Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Best Practice Recommendations For Coaching Gymnasts To Avoid Burnout And Reframe Performance Anxiety, Clare A. Mccall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Gymnastics is deemed a psychologically demanding sport, with associated risk factors of burnout and performance anxiety. To date, relatively little research has explored the specific goal and perfectionistic processes of gymnasts, despite these risks. This body of work identified the specific goal-related constructs and perfectionistic orientation of young athletes and examined how these associated with burnout and performance anxiety. It comprised of two studies with a mixed methods design. The first study aimed to systematically review literature investigating how goal-related constructs and perfectionism associate with burnout and performance anxiety in young athletes. This review focused on summer and winter Olympic …

Living After Confronting Death; Story Telling During The Recovery Trajectory Of Intensive Care Unit Survivors: An Interpretive Biographical Approach, Beverley Anne Ewens

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Aim: To create new meaning of the experiences of intensive care survivors during early recovery and the meaning of “self” during this time. To add to the understanding of how support should be focussed for survivors during recovery.

Background: Survival from a critical event/illness and intensive care unit experience is increasing, as is associated physical and psychological complications. Complications are due to the severity of illness, the intensive care experience itself and the nature of the treatments which promote survival. If complications remain untreated increased health care service uptake and reduced quality of life can ensue. Despite the …

Role Of Physical Exercise In Reducing Depression And Improving Mental Health In Cancer Survivors, Gregory Levin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Cancer survivors are more than twice as likely as the general population to suffer the debilitating effects of depression. This comorbid condition is associated with several negative consequences, such as reduction in compliance with cancer treatments, and hastened mortality. Recent research has examined the therapeutic effect of exercise on depression and reported excellent results of similar magnitude to those achieved with pharmacotherapy or psychological intervention. However, no research, to date, has examined the effectiveness of exercise on reducing depression in depressed cancer survivors. In order to address this important question this thesis reviewed previous literature in the area of cancer …

The Creation And Validation Of A Youth Fundamental Hitting Scale: The Assessment Of Youth Baseball And Softball Hitting Fundamentals And The Perceived Psychological Barriers To Hitting A Pitched Ball, Andrew Walsh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The primary purpose of the thesis was to create a hitting scale for youth players that assess the fundamentals of a baseball swing. Secondly, the purpose of this thesis was to determine the interactions between the changes in anxiety, perceived competence and fear variables have with actual hitting competence over a four week sport specific training program.

Male Sexuality And Masculinity: Implications For Stis/Hiv And Sexual Health Interventions In Bangladesh, Sharful I. Khan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

My thesis concerns male sexuality as revealed by men living in contemporary urban and rural Bangladesh. I pursue what men think it means to be a man. dimensions of manliness and manhood, and male influences in the construction of male/female relationships. Significant meanings men attribute to sexual acts, pleasure, pain,. risk and safety in multiple social realities, particularly in the era of HIV/AIDS, were explored. A social constructionist perspective guided my research. Using qualitative research methods, I conducted 50 in-depth interviews with men aged between 18 and 58 years from diverse socio-occupational backgrounds. Twenty key informants included religious leaders. traditional …

A Qualitative Study Of The Impact Of Hip Fracture In The Elderly Population, Stephanie Anne Price

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The social, emotional and economic impact of falling in the elderly population is significant. Falls are the leading cause of injury related deaths and hospitalisation amongst people aged 65 years and older, a major factor in their morbidity and mortality rates. Post fall sequelae can have major ramifications that include reduction or avoidance of activities, attributable to an enduring fear of future falls. Twenty-three older people who had fallen in the community were located via hospital records and invited to participate in the study. Subjective accounts of the impact of falling and sustaining a hip fracture were obtained by means …

An Evaluation Of The Usefulness Of A Self-Appraisal & Goal Setting Instrument For Community Health Nurses, Helen K. Pannowitz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This descriptive exploratory study evaluated the usefulness of an adapted self-appraisal and goal setting performance instrument. The instrument is developmental in its purpose and is currently used by community health nurses at the Armadale Kelmscott Health Service of the Health Department of Western Australia. The study was conducted in two parts; the first part used a questionnaire to examine the perceptions of a group of community health nurses who use the instrument. The second part of the study which used a structured survey sought to determine how well the instrument's self-appraisal behaviours approximate with the Standards of the Australian Council …

Art Therapy In The Paediatric Oncology Setting: An Assessment Of The Feasibility Of Art Therapy To Address The Psychosocial Needs Of Paediatric Cancer Patients, Anthea Carboni

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

It is well recognised that children with cancer have special needs. Art therapy has been shown to be effective in meeting some of these needs. An exploratory study was conducted to assess the feasibility of art therapy to address the psychosocial needs of paediatric cancer patients in a medical setting where art therapy has not been practised before. A qualitative research design was used to investigate the research questions, using interviews as the main instrument. Subjects were recruited from the oncology team of a metropolitan children's hospital. The sample of thirteen informants consisted of representatives from the medical, nursing and …

Occupational And Life Stress In Nursing: Is There A Relationship?, Christopher Billam

Theses : Honours

A population of two hundred and twenty nurses involved in direct patient care in a regional hospital were surveyed to assess if a relationship exists between occupational and life stress. A cross sectional survey design was used. The questionnaire contained four distinct categories: demographic information, Nurses' Stress Scale, a Life Events Inventory and a social support scale. A return rate of 49.5% was obtained, and several completed questionnaires were rejected, leaving the data from 1.04 questionnaires to be analysed. The nurses in this population reported low scores tor both occupational and life stress. However, the instrument used to calculate the …

Patient Attitudes Toward Self-Medication During Hospitalization, Elizabeth A. Reilly

Theses : Honours

This study explored patient attitudes toward the behaviour of self-medication during hospitalization using Ajzen's and Fishbein's model of Reasoned Action {1980}. The goal of Ajzen's and Fishbein's model is to predict and understand an individual's behaviour. This study adapted the model and identified seven variables which were thought to influence a person's intention to self-medicate. Two hypotheses were developed based upon the relationships between the variables in the model and their predicted effect upon the behaviour of self-medication. Correlational statistics were performed to determine the general relationships between a subject's specific and general attitudes toward the behaviour of self-medication, their …