Educating Genetic Counselors in Australia—Developing a Masters Program

In 2005 a publication about genetic counseling training in Australia recommended that a 2 year Masters program be established to better equip Australian genetic counselors with increased clinical skills and genetic knowledge (Sahhar et al. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 14(4), 283–294, 2005). A 2 year Masters program, it was argued, would increase the possibility of international reciprocity, thus increasing the employment opportunities for Australian trained genetic counselors overseas. In 2008 the first 2 year professional Masters program in Australia began at the University of Melbourne. The model for how this was achieved is discussed, along with the impact of the competencies developed by the Human Genetics Society of Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), on program evolution, teaching styles and clinical supervision. The principal challenges in developing the Masters program are explored and initiatives specific to SE Asia are discussed.     

Investigating Sustained Visitor/Museum Relationships: Employing Narrative Research in the Field of Museum Visitor Studies

ABSTRACT

Museums today are faced with a number of challenges and are currently searching for ways to attract and retain audiences and engage with the public. In order to address these issues, researchers have called for studies to help construct a more complete understanding of the visitor experience. Few studies employ methodological approaches that provide in-depth accounts of the museum experience. Narrative methodology is one means by which researchers may access rich accounts of the multi-faceted nature of audience relationships with museums. This article reports preliminary findings from a narrative research study that aimed to explore sustained visitor/museum relationships. The narrative methodology adopted for this study provides novel insights into the nature of these relationships and extends our understanding of those museum experiences that build and strengthen relationships with visitors.     

Are boundary extension and representational momentum related?

Boundary extension (BE) is misremembering more of a particular scene than actually presented. Representational momentum (RM) is misremembering the final position of a moving object as further along its implied trajectory. There is a sense in which both BE and RM are predictions, and the current experiments explore the possibility that these are related phenomena. We showed participants single photographs to measure baseline BE, and then approach sequences and measured BE and RM. We found significant BE and RM, and a significant interaction between baseline BE and BE following an approach sequence, but no interaction with RM. The initial evidence suggests that BE and RM are separate processes, and that BE (the establishing of spatial layout) occurs before RM (the continuation of movement) within a scene.     

The Multigenerational Impact of Sibling Relationships

This study examined the impact that sibling relationship patterns in one generation have on the succeeding generation. In particular, it investigated whether calm and tense sibling interactions were similar across two generations and whether calm and tense sibling interactions in one generation would be similar to calm and tense parent-child interactions in the next generations. Statistical analyses were performed on the 220 successfully completed questionnaires. The results support the idea that sibling interactional patterns are transmitted across two generations and that the sibling relationship patterns in one generation appear to influence the parent-child relationships in the next generation.     

Multimodal Rehabilitation: A Mind-Body Family-Based Intervention for Children and Adolescents Impaired by Medically Unexplained Symptoms. Part 2: Case Studies and Outcomes

In Part 2, we describe three cases implementing our mind-body, family-based, multimodal rehabilitation approach for treating children and adolescents presenting with medically unexplained symptoms. For each child and family, treatment interventions were selected and implemented, simultaneously or sequentially. In a cohort of 100 consecutively referred children, 56 suffered from, and were treated for, significant physical or chronic school absenteeism. Thirty-five of these children (63%) recovered fully, 10 (18%) had a relapsing course, 7 (12.5%) had chronic symptoms, and 4 (7%) were lost to follow-up. These outcomes suggest that mind-body multimodal rehabilitation is a successful, cost-effective model of treatment.