Current health issues in relation to the Australian Health Care System Essay

Current health issues in relation to the Australian Health Care System - Essay Example Health Issue Statistics e.g. Incidence According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 6% of Australian adults experience depression on a regular basis. Among employed Australians, 3.6% Australians experience depression on a regular basis. The financial cost of depression, which is estimated to be more than 50 billion dollars annually in Australia, includes the direct treatment costs as well as indirect costs such as lost productivity. Depression also exacts financial as well as emotional costs within the family of the affected individuals. While Australian adults of different age groups have reported suffering from depression at one time or another, it would appear to be most prevalent among women in their 20s, men in their late 30s, and in elderly Australians of both genders (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). Many Australians do not feel that their negative feelings may actually be characteristic of depression. This makes them quite reluctant to seek for medical trea tment until they are almost driven to attempt suicide by the negative feelings. Population type affected e.g. gender, age, group etc According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), one in six Australian adults will experience serious depression on an annual basis. The high risk groups include teenagers, young adults, and the elderly people. While women are more likely to report feeling depressed and seek a relief for the negative feelings, Australian men are more likely to seek for more permanent ways, such as suicide, of dealing with depressing feelings. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), depression among Australian men is linked to other illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Australian men are more likely to leave episodes of depression unreported than Australian women. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), Australian men who are 65 years of age and above have the highest suicide rate in the nation, accounting for 29 suicides per 100,000 cases. A new Women's Health Australia research study has also provided evidence that Australian women between the ages of 28 and 33 tend to experience depression even more than their mothers, or even grandmothers, did. According to this study, one in five of these women goes regularly to doctors so as to get prescriptions for anti-depressants (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). Identify a range of factors which may affect the health of this client group including risk factors. Give consideration to any specific health and social circumstances of this client group. It is difficult to determine the exact factors that cause people to be depressed because there are so many factors that can trigger an episode of depression. In an Australian society, there are multiple factors that affect indigenous groups such as the Aboriginal community and result in an almost community-wide state of depression which afflicts the young as well as the old (Hunter, 2007). The Aborigines have to deal with racism, poverty, and feelings of detachment that are caused by the fact that their traditional values are for the most part irrelevant in the modern world (Hunter, 2007). This has spurred generational drug and alcohol abuse among the Aborigines which further exacerbates the incidence of depression among the community’s citizens. Among other Australians, there are factors such life traumas

ICT and technology for education Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

ICT and technology for education - Thesis Example Several research studies have concluded that the work of teachers is strenuous and time consuming. In order to provide a measure of relief, it is necessary to develop tools that can be used to monitor the activities and progress of their students. At present, there are a few tools that can be employed to obtain the data of students and to monitor their behaviour (Persico, Pozzi, & Sarti, 2010, p. 6). However, considerable research is required in this area; due to the inability of the existing tools to provide incomplete information. Of late, educators are using internet tools, such as wikis and blogs in their classroom teaching. This has had a tremendous impact on the students, who obtain an opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics with other students, across the world. The formality is much less and discussions tend to extend to topics that had not been pre-assigned. Blogging is not traditional writing, and it represents the personal opinions of the author. In most of the online educational blogs, students post according to their own interests. The massive interactions involved in posting on blogs, generates a vast network of interactions (Downes, 2005). This system resembles community practice, as visualised by Wenger. This will definitely have an effect on the personal development of the student. E – Learning is gaining popularity as it is proved to be effective in reflective and collaborative learning. There are some problems inherent in the e-learning process. Moreover, it is also important to d evelop research and practice in the e-learning process, in order to design and develop effective methods and tools to ensure collaborative learning (Persico, Pozzi, & Sarti, 2010, p. 6). Monitoring online learning activity is an important task Thus, there is a need to develop tools for the purpose of monitoring. In the CSCL environment, tutors perform the monitoring activity. The latter are indispensable in supervising the learning process, and they evaluate the performance and academic progress of students, by means of the monitor process (Persico, Pozzi, & Sarti, 2010, p. 6). As such, the monitoring process helps the student to learn in a directed manner, which in turn makes the learning process flawless. Another area of disseminating information is that of podcasting. Thus, websites like that of McMaster broadcast lectures by engineering professors. Furthermore, information regarding education and careers can be downloaded from the Internet. Publishers prepare the content for e-l earning, and students make use of it. Under these circumstances, e-learning systems resemble a blogging tool. It evolves into a personal learning centre and does not constitute an institutional or corporate application. The ELGG is an e – portfolio application that permits students to create and display their work. Such portfolios make it possible for students to collect, organise, interpret, and discuss information. E – portfolios promote professional development and motivate learners to demonstrate the outcome of their learning (Downes, 2005)E – learning has the capacity to improve or impoverish the educational provision. Computer assisted learning, in the initial stages, was merely