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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Intersections of human and animal lives regarding human suicide are just beginning to be explored. Given that the investigation of human suicide poses major ethical concerns, seeking out publicly accessible information in the first instance is important. Public media reports of suicide are limited in Australia (as in many countries) by voluntary adherence to recommendations that suicides should only be reported if of substantial public significance. While macro data on suicide in Australia is available, the presence or role of animals in these human scenarios is not reported. However, some detailed coroners’ investigations of suicide scenarios are available via state coroner websites. Publicly available reports between 2016 and 2020 from all Australian states and territories were manually searched for mention of pets/animals using a range of keywords in scenarios investigated as suicide. Fewer than 30 reports were identified. A critical discourse analysis was undertaken of the mentions of pets/animals in these reports. This included theming of core qualitative data The overarching theme identified was the insignificance of pets within coroners’ reports of suicide. Four subthemes were identified: pets as beloved; potential aggressors; incidental to reporting; and enmeshed in human domestic violence. Despite the increasing inclusion of pets within definitions of kin, nonhuman family members are virtually invisible in Australian coronial discourses investigating possible suicides. Even when pets were noted by informants as being extremely important in the life of the deceased, there was no evidence of this relationship being seen as part of the legitimate enquiry in terms of causation or future preventative strategies. While current data are limited, given emerging research on the role of pets in human suicidality it is possible that this humancentric bias may be overlooking potentially protective and preventive approaches to suicide. It is certainly overlooking animal victims of these tragedies.

While it is generally accepted in the leisure field that leisure has a role, and arguably a key one in wellness and wellbeing, this is largely at odds with the operations and funding frameworks of contemporary healthcare systems. Governments spend much less on leisure which involves social aspects of health than they do on healthcare systems which are focussed on biomedical interventions. Yet, many leisure and healthcare practitioners and academics are aware of the intersections between leisure, health and wellbeing and the aim of this edition was to offer a forum for overtly presenting these intersections. Here we set the scene for the papers in this special edition, summarizing the contribution of each paper to progressing discussions regarding the intersections of leisure and health and suggesting future directions for exploration. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This study explores the challenges facing a pilot project aiming to foster homeless cats in an Australian residential aged care facility. The global COVID-19 pandemic stalled the project but also presented an opportunity to gain reflective insights into the perceived barriers, enablers and tensions involved in seeking to implement pet animal inclusion in residential aged care. Perspectives from aged care management, animal welfare services and researchers/project managers were all sought using semi-structured interviews, and themes developed using a qualitative descriptive analysis. Perceived barriers to the project before and after the pandemic were not dissimilar with four key themes emerging: competing priorities, risk and safety, resources, and timing. All existed differently across stakeholder groups creating tensions to be negotiated. These themes are then mapped to the competencies established by the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) for undertaking health promotion, demonstrating that this skill base can be drawn on when seeking to implement human-animal inclusive projects. Creating supportive healthful environments for frail older persons is a moral imperative of extended lives. Health Promotion skills as outlined in the Ottawa Charter and IUHPE competencies for health promotion workers need to be extended to include animal services, agendas and cultures to promote multi-species health promotion into the future. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

While pets may be protective for some people at risk of suicide, they may also become a risk factor or even become co-victims when humans end their own lives. It is important to protect against simplistic approaches to human–animal relationships, especially where simplification may endanger human and/or animal lives. Using publicly accessible online media articles between 2010 and 2020, this research sought to progress our understanding of suicidal acts involving pet animals. Sixty-one articles from six countries were identified; a mixed-methods qualitative descriptive (QD) approach to analysis was undertaken composed of descriptive statistical mapping followed by thematic content analysis. Almost 90% of the articles reported the deaths of multiple humans and 23% reported the deaths of multiple animals. A total of 116 animals were identified: mainly dogs, but also 8 cats, 2 rabbits, and 2 non-specified pets. Most animals died, with only nine surviving. Five key categories of scenarios were identified: extended suicides, mercy killings, suicide pacts, family annihilators, and unique. A further level of analysis was undertaken focused on the family annihilator reports (44/61 articles) using a published homicide-suicide typology. Key points to emerge from this analysis include the possibly higher vulnerability of dogs compared with other species. The terms “extended suicide” and “peticide” are discussed with the recommendation that the killing of pet animals be linguistically aligned with that of other killings. A focus on human–animal relationships reveals commonly unexplored intersections across criminology, mental health, and domestic violence and suggests the potential for collaboration across these fields driven by multi-species awareness. This research adds to arguments for data on animal presence in scenarios of human violence to be collected so that responses to protect vulnerable animals, and humans, can be developed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Introduction: Assistance dogs perform multiple tasks to support people with disabilities and bring various benefits. Occupational therapists play a key role in assessing or referring clients for assistive technology, which includes assistance dogs. However, little is known about Australian occupational therapists' experiences with assistance dogs and how they perceive their roles in this area of practice. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was developed and distributed nationally to Australian occupational therapists to glean their experiences and perceptions of assistance dogs and their recommendations to support future practice. Results: A total of 220 completed surveys were received with all perceiving assistance dogs as beneficial for clients with disabilities. Over 60% agreed it was within their scope to assess or refer clients for assistance dogs, but more than two thirds had not had the occasion to do so and/or lacked relevant education and training. Common difficulties experienced in the referral or assessment process include challenges with accessing and navigating funding, lack of resources and/or assistance dogs, and perceived insufficient evidence to support the use of assistance dogs. Conclusion: Findings indicate that occupational therapists' lack experience and knowledge of assistance dogs although they perceive assistance dogs as within the scope of occupational therapy practice. This study highlights a need for increasing professional development opportunities for occupational therapists regarding assistance dogs, including assessment and referral processes. This will be steadily more important given the increasing profile and expanding application of assistance dogs, and funding organisation requests for occupational therapists in assessing clients for assistance dogs Refereed/Peer-reviewed

‘Leisure, Health and Well-Being: A Holistic Approach’ is situated in the ‘Leisure Studies in a Global era’ series, which aims to open up the field to a broader range of ideas. This book is the outc...

An unanticipated finding during research on the role that pets play in the health of older adults was that pets had protected some from suicide. Given that older people are more vulnerable to fatal first attempts, understanding protective factors in this population is vital. Twelve older adults interviewed about the role of pets on their health spoke overtly of suicide (n = 2), obliquely referred to suicidal ideation (n = 5), or reported high levels of distress and/or depression (n = 5). These participants were aged 60 to 83 years; five were male and seven were female. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive thematic approach in order to understand how they (collectively) identified pets as protecting them from suicide. Concepts of function, presence, known-ness, and reciprocity emerged as factors protective against suicide. These factors may counter those already identified as underpinning suicidal behavior: perceived burdensomeness and social alienation. For some older people, relationships with nonhuman others may be protective against suicide. Systemic responses that incorporate human–animal relationship awareness need to be explored to promote and protect some humans while also considering the impact on pets. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper explores intersections between health creation, leisure and nature emerging from research with Millennial university students in Australia studying to become health(system) professionals. Most enter university believing that 'health' is a bio-medical (illness and disease focused) concept. This reflects the dominant discourse of 'health'. The term 'salutogenesis' (meaning health as a resource) is used to disrupt this discourse. In 2015 and 2016 students completed an online survey in which they subjectively identified three things that build their health and how these work for them. Many identified factors that fit within a broad definition of 'leisure'. About one quarter refer to nature. What emerges are insights into the manner in which leisure, nature and wellbeing intersect for these Millennials and suggests that their subjective understandings of health creation, including for some a leisure: nature intersection can assist future health professionals to understand 'health' as not only bio-medical. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

(2019). Animal Metropolis: Histories of Human–Animal Relations in Urban Canada. Anthrozoos: Vol. 32, Human–Animal Interaction and Healthy Human Aging, pp. 297-299.

City branding is a managerial procedure which offers any given city a distinct identity; providing cities with a chance to present as different, positive and distinguishable from other competitors. In Japan, the use of mascots for city branding is often part of urban planning strategy. Kumamon is the most successful regional mascot in Japan and offers an opportunity to explore the nature of mascot city branding strategies. Employing a large number of promotional strategies, the local prefecture created a unique Kumamon city brand and enhanced the local image, resulting in significant economic benefits. The paper argues that five main factors contributed to the success of Kumamon: government support, power of emotional attachment and anthropomorphism, efficient public transport and tourism services, the mascot branding, and social media. Understanding how Kumamon mascot branding succeeded can assist makers to decide whether to replicate the use of mascot branding in other cities and regions. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

While there has been increasing interest in the human-animal leisure intersection in recent times, leisure still largely remains human-centric or focussed. Much remains to be explored in seeking to understand animal leisure, and the intersection of animal leisure with human leisure. Spring boarding from Franklin’s argument that understanding cross species involvement calls for intense, reflective analyses that can begin in our own human lives and experiences we use an ethnographic approach to explore the intersection of human and animal leisure’s. Use is made of Stebbins’ Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP) categorisation to present observations, analyses and learnings as to the leisure lives of the 5 dogs that share our (the authors) very different multi-species leisure lives. Our explorations demonstrate that multi-species leisure cannot be presumed; and that experiences of leisure per se intersect with individual animal preferences and personalities. We also identify the potential to see some animal leisure as Serious-Amateur and even Devotee Work when incorporating ‘instinct’ (the outcome of generational human control of some species fertility) into considerations, and briefly explore the extension of human parenting and leisure moralising to the rising profile of fur-parenting. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Leisure, Penalty or Prize? Is a classic leisure reference authored by Ralph Glasser. Published right at beginning of the 1970s this is a book that draws upon multiple eras (all now historic) to exp...

Many people believe that prior to the post-WWII mass immigration Australia’s population was almost entirely of British origin. They also believe that post-war immigration lead to a significant change in the ethnic composition of the non-indigenous population of Australia, necessitating the policy of multiculturalism to manage such increased diversity. However evidence from South Australia suggests that non-British immigration was surprisingly common before 1945, particularly before 1901, and that the assumed homogenous British origin population at 1901 and 1945 hid a greater proportion of non-British ancestry than has commonly been assumed. Evidence of inter-ethnic families and marriages suggests that much of this integration was peaceable in the absence of formal policies to manage interethnic relationships. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s

Issue addressed: Although health promotion and crime prevention have been brought together to address specific social ills, such as illicit drugs and road trauma, there is little literature that seeks to lift the connections between the fields of health and justice to a more general level. Methods: The present paper explores the synergies between health promotion and crime prevention by considering a range of parallels between them. Results: Health promotion and crime prevention can be shown to have several parallel interests, agendas, systemic locations and shared population foci, indicating a potential for more conscious engagement between each field. Conclusion: There are a range of synergies, parallels and shared interests that crime prevention and health promotion share. These fields could develop more supportive networks with each other. So what? There is scope for those who champion both crime prevention and health promotion to align more readily in activities of public policy, academia and practice. In addition, the two fields and their advocates could be more supportive of each other in progressing agendas of social equity. Health promotion practitioners could consider seeking to extend their employment and opportunities by being aware of projects, employment and relationships outside of health in the field of crime prevention.

What is successful migration? At a macro-socio-political level migration by individuals may appear to be successful when it has met the objectives of governments, industries and domestic profit makers. However, delving beneath the surface can reveal contradictions and other measures of success at the individual, or micro-level. Within a broader critical historical ethnography, we interviewed 26 post-World War 2 (WW2) British migrants living in South Australia. All interviewees could be viewed as successful at the macro-level, having remained in Australia for many years and having established multi-generational Australian families. Their migration was a ‘success’ when measured against the priorities that were actively promoted by Australian governments in the post-WW2 period. At a micro-level, the migrants involved in this study reported mixed outcomes. While migration did result in self-identified aims of migration including employment, opportunities and adventure, some migrants reported high levels of distress and longing, linked to loss and dislocation from people and places in geographically distant locales. For some, these feelings extended into the present, raising questions over the ‘success’ of their migration experiences at a personal level. We argue that pro-active migration recruitment—such as that undertaken by Australian governments in the post-WW2 period—has the potential to pressure some persons into migration, creating ongoing and unresolvable tensions. Experiences of such disruptions merit further exploration to develop deeper critical understandings of migration success. Refereed/Peer-reviewed