drinking either from drops of morning dew or from rain drops accumulated on vegetation close to their burrow entrances. These observations suggest that pygmy bluetongue lizards can supplement their water requirements independent of free standing water sources, like streams or ponds, if there is vegetation that can collect dew and rain close to burrow entrances. Vegetation that can hold water droplets for a short time provides flexibility for the lizards in maintaining their water budgets. The water collecting function of vegetation should be included as a factor in short-term management decisions about the level of grazing in the lizard’s habitat. In the longer term, the benefits of having plants that can accumulate water drops will need to be considered if suitable relocation sites are to be found.

Reflections on Judgment: an Analysis of Tourists' Contributions to Guest Books

This article analyses 17 years of entries in tourist guest books to gain detailed insight into perceptions of experience. The study site is an Outback region of South Australia admired for a number of contrasting aesthetic qualities. The words and phrases offer more than standard comments to hosts; they represent emotional outpourings and reflections that double as public displays of touristic experience and judgment. The judgments made on place and experience reveal an appreciation of an immersion in a natural environment aesthetic, distinct from the built environment. The research explores the benefits tourists gain through contact with nature as it reflects on a social construction of the natural world. The article also suggests how, in engaging in the process of reading other tourists' entries and individually writing one's own entry for an expected audience of hosts and future tourists, the tourists themselves become part of a larger discourse about place and the meaning of the nature-based experience at that place. The method provides a flexible tool for investigation to complement other research methods used in studies of the tourist experience and provides for an analysis of the tourists' environmental awareness and engagement. The implications for tourism marketing and management are discussed.

Face to face, person to person: Skills and attributes deployed by rural mental health clinicians when engaging with consumers.

The purpose of this study was to identify the skills and attributes deployed by rural mental health clinicians when engaging with consumers in the community mental health context. Reflecting the exploratory nature of this research, a semi-structured focus group was conducted. One community mental health service in regional South Australia (catchment area = approximately 60 000 people). Nine mental health clinicians. Not applicable. Participants' focus group comments were explored qualitatively using thematic analysis. Three major themes were identified: (i) limitations to providing mental health care in the rural environment (increased consumer vulnerability, limited services, increased risk, and stigma); (ii) universal engagement approaches (being consumer-focused, appropriate communication, facilitating a connection and normalising the experience); (iii) indicated and targeted strategies for engagement (flexible and creative delivery of care, a whole of community approach, being multiskilled and technology use). Although engaging with consumers involves many skills and attributes employed universally across mental health settings, the rural clinician's ability to navigate the environment and utilise this to provide consumer care is equally important to the engagement process. Specifically, these findings highlight the preference of rural mental health clinicians towards a person-centred approach, networking with others in the community when providing care. Understanding how best to maximise the nature of a rural environment, such as facilitating relationships between clinicians and others in the community, will contribute to optimised care.

Mapping sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems in the Callabonna Sub-basin (South Australia) using AEM

The Frome airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey was designed to provide reliable pre-competitive AEM data to aid the search for energy and mineral resources around the Lake Frome region of South Australia. Flown in 2010, a total of 32,317 line kilometres of high-quality airborne geophysical data were collected over an area of 95,450 km2 at a flight line spacing mostly of 2.5 km, opening to 5 km spaced lines in the Marree-Strzelecki Desert area to the north.Interpretations of the data show the utility of regional AEM surveying for mapping crucial elements of sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems as well as for mapping geological surfaces, structures and depth of cover over a wide area. Data from the Frome AEM survey allow mineral explorers to put their own high-resolution AEM surveys into a regional context. Survey data were used to map and interpret a range of geological features that are associated with, or control the location of, sandstone-hosted uranium mineral systems, and have been used to assess the uranium prospectivity of new areas to the north of the Flinders Ranges.

Incidence of Herbicide Resistance, Seedling Emergence, and Seed Persistence of Smooth Barley (Hordeum glaucum) in South Australia

Smooth barley has emerged as a problematic weed in cereal crops of South Australia. After the recent reports of herbicide resistance and increase in seed dormancy in smooth barley, it was considered important to determine the herbicide resistance status and seedbank behavior of field populations of this weed species. A field survey was undertaken in the Upper North and Eyre Peninsula regions of South Australia in October 2012. Of the 90 smooth barley populations screened for resistance to quizalofop, 15% exhibited some level of resistance and 85% were susceptible. Resistance to acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides was low, with only 3 and 12% of populations classified as developing resistance to imazamox + imazapyr and sulfosulfuron, respectively. No multiple resistance patterns were observed; however, two ALS-inhibiting herbicide-resistant populations had sulfonylurea-to-imidazolinone cross-resistance. At the start of the growing season, the majority of smooth barley populations emerged rapidly (median 50% time to emergence [T50] = 8 d). In contrast, some populations of smooth barley displayed an extremely slow emergence pattern, withT50of &gt; 20 d. No direct linkage between seed dormancy and herbicide resistance was observed. However, two acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase-inhibiting herbicide-resistant populations were highly dormant and exhibited delayed emergence. The majority of smooth barley populations showed low-level or no seedbank persistence, but a few populations persisted for 1 yr. However, some weed populations had up to 20% seedbank persistence from 1 yr to the next. Overall there was a strong negative relationship between smooth barley seedling emergence and the level of seed persistence (R2= 0.84, P &lt; 0.05). This association indicated that greater seed dormancy could be responsible for extended persistence of the seedbank of this weed species. The study provides valuable insights into the general pattern of herbicide resistance and the behavior of the seedbank of smooth barley populations on South Australian farms.