Education Commons^™

Australian Midwives And Provision Of Nutrition Education During Pregnancy: A Cross Sectional Survey Of Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, And Confidence, Jamila Arrish, Heather Yeatman, Moira J. Williamson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Maternal nutrition during pregnancy affects the health of the mother and the baby. Midwives are ideally placed to provide nutrition education to pregnant women. There is limited published research evidence of Australian midwives' nutrition knowledge, attitudes and confidence. Aim: To investigate Australian midwives' nutrition knowledge, attitudes and confidence in providing nutrition education during pregnancy. Methods: Members of the Australian College of Midwives (n = 4770) were sent an invitation email to participate in a web-based survey, followed by two reminders. Findings: The completion rate was 6.9% (329 of 4770). The majority (86.6% and 75.7%, respectively) highly rated the importance …

Playing With Grammar: A Pedagogical Heuristic For Orientating To The Language Content Of The Australian Curriculum: English, Beryl Exley, Lisa K. Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this article we introduce a heuristic for orientating to the language content of the Australian Curriculum: English. Our pedagogical heuristic, called 'Playing with Grammar', moves through three separate but interwoven stages: (i) an introduction to the learning experience, (ii) a focus on learning, and (iii) an application of new knowledge where students read and/or write with grammar in mind. We draw on aspects of Bernstein's sociological theories to consider the implications of keeping the content of the Language, Literature and Literacy strands together or apart. We also theorise different pedagogical approaches where teachers or learners control the sequence and …

Framing Overdiagnosis In Breast Screening: A Qualitative Study With Australian Experts, Lisa M. Parker, Lucie Rychetnik, Stacy M. Carter

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background The purpose of this study was to identify how the topic of overdiagnosis in breast cancer screening is framed by experts and to clarify differences and similarities within these frames in terms of problems, causes, values and solutions. Methods We used a qualitative methodology using interviews with breast screening experts across Australia and applying framing theory to map and analyse their views about overdiagnosis. We interviewed 33 breast screening experts who influence the public and/or policy makers via one or more of: public or academic commentary; senior service management; government advisory bodies; professional committees; non-government/consumer organisations. Experts were currently …

The Role Of Communication In Breast Cancer Screening: A Qualitative Study With Australian Experts, Lisa M. Parker, Lucie Rychetnik, Stacy M. Carter

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background One well-accepted strategy for optimising outcomes in mammographic breast cancer screening is to improve communication with women about screening. It is not always clear, however, what it is that communication should be expected to achieve, and why or how this is so. We investigated Australian experts' opinions on breast screening communication. Our research questions were: 1 What are the views of Australian experts about communicating with consumers on breast screening? 2 How do experts reason about this topic? Methods We used a qualitative methodology, interviewing 33 breast screening experts across Australia with recognisable influence in the Australian mammographic breast …

Curriculum, Collateral And Collaboration: Addressing Alcohol And Social Norms In An Australian High School Setting, Kelly Andrews, Stephen Hudson, Hayley Dean, Danika Hall, Ashleigh Kunze, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

There is a commonly held perception that the majority of Australian teenagers drink alcohol, and a perceived 'social norm' among teenagers that their peers are drinkers and expect them to be drinkers. However, results of the Australian Secondary Schools Alcohol and Drug (ASSAD) Survey, conducted every three years since 1984, show a decline in the proportion of teenagers who are regular drinkers; from 30% of 12-15 year olds in 1984 to 11% in 2011, and 50% of 16-17 years olds in 1984 down to 33% in 2011 (White & Bariola, 2012). The 'Alcohol and Social Norms Project' conducted in a …

Why Are Young Australian Unis Punching Above Their Weight?, Christopher R. Gibson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The latest Times Higher Education rankings of universities under 50 years old paints a positive picture for the Australian higher education sector. Of the Top 100 Under 50, Australia has more high-ranking universities (16) than any other country. What is it about the Australian higher education system that allows new universities to flourish more so than in the US or UK? What does the THE Top 100 Under 50 result say about our "need" for reform in the higher education sector? To put this result into perspective, the UK, with nearly triple our population (64 million) and well over triple …

Ethnically Diverse Transport Behaviours: An Australian Perspective, Natascha Klocker, Stephanie Toole, Alexander Tindale, Sophie-May Kerr

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Rates of car ownership in Australia are among the highest in the world. Private cars have shaped the urban form of Australian cities and the daily routines of their residents, making it possible to fulfil geographically stretched responsibilities for work, family, and social lives. But the dominance of the private car in Australian lives and landscapes should not be confused with universality. Aggregate, population-wide statistics of car ownership and use mask the fact that not all Australians are equally car dependent. In this paper, we report on the results of a household sustainability survey conducted in metropolitan Sydney and Wollongong. …

'[I Learnt] How To Look At Ads Differently...': Lessons From An Australian Alcohol Media Literacy Program, Chloe Gordon, Sandra C. Jones, Lisa K. Kervin, Jeong Kyu Lee

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at The Inaugural Early Start Conference, 28-30 September 2015, Wollongong, Australia

Upper Limb Spasticity Management For Patients Who Have Received Botulinum Toxin A Injection: Australian Therapy Practice, Anne Cusick, Natasha Lannin, Bianca Kinnear

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background/aim To describe Australian physiotherapy and occupational therapy practice for patients who receive upper-limb Botulinum Toxin-A (BoNT-A). Method Anonymous online survey asking about practice experience. Convenience sample of 128 BoNT-A experienced occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Results The primary work setting was multidisciplinary inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation services where therapists had automatic referral to BoNT-A patients. Patients expected BoNT-A to improve functional movement, reduce hypertonicity, increase passive range, reduce pain, improve appearance and hand hygiene. Most patients were injected in multidisciplinary public hospital clinics and had median 2 pre-injection (range 0-30) and 8 post-injection (range 0-50) therapy sessions. Biceps, flexor digitorum …

Children's Implicit Recall Of Junk Food, Alcohol And Gambling Sponsorship In Australian Sport, Amy Bestman, Samantha L. Thomas, Melanie J. Randle, Stuart Dm Thomas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: In Australia, sport is saturated by the promotion of junk food, alcohol and gambling products. This is particularly evident on player jerseys. The effect of this advertising on children, who are exposed to these messages while watching sport, has not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this research study was to investigate: (1) the extent to which children implicitly recalled shirt sponsors with the correct sporting team; (2) whether children associated some types of sponsors with certain sporting codes more than others; and (3) whether age of the children influenced the correct recall of sponsoring brands and teams. Method: …

Do Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Circumstances Not Matter For Weight Status Among Australian Men? Multilevel Evidence From A Household Survey Of 14 691 Adults, Xiaoqi Feng, Andrew Wilson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: A recent analysis of the Australian National Health Survey (2011-2012) reported that the patterning of overweight and obesity among men, unlike for women, was not associated with neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this gender difference in potential neighbourhood 'effects' on adult weight status can be observed in analyses of a different source of data. Design, setting and participants: A cross-sectional sample of 14 693 people aged 18 years or older was selected from the 2012 wave of the 'Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia' (HILDA). Three person-level outcomes were considered: (1) …

Measuring Food Brand Awareness In Australian Children: Development And Validation Of A New Instrument, Laura Turner, Bridget P. Kelly, Emma J. Boyland, Adrian E. Bauman

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background Children's exposure to food marketing is one environmental determinant of childhood obesity. Measuring the extent to which children are aware of food brands may be one way to estimate relative prior exposures to food marketing. This study aimed to develop and validate an Australian Brand Awareness Instrument (ABAI) to estimate children's food brand awareness. Methods The ABAI incorporated 30 flashcards depicting food/drink logos and their corresponding products. An abbreviated version was also created using 12 flashcards (ABAI-a). The ABAI was presented to 60 primary school aged children (7-11yrs) attending two Australian after-school centres. A week later, the full-version was …

The Influence Of Neighbourhood Green Space On Children's Physical Activity And Screen Time: Findings From The Longitudinal Study Of Australian Children, Taren Sanders, Xiaoqi Feng, Paul P. Fahey, Chris Lonsdale, Thomas Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: It is often hypothesised that neighbourhood green space may help prevent well-known declines in physical activity and increases in sedentary behaviour that occur across childhood. As most studies in this regard are cross-sectional, the purpose of our study was to use longitudinal data to examine whether green space promotes active lifestyles as children grow older. Methods: Data came from participants (n=4983; age=4-5) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a nationally representative study on health and child development. Physical activity and screen time were measured biennially (2004-2012) using questionnaires and time use diaries. Quantity of neighbourhood green space was …

"I Generally Say I Am A Mum First . . . But I'M Studying At Uni": The Narratives Of First-In-Family, Female Caregivers Transitioning Into An Australian University, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The university student experience is both evolving and diverse. Increasing numbers of older students are accessing universities worldwide, and also access for student equity groups is a key policy driver in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, and others. However, among this change and flux, how individuals manage their transition into this environment with reference to new and existing identities is worthy of further exploration. This article draws on 2 separate but complementary Australian research projects that explored the experiences of students who had all commenced university after a significant gap in learning. The participants that feature …

The Role Of Festivals In Drought-Affected Australian Communities, Christopher R. Gibson, John Connell

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Event management research increasingly recognizes place embeddedness as critical to success. Less well understood is the significance of the festivals and events sector in places suffering from environmental crises. A major empirical survey of 480 festivals in rural Australia, conducted in 2008 at the height of the Millennium Drought, elucidates the role and significance of festivals under conditions of extreme environmental stress. It centers on a qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions on the impacts of that drought. Over 70% of participating festival and event managers indicated that their community had suffered from drought, while 43% cited drought as …

Urban Carbon Governance Experiments: The Role Of Australian Local Governments, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Robyn Dowling, Clare Brennan, Harriet Bulkeley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cities, and particularly urban local governments, are now widely recognised for their part in the complex, multilevel landscape of climate governance and carbon reduction. Nonetheless local government projects and initiatives are often framed as of limited value, outside the formal governance framework, and unable to contribute systematically. In contrast, this paper locates these initiatives as already part of the way in which governing climate and carbon is conducted and as governance experiments. We provide a descriptive analysis of these initiatives across Australia's capital cities, highlighting the domains, mechanisms, and partners through which they operate. We illustrate the enactment of experimentation …

Values In Breast Cancer Screening: An Empirical Study With Australian Experts, Lisa M. Parker, Lucie Rychetnik, Stacy M. Carter

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective To explore what Australian experts value in breast screening, how these values are conceptualised and prioritised, and how they inform experts' reasoning and judgement about the Australian breast-screening programme. Design Qualitative study based on interviews with experts. Participants 33 experts, including clinicians, programme managers, policymakers, advocates and researchers selected for their recognisable influence in the Australian breast-screening setting. Setting Australian breast-screening policy, practice and research settings. Results Experts expressed 2 types of values: ethical values (about what was good, important or right) and epistemological values (about how evidence should be created and used). Ethical values included delivering benefit, avoiding …

Green Space And Child Weight Status: Does Outcome Measurement Matter? Evidence From An Australian Longitudinal Study, Taren Sanders, Xiaoqi Feng, Paul P. Fahey, Chris Lonsdale, Thomas Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To examine whether neighbourhood green space is beneficially associated with (i) waist circumference (WC) and (ii) waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) across childhood. Methods: Gender-stratified multilevel linear regressions were used to examine associations between green space and objective measures of weight status in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a nationally representative source of data on 4,423 children aged 6 y to 13 y. WC and WtHR were measured objectively. Percentage green space within the local area of residence was calculated. Effect modification by age was explored, adjusting for socioeconomic confounding. Results: Compared to peers with 0-5% green space locally, boys …

Practices, Programs And Projects Of Urban Carbon Governance: Perspectives From The Australian City, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Harriet Bulkeley, Robyn Dowling

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper addresses the governance of transitions to lower carbon cities. Drawing on both governmentality and neo-Gramscian perspectives, we chart and explore the diverse objects, subjects, means and ends evoked as governmental programs, or hegemonic projects in-the-making, are shaped to orchestrate urban carbon governance. We ask about the diversity of what is being sought through the governance of carbon in the city, how this is rendered and how carbon is being made to matter in the city. We do so through analysis of an audit of carbon governance initiatives in Australian cities, and a characterisation of these initiatives as four …

Ethnic Diversity Within Australian Homes: Has Television Caught Up To Social Reality?, Natascha Klocker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Inter-ethnic intimacy is on the rise in Australia, bringing an unprecedented level of ethnic diversity into our homes. Yet analyses of media representations of ethnic diversity have concentrated on the community level, neglecting the intimate sphere of family life. This paper explores the possibilities and limits of love within and across ethnic boundaries on fictional Australian television programmes. The results of a nine-week content analysis reveal a mixed picture. Inter-ethnic intimacy was regularly portrayed; but committed, long-term relationships across ethnic boundaries (marriage and co-habitation) were scarce. And although Australian television producers did not shy away from portraying physical intimacy across …

Development Of An Evidence-Based Framework To Support Knowledge Translation Within The Australian Dementia Training And Study Program, Lyn Phillipson, Richard Fleming, E Beattie, M Winbolt, Samantha Reis

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the National Dementia Research Forum 2014, 19 September 2014, Sydney, Australia

Improving Awareness, Attitudes And Uptake Of The Australian Physical A Ctivity G Uidelines Among Primary School Students, Their Teachers And Parents, Lyn Phillipson, Danika Hall

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the International Social Marketing Conference 2014, 17-18 July 2014, Melbourne, Australia

Integrating Relationship- And Research-Based Approaches In Australian Health Promotion Practice, Christiane Klinner, Stacy M. Carter, Lucie Rychetnik, Vincy Li, Michelle Daley, Avigdor Zask, Beverly Lloyd

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

We examine the perspectives of health promotion practitioners on their approaches to determining health promotion practice, in particular on the role of research and relationships in this process. Using Grounded Theory methods, we analysed 58 semi-structured interviews with 54 health promotion practitioners in New South Wales, Australia. Practitioners differentiated between relationship-based and research-based approaches as two sources of knowledge to guide health promotion practice. We identify several tensions in seeking to combine these approaches in practice and describe the strategies that participants adopted to manage these tensions. The strategies included working in an evidence-informed rather than evidence-based way, creating new …

Aime And The University Of Wollongong: The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea, Paul Chandler, Valerie Harwood, Samantha Mcmahon, Amy Priestly, Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The collaborative research partnership between the University of Wollongong and the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), an Indigenous community organisation, has grown from internal university funding to national funding. This mutually beneficial partnership has resulted in: outputs to AIME for use in their program; funded educational opportunities for Indigenous students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and the design of statistical tools for the collection of quantitative data on the program.

Australian Mothers' Notions Of Risk And Uncertainty In Relation To Their Pre-Teen Children, Jan Wright, Christine Halse, Gary Levy, Catherine Hartung

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In this article we examine the ways discourses of risk manifested and played out within and across two groups of Australian mothers living in two large urban centres in Australia: the first comprised of mothers who had a pre-teen child diagnosed with an eating disorder (n=13); the second of mothers who had a pre-teen child without the symptoms or diagnosis of an eating disorder (n=13). In 2011 and 2012, we conducted in-depth interviews with the mothers in their homes on their ideas about health and their relationships with their children. An analysis of the data collected from these interviews indicated …

The Feasibility Of Telephone Follow-Up Interviews For Monitoring Treatment Outcomes Of Australian Residential Drug And Alcohol Treatment Programs, Frank Deane, Peter James Kelly, Trevor Crowe, Geoffrey Lyons, Elizabeth Kate Cridland

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Telephone follow-up interviewing is one method of monitoring treatment outcomes of individuals involved in drug and alcohol treatment programs. The present study is the first to examine the feasibility and generalizability of data obtained from telephone follow-up interviews after drug and alcohol treatment in Australia. Methods: Participants attended 1 of 8 Salvation Army Recovery Service Centres where staff administered outcome measures at intake. Three-month postdischarge telephone follow-up interviews were conducted by researchers from the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, University of Wollongong. Results: A sample of 700 clients was obtained for follow-up (582 males; 118 females). A 51% follow-up …

Making Country Good: Stewardship And Environmental Change In Central Australian Pastoral Culture, Nicholas Gill

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Rural stewardship has been a focus of much natural resource management policy in Australia and elsewhere. Despite landowners professing stewardship, some researchers have cast doubt on the utility of the concept due to its vagueness and difficulties of associating attitudes with behaviour. In contrast I argue that stewardship should remain an important concept for understanding rural cultures, landholder practices and the politics of land. Stewardship, however, needs to be understood as emergent, as a 'dwelt achievement', as having temporal depth and as being part of the production of socio-natures. Moreover, as a key vernacular practice, its capacities and vulnerabilities require …

Digital Storytelling: Capturing The Stories Of Mentors In Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience, Lisa Kervin, Samantha Mcmahon, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea, Valerie Harwood

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Digital stories are often considered in terms of artistic forms, as teaching and learning tools, and for their emancipatory capacity to capture the stories and experiences of marginalised social groups. This case joins the recent move to reconceptualise the digital story by positing it as a useful research method that generates rich multimodal narrative data. As a new method in social science research, it seems, at least so far, to raise more questions than it answers. Such methodological questions might include the following: What 'type' of digital story to use? How do you analyse, theorise and/or account for the overall …

Phonological Reduction In Maternal Speech In Northern Australian English: Change Over Time, Heather Buchan, Caroline Jones

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Segmental variation in maternal speech to children changes over time. This study investigated variation in non-citation speech processes in a longitudinal, 26-hour corpus of maternal northern Australian English. Recordings were naturalistic parent-child interactions when children (N=4) were 1;6, 2;0 and 2;6. The mothers' speech was phonetically transcribed and analysed. Based on previous sociophonetic research showing proportional changes in speech variants in maternal speech as children get older, it was predicted that deletion of word-initial /h/ and word-final /v/, processes common in non-citation speech, would increase over time. Instead results showed a non-linear change in deletion within a stable set of …

Australian Health Policy And End Of Life Care For People With Chronic Disease: An Analysis, Teresa Burgess, Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, Gregory Crawford, Justin J. Beilby

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

End of life care for people with advanced chronic disease is a growing international imperative, with the majority of deaths in the world now related to chronic disease. The provision of care that meets the needs of people with advanced chronic disease must be guided by appropriate policy. The key policy areas impacting directly on end of life care are related to chronic disease, palliative care and, increasingly, aged care.

This paper describes the outcomes of an audit of Australian chronic disease and end of life/palliative care policies. We identified that chronic disease health policies/strategies demonstrate a focus on prevention, …