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Social participation is positively related to mental health recovery and wellbeing, yet people with mental health problems are often socially isolated. This article investigates how social participation was incorporated into an Australian-integrated program that aimed to improve the wellbeing of people with chronic mental health needs. The data are from a longitudinal evaluation of the integrated program, including data linkage (5533 participants) and interviews (111). The paper uses concepts from the network perspective of social capital (bonding, bridging, linking, horizontal, and vertical) as lenses to re-examine the evaluation's findings about the consumers' social participation in life areas (social, leisure, and productive) facilitated by the program. This social capital perspective offers a lens to examine the breadth and intensity of participation experienced by the consumers taking part in the support program. The article adds to the literature about how service providers can improve social participation and therefore consumers' opportunities for recovery and wellbeing. The analyses found that the support increased people's social interaction and their capacity in the community. Their social interaction was mostly with other people in the service. Often their interactions in the community were only transactional. Few consumers participated in activities in productive life areas, and few of the activities promoted vertical social capital in social networks outside the service. The implications are that service providers need greater attention on facilitating a variety of social participation activities that can extend mental health consumers' horizontal and vertical social capital and so further contribute to their current and future recovery and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strong First Nations health workforce is necessary to meet community needs, health rights, and health equity. This paper reports the findings from a national survey of Australia's First Nations people employed in health services to identify enablers and barriers to career development, including variations by geographic location and organisation type. A cross-sectional online survey was undertaken across professions, roles, and jurisdictions. The survey was developed collaboratively by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal academics and Aboriginal leaders. To recruit participants, the survey was promoted by key professional organisations, First Nations peak bodies and affiliates, and national forums. In addition to descriptive statistics, logistic regression was used to identify predictors of satisfaction with career development and whether this varied by geographic location or organisation type. Of the 332 participants currently employed in health services, 50% worked in regional and remote areas and 15% in Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) with the remainder in government and private health services. All enablers identified were associated with satisfaction with career development and did not vary by location or organisation type. "Racism from colleagues" and "lack of cultural awareness," "not feeling supported by their manager," "not having role models or mentors," and "inflexible human resource policies" predicted lower satisfaction with career development only for those employed in government/other services. First Nations people leading career development were strongly supported. The implications for all workplaces are that offering even a few career development opportunities, together with supporting leadership by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, can make a major difference to satisfaction and retention. Concurrently, attention should be given to building managerial cultural capabilities and skills in supporting First Nations' staff career development, building cultural safety, providing formal mentors and addressing discriminatory and inflexible human resources policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young carers support family members affected by disability or a health condition. The Young Carer Bursary Program aims to support young carers' education. This paper analysed data from consenting bursary applicants (2017–2019) to investigate relationships between wellbeing, educational attendance, home study and other factors. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis determined significant issues, relationships and influential factors related to young carer (N = 1,443) wellbeing and education. Sixty‐eight percent were aged between 13 and 18 years and attended secondary school. One third of the sample reported that they were the main carer in their family and 29% reported receiving no support. Female applicants from single parent households who were the main carer attended educational settings less often. Eighteen percent (n = 267) rated their wellbeing as poor/very poor. Better wellbeing was associated with increased educational attendance (rs = 0.33, p < 0.001) and home study (rs = 0.34, p < 0.001). Wellbeing was associated with main carer status, caring for a parent, having a disability, being older and having few supports. Educational attendance was associated with main carer status, higher care load and fewer supports. Home study was associated with having a disability, caring for a sibling, caring for more than 11 hr per week and having fewer supports. Important factors about the age, life situation and challenges experienced by young carers identified in this paper indicate that further research into preferred supports and effectiveness of the bursary in improving educational engagement is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare professionals' advice on lifestyle behaviours is a key factor in improving a nation's health. Although allied health professionals have been well placed to provide such advice as part of patient care, little is known about the characteristics of allied health practitioners who discuss lifestyle topics with patients. This paper focused upon an overlooked avenue for lifestyle advice regarding an allied health profession – osteopathy. A workforce survey including questions about four lifestyle topics (including diet/nutrition, smoking/drugs/alcohol, physical activity/fitness, and stress management) was distributed to a nationally representative sample of Australian registered osteopaths in 2016. Separate multivariate logistic regression and Poisson regression models were developed to determine the most important predictors of the discussion of lifestyle factors. Amongst the 992 participating osteopaths, 89%, 49%, 38%, and 18% often discussed physical activity/fitness, stress management, diet/nutrition, and smoking/drugs/alcohol with their patients, respectively. Approximately 30% of participating osteopaths discussed at least three lifestyle topics with patients. Varied predictors were identified for discussing each lifestyle topic. Osteopaths who often discuss diet/nutrition in patient management plans were more likely to often discuss smoking/drugs/alcohol (OR = 14.13), physical activity/fitness (OR = 2.71), and/or stress management (OR = 1.69). In conclusion, lifestyle factors are often discussed with patients as part of osteopathy treatments in the Australian healthcare context. Osteopaths are well positioned to initiate discussions regarding patient lifestyles, and such discussions may be an effective contribution to health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]