Growing evidence promotes community gardening as an effective community-based initiative to enhance the wellbeing of community members, including those considered vulnerable. Whilst this expanding evidence-base is encouraging, little is known about the feasibility of community gardening thus limiting its scalability. The current mixed-method study assesses the feasibility, acceptability and implementation of the Community Greening program delivered in vulnerable communities in New South Wales, Australia. Data was gathered from 33 survey participants, 39 interview participants, and case notes from seven sites. Findings demonstrate that participants have particular needs in wellbeing and employment outcomes, especially for those with reported disability. Attendance is variable with identified enablers and barriers. Satisfaction with the program is evident with suggestions for improvements. Finally, fidelity of implementation is strong, with an opportunity to increase community-led workshops, and enhance future implementation informed by the reported enablers and barriers. With the positive impact of community gardening now established, findings guide how we effectively resource and sustainably implement programs with the fidelity required to realise their potential. N/A.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 advocates for equitable access to and participation in quality inclusive education for all learners. Inclusive education has gained worldwide recognition for promoting equity and social justice for students with special educational needs. Although the existing literature acknowledges the significant role of teachers’ intention and behaviour towards the successful implementation of inclusive education, this area is under-researched in Sub-Saharan countries, including Ghana. In this study, applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), 484 teachers at pilot inclusive schools completed an online survey assessing the factors predicting their intention and teaching behaviour towards inclusive education. A path analysis of the TPB variables revealed that only attitude and self-efficacy significantly predicted the teachers’ intention to teach in inclusive classrooms. Moreover, both self-efficacy and intention were found to significantly predict inclusive behaviour. This study’s findings will strengthen the national commitment to implementing inclusive education policy and guide future research aimed at improving and expanding inclusive education in Ghana.

This study aimed to elucidate Saudi teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusive education in kindergarten settings, and the relationship between these two constructs, which to date remains under studied. The study collected survey responses from 299 kindergarten teachers, comprising 237 teachers from general education and 62 from special education, all of whom were employed in inclusive kindergartens in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Findings from descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis indicated that both kindergarten general and special education teachers exhibited moderately positive self-efficacy and neutral attitudes towards inclusive education. The analysis further uncovered a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between teachers' self-efficacy and their attitudes towards inclusive education. These findings underscore the need to further enhance Saudi kindergarten teachers' self-efficacy and promote teachers' willingness to include children with a disability. This study offers recommendations for creating a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for all kindergarten children.

Autistic people experience lower rates of employment, education, and participation, and the identification of autistic people is growing rapidly with improved early identification, increased community awareness, and improved identification in previously under-diagnosed populations. Although inclusive education policies and practices present an opportunity to bolster the transition into adulthood for autistic young people, there is little mandate around these processes and supports. This qualitative study gathered the perspectives of people with direct experience of mainstream school transition supports through 46 interviews with autistic young people, educators, and parents/carers. The participants’ narratives were interpreted through the lens of self-determination theory to understand how inclusive schools can best fulfil autistic young peoples’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The findings enable recommendations for inclusive school practice and supports, informed by the stories of those who have experience with the phenomenon.

Home-visiting support has been cast as one of the most effective ways to reach new mothers with additional vulnerabilities and is instrumental in preventing adverse outcomes for mothers, children, and families. Whilst the body of empirical evidence for the efficacy of home-visiting support is strong, less is known about barriers to successful implementation. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 47 adults with diverse experience of a home-visiting service (22 mothers, 15 volunteers, 6 staff, 3 external professionals and one partner of a service user) to capture a comprehensive understanding of potential implementation barriers. Findings reveal that both individual and organisational factors may undermine implementation which could subsequently jeopardise the realisation of service benefits. Factors include limited availability of volunteers and coordinators, as well as poor volunteer-mother fit, and shame and guilt felt by mothers. Recommendations for a tiered approach to strengthen implementation are provided.

Children living with disability have poorer health outcomes than their typically developing peers. They are less physically active and at increased risk of chronic disease. Teacher-led, whole-of-school physical activity interventions are promising levers for population-level change, but are seldom tested among children with disability. We aimed to evaluate the effect of a blended teacher-professional learning program (online and in-person) on fundamental movement skills (FMS) and physical activity among children with intellectual disability. In this cluster randomized clinical trial, we randomized 20 government-funded primary schools, including 238 consenting students (Grades 2–5; aged 8–11 years at baseline). Ten schools received the blended teacher-professional learning intervention and 10 were assigned as waitlist controls. The professional learning was designed to support teachers as they implemented a whole-of-school intervention designed to enhance FMS and increase physical activity levels. The school-based intervention was mostly online learning, followed by lesson observations and site visits from project staff. Blinded assessors measured FMS competency using the Test of Gross Motor Development-3. Secondary outcomes were self-concept, enjoyment, wellbeing, 300-yard run time, and accelerometer-measured physical activity. We found no significant group-by-time effects for the primary outcome (FMS competency: b = 1.07 [95

Introduction: The transition from schooling to adulthood is an important and complex time in a young person's life, especially when they have a disability. For young autistic people, it is critical to receive the right support to ensure a successful transition. In Australia, disability supports are provided by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), a scheme implemented and administered by the Australian Government (specifically the National Disability Insurance Agency [NDIA]) since 2013. Implementation of Australia's NDIS has been inadequate in supporting the needs of many autistic young people. Autistic people are the largest group of participants in the NDIS. Support for this group is important considering the significant investment involved in the provision of NDIS funding, coupled with the potential negative consequences if they are not well-supported. This study explores the experiences of key stakeholders in relation to young autistic school leavers and their challenges accessing NDIS Tier 3 individualized support packages.Method: This study adopted a qualitative methodology using a constructivist paradigm. This study draws on the perspectives of four key groups: young autistic people, parents/carers, educators, and disability service providers. Reflexive thematic analysis of the interview data was conducted.Findings: Two overall themes were identified. The first theme was related to fighting to get access to the NDIS, encompassing subthemes related to the NDIS maze, a heavy emotional and practical toll as well as inconsistencies in access. A second theme highlighted a worry for the future if autistic young people did not receive the support they needed postschool. Findings highlighted a range of difficulties accessing individualized funding packages (Tier 3) for autistic young people. There has been a critical failing of service provision at "Tier 2" of the NDIS (also referred to as information linkages and capacity building or foundational support), which was intended to facilitate access and participation in mainstream community services for people with disability. This placed additional pressure on Tier 3 and exacerbated the toll that interacting with the NDIS took on participants.Conclusion: Urgent work is needed to ensure that systems within the NDIS are funded appropriately and operating as intended to ensure good and equitable outcomes for autistic people leaving school.

The main objective of this person-centered study was to identify the main profiles of physical fitness present among a large sample of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Moreover, we also investigated associations between several personal and sport-related characteristics and youth’s physical fitness profiles. Participants were 375 Australian (N = 242) and Canadian (N = 133) youth (60.4

Truce is an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group program for young people who have a parent with cancer. In a pragmatic controlled trial, we compared Truce with a wait-list condition to assess its effect on unmet needs and distress. We also investigated how process variables-mindfulness, cognitive inflexibility, family functioning, and life events-might influence outcomes. Participants' unmet needs improved over time ((3" = -5.01, SE = 16.48, p = 0.036, effect size = 0.42), and those improvements were greater for the intervention group compared to controls ((3" = -5.03, SE = 2.41, p = 0.040, effect size = 0.29). There was no evidence of a significant program benefit for distress. For the intervention group, greater improvements in unmet needs were associated with higher baseline distress (t = 2.36, df = 47, p = 0.022), and being less mindful at baseline (t = 2.07, df = 47, p = 0.044). No significant mediators were identified. For the control group only, experiencing negative/mixed life events related to cancer was a significant moderator of improvement (t = -2.36, df = 33, p = 0.024). Truce appears to offer therapeutic benefits to young people who have a parent with cancer, over and above the expected adjustment to the situation over time. The program seems to buffer the impact of negative cancer-related life events on participants' well-being, but the mechanisms of change remain unclear.

Vulnerable communities represent the most at-risk populations facing inequities and negative health, economic and social wellbeing outcomes. Community gardening has emerged globally as a community-based remedy to reduce these inequities and enhance wellbeing. This paper examines the psychological, socio-cultural and health impact of social housing design that includes access to, and engagement with green spaces. The project was multi-disciplinary and used mixed-method research to examine the impact of community gardening for people in social housing. Two interrelated studies were conducted; study 1 involved 33 social housing gardeners in a pre-post program survey. Statistically significant improvements were found in participants' satisfaction with personal wellbeing, health, and community connectedness; as well as increased gardening skills, positive social experiences, and time spent in nature. Study 2 involved 34 semi-structured interviews conducted with program facilitators and partner organisation staff. Results uncovered that participant's engagement with gardening was restorative and regenerative. Four salient themes emerged from our mixed methods study: 1) connection to self; 2) connection to others, 3) connection to place; and 4) connection to purpose. The findings showcase some of the key principles of a successful social and nature prescription intervention for vulnerable people. Community gardening was shown to amplify civic pride and bolster community resilience. Our research suggests the broad impact of community gardening on participant outcomes for vulnerable populations and enhances the capacity of practitioners to translate research into policy and practice for sustainable, restorative residential communities.

The main objective of this person-centred study was to identify profiles of actual and perceived physical fitness among a sample of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). Participants were 377 youth (60.4% boys) with mild (49.6%) to moderate (50.4%) ID recruited in Australia and Canada. Latent profile analyses revealed five profiles: (1) Underestimation of Average Physical Fitness (5.5% of the sample); (2) Moderate Overestimation of Low Physical Fitness (17.7%), (3) Moderate Underestimation of Average Physical Fitness (31.3%); (4) High Overestimation of Average Physical Fitness (28.3%); and (5) Moderate Underestimation of High Physical Fitness with an Accurate Estimation of Average Flexibility (17.2%). Profiles 1, 2, and 3 relatives to Profiles 4 and 5 included younger participants, more participants with moderate levels of ID, and participants with a higher body mass index. Additionally, profiles 1 and 3 also included a higher proportion of youth pursuing externally-driven motives and less frequently involved in sports outside of the school. In sum, our findings showed that the tendency of youth with ID to rely on upward or downward-lateral social comparisons may have resulted in a depreciation or overestimation of their low levels of physical fitness.

Vocational decisions made at school have significant long term impacts on young people's life chances, their opportunities for securing decent jobs and economic growth for themselves, their families and communities. In the short term, their aspirations dictate the decisions they make about educational pathways in post-compulsory years of schooling and vocational and higher education. For young people from already marginalised backgrounds, the quality of support they have in making these decisions is crucially important. This paper examines a rapidly expanding vocational education program specifically designed for students with refugee backgrounds that was codeveloped between a state education authority and a community service provider in Sydney, Australia. Through an ecological understanding of individuals as nested within interrelated networks, this paper explores the perspectives of stakeholders ranging from the educators, careers teachers, employers, civic partners, and, crucially, the young people themselves in order to determine whether and through what means key program elements meet the needs of students from a refugee background and where gaps in the program ecology need to be addressed.

Papua New Guinea confronts unique and complex challenges with national reform policies promoting the increase of children with a disability enrolling in mainstream schools. Despite these policies being introduced in the last two decades, the translation to practice has been slow. In order to equip teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge and dispositions to implement inclusive education in Papua New Guinea, there is a pressing need to identify and understand the challenges teacher-educators experience. Data collected as part of an Australian-funded Fellowship, from ten Papua New Guinea education leaders, elucidate the perceived challenges associated with teacher-training for inclusive education. Content analysis of the participants' reflections revealed insights into how and what pedagogical and curriculum transformations in teacher education training courses could improve inclusive education practices in Papua New Guinean schools. These findings enhance agency for the education leaders to promote positive change so that Papua New Guinea can further its implementation of inclusive education.

This study investigates the nature of the social interaction profiles observed among youth with intellectual disabilities (ID), defined while considering their relationships with their parents, peers, and teachers, as well as the implication of these profiles for self-esteem, aggressive behaviors, and prosocial behaviors. A sample of 393 youth with mild (48.2%) to moderate (51.8%) levels of ID, aged between 11 and 22 (M = 15.70), was recruited in Canada (n = 141) and Australia (n = 253). Our results revealed four profiles, corresponding to Socially Isolated (23.24%), Socially Integrated (39.83%), Socially Rejected (28.37%) and Socially Connected (8.57%) youth with ID. The socially integrated and connected profiles both presented higher self-esteem, more prosocial behaviors, and less aggressive behaviors than the socially isolated and rejected profiles.

Background People with Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) experience oral health inequality due to myriad of risk factors and complex needs. Sensory processing difficulties, maladaptive behaviours and dental anxiety contribute to difficulties in receiving preventive and routine dental treatments. This study aimed to systematically review the evidence on the effectiveness of sensory adaptive dental environments (SADE) for children and young adults (up to the ages 24 years) with IDD to address cooperation and dental anxiety. Methods This review was reported according to The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. MEDLINE (Ovid), The Cochrane Library, Embase, Google Scholar, Web of Science and OT Seeker were searched using appropriate terms to identify Randomised Control Trails (RCTs) that matched inclusion criteria. Screening was conducted by two reviewers after de-duplication based on titles and abstracts followed by full text retrieval. Quality of the included studies was assessed using Cochrane Risk of Bias (ROB)-2 for crossover trials and data extracted by two reviewers. The details of the interventions and effectiveness were compared and discussed narratively, and comparable outcomes were included to meta-analyses using R software. Results A total of 622 articles were identified and five articles met eligibility for inclusion. Three studies used multi-sensory adaptations and one used single sensory adaptation of music. Narrative synthesis showed some evidence of SADE reducing magnitude and duration, although, questionable for reducing the number of maladaptive behaviours. Two studies demonstrated conflicting evidence of the effect of SADE on cooperation. Three studies demonstrated significant positive impact of SADE on psychophysiological outcomes. Despite an overall tendency to favour SADE, no statistically significant difference of maladaptive behaviours was found between SADE and regular dental environment (RDE) (Standardised mean change (SMC) = 0.51; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) -0.20 to 1.22; p = 0.161). SADE was superior to RDE (SMC -0.66; 95% CI -1.01 to -0.30; p = < 0.001) in reducing psychophysiological responses of dental anxiety. Conclusion Current evidence suggests that adapting visual, tactile, and auditory aspects of the dental environment in a single or multi-sensory approach demonstrates small positive effects on psychophysiological responses and maladaptive behaviours of dental anxiety for people with IDD. Trial registration The title of this review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022322083).

For adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 12–24 years), a parental cancer diagnosis can disrupt critical developmental processes and family relationships, negatively impacting wellbeing. However, few supportive interventions are available to affected offspring. This paper reports the feasibility and acceptability of Truce, an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based weekly program for AYAs impacted by parental cancer. A multi-method, multi-informant approach was used, with data drawn from facilitator, AYA and parent/caregiver feedback collected after each session and at the end of the program. Truce was delivered with high fidelity to the program manual and high participant interest. AYAs and parents/caregivers reported perceived benefits of participation around therapeutic teachings, peer connection, and parental participation. While subsequent work will determine whether Truce has significant psychosocial benefits for participants, findings are a promising indicator of the potential for ACT-based group interventions to support AYAs affected by parental cancer.

Sensory processing difficulties can negatively impact wellbeing in adults with disabilities. A range of interventions to address sensory difficulties have been explored and virtual reality (VR) technology may offer a promising avenue for the provision of sensory interventions. In this study, preliminary evidence about the impact of Evenness, an immersive VR sensory room experience, for people with disabilities was investigated via a single intervention pre-post mixed methods design. Quantitative methodology included single intervention pre-post design (five month timeframe) with 31 adults with various developmental disabilities to determine the impact of use of aVR sensory room using a head mounted display (HMD) in relation to anxiety, depression, sensory processing, personal wellbeing and adaptive behaviour. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were also conducted with thirteen purposefully selected stakeholders following Evenness use. Results indicated significant improvements in anxiety, depression and sensory processing following Evenness use. Qualitative analysis corroborated the anxiety findings. No significant changes were observed in personal wellbeing or adaptive behaviour. Results are promising and indicate that a VR sensory room may have a positive impact on anxiety, depression and sensory processing for adults with disabilities. A longer study timeframe and a more rigorous experimental methodology is needed to confirm these findings.