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Herbicide resistance management is often understood as a decision for individual land managers, but their decisions have far-reaching impacts for social-ecological systems. Area-wide management can reduce these impacts by supporting many land managers to cooperatively work towards a shared goal of reducing the spread of resistance. The aim of this research is to identify what support is needed for area-wide herbicide resistance management in cropping systems. Data was collected from 84 interviews with growers, public land managers and weed management advisors. Sixty-five interviews were conducted across three cropping regions of eastern Australia—Darling Downs (Queensland), Riverina (New South Wales) and Sunraysia (Victoria)—and 19 interviews were conducted with stakeholders beyond these regions. The majority (51%) of interviewees expressed concern about the spread of herbicide resistance, but only 14% described involvement in area-wide resistance management programs. Area-wide management was mostly reported to involve sharing information among stakeholders, rather than coordination or joint activities. Key barriers to participation were perceived to be the diverse agricultural industries in each region and the costs of participation. Future area-wide management program designs need to build working relationships among diverse stakeholders, clearly define the boundaries of the program and demonstrate the benefits that accrue from participation.

Successful management of invasive plants (IPs) requires the active participation of diverse communities across land tenures. This can be challenging because communities do not always share the views of scientists and managers. They may directly disagree, have alternative views, or be unwilling to manage IPs. Reviews of IP social science identify opportunities to better understand the role of cultural processes and everyday practices to address these challenges. To scale up and leverage the insights of existing qualitative social science IP research, we used meta-ethnography to unlock accounts and interpretations of lay perspectives. Meta-ethnography is a form of qualitative research synthesis increasingly used beyond its origins in health and education to produce interpretive syntheses of an area of research. In the 7 phases of meta-ethnography, we systematically identified and synthesized 19 qualitative articles pertinent to lay experience and knowledge of IPs in diverse settings. Action and meaning regarding IPs were influenced by 6 meta-themes in personal and social life: dissonance, priorities, difference, agency, responsibility, and future orientations. Through descriptions and examples of each meta-theme, we demonstrated how the meta-themes are higher level structuring concepts across the qualitative research that we analyzed and we retained grounding in the in-depth qualitative research. We characterized the meta-themes as leverage points and tensions by which we reframed lay people in terms of capacity for reflective IP management rather than as obstacles. The meta-ethnography synthesis shows how leverage points and tensions emerge from everyday life and can frame alternative and meaningful starting points for both research and public engagement and deliberation regarding IP management. These insights are not a panacea, but open up new space for reflective and mutual consideration of how to effectively navigate often complex IP problems and address conservat

© 2016 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (The Royal Australasian College of Physicians). Aim: This study aimed to determine the gross motor (GM) performance of Aboriginal children living in remote Australia. The relationship between GM skills, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) was explored. Methods: A population-based observation study was conducted in 2011 to assess motor performance in children living in the Fitzroy Valley, Western Australia, using the Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2). BOT-2 data were retrospectively analysed using recently developed software enabling separation of fine and GM outcomes. Results: A total of 108 children (98.1% Aboriginal; 53% male, mean age: 8.7 years) were assessed. Half (52.2%) were exposed to at least ‘risky’ levels of PAE, and 21 (19%) were diagnosed with an FASD. The mean GM composite score of the cohort (47.0 ± 8.4) approached the BOT-2 normative mean (50.0 ± 10) and was similar between children with and without PAE (P = 0.27). This mean score, however, was significantly lower in children with FASD than without (mean difference: -5.5 ± 20.6; P = 0.006). Compared with children without FASD, children with FASD had significant impairment in subtests for running speed and agility (mean difference ± standard deviation (SD): -2.4 ± 8.1; P = 0.003) and strength (mean difference ± SD:-2.8 ± 9.9; P = 0.004) and (ii) a higher proportion than expected had overall GM impairment (=2 SD: 9.5%; =1 SD: 23.8%). In groups with PAE, no PAE and no FASD, GM function approached expected population norms. Conclusions: A higher than expected proportion of children with FASD had GM scores that indicated impairment and need for therapy. Evaluation of GM performance should routinely be included in FASD assessment to determine strategies to optimise child development.

Older age is often associated with asexuality. That is, older individuals are not viewed as desiring of sex, nor as sexually desirable to others. Broader social and cultural norms that downplay women's sexual desire and agency further compound these phenomena. Whether this popular image accurately reflects older women's sexual desires, behaviour and capacity to experience pleasure is unclear. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 43 partnered Australian women aged 55–81, this article considers women's sexual experiences and desires in older age. The findings of our research confirm that older women's experiences of sex and sexual desire are diverse and fluid. Some of the factors that influenced participants’ sexual behaviour and desire will be considered in this article, as will their understandings of what “counts” as sexual satisfaction and “successful sex”. The factors affecting sexual behaviour and desire also influence the way in which women are able to negotiate sexual interaction with their partners. Participants expressed a need for education and resources in order to gain greater control and to make autonomous choices over their sexual experiences, desire and ability to give and receive pleasure. The implications of these findings for practitioners are also considered.

Aim: Aboriginal leaders concerned about high rates of alcohol use in pregnancy invited researchers to determine the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS) in their communities. Methods: Population-based prevalence study using active case ascertainment in children born in 2002/2003 and living in the Fitzroy Valley, in Western Australia (April 2010-November 2011) (n = 134). Socio-demographic and antenatal data, including alcohol use in pregnancy, were collected by interview with 127/134 (95%) consenting parents/care givers. Maternal/child medical records were reviewed. Interdisciplinary assessments were conducted for 108/134 (81%) children. FAS/pFAS prevalence was determined using modified Canadian diagnostic guidelines. Results: In 127 pregnancies, alcohol was used in 55%. FAS or pFAS was diagnosed in 13/108 children, a prevalence of 120 per 1000 (95% confidence interval 70-196). Prenatal alcohol exposure was confirmed for all children with FAS/pFAS, 80% in the first trimester and 50% throughout pregnancy. Ten of 13 mothers had Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores and all drank at a high-risk level. Of children with FAS/pFAS, 69% had microcephaly, 85% had weight deficiency and all had facial dysmorphology and central nervous system abnormality/impairment in three to eight domains. Conclusions: The population prevalence of FAS/pFAS in remote Aboriginal communities of the Fitzroy Valley is the highest reported in Australia and similar to that reported in high-risk populations internationally. Results are likely to be generalisable to other age groups in the Fitzroy Valley and other remote Australian communities with high-risk alcohol use during pregnancy. Prevention of FAS/pFAS is an urgent public health challenge.