Bushfire Smoke and Children's Health-Exploring a Communication Gap.

The "Black Summer" bushfires of 2019/2020 in Australia generated smoke that persisted for over three months, mainly affecting Eastern Australia. Most communication strategies focused on the fire itself, revealing a knowledge gap in effective communication of the impact of bushfire smoke on health, especially for children and those living in non-English speaking minority groups. To address this, semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with sixteen adults with caring (n = 11) or educational (n = 5) responsibilities for primary-school aged children (5-12 years, with some also having children up to 16 years) who had direct experience of the "Black Summer" bushfires. Overall, 43% (n = 7) of the sample spoke English as a first language, 25% (n = 4) spoke Turkish, with the remainder speaking Persian, Arabic, and Spanish. Thematic inductive qualitative content analysis revealed predominant themes of the role of parents and caregivers as conduits and curators of information. Air quality apps were the most common source of information. Language barriers and the lack of child-friendly methods of communication were highlighted as particular challenges. This qualitative study provides evidence for future development of communication strategies to better serve culturally and linguistically diverse individuals and the children in their care.

Achieving Service Change Through the Implementation of a Trauma-Informed Care Training Program Within a Mental Health Service.

As evidence continues to accumulate for the association between childhood trauma and long-term adverse outcomes, Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) approaches are emerging as fundamental to contemporary mental health services. To evaluate a workshop designed to influence mental health practitioners in TIC principles and practices. Nursing, medical and allied health professionals completed pre and post measures of confidence, awareness and attitudes towards TIC practice. The workshop was rated as highly relevant and useful to clinician's practice. Participants' self-reported confidence, awareness and attitudes towards TIC significantly increased (p < .001) and the perceived number of barriers to working within a TIC framework significantly decreased (p < .05). Child and Adolescent Mental Health clinicians routinely screened for trauma and 80% had received training in a trauma specific intervention at follow-up. This brief training provides an important foundation for the development of trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health services.