Lester V. Adorjany’s research while affiliated with UNSW Sydney and other places

Objective To examine the extent of discrimination and stigmatisation related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, as experienced by injecting drug users in Sydney, Australia. Design Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from injecting drug users (IDUs). Questions included basic demo- graphics, injecting and sexual history, HCV knowledge, risk practices, self-reported HCV diagnosis, and experiences of discrimination and o stigmatisation, as well as harm reduction services provided by needle and syringe programmes (NSPs). Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from IDUs. Setting Questionnaires were distributed to clients of NSPs in the Sydney metropolitan area. Method Ten NSPs and one methadone clinic were selected. Questionnaires were distributed to all of these outlets and a total of 274 persons were recruited. The staff at the selected sites asked clients to fill out the questionnaire while distributing injecting equipment. Results Most HCV related discrimination against drug users was reported in health care settings. Fifty-two per cent of the participants experienced this as a result of being HCV positive. In addition, more than half of the sample (65 per cent) reported that such discrimination was actually as a result of being a drug user. Females were more likely than males to experience discrimination because of their HCV status. Conclusion The level of discrimination and stigmatisation was widespread in health care settings, resulting from the stereotyping of IDUs. The barriers to IDUs accessing health services need to be identified and removed. Implementation of an awareness campaign among health professionals would be a feasible way to address this issue.

The aim of the paper is to analyse, using Robert Stebbins’ theory of casual and serious leisure, the representations of leisure in the fiction of Robert G. Barrett, a contemporary Australian author whose 19 books have sold over a million copies. A key element of Barrett’s plots is the use of holidays. This device gives his principal character, Les Norton, the opportunity to transcend the limitations of his working class existence without losing his working class identity: holidays not only enable Norton to travel to exotic locations in Australia or overseas, but to engage in conspicuous consumption or sumptuous idleness without leaving his job as a bouncer in a Kings Cross gambling club. Although Norton is an improbable hero in terms of physical and sexual prowess, a variety of plausible leisure activities is used as a way of providing credibility to the plots and varying the pace of the action. These include mundane activities, such as making and consuming simple snacks, chatting to friends, watching television and listening to music, and fantasy, including binge drinking, casual sexual activity and the extravagant consumption of gourmet food, tourism, and expensive cars. Treating Barrett’s fiction as ethnography provides a basis for disentangling casual and serious leisure elements and demonstrating their links to social class. It is argued that the element of purpose that Stebbins allocates to serious leisure also manifests itself in casual leisure where it functions as a strategy for working class resistance to middle class values.