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Different Methods For Ethical Analysis In Health Technology Assessment: An Empirical Study, Samuli Saarni, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Bjorn Hofmann, Gert-Jan Van Der Wilt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives: Ethical analysis can highlight important ethical issues related to implementing a technology, values inherent in the technology itself, and value-decisions underlying the health technology assessment (HTA) process. Ethical analysis is a well-acknowledged part of HTA, yet seldom included in practice. One reason for this is lack of knowledge about the properties and differences between the methods available. This study compares different methods for ethical analysis within HTA.

Methods: Ethical issues related to bariatric (obesity) surgery were independently evaluated using axiological, casuist, principlist, and EUnetHTA models for ethical analysis within HTA. The methods and results are presented and compared.

Results: …

Promoting Health And Nutrition Through Sport: Attitudes Of The Junior Sporting Community, Bridget Kelly, Louise A. Baur, Adrian E. Bauman, Lesley King, Kathy Chapman, Ben J. Smith

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This study aimed to provide information on parents', children's and sporting officials' attitudes to sponsorship arrangements, and their support of potential policy interventions to reorient sponsorship to be more health promoting. Methods: Sports clubs (n=20) known to have food and beverage sponsors in Sydney, Illawarra and Canberra/Queanbeyan were selected. Parents and children at sports clubs were recruited through convenience sampling by approaching those attending the sports club at the time of the survey and those children who had a signed consent form. Sports clubs were visited between May and November 2010. At each club, one sports club official, ten parents …

Decision Making In A Crowded Room: The Relational Significance Of Social Roles In Decisions To Proceed With Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation, Rowena Forsyth, Camilla Scanlan, Stacy M. Carter, Christopher F. Jordens, Ian Kerridge

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Researchers studying health care decision making generally focus on the interaction that unfolds between patients and health professionals. Using the example of allogeneic bone marrow transplant, in this article we identify decision making to be a relational process concurrently underpinned by patients' engagement with health professionals, their families, and broader social networks. We argue that the person undergoing a transplant simultaneously reconciles numerous social roles throughout treatment decision making, each of which encompasses a system of mutuality, reciprocity, and obligation. As individuals enter through the doorway of the consultation room and become "patients," they do not leave their roles as …

A Randomised Controlled Trial To Compare Opt-In And Opt-Out Parental Consent For Childhood Vaccine Safety Surveillance Using Data Linkage: Study Protocol, Jesia G. Berry, Philip Ryan, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Katherine M. Duszynski, V Xafis, M S. Gold

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

The Vaccine Assessment using Linked Data (VALiD) trial compared opt-in and opt-out parental consent for a population-based childhood vaccine safety surveillance program using data linkage. A subsequent telephone interview of all households enrolled in the trial elicited parental intent regarding the return or non-return of reply forms for opt-in and opt-out consent. This paper describes the rationale for the trial and provides an overview of the design and methods.

Methods/Design

Single-centre, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (RCT) stratified by firstborn status. Mothers who gave birth at one tertiary South Australian hospital were randomised at six weeks post-partum to receive an …

Portrayals Of Canine Obesity In English-Language Newspapers And In Leading Veterinary Journals, 2000-2009: Implications For Animal Welfare Organizations And Veterinarians As Public Educators, Christopher J. Degeling, Melanie Rock, Lorraine Teows

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In industrialized societies, more than 1 in 3 dogs and people currently qualify as overweight or obese. Experts in public health expect both these figures to rise. Although clinical treatment remains important, so are public perceptions and social norms. This article presents a thematic analysis of English-language mass media coverage on canine obesity from 2000 through 2009 and compares these results with a thematic analysis of articles on canine obesity in leading veterinary journals during the same time period. Drawing on Giddens's theory of structuration, this study identified articles that emphasized individual agency, environmental structure, or both as contributors to …

Relevance Of The International Prognostic Index In The Rituximab Era, Kevin Tay, David Tai, Miriam Tao, Richard Quek, Tam C. Ha, Soon Thye Lim

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Letter to the editor

The Alpha Health-Related Physical Fitness Test Battery For Children And Adolescents, Rute Santos, Jorge Mota

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this issue of Nutricion Hospitalaria, Ruiz and colleagues present the new health-related fitness test battery for youth based upon the work developed by the ALPHA (Assessing Levels of Physical Activity) study. The ALPHA was a study funded by the European Union aimed "to provide a set of instruments for assessing levels of physical activity, its underlying factors (e.g. build environment, transport, and workplace), as well as, fitness in a comparable way within the European Union". The work presented in this issue by Ruiz and colleagues relates to the working package 6 of the ALPHA project -Assessing Healthrelated Physical Fitness- …

Metabolic Risk Factors, Physical Activity And Physical Fitness In Azorean Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study, Carla Moreira, Rute Santos, Jose Cazuza De Farias Junior, Susana Vale, Paula Clara Santos, Luisa Soares-Miranda, Ana I. Marques, Jorge Mota

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome has increased over the last few decades in adolescents and has become an important health challenge worldwide. This study analyzed the relationships between metabolic risk factors (MRF) and physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF) in a sample of Azorean adolescents.

Methods

A cross-sectional school-based study was conducted on 417 adolescents (243 girls) aged 15-18 from the Azorean Islands, Portugal. Height, weight, waist circumference, fasting glucose, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure were measured. A sum of MRF was computed, and adolescents were classified into three groups: no MRF, one MRF and two or more …

Evaluation Of Physical Activity Programmes For Elderly People - A Descriptive Study Using The Efqm' Criteria, Ana I. Marques, Maria J. Rosa, Pedro Soares, Rute Santos, Jorge Mota, Joana Carvalho

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: In the past years, there has been a growing concern in designing physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people, because evidence suggests that such health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. Quality is an important issue when designing a PA programme for older people. Some studies support the Excellence Model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) as an operational framework for evaluating the quality of an organization. Within this context, the aim of this study was to characterize the quality management models of the PA programmes developed by Portuguese Local Administration to …

Ability Of Different Measures Of Adiposity To Identify High Metabolic Risk In Adolescents, Carla Moreira, Rute Santos, Susana Vale, Paula Clara Santos, Sandra Abreu, Ana I. Marques, Luisa Soares-Miranda, Jorge Mota

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction. This study aimed to evaluate the screening performance of different measures of adiposity: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) for high metabolic risk in a sample of adolescents. Methods. A cross-sectional school-based study was conducted on 517 adolescents aged 15-18, from the Azorean Islands, Portugal. We measured fasting glucose, insulin, total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure. HOMA and TC/HDL-C ratio were calculated. For each of these variables, a Z-score was computed by age and sex. A metabolic risk score (MRS) was constructed by summing the Z-scores of all individual risk factors. …

Comparing Two Measures Of Mental Toughness, Lee Crust, Christian F. Swann

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper tested relations between two measures of mental toughness. A sample of 110 male athletes (M age = 20.81. years, SD = 2.76), derived from University sports teams and local sports clubs, gave informed consent before completing two questionnaires to assess mental toughness. It was hypothesized that scales and subscales from the two different instruments, which purported to measure the same or substantially overlapping scales, would be strongly correlated. Predictions concerning the expected relations were made a priori. Pearson correlations revealed a significant and positive relationship between higher order mental toughness scores (r= .75; p< .001). Correlations between similar mental toughness subscales were found to be positive and significant but somewhat lower than expected (r= .49-62). Results suggest instrument subscales with similar labels are not measuring the same components of mental toughness. 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Walking The Walk: A Phenomenological Study Of Long Distance Walking, Lee Crust, Richard J. Keegan, David Piggott, Christian F. Swann

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Evidence suggests that regular walking can elicit significant psychological benefits, although little evidence exists concerning long distance walking. The purpose of this study was to provide detailed accounts of the experiences of long distance walkers. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with six long distance walkers. Data were transcribed verbatim before researchers independently analyzed the transcripts. Participants reported a cumulative effect with positive feelings increasing throughout the duration of the walk. Long distance walking elicited positive emotions, reduced the effects of life-stress, and promoted an increased sense of well-being and personal growth. Results are aligned to theories and concepts from positive psychology. …

The Effect Of Language Cues On Infants' Representational Flexibility In A Deferred Imitation Task, Jane S. Herbert

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Twelve- and 15-month-old infants who received simple verbal cues at encoding and retrieval exhibited superior representational flexibility on an imitation task compared to infants who did not receive those cues. Verbal cues can help early-verbal infants overcome perceptual dissimilarity and express knowledge in novel situations.

Perceptual Training Prevents The Emergence Of The Other Race Effect During Infancy, Michelle Heron-Delaney, Gizelle Anzures, Jane S. Herbert, Paul Quinn, Alan Slater, James Tanaka, Kang Lee, Olivier Pascalis

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Experience plays a crucial role in the development of the face processing system. At 6 months of age infants can discriminate individual faces from their own and other races. By 9 months of age this ability to process other-race faces is typically lost, due to minimal experience with other-race faces, and vast exposure to own-race faces, for which infants come to manifest expertise [1]. This is known as the Other Race Effect. In the current study, we demonstrate that exposing Caucasian infants to Chinese faces through perceptual training via picture books for a total of one hour between 6 and …

Visual Recognition Memory Across Contexts, Emily Jones, Olivier Pascalis, Madeline Eacott, Jane S. Herbert

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In two experiments, we investigated the development of representational flexibility in visual recognition memory during infancy using the Visual Paired Comparison (VPC) task. In Experiment 1, 6- and 9-month-old infants exhibited recognition when familiarization and test occurred in the same room, but showed no evidence of recognition when familiarization and test occurred in different rooms. In contrast, 12- and 18-month-old infants exhibited recognition irrespective of testing room. Thus, flexibility across a change of room was observed at a younger age than flexibility across a change of background that has previously been seen with the VPC procedure (Robinson & Pascalis, 2004). …

When Good Evidence Is Not Enough: The Role Of Context In Bowel Cancer Screening Policy In New Zealand, Kathy Flitcroft, James Gillespie, Stacy Carter, Lyndal Trevena, Glenn P. Salkeld

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Bowel cancer is a serious health problem in developed countries. Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand (NZ) reviewed the same randomised controlled trial evidence on the benefits and harms of population-based bowel cancer screening. Yet only NZ, with the highest age standardised rate of bowel cancer mortality, decided against introducing a bowel cancer screening programme. This case study of policy making explores the unique resource, ethical, institutional and political environments in which the evidence was considered. It highlights the centrality of context in assessing the relative worth of evidence in policy making and raises questions about the suitability …

Preferences For Ct Colonography And Colonoscopy As Diagnostic Tests For Colorectal Cancer: A Discrete Choice Experiment, Kirsten Howard, Glenn P. Salkeld, Michael P. Pignone, Peter Hewett, Peter Cheung, Julie Olsen, Wayne Clapton, Ian Roberts-Thomson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective Computed tomography colonography (CTC) is an alternative diagnostic test to colonoscopy for colorectal cancer and polyps. The aim of this study was to determine test characteristics important to patients and to examine trade-offs in attributes that patients are willing to accept in the context of the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Methods A discrete choice study was used to assess preferences of patients with clinical indications suspicious of colorectal cancer who experienced both CTC and colonoscopy as part of a diagnostic accuracy study in South Australia. Results were analyzed by using a mixed logit model and presented as odds ratios …

Mental Illness In Policy Discourse: Locating The Criminal Justice System, Natalia K. Hanley, Stuart Ross

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Australian Political Science Association 2011 Conference, 26-28 September 2011, Canberra, Australia

Ethnic Differences In Adolescent Mental Health Trajectories And The Influence Of Racism And Context: The Determinants Of Adolescent Social Well-Being And Health (Dash) Study, Thomas E. Astell-Burt, Maria J. Maynard, Erik Lenguerrand, Seeromanie Harding

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Inaugural Conference, 22-24 September 2010, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Assembling Geographical Knowledge Of Changing Worlds, Pauline M. Mcguirk

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This piece is sympathetic to the critical questions and epistemological arguments Larner (2011) presents for the current conjuncture of global transformations. I mobilize Larner's arguments for process-oriented assemblage thinking and apply them to the particular conjuncture through which one of these transformations - climate change - is being problematized in the Australian empirical context, and its connection to existing and emergent institutional and political formations and knowledge practices. I also point to emergent process-oriented, situated scholarly accounts of climate change in Australia and their potential to expand the contestable spaces whereby alternative politicizations and alternative political and institutional forms might …

Population Growth And Change: Implications For Australia's Cities And Regions, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Neil Argent

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Australia's distinctive pattern of settlement has long presented a suite of social, economic, infrastructural, and environmental challenges for the nation's cities and regions. These challenges will be intensified by the population growth and dynamics anticipated in the 2010 Intergenerational Report. Future growth will inevitably have differential impacts for metropolitan, regional, and rural settlements, and for inland and coastal regions. This paper analyses current trends and likely directions in population change and distribution and the major implications for the nation's metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. For Australia's cities, core issues include: access to affordable housing, suitable employment, infrastructure, and services; managing growth …

Sound Diaries: A Method Of Listening To Place, Michelle Duffy, Gordon R. Waitt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper develops a methodology for understanding how relations between people and place are co-constituted through music and sounds. Using the case of Four Winds Festival Bermagui, New South Wales, the paper discusses our use of "sound diaries" as a means to better understand the role of sound in participants' understanding of place. Highlighted within our discussion is how our experimental methodology overcomes some of the inherent problems of researching so-called "sound geographies." Sound diaries provide a possible technique to provide partical insights into the embodied knowledge triggered by sounds and music. Woven within these personal interpretations and their attributed …

Local Jekyll And Global Hyde: The Dual Identity Of Face Identification, Sebastien R. Miellet, Roberto Caldara, Philippe Schyns

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The main concern in face-processing research is to understand the processes underlying the identification of faces. In the study reported here, we addressed this issue by examining whether local or global information supports face identification. We developed a new methodology called "iHybrid." This technique combines two famous identities in a gaze-contingent paradigm, which simultaneously provides local, foveated information from one face and global, complementary information from a second face. Behavioral face-identification performance and eye-tracking data showed that the visual system identified faces on the basis of either local or global information depending on the location of the observer's first fixation. …

Feasibility And Acceptability Of Sexual Abstinence For Interruption Of Hiv Transmission Among Individuals With Acute Hiv Infection - Formative Data From Chavi 011, Catherine L. Mac Phail, Audrey Pettifor, Amy Corneli

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

letter

Social Experience Does Not Abolish Cultural Diversity In Eye Movements, David J. Kelly, Rachael Jack, Sebastien R. Miellet, Emanuele De, Kay Foreman, Roberto Caldara

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Adults from Eastern (e.g., China) and Western (e.g., USA) cultural groups display pronounced differences in a range of visual processing tasks. For example, the eye movement strategies used for information extraction during a variety of face processing tasks (e.g., identification and facial expressions of emotion categorization) differs across cultural groups. Currently, many of the differences reported in previous studies have asserted that culture itself is responsible for shaping the way we process visual information, yet this has never been directly investigated. In the current study, we assessed the relative contribution of genetic and cultural factors by testing face processing in …

Dairy Constituents And Neurocognitive Health In Ageing, David A. Camfield, Lauren Owen, Andrew Scholey, Andrew Pipingas, Con Stough

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) and dementia are of increasing concern to an ageing population. In recent years, there has been considerable research focused on effective dietary interventions that may prevent or ameliorate ARCD and dementia. While a number of studies have considered the impact that dairy products may have on physiological health, particularly with regard to the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular health, further research is currently needed in order to establish the impact that dairy products have in the promotion of healthy brain function during ageing. The present review considers the available evidence for the positive effects of dairy products …

The Future Of Geography In English Universities, Noel Castree

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Geography in England is one of many university subjects that will be significantly restructured - with almost immediate effect - because of powerful external drivers altering research and teaching. In this commentary I want to speculate on the likely changes ahead, and to consider how university-based geographers in England might respond to them. Given the considerable international influence that geographers in England exert within the wider subject, this commentary ought to interest those working in other countries. Notwithstanding the perils of futurology, I consider some possible scenarios in the midst of a formative moment for higher education in the UK's …

Sydney Multisite Intervention Of Laughterbosses And Elderclowns (Smile): Results From A Clustered Randomised Controlled Trial, Lee-Fay Low, Henry Brodaty, Anne-Nicole Casey, Belinda Goodenough, Peter Spitzer, J Bell, Lynn Chenoweth, Richard Fleming

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract from the International Psychogeriatric Association Reinventing Aging through Innovation 15th International Congress, 6-9 September 2011, The Hague, Netherlands.

Scaremongering On Today Tonight: The Truth About Wireless Radiation Risks, Rodney J. Croft

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In a recent episode of Channel Seven’s current affairs program Today Tonight, it was claimed that wireless devices in the home – such as cordless phones and routers – can cause a range of negative health effects, including: insomnia, depression, migraines and even cancer. These claims don’t bear scrutiny.

Don’T Panic, Mobile Phones Are Still Only As Carcinogenic As Pickles, Rodney J. Croft

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The World Health Organisation’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has classed mobile phones as Group 2B or “possibly carcinogenic” in a new report. In this Q+A Rodney Croft, Professor of Health Physiology at University of Wollongong, explains why we don’t need to panic.