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Objectives: To analyze Australia's high-cited papers (HCPs) receiving ≥100 citations in pharmacology during 2002–2021 and examine the research characteristics, study performance of the top 30 leading participating organizations and authors, and identification of top 30 journals publishing in this area and sub-fields of their research. Materials and Methods: Australia's HCPs on pharmacology research from the top 30 most productive organizations were identified and extracted from the Scopus database from 2002 to 2021 on 21 September 2022 using a search strategy. Select bibliometric measures were utilized to evaluate the publication productivity of important players in this area. The network analysis was performed to evaluate the collaborative interactions amongst the countries, organizations, authors, and keywords. Results: Of the 19,418 Australia's publications (articles) in pharmacology from the top 30 most productive organizations during 2002–2022, only 685 (3.53%) were HCPs, which together received 1,14,623 citations, averaging 164.4 citations per paper (CPP) and the citations ranged from 100 to 1,230. Two papers had more than 1,000 citations and 16 papers had 500 citations. Of the 685 HCPs, 40.58% (278) and 11.39% (78) received external funding support and were international collaboratives. The most productive organizations were Monash University (n = 155), the University of Queensland (n = 111) and the University of Melbourne (n = 97). The most impactful organizations in terms of CPP and relative citation index (RCI) were James Cook University (203.22 and 1.21), Australian National University (196.67 and 1.18) and Queensland University of Technology (193.45 and 1.16). The most productive authors were J. Li (n = 24), C. J. H. Porter (n = 24) and R. L. Nation (n = 23) (Monash University, Melbourne); and the most impactful authors in terms of CPP were A. Christopoulos (Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Melbourne) (288.21), C.W. Pouton (Monash University, Melbourne) (241.50), and D.L. Peterson (University of Queensland, Brisbane) (225.58). The most productive journals were Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (n = 59), Environmental Pollution (n = 43) and Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (n = 42). The most impactful journals in terms of CPP were Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (371.8), Antiviral Research (286.86) and European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (253.0). The most important keywords with their frequency of appearances were Animal Experiments (108), Metabolism (76), Drug Effects (67), Animal Models (65), Protein Expression (64), Anti-Bacterial Agents (62), Drug Delivery Systems (54), Drug Formulation (44), Signal Transduction (42), and so on. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to increase national funding and expand international collaboration in priority areas, which will help to increase and diversify research output and improve research impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare contributes to environmental harm. Trainee-led Research and Audit in Anaesthesia for Sustainable Healthcare (TRA2SH) is an Australasian network focused on sustainable anaesthesia practice. TRA2SH hypothesised that trainee-led audits alongside education presented on a scheduled national day, called Operation Clean Up, can improve engagement with sustainability initiatives. This paper aims to describe the first two years of Operation Clean Up in terms of goals, achievements and data collected so far. Environmental themes for Operation Clean Up were chosen based on available evidence (life cycle analyses and observational studies). The first Operation Clean Up (OCU 2020) focused on reducing the unnecessary use of single-use disposable absorbent pads (known as 'blueys' in Australia, 'greenies' in New Zealand). OCU 2021 included: refuse desflurane, reduce bluey use, reuse drug trays, and recycle paper and cardboard. TRA2SH provided an information pack to trainees who presented educational material to their department and fed back procurement figures to quantify each item. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse de-identified pooled data submitted to a centralised database. Eight departments submitted data for OCU 2020 and six provided follow-up data. Bluey use was reduced from a median of 37 to 34 blueys per ten surgical encounters. Fifteen departments submitted pre-campaign data for OCU 2021 with follow-up data to be collected during OCU 2022. Baseline data showed a median bluey use of 31 per ten surgical encounters. Volatile-related emissions were calculated; desflurane's proportion was 70% of these emissions yet was 11% of volatile procurement. Two participating departments removed desflurane from their formulary following OCU 2021. Operation Clean Up is a practical model for implementing sustainability initiatives using trainees as eco-leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have ethnically diverse populations and marketing practitioners need to consider these diversities when undertaking research, particularly when exploring sensitive topics. In Australia, Indigenous Australians make up 3.3% of the population and are a commonly researched audience to gauge attitudes and ensure cultural offense does not occur due to unintended consequences of marketing activity. However, obtaining information from such a vulnerable group using quantitively based surveys is often inappropriate or insensitive. This paper introduces to Euro-western market researchers the concepts of flipping and yarning as a market research approach that has been used by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years. This circular market research approach demonstrates that ensuring a cultural understanding of the community can provide a foundation for a research approach that is 'considered' and respectful. It is hoped that this type of methodology can be used with other vulnerable communities as well as other diverse groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May 2020 at the height of Australia's first national COVID lockdown, NewsCorp Australia announced that more than 125 regional newspapers would either be closed or become available online-only. Queensland was hit hard with 22 regional and 20 community newspapers shifting to online formats, and 15 community newspapers closing. Yet within months of the NewsCorp changes, a significant number of new print newspapers were being announced to fill the 'news deserts'. Broadly welcomed by those in these local communities, the new publications suggest a reinvigoration of long-standing norms and tenets, many of which are specific to regional print news media, such as community-centred, locally-shaped news values and high reliance on 'micro-ads' (i.e. classifieds) and hyper-local business revenue. But given the dire prognostications about print business models, what are the aims and intentions of these start-ups (n = 22), and how do they translate their notions of community-centric news into business models they perceive as viable? Drawing on Hanitzsch and Vos framework for the discursive constructions of journalists' role in society, we find these newspaper start-ups both reassert and claim more vigorously the normative values associated with community journalism as 'social glue', while also developing 'lean start-up' business models that capitalise on the sense of a local newspaper's 'social good' functions through an affective rationale. We argue this represents a shift to a new 'hybrid' model, with strong elements of a traditional and still feisty monitorial news values fusing with a more 'morale-enhancing' and explicitly social cohesion-centric role conceptions. We call it a 'community cohesion model'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws together critical learnings from diverse qualitative health research projects in Australia that sought to shift power and focus on the strengths and expertise of people with lived experience who are involved as co-researchers. These projects have included exploring and challenging identities, understanding experiences in treatment programs, critiquing and designing/re-designing services, and sharing experiences with the wider community in novel and innovative ways. Lived experiences included alcohol and other drug dependency, mental health, domestic, family or sexual violence, and living with HIV. This paper provides important learnings and actions about partnering with co-researchers with lived experience. In this paper we draw on a process of reflective discussions that occurred over six months with fortnightly online meetings between co-researchers, including co-authors with lived experience external to academia and university-based researchers, some of whom also have lived-experience that intersects with their research. From this, we distilled key learnings across seven themes: (1) the ethics of ethics, which highlights a need for constant reflection on the ethical issues in co-research; (2) recruiting co-researchers, which focuses on ensuring and integrating a diversity of voices; (3) creating safety for all, which must be a priority of engagement and support self-determination; (4) supporting different ways of partnering, which emphasises the need for diverse roles and ways to contribute on research teams; (5) capacity building and training, which requires ongoing evaluation of needs and tailored responses; (6) positioning, which highlights the need to transition from the idea of vulnerability to a strengths-based perspective of lived experience; and (7) power plays, reflecting the need to disrupt the dynamics and established hierarchies of privileging certain forms of knowledge and expertise. The paper includes recommendations for action against these seven themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper critiques the haematological monitoring guidelines for clozapine. It describes the history of clozapine, as well as the pathophysiology and epidemiology of clozapine-induced neutropenia (CIN) and agranulocytosis (CIA). The paper appraises the extant literature on mandatory clozapine haematological monitoring. Conclusion: Contemporary Australian protocols for clozapine haematological monitoring are not consistent with the current evidence base. CIN and CIA are rare occurrences, and the associated risk of death is low. Potential modifications to existing guidelines include changing neutrophil thresholds for patients with benign ethnic neutropenia and reducing the frequency or removing haematological monitoring after two years of clozapine treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent global pandemic renewed the importance of telecommunication infrastructure, as many COVID responses (e.g., working from home, home-schooling, e-commerce) were challenged by the inequity of access to broadband services and its underlying network. This paper examines the geospatial footprint of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in relation to the demographics of Australia's cities and regions. Through data made available by the NBN, which describes the technologies used in its multi-technology mix platform, and published demographic data available via the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), we explore the equity of access to broadband technologies across the nation. The results show a persistent urban-regional divide in the NBN. The paper also offers a brief assessment of the complex and contradictory ways policy responses attempt to mitigate the digital divide, including updates to the national infrastructure project plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking to assess the current state of international broadcasters (IBs) within the framework of public diplomacy, this paper assesses the relevance of state-sponsored IBs within the contemporary public diplomacy. This paper focuses on the IBs of two neighboring countries, Indonesia and Australia, and political authorities' dynamic support for their services. Data were obtained through desk reviews of IB policies, in-depth interviews, and online observation of the websites of Siaran Luar Negeri (SLN, Indonesia's IB) and ABC Radio Australia (RA, Australia's IB). This paper finds that both countries have continued to use IBs for their public diplomacy, yet 'political parallelism' determines the position and sustainability of each. SLN has had limited political support and faced a series of managerial crises, while RA has enjoyed the fruitful support of the Australian authorities and has been heavily involved in public diplomacy in the Asia–Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articulation of school autonomy into practice nationally, regionally and locally is highly situated in terms of what it enables or impedes with regard to the professional autonomy of principals and teachers. Principal autonomy does not necessarily mean greater teacher professional autonomy. In this paper, we draw on a three-year qualitative study investigating the social justice implications of school autonomy reform in Australia. We present interview data from a case study of a large secondary college to present two conflicting stories of autonomy. Supported by a managerial restructure reflecting distributed leadership, we juxtapose the positive account of autonomy expressed by the leadership team with the negative one expressed by teachers. We explore the justice implications of this disjuncture and argue the importance of critically examining the complex ways in which the intentions and enactments of distributed leadership can be differently articulated and understood within the context of school autonomy reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual model paper uses systems theory to explain how key elements in the Australian policy and regulatory context lead to three issues of concern in childcare centre physical environments: siting of centres on busy roads; lack of outdoor space; and, emergency evacuation in highrise buildings. Drawing on evidence from prior studies and policy documents through desktop research, as well as childcare centre visits and communications with stakeholders and experts, we confirmed these issues as threats to children's health, safety, development and well-being. Adapting Goekler's 'iceberg model' of systems theory, we identified a dominance of commercial childcare property interests and complex and conflicting policy and regulatory structures, as explanatory elements leading to outcomes that conflict with children's best interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the application of Constructivist Grounded Theory (C-GT) methodology for social work research. First, it argues that C-GT methodology is well aligned with social work as the two value the individual in the context of their environmental influences. Both also prioritise the importance of respecting and valuing the participant or individual, seeing their perspective as unique and significant. Finally, this research methodology's systematic yet flexible guidelines align with social work ethics, which also focus on the importance of professional integrity. The paper then provides an example of a C-GT PhD study in relation to an area of social work practice, that is, stability in statutory kinship care in Queensland, Australia. The paper details the specific recruitment and sampling of participants, data collection and coding analysis examples from the PhD study. The examples evidence the relevance of C-GT methodology and its application for research in the area of social work practice, specifically statutory kinship care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Rapid increases in the utility of vascular ultrasound combined with increasing expectations from reporting physicians have required a shift to a more defined professional role for the vascular sonographer in Australia. This has created increasing pressure on newly qualified sonographers to be more job-ready and better able to navigate the challenges of the clinical workplace early in their career. Topic Description: There is a distinct lack of structured strategies that newly qualified sonographers can utilise to assist their transition from student to employee. In our paper, we aimed to answer the question of 'What makes a sonographer a Professional?' with the view to extending understanding of how a structured framework can assist the development of a professional identity and can encourage participating in Continuing Professional Development by the newly qualified sonographer. Discussion: The authors reviewed their own clinical experiences and the current literature to source tangible and practical strategies that can be easily enacted by newly qualified sonographers to motivate their continuing growth. Through this review, the 'Domains of Professionalism in the role of the sonographer' framework was developed. In this framework, we describe the various domains of professionalism and their associated dimensions, making it specific to the discipline of sonography and to the point of view of a newly qualified sonographer. Conclusion: Our paper contributes to the discussion on Continuing Professional Development using a purposeful and targeted approach to support newly qualified sonographers across all discipline areas of ultrasound specialisation to navigate the often challenging pathway to becoming a professional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is underpinned by the hypothesis that if Australia is to reassess and improve its relationship to and use of rivers and river systems, then more holistic ways of understanding rivers, and strategies for representing and communicating this understanding, must be developed and brought together. Held over two days in August 2019 at the Lismore campus of Southern Cross University, 'Speaking With the River' was an interdisciplinary symposium exploring the capacities of creative research practice to develop new understandings of rivers and river systems as simultaneously environmental, cultural, historical and economic phenomena. In this article, we bring together the voices and disciplinary insights from the symposium and the rivers of Northern New South Wales, and we reflect on the way that riverine language ran throughout our discussions and ideas, providing a connective model of confluences and conjunctions for the interdisciplinary enterprise we were engaged in. This article presents perspectives on rivers and river systems from law, history, art and science, exploring common ground and common purposes. Developing a legal framework for recognising the rights and 'voices' of rivers, that is informed by Indigenous knowledges, historical contexts, and scientific understanding, and that employs artistic innovation in representation and translation, is to us the ultimate goal of such an enquiry. While this paper does not undertake the formal steps of developing this framework, it provides the necessary background and instantiates its elements and working methods within the context of the Richmond River in Northern New South Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper describes the rationale for and development of an innovative mental health service for people aged over 65 years living in Northern and Eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Conclusion: The Healthy Ageing Service (HAS) was established in July 2020 to provide care for people aged over 65 years experiencing mild-to-moderate mental health concerns. It embraces a prevention and early intervention model of care. It provides primary consultation and brief intervention, secondary consultation, and capacity building to the primary healthcare sector. This innovative service is a Commonwealth-funded partnership between two tertiary mental health service providers that incorporates the recommendations from two major Royal Commissions. It demonstrates a service that acts as a bridge between primary and specialist mental health care, thereby extending mental health services to target the 'missing middle' and is potentially a model for mental health service provision throughout Victoria and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with dementia from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds often face poor health and social outcomes such as stigma, depression, and reduced help seeking behaviours. Dementia friendly communities have been shown to reduce stigma, and the gap in health and social outcomes for people impacted by dementia. Despite the large presence of established dementia friendly communities, their functioning in multicultural communities remains underexplored. The aim of this review was to identify the barriers and facilitators of cultural inclusivity to inform the development of a multicultural dementia friendly community. We systematically searched for academic and grey literature regarding existing and prospective age or dementia-friendly communities that engaged with culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Using the matrix method, data on the barriers and facilitators to engagement were extracted. Papers were analysed for common themes and findings were integrated in a narrative format. A total of 3,164 papers were identified, 11 of which met inclusion criteria. There were 6 dementia friendly communities in North America, 3 in Europe, 1 in Australia and 1 in Asia. Analyses revealed that barriers to cultural inclusivity were centered around the accessibility of services, sociocultural factors, and the environment, including issues such as low awareness of dementia and stigma, language barriers, isolation, and the inaccessibility of transport and buildings. Leveraging existing cultural leaders and social structures to target culturally and linguistically diverse populations and develop tailored dementia friendly initiatives were key facilitators. To foster cultural inclusivity in dementia friendly communities, a culturally specific lens that addresses these barriers and utilises facilitators must be applied from the design stage through to implementation and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little Haven is a rural, community-based specialist palliative care service in Gympie, Australia. Its goals are to provide highest quality of care, support and education for those experiencing or anticipating serious illness and loss. Families and communities work alongside clinical services, with community engagement influencing compassionate care and support of dying people, their families and communities. Public Health Palliative Care promotes community engagement by community-based palliative care services and is grounded in equal partnerships between civic life, community members, patients and carers, and service providers. This takes many forms, including what we have termed the 'citizen organization'. Objectives: This paper reports on an evaluation of Little Haven's model of care and explores the organization's place as a 'citizen' of the community it services. Design: A co-designed evaluation approach utilizing mixed-method design is used. Methods: Multiple data sources obtained a broad perspective of the model of care including primary qualitative data from current patients, current carers, staff, volunteers and organizational stakeholders (interviews and focus groups); and secondary quantitative survey data from bereaved carers. Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were generated. Results: This model of care demonstrates common service elements including early access to holistic, patient/family-centred, specialized palliative care at little or no cost to users, with strong community engagement. These elements enable high-quality care for patients and carers who describe the support as 'over and above', enabling good quality of life and care at home. Staff and volunteers perceive the built-in flexibility of the model as critical to its outcomes; the interface between the service and the community is similarly stressed as a key service element. Organizational stakeholders observed the model as a product of local activism and accountability to the community. Conclusion: All participant groups agree the service model enables the delivery of excellent care. The construction of a community palliative care service as a citizen organization emerged as a new concept. Plain language summary: 'Citizen organization': an Australian community-based palliative care service model Little Haven is a rural, community-based specialist palliative care service in Gympie, Australia. It aims to provide highest quality of care, support and education for those experiencing or anticipating serious illness and loss. Families and communities work alongside clinical services, with community engagement influencing compassionate care and support of dying people, their families and communities. Public Health Palliative Care promotes community engagement by community-based palliative care services in equal partnerships between civic organizations, community members, patients and carers, and service providers. We undertook an evaluation of Little Haven's model of care by speaking with current patients, current and past carers, staff, volunteers and stakeholders about their experiences of Little Haven. We found that Little Haven's model contains the essential elements of a palliative care service and provides early access to holistic, patient/family-centred, specialized palliative care at little or no cost to users. They have strong community engagement with a strong background in community activism. We identified that Little Haven's 'being in the community' goes beyond service provision or even sentiment. We observed a symbiotic relationship between the organization and the community it supports in what we have termed the 'citizen organization'. The distinctive characteristic of the citizen organization is its inseparability from the community in which it dwells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime rates in Australia have declined or been steady over the past decade yet prison populations are at all-time highs. Similarly, unemployment rates have been low but unemployment for those ex-prisoners seeking work is very high. In this paper, we draw on the findings of an Australia-wide survey of government-funded employment service providers who support working-aged Australians including ex-prisoners in their search for work. We find that the heterogeneity of the needs of ex-prisoners coupled with the frugality and inflexibility of government policies and practices frustrates the abilities of these agencies to provide services to this target group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with similar research mainly focusing on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Australian mainstream media using discourse analysis, this paper explores the reasons for the narrative shift by conducting semi-structured interviews with leading and well-known Australian narrative producers. This paper takes two conditions as a given. Firstly, the BRI narratives in Australian mainstream media shifted in tone from mostly positive to highly critical. Secondly, the Australian mainstream media's increasingly negative attitudes towards the BRI are essentially not just about the BRI but the Chinese government. Based on my analysis and interviews, this paper makes contributions by filling in the gap of finding out reasons to explain this narrative shift. More concretely, this paper finds out that while mainstream media is influential in many areas of national policy making, mainstream media reporting on foreign affairs is less so. By comparison, the Australian government's BRI or China policy has a significant impact on Australian mainstream media reporting. This narrative shift has been driven by international politics and Australia's China policy, influenced by Australian audiences' preference of local news and their local position, and its democratic responsibilities. Meanwhile, the vagueness and constant changing characteristics of the BRI do not help the understanding of the BRI in Australian media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with a series of COVID-19 related lockdowns in Australia across 2020 and 2021, and anxious about the safety of our research participants, we developed a novel approach to body mapping, an arts-based research method typically undertaken in-person. We produced a facilitated body mapping workshop hosted via an online videoconferencing platform. Workshops brought together 29 participants with disability, mental distress and/or refugee background who used body mapping to represent their embodied experiences of stigma and discrimination. These workshops generated rich data, and participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the process. In this paper we describe our novel approach to body mapping, and share practical tips for others who wish to undertake body mapping remotely. We outline strengths associated with this method: increased accessibility, enhanced connection between participants, the formation of a space to explore challenging subject matter, the production of rich data, and the creation of diverse body maps. We also discuss shortcomings and challenges which those considering the method should be aware of: increased logistical burden, demands related to space, IT difficulties, the danger of over-sharing, and diminished cohort sizes. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to report on body mapping facilitated via web-based workshops. Here, we seek to provide practical advice and useful insights for others hoping to utilise body mapping online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"I have never had a case that involved a female perpetrator of coercive control, and no such cases are documented in the literature" (Stark, 2007, p. 377). Stark's observation has become somewhat of a "truism" in the wider debate surrounding coercive control. Yet simultaneously coercive control is asserted as a gendered process, understandings of which appear to have elided and conflated victimhood and perpetration with femininity and masculinity. The purpose of this paper, based on empirical data, is to unpick some of these elisions and conflations and offer a more nuanced understanding of these debates using the lens of hegemonic masculinity. This paper is based on data derived from a national online survey conducted in Australia in 2021. The aim of this paper is to explore, and better understand male reported experiences of coercive control victimisation. The survey was completed by 1261 people, 206 (17%) of whom identified as men. These 206 responses are the focus of this paper. Representing one of the most comprehensive studies of men's self-reported experiences of coercive control, this survey data provides some insight into how male victim-survivors define and understand what they considered to be their experiences of coercive control. The findings provide an opportunity to offer a more nuanced appreciation of men's experiences of being in control, out of control or losing control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, drawing on the published medical literature and unpublished medical record archives, provides an in-depth account of the introduction of malaria therapy for general paralysis of the insane into Australia in 1925–6, at Victoria's Sunbury Hospital for the Insane. This study reveals a complex and ambiguous picture of the practice and therapeutic impact of malaria therapy in this local setting. This research highlights a number of factors which may have contributed to some physicians overestimating malaria therapy's effectiveness. It also shows that other physicians of the era held a more sceptical attitude towards malaria therapy. Finally, this paper discusses the relevance of this history to contemporary psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: High quality research involving Indigenous people with cognitive impairment and dementia is critical for informing evidence-based policy and practice. We examined the volume, scope and ethical considerations of research related to dementia with Indigenous populations globally from January 2000–December 2021. Methods: Studies were included if they were published in English from 2000 to 2021 and provided original data that focused on cognitive impairment or dementia in any Indigenous population. Results: The search yielded 13,009 papers of which, 76 met inclusion criteria. The overall number of papers increased over time. Studies were mostly conducted in Australia with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (n = 30; 39%). Twenty-six papers directly involved Indigenous participants with cognitive impairment or dementia. Of these studies, ethics approval was commonly required from two or more committees (n = 23, 88.5%). Ethical and legal governance frameworks were rarely discussed. Discussion: There is a clear need for further robust studies examining cognitive impairment and dementia with Indigenous populations. Future research should consider the ethical aspects of involving Indigenous participants with cognitive impairment in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence protection orders are civil court orders intended to protect victim/survivors from further violence by prohibiting alleged perpetrators from engaging in threatened or actual violence or harassment of victim/survivors and their children. However, their availability and ultimately their effectiveness is limited by complex procedural requirements and court accessibility barriers that victim/survivors can find intimidating, confusing, and unsafe, and that contribute to delays between lodgment of an application and the making of an intervention order by the court. This study examined the experiences of applicants who used either a conventional court process or an online application process that was trialed in three courts in Victoria, Australia. We examined court data on 791 applicants who sought an intervention order at the three courts during the study period, and interviewed 28 applicants including 12 who had applied online. We also examined the impact of the online process on court workloads and risk assessments, and conducted interviews and focus groups with magistrates and registry staff at each of the three trial locations. Compared with the court registry process, the online application was rated as simpler and easier to understand and less stressful. Online applicants also reported that the application process was more accessible and enhanced their sense of agency. The online application process also reduced the workload of court staff and resulted in faster case processing, with online applicants reaching the court hearing stage nearly 2 weeks earlier than paper-based applicants. However, we did not find that the online application process provided earlier or better risk identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this methodological paper is to discuss the challenges of conducting fieldwork, using reflections from our experiences of accessing a research site for ethnographic data collection. The research project aimed to explore nurses' social relations in their workplace and the inequities between and within these relations among nurses of diverse social positions. Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, access to the research site posed several challenges and was further complicated by the bureaucratic ethics process that governs clinical sites in Australia. Although this study was considered a low and negligible risk research, negotiating the ethics process was full of hitches and hindrances resulting in the refusal of access. This paper offers ethnographers a reflection on challenges in accessing clinical sites to conduct research and a discussion of strategies that may be useful to navigate and counter these challenges by managing social relations in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has consistently established the positive impact of sharing books with young children. Evidence suggests several important factors when evaluating book sharing with young children, including the quality of educator practice = and the nature of groupings, as well as the frequency and duration of book sharing sessions and access to books. Other evidence suggests book sharing may be particularly important for children from low ses backgrounds attending early learning settings. This paper reports on a larger study which investigated the factors and relationships influencing the use of children's literature to support principles of diversity in kindergarten rooms of long day care centres. A mixed methods approach was adopted and a convergent design was employed to synthesise the qualitative and quantitative data and interpret significant relationships and their meanings. The quality of educator practice was measured through the Systematic Assessment of Book Reading (SABR) and Children's engagement in book sharing was assessed using the Children's Orientation to Book Reading Rating Scale. Detailed analysis of 148 video recorded book sharing sessions produced statistical representations of the frequency and duration of book sharing across the contexts and the nature of involvement of the children in the study. Twenty four educators and 110 children from four long day care centres in Western Australia participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, video-based observations, field notes, document analysis and a book audit. The results showed that while the children in this study had a range of book sharing experiences, few of these were frequent or of high quality. Of great concern is the finding that the children in this study most likely to be considered at risk of educational disadvantage were those with the least exposure to book sharing in general, and, even less so, to high quality book sharing, raising concerns about equitable outcomes for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The quality of the helping relationship is experienced when theories and principles are enacted in practice. Here, the people social workers seek to serve are able to decide whether the practice they experience is useful. One way that social workers can enhance the quality of the relationships they develop is to 'start where the person is at'. In order to explore what this phrase means in and for effective social work practice, this paper revisits Martin Buber's articulation of the I/thou relationship seeking to shed light on the notion of personhood in this value-based profession. Two participants, within a larger research project exploring the experiences of social workers in the Australian child welfare field, independently used the language of personhood to refer to the way they conceptualised the process of engaging with people. Both were referring to enacting the transcendent value of each person in terms of a practice philosophy. These personal narratives inspired the authors to move away from the usual professional discourse about the skills involved in relationship building and instead reflect on their own practice in order to capture something philosophical about caring relational processes. Revisiting humanistic conceptualisations of the helping relationship such as the I/thou has the potential to discourage practitioners from seeing relationships as transactional. This has particular significance in practice contexts characterised as risk-averse, austere or involuntary, and/or where people may be feeling anxious, stressed and/or simply unheard. Contemporary implications for social work practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter to the editor highlights methodological and interpretational issues with a recent paper on private outpatient psychiatric consultation fees in Australia. The authors argue that the study's data collection is incomplete and does not accurately reflect real-world clinical practice. They also point out that the paper fails to acknowledge certain factors, such as state-to-federal cost-shifting and government subsidies, which can affect the estimation of out-of-pocket costs for patients. The authors question the validity of the study's findings and criticize the discussion for proposing actions that are not supported by the data. They suggest that broader consideration of the healthcare context and access to cost subsidies may be necessary to improve equitable accessibility to care. [Extracted from the article]

The new prominence of ordinary voice in crime journalism – claims to have seen things, experienced things, felt things 'first-hand' – has the potential to decenter elite perspectives and open up crime news narratives to the voices of systemically criminalized subjects. However, I argue in this paper that the political potential of ordinary voice can only be realized in and through concrete instances of its use, and so needs to be examined within news texts as sites of micro-political struggle over meaning. Looking at Australian current affairs television coverage of so-called 'African gang' crime in Melbourne, this paper approaches crime news texts as sites of vulnerability politics, where different and sometimes competing claims to vulnerability encounter one another and struggle for public recognition. A close multi-modal analysis of three episodes of current affairs television uncovers four specific strategies of textual composition and presentation by which the criminalization of Black African youth is able to persist despite the testimonial interventions of the criminalized: appropriation, marginalization, subjugation and calculation. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this analysis for future studies of ordinary voice and citizen testimony in news reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studio music teachers have always been constant in Australian society, rarely recognised beyond their immediate surrounds. Building a 'connection' of students required advertising, primarily by word-of-mouth or via local press announcements. Few teachers placed individual advertisements in local papers. This changed in 1911 with the establishment of monthly The Australian Musical News, intended to report and support musicians and music teachers. In its first edition, four studio music teachers placed advertisements, first to use this new opportunity. We unfold the stories of Mrs. Arthur Royce, Herr Franz O. Schieblich, James Ure, and J. Alfred Johnstone. By happenstance, their diverse careers capture the different ways of being a studio teacher in contemporary Australia. We note the unchanging nature of studio music teaching and suggest that, with the exception of technologies, the activities of these four teachers resonate with modern practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide has a devasting and far-reaching effect on our communities. In developed countries, most people who die by suicide are male. Understanding men's mental health and what they experience in a suicidal state is key to preventing future attempts. Our paper explores how a group of 37 men in Australia describe the leadup to their suicidality. Underpinned by interpretive phenomenological analysis, interview transcripts were examined for phrases that the investigative team subjectively identified as profound. Our approach considered language and expression that evoke reactions to the sometimes contradictory nature of suicide. The process enabled our team to identify the emotions, rationales, and motivations for and against suicide that give rise to and arise during suicidal states. One man's source of strength may be another's cause of anguish, so any single, one-size-fits-all pathway to suicide prevention is unlikely to succeed, signaling the need for a tailored approach to suicide prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have found that many post-secondary music students suffer from physical and mental health issues. However, researchers have mainly studied these problems at the individual level, with little investigation of how music students' work is shaped by the coordinating effects of policies, texts, and discourses at and beyond their local site. This paper describes a protocol for an international project that will explore the health of music students in the context of their daily work. Using an institutional ethnography approach, we will examine the social organization of music students' work at three universities: two in Canada and one in Australia. This will be the first set of studies that use institutional ethnography specifically for the purpose of understanding how the social organization of music students' work shapes their health. Data will be collected using several methods common to institutional ethnography: interviews, focus groups, observations, and collecting texts. Data analysis will begin during the data collection process and proceed in two fluid stages. The first stage will involve a detailed investigation of the pertinent work activities at each music school. The second will involve linking that work to specific social relations within and beyond the institution. After data analysis has been completed at all three sites, findings will be compared to one another to identify commonalities and differences in how students' work is organized. Findings of the entire project may inform policy-making and lead to positive change at the institutions studied, as well as others where similar social organization may occur. The novel approach described here will provide opportunities to expand current knowledge about music students' work and health beyond what has been learned through approaches that focus on students' individual behaviours and attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the links between place attachment and older persons' preferences to age in place, and factors that disrupt these preferences. We use data from the 2001–2021 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and panel-data modelling to confirm strong associations between several place attachment dimensions and aging-in-place preferences. Strong ties to children, strong social capital, residence in social housing, homeownership status, housing wealth, and home and neighborhood satisfaction are all positively linked to a stronger preference to age in place. Our findings reveal important differences between older homeowners and older non-owners. For owners, closeness to children is a strong predictor of aging-in-place preferences, although mortgage debt can trigger involuntary moves. For non-owners, tenure security achieved through longer durations at one's address of residence is linked to stronger aging-in-place preferences. However, private renters are more often exposed to involuntary moves. We discuss the policy implications of these disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has a long history of privately owned utility price regulation, one that is little known. This price control was designed to restrain the market power of several utilities (gas, rail, tramways, electricity, and water). The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to establish what types of price control that were used in Australia in the utilities sector before the First World War and to determine the degree to which this price control influenced efficiency. As price levels in this era were set in legislation, the lack of flexibility led to less-than-optimal outcomes, and eventually and led to new approaches were developed after 1912 to the utilities that remained in private ownership, and in some cases influenced the movement in Australia towards government control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Doctors with a history of mental health or substance use challenges face barriers accessing treatment and are difficult to recruit for research. This makes understanding their experiences challenging, yet essential. Overcoming barriers to research participation among unwell doctors is critical to advancing their overall health and wellbeing. Methods: A qualitative interview study of 21 allegedly impaired doctors in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand who were subject to regulatory processes relating to their health. Based in an interpretative phenomenological paradigm, this paper examines participants' motivations for participation in this study and their reactions to participating. It highlights wider implications for sensitive research involving doctors and marginalised groups. Results: Participants were strongly motivated to participate in our research for their own benefit (desire to be heard, catharsis, and empowerment) and to benefit others (to change the system, and to avoid other doctors experiencing what they experienced). Careful planning and communication of unique legal risks fostered a trusting researcher-participant relationship. To assist other researchers undertaking sensitive qualitative research with vulnerable participants, we describe our research protocol, challenges, and successes in detail. Conclusions: Despite ethical concerns about research risk, researchers can and should pursue qualitative research into the experiences of under-represented groups, including allegedly impaired doctors. Without involving them in research that examines issues directly impacting on them, we may be inadvertently perpetuating the barriers and stigma that also hinder them from accessing treatment and support. This also deprives us of knowledge that can be used to improve doctors' health. This paper has broader relevance for anyone doing research with doctors, people in vulnerable positions, people disempowered by institutional or social systems, people who are stigmatised or shamed, and people who have experienced trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article undertakes a cross-national comparison of the aerospace sectors in two 'liberal' countries, the UK and Australia, examining how several multinational firms engage with engineering skill institutions: regulation of entry to profession, entry-level and ongoing training. The paper empirically demonstrates and theoretically argues that the social partners and employment protection institutions can in certain contexts play an important role in professional skill development. Institutional legacy matters, shaping multinational responses and providing distinct resources for various actors including unions. Tension between existing skill institutions ('country' or 'sector' effects) and the capacity of multinationals (MNCs) to shape practices are addressed. Both country cases demonstrate how MNCs may be able to shape practices in such a way that they create 'MNC' effects, defined as a combination of large firm/subsidiary, and 'corporate' effects, that affect engineering skill development for other firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, racism remains a challenge to dismantle within public health institutions. This paper examines the pressures I experienced from some public health scholars and practitioners to conform to colonial and positivist approaches in knowledge production that still dominate the field. To challenge this hegemony, my research practices turned into what Mignolo calls "epistemic disobedience," an approach to delink from Western ways of producing knowledge. Based on this experiential learning process, I argue epistemic disobedience should not be overlooked in the discussion of decolonizing research and antiracist pedagogy in the context of doctoral training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic scholarship analyses how citizenship law reforms such as longer residency requirements and tougher language tests reinforce culturally exclusionary national narratives. Citizenship ceremonies however, have largely escaped scholarly attention. Drawing on Australia as a case study, this article addresses that gap. After examining how Australian citizenship is performed at ceremonies, this article argues that although the government states that citizenship ceremonies should welcome new citizens, deep suspicions about the cultural diversity of migrants are also conveyed. This paper contributes to an understanding of how citizenship ceremonies reinforce culturally exclusionary national narratives, even where the legal criteria for acquiring citizenship status is non-discriminatory. This paper also illustrates how citizenship ceremonies are important sites for the construction and communication of legal identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) have each witnessed a 'punitive turn' in relation to youth justice responses. A lack of contextualisation, such as the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences on young people, is often overlooked by media outlets, governments and policymakers, in favour of individual pathologisation of young people. In direct contrast to these punitive responses, the public health approach (PHA) has emerged particularly in the UK; and it identifies experiences of trauma as one of the leading causes of violence within communities. Drawing on the perspectives of those working with children and young people, we critically explore whether the implementation of a PHA could be an effective approach to addressing the underlying causes of young people's involvement in violence. The paper focuses specifically on a case study of the youth justice system in Victoria, Australia and draws on domestic and global perspectives of key stakeholders, to consider whether the introduction of a PHA in Victoria, Australia, would position young people's diverse needs at the centre of policy change in youth justice and better outcomes for young people and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Words and stories have the power to resonate with people. Composite narratives can be constructed using multiple participant accounts, representing their experiences while also capturing the properties and categories of qualitative research findings. The ability of composite narratives to represent the multiple facets of theory construction through a singular narrative point-of-view is unique and provides a concise and credible method to present research findings. This paper explains how composite narratives can be constructed to present the research data that findings are built upon through an illustrative example of the process. The example of a composite narrative presented in this article is one of a larger set from a grounded theory study about a substantive group of Australian students' experiences of their interactions in the classroom that communicate their teachers' expectations of them. Narratives have the power to affect change in society by enhancing the transferability of research findings, presenting research findings with impact because they are engaging and memorable for readers. Qualitative researchers who are interested in composing composite narratives to reflect multiple participants' different experiences, through interview data, will benefit from the justification and example of the technique, which provides a model for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Australia, midwives care closely for women during pregnancy and birth and the immediate postnatal period. This scoping review aimed to explore the experiences of female maternity healthcare professionals when they return to work following a personal pregnancy loss or neonatal death. Methodology: A scoping review was carried out on published and unpublished research and grey literature looking at how maternity healthcare professionals who have had a personal perinatal loss experience working in a maternity setting following the loss. A search of the literature was performed between October and December 2018, with no set limitations. A search for relevant references from included papers was also carried out. The literature was analysed thematically. The types of perinatal loss were defined as per Australian guidelines. Results: 10 articles were included in this scoping review. Four themes emerged from the literature and these were: 1) Impact of being asked, "have you got children?"; 2) Impact on professional practice; 3) Impact of pre-existing professional knowledge; 4) Importance of collegial support on return to work. Conclusions: Return to work in a maternity setting following a personal perinatal loss is emotionally challenging and requires a range of supports. Further research is needed in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1980s, successive Australian governments began to pursue a program of microeconomic restructuring, taking their lead from the developing 'free market' reform projects underway in the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the prominent features of the emerging liberalisation agenda was the commercialisation and privatisation of government-owned companies and assets. In keeping with this trend, over the following decades, a series of changes have been introduced to Australia's container ports aimed at improving their productivity and efficiency. Drawing on a series of interviews and analysis of governmental and non-governmental reports, the purpose of this study is to examine how port policy has unfolded 'on the ground' in Australia. The paper considers some of the 'common sense' economic maxims expounded for reform in relation to actual outcomes for industry stakeholders, concluding that principles and practice have diverged significantly and that many of the assumed benefits have failed to materialise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports part of a doctoral study which investigated the resettlement experiences of African migrants in Australia (N= 115), and focuses upon the findings of those who participated in individual face-to-face interviews (N= 30). It examines the resettlement challenges facing African migrants in Western Australia (WA), such migration having increased in recent years. Although migrating to relatively wealthy countries such as Australia may be a cause for optimism among African migrants, the challenges associated with resettlement may have a negative effect on their well-being. The findings indicate that participants experienced a variety of resettlement challenges including separation experiences, language difficulties, parenting and cultural issues, under-employment and unemployment, financial problems, and racial discrimination. The study confirms the limited existing research, contributes to a better understanding of the major challenges affecting African migrants in Australia, and has implications for the formulation of effective policies and practices aimed at mitigating resettlement challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The games industry has seen a burst of new interest in the prospect of unionization. The efforts of organizations like Game Workers Unite have attracted much favorable coverage in the enthusiast and trade industry press, increasing awareness amongst videogame audiences of the difficult working conditions facing professional game developers. However, often missing from these discussions is an articulation of what unionization would look like for the significant number of game developers working in precarious conditions in small, often informal teams. The fragmented nature of contemporary gamework presents challenges in aggregating worker power similar to those found in other fields of creative or precarious work and entrepreneurial careers, where contingent work is typically organized around piecemeal, project–based funding arrangements. In this paper we draw from empirical research with Australian game developers to identify a number of barriers to unionization posed by small-scale game production. We also identify how within these same circumstances, novel and alternative forms of solidarity and collective action are beginning to emerge. The article ultimately argues that any successful attempt to unionize videogame workers will need to both account for, and take advantage of, the complex situation of small-scale videogame production in local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how leadership is addressed within Australia's National Children's Education and Care Workforce Strategy (ACECQA, 2021). The Workforce Strategy has been widely welcomed, arriving at a time of unprecedented workforce pressures in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. Yet, on close examination there appears an absence of focus on leaders as a distinct group within the ECEC workforce. Considering leadership is unequivocally central to retaining and sustaining early childhood educators, this absence of focus is noteworthy. First, the paper unpacks what is currently known about ECEC leadership. Then, how leadership in the policies under consideration is constructed as a problem in relation to quality and capability. Next, silences and ambiguities in how the strategy addresses the retention of leaders and their wellbeing is discussed. Ultimately it is argued that we need more understanding of the experiences of leaders as a distinct subset of the ECEC workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood (EC) professionals are valuable educators and teachers, and their work involves being caregivers, yet the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the lack of 'caring about' and 'for' EC professionals. With the increasing focus on educator wellbeing, this paper explores how eight EC professionals understand the role of care for their wellbeing. Drawing upon a feminist ethics of care, this paper interrogates the role of care in the everyday professional work lives of educators. The findings reveal that while EC professionals understand the importance of self-care, however, their self-care is more likely to be prioritised when it is promoted by leadership (e.g., centre directors, organisational). This study also found that EC professionals need to receive care through recognition by parents, centre leaders and colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objects in early childhood education (ECEC) experiences have begun to receive a great deal more attention than ever before. Although much of this attention has emerged recently from new materialism, in this paper we turn to Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological concern with the (in)visibility of 'things' to illuminate the presence of objects within infant transitions. Drawing on notions of écart and reversibility, we explore the relational perceptions objects are bestowed with on the lead up to, and first day of, infant transitions. Recognizing the intertwining subjectivities that perceive the object, a series of videos and interviews with teachers and parents across three ECEC sites in Australia and New Zealand provided a rich source of phenomenological insight. Our analysis reveals objects as deeply imbued anchoring links that enable relational possibilities for transitions between home and ECEC service. Visible and yet invisible to adults (parents and/or teachers) who readily engage with objects during earliest transitions, the significance of things facilitates opportunities to forge new relationships, create boundaries and facilitate connections. As such, our paper concludes that objects are far more than mediating tools, or conceptual agents; they provide an explicit route to understanding with potential to play a vital role in supporting effective early transitions when granted visibility within this important phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the increasing number and complexity of infectious diseases, the idea of using control charts to monitor public health and disease has been proposed. In this paper, we study multivariate control charts for monitoring a bivariate integer-valued autocorrelation process with bivariate Poisson distribution and select the optimal control scheme by comparing the performance of control charts. Furthermore, the meningococcal patient event in two states in Australia serves as an example to illustrate the application of these methods. The results show that the D exponentially weighted moving average control scheme can detect the changes in the mean value faster, which is a significant advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Participatory research involves academic partners working together with the community that is affected by research to make decisions about that research. Such approaches often result in research that is more respectful of, and responsive to, community preferences – and is vital in the context of autism research with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Whilst participatory approaches are becoming more commonplace within CALD autism research, no studies have explored the experiences of being involved in autism research from the perspectives of CALD community partners over the course of a study. This paper intended to address this gap by reporting on the experiences of CALD parents of autistic children who were community partners in a 1-year Australian research project exploring home–school partnerships for CALD parents of autistic children. We aimed to: (1) report on how parents' involvement in the research process shaped the home–school partnerships study over time and (2) understand their experiences of being community partners on the home–school partnerships project. Methods: Using key principles of participatory approaches, we established Chinese and Vietnamese parent advisory groups to contribute to a project exploring home–school partnerships for parents of autistic children from CALD backgrounds in Australia. Advisory groups included parents of autistic children from Chinese/Vietnamese backgrounds, as well as interpreters, professionals and researchers. We documented how parents' participation as community partners shaped the home–school partnerships study over the course of the project. We also elicited parents' own views and experiences of being community partners through informal, open-ended questions at the beginning and end of the study. Results: We found that parents' input fundamentally shaped the broader home–school partnership study, from meaningful, accurate translation of interview schedules through to making decisions regarding community-specific recommendations and dissemination plans. Parents themselves reported being keen to collaborate and to hear and share opinions for the purpose of the home–school partnership study – although they noted how emotionally difficult sharing their stories could be. While they initially had some concerns about combining being involved as a community partner with their existing responsibilities, ultimately, parents were surprised by the scope of the home–school partnership study and their level of involvement as community partners. Through hearing others' stories and sharing their own in advisory group meetings, parents reported ancillary benefits of their involvement, including increased self-advocacy and well-being. Conclusions: These findings show how research that is conducted in partnership with diverse members of the autism community has the capacity to improve the quality of the research and benefit community partners. Implications: This study clearly documents the benefits and potential challenges of participatory approaches with CALD communities. These findings emphasise to researchers and funders the importance of including extra time and money within budgets in order to produce meaningful research that is respectful and responsive to communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sub-Saharan African-born community in Australia is significantly underrepresented in health research, partly, due to challenges associated with collecting their primary data. Based on experience from a mixed-method study comprising 24 in-depth interviews and a survey of 253 participants in the community, this communication paper highlights a number of 'high-level' practical issues that might be encountered when collecting primary data from the community and provides suggestions for future studies. Included in this paper is a brief discussion of important lessons from the fieldwork that are critical for achieving successful data collection from the community. The lessons include difficulty of proving external validity for samples drawn from the community, difficulty of developing a reliable sampling frame, challenges in selecting appropriate support organisations, risk of low response to surveys and language barrier. The study concludes that understanding the ethnic diversities in this community and engaging appropriate support organisations are critical to achieving a successful data collection experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional anaesthesia is an essential tool in the armamentarium for paediatric anaesthesia. While largely safe and effective, a range of serious yet preventable adverse events can occur. Incidence and risk factors have been described, but few detailed case series exist relating to paediatric regional anaesthesia. Across Australia and New Zealand, a web-based anaesthesia incident reporting system enables voluntary reporting of detailed anaesthesia-related events in adults and children. From this database, all reports involving paediatric regional anaesthesia (age less than 17 years) were retrieved. Perioperative events and their outcomes were reviewed and analysed. When offered, the reported contributing or alleviating factors relating to the case and its management were noted. This paper provides a summary of these reports alongside an evidence review to support safe practice. Of 8000 reported incidents, 26 related to paediatric regional anaesthesia were identified. There were no deaths or reports of permanent harm. Nine reports of local anaesthetic systemic toxicity were included, seven equipment and technical issues, six errors in which regional anaesthesia made an indirect contribution and four logistical and communication issues. Most incidents involved single-shot techniques or a neuraxial approach. Common themes included variable local anaesthetic dosing, cognitive overload, inadequate preparation and communication breakdown. Neonates, infants and medically complex children were disproportionately represented, highlighting their inherent risk profile. A range of preventable incidents are reported relating to patient, systems and human factors, demonstrating several areas for improvement. Risk stratification, application of existing dosing and administration guidelines, and effective teamwork and communication are encouraged to ensure safe regional anaesthesia in the paediatric population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]