New Research

Diabetes indicators in Australia

01 February 2012Diabetes has increased significantly among the Australian population over the past 20 years, however the rate of diabetes-related deaths is falling, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Murray Valley encephalitis: a review of clinical features, diagnosis and treatment

24 January 2012The aftermarth of Queensland and NSW floods are beginning to effect areas of Victoria and South East Australia, with numbers in mosquito prone diseases rapidly on the rise.

Drinking cultures and social occasions

24 January 2012This study, conducted by Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre and Eastern Health, provides evidence that acute intoxication increased numbers of injuries due to assaults and traffic accidents on public holidays and other major celebratory events and rises in incidents on the day before.

National strategies to address dementia

09 January 2012By by 2050 the number of people predicted to be living with dementia worldwide will be over 100 million. This paper provides an overview of a range of approaches that a selection of countries have taken to address dementia.

Monitoring acute coronary syndrome using national hospital data: an information paper on trends and issues

22 December 2011This report reviews the current algorithm for monitoring the incidence of Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Australia, presenting a detailed analysis of hospitalisations for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and unstable angina (UA).

Neural tube defects in Australia: prevalence before mandatory folic acid fortification

19 December 2011This report describes the prevalence and trends of neural tube defects in Australia during the past decade.

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Ageing

State Trustees Limited: management of represented persons

08 February 2012This audit found that State Trustees is not able to clearly demonstrate that it is fulfilling its obligations to represented persons.

Service costs in modern residential aged care facilities

31 January 2012This paper presents the results of a national study of the cost of delivering residential aged care services in modern and efficient facilities.

2010-11 report on the operation of the Aged Care Act 1997

23 January 2012Recent reviews of the Aged Care Act of 1997 have led to increases in government funding in particular, aged care facilites and the services they provide to indigenous communities.

Mental health

Care and support of male survivors of conflict-related sexual violence

02 February 2012Sexual violence against men and boys is a pervasive feature of armed conflicts. This paper provides commentary, recent data, and promising programming and therapeutic approaches in the care and support of male survivors.

Improving Indigenous community governance

02 February 2012Strengthening the organisational capacity of both Indigenous and government organisations is critical to raising the health, wellbeing and prosperity of Indigenous Australian communities.

The role of informal community resources in supporting independent housing for young people recovering from mental illness

30 January 2012This project looks at the housing issues facing young independant people with mental illness.

Commentary

What next for young people in nursing homes?

08 August 2011The five-year program which aimed to reduce the number of young people with disability living in aged care nursing homes, concluded in June 2011 writes Di Winkler.

In the blood

03 August 2011Bacterial infections might move more slowly than heart attacks, writes Frank Bowden in Inside Story, but they can be just as deadly

Sometimes, less is more

16 June 2011A growing movement among US healthcare professionals is arguing that medical treatment can cause more harm than good, reports Melissa Sweet in Inside Story

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Topic Guides

A guide to understanding and working with General Practice in NSW

20 May 2011Providing an outline of general practice, this resource considers its uniformity and diversity; its funding arrangements, service delivery, workforce, training, capacity and supporting structures.

Guideline on the application of the premises standards - 2011

  • Australian Human Rights Commission

04 April 2011This guide has been issued to help designers, architects, builders and clients to better understand the Disability (Access to Premises - buildings) Standards 2010  which will commence on 1 May 2011.

Arts for all: opening doors to people with a disability

15 February 2010This guide provides practical and long-term ways for artists and arts organisations to enhance their access, market their events to the disabled community and build new audiences.

Audio

D-I-Y asbestos

Listen to audio
05 September 2011D-I-Y home renovations have led to higher asbestos exposure and a subsequent rise in malignant mesothelioma.

Water bugs

Listen to audio
25 July 2011Every year more than 200 people in Queensland get very sick with a nasty, little understood, hard-to-treat type of bacteria. Other states report none. Why? Our water supply is now so complex, things are overlooked.

Health policy

Healthy lifestyle programs for physical activity and nutrition

01 February 2012Over half (51%) of Indigenous people living in non-remote parts of Australia aged 15 and over do very little or no exercise, compared with 33% of non-Indigenous Australians (AIHW 2011a).

Health; Community services; Housing and homelessness

30 January 2012This report  provides an overview of the health sector, presenting both contextual information and high level performance information.

Video

The focussed life

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28 September 2009While receiving treatment for cancer, US author Winifred Gallagher noticed how much better she felt if she focussed on her family's immediate needs, rather than her painful therapy.

The brain that changes itself

Listen to audio
21 September 2009The cliche that you can't teach an old dog new tricks may soon be obsolete. The more we learn about the human brain, the more we understand the potential that it has to change, adapt and grow.

Disability

Work-related injuries in Australia: Who did and didn't receive workers' compensation in 2009-10

09 January 2012Analysing the results of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Work-related Injuries Survey, this report finds that of the 567 500 employees injured while working in 2009-10, only 38 per cent of them received workers' compensation.

Websites

Index of Victorian Women’s Health and Wellbeing

08 September 2010An online gateway to evidence-based health and wellbeing data on Victorian women and girls across a wide variety of indicators relevant to a social model of health.

Austral Peace and Security Network

21 September 2009Austral Peace and Security Network (APSNet) Bulletin covers critical national and regional security issues, broadly understood, in Australia and the surrounding region.

Croakey: the Crikey health blog

25 August 2009The Croakey blog is a forum for debate and discussion about health issues and policy.

Most viewed: This week

1
The experience of education: The impacts of high stakes testing on school students and their families
2
Juvenile detention population in Australia 2011
3
Can nations measure well-being?
4
Australian Policy Online top reports for Health 2011
5
Gender indicators, Australia, Jan 2012

Books

A Decent Provision: Australian Welfare Policy, 1870 to 1949

A Decent Provision: Australian Welfare Policy, 1870 to 1949

  • John Murphy
  • Ashgate
A Decent Provision is a narrative history of how and why Australia built a distinctive welfare regime in the period from the 1870s to 1949.
Leadership Beyond Good Intentions - What It Takes To Really Make A Difference

Leadership Beyond Good Intentions - What It Takes To Really Make A Difference

  • Geoff Aigner
  • Allen & Unwin
Good intentions are not enough. You want to change things in your organisation or in the world, but despite your best efforts you run into obstacles and resistance. The temptation is to see the challenges as lying outside ourselves. We grasp at a model or a tool, or we find other people slow to get the point or worse - obstructive. But the real challenge we face is often ourselves.

Noticeboard

Topic Guides

A guide to understanding and working with General Practice in NSW

20 May 2011Providing an outline of general practice, this resource considers its uniformity and diversity; its funding arrangements, service delivery, workforce, training, capacity and supporting structures.

Topics

APO