Search

This paper explores how popular ideological discourses within public policy are influencing the views and practices of preservice teachers at a university in Melbourne. The research began by examining how educational success has been historically understood by individuals vis-à-vis government discourse. Three values and four corresponding ideological positions were used to create a theoretical framework. The researcher then surveyed a small cross-section of pre-service teachers to investigate how these values contributed to their understandings of educational success, and how these understandings were used to justify their receptions of neoliberal reforms in education. The data shows that democratic equality was the most influential value in participant understandings of educational success. However, attitudes and justifications towards the reforms diverged significantly, suggesting that these values were being positioned differently in discourse. The results were then critically analysed with reference to the theoretical framework. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential implications for policymaking in teacher education, and highlights the importance of preserving the intellectual autonomy of pre-service teachers as they enter the profession.

The university prospectus is supposed to be a forceful and pioneering text in promoting and marketing higher education. The present research will deal with the disparities in the frequencies of first and second person pronouns in online prospectuses in cross-cultural linguistics from marketing point of view. The research question is to which extent the frequencies of first and second person pronouns in "About Us" section of online prospectuses are contradictory in cross culture and promotional dimensions. This study is based on the data raked from the "About Us" section of online university prospectuses in 463 culturally distinct institutional contexts of Australia, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The categories of the first person I, we, and the second person you, your were analyzed through multidimensional analysis tagger. The analysis showed that the frequencies of first person pronouns were the highest in all the five countries. On the other hand variations in the occurrence of first and second person pronouns were eminent in 5 countries in the "About Us" section. This research is expected to be useful for the universities and international educational organizations to generate better promotional texts in the marketization of higher education for cross-cultural perspective.

This article reports the findings from a study that compares the assessment criteria used to measure pre-service teachers' professional competencies at Rustaq College of Applied Sciences in Oman, and at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. The study adopts a discourse analytic approach to deconstruct and critically compare the assessment criteria outlined in documents that report on graduating teachers' classroom performance used at each teacher education institution. The results of the analysis reveal a different normative vision of graduating teachers in each country. The Omani graduate pre-service teachers are likely to be "a compliant student-trainee", whereas Australian graduate pre-service teachers are more likely to be "professionally qualified to teach and classroom ready". The findings are used to identify practices that may help to improve the current Omani approach to determining preservice teachers' classroom readiness to be more credible in terms of valid and equitable assessment processes.

Many have observed challenges in translating internationalization policy into practice in universities. When key policy documents provide inconsistent messages, a gap can emerge between vision and practice. Understanding the complexities of an institution's local, national, and global context and its rationale for internationalization can shed light on why such gaps arise. This case study demonstrates how a thematic analysis of relevant international, national, state, and institutional policies can reveal tensions between these layers, and indicate possible reasons for the failure to translate policy into practice. The main rationale driving internationalization at the university studied here is economic; however, starting in 2016, a variation in key themes and, thus, rationales is found in the documents. This indicates a shift in the university's internationalization discourse may be occurring. We argue that a more comprehensive approach to internationalization is needed to address inconsistencies in policy directions and drive practice.

Based on Darvin and Norton's (2015) reconceptualization of identity theory highlighting the recursive relationship between identity, capital, and ideology, this study posits that refugee and asylum seeker adolescents and adults in transit on Nauru are ascribed a 'displacement identity' through externally imposed normative ideologies. In addressing the issue of normative ideologies, this article draws on my experience as an English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher at the Nauru Regional [refugee] Processing Centre and employs KhosraviNik's (2010a) systematic model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the representations of 'displacement' inherent in a corpus of texts accessed by those displaced on Nauru. This analysis suggests that an externally ascribed displacement identity is evident in normative ideologies. As Darvin and Norton's identity theory situates language learning investment at the dynamic intersection of identity, capital, and ideology, further qualitative research on internally inhabited displacement identity formation and symbolic capital affordances is now required. Such research would aid in the development of pedagogical approaches to enable education in sites of transitory settlement to be a re-humanising and transformative experience that engages marginalized language learners, promotes positive identities and thus optimizes language learning investment.

Focusing specifically on the negotiation of commonality, this study explores rapport building (Spencer-Oatey, 2000) in online intercultural text chat, where Australian students of Italian interact with L1 Italian speakers. Although the initial purpose of the examined chat exchanges is to facilitate L2 acquisition, analysis of transcripts indicates that participants also seek to establish affiliation and friendship, through discussion of shared experiences, preferred leisure activities, and personal likings. Such orientation to like-mindedness and commonality can be an "implicit" concern in their interactions, as well as an "explicit" mentionable in their talk. Participants also successfully engage in complex face-saving and rapport maintenance strategies where there is potential for disagreement. Overall, the data suggest that identified rapport-building language and behaviors promote the establishment of positive relationships, as a key component of online intercultural text chat. Thus, from a pedagogical viewpoint, these interactions appear beneficial both for L2 learning and student wellbeing. The study concludes with suggestions for the integration of similar tasks into language programs.

This paper interrogates discourses of Aboriginality about, and by, early career Aboriginal teachers as they negotiate their emergent professional identity in specific Australian school contexts. These discourses position the respondents via their ethnic and cultural background and intersect with self-positioning. This relates to the desire to be positioned as teacher rather than (only) as a "Aboriginal" teacher. Consequently, the over-determination of Aboriginality includes such suppositions as the "think-look-do" Aboriginality with a "natural" connection to community, the "good" Aboriginal teacher who fixes Aboriginal "problems," the Aboriginal teacher as "Other," and [the notion that] "Aboriginal work" as easy, not real work and peripheral to core business. Through qualitative methodology, eleven Aboriginal teachers from the University of Sydney were interviewed. They were able to construct stories of early career teaching and the data was analysed to explore how the participants interpreted, accepted and/or resisted various discourses in their efforts to be agentic and resilient and to make a difference for the Aboriginal students they teach.

Quality assurance is a major agenda in tertiary education. The casualisation of academic work, especially in teaching, is also a quality assurance issue. Casual or sessional staff members teach and assess more than 50% of all university courses in Australia, and yet the research in relation to the role sessional staff play in quality assurance of student assessment outcomes is scarce. Moderation processes are a pivotal part of robust quality assurance measures. Drawing upon previous work surrounding four discourses of moderation, this pilot project reports the results of research into the role and impact of sessional staff in moderation processes at tertiary level. Qualitative data were gathered through focus interviews. Results, in the form of various moderation discourses, indicate that sessional staff impact the formal quality assurance processes in numerous ways.

Drawing on interpretations of Foucault's techniques of power, we explored the discourses and power relations operative between groups of girls that appeared to influence their participation in Physical Education (PE) and outside of school in sport and physical activity (PA) in rural and regional communities. Interviews and focus groups were conducted in eight secondary schools with female students from Year 9 (n = 22) and 10 (n = 116). Dominant gendered and performance discourses were active in shaping girls' construction of what it means to be active or "sporty", and these identity positions were normalised and valued. The perceived and real threat of their peer's gaze as a form of surveillance acted to further perpetuate the power of performance discourses; whereby girls measured and (self) regulated their participation. Community settings were normalised as being exclusively for skilled performers and girls self-regulated their non-participation according to judgements made about their own physical abilities. These findings raise questions about the ways in which power relations, as forged in broader sociocultural and institutional discourse-power relations, can infiltrate the level of the PE classroom to regulate and normalise practices in relation to their, and others, PA participation.

The discourse around students from low socio-economic backgrounds often adopts a deficit conception in which these students are seen as a "problem" in higher education. In light of recent figures pointing to an increase in the number and proportion of these students participating in higher education [Pitman, T. 2014. "More Students in Higher ed, But it's no more Representative." "The Conversation" 28: 1-4] and an absence of evidence to support deficit thinking, this deficit discourse requires re-examination. Qualitative data from 115 interviews carried out across 6 Australian universities as part of a national study reveal that, contrary to the conception of these students as a "problem", students from low SES backgrounds demonstrate high levels of determination and academic skills and that they actively seek high standards in their studies. This paper critically examines deficit conceptions of these students, drawing on findings from qualitative interviews with 89 successful students from low SES backgrounds and 26 staff members recognised as exemplary in their provision of teaching and support of students from low SES backgrounds. Drawing on these findings, this paper challenges the deficit discourse and argues for a more affirmative and nuanced conception of students from low SES backgrounds.

In this paper, a detailed analysis based on the lived experiences of the study participants and the researcher (each with vision impairment) in education, post school and in the pursuit for employment is developed. The policy discourses of disability legislation--both at national and international levels--are explored with particular reference to their enactment in Australia. The analysis focuses on the collective indifference to detached others, which is evident in the linguistic construction of people with disabilities in the United Nations [(2006). "Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities." New York: United Nations] and the "Australian Standards for Education 2005" [Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. 2006. "Disability Standards for Education 2005 Plus Guidance Notes." Accessed March 12, 2012. http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-7692.]. Together, these elements reflect the neoliberal principles that cast a shadow over the discourses of the disability policies.

In considering the blurring of boundaries between vocational education and school education since the introduction of Vocational Education and Training in Schools (VETiS) in the senior secondary school system in Australia, it could be argued that the key figures in practice are the VET teachers in schools. The focus in this paper is 12 career-change teachers from an industry background during their first 3 years as technology and VETiS teachers in New South Wales, Australia. Their vocational content knowledge and teacher preparation provided pedagogical and curriculum knowledge. Through interviews, site visits, emails, and phone calls, a descriptive analysis was undertaken to investigate how these early career teachers had adapted to their new roles. The study investigated the ways in which these teachers ascribed meaning to their professional lives. Cross case analysis and discourse analysis confirmed themes emerging from the data about these particular new teachers and their different pathway to the profession.

School-wide curriculum initiatives are complex fields of activity, held together by a cast of heterogeneous actors who put diverse discourses to work in their everyday efforts to shape their work. This paper draws upon qualitative data collected across an 18-month period in a regional Australian primary school that, since the beginning of 2012, has implemented a school-wide science specialism. In this paper, we focus in detail on how one feature of the initiative--classroom animals--played out as the science specialism was enacted. The data provide glimpses into the practice of the curriculum initiative from a range of viewpoints. We explore the discursive positioning of the classroom animals, and the construction of teachers' work and student learning in relation to this. Tensions are explored between views of the initiative "from above"--from the perspective of the school leadership and key advocates of the initiative--and views "from the ground"--presented by classroom teachers as they reflect on their encounters with the animals. We discuss the divergent ways in which teacher practice can be constructed in relation to curriculum innovation and advocate practice-based theories as providing a generative lens for understanding and supporting teachers' innovative curriculum work and for understanding teaching practice more generally as an innovative, creative and productive undertaking.

Objective Physical therapy is generally considered to be a white profession in Western nations. Australia's increasingly diverse population, driven largely by growth in immigration, invites Australian health systems to be responsive to factors that may impact on non-white Australian population's access to health care. Here, the authors sought to explore non-Indigenous Black people's perspectives of physical therapy in Australia. Methods Eligible participants (n  = 12) took part in semistructured, in-depth interviews and were prompted to discuss their experiences and perceptions of physical therapy. Interview data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis, underpinned by critical race theory. Results Participants were on average 29.4 years (SD = 12.9) from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Participants described mostly positive experiences with physical therapists, but they noted that it was not widely accessed by their communities, with 2 key discourses underpinning these discussions. Discourse 1, "physiotherapy is a solution for white people," established physical therapy as primarily accessed by and welcoming of white people. "Whiteness" and the perpetuation of Western norms in physical therapy resulted in little consideration of other cultural practices. Participants' discussions also pointed to the intersections of systemic racism and social inequities such as low income and language barriers, impacting Black people's engagement with physical therapy. Discourse 2, "physiotherapists are white," was mostly concerned with how the perceived "whiteness" of professionals and lack of Black physical therapists impacts cultural safety and comfort when accessing physical therapy. Conclusion Our results suggest that Westernization and whiteness persist among discourses surrounding physical therapy. Such discourses are likely to inform Black people's perceptions and experiences of physical therapy. Our analyses suggest avenues to enhance the cultural diversity of the profession and improve physical therapy accessibility for Black people in Australia by providing culturally appropriate material, including critical reflexivity, epistemic and cultural humility in the curricula, recruiting staff from diverse backgrounds, and providing outreach services to underserved populations. Impact These findings highlight the need for increased cultural safety and diversity within the physical therapy profession to improve equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current legal discourse puts forward socio-legal collaborations, integrated social work and legal practice and medical/legal partnerships as innovations from the legal sector aimed at resolving clients' intertwined legal and social issues. In doing so it has generalised and diminished the specific contribution in these programmes of highly skilled social work staff. This article sets out a study of Australian socio-legal collaborations to re-establish the significant contribution made by social workers in this sector. It argues that social workers are the dominant social service profession and provide integral practice and leadership contributions. It argues that further research in Australia and internationally is required to support social work to stand in leadership alongside lawyers, not only in these programmes but also in the discourse and sector that surrounds them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues the voice of people with dementia was missing from the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (RCAC) Final Report. This absence was notwithstanding that the RCAC was explicitly tasked to inquire into dementia care. The RCAC Final Report is shown to marginalise the perspective and experience of people with dementia in the aged care system at the same time as prioritising substitute voices of experts, advocates, family and care partners. This absence of voice repeats and re-inscribes framing of people with dementia as "missing persons". Where people with dementia face practical and legal barriers to participate in civic and legal processes, the RCAC failed to adjust its methodologies to ensure their voices were "heard". The RCAC's re-inscription of marginalisation of people with dementia raises concerns for the legitimacy and success of its recommendations for dementia aged care reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) report higher rates of sexualised and injecting drug use (IDU) than heterosexual men. Injecting-related stigma is linked to negative health outcomes among people who inject drugs (PWID). This paper describes the ways in which stigmatisation manifests in the narratives of GBM who inject drugs. We conducted in-depth interviews with Australian GBM with IDU histories, exploring drug use, pleasure, risk, and relationality. Data were analysed using discourse analytical approaches. Interviewees (n = 19), aged 24–60 years, narrated their experiences of IDU practice over 2–32 years. Most (n = 18) injected methamphetamine, and used other (non-injected) drugs, in sexual contexts. From participants' narratives, we developed two themes related to stigmatisation of PWID that illustrate the limitations of conventional drug discourses to narrate GBM's experiences. The first theme captures participants' attempts to pre-empt stigmatisation, outlining the layering of stigma faced by GBM who inject drugs. Linguistically, participants transformed injecting stigma by distinguishing their personal practice from that of more discreditable drug users. Practically, they mitigated stigmatisation by keeping discrediting information from others. The second theme illustrates how by complicating the stereotypes of IDU, participants took up prominent discursive practices linking IDU with trauma and pathology. Participants exerted agency by broadening available interpretive repertoires for understanding IDU among GBM, thus creating a counter-discourse. We argue that mainstream discursive practices reverberate through gay communities, perpetuating stigmatisation of PWID and inhibiting care-seeking. More narration of unconventional experiences, beyond insular social groups and critical scholarship, is needed in public discourse to effect destigmatisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a discourse analysis of emotions in national human research ethics guidelines from Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and United States, I argue that such guidelines treat emotions as superfluous, harmful, risky and threats to rational decision-making. Such uncritical appreciation of emotions sees instructions to show 'respect' position non-Western participants as 'the other', sees directives to consider 'emotional welfare' undermine the autonomy of people from ostensibly vulnerable groups, and risks undermining qualitative research's cathartic potential. These findings underpin a call to revise guidelines to position emotions as part of everyday life; and to encourage researchers to adopt embodied, caring and emotionally reflexive approaches to human research, where researchers draw on guidelines and emotions in deciding how to produce ethical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This discursive paper presents a lived experience leadership model as developed as part of the Activating Lived Experience Leadership (ALEL) project to increase the recognition and understanding of lived experience leadership in mental health and social sectors. The model of lived experience leadership was formulated through a collaboration between the South Australian Lived Experience Leadership & Advocacy Network and the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education Group. Design/methodology/approach: As one of the outcomes of the ALEL research project, this model incorporates findings from a two-year research project in South Australia using participatory action research methodology and cocreation methodology. Focus groups with lived experience leaders, interviews with sector leaders and a national survey of lived experience leaders provided the basis of qualitative data, which was interpreted via an iterative and shared analysis. This work identified intersecting lived experience values, actions, qualities and skills as characteristics of effective lived experience leadership and was visioned and led by lived experience leaders. Findings: The resulting model frames lived experience leadership as a social movement for recognition, inclusion and justice and is composed of six leadership actions: centres lived experience; stands up and speaks out; champions justice; nurtures connected and collective spaces; mobilises strategically; and leads change. Leadership is also guided by the values of integrity, authenticity, mutuality and intersectionality, and the key positionings of staying peer and sharing power. Originality/value: This model is based on innovative primary research, which has been developed to encourage understanding across mental health and social sectors on the work of lived experience leaders in seeking change and the value that they offer for systems transformation. It also offers unique insights to guide reflective learning for the lived experience and consumer movement, workers, clinicians, policymakers and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

End-of-day debriefs are reported to offer students opportunities to reflect and consolidate learning. However, there is little evidence about how clinical facilitators encourage student participation that leads to refection and learning, particularly in debrief sessions with linguistically diverse students. This research investigated how the pedagogic practices of clinical facilitators enabled or constrained student participation during debrief. This study used an ethnographic approach combined with linguistic analysis of audio recordings of debrief in two metropolitan hospitals in Australia. The study found that several key factors contributed to student participation during debrief. Factors included: establishing a space that offered visual and aural privacy; using strategies that encouraged student talk; and adopting roles of expert teacher, facilitator, clinical expert, and therapeutic agent. Conducting debrief in appropriate settings and adopting strategies and roles that encourage student talk can lead to opportunities for students to reflect on their day, and for facilitators to make judgements about students' knowledge. Facilitators can enable student participation by using spaces that offer physical and aural privacy for debrief, focusing on knowledge within students' scope of practice, and using communication strategies that encourage talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression has been the subject of increased awareness and concern in Australia, but there has been little research into how depression is constructed on mental health websites, which have become a major resource for mental health information among the general public. In this study, critical discursive psychology was employed to analyse the informational content of eight major Australian mental health websites concerning depression. Four interpretative repertoires were identified – a biomedical, a self-optimization, a normal-natural and a societal-structural repertoire. The biomedical and self-optimization repertoires were the most prevalent, constructing depression as an illness within an individual occurring as a result of a biological or psychological deficit. Whilst previous studies have identified the predominance of a biomedical repertoire of depression on official websites, this study highlights the growing prominence of a self-optimization repertoire alongside the biomedical. Whilst it appeared that the aim of the websites was to challenge stigma and encourage help-seeking, it is argued that this way of understanding depression may have counter-productive effects in that the problem is located within the individual rather than with society, and individuals may be positioned as responsible for managing their own mental health, under the guidance of experts. The implications of understanding depression in this way, and not in alternative ways, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Objective: The aim of this article is to report a study that explores how spirituality is understood to be represented in the current Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered Nurse (RN) standards for practice. Research Design: Fairclough's approach to critical discourse analysis was applied in the examination of participant interview texts for the language used in relation to spirituality as well as power mechanisms which influenced the way the participants viewed spirituality's representation in the RN Standards for Practice. Participants: Three members of the RN Standards for Practice research and development team. Results: Findings indicate three discourses shaped the way participants viewed how spirituality is presently represented in the RN Standards for Practice. Discourses are (1) spirituality as part of holistic care, (2) spirituality as part of person-centered care, and (3) the professionalization of nursing. Conclusions: Participant interviews revealed these discourses exerted power over how spirituality was represented within the RN Standards for Practice. This has implications for the inclusion of spirituality in the practice standards and the practice of spiritual care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate ways in which interpreting practice in health care settings can be further developed to better facilitate communication with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Data used include 15 hours of transcribed audio recording from semi-structured interviews with interpreters and Aboriginal Liaison Officers who discuss their perceived experiences of interpreting in medical settings. They offer insights into how language is used to resolve communication differences that may confound the interpreting process and in doing so identify roles interpreters assume and discourse patterns that emerge in interpreting practice. As evidenced through the findings, provisions need to be made for cultural differences. Interpreters report they have to "unpack" medical terminology and explain such terminology and related concepts in tangible terms to ensure patient understanding. Other strategies include talking about taboo topics using culturally appropriate terms, avoiding certain question–answer routines, and being aware of nonverbal aspects of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how psychologists and psychiatrists working in Australian youth mental health services constructed their professional identity, and whether and how implementing Open Dialogue transformed this. Nine clinicians (psychologists, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists) were interviewed after completing Open Dialogue training. Interviews were subjected to discourse analysis. First, two general pre‐existing discursive professional identity positions were constructed: (i) psychiatrists rhetorically distancing themselves from the medical model as 'fixers' of mental illness; and (ii) psychologists and psychiatrists rhetorically embracing their personal identity. Second, participants' responses about implementing Open Dialogue revealed opportunities and discomforts, including: (i) dialogical approaches offering psychiatrists an alternative identity to 'fixers'; and (ii) dialogical approaches generating discomfort at the risk of exposing participants' own vulnerability. Participants' professional identities comprised contrasting positions. Practitioner points: Clinicians' professional identities comprised contrasting positionsClinicians constructed their professional identities by othering themselves from perceived dominant professional paradigmsClinicians incorporated dialogical approaches into existing clinical work after being exposed to Open DialogueClinicians identified Open Dialogue as offering opportunities to construct alternative professional identitiesClinicians appeared uncomfortable with dialogical approaches in situations of high risk within risk‐averse settings [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim and objective: To explore and establish the language, clinical opinions and workplace culture around neonatal skin injury nomenclature. Specifically, what nomenclature is used to describe, define, identity and communicate neonatal skin injuries including (a) terms, (b) locations, (c) associated risks and (d) mechanical forces. Background: Skin injuries are affirmed or denied based on visual assessment with findings reported by language rather than measurements. However, if language or nomenclature is ambiguous, assessments could be misinterpreted effecting healthcare delivery. Design: Qualitative enquiry including applied discourse analysis and between‐method triangulation, within a larger exploratory mixed‐methods study. Methods: Data were collected over two years from four sources: literature, documents, interviews/focus groups and free text injury assessments. Data analysis included content analysis, selective coding and thematic analysis. The collective data were further explored using discourse analysis and triangulation to achieve collective conclusions about opinions, emotions, feelings, perceptions and workplace cultures. The COREQ checklist provided structure for the reporting of study methods, analysis and findings. Results: A total of 427 data points were collected from literature, documentation and two clinical data sources. Data convergence revealed that neonatal skin injuries are described by numerous terms with preferences for "injury," "trauma" or "redness." Injuries occur in over 20 anatomical locations and risks for injuries included hospitalisation, specific treatments and prematurity. Essential medical devices, clinical condition, lack of clinician experience and overactive neonates were uniquely associated risks. There was incongruency between sources. The literature and documents empathise pressure as the primary force related to skin injury, while varied forces were identified within interviews, focus groups and free text injury assessments. Conclusions: The variety of unique terms, locations and risks for injury indicate the need for updated neonatal skin injury frameworks. If frameworks and policies continue to be created without the empirical knowledge of neonatal clinicians, misrepresentation of neonatal skin injury locations and risk will continue to dominate the literature. Relevance to Clinical Practice: The recognition and management of neonatal skin injuries are related to language used to describe assessments in the absence of diagnostic confirmation, which has implications for both the neonate and the healthcare team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rebranding men's dietary choices in the mind of the mainstream Australians to include more plant-based options, is a difficult task. Eating meat is a way to satisfy nutritional requirements but also has an embedded symbolism of power to which Australian men are accustomed. Vegetarian men are seen by the majority of the male population and the social discourse surrounding gendered food as betraying the social expectations about masculine behavior despite research showing the need for higher intake of fiber to reduce non-communicable diseases and improve planetary health. Those who have adopted vegetarian diets are exposed to ridicule and may face social isolation because of their unorthodox food choices. In order to reshape the meat consumption of men in Australia, we must recognize the gendered dynamics of dietary choices that associate meat consumption with masculinity. This research examines the power of the current food discourse and social constrains imposed on vegetarian men based on a 2019 survey in Sydney, Australia with 1053 male participants who have different frequencies of meat consumption. The participants were asked to express their opinion about vegetarian dietary choices, and the dominant view is that they provoke non-acceptance and various degrees of aversion. Instead of practicing overt dietary choices, those who embrace vegetarianism prefer to be unidentifiable as such to avoid social prejudice. While individual dislike may change over time, the current mass perception of vegetarianism is of unmanly behavior. A new role for institutions and policies related to public health, environmental wellbeing and use of resources in motivating a greater uptake of plant-based food choices, is also needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goals of the mental health consumer movement include redressing inequality and increasing consumer leadership across the mental health sector. A means of achieving these goals is empowerment of consumers at systemic levels of the mental health sector. There have been calls for research to focus on allies – those who use their power to support and advocate for the goals of the consumer movement. This study aimed to examine the role of allies in consumer empowerment. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 15 individuals (including three consumers, nine allies, and three participants each identifying as both consumer and ally). Findings suggest that allies cannot directly empower consumers but should support opportunities for consumer leadership within the sector. We discuss how allies might do this and avoid paternalism in their allyship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, adult migrant and refugee women's negotiation of sexual agency in the context of marriage is explored. In Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada, 78 semistructured individual interviews, and 15 focus groups, comprised of 82 participants, were conducted with women who had recently migrated from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and South America. Women's negotiation of sexual agency was evident with respect to husband choice, disclosure of sexual desire, pleasure, pain, and sexual consent. While some participants took up subjugated sexual subject positions reflecting dominant cultural or religious discourses, many women also resisted these discourses to enact sexual agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore how young women encounter and counter discourses of smoking-related stigma. Twenty-seven young Australian women, smokers and ex-smokers, took part in interviews. A sub-sample of 18 participants took photographs to document their smoking experience, and took part in a second interview. Data were analyzed through Foucauldian discourse analysis. Four discourses were identified: “smoking as stigmatized,” “the smoking double standard,” “smoking as lower class,” and “smokers as bad mothers.” The women negotiated stigma in a variety of ways, shifting between agreeing, disagreeing, challenging, and displacing stigma onto “other” smokers. These experiences and negotiations of smoking-related stigma were shaped by intersecting identities, including gender, cultural background, social class, and mothering, which at times, compounded levels of stigmatization. It is concluded that tobacco control measures should consider the negative implications of smoking-related stigma, and the potential for women to experience compounding levels of stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in vitro fertilization (IVF) has offered hope to those struggling with infertility, it has also had some unintended consequences, including the fate of embryos that may be “surplus” to requirement following IVF treatment. The number of embryos in storage across the world is high, creating a dilemma for patients who need to make disposal decisions, as well as presenting an administrative and practical dilemma for clinics. Research has suggested that patients’ views of the status of their embryo/s may affect their disposal decisions, and yet the nature of the links between views of the embryo and decisions to either donate or discard remain unclear. In this article, we engage in a discursive analysis of literature on disposal decisions. We discuss the range of ways in which embryos may be constructed, and demonstrate how these discourses make available or constrain particular action possibilities, and offer particular subject positions for patients. The analysis highlights the complexity of the relationship between embryo status and decision making, and may assist clinicians in supporting and guiding patients’ decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulimia, an eating disorder that affects more women than men, involves binging and compensatory behaviors. Given the importance of food in experiences of these behaviors, in this article, we examine constructions of food in accounts of bulimic behavior: how these constructions relate to cultural discourses, and their implications for subjectivity. Fifteen women who engaged in bulimic behaviors were interviewed. Through a thematic decomposition of their accounts, we identified six discursive constructions of food: “good/healthy” or “bad/unhealthy,” “contaminating body and soul,” “collapsed into fat,” “pleasurable reward,” “comfort,” and “fuel for the body.” Many constructions were consolidated through participants’ embodied experiences, but made available through discourses in public health, biomedicine, and femininity, and had implications for subjectivity in terms of morality, spirituality, and self-worth. Thus, despite women deploying these constructions to make sense of their bulimic behaviors, they are culturally normative; this point has implications for therapeutic and preventive strategies for bulimia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary objective: There have been few reports of the approaches taken by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) when assessing cognitive communication (CC) during post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) after TBI. This study sought to understand SLPs’ rationales for CC assessment during PTA and to examine their perspectives on assessment methods during the early recovery period. Methods and procedures: In this qualitative study, 10 SLPs participated in semi-structured face-to-face or telephone interviews about their rationales and methods for CC assessment during PTA and early recovery. Content analysis was conducted using NVivo software to identify key categories. Main outcome and results: SLPs reported their reasons for CC assessment as including: (1) Documenting changes and monitoring progress, (2) Feedback to team, family and patient, (3) Diagnosis of communication disorder, (4) Planning and (5) Prognosis. They described conducting ongoing, informal assessment and monitoring of CC, using a combination of standardized and non-standardized measures during PTA, and commenced formal testing after PTA resolution to formulate a baseline level of communication function. Conclusions: The current study highlighted the importance that SLPs placed on an individualized approach in CC assessment. Findings provided insight into the process of assessment of CC during PTA and the early stage of recovery after TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Intense concern about obesity in the public imagination and in political, academic and media discourses has catalysed advocacy efforts to implement regulatory measures to reduce the occurrence of obesity in Australia and elsewhere. This article explores public attitudes towards the possible implementation of regulations to address obesity by analysing emotions within popular discourses. Drawing on reader comments attached to obesity-relevant news articles published on Australian news and current affairs websites, we examine how popular anxieties about the 'obesity crisis' and vitriol directed at obese individuals circulate alongside understandings of the appropriate role of government to legitimise regulatory reform to address obesity. Employing Ahmed's theorisation of 'affective economies' and broader literature on emotional cultures, we argue that obesity regulations achieve popular support within affective economies oriented to neoliberal and individualist constructions of obesity. These economies preclude constructions of obesity as a structural problem in popular discourse; instead positioning anti-obesity regulations as a government-endorsed vehicle for discrimination directed at obese people. Findings implicate a new set of ethical challenges for those championing regulatory reform for obesity prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of global debates about safety and ethics of supporting women to give birth at home, it is important to analyse documents governing midwifery and obstetric practice and influence decision‐making around place of birth. In Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, relatively small numbers of women choose to give birth at home despite their midwifery colleges' support. In the United States and Australia, the obstetric colleges do not support homebirth and these countries have lower numbers of women who birth at home, compared with the United Kingdom. There are numerous regulatory and industry challenges for midwives attending homebirths. This paper reports on a Foucauldian analysis of Australian obstetric and midwifery colleges' position statements about homebirth, who have conflicting views, with the view to understanding their arguments and underlying assumptions. The documents highlighted tensions between competing discourses of risk and autonomy and differences in academic argument. Opportunities for strengthening their statements are highlighted. The methodology is applicable for future analysis of similar documents governing practice in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life offers the recommended best start in the life for a newborn baby. Yet, in Australia only a small number of babies receive breast milk exclusively for the first 6 months. Reasons for the introduction of formula milk are multi‐factorial including access to appropriate support and the woman's experience of breastfeeding. The language and practices of health professionals can impact upon how a woman feels about breastfeeding and her breastfeeding body. One aspect of breastfeeding support that has had scarce attention in the literature is the language used by health professionals to describe the behaviour of the breastfeeding infant during the early establishment phase of breastfeeding. This paper reveals some of the ways in which midwives, lactation consultants and breastfeeding women describe the newborn baby during the first week after birth. The study was conducted at two maternity units in New South Wales. Interactions between midwives and breastfeeding women were observed and audio recorded on the post‐natal ward and in women's homes, in the first week after birth. The transcribed data were analysed using discourse analysis searching for recurring words, themes and metaphors used in descriptions of the breastfeeding baby. Repeated negative references to infant personality and unfavourable interpretations of infant behaviour influenced how women perceived their infant. The findings revealed that positive language and interpretations of infant breastfeeding behaviour emerged from more relationship‐based communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oral contraceptive pill remains the most widely used contraceptive method. We consider The Pill’s depiction as variously revolutionary and liberating, oppressive for women, and more recently, a ‘lifestyle drug’. Drawing on discourses of (hetero)sex, heterosexuality and gender performance, we discuss how contraceptive use has been feminised and consider the current gap in understanding how women negotiate their positioning as responsible for contraception. To begin to fill this gap, we conducted a thematic discourse analysis using 75 free-text responses (to a general question in a wider contraceptive survey) to explore how women account for their agency and responsibility in discussions of accessing contraception. We identified two themes: responsibility for education and information and ‘finding contraceptive fit’. Women’s discussions of responsibility for education and information highlight the need for transparency from educational bodies, which are positioned as lacking in their delivery of contraceptive information. Women describe “finding contraceptive fit” as an embodied process of experimentation with contraception to ultimately find one with minimal negative side effects. We situate our findings within critiques of the gendered nature and production of health, conceptualising contraceptive use as a distinctly feminine practice, which promotes self-surveillance and embodied awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

News articles play a role in reproducing or challenging stigma. Stigma, in turn, can be a barrier to men’s mental health help seeking. We used discursive analytic principles to analyze portrayals of men’s communication about depression in news articles over a 5-year period. We found that news articles depicted men who were open about depression as experiencing positive outcomes such as recovery. Such depictions might challenge stigma associated with talking about mental health concerns. However, some articles problematically positioned depressed men as individually responsible for defying stigma and achieving recovery. We suggest that portraying depression as something that impacts a plurality of men is one way that media messages might dispel stigma. We drew recommendations from the findings about the language that could be used by media, mental health campaigns, and health service providers to mitigate the impact of stigma on men’s mental health help seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore physical therapy through the stories of physical therapists who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other related identities (LGBTQIA+) to consider how the profession enacts and constructs gender and sexual orientation. Methods: Physical therapists with clinical, academic, and professional roles who identify as LGBTQIA+ were recruited from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. In-depth data were collected via narrative interviews. An iterative group discourse analysis was used to examine key discourses underpinning interview narratives and how these relate to the physical therapy profession. Results: Twenty-two physical therapists were interviewed. Participants had between 1.5 and 40 years of experience across various clinical areas and settings. Participants identified with varying sexual orientations and gender identities. Analysis identified discourses discussed under the following headings: (1) normativity, which related to hetero-normative assumptions about sexual orientation and cisnormative assumptions about gender identity and the intersectionality among sexual orientation, gender identity, and other forms of marginalization; (2) stress and labor, which explored the stress experienced by physical therapists who are LGBTQIA+ (due to fear of discrimination or actual discrimination) and additional emotional and other types of labor or work done in the workplace to hide aspects of their lives to feel safe, educate colleagues, and be a role model; and (3) professionalism, which related to the heterosexual/cisnormative (and other) "norms" that comprised participants' ideas of presenting as "professional" and positioning physical therapists who are LGBTQIA+ as "unprofessional." Conclusion: Findings suggest that cultural norms may need to be reconceptualized in physical therapy to promote inclusion and belonging of individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+. Approaches to upskill new and existing physical therapists may include elements such as individual and institutional reflexivity, learning and implementing appropriate terminology, displaying indicators of inclusivity, and cultural safety training. These elements may provide the first steps to promote inclusive and culturally safe environments for individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ within the profession. Impact: This is the first known study to explore the lived experiences of those who identify as LGBTQIA+ in the physical therapy profession. The findings highlight how prevailing normative discourses in Western society are also present in physical therapy and impact those who identify as LGBTQIA+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]