Role In Australia Research Articles

Exploring the gendered experiences of Australian tennis coaches: A cross-sectional survey of women and men tennis coaches

ABSTRACT Women remain underrepresented in tennis coaching roles in Australia. This study aimed to examine the factors (barriers and facilitators) that may underlie gendered experiences in sport coaching and their links to retention in the profession, through the lens of Self-determination Theory. An online survey assessed barriers to coaching (individual, interpersonal, organisational and socio-cultural levels), coaching motivation and social support for coaching. Participants also completed measures of coach retention (coaching commitment, intentions to continue coaching). The survey was completed by 243 Australian tennis coaches (Mage = 49.5 ± 16.4 years, 35.8% women). The findings indicated that women coaches perceived experiencing significantly more socio-cultural barriers (e.g. discrimination, marginalisation) than their men counterparts. Fewer women (41.4%) than men (55.8%) intended to remain in the profession long-term (>10 years). Regression analyses did not reveal any predictors of retention among women coaches. In men, integrated regulation (β = 0.22, p = .036) and amotivation (β = -0.24, p = .010) predicted coaching commitment. Interpersonal barriers (OR = 0.27, p = .038), external regulation (OR = 0.68, p = .023) and amotivation (OR = 0.72, p = .040) predicted male’s intentions to exit the profession sooner. This study sheds light on the factors that shape the experiences of sport coaches. Ongoing efforts to support the retention of women in sport coaching are necessary and may include challenging socio-cultural barriers.

Defining the urology nurse practitioner in Australia and New Zealand: A Delphi study.

Nurse practitioners with roles in specialty environments face challenges including uncertain role expectations and achieve urology expertise with on-the-job training, mentoring, and independent study. This creates a wide variety of preparation and role descriptions. This study employed Delphi methodology to identify essential components of the urology nurse practitioner (NP) role in Australia and New Zealand, representing an inaugural description of the role. This Delphi study was completed in two rounds. Participants were a nonrandom panel of experts with experience as a full-time urology NP. A definition for the urology NP in Australia and New Zealand is proposed: "The urology nurse practitioner uses critical thinking, complex decision-making, clinical reasoning, advanced assessment skills and clinical expertise, offering acute and chronic care to individuals needing urologic health care, including office-based urology procedures as appropriate. This care is provided in an environment of autonomous practice, with a basis of graduate education and relevant specialty clinical experience, and this practice can extend across health care settings and serve as a model to the wider NP profession." Outpatient urology procedures were ranked highly and deemed integral to the Urology NP role. This may reflect the declining number of urologists and efforts to maintain urology access for local populations. Professional roles of the NP were given less weight by participants. The project offers a contemporary definition of the urology NP role that can be offered to educators and other stakeholders as the role continues to evolve in Australia and New Zealand.

What are the attitudes and perceptions of general practitioners about the role of nurse practitioners in the community care setting: A scoping review

BackgroundThe Nurse Practitioner role in Australia is slowly expanding, with a well-established body of evidence supporting their introduction. Yet, there is a lack of consistent support from the medical profession for this role. Nurse Practitioners wishing to work in the community setting may, therefore, experience resistance from General Practitioners. ObjectiveTo identify and explore the attitudes and perceptions of Australian General Practitioners about Nurse Practitioners' community settings. To explore what is the view of GPs outside of Australia on this topic. MethodA scoping review of the Cochrane, MEDLINE, Psych INFO, and CINHAL databases was undertaken from 1995 to April 2023 and reported using PRISMA. Quality evaluation tools devised by Dixon-Woods et al. (2005) and previously used by Paterson et al. (2015) were used to evaluate the included studies. A narrative synthesis was then undertaken using the method described by Whittemore and Knafl (2005). FindingsThe scoping review identified 1623 potential publications. After a comparison of the title and abstract to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 publications underwent an in-depth review, eight publications met the inclusion criteria for a full review. The review did not identify a publication from Australia. Elsewhere the attitudes of General Practitioners were influenced by the lack of definition of the Nurse Practitioner role, a lack of knowledge of the Nurse Practitioner skill level, fear of service duplication, deterioration in patient relationships, who had responsibility for the role and funding for the role. ConclusionThere is a lack of evidence in an Australian context to determine if General Practitioners in Australia have similar views to their international counterparts. Careful planning needs to be undertaken to overcome potential issues and to enable the Nurse Practitioner role to be effectively implemented in an Australian community setting.

The future is bright: artificial intelligence for trainee medical officers in Australia and New Zealand.

Given their frontline role in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) healthcare, trainee medical officers (TMOs) will play a crucial role in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) for clinical care, ongoing medical education and research. As 'digital natives', particularly those with technical expertise in AI, TMOs should also be leaders in informing the safe uptake and governance of AI within ANZ healthcare as they have a practical understanding of its associated risks and benefits. However, this is only possible if a culture of broad collaboration is instilled while the use of AI in ANZ is still in its initial phase.

The Endeavour scholarships program in the era of the Asian century: promise unfulfilled

PurposeThe Australian Government has long used its international scholarship programs as an instrument of soft power in international diplomacy. The paper examines an international scholarship program and its role in Australia’s soft power efforts during a period in recent history.Design/methodology/approachThe Australia in the Asian Century White Paper of 2012 is used as a lens to reveal how the Australian Government viewed the role of international scholarship programs in international diplomacy at a specific point in the recent past, and compares it with research revealing what was contemporaneously happening with one key government-funded scholarship program.FindingsThis paper is based on a comprehensive case study of the Australian Government’s Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships program (2004–2019). Endeavour was an ambitious and expensive merit-based program with 6,600 recipients in numerous and diffuse sub-categories. The program was complex and cumbersome and lacked clear priorities, particularly in its lack of geographic focus. It missed opportunities to connect with the political zeitgeist, largely due to opaque priorities and inadequate evaluation regimes which focused entirely on outcomes for individual recipients rather than on relationships for Australia.Originality/valueThis research draws on the first academic study of the Endeavour program. Other scholarship programs (for example Australia Awards and the New Colombo Plan) have attracted considerable scholarly interest. The Endeavour research provides an additional counterpoint for studies of Australian scholarship programs and their contribution to international diplomacy. It is timely to consider this in 2024 when Australia is putting a new focus on its investment in international scholarships.

Indo-Pacific Geopolitical Dynamics: The Role of Australia, AUKUS, and Increasing the Defense Budget

The development of the defense and security situation in the Indo-Pacific region due to the situation in the South China Sea made the US alert and established an AUKUS defense pact. AUKUS has members from the US, UK and Australia. Australia, as a country located closer to the South China Sea, is the focus of the other two AUKUS members in countering Chinese hegemony. The purpose of this article is to find out how Australia is trying to build its defense industry by increasing the defense budget when joining AUKUS. This research was conducted using qualitative descriptive methods. The data used is secondary data originating from published journals and reports. This research concludes that Australia's joining AUKUS made Australia try to equalize its military capabilities with the US and UK by increasing its defense budget.

Why does Australia need to mitigate food loss and waste to ensure food security?

AbstractFood waste in Australia is causing a massive financial burden on the country, with an estimated annual cost of $36.6 billion. Several factors, such as food loss and waste (FLW), inflation, unemployment, and low income, concurrently contribute to Australia's food insecurity problem. This study mainly focuses on FLW, which plays a significant role in Australia's food insecurity. This study finds that despite taking numerous initiatives, including the National Food Waste Strategy 2017, National Food Waste Baseline 2021, Australian Food Pact, and Sector Action Plan, the FLW approximately 7.9 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in Australia. This study explores that in 2022, food insecurity severely affects 21% or 2.1 million households, and 94% of households are concerned about not having enough food in Australia. The author finds that the FLW contributes to producing 17.5 m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), 2628.3 gigaliters of water use, and 25 m + hectares of agricultural land use by generating food production. Therefore, this study aims to critically evaluate the FLW scenario and management strategies of the Australian government in order to achieve the sustainable development goal‐12 (responsible consumption and production) and target 12.3 of reducing food waste by 50% by the year 2030.

Effectiveness of hybrid digital breast tomosynthesis/digital mammography compared to digital mammography in women presenting for routine screening at Maroondah BreastScreen: Study protocol for a co-designed, non-randomised prospective trial

BackgroundDigital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) for breast cancer screening has been shown in international trials to increase cancer detection compared with mammography; however, results have varied across screening settings, and currently there is limited and conflicting evidence on interval cancer rates (a surrogate for screening effectiveness). Australian pilot data also indicated substantially longer screen-reading time for DBT posing a barrier for adoption. There is a critical need for evidence on DBT to inform its role in Australia, including evaluation of potentially more feasible models of implementation, and quantification of screening outcomes by breast density which has global relevance. MethodsThis study is a prospective trial embedded in population-based Australian screening services (Maroondah BreastScreen, Eastern Health, Victoria) comparing hybrid screening comprising DBT (mediolateral oblique view) and digital mammography (cranio-caudal view) with standard mammography screening in a concurrent group attending another screening site. All eligible women aged ≥40 years attending the Maroondah service for routine screening will be enrolled (unless they do not provide verbal consent and opt-out of hybrid screening; are unable to provide consent; or where a ‘pushback’ image on hybrid DBT cannot be obtained). Each arm will enrol 20,000 women. The primary outcomes are cancer detection rate (per 1000 screens) and recall rate (percentage). Secondary outcomes include ‘opt-out’ rate; cohort characteristics; cancer characteristics; assessment outcomes; screen-reading time; and interval cancer rate at 24-month follow-up. Automated volumetric breast density will be measured to allow stratification of outcomes by mammographic density. Stratification by age and screening round will also be undertaken. An interim analysis will be undertaken after the first 5000 screens in the intervention group. DiscussionThis is the first Australian prospective trial comparing hybrid DBT/mammography with standard mammography screening that is powered to show differences in cancer detection. Findings will inform future implementation of DBT in screening programs world-wide and provide evidence on whether DBT should be adopted in the broader BreastScreen program in Australia or in subgroups of screening participants.

Multidisciplinary perspectives on roles of hospital pharmacists in tertiary settings: a qualitative study.

In today's complex healthcare landscape, exacerbated by resource constraints at various levels, optimization of health professionals' roles is becoming increasingly paramount. Interprofessional collaboration, underpinned by role recognition and teamwork, leads to improved patient and organizational outcomes. Hospital pharmacists play a pivotal role in multidisciplinary teams, and it is imperative to understand multidisciplinary viewpoints on hospital pharmacists' roles to guide role prioritization and organizational efficiency. However, no study extensively investigated multidisciplinary views on values of diverse pharmacist roles in tertiary settings. This study aims to address this gap by examining non-pharmacist health professionals' views on hospital pharmacists' roles, recognizing their specialized niches as a crucial step towards optimizing their roles and services in Australia and internationally. Multiple focus group discussions and interviews were held via a virtual conferencing platform. Study participants were recruited using the study investigators' professional networks who were non-pharmacist health professionals with experience working with pharmacists in hospital settings. Data were collected from transcripts of the focus group recordings, which were later summarized using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Overarching themes were categorized and mapped against work system models to conceptualize organizational implications of multidisciplinary feedback, linking them to patient and organizational outcomes. Twenty-seven health professionals participated across focus groups and interviews, with the majority of professions being doctors and nurses. Three major themes were identified as follows: (i) overarching perceptions regarding hospital pharmacists; (ii) professional niches of hospital pharmacists; and (iii) future opportunities to optimize hospital pharmacy services. Valued professional niches included patient and health professional educators, transition-of-care facilitators, and quality use of medicines analysts. The study highlights critical insights into hospital pharmacists' roles in Australia, identifying their niche expertise as vital to healthcare efficiency and success. Based on multidisciplinary feedback, the study advocates for strategic role optimization and targeted research for enhanced clinical, economic, and organizational outcomes.

A pharmacist integrated into a general practice in Australia: an evolving model of care in medicines optimization.

The general practice pharmacist (GPP) role in Australia is evolving. A pilot GPP model of care developed to optimize medicines for patients at risk of medicine-related harm was evaluated. The aims of this study were 2-fold: to evaluate the GPP model of care on medicines optimization, with a focus on deprescribing, in a population at risk of harm due to their medicines, or clinical condition, and to explore the perspectives of study participants. This single practice study involved two phases. Phase 1 (September 2019-May 2020): at risk patients were referred to the GPP for medication reconciliation, recommendations for optimization, and when appropriate, deprescribing support, especially for opioids. Medication plans were developed with patients, GPs, and the GPP. Quantitative data collected from patient records included demographics, discrepancies, medicines reviewed, GPP recommendations and uptake, and medicines deprescribed. Opioid-related data included dose changes from baseline, at 6 and 9 months, standardized to oral morphine equivalents. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. Phase 2 (7-21 September 2020): qualitative evaluation using semi-structured interviews was undertaken, to explore the perspectives of GP and patient participants of the GPP model of care. Interview data were thematically analysed. The study had ethical approval. Phase 1: 198 multimorbid patients with multiple medications [median = 13 (9-16)] had at least one GPP consultation (n = 243). Discrepancies were resolved through 88% of GPP consultations; deprescribing commenced or occurred in 54%. Acceptance of GPP recommendations was 86%. Opioids were the most common medicines deprescribed (42% ceased). The baseline median opioid dose [44.4 (30-90) mg] was significantly reduced at 6 months [13.5 (0-40) mg] and 9 months [7 (0-30) mg], P < .0001. Phase 2: Thematic analysis of 28 interviews (10 GPs, 3 practice personnel, 10 patients, 5 carers) identified four key themes: safer foundation for deprescribing, deprescribing opportunities recognition, benefits of embedded GPP, and a supported approach to shared decision-making. General practice provides opportunities for medicine optimization and deprescribing. This study has demonstrated a GPP model of care that achieved functional deprescribing to reduce potential harm in a population at risk and addressed recognized barriers.

Barriers, supports and constraints on women coaching in tennis

Background In Australia, there are fewer women in tennis coaching roles. Identifying the barriers (and supports) for women in sport coaching roles is necessary to inform the development of strategies that will address this underrepresentation of women in such roles. Aim This study aimed to examine the experiences of women in tennis coaching roles in Australia. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 women coaches (Mage = 45.5 ± 11.6 years) purposefully sampled from Tennis Australia ‘coach members’. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted. The investigation was underpinned by the ecological systems theory. Findings Five themes were drawn from the analysis of the interview transcripts: (a) stereotypically male profession, (b) career instability and longevity, (c) family/work-life tension, (d) organisational support and (e) career advancement opportunities. Conclusion This study provides important insight into strategies that may assist in addressing the gender disparity that exists in the sport coaching profession. Specifically, increased provision of support (e.g. organisational support), guidance in relation to pursuing a coaching career, developmental opportunities and financial support will be important to attracting and retaining women in coaching roles.

Awareness of biogas increases its social acceptance

Biogas has the potential to be one of the cheapest technologies for decarbonising Australia's gas networks. However, despite biogas being a mature technology in some countries, its production in Australia is limited to only a few hundred plants. If biogas production is to grow to play a role in Australia's future energy system, understanding Australian public perceptions regarding biogas can help to inform the development of suitable policy measures. Through an Australian national survey, we found that lower levels of awareness of biogas were linked to lower social acceptance. After providing some simple information (a definition, a diagram and/or one of three simple messages), we were able to show a change in support for biogas in Australia. The results showed how information provision increased support for biogas from between 5% and 10% compared to the baseline and highlighted the importance of awareness in fostering support for biogas as an Australian decarbonisation mechanism.

The populist radical right in Australia

Abstract This article examines one of the longest-standing populist radical right parties outside of Europe: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. The article outlines the party’s development and position in the Australian political landscape, before explaining how it articulates the ideological features of the PRR (nativism, authoritarianism and populism); how these interact; and in what ways this differs from European PRR parties. It shows that the party has steadfastly remained focused on targeting outgroups – immigrants, asylum seekers, Asians, Muslims, and First Nations Peoples, amongst others – rather than clearly defining its ingroup – ‘ordinary Australians’ – and considers the role of Australia’s settler-colonial history and geographical context in this. It then analyses how the party has broadened its platform in recent years by engaging with gender identity, vaccine mandates, climate change scepticism and sovereign-citizen issues; before explaining the factors that have prevented it from achieving the success of many European PRR parties.

The place of political experience in lobbyist careers: Decisive, divergent or diverse?

AbstractThere is broad consensus that lobbyists with government experience are valuable to those who employ them, principally because they possess contacts in government and unique insights into the policy process. Yet the near exclusive focus on government experience as the defining feature of lobbyist careers, means the literature has neglected analysis of the mix of different (and important) experiences that actual lobbyists likely accumulate during their careers. We address these gaps through analysis of the career sequences of over 600 lobbyists operating across contract and in‐house roles in Australia. Using the tools of sequence and cluster analysis, we identify four broad types of careers among lobbyists. While half of all lobbyists have had roles with some direct political experience, we find that distinctions between types of lobbying careers are differentiated by experience in other fields such as journalism, public relations, associations and corporate life. Moreover, our multivariate analysis shows that different career types are more strongly associated with in‐house versus contract lobbying roles. We conclude that scholars should move beyond a focus on ‘revolving doors’ to more directly analyse the range of experiences that lobbyists leverage in their professional lives.

A design concept of big data analytics model for managers in hospitality industries.

The hospitality and tourism sector has long played a significant role in Australia's economy, especially in regional areas. Due to the onslaught of COVID-19, numerous businesses have experienced lockdowns, restrictions, and closures due to the fact that people's activity in restaurants, shopping centers, and recreational destinations was restricted, and many other places went into hibernation. After about 2years since the outbreak, businesses in this sector are gradually starting to reopen and revitalize themselves, but in order to have better decision support about the future of this sector, thus being able to plan, businesses are suffering from an effective analytics solution due to the lack of broken data trends. Starting from fresh day-to-day real-time big data, the study aims to develop a new data analytics model, adopting the design science research methodology, which can provide invaluable options and techniques to make prediction easier from immediate past datasets. This study introduces an innovative design artifact as a big data solution for hospitality managers to utilize analytics for predictive strategic decision-making in post-COVID situation. The artifact can also be generalized for other sectors with tailoring aspects which are subject to further studies. The proposed artifact is then compared with other design artifacts related to big data solutions where it outperforms them in terms of comprehensiveness. The proposed artifact also shows promises for primarily available UGC in managers' decision support aids.

The representation of women on Australian clinical practice guideline panels, 2010-2020.

To assess the composition by gender of Australian clinical practice guideline development panels; to explore guideline development-related factors that influence the composition of panels. Survey of clinical guidelines published in Australia during 2010-2020 that observed the 2016 NHMRC Standards for Guidelines, identified (June 2021) in the NHMRC Clinical Practice Guideline Portal or by searching the Guideline International Network guidelines library, the Trip medical database, and PubMed. The gender of contributors to guideline development was inferred from gendered titles (guideline documents) or pronouns (online biographies). The overall proportion of guideline panel members - the guideline contributors who formally considered evidence and formulated recommendations (ie, guideline panel chairs and members) - who were women. Of 406 eligible guidelines, 335 listed the names of people who contributed to their development (82%). Of 7472 named contributors (including 511 guideline panel chairs [6.8%] and 5039 guideline panel members [67.4%]), 3514 were men (47.0%), 3345 were women (44.8%), and gender could not be determined for 612 (8.2%). A total of 215 guideline panel chairs were women (42.1%), 280 were men (54.8%); 2566 guideline panel members were men (50.9%), 2071 were women (41.1%). The proportion of female guideline panel members was smaller than 40% for 179 guidelines (53%) and larger than 60% for 71 guidelines (21%). The median guideline proportion of female panel members was smaller than 50% for all but two years (2017, 2018). The representation of women in health leadership roles in Australia does not reflect their level of participation in the health care workforce. In particular, clinical guideline development bodies should develop transparent policies for increasing the participation of women in guideline development panels.

Australia’s First Architectural Competitions, 1826–27

ABSTRACT Architectural competitions have played a significant role in Australia’s development, yet their wider story is largely absent from its architectural histories. This paper foregrounds the topic by examining the origins, context, aims and outcomes of the nation’s first three competitions, held in Sydney from October 1826 to January 1827 during Governor Ralph Darling’s administration. Darling abolished the position of Colonial Architect—partly on the grounds it was uneconomic—and made the Engineer’s Office responsible for all public architectural works. The competitions were heralded by the actions of New South Wales’ first archdeacon, who brought with him the concept for a British church construction program. The competitions were ambitious undertakings that should have produced the city’s main Anglican church, a series of country churches and a new Government House at Sydney, but all failed when funding evaporated. The band of architectural practitioners of varying ability—including Francis Greenway—then operating were invited to compete to design what would be some of the colony’s most important buildings. However, mismanagement in the conceptualisation and running of the competitions, and even fraud—which overshadows the extraordinary Government House win by Darling’s wife—ultimately undermined their key objective of achieving architectural excellence.

Reflections of Australian general practitioners during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.

General practitioners (GPs) have played an integral role in Australia's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response. However, little is known about how GPs themselves have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to increase our understanding of the experiences of GPs working during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. Using purposive sampling, 15 GPs from South-Eastern Australia were asked to reflect on their experiences during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interview transcripts underwent thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified: fear of infection; uncertainty and information overload; impacts on the government-GP relationship; impacts on the patient-doctor relationship; and teamwork within practices and among GPs. The 15 GPs interviewed in this study provided valuable insights into their experiences working during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. From these insights, four recommendations propose what could be done to help support GPs to respond to a pandemic while continuing to deliver primary health care.

Student Employment Models for Undergraduate Nurses and Midwives in Australia: A Scoping Review.

Evidence has shown that throughout their undergraduate years, many nursing and midwifery students obtain paid employment in a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical positions. Across Australia, inconsistencies exist in the models of clinical employment available to these student groups. Previous Australian studies have described the employment of undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in regulated and unregulated clinical roles. No studies have reported on the various regulated roles available to both student nurses and midwives in Australia. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and synthesize evidence related to nursing and/or midwifery students employed in regulated and unregulated clinical roles in Australia. This scoping review utilized published recommendations for data screening, abstraction, and synthesis. One of the authors, a librarian, undertook systematic searches in CINAHL Complete (1937-present), Emcare on Ovid (1995-present), Scopus (1969-present), and Ovid MEDLINE(R) (including Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process, and In-Data-Review & Other Non-Indexed Citations, 1946-present). The initial searches were completed in April 2019 and repeated in March 2021 and May 2022 to identify any new literature. Manual searching of reference lists in the included papers was also undertaken, together with selected organizational websites. The extracted data included the lead author, date, title, study design, study sample and location, and key findings. From the 53 items retrieved, 23 peer-reviewed studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. All items were published between 2011 and 2022. Only four of the studies focused upon student midwives. Undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in Australia obtain paid employment in a variety of regulated and unregulated clinical roles. The literature reported here demonstrates that there are differing models, nomenclature, educational requirements, and pay scales in place for student employment in clinical roles across Australian states and territories.

The role of Australia's first virtual hospital in the COVID-19 pandemic response: learnings and opportunities

The International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC) is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles in the field of integrated care on a continuous basis.IJIC has an Impact Factor of 2.913 (2021 JCR, received in June 2022)The IJIC 20th Anniversary Issue was published in 2021.