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Introduction: Pharmacists are often not recognised as a core part of palliative care teams, despite their ideal placement to assist with the burden of medication management. Objective: This study explored the role of pharmacists working in the rural palliative care team, in the home‐based setting. Design: Health care professionals working with palliative care patients in rural South Australia participated in semi‐structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Data from 20 participants identified 10 themes. Theme 1: This model of care gives patients a choice. Theme 2: The pharmacist is a trusted source of support and information. Theme 3: Patient, carer and family distress is reduced. Theme 4: Enables patients to stay at home by improving medication knowledge and decreasing burden; 4.1—Patient, carer and family's understanding about medication management is improved, 4.2—Patient, carer and family travel is decreased, 4.3—Burden associated with getting to the doctor is decreased. Theme 5: Communication between all parties is enhanced; 5.1—Enhanced communication between the patient and health care team, 5.2—Enhanced communication within the health care team. Theme 6: Patient, carer and family burden of coordinating prescriptions and medications is reduced. Theme 7: Benefits health care professionals by improving medication knowledge, reducing workload and stress; 7.1—Understanding about medications and their management is improved, 7.2—Workload is reduced, 7.3—Work‐related stress is reduced. Theme 8: The disparity of care between rural and urban patients is reduced. Theme 9: Helps to address rural workforce shortages. Theme 10: Challenges of this model of care; 10.1—A need for greater pharmacist capacity to meet demand, 10.2—A need for increased and sustained funding for the pharmacist role, 10.3—Large amount of travel to get to patients. Conclusion: Rural health care professionals are supportive of pharmacists working as part of the palliative care team in home‐based settings and identified many benefits of this model of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue Addressed: Rurality is associated with poorer health outcomes and access to health services, yet a strength of rural living includes community cohesion indicated by high rates of volunteering. While volunteerism is an effective means to target health needs in resource‐restricted contexts, research on volunteerism to address rural Australian health needs is limited. This research aimed to explore rural adults' perspectives of volunteerism in local activities and programs that had a direct health related benefit (health volunteering). Methods: Eight people from the Murray Mallee region of South Australia participated during April 2021, ranging in age from 32 to 75 years. Participants were invited to one‐on‐one interviews that occurred via a phone call or teleconference meeting, which were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim to facilitate thematic analysis. Results: Seven main themes emerged. Participants identified that (1) health volunteering takes many forms, (2) health volunteering affords local ownership and accessibility, (3) health volunteers have particular skills and values, but also (4) gain social benefits and learn new skills. Rural health volunteering was also associated with (5) a variety of personal costs, and (6) there are several environmental barriers and (7) facilitators to rural health volunteering that should be considered when designing health programs. Conclusion: Results provide insight into how rural communities can enhance the development and application of volunteering roles to support health volunteering. So What?: Including local champions, reducing the financial burden and developing support networks for volunteers are practical suggestions to enhance levels of volunteering for health in rural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Farmers face numerous barriers to accessing professional mental health services and instead report a preference for informal support systems, such as lay or peer networks. Farmers also experience barriers to investing time in maintaining or improving their wellbeing, stemming from sociocultural norms and attitudes that are widespread in agricultural communities. The Vocal Locals social network campaign is an ifarmwell initiative that aims to promote conversations about wellbeing and challenge attitudes and behaviours that contribute to farmers' poor mental health. Methods: The Vocal Locals campaign was underpinned by the socio-ecological model which explains human behaviour as stemming from interactions between the individual, their closest social circle, the community, and broader society. The campaign ran in Loxton, South Australia, from June to August 2022. Ten community members (8/10 farmers) became 'Vocal Locals' and were supported to share 'calls-to-action' to encourage people in their social networks to engage in wellbeing-promoting activities. A broader communications campaign reinforced key messages and amplified Vocal Locals' activities in the community. The intrapersonal and community-level impacts of the campaign were evaluated via pre- and post-campaign surveys of Vocal Locals and community members respectively. Results: Vocal Locals reported significantly lower psychological distress (p =.014), and higher positive mental wellbeing (p =.011), levels of general mental health knowledge (p =.022), and confidence helping someone with poor mental health (p =.004) following the intervention. However, changes in stigmatising beliefs about mental illness, confidence recognising poor mental health, and confidence and comfort speaking to others about mental health were non-significant. Community members who were familiar with the campaign reported having significantly more wellbeing-related conversations post-campaign compared to before (p =.015). Respondents also reported being more comfortable speaking to others about mental health or wellbeing (p =.001) and engaging more in activities to maintain or improve their wellbeing (p =.012) following the campaign. Conclusions: The Vocal Locals social network campaign is an example of how science and community can be brought together to achieve meaningful outcomes. The campaign may serve as a model for others who wish to challenge attitudinal or knowledge-related barriers to help-seeking and improve engagement in wellbeing-promoting activities in difficult-to-reach communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the successful strategies of health workers who support and regularly communicate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about cancer and its treatment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to face or via telephone and audio-recorded with twenty-three health professionals (medical and radiation oncologists, oncology nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers), 5 identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in the Northern Territory and South Australia. When data saturation was reached, thematic analysis using a bottom up, essentialist/realist approach was used. Results: Six themes emerged. (1) Create a safe environment, engender trust and build rapport. This involves considering the physical environment and allowing time in interviews to establish a relationship. (2) Employ specific communication strategies to explain cancer, treatment and its side effects through language choices and employing visual aids such as drawings, metaphors and relatable analogies. (3) Obtain support from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and patient escorts who can assist in communication. (4) Consider culture which involves collective decision making, strong connection to country and community, with cultural obligations and a unique understanding of cancer. (5) Anticipate the contextual complexities of conflicts between Western medicine and Aboriginal culture, practitioner bias and difficulty maintaining contact with patients. (6) Develop personal qualities of good communicators, including being patient-centred, showing respect, patience, empathy and honesty. Conclusion: These insights will help foster more positive interactions with the health system and promote optimal outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain is an understudied and undertreated consequence of cancer survival. Pain education is now a recommended treatment approach for persistent non-cancer pain, yet it has not been well applied to the context of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survival. In March 2018, an interdisciplinary meeting was held in Adelaide, South Australia to set a research agenda for pain education in AYA cancer survivors. We identified that AYAs with persistent pain and those with heightened pain-related fear have the potential to benefit from pain education. We identified a number of unique challenges of engaging AYA survivors in pain education, and point towards future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: People exposed to bushfires are known to be at heightened risk of experiencing mental health challenges. When farms are impacted, farmers often risk losing not only their homes but also their businesses, containing their livestock, infrastructure and identities., Objective: To understand the psychological experiences of farmers who have been exposed to fires on their farms and identify the coping strategies they already employ to recover and prepare psychologically for future bushfires., Design: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face or via Zoom. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, using a descriptive, essentialist approach. Sixteen farmers and/or their spouses (50% female; median age of 50.8 years), who owned and/or played an active role in the operation of a farming or pastoral enterprise and had been affected by a farm fire within the last 20 years, participated. Participants resided in inner regional, outer regional and remote South Australia and New South Wales., Findings: Seven overarching themes and 22 subthemes resulted: (1) intense emotions in the aftermath, (2) long-term psychological challenges, (3) deliberate focus on organising, prioritising and completing recovery-focused tasks, (4) importance of seeking and/or accessing support to rebuild, (5) adopting a positive attitude and outlook, (6) (dis)engaging from/with community and social connection and (7) various strategies employed to self-regulate emotions., Discussion/conclusion: This study demonstrates the unique set of psychological challenges Australian farmers experience in the wake of a farm fire and the coping strategies they report using to help them manage. Findings will inform the development of contextually and culturally appropriate bushfire recovery and preparedness initiatives that are tailored to meet the unique needs of farmers and build upon their existing strengths., (© 2024 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.)