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There are few studies on interment preferences and practices for people in remote and rural regions of developed countries. This mixed methods study in rural Australia collated data on funeral and interment practices with an ethnographic exploration of the post-death preferences of terminally-ill rural residents. In the region, between February 2015 and May 2016, 44% of decedents were cremated. Burial preferences reflected family traditions, generational connections to historic cemeteries, and the wish to instantiate belonging to people and place. Cremation provided the opportunity for ashes to be scattered at personally-significant places. Funeral planning was important for patients and family caregivers, and funerals are valued rural community rituals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial incentives can increase physical activity (PA), but differences in the immediacy of reward delivery and individual differences in delay discount rates (i.e., higher discount values associated with less tolerance for delayed rewards) may explain differential responding. The current study tested whether delay discount rate moderated the relative effectiveness of immediate financial rewards on increasing daily PA. Inactive, overweight adults (ages 18–60, N = 96) were randomized to receive either smaller, immediate goal-contingent rewards or larger, delayed rewards for participation. Delay discount rates were derived for those who completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (N = 85). Linear mixed models tested interactions between discount rate and intervention arm on changes in mean daily Fitbit-measured steps from baseline to intervention phases, and rates of change during the intervention phase. Across all groups, participants increased by 2258 steps/day on average from baseline to intervention and declined by 9 steps/day across the 4-month intervention phase. The mean increase in daily steps was greater for immediate reward-arm participants across all discount rates. Descriptive exploration of reward effects by delay discount rate suggested that the magnitude of reward effects decreased at higher discount rates. During the 4-month intervention phase, rates of decline in daily steps were similar in both reward arms, but declines became more pronounced at higher discount rates. Overall, intervention efficacy decreased with less tolerance for delays. The importance of financial reward immediacy for increasing PA appears to increase with greater delay discount rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Nervoza is a commonly-used illness category among Macedonian Australians. Although nervoza belongs broadly to the category of 'nerve illnesses' little is known of its meaning among Macedonian immigrants, and whether there is intergenerational attrition in its meaning and use. We aimed to explore how nervoza and its treatment are perceived by members of the Macedonian community in Australia. Design: In-depth interviews in Macedonian with 18 participants from the Macedonian community in Melbourne, Australia. Results: Nervoza is a layered concept relating shame, emotional experience and nerves, used as an idiom of distress and sadness in the presence of acute and chronic stressors. Nervoza develops in both the social world (through poverty, grief or the loss of war), and in the psyche of distressed and isolated people. It is viewed as dangerous on many levels: to physical health, as a 'gateway condition' to long-term psychological illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia, and to the person's social well-being. The normalised treatment for nervoza in Macedonia - benzodiazepines - is the subject of significant medical control in Australia. Conclusion: For sufferers of nervoza, the social self is both medicalized and stigmatised. Health services in Australia are often considered marginal in the management of nervoza. Second generation Macedonians viewed the concept as unhelpful, and possibly increasing the stigmatisation of mental illnesses. The lack of knowledge about, and underutilisation of, mental health services and support groups in the Macedonian Australian community should be the focus of community-based inter-generational health literacy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]