Although Australian epidemiology of HBV and HCV has been well described for populations groups at higher risk, but the information available for groups generally considered to be lower risk is much more limited. An understanding of the prevalence of these infections and their risk factors in antenatal women is important to guide testing policy and practice. A study was therefore conducted of the epidemiology of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection in women. In addition, women were asked about their experience with antenatal testing. A total of 516 women participated in the survey, of these 479 (95%) women had been tested for HCV antibodies .The prevalence of HCV antibodies was 4% overall, and 2% among women who were unaware of their HCV status prior to their antenatal test. A history of injecting drug use and residing with a HCV positive person were significantly associated with HCV infection in multivariate analyses. HBV testing was conducted in 468 (99.6%) of women, and the overall prevalence was 2%. Risk factors identified were birthplace in countries of South East Asia. Women were asked about their perception of antenatal testing and pre-test information. Nearly a third (143, 30.5%) of women who had been tested for HCV infection either said that they did not know whether they had been tested, or said that they had declined testing. The corresponding proportion for HBV infection was 28.8% (135). Over 65% and 66% of women said that had not received any information about testing for HCV and HBV respectively. The finding that virtually all antenatal women were being tested for HCV was in contrast to government and non-government organisation policies of ???selective??? screening in place during the study period. Of concern was the substantial proportion of women who were tested despite reporting that they had declined their clinician???s offer to test for HCV and HBV, and the large number of women who reported an absence of pre-test information. Women who said they had received information reported the delivery and quality of information varied according to the antenatal clinician group, but perceived the overall quality as poor.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-103). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38776

Risk is a crucial concept in healthcare communication. This is attested to by a large body of research on risk communication in psychology, sociology, and, more recently, discourse analysis. This previous research has primarily focused on how healthcare providers manage risk talk, whereas patients’ risk talk has received little attention. Where it has been researched, it has been presented in an oversimplified way, namely that the patients have been reported to perceive their risk in a simplified, ‘all-or-nothing manner’. Using theme-oriented discourse analysis (Roberts and Sarangi, 2005), this study challenges this simplified perception by examining patients’ risk talk in prenatal screening for Down syndrome. The data for this study comprises 14 video-recorded consultations collected in one prenatal hospital in Hong Kong. The particular focus of the study is on patients who have received a ‘positive’ result from the initial screening for Down syndrome that has put them in a high-risk group by increasing their probability of having a baby with Down syndrome. In these consultations patients are informed about further testing to confirm the diagnosis. To examine the patients’ risk talk, the transcripts of the interactions have been coded along the lines of structural, thematic and interactional maps (Roberts and Sarangi, 2005) to note down risk talk by patients, what is it concerned with and the interactional dynamics of how it is managed. The analysis suggests that patients’ risk talk concerns three types of risks, namely the “risk of occurrence” (that is the probability of having a child with Down Syndrome) the “risk of knowing” (that is dealing with the knowledge about having a child with Down Syndrome) and what has been referred to in this study as the “risk of not knowing” (that is not finding out about the condition due to the uncertainty surrounding the tests). In contrast to the findings in the previous studies, the patients in the data actively initiate risk talk by raising clarification questions and talking about their concerns. The analysis has revealed the differences in how different types of risk talk are constructed by the patients. These differences are discussed in regards to the phases of the consultation in which risk talk occurs and whether risk talk is aimed at eliciting further information or making a decision about pursuing further testing. The analysis has also noted that risk communication is a joint activity involving the patients and the healthcare providers. In addressing patients’ risk talk the healthcare providers in the data take on an indirect approach, thereby avoiding influencing the patients’ decision-making and managing the uncertainty surrounding prenatal screening. The analysis has also pointed out that the patients’ socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds have a crucial impact on how risk talk is constructed by the patients. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Although Australian epidemiology of HBV and HCV has been well described for populations groups at higher risk, but the information available for groups generally considered to be lower risk is much more limited. An understanding of the prevalence of these infections and their risk factors in antenatal women is important to guide testing policy and practice. A study was therefore conducted of the epidemiology of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection in women. In addition, women were asked about their experience with antenatal testing. A total of 516 women participated in the survey, of these 479 (95%) women had been tested for HCV antibodies .The prevalence of HCV antibodies was 4% overall, and 2% among women who were unaware of their HCV status prior to their antenatal test. A history of injecting drug use and residing with a HCV positive person were significantly associated with HCV infection in multivariate analyses. HBV testing was conducted in 468 (99.6%) of women, and the overall prevalence was 2%. Risk factors identified were birthplace in countries of South East Asia. Women were asked about their perception of antenatal testing and pre-test information. Nearly a third (143, 30.5%) of women who had been tested for HCV infection either said that they did not know whether they had been tested, or said that they had declined testing. The corresponding proportion for HBV infection was 28.8% (135). Over 65% and 66% of women said that had not received any information about testing for HCV and HBV respectively. The finding that virtually all antenatal women were being tested for HCV was in contrast to government and non-government organisation policies of ???selective??? screening in place during the study period. Of concern was the substantial proportion of women who were tested despite reporting that they had declined their clinician???s offer to test for HCV and HBV, and the large number of women who reported an absence of pre-test information. Women who said they had received information reported the delivery and quality of information varied according to the antenatal clinician group, but perceived the overall quality as poor.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2002. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Discipline of Physiology, 2004. / Includes list of papers arising from this thesis. "July 2004" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 253-297). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, Discipline of Physiology, 2004. / Includes list of papers arising from this thesis. "July 2004" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 253-297). Also available in print form.

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008.