Digital Commons Network^™

Generation 1.5 Learners: Using An Arts-Informed, Grounded Theory Approach To Understanding How These Students Managed Their Undergraduate Studies In A Perth-Based, Public University In Western Australia Over An Academic Year, Elizabeth Jane Charlotte Serventy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The International Organization for Migration’s World Migration Report (2020) estimates the number of migrants worldwide to be approximately 272 million. In an era of demographic scarcity and globalisation-driven uncertainties, asylum seeker, migration, and refugee re-settlement programs are now a worldwide phenomenon. Major English-speaking, immigrant-receiving countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America (USA) face associated educational, political, and social repercussions.

Rumbaut and Ima (1988) introduced the term ‘Generation 1.5’ in relation to a distinct cohort of immigrant youth, English as second language (L2) learners studying in San Diego, California in the USA. …

Group Cohesion And Collaborative Information Behaviour: An Exploration Of Student Experiences Of University Group Work, Parisa Khatamian Far

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Modern organisations heavily rely on using interdisciplinary teams to accomplish intellectually demanding tasks. The advent of the World Wide Web, the advancements in communication technological tools and easy access to high volumes of information through the Web provide expanded capacity for individuals to work together and fulfil their shared goal but true collaboration is far from straightforward. Teamwork skills are identified as a desirable and distinguishing attribute of the graduates whom employers seek to employ. Accordingly, higher education institutions lay particular emphasis on developing students’ collaborative skills by designing and incorporating group projects into courses. The findings of relevant research …

The Delivery Of Primary Health Care In Remote Australian Communities: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Perspective Of Nurses, Kylie Mccullough

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Around 85% of Australia’s landmass is remote and sparsely populated. Across these vast areas of desert, wilderness and tropical islands, nurses provide the majority of health care services. The residents of Australia’s remote communities have poorer health status than their metropolitan counterparts. The proportion of Indigenous people is high and health and social disadvantage is widespread. The characteristics of each remote community are unique and often reflect challenges associated with distance to tertiary health services and limited health resources. As a result, nursing practice within this context is very different to other nursing contexts. Despite recognition of Primary Health Care …

Survival After Violence: The Post-Separation Journey Of Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence, Sarah Jayne Parkin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a complex social issue that remains highly prevalent in communities across the world. The impact of IPV includes short-term and long-term psychological, physical, financial and social consequences for women who experience it as well at their immediate and extended families, networks and communities. As research has continued to evolve there has been a move towards exploring the interaction of systemic factors that influence the occurrence of IPV and consequences of IPV long-term. Although researchers have identified that the long-term outcomes for women after leaving an IPV relationship can vary, it appears more research is required …

A Study Of Walking And Walkability Through A Spatial Justice/Spatial Practice Framework, In Maylands, Western Australia, Tina Askam

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Recent studies have focused on the benefits of walking to health, wellbeing, creativity and social capital. However, apart from select ethnographic observations on walking as a distinct spatial practice (J. Lee & Ingold, 2006), there is a paucity of studies that investigate the ways in which walkers and space interact. Most importantly, there has been a distinct lack of attention to pedestrian perspectives and experiences in theory and in policy on walkability (Middleton, 2011, 2016).

Notable theorists have demonstrated the benefits of participatory walking practices as a conversive and convivial methodology for performance research (Myers, 2009), for intergenerational urban pedagogy …

Leaving Ideological Social Groups Behind: A Grounded Theory Of Psychological Disengagement, Kira Jade Harris

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Much of the current disengagement literature focuses on the causes of an individual leaving a radical social group with the intention of countering fundamentalism and violent extremism. However, the link between the cause and the decision to disengage is unclear as one cause may facilitate disengagement for one member and not another. Minimal empirical research exists on the individual’s psychological experience of disengagement and the studies that have been done tend to focus on sole ideologies or group types. What is lacking in the field of disengagement is a broader understanding of the core psychological experience across a broad range …

A Study Of Facility Management Knowledge Classification For The Effective Stewardship Of Existing Buildings, Robert G. Doleman

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of the study was to establish the Facility Management knowledge categories within the life cycle of a building context. The significance of the study stemmed from research undertaken into the compliance to Australian Standards 1851-17:2005 Maintenance of Fire and Smoke Doors within West Australian nursing homes, which demonstrated 87 per cent non-compliance. The level of non-compliance appeared to identify a lack of knowledge, and appropriately qualified and experienced personnel involved within the management of nursing homes (Doleman, 2008). The issues identified prompted the question on how facility management knowledge categories evolves and develops throughout the life cycle of …

Silenced Voices: Experiences Of Grief Following Road Traffic Crashes In Western Australia, Lauren Breen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite the introduction of road safety measures and media campaigns, crashes are a leading cause of death in Western Australia. While economic costs of crashes are relatively easy to determine, their psychosocial burden remains appreciably under-studied, as are the social, cultural, historical, temporal, and political contexts within which grief experiences are housed. As such, I explored the experience of grief resulting from losing a loved one in a crash in Western Australia and described the influence of contextual factors on those grief experiences.

Controlling Involvement To Promote Confidence In Palliative Care Decisions - A Grounded Theory From The Patient's Perspective, Susan F. Lee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Decision making in the context of palliative care is particularly complex given the unpredictable illness trajectories experienced by patients and the number of individuals who may be part of the decision making process. This grounded theory study explored and described from the perspective of patients with advanced illness, their experiences of making care decisions. A review of literature at the commencement of the study indicated that there was a lack of evidence to support the best way of ascertaining patient's preferences for involvement in decisions in a palliative care context and almost no research to guide clinicians about the involvement …

The Good Language Class: Teacher Perceptions, Rosemary Senior

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This is a qualitative, descriptive study of group processes in classes of adult language learners, viewed from the perspective of practising teachers. The study has an internal narrative which takes the reader through the process of the research, from the initial question raised by a casual classroom conversation to the discussion chapter which questions a number of assumptions underlying current English language teaching practices within western educational contexts. The study falls into two distinct phases. The first phase uses the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to integrate the perceptions of 28 experienced language teachers into the following …

Rural Palliative Care Nursing: A Modified Grounded Theory Study, Ruth Mcconigley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This paper presents the findings of a study of rural palliative care nurses in Western Australia. The numbers of rural centres in Western Australia offering palliative care services are increasing; however at present there is little empirical data available about the roles of the nurses involved. This study was undertaken to begin to correct this deficit. The study examines basic social processes associated with the role of rural palliative care nurses and identities issues that affect the nurses’ professional practice. A modified grounded theory approach was used to form a conceptual framework that describes rural palliative care nursing. Theoretical sampling …