A home-based progressive resistance exercise programme for patients with venous leg ulcers : a feasibility study

This study aimed to assess the feasibility of a home-based exercise program and examine the effects on the healing rates of venous leg ulcers. A 12 –week randomised controlled trial was conducted investigating the effects of an exercise intervention compared to a usual care group. Participants in both groups (n = 13) had active venous ulceration and were treated in a metropolitan hospital outpatients clinic in Australia. Data were collected on recruitment from medical records, clinical assessment and questionnaires. Follow-up data on progress in healing and treatments were collected fortnightly for 12 weeks. Calf muscle pump function data were collected at baseline and 12 weeks from recruitment. Range of ankle motion data were collected at baseline, 6 and 12 weeks from recruitment. This pilot study indicated that the intervention was feasible. Clinical significance was observed in the intervention group with a 32% greater decrease in ulcer size (p=0.34) than the control group, and a 10% (p=0.74) improvement in the number of participants healed in the intervention group compared to the control group. Significant differences between groups over time were observed in calf muscle pump function parameters; (ejection fraction [p = 0.05]; residual volume fraction [p = 0.04]) and range of ankle motion (p = 0.01). This pilot study is one of the first studies to examine and measure clinical healing rates for participants involved in a home-based progressive resistance exercise program. Further research is warranted with a larger multi-site study.

Hospital and home : strange bedfellows or new partners?

This paper addresses the hospital/community interface as an emerging context of health care practice. As a consequence of industry reforms health service managers are looking to the community space as a location for delivery of acute health care. This focus on the community is sharpened by the promise of cost savings and enhanced by the seemingly limitless potential of biomedical technology. The paper argues that the interface of hospital and community is a conceptual space where two different types of health services meet, bringing with them different cultural practices and expectations. The ‘hospital in the home’ programs that structure health care at this interface provide the delivery of acute nursing and medical care and the accoutrements of this care in the community, the neighbourhood, the home. Consequently, the home is becoming the new site for high technology ‘hospital’ care. This domestication of illness technology is contrasted with the notion of home as a place of sanctuary, familiarity and belonging.

Treating skin tears in nursing home residents : a pilot study comparing four types of dressings

A pilot study was conducted to compare four types of dressings used to treat skin tears in nursing home residents. Wounds treated with a non-occlusive dressing healed more quickly than those dressed with occlusive dressings. The results suggest that ease of use and product wastage are important considerations when treating skin tears. The pilot study also highlights the need for further research into skin tear management and the need for ongoing education for nurses regarding skin integrity risk assessment and product information.

Studying in Cuba, returning home to work : experiences of graduates from the English-speaking Caribbean

Cuba’s higher education scholarship program has received little attention in the literature on education and development. In this chapter, I discuss themes that emerge from my interviews with graduates from English-speaking Caribbean countries who studied in Cuba, as well as Cuban educators, on the nature of their academic programs and their subsequent careers. This facilitates exploration of a number of questions, including the following: 1. How, in the perceptions of scholarship students and graduates, have they experienced the philosophy of combing study, practical work, and research in the tertiary education curriculum in Cuban universities? 2. What impact does studying in Cuba appear to have on graduates after they return to their home countries? 3. How does the experience of the graduates throw light on the relationship between tertiary education and national development?

Embedding graphic organisers in the teaching and learning of family and consumer sciences (home economics) in Kuwait

Educational reforms currently being enacted in Kuwaiti Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) in response to contemporary demands for increased student-centred teaching and learning are challenging for FCS teachers due to their limited experience with student-centred learning tools such as Graphic Organisers (GOs). To adopt these reforms, Kuwaiti teachers require a better understanding of and competency in promoting cognitive learning processes that will maximise student-centred learning approaches. This study followed the experiences of four Grade 6 FCS Kuwaiti teachers as they undertook a Professional Development (PD) program specifically designed to advance their understanding of the use of GOs and then as they implemented what they had learned in their Grade 6 FCS classroom. The PD program developed for this study was informed by Nasseh.s competency PD model as well as Piaget and Ausubel.s cognitive theories. This model enabled an assessment and evaluation of the development of the teachers. competencies as an outcome of the PD program in terms of the adoption of GOs, in particular, and their capacity to use GOs to engage students in personalised, in-depth, learning through critical thinking and understanding. The research revealed that the PD program was influential in reforming the teachers. learning, understanding of and competency in, cognitive and visual theories of learning, so that they facilitated student-centred teaching and learning processes that enabled students to adopt and adapt GOs in constructivist learning. The implementation of five GOs - Flow Chart, Concept Maps, K-W-L Chart, Fishbone Diagram and Venn Diagram - as learning tools in classrooms was investigated to find if changes in pedagogical approach for supporting conceptual learning through cognitive information processing would reduce the cognitive work load of students and produce better learning approaches. The study as evidenced by the participant teachers. responses and classroom observations, showed a marked increase in student interest, participation, critical thought, problem solving skills, as a result of using GOs, compared to using traditional teaching and learning methods. A theoretical model was developed from the study based on the premise that teachers. knowledge of the subject, pedagogy and student learning precede the implementation of student-centred learning reform, that it plays an important role in the implementation of student-centred learning and that it brings about a change in teaching practice. The model affirmed that observed change in teaching-practice included aspects of teachers. beliefs, as well as confidence and effect on workplace and on student learning, including engagement, understanding, critical thinking and problem solving. The model assumed that change in teaching practice is inseparable from teachers. lifelong PD needs related to knowledge, understanding, skills and competency. These findings produced a set of preliminary guidelines for establishing student-centred constructivist strategies in Kuwaiti education while retaining Kuwait.s cultural uniqueness.

College, shared house, or home? The impact of living situation on university students’ drinking

University students are recognised as a heavy drinking group who are at risk of both short and long term harms from their alcohol consumption. This paper explores the social dynamics of drinking and the key differences between three core groups of university students – those who live at home, those living in college and those who live independently. We draw on a large scale survey of Australian university students on alcohol consumption and harm minimisation and extensive qualitative individual and focus group interviews with university students in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Our data suggests that living at home supports safer drinking in comparison to the less regulated college context or living independently in shared households.

The most private private education : home education in Australia

In Australia, the decision to home educate is becoming increasingly popular (cf. Townsend, 2012). The popularity of home education is in spite of a large number of publically funded, financially affordable private and public schools that offer a range of educational alternatives to parents (cf. English, 2009). In spite of its increasing popularity, the reasons home education is chosen by Australian families is under-researched (cf. Jackson & Allan, 2010). This paper reports on a case study that set out to explore the reasons Australian parents choose to home educate and whether this decision is related to the choice of a private school in Australia. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with a group of home education families in one of Australia’s most populated cities. Data were thematically analysed. The analysis revealed that there were similarities between the discourses of parents who privately educate and parents who home educate. In particular, it reveals the parents’ fears about schools, their negative experiences of schools and their hopes for their children’s futures.

Place psychology: Engaging with notions of 'home'

Psychology of place is theoretical territory shared by a wide range of disciplines. Currently, while environmental psychology addresses such questions as how people interact with and make meaning in places, clinical psychology has paid scant attention to the role of place in mental health. This paper focuses on two concepts from place psychology - place attachment and place identity. Place attachment is here defined as a sense of positively-valanced emotional connection to a familiar place (Morgan 2010). Place identity implies a stronger sense of belonging: the person as part of the place and the place as part of the person (Memmot & Long 2002). Both place attachment and place identity can be seen as relating to notions of ‘home’. My PhD is a work of interdisciplinary practice-based research using creative writing as a methodology to explore how place attachment, place identity and notions of home may support recovery from psychological trauma. A novel provides a site of imaginative encounter between author and reader, in which the two parties collaboratively create place and character through the medium of language. This paper links theory with practice by outlining some choices involved in exploring psychological constructs through narrative fiction.

Home-based activity program for older people with depressive symptoms: DeLLITE–A randomized controlled trial

PURPOSE We wanted to assess the effectiveness of a home-based physical activity program, the Depression in Late Life Intervention Trial of Exercise (DeLLITE), in improving function, quality of life, and mood in older people with depressive symptoms. METHODS We undertook a randomized controlled trial involving 193 people aged 75 years and older with depressive symptoms at enrollment who were recruited from primary health care practices in Auckland, New Zealand. Participants received either an individualized physical activity program or social visits to control for the contact time of the activity intervention delivered over 6 months. Primary outcome measures were function, a short physical performance battery comprising balance and mobility, and the Nottingham Extended Activities of Daily Living scale. Secondary outcome measures were quality of life, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form, mood, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), physical activity, Auckland Heart Study Physical Activity Questionnaire, and self-report of falls. Repeated measures analyses tested the differential impact on outcomes over 12 months’ follow-up. RESULTS The mean age of the participants was 81 years, and 59% were women. All participants scored in the at–risk category on the depression screen, 53% had a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision diagnosis of major depression or scored more than 4 on the GDS-15 at baseline, indicating moderate or severe depression. Almost all participants, 187 (97%), completed the trial. Overall there were no differences in the impact of the 2 interventions on outcomes. Mood and mental health related quality of life improved for both groups. CONCLUSION he DeLLITE activity program improved mood and quality of life for older people with depressive symptoms as much as the effect of social visits. Future social and activity interventions should be tested against a true usual care control.

Does sustainable housing construction provide the home owner with a greater investment return?

Over the past 20 years there has been a considerable push at all three tiers of Government and private industry in Australia to improve the energy efficiency and sustainability levels of residential housing. A number of these initiatives have been voluntary, such as solar power and solar heating rebates, with other mandatory measures being incorporated into building standards and codes. Although the importance of energy efficiency and sustainable materials have been widely conveyed both at the academic and public level, it does not always reflect in the residential house purchase decision by typical house buyers, including residential property investors. This paper will analyse a range of housing markets in Brisbane to determine the investment performance of those markets over the past 3 years to determine any significant differences between new residential suburbs and older residential suburbs where houses have not been constructed to the current energy efficiency and sustainability guidelines. The range of suburbs to be analysed will focus on middle to lower high value suburbs, with a particular focus on residential housing in Master Planned Communities to determine if socio-economic factors and development size and scope have an impact of the purchase and investment performance of sustainable houses in comparison to older housing stock. The paper confirms that the residential property market shows a higher capital return for residential property built under stricter sustainability guidelines than similar located and type of property built prior to the BCA 2004 and older style project type homes erected prior to 2000.

Talk in activity during young children’s use of digital technologies at home

Internet-connected tablets and smart phones are being used increasingly by young children. Little is known, however, about their social interactions with family members when engaged with these technologies. This article examines video-recorded interactions between a father and his two young children, one aged 18 months using an iPhone and one aged three years accessing an iPad. Drawing on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, analysis establishes ways the family members engage and disengage in talk so as to manage their individual activity with mobile devices and accomplish interaction with each other. Findings are relevant for understanding children’s everyday practices with mobile technologies.

Placement Trajectory : mapping the journeys of children and young people in out-of-home care

Significant problems confront our child protection out-of-home care system including: high costs; increasing numbers of children and young people entering and remaining in care longer; high frequency of placement movement; and, negative whole-of-life outcomes for children and young people who have exited care. National policy and research agendas recognise the importance of enhancing the evidence base in out-of-home care to inform the development of policy, programs and practice, and improve longitudinal outcomes of children and young people. The authors discuss the concept of placement trajectory as a framework for research and systems analysis in the out-of-home context. While not without limitations, the concept of placement trajectory is particularly useful in understanding the factors influencing placement movement and stability. Increasing the evidence base in this area can serve to enhance improved outcomes across the lifespan for children and young people in the out-of-home care system.

Home and the embodiment of privacy

A home is an embodiment of human privacy, apart from providing shelter, security and several other functions. Achieving the desired level of privacy at home is very important in Muslim societies. Privacy is intended to protect the female members of the family from strangers, especially while entertaining guests at home. One way of controlling levels of exposure of the domestic domains to strangers is by controlling privacy levels. This research will investigate perceptions of privacy among Australian Muslims when entertaining guests at their homes. This research will also investigate the extent that modesty (achieved through both appearance and design) acts as the balancing factor in achieving a family’s desired levels of privacy while also affording them the capacity to be hospitable to guests. This research will use a qualitative approach to investigate Australian Muslim homes around Queensland, predominantly in the Brisbane area. A total number of 20 to 60 participants (10 to 30 males, 10 to 30 females) ranging from 25 to 55 years old will be interviewed. Ideally, participants will be those who have children or extended families (parents or siblings) living in the house. The data will be coded and analysed for the purpose of generating new knowledge for architects and designers when designing Muslim homes. It will also extend the current body of knowledge related to privacy mechanisms in housing designs, thereby benefitting architects and designers in the future.