Australia's welfare 2009 is the ninth biennial welfare report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative source of national information on welfare services in Australia. Topics include children, youth and families; ageing and aged care; disability and disability services; carers and informal care; housing and housing assistance; and homelessness.
New first aid guidelines for problem cannabis use have recently been released to help the community identify and assist users who are developing a problem with their cannabis use or are in a cannabis-related crisis. The guidelines, the first to be produced in the world, have been researched and produced by Orygen Youth Health for the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC), funded by the Australian Government, based at the University of NSW, and are a response to the growing body of evidence that links cannabis use to a range of physical and mental health problems. They are designed to inform members of the community how to recognize when someone’s cannabis use has become a problem, how to provide initial support and information, and how to guide the user to seek professional help.
One of the core objectives of supply-side drug law enforcement is to reduce drug use by raising the cost of buying drugs.
The effectiveness of this strategy depends on how illicit drug users respond to the rise in costs. The aim of the current study
was to estimate how methamphetamine users would respond to changes in the price of methamphetamine and heroin
using a scenario-based research design.
Theories on the causal relationship between drug use and crime in Australian literature have often overlooked the influence of gender as a confounding variable. However, research indicates that pathways into drug use and crime differ for males and females. Using data from the Australian Institute of Criminology's Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program, this study explores the relationship between drug use, offending, mental health and experiences of child abuse among a sample of police detainees. Findings indicate that female detainees were more likely to use 'hard' drugs and to have been arrested for a property crime. The relationship between experiences of mental illness, drug use and arrest was also stronger for female detainees. The study also found a strong relationship, mediated by gender, between drug use, offending and prior experience of child abuse, with the relationship being stronger among female detainees. It is suggested that mental health care be considered as a measure to reduce recidivism, and that programs designed for male offenders may not be suitable for addressing women offenders' needs, which also tend to be more complex.
A report on the information and support needs of people living with hepatitis C in Australia. The purpose of the National Hepatitis C Needs Assessment (2008) was to identify the education, information and support needs of Australians living with hepatitis C; to inform the development of improved information, education and support services for people with hepatitis C in Australia. This project builds on, and will provide an update to the Needs Assessment conducted by Hepatitis Australia in 2003.
This paper was commissioned by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) to inform the development of strategies aimed at preventing violent and antisocial behaviours among young people. The paper, which was prepared for ARACY by the Centre for Adolescent Health, presents an analysis of factors associated with violent and antisocial behaviours among young Australians aged 10–14 years. The focus is on identifying factors that either increase or reduce the likelihood of young people engaging in violent and antisocial behaviours.
