Issues in assessing students in the clinical workforce : an exploratory study

The Monash Mini Case Record (MCR), based on Norcinis mini CEX, is an observed interaction between a student and a real patient in an authentic clinical setting. The assessor rates the students competence in history taking or physical examination and clinical reasoning on eight point scales. Professional / ethical behaviour within the encounter is evaluated on a four point scale. The assessor also grades the complexity of the case as low, medium or high. On completion of the student patient interaction, or her performance, and the assessor provides verbal and written feedback. Students complete both formative and summative MCRs across the academic year.

Does moral cleansing moderate the effect of evolutionary altruism on helping intention? An exploratory study

There is strong evidence for social evolutionary motivations for helping (e.g., reciprocal altruism) and also growing support for the influence of the social cognitive theory of moral cleansing on prosociality. Where the former motivation is interpersonal, the latter is intrapersonal. This experimental study hypothesized that, in addition to main effects of evolutionary altruism and moral cleansing on helping intention, an interaction would occur between these theoretical motivations. Using three situational helping scenarios as dependent measures, the effect of participants’ morally-valenced recalled behavior (moral/immoral/achievement/failure) and the effect of their social proximity to a helping target (cousin/colleague/stranger) on helping intention was determined. Overall, 616 Australian participants (90.1% female) completed the online experiment. Two-way ANOVA demonstrated a consistent main effect of social proximity on helping intention across all three helping scenarios, supporting evolutionary social psychological explanations for helping. However, instead of moral self-regulation effects, moral identity consistency effects were induced by the moral behavior recall manipulation. A main effect of behaviour recall on helping intention occurred, with moral recall increasing helping intention. The problem of theoretical ambiguity regarding moral identity consistency and moral self-regulation is discussed, as is the useful role of null result publications in informing effective experimental design.

Young adult voting decision-making: Studying the effect of usage from a consumer behaviour perspective

This study investigates the application of consumer behaviour theory to young Australian adults’ voting decision-making. Previous decision-making studies identified constructs of subjective knowledge, involvement, information seeking, satisfaction, confidence, and stability as key factors in voting decision-making. This research tests the relationship that these factors have with the consumer behaviour concept of usage. A new concept, commitment to vote, is also considered for Australia’s compulsory voting context. Data were gathered from a sample of 257 Australian citizens between the ages of 18 and 25. Exploratory factor analysis produced nine factors, and MANOVA and ANOVA were used to test the differences between three usage groups: voluntary users, involuntary users, and never trieds. The results illustrate that usage has a significant influence on information seeking, commitment to voting, satisfaction with voting choice, and stability in voting decision-making. Therefore, usage is a key element in voter decision-making and needs to be included in future studies.

Investigation of consumer satisfaction with cognitive-behaviour therapy and sertraline in the treatment of adolescent depression

Objective: A new instrument, the Adolescent Depression Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (ADTSQ) was devised to measure the consumer satisfaction of depressed adolescents and their parents. The objectives of the paper were to present the psychometric proper ties ofthe ADTSQ and to investigate the relative consumer satisfaction with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), sertraline (SRT) and a combined treatment of CBT and SRT (COMBINED) for the treatment of adolescent depression. In addition, participants were asked to rank their most preferred treatment from the following approaches: medication, individual counselling, group program and family therapy.Method: Thirty-eight adolescents with a unipolar depressive disorder and 37 parents who participated in a randomized clinical trial of CBT versus SRT versus COMBINED completed the ADTSQ following the completion of acute treatment.Results: The ADTSQ was found to have high internal consistency and exploratory factor analysis detected three underlying factors. High levels of consumer satisfaction were reported by both adolescents and parents in all three treatments. Those treated with CBT treatments reported higher levels of skill acquisition than those treated with SRT. Of the four treatment approaches, most parents and adolescentsrated individual counsellingas their first preference.Conclusions: The ADTSQ is a useful measure of consumer satisfaction for depressed adolescents and their parents. CBT, SRT and COMBINED were shown to have high consumer satisfaction with CBT's higher skills training content reflected in the participants' reports. Individual counselling was perceived as the most favourable choice of treatment for adolescent depression. Although limitations associated with the measurement of consumer satisfaction and of the study are acknowledged, it is recommended that the inclusion of consumer satisfaction measures be considered in clinical trials that examine treatment efficacy.

'Ecological embeddedness' and its public health implications: findings from an exploratory study

Western culture over the last two centuries has become significantly ecologically 'dis-embedded', with nature increasingly reduced to resources for human use. The consequence is global environmental degradation, including accelerating climate change. Much recent research supports associations between nature contact and human health and well-being, and between feelings of nature-connectedness and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. The oft-cited Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (WHO, Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986) emphasises human-environment inextricability; however public health discourse and response has not fully engaged with this recognition. This qualitative study explored the attitudes, motivations, and experiences-including formative influences-of six individuals whose behaviour was congruent with recognition of human-nature interconnectedness; such individuals may be understood as ecologically embedded. Key aspects of participants' experience, identified through grounded theory thematic analysis, were (i) connecting with nature (especially in childhood); (ii) seeing the threat and taking it personally; (iii) the nature of reality; (iv) dedicated beyond the ego-oriented self; and (v) sustaining the eco-centric self. The findings highlight the necessity for cross-sectoral advocacy at all levels of government policy development focused on recognition of human-environment connectedness, especially bridging health, planning and education policies affecting children. Only thus will both population health and ecological health on which population health depends be possible.

Integrating online communities within business-to-business marketing communications: an exploratory study

© 2015 Taylor & Francis The article provides a conceptual contribution by developing a framework for business-to-business (B2B) marketers seeking to implement online communities (OLCs). Furthermore, the conceptual contribution is augmented by a small-scale exploratory study comprising in-depth interviews with B2B chief marketing officers (CMOs). The findings challenge existing thinking that B2B marketers can follow generic marketing communication frameworks. This is due to the differences in B2B OLCs in terms of multiple stakeholders and two-way information flows and differences in buyer behaviour. For researchers, the contribution is an embryonic model that will facilitate future conceptual development as well as empirical testing through a series of research propositions. A sequential decision-making framework, which identifies key implementation challenges, is provided for B2B managers.