Social Inclusion and Integrative Practices

This paper is a reflection on sustainable integrative practices across the public sector, and is grounded in the direct experience of one of the authors, who held thepost of the South Australian Social Inclusion Commissioner for the period 2002-2011. The discussion draws on case examples to explore the mechanisms that were used to embed integrative practices into the workings of government agencies. Fundamentally this is an exercise in the use of power and this is explored

Social Inclusion and Integrative Practices

© 2014 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).With the passage of time valuable lessons have been learnt about both effective practices for program and system integration and the sizable barriers, including the challenges in sustaining constructive integration. This paper is a reflection on sustainable integrative practices and is grounded in the direct experience of one of the authors, who held the post of the South Australian Social Inclusion Commissioner. We reflect upon the structure and mechanism of the South Australian Social Inclusion Initiative (2002–2011) as well as using a case study of a successful integrative program of the Social Inclusion Initiative, a program in South Australia’s School Retention Action Plan 2004 Making the Connections (South Australian Social Inclusion Board, 2004) that was implemented to improve school retention. The case study draws out salient factors of clear rationale, coordination, collaboration, communication, team work and trust as skills and ingredients to bring about integration in policy and programs. While the integration literature affirms that these ingredients are primary skills for the development of an integrative framework, we also assert that they are not enough for successful and sustained integration. Absent from much of the literature is a discussion about the use of power and the manner in which horizontal integrative work occurs. We take up this theme to draw out some implications for analysis of sustainable integrative practices

Strengthening care in collaboration with people with lived experience of psychosis in Uganda (SCAPE-U): A protocol for a cluster randomized controlled feasibility trial

BackgroundMental health services are most effective and equitable when designed, delivered, and evaluated in collaboration with People With Lived Experience of mental health conditions (PWLE). However, PWLE are rarely involved in health systems strengthening, and when they are, it is limited to specific components (e.g., peer helpers) rather than multi-tiered collaboration in the full continuum of home to community to facility based services. Moreover, programs that do involve PWLE typically involve people with a history of substance use conditions or common mental disorders. The collaboration of People With Lived Experience of Psychosis (PWLP) is especially rare. Therefore, we aim to explore the feasibility of collaborating with PWLP for health systems strengthening in this feasibility trial.MethodsThis pilot cluster randomized controlled feasibility trial will randomize 36 health facilities to a standard implementation arm where primary care workers (PCW) will be trained by mental health specialists (control), or a collaborative care model with added co-facilitation of PCW trainings by PWLP as well as home visits by PWLP to service users (intervention). The intervention condition is referred to as “Strengthening CAre in collaboration with People with lived Experience of psychosis in Uganda” (SCAPE-U). The 36 health facilities will be distributed across six clusters with three clusters in each arm. PhotoVoice will be used to train PWLP to be co-facilitators of PCW training and provide home-based support to service users in the intervention arm. The primary outcomes of the feasibility trial will be the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of collaborating with PWLP. Data will also be collected on individual-level outcomes for PCWs, and service users to inform the feasibility of data collection and obtain effect size estimates.DiscussionFindings from this feasibility trial will inform a fully powered trial to evaluate the benefits of an implementation strategy characterized by collaboration with PWLP across the continuum of healthcare services

A field and video-annotation guide for baited remote underwater stereo-video surveys of demersal fish assemblages

Researchers TL, BG, JW, NB and JM were supported by the Marine Biodiversity Hub through funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program. Data validation scripts and GlobalArchive.org were supported by the Australian Research Data Commons, the Gorgon-Barrow Island Gorgon Barrow Island Net Conservation Benefits Fund, administered by the Government of Western Australia and the BHP/UWA Biodiversity and Societal Benefits of Restricted Access Areas collaboration.1. Baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs) are a popular tool to sample demersal fish assemblages and gather data on their relative abundance and body-size structure in a robust, cost-effective, and non-invasive manner. Given the rapid uptake of the method, subtle differences have emerged in the way stereo-BRUVs are deployed and how the resulting imagery are annotated. These disparities limit the interoperability of datasets obtained across studies, preventing broad-scale insights into the dynamics of ecological systems. 2. We provide the first globally accepted guide for using stereo-BRUVs to survey demersal fish assemblages and associated benthic habitats. 3. Information on stereo-BRUV design, camera settings, field operations, and image annotation are outlined. Additionally, we provide links to protocols for data validation, archiving, and sharing. 4. Globally, the use of stereo-BRUVs is spreading rapidly. We provide a standardised protocol that will reduce methodological variation among researchers and encourage the use of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reproducible (FAIR) workflows to increase the ability to synthesise global datasets and answer a broad suite of ecological questions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

People and community at the heart of systems and bureaucracy: South Australia's social inclusion initiative

The Premier of South Australia, the Hon Mike Rann MP, established the Social Inclusion Initiative in 2002. While he drew extensively on the ideas of the Blair Labour Government in Britain, which had set up a Social Exclusion Unit in 1997, the Premier called on South Australia\u27s record of social innovation and its history of serious commitment to social justice to frame an agenda for this new work. This report considers the Social Inclusion Initiative which has become the bedrock of South Australia\u27s approach to delivering public value to the most marginalised people through joined-up government

Belonging home: capabilities, belonging and mental health recovery in low resourced settings

Abstract There are significant barriers to the development of a ‘balanced model’ of mental health in low-income countries. These include gaps in the evidence base on effective responses to severe mental health issues and what works in the transition from hospital to home, and a low public investment in primary and community care. These limitations were the drivers for the formation of the non-government organization, YouBelong Uganda (YBU), which works to contribute to the implementation of a community-based model of mental health care in Uganda. This paper overviews an intervention protocol developed by YBU, which is a combined model of parallel engagement with the national mental hospital in Kampala, Uganda, movement of ‘ready for discharge’ patients back to their families and communities, and community development. The YBU programme is theoretically underpinned by a capabilities approach together with practical application of a concept of ‘belonging’. It is an experiment in implementation with hopes that it may be a positive step towards the development of an effective model in Uganda, which may be applicable in other countries. Finally, we discuss the value in joining ideas from social work, sociology, philosophy, public health and psychiatry into a community mental health ‘belonging framework’.</jats:p

Age, growth and mortality of the stripey, Lutjanus carponotatus (Richardson) and the brown-stripe snapper, L. vitta (Quoy and Gaimard) from the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The age, growth and mortality of Lutjanus carponotatus and L. vitta were determined from sectioned otoliths of fishes from the central Great Barrier Reef. The periodicity of annulus formation was validated by oxytetracycline labelling of tagged fishes in a separate study. Growth in length was variable between sexes for both species, males tending to grow larger than females. The von Bertalanffy growth function (fork length-at-age) for L. carponotatus was Lt=313.0 (1−exp {−0.449[t+0.016]}), and Lt=245.3 (1−exp {−0.853[t+0.179]}) for L. vitta. The oldest individuals found were an L. carponotatus individual of unknown sex, 20 years of age (FL=335 mm) and a female L. vitta 12 years of age (FL=257 mm). Otolith weight was strongly correlated with age for both species. The annual instantaneous rate of natural mortality (M) was estimated to be 0.199 for L. carponotatus and 0.342 for L. vitta, representing an annual survivorship of approximately 82 and 71%, respectively. The longer life span and lower rate of natural mortality for L. carponotatus indicates that this species will be more vulnerable to overfishing than L. vitta

Age, growth, mortality rates and corresponding yield estimates using otoliths of the tropical red snappers, Lutjanus erythropterus, L. malabaricus and L. sebae, from the central Great Barrier Reef ☆

Otoliths of L. erythropterus, L. malabaricus and L. sebae from the central Great Barrier Reef contain a well defined series of opaque and translucent increments known to be deposited annually. These three species are relatively long-lived, and grow slowly after becoming reproductively mature. Age estimates up to 32 years for L. erythropterus, 20 years for L. malabaricus and 22 years for L. sebae were much higher than those previously reported from other northern Australian waters. Age estimates obtained from counts of increments on whole otoliths were consistently much lower and more imprecise, at all ages compared with counts from sectioned otoliths. Precision of counts from whole otoliths declined significantly with increasing fish age. The regression of sectioned age on otolith weight revealed consistent linear relationships among all three species. To explore the fishery research and management implications of these biases, age estimates from the two ageing methods were used to construct comparative growth and mortality parameters and model yield-per-recruit values under contrasting harvest strategies. While the von Bertalanffy growth functions were not significantly different for the two methods, the underestimates of age from whole otoliths caused serious over-estimation of natural mortality. Serious overfishing could occur if these estimates were applied for fishery management purposes