Mathematical thinking: a screening profile for 'operations'

This paper comments on and adapts the screening profile developed from 'ACER Mathematics Profile Series (MAPS): Operations' (1977). A sample screening profile worksheet for 'Operations' is provided. This adaptation of the ACER MAPS Operations test may help teachers identify students who are able to use more advanced levels of mathematical thinking. Survey results may help form ability groups, deliver special needs curriculum materials, and guide students tackling the algebra curriculum.

A diagnostic 'profile' for chance (probability)

This article presents a profiling tools for identifying students knowledge in chance.

Depth-profile analysis of elements by glow discharge optical emmission specrometry

Glow-discharge optical emission spectrometry (GD-OES) is a powerful tool for the rapid analysis of elements in the surface of solids. One may employ GD-OES to determine quantitatively the bulk concentration of elements in a sample. With further calibration, one may also obtain elemental concentrations as a function of depth into the sample. This allows depth profiling on a host of advanced materials: treated metals, coated metals and other materials, multi-layers, painted surfaces, hard samples coated with polymers, thin films, and many others.

A consortium of institutions in Victoria, led by Deakin University, has purchased a new glow-discharge optical emission spectrometer. This instrument has the ability to perform elemental depth profiling on a wide range of materials. This technique, the first of its kind in Australia, is of particular interest to those working on metals, ceramics, glasses, coatings, semi-conductors, and multi-layers. We present here an overview of depth profiling by GD-OES and some examples of its use.

Ego boundaries, shamanic-like techniques, and subjective experience : an experimental study

The subjective effects and therapeutic potential of the shamanic practice of journeying is well known. However, previous research has neglected to provide a comprehensive assessment of the subjective effects of shamanic-like journeying techniques on non-shamans. Shamanic-like techniques are those that demonstrate some similarity to shamanic practices and yet deviate from what may genuinely be considered shamanism. Furthermore, the personality traits that influence individual susceptibility to shamanic-like techniques are unclear. The aim of the present study was, thus, to investigate experimentally the effect of shamanic-like techniques and a personality trait referred to as "ego boundaries" on subjective experience including mood disturbance. Forty-three non-shamans were administered a composite questionnaire consisting of demographic items and a measure of ego boundaries (i.e., the Short Boundary Questionnaire; BQ-Sh). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: listening to monotonous drumming for 15 minutes coupled with one of two sets of journeying instructions; or sitting quietly with eyes closed for 15 minutes. Participants' subjective experience and mood disturbance were retrospectively assessed using the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) and the Profile of Mood States-Short Form, respectively. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between conditions with regard to the PCI major dimensions of visual imagery, attention and rationality, and minor dimensions of imagery amount and absorption. However, the shamanic-like conditions were not associated with a major reorganization of the pattern of subjective experience compared to the sitting quietly condition, suggesting that what is typically referred to as an altered state of consciousness effect was not evident. One shamanic-like condition and the BQ-Sh subscales need for order, childlikeness, and sensitivity were statistically significant predictors of total mood disturbance. Implications of the findings for the anthropology of consciousness are also considered.

Professional attitudes towards deliberate self-harm in patients with borderline personality disorder

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the attitudes of mental health and emergency medicine clinicians towards patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The clinician gender, primary occupation and service setting, level of university training and years of experience, frequency of clinical contact, and completion of specific training in borderline personality disorder were expected to influence the attitudes of health professionals towards working with borderline patients that engage in self-harm.

Method: A purpose-designed questionnaire and an assessment tool to quantify attitudinal levels were used to collect demographic information and assess the attitudes of 140 mental health and emergency medicine practitioners across two Australian health services and a New Zealand health service.

Results: Statistically and clinically significant differences were found between emergency medical staff and mental health clinicians in their attitudes towards working with borderline personality disorder. The strongest predictor of attitudes was whether the clinician worked in emergency medicine or mental health. This was followed by years of experience and specific training in personality disorders as significant predictors of attitudes to self-harm.

Conclusions: The implications of these findings for the professional training of clinicians in the management and treatment of borderline personality disorder patients are discussed.

Targeted clinical education for staff attitudes towards deliberate self-harm in borderline personality disorder : randomized controlled trial

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of attending targeted clinical education on borderline personality disorder on the attitudes of health clinicians towards working with deliberate self-harm behaviours commonly exhibited by patients diagnosed with this complex disorder. Comparisons of clinicians across service settings, occupational fields, and other demographic areas were also made.

Method: A purpose-designed demographic questionnaire and the Attitudes Towards Deliberate Self-Harm Questionnaire were used to collect the demographic information and assess the attitudes of 99 mental health and emergency medicine practitioners across two Australian health services and a New Zealand health service, both before and after education attendance.

Results: Statistically significant improvements in attitude ratings were found for both emergency medicine clinicians and mental health clinicians in working with deliberate self-harm behaviours in borderline personality disorder, following attendance at the education program with a medium affect size (t(32)=−3.45, p=0.002, d=0.43 and t(65)=−5.12, p=0.000, d=0.42, respectively). Clinicians across occupational areas of nursing, allied health, and medical fields demonstrated equivocal levels of improvement in their attitude ratings.

Conclusions: Results are discussed in terms of the necessity of providing regular access to targeted clinical education for health professionals working with patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

Diagnosing borderline personality disorder : examination of how clinical indicators are used by professionals in the health setting

This paper reviews the history of the recognition of borderline personality disorder as a clinical disorder, followed by a review of the contemporary practice of diagnosing borderline personality disorder in psychiatric settings. Many researchers have cautioned against the conflation of difficult patients with the diagnostic category of borderline personality disorder. The current study examines how clinical indicators used to screen for this complex disorder differ across service settings, professions, specialised training and years of clinical experience. A purpose-designed survey was administered to 108 mental and emergency medicine health practitioners across an Australian health service and a New Zealand health service to record the level of significance placed on different clinical indicators in the application of the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. A heavy reliance was placed on observable behavioural symptoms, such as self-mutilation and impulsive behaviours that are self-damaging, in the screening of borderline personality disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. Statistically significant differences were found between emergency medical staff and mental health clinicians in their use of diagnostic indicators of borderline personality disorder, χ²(4) = 17.248, p = .002. Implications of these findings for the screening, assessment and diagnosis of patients with borderline personality disorder are discussed.

A clarification of the ERI model : the importance of personality

The present study aimed to investigate the role of personality in the etfort-reward imbalance model along with the construct validity of overcommitment in relation to Type A behaviour. The study sample consisted of 898 operational law enforcement persolllel from a large Australian police service. Factor analysis revealed that the overcommitment construct was psychologically related to, but distinct from, the Type A dimensions achievement striving, impatience-irritability and hostility despite the hypothesised interrelatedness of the measures. Multiple regression analyses including tests for curvilinear effects revealed that the Type A dimensions made a significant improvement to the prediction of employee wellbeing and job satisfaction, The results of the study provide theoretical implications in terms of the augmentation of the effort-reward imbalance model.

Exploring the extent and nature of the diversity of the doctoral population in Australia : A profile of the respondents to a 2005 national survey

Although there is general agreement that diversity is a feature of doctoral education in Australia, there are various forms and levels of diversity, many of which are not captured by analyses that rely on categories for analysing the doctoral education population that are those commonly used in education at the undergraduate level, such as sex, age, mode of study, type of enrolment, citizenship, and Broad Field of Study, etc. These categories primarily reflect concerns to do with funding and issues of participation and equity. Our analysis of data from a national survey of doctoral candidates carried out in 2005 as part of a Linkage Grant project “Reconceptualising the doctoral experience’, suggests that not all of these categories are relevant to critical concerns for doctoral education. Nor do analyses at a macro-level represent the particularity of the doctoral experience. They can mask the reality of a highly variable student population, and one that is not necessarily represented accurately or helpfully by ascribing group identities.

Personality-based typology of adolescent sexual offenders using the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory

Previous research suggests that identifying specific subgroups amongst the population of adolescent sexual offenders may contribute to understanding the aetiology of their offending. Such knowledge may also help to improve the treatment outcomes for this group. The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) profiles of 25 adolescent male sexual offenders aged 13 to 17 in a community-based treatment sample were analysed to determine if this measure could be used to identify different subtypes of offenders based on personality variables. Three groups were identified by cluster analysis: one group of antisocial and externalising types (n = 11), another group of withdrawn, socially inadequate types (n = 7) and a third group displaying few traits of clinically significant elevation (n = 7). Support was also shown for the hypothesis that adolescent sexual offenders exhibit personality profiles similar to those of delinquent non-sexual offenders. The observed typology suggests potentially different etiological pathways and different treatment needs.

Personality change and personality disorder : some initial thoughts on the application of McAdams' triarchic model to the treatment of personality disorder

It is increasingly accepted that psychological therapies have an important role to play in the management and treatment of those who are considered to have disorders of personality, particularly those with forensic histories. Whilst there appears to be an emerging evidence base supporting the effectiveness of treatment for this group, there have been relatively few attempts to link treatment approaches to current models of normal personality. In this paper we use McAdams' (1994) triarchic model of personality as a basis for understanding the effective treatment of personality disorders. We conclude that the model may be useful in assisting clinicians to engage patients in treatment, identify innovative methods of intervention, and conceptualise therapeutic progress.

Readiness for treatment in high risk offenders with personality disorders

Low engagement and non-completion of therapeutic interventions are important issues in the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders and mentally disordered offenders. Such factors influence a range of outcomes, including the reduction of clinical and criminogenic needs. In this paper it is proposed that low engagement and non-completion are usefully viewed as a consequence of low readiness for treatment. The dimensions of readiness are summarized (from the Multifactor Offender Readiness Model) and applied to high risk offenders with severe personality disorders. A readiness analysis has implications for the assessment and treatment of this patient/offender population and is useful in identifying future research and clinical priorities.