Background: Australia has limited supports to help families where Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) impacts children and young people. National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Australia (NOFASD), in conjunction with the University of Otago, New Zealand, piloted and established a 7-week online program to assist caregivers to…

A high prevalence of maltreatment, abuse, neglect and the onset of subsequent trauma has been well-documented among both young people with disability and young people residing in foster and kinship care. However, no uniform policies or guidelines currently exist for the delivery of trauma-informed models of care to build the capacity of foster and…

Background: Healthy eating (HE) and physical activity (PA) are essential for children's health and well-being. Innovative approaches, informed by formative research, are crucial to promoting these behaviors. Experiential learning, involving active, hands-on approaches, may be an effective way to encourage healthy behaviors in children. Children's…

Background: This study aimed to explore perceived work stress and its association with burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction and the mediating effect of psychological flexibility on these relationships. Method: Two hundred and fifty-one disability support workers across Australia reported on work stress, psychological…

The oral health of people with intellectual and developmental disability is poorer than that of the general community. Any solution for people with intellectual and developmental disability living in residential services needs to include disability support workers (DSWs). Previous studies have used either didactic or train-the-trainer approaches…

The childcare setting is a critical environment to observe, and also influence, children's mental wellbeing. However, little research has examined the experiences and ability of Australian family day care (FDC) educators in supporting children's mental wellbeing. The present study aimed to explore how training, COVID-19, and partnerships influence…

A high proportion of adults with intellectual disability (ID) who live in supported accommodation (i.e. group homes) engage in challenging behaviours (CB). A lack of engagement in meaningful activity, social isolation, communication difficulties, and boredom can be triggers for challenging behaviour. There is a small body of literature on…

Background: Supporting people with intellectual disability to make decisions is an important issue for policy implementation yet there is little evidence about the practice of providing support. Method: This study aimed to understand the experiences of family members and disability support workers in providing support to adults with intellectual…

This study reports on Australian small-scale exploratory descriptive research into how young people with intellectual disability and their families construct their futures. The aims of this research were to (a) better understand the future aspirations held by young adults with intellectual disability and their parents, (b) identify enablers and…

Background: The increased longevity of individuals with intellectual disability means that ageing parents often play an extended caregiving role into late life. This systematic review evaluates qualitative evidence on futures planning among older parents whose adult children live either in the family home or out-of-home. Method: Electronic…

Much has been written about the growing influence and reach of online learning in higher education, including the opportunities that this can offer for improving student equity and widening participation. One area of student equity in which online learning has an influence is that of gender equity, particularly for mature-age students. This…

Currently, Australian boarding schools undertake to provide a home away from home for around 20,000 adolescents. Research documenting the boarding school experience is scarce, and, with few exceptions, exists as a less significant aspect of more general research into private school education. Such school-based research focuses on the positive,…

Background: To date, the descriptions of a 'good' direct care worker used to recruit workers for disability services have largely been drawn up by managerial professionals in charge of hiring supports for people with disabilities. However, previous research highlights that these professionals conceptualise a "good" direct care worker…

Although children of parents with an alcohol or other drug (AOD) issue appear to assume a range of caring responsibilities within their families they have, until recently, been excluded from the growing body of young-carer research, policy and practice. This is problematic, as this group may experience greater levels of social exclusion whilst…

Disability support personnel within Australia include those who provide direct and daily care to people with intellectual disability (ID), largely in residential and day service contexts. Their roles and responsibilities are many, calling on far ranging skills. Yet, they come to these roles with levels of education that range from incomplete high…