What relationships exist between general self efficacy, locus of control and the nursing practice environment and caring efficacy and job satisfaction?

Research Question: What relationships exist between general self efficacy, locus of control and the nursing practice environment and caring efficacy and job satisfaction? Background: Important characteristics of current nursing practice include nurses having the ability to develop and continue therapeutic relationships with patients, nurses having autonomy and control over the practice environment and nurses having more involvement in decision making. In addition, employee satisfaction is enhanced when organisations offer access to authority. Despite this, nurses continue to complain of feeling powerless in their ability to make decisions. Sample: The study population and criteria for selection included Registered Nurses in Australia who were at the time members of an Australian professional and industrial organisation. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and bivariate statistics, and structural equation modeling. Results: The model fit the data well (χ² = 2.3594, χ²/df = 2.3594 and CFI = 0.9987). Twenty four percent of variation in caring efficacy (CE) can be accounted for by general self-efficacy (GSE); work locus of control (WLC) and practice environment (PE) and 62% of the variation in job satisfaction (JS) can be accounted for by GSE, WLC and PE. All pathways were found to be significant except PE to CE. GSE positively explained CE (β = 0.38). WLC was negatively related to CE i.e., as CE scores increased WLC scores decreased (β = -0.23). Further testing of the model found CE was positively related to GSE (βZ = 0.38, p < 0.001) and negatively related to WLC (βZ = - 0.23, p = 0.001). PE was not significantly associated with CE (βZ = - 0.01, p = 0.85). JS was explained by PE, which was positively related (βZ = 0.69, p = < 0.001); GSE which was negatively related (βZ - 0 .09, p < 0.001) and WLC, which was also negatively related (βZ = - 0.20, p < 0.001). Implications for Practice Nursing and organisational leaders should ensure the development of strategies for professional development and orientation programmes which may enhance nurses’ ability to develop caring relationships and express caring behaviours to their patients and as a result improve organisational and patient outcomes. Nursing shortages and turnover rates are associated with job satisfaction and the nursing practice environment. Improving the nursing environment can produce benefits to the health system such as better job satisfaction, improved workforce retention and better patient outcomes.

Changing relationships : Re-activating student and staff engagement in the design studio learning environment

QUT Teaching and Learning Support Services 'Revisiting University Teaching’program for mid-career academics. 'Innovations in Teaching at QUT' presentations. Presentations were part of a 2 day program that provides opportunities for experienced academic staff with responsibilities for teaching to review their current teaching practices and explore innovations in teaching that will assist them to enhance student learning and develop their own scholarship of teaching. The presenter responded to the following: 1.What is the innovation you have incorporated into your teaching? - give a brief overview/ description/ demonstration of the innovation 2.What challenges/issues prompted you to make changes in your approach? Were they discipline specific? Operational? Opportunistic? 3.What factors did you need to consider in implementing these changes? Which factors enabled success or hindered? 4.What has this innovation achieved so far? How have learners responded? How have the broader teaching team and academic staff from other units in your course responded? 5.How could this innovation be used by other academics in their teaching? What do you see as the possibilities for further expansion of this innovation? (NB. This question could be answered as part of a final sharing of group discussion). Presenter: Shannon Satherley

Self-regulated learning and executive function : exploring the relationships in a sample of adolescent males

This study investigated relationships between SRL and EF in a sample of 254 school-aged adolescent males. Two hypotheses were tested: that self-reported measures of SRL and EF are closely related and that as different aspects of EF mature during adolescence, the corresponding components of SRL should also improve, leading to an age-related increase in the correlation between EF and SRL. Two self-report instruments were used: the strategies for self-regulated learning survey (SSRLS) and the behavioural rating instrument of executive function (BRIEF). Strong correlations between the measures of EF and SRL were found, especially in areas associated with metacognitive processes. Correlations between EF and SRL were found, with weaker correlations between behavioural regulation and SRL were found to be weaker for the younger participants in the sample while the relationship between EF and SRL appears to grow stronger during the initial years of high school even though self-reported levels of EF along with motivation for SRL and important components of SRL such as goal setting and planning were found to decrease with age. Decreasing levels of motivation for learning during adolescence are speculated to moderate the deployment of SRL and EF in a school context.

Changing relationships : engaging students and staff in the design studio

QUT Learning and Teaching Unit Seminar Making a Real Difference: Learning and Teaching Grants Showcase This event recognised and shared teaching innovations, including those from faculty learning and teaching grants. The Showcase featured four ALTC Grant project leaders (Helen Partridge, Sylvia Edwards, Robyn Nash and Mary Ryan) who had recently completed or were about to complete their grants. Each QUT faculty nominated two 2010 faculty teaching and learning grant recipients to showcase grant outcomes via a poster. Poster: Shannon Satherley & Abbe Winter Changing Relationships: Engaging Students and Staff in the Design Studio 'In the design studio learning environment, traditional student and staff expectations are of close contact teaching and learning. However, in recent years increasing class sizes have meant students experiencing reduced personal staff attention, and increasingly feeling “anonymous” and correspondingly disengaged, to the detriment of quality learning (Carbone 1998: 8; Biggs 2003). Concurrently, there has been a necessary increase in teaching by sessional (casual) teaching staff at QUT, with varied levels of experience and assurance. While teachers primarily regard engagement as “cognitive and conative,” for students it is emotional: “... an essential need to feel that they were engaged with the context of their learning and that it was meaningful in some way” (Solomonides and Martin 2008: 18). As a response to these conditions, the Changing Relationships action-research project was run within a QUT School of Design studio unit in 2009 and 2010, based on the premise that engaged teaching can encourage emotionally engaged learning. The project inverted the structure of the traditional QUT studio unit, empowering both students and sessional staff with a sense of increased autonomy: literally changing the relationships within the studio learning environment.'

How two-tier boards can be more effective

Purpose: This study explores how non-executive directors address governance problems on Dutch two-tier boards. Within this board model, challenges might be particularly difficult to address due to the formal separation of management boards’ decision-management from supervisory boards’ decision-control roles. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire among non-executive directors provide unique insights into three major challenges in the boardrooms of two-tier boards in the Netherlands. Findings: The study indicates that non-executive directors mainly experience challenges in three areas: the ability to ask management critical questions, information asymmetries between the management and supervisory boards and the management of the relationship between individual executive and non-executive directors. The qualitative in-depth analysis reveals the complexity of the contributing factors to problems in the boardroom and the range of process and social interventions non-executive directors use to address boardroom issues with management and the organization of the board. Practical implications: While policy makers have been largely occupied with the ‘right’ board composition, the results highlight the importance of adequately addressing operational challenges in the boardroom. The results emphasize the importance of a better understanding of board processes and the need of non-executive directors to carefully manage relationships in and around the boardroom. Originality/value: Whereas most studies have focussed on regulatory initiatives to improve the functioning of boards (e.g., the independence of the board), this study explores how non-executive directors attempt to enhance the effectiveness of boards on which they serve.

Cryptic diversity and evolutionary relationships among Australian closed-forest Melomys (Rodentia: Muridae) and related Australo-Papuan mosaic-tailed rats

This thesis investigates patterns of evolution in a group of native Australo-Papuan rodents. Past climatic change and associated sea level fluctuations, and fragmentation of wet forests in eastern Australia has facilitated rapid radiation, diversification and speciation in this group. This study adds to our understanding of the evolution of Australia’s rainforest fauna and describes the evolutionary relationships of a new genus of Australian rodent.

Factors associated with common mental disorders during the transition to adulthood : do emerging adults and ‘early starters’ differ? Findings from an Australian birth cohort study

Background: Despite increasing diversity in pathways to adulthood, choices available to young people are influenced by environmental, familial and individual factors, namely access to socioeconomic resources, family support and mental and physical health status. Young people from families with higher socioeconomic position (SEP) are more likely to pursue tertiary education and delay entry to adulthood, whereas those from low socioeconomic backgrounds are less likely to attain higher education or training, and more likely to partner and become parents early. The first group are commonly termed ‘emerging adults’ and the latter group ‘early starters’. Mental health disorders during this transition can seriously disrupt psychological, social and academic development as well as employment prospects. Depression, anxiety and most substance use disorders have early onset during adolescence and early adulthood with approximately three quarters of lifetime psychiatric disorders having emerged by 24 years of age. Aims: This thesis aimed to explore the relationships between mental health, sociodemographic factors and family functioning during the transition to adulthood. Four areas were investigated: 1) The key differences between emerging adults and ‘early starters’, were examined and focused on a series of social, economic, and demographic factors as well as DSM-IV diagnoses; 2) Methodological issues associated with the measurement of depression and anxiety in young adults were explored by comparing a quantitative measure of symptoms of anxiety and depression (Achenbach’s YSR and YASR internalising scales) with DSM-IV diagnosed depression and anxiety. 3) The association between family SEP and DSM-IV depression and anxiety was examined in relation to the different pathways to adulthood. 4) Finally, the association between pregnancy loss, abortion and miscarriage, and DSM-IV diagnoses of common psychiatric disorders was assessed in young women who reported early parenting, experiencing a pregnancy loss, or who had never been pregnant. Methods: Data were taken from the Mater University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a large birth cohort started in 1981 in Brisbane, Australia. 7223 mothers and their children were assessed five times, at 6 months, 5, 14 and 21 years after birth. Over 3700 young adults, aged 18 to 23 years, were interviewed at the 21-year phase. Respondents completed an extensive series of self-reported questionnaires and a computerised structured psychiatric interview. Three outcomes were assessed at the 21-year phase. Mental health disorders diagnosed by a computerised structured psychiatric interview (CIDI-Auto), the prevalence of DSM-IV depression, anxiety and substance use disorders within the previous 12-month, during the transition (between ages of 18 and 23 years) or lifetime were examined. The primary outcome “current stage in the transition to adulthood” was developed using a measure conceptually constructed from the literature. The measure was based on important demographic markers, and these defined four independent groups: emerging adults (single with no children and living with parents), and three categories of ‘early starter’, singles (with no children or partner, living independently), those with a partner (married or cohabitating but without children) and parents. Early pregnancy loss was assessed using a measure that also defined four independent groups and was based on pregnancy outcomes in the young women This categorised the young women into those who were never pregnant, women who gave birth to a live child, and women who reported some form of pregnancy loss, either an abortion or a spontaneous miscarriage. A series of analyses were undertaken to test the study aims. Potential confounding and mediating factors were prospectively measured between the child’s birth and the 21-year phase. Binomial and multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of relevant outcomes, and the associations were reported as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Key findings: The thesis makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of the transition to adulthood, particularly in relation to the mental health consequences associated with different pathways. Firstly, findings from the thesis clearly showed that young people who parented or partnered early fared worse across most of the economic and social factors as well as the common mental disorders when compared to emerging adults. That is, young people who became early parents were also more likely to experience recent anxiety (OR=2.0, 95%CI 1.5-2.8) and depression (OR=1.7, 95%CI 1.1-2.7) than were emerging adults after taking into account a range of confounding factors. Singles and those partnering early also had higher rates of lifetime anxiety and depression than emerging adults. Young people who partnered early, but were without children, had decreased odds of recent depression; this may be due to the protective effect of early marriage against depression. It was also found that young people who form families early had an increased risk of cigarette smoking (parents OR=3.7, 95%CI 2.9-4.8) compared to emerging adults, but not heavy alcohol (parents OR=0.4, 95%CI 0.3-0.6) or recent illicit drug use. The high rates of cigarette smoking and tobacco use disorders in ‘early starters’ were explained by common risk factors related to early adversity and lower SEP. Having a child and early marriage may well function as a ‘turning point’ for some young people, it is not clear whether this is due to a conscious decision to disengage from a previous ‘substance using’ lifestyle or simply that they no longer have the time to devote to such activities because of child caring. In relation to the methodological issues associated with assessing common mental disorders in young adults, it was found that although the Achenbach empirical internalising scales successfully predicted both later DSM-IV depression (YSR OR=2.3, 95%CI 1.7-3.1) and concurrently diagnosed depression (YASR OR=6.9, 95%CI 5.0- 9.5) and anxiety (YASR OR=5.1, 95%CI 3.8- 6.7), the scales discriminated poorly between young people with or without DSM-IV diagnosed mood disorder. Sensitivity values (the proportion of true positives) for the internalising scales were surprisingly low. Only a third of young people with current DSM-IV depression (range for each of the scales was between 34% to 42%) were correctly identified as cases by the YASR internalising scales, and only a quarter with current anxiety disorder (range of 23% to 31%) were correctly identified. Also, use of the DSM-oriented scales increased sensitivity only marginally (for depression between 2-8%, and anxiety between 2-6%) above the standard Achenbach scales. This is despite the fact that the DSM-oriented scales were originally developed to overcome the poor prediction of DSM-IV diagnoses by the Achenbach scales. The internalising scales, both standard and DSM-oriented, were much more effective at identifying young people with comorbid depression and anxiety, with OR’s 10.1 to 21.7 depending on the internalising scale used. SEP is an important predictor of both an early transition to adulthood and the experience of anxiety during that time Family income during adolescence was a strong predictor of early parenting and partnering before age 24 but not early independent living. Compared to families in the upper quintile, young people from families with low income were nearly twice as likely to live with a partner and four times more likely to become parents (OR ranged from 2.6 to 4.0). This association remained after adjusting for current employment and education level. Children raised in low income families were 30% more likely to have an anxiety disorder (OR=1.3, 95%CI 0.9-1.9), but not depression, as young adults when compared to children from wealthier families. Emerging adults and ‘early starters’ from low income families did not differ in their likelihood of having a later anxiety disorder. Young women reporting a pregnancy loss had nearly three times the odds of experiencing a lifetime illicit drug disorder (excluding cannabis) [abortion OR=3.6, 95%CI 2.0-6.7 and miscarriage OR=2.6, 95%CI 1.2-5.4]. Abortion was associated with alcohol use disorder (OR=2.1, 95%CI 1.3- 3.5) and 12-month depression (OR=1.9, 95%CI 1.1- 3.1). These finding suggest that the association identified by Fergusson et al between abortion and later psychiatric disorders in young women may be due to pregnancy loss and not to abortion, per se. Conclusion: Findings from this thesis support the view that young people who parent or partner early have a greater burden of depression and anxiety when compared to emerging adults. As well, young women experiencing pregnancy loss, from either abortion or miscarriage, are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than are those who give birth to a live infant or who have never been pregnant. Depression, anxiety and substance use disorders often go unrecognised and untreated in young people; this is especially true in young people from lower SEP. Early identification of these common mental health disorders is important, as depression and anxiety experienced during the transition to adulthood have been found to seriously disrupt an individual’s social, educational and economic prospects in later life.

Developing and sustaining successful mentoring relationships

As mentor teachers hold the balance of power in the relationship, how do they build and sustain positive mentor-mentee relationships? This study involved eleven pairs of mentors and mentees (n=22) with audio-recorded interviews to explore their relationships, mentors’ support and mentors’ expectations for mentees’ involvement in the school. Findings suggested ways to build and sustain mentoring relationships (e.g., professionalism, respect, and support). Indeed, support in providing information for planning, access to resources, two-way dialoguing with feedback and reflections, and establishing safe, risk-taking environments to trial and evaluate newly-learnt teaching practices were considered as a ways to build and sustain relationships.

The role of customer gratitude in strengthening seller-buyer relationships

Despite its emphasis on relationships between buyers and sellers, and the effect of emotion on behaviours, marketing literature has not yet investigated customer gratitude as an element of relational exchange. Gratitude is a significant component of personal relationships and may offer important insights into how perceptions of relationship marketing investments impact customer trust in, satisfaction with and affective commitment to a seller. In addition, customer gratitude may provide a more complete explanation of how marketing investments work. Consequently, this research contributes to marketing literature by investigating customer gratitude as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between customer perceptions of relationship marketing investments and customer trust in, satisfaction with and affective commitment to the seller: all dimensions of relationship quality.

The institutional limits to, and possibility of, understanding young people diagnosed with 'mental disorders', within inclusive teacher-student relationships

A persistent pattern of exclusion of young people with ‘mental disorders’ from school systems, despite the best intentions of schools and teachers, has prompted a call for a more reflexive understanding of their behaviours. This thesis, by describing how institutionally recognised ways of understanding can result in otherwise avoidable moral collisions and exclusion, produces new insights into the nature and processes of understanding required to promote inclusion. These insights were produced through an intensive qualitative examination of a violent classroom episode, identifying key points in the interaction that could make the difference between misrecognition and recognition, turning exclusion into inclusion.

Study protocol : establishing good relationships between patients and health care providers while providing cardiac care. Exploring how patient-clinician engagement contributes to health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in South Australia

Abstract Background: Studies that compare Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous patients who experience a cardiac event or chest pain are inconclusive about the reasons for the differences in-hospital and survival rates. The advances in diagnostic accuracy, medication and specialised workforce has contributed to a lower case fatality and lengthen survival rates however this is not evident in the Indigenous Australian population. A possible driver contributing to this disparity may be the impact of patient-clinician interface during key interactions during the health care process. Methods/Design: This study will apply an Indigenous framework to describe the interaction between Indigenous patients and clinicians during the continuum of cardiac health care, i.e. from acute admission, secondary and rehabilitative care. Adopting an Indigenous framework is more aligned with Indigenous realities, knowledge, intellects, histories and experiences. A triple layered designed focus group will be employed to discuss patient-clinician engagement. Focus groups will be arranged by geographic clusters i.e. metropolitan and a regional centre. Patient informants will be identified by Indigenous status (i.e. Indigenous and non-Indigenous) and the focus groups will be convened separately. The health care provider focus groups will be convened on an organisational basis i.e. state health providers and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services. Yarning will be used as a research method to facilitate discussion. Yarning is in congruence with the oral traditions that are still a reality in day-to-day Indigenous lives. Discussion: This study is nestled in a larger research program that explores the drivers to the disparity of care and health outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians who experience an acute cardiac admission. A focus on health status, risk factors and clinical interventions may camouflage critical issues within a patient-clinician exchange. This approach may provide a way forward to reduce the appalling health disadvantage experienced within the Indigenous Australian communities. Keywords: Patient-clinician engagement, Qualitative, Cardiovascular disease, Focus groups, Indigenous

Utility of COI, CAD and morphological data for resolving relationships within the genus Sarcophaga (sensu lato) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) : a preliminary study

Currently there are ~3000 known species of Sarcophagidae (Diptera), which are classified into 173 genera in three subfamilies. Almost 25% of sarcophagids belong to the genus Sarcophaga (sensu lato) however little is known about the validity of, and relationships between the ~150 (or more) subgenera of Sarcophaga s.l. In this preliminary study, we evaluated the usefulness of three sources of data for resolving relationships between 35 species from 14 Sarcophaga s.l. subgenera: the mitochondrial COI barcode region, ~800. bp of the nuclear gene CAD, and 110 morphological characters. Bayesian, maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum parsimony (MP) analyses were performed on the combined dataset. Much of the tree was only supported by the Bayesian and ML analyses, with the MP tree poorly resolved. The genus Sarcophaga s.l. was resolved as monophyletic in both the Bayesian and ML analyses and strong support was obtained at the species-level. Notably, the only subgenus consistently resolved as monophyletic was Liopygia. The monophyly of and relationships between the remaining Sarcophaga s.l. subgenera sampled remain questionable. We suggest that future phylogenetic studies on the genus Sarcophaga s.l. use combined datasets for analyses. We also advocate the use of additional data and a range of inference strategies to assist with resolving relationships within Sarcophaga s.l.

Integrating early childhood teachers into long day care : building respectful relationships

Amongst the current reforms in early childhood in Australia is the requirement for four year university degree-qualified teachers to be employed to provide a kindergarten program for four-year-old children in the year prior to school entry. The possibility for long day care to provide a funded kindergarten program, with an early childhood teacher (ECT) presents a change for the field. With this change come challenges, though also opportunities to think in new and different ways about what long day care and working in long day care might look like.

Nutraceuticals in migraine treatment

Migraineurs experience significant decline in functioning and productivity, which in turn translates into diminished quality of life and a major economic burden on society at large [1]. Although current research has better elucidated the pathophysiology underlying migraine, the exact etiology remains to be defined. Biochemical factors that could potentially disrupt the vascular endothelial function, leading to cortical spreading depression that can activate and affect the trigeminovascular system, are primary candidates for involvement in migraine pathophysiology [2]. The current mechanisms explaining the pathogenesis behind migraine continue to evolve, but theories of variability in cortical excitability, neuronal dysregulation and neurotransmitter/receptor activation are all important and potentially amenable to nutraceutical manipulation [3]. As our knowledge about migraine pathogenesis expands, our current understanding of the complex relationships between pharmacological doses, cofactor and hormone interactions, and neural and pain pathway activities will also advance, creating new avenues for research and migraine treatment development [3].