The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of various kinds of bowel behavior and symptoms thought to be indicative of colorectal cancer in people randomly selected from the community. A probability sample of 330 dwellings in the inner western suburbs of Sydney yielded 202 completed interviews with occupants aged 30 years and older. Eight percent reported annoying abdominal pain that had lasted for two weeks or more in the preceding six months, while 19 percent reported a feeling of incomplete evacuation at least once every two weeks. Blood on the toilet paper was reported by 14 percent and blood in the toilet bowl by 2 percent. Twenty-one percent said they always looked at their stool in the toilet bowl and 34 percent always looked at the toilet paper after using it, but 43 percent seldom or never looked at either their stool or the paper. Of the 75 who said they looked at their stool about half the time or more, two (3.1 percent) reported seeing blood during the preceding six months. Symptoms that may be associated with colorectal cancer are common in apparently well adults. Whilst this includes bleeding from the rectum in toto, it may not be true for blood seen specifically in the toilet bowl. Because this latter symptom has potential discriminating value, it may be worthwhile to promote public education encouraging people to inspect their stools regularly, and to visit their doctor if blood is seen.
Hearing the stories of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers highlights the powerful influence that cultural identity has on their practice. Their identity is continuously negotiated alongside a professional social work identity that is dominated by Western discourse. The tensions that these social workers experience in their practice is revealed in the findings of a qualitative research project conducted by an Indigenous and a non‐Indigenous practitioner and researcher. The researchers spoke to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers engaged in diverse areas of practice across Australia. Their stories reveal a complex range of cultural and professional challenges. These include the difficulties encountered when working with their own kinship networks and the need to constantly negotiate personal and professional boundaries. The paper concludes with some thoughts about how the practice of Indigenous social workers can provide valuable lessons for Australian social work.
This qualitative inquiry explored the processes and practices of collaboration as experienced by a group of Australian multidisciplinary Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health workers. Each worker had participated, for a period of 2 to 5 years, in an Australian Government–funded project in which a range of health initiatives led to improved access to cancer services by Aboriginal communities in a rural region of South Eastern Australia. Initiatives which addressed high rates of mortality from cancer, poor access to cancer screening, and engagement with cancer treatment were developed through the formation of close working relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health workers. These relationships were regarded as personally and professionally transformative. Through the sharing of knowledge, skills, and experiences, new ways of knowing, being, and doing emerged. Developing a deeper understanding of cross-cultural collaboration is one way of addressing complex health problems and building the capacity of the health workforce.
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