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This research focused on how child protection practitioners in the Department of Child Safety, Queensland used the Structured Decision Making (SDM) tools in their practice with children and families. SDM is a set of tools designed to assist practitioners with their decision making, promote consistency in practice and target the children most in need of a service. This research focused on how practitioners used four of the SDM tools in the intake and investigation stages of a case: the Screening Criteria (used to assess which cases should be accepted for investigation), the Response Priority Tool (used to assess the urgency with which an investigation should commence), the Safety Assessment Tool (used to assess whether a Safety Plan needs to be developed or a child needs to be removed from parental care) and the Family Risk Evaluation Tool (used to assign levels of risk to cases and assist in decision making about further Departmental intervention). More broadly, the research aimed to address a gap in the literature about how child protection practitioners use risk assessment tools in their practice with children and families. / Theoretically the research drew from ethnomethodology to explore the ‘unstated conditions’ (Garfinkel, 1967) in relation to how the tools were used by practitioners. Methods for data collection were drawn from ethnography and involved three months fieldwork at six Child Safety Service Centres in Queensland during 2007/08. The fieldwork involved observing the practice of practitioners in intake and investigation teams at the different offices, interviews with 46 practitioners and audits of 51 case files. / A significant finding of the research was that practitioners were not using the tools in the way that they were intended to be used by their designers (primarily to assist decision making). Rather the tools were considered as tools that met organisational requirements for accountability and consistency. The ‘unstated conditions’ that emerged from the research provide not only description about how the tools were used, but also explanation about why the tools were used in certain ways. These explanations provide insights which have implications more generally for the future development and implementation of tools to assist practitioners with assessment and decision making.

Safe and efficient swallowing requires integrity of both motor and sensory systems. Prior studies have established that motor impairment in individuals with PD frequently manifests as abnormalities in swallowing biomechanics. In contrast, very few studies have investigated the contribution of sensory impairment towards pharyngeal biomechanics and airway protection in this patient cohort. This area should be addressed in light of evidence that the severity of limb motor dysfunction in PD does not reliably predict severity of dysphagia. Emerging data suggests that dysphagia in PD cannot be solely attributed to motor impairment, but may also be influenced by deficits in sensory aspects of airway protection. As an example, silent aspiration in up to 100% has been reported in individuals with PD due to laryngopharyngeal sensory deficits have. Even so, current research lacks information on the integration of both motor and sensory components that make up the swallowing process. The aim of this study was to document changes in airway protection with age, in PD and across severity levels of PD. The project was comprised of two parts. In part one, three parallel studies were conducted to assess a series of both motor and sensory airway mechanism (Chapters 4 to 9). In the first study, 16 young (8 males, age range 21.3 - 32.4) and 16 elder adults (8 males, age range 61.5 - 84.7), were assessed to investigate changes in airway protection that accompany ageing. In the second study, data from individuals diagnosed with PD across severity levels (Hoehn-Yahr 1 - 4, age range 64.2 - 84.5) were age and gender-matched to 16 healthy elders in order to examine the effects of PD on airway protection. In the third, the impact of disease severity was studied with data from 16 individuals in the earlier stages (Hoehn-Yahr ≤ 2, 13 males, age range 51.3 - 82.5, ) compared to 16 individuals in the later stages (Hoehn-Yahr ≥ 2.5, 10 males, age range 61.5 - 78.9). In part two of this project, two smaller, pilot studies were completed to probe the influence of pharmacologic and behavioural treatments on airway protection mechanisms. In the first pilot study, the effect of pharmacotherapy on airway protection was investigated in 10 patients 'on' and 'off' levodopa (Chapter 10). In the second study, 5 patients were assessed before and after completing the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) to document effects of speech rehabilitation on airway protection (Chapter 11). Multimodality assessment elicited data from all participants on both motor and sensory components of airway protection (Chapter 3). Specifically, breathing-swallowing coordination (BSC) and swallowing apnoea (SA) were captured using simultaneous directional nasal airflow and surface electromyography (sEMG). Standard, closed-loop spirometry was used to assess pulmonary function. Swallowing biomechanics were screened using a validated timed test of swallowing efficiency and further evaluated using fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). Finally, chemo-sensation of the laryngopharynx was determined with the administration of the inhalation cough challenge while mechanosensation was examined using FEES. Results suggest that motor control for airway protection is reasonably robust in PD, although sensory response is impaired. The predominant pattern for swallowing respiratory coordination was mid-expiration for all participants regardless of age and disease severity (Chapter 4). Individuals with PD demonstrated a reduction in average time and volume per swallow, leading to an overall decrease in swallowing capacity (Chapter 5). No difference was found for swallowing efficiency between those in early and later stages of PD. Pulmonary function measures were not significantly different as a function of age, PD or PD severity (Chapter 6). In summary, results from motor assessments contributing to airway protection support the robustness of breathing-swallowing coordination (BSC) and pulmonary function across research groups, but identify a reduction in overall swallowing efficiency in PD. Results from sensory assessments contributing to airway protection revealed that chemosensation was not different between age groups but base of tongue mechano-sensation was diminished in individuals with PD. Natural cough thresholds did not differ between young adults and elders but when asked to stifle coughing, elders were less able to do so compared to young adults (Chapter 7). For the first time, a reduction in mechano-reception at the base of tongue was recorded in individuals with PD (Chapter 8). These patients also demonstrated increased post swallow residual (Chapter 5), which offers an explanation for the complaint of globus in this population. These assessments highlight some compromise to sensory aspects of airway protection in PD. Overall, dysphagia had a negative impact on the quality of life of individuals with PD and even more as disease severity progresses (Chapter 9). Results from part two of the study looking at the effects of therapeutic interventions on airway protection revealed some unexpected findings. In chapter 10, results showed a reduction in pulmonary function when 'on' levodopa, but no differences in swallowing efficiency, BSC, or laryngopharyngeal chemo- and mechano-reception were observed. These results suggested a reduction in pulmonary function with levodopa without any increase in risk of airway protection compromise1. Unexpectedly and documented for the first time, the percentage of post swallow inspiration increased after LSVT (Chapter 11) but as with the levodopa study, this was also not accompanied by any apparent increase in aspiration risk. An increase in submental surface electromyography (sEMG) amplitude across all 5 participants may serve as a proxy measure of improvement in hyolaryngeal excursion. Finally, participants reported an overall improvement in social functioning and communication after LSVT. In conclusion, this study provided evidence that mechano-sensory aspect of airway protection is diminished in individuals with PD, possibly compromising airway protection. Patients not only demonstrated increased residue but the lack of sensation may prevent clearing or spontaneous multiple swallows. Overall, airway protection is maintained in ageing but swallowing efficiency declines in the presence of PD. This study contributes significantly to current research efforts in PD by expanding on existing reports regarding motor aspects of airway protection. Specifically, BSC, swallowing efficiency and evaluation of biomechanics using FEES research have never before been investigated exclusively in the PD population. Finally, the chemo- and mechano-sensation evaluated in this study are an important addition to the limited evidence that sensory impairment in individuals with PD potentially compromises airway protection. Results of the present study will serve as a platform upon which future studies may compare and expand.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Animal welfare legislation does not consistently protect all nonhuman animals against all harms under all circumstances. Through an analysis of current legislative arrangements and the origins of animal protection law, and an examination of popular attitudes towards animal cruelty, this study seeks to comment on the role of visibility in informing the level and type of state-sponsored interest protection an animal receives. It is argued that different types of animals enjoy different levels of visibility and that an animal’s level of visibility influences the extent to which the state is willing to intervene to protect the animal from harm. These findings are significant because the highly politicised nature of the lives of many nonhuman animals raises questions about the appropriateness of an animal welfare legislative regime which is at once biased and which also tends to favour those animals who are most readily visible. It is argued that the practice of regulating animal welfare by use of legislative instruments which are inconsistent is problematic from the perspective of liberal principles because liberalism places a heavy emphasis on the concept of equality. Similarly, the practice of preferential treatment for the most visible is not consistent with democratic values because it removes citizens from the process of establishing agreed-upon standards for animal protection. In conclusion, it is argued that because some animals have been effectively drawn into the liberal democratic political landscape, the principle of equitable treatment should be applied to the manner in which the state regulates animal use. Such an approach would mean that animal use would be regulated according to the same values that are applied to other areas of political society. It would also have the effect of establishing what the community views as the appropriate level of nonhuman animal interest protection, by challenging the existence of a double standard predicated on the principle of low visibility.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines the use of cross applications in civil protection order proceedings in New South Wales (NSW) (known as Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders, ADVOs). A cross application takes place when one person in an existing or former intimate relationship, usually the woman, applies for an ADVO and sometime afterwards the defendant in that originating application, usually the man, seeks an ADVO against the first person. The focus on cross applications provides a means to investigate the nature of men’s and women’s competing allegations about domestic violence, and to explore the way in which professionals working within the ADVO system approach, and seek to unravel, these competing claims. This thesis draws on the extensive debate within the sociological literature about ‘what is domestic violence’ and whether domestic violence is gendered in its perpetration. This debate has been paid scant attention in the legal literature. This thesis examines the assumptions underpinning the legal definitions and understandings of domestic violence in the civil protection order system, with reference to these theoretical debates about ‘what is domestic violence’ and ‘what counts as domestic violence’. To do so it draws on empirical work: semi-structured in-depth interviews with women involved in cross applications and key professionals working in the field, documentary analysis of court files, and observations of court proceedings. The key contribution of this thesis to this literature is threefold: (1) it explores the question of gender perpetration through the investigation of official data (a data source little explored in debates about gender and domestic violence), (2) it combines qualitative and quantitative methods in a single study, and (3) it extends questions about the gendered perpetration of domestic violence to the legal arena (in particular the prime legal arena that responds to domestic violence in NSW, the ADVO system, a system ostensibly designed to better respond to domestic violence). This thesis found that, like other studies in this field, the analysis of quantitative data alone reveals few differences between the types of violence men and women are alleged to use against their intimate partners. However when supplemented by qualitative data differences started to emerge particularly for men who lodged their application second in time. This qualitative analysis reveals not only that male second applicants appeared to make claims of a different nature, but that some men appeared to use the ADVO process to undermine women’s claims for legal protection. The differences that emerged between men and women’s alleged experiences of domestic violence resonated with feminist understandings of domestic violence that highlight its function of control and the repetitive, cumulative environment in which violence is perpetrated by men against women. While the study focussed on cross applications, its findings reveal a number of issues of concern for the ADVO system more broadly: its focus on incidents, the poor quality of complaint narratives, the brevity of court proceedings and the emphasis on settlement. These features undermine the progressive potential of the ADVO legislation to capture more than single incidents of largely physical violence. This was further compounded by the fact that while the professionals interviewed articulated broad definitions of domestic violence, this tended to be lost when responding to practice-orientated questions (here professionals returned to incident-based definitions). Perhaps more significantly the defining feature of domestic violence as a mechanism of control is not articulated in the NSW legislation, and hence (not unsurprisingly) was generally not articulated in the complaint narratives examined in this thesis. Yet control was the dominant way in which the women interviewed described their relationship with their former partner. The failure of complaint narratives to reflect the dimension of control, combined with the failure of key professionals to give sufficient emphasis to control in their practice under the ADVO legislation, an absence highlighted through the focus on cross applications, is an issue of concern for the ADVO system generally. This is important given the growing recognition in the research literature of the fundamental nature of control to the experience of domestic violence, particularly women’s experiences of domestic violence.

Diss.: Rovaniemi : Lapin yliopisto. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Barry Allen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 188-200). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-227).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.

Thesis (M. Env. St.)--University of Adelaide, Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [111-113]).