Languaging the actor : an examination of the terminology used in actor training

Throughout the twentieth century increased interest in the training of actors resulted in the emergence of a plethora of acting theories and innovative theatrical movements in Europe, the UK and the USA. The individuals or groups involved with the formulation of these theories and movements developed specific terminologies, or languages of acting, in an attempt to clearly articulate the nature and the practice of acting according to their particular pedagogy or theatrical aesthetic. Now at the dawning of the twenty-first century, Australia boasts quite a number of schools and university courses professing to train actors. This research aims to discover the language used in actor training on the east coast of Australia today. Using interviews with staff of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Victorian College of the Arts, and the Queensland University of Technology as the primary source of data, a constructivist grounded theory has emerged to assess the influence of last century‟s theatrical theorists and practitioners on Australian training and to ascertain the possibility of a distinctly Australian language of acting.

Validation of the Algase Wandering Scale (Version 2) in a cross cultural sample

This study examined the psychometric properties of an expanded version of the Algase Wandering Scale (Version 2) (AWS-V2) in a cross-cultural sample. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Study subjects were 172 English-speaking persons with dementia (PWD) from long-term care facilities in the USA, Canada, and Australia. Two or more facility staff rated each subject on the AWS-V2. Demographic and cognitive data (MMSE) were also obtained. Staff provided information on their own knowledge of the subject and of dementia. Separate factor analyses on data from two samples of raters each explained greater than 66% of the variance in AWS-V2 scores and validated four (persistent walking, navigational deficit, eloping behavior, and shadowing) of five factors in the original scale. Items added to create the AWS-V2 strengthened the shadowing subscale, failed to improve the routinized walking subscale, and added a factor, attention shifting as compared to the original AWS. Evidence for validity was found in significant correlations and ANOVAs between the AWS-V2 and most subscales with a single item indicator of wandering and with the MMSE. Evidence of reliability was shown by internal consistency of the AWS-V2 (0.87, 0.88) and its subscales (range 0.88 to 0.66), with Kappa for individual items (17 of 27 greater than 0.4), and ANOVAs comparing ratings across rater groups (nurses, nurse aids, and other staff). Analyses support validity and reliability of the AWS-V2 overall and for persistent walking, spatial disorientation, and eloping behavior subscales. The AWS-V2 and its subscales are an appropriate way to measure wandering as conceptualized within the Need-driven Dementia-compromised Behavior Model in studies of English-speaking subjects. Suggestions for further strengthening the scale and for extending its use to clinical applications are described.