Assessment of movement participation for children with developmental coordination disorders

The Caregiver Assessment of Movement Participation was developed to identify children of 5-10 years old for movement participation difficulties in home contexts. Its psychometric properties were investigated including its usefulness as a screening instrument using both classical test theory methods and Rasch analysis. Results confirmed its validity and reliability.

Participation, relational justice and social identity in cervical cancer screening

Extending existing health literature by drawing on social and community psychology, this thesis represents the first attempt to explore the conceptualisation of 'participation' in cervical cancer screening. Quantitative and qualitative findings suggested that women's experiences of 'patient participation' and 'voice opportunity' were important and related to various social processes and variables in this health context. Using four case studies, the professional portfolio demonstrates a biopsychosocial approach to assessment and intervention as used by a provisional health psychologist working with clients with intellectual disabilities in order to promote sexual health.

Sustaining human carrying capacity : a tool for regional sustainability assessment

Regional sustainability is an important focus for natural resource management. Measuring how social and economic systems are progressing to sustainability is therefore a critical need. But it is dependent upon the development of analytical and methodological tools to measure progress, particularly, we argue, at the regional level. Achieving sustainability at the regional scale is important since it's at this scale where social institutions and ecological functioning are most closely linked. However, our recent study that evaluated the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods at the regional scale found methods developed for the global, national and state scales are not entirely effective at assessing sustainability at this spatial scale. Following on from this critique, we developed and tested a new method for assessing sustainability, which we believe is applicable at the regional scale. The framework, Sustaining Human Carrying Capacity (SHCC), evaluates the sustainability of regional human activities by considering the pressures these activities have on regional ecosystems. SHCC was tested and evaluated at the regional scale, demonstrating its potential to be an effective method for monitoring sustainability. It also has potential to be used to inform the community and decision makers about the sustainability of their region, and help guide strategic planning to progress sustainability.

Assessing sustainability : a technical fix or a means of social learning?

The contextual nature of sustainability makes it extremely difficult to measure. Across the world each region has a specific environment and history that has shaped values and perceptions of the local community. In response, a wide range of tools has been developed that employ differing techniques to measure sustainability. These have a range of applications from global to site-specific scales. However, it is yet to be resolved whether assessments made using these tools reflect a technical focus with no close links to the knowledge and perceptions of stakeholders, community and management decisions, or whether the assessments reflect the knowledge and perceptions of local stakeholders and the community. In the southwest region of Victoria, Australia, a sustainability index called AIRS (An Index of Regional Sustainability) has recently been developed. This tool is based on indicators selected by stakeholders and considers relationships between the indicators. The aim of this paper is to report an ex-post evaluation of the AIRS sustainability assessment conducted at a subcatchment scale. The evaluation assesses AIRS's ability to assess regional sustainability and compares and contrasts the subcatchment assessments with the knowledge and perceptions of stakeholders and the community. A participatory approach that acknowledges key stakeholders was used for the evaluation process. Representatives from four stakeholder groups were interviewed to elicit their views of the AIRS assessment, its relevance, quality, applicability and priorities for future development. Strengths and weaknesses of AIRS are revealed and its contribution to social learning is highlighted.

Exploring the application of Health Impact Assessment in neighbourhood renewal

This thesis explores the role that Health Impact Assessment can play in social exclusion policy contexts focusing specifically on Victoria's Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme. The findings demonstrate that it can play an important role if due attention is given to contextual and procedural factors both within community settings and within government.

Reflexive capability maturity assessment for firm management of multipartner international projects

This paper reports the findings of a research project which was aimed at developing and promoting a greater understanding of the uniqueness of successful Australian-Malaysian partnerships and joint ventures undertaken on complex multi-partner mega construction projects. The aim of the investigation was to identify the critical success factors specific to such partnerships. The theoretical framework was grounded in a previous empirical study on design firm internationalisation which demonstrated that long-term success in international markets is enhanced by the management of integration of transformation of social, cultural and intellectual capital within the firm. A generic adaptive performance framework mapping the key performance indicators for each of these dimensions was developed which can be modified to unique contexts related to specific geographical localities. In the Australian Malaysian Institute study the framework is tested within the context of firm and shared partnership capital. The broad interpretive framework of adaptive performance was refined as a result of the findings of the four case studies of Malaysian organisations to develop a partnerships capacity performance measurement framework for Malaysian firms working on international projects. Six in-depth interviews were conducted with ten participants across the four Malaysian firms and a thematic analysis was undertaken of the transcripts. A reflexive capability maturity assessment tool was developed from insights gained into the underlying causes of key barriers coupled with common themes emerging in relation to the successful approaches used by case study firms to overcome those barriers. Specific examples of the case study firms' demonstration of reflexive capability in the areas of market knowledge, design management and market entry are presented.

From profiles to rich tasks : the situated nature of 'authenticity' in the context of reforming curriculum and assessment practices

Outcome based education that has dominated Australian education in the 1990s is under review in the early years of the twenty first century. The available historical 'texts' produced during the first half of the 1990s, which include the national Statements and Profiles, and the state Curriculum and Standards Frameworks, provide us with documents that we can engage with not simply for 'history's sake', but with an opportunity to, in the words of the feminist author Dorothy Smith, 'displace[s] the analysis from the text as originating in writer or thinker, to the discourse itself as an ongoing intertextual process' bringing into view the social relations in which texts are embedded and which they organise' (1990, p. 161-2). Most Australian states and territories have now commenced significant situated, local curriculum renewal and reform. This renewed interest in curriculum offers insights into the character of recent assessment practices in Australia, recognising the tensions inherent in assessment practices and authentic assessment models. This paper explores, by way of an overview of the broad curriculum and assessment practices adopted in Australia over the past twenty-five years, the situated nature of 'authenticity' in the context of curriculum and assessment practices and how as teacher educators we are responding through our everyday work.

Assessment of community reintegration planning for sex offenders

Poor planning for reintegrating child molesters from prison to the community is a likely risk factor for sexual recidivism. The quality of reintegration planning was retrospectively measured for groups of recidivist (n = 30) and nonrecidivist (n = 30) child molesters who were individually matched on static risk level and time since release. Recidivists had significantly poorer reintegration planning scores than nonrecidivists, consistent with a previous study by the authors. Data from both studies were combined (total N = 141), and survival analyses showed that poor reintegration planning predicted an increased rate of recidivism. Accommodation, employment, and social support planning combined to predict recidivism, with predictive validity comparable to static risk models (area under the curve = .71). Summing these items yielded a scale of reintegration planning quality that differentiated well between recidivists and nonrecidivists and may have practical utility for risk assessment as an adjunct to static models.

Análise da acessibilidade urbana para o planejamento da urbanização de interesse social

An analysis of housing issues in the city of Canela (RS, Brazil) has been made in 2008 as part of the development of the Master Plan for Housing. The present paper deals with one component of this analysis, which is the assessment of urban accessibility for low-income population, and its consequences on the treatment of the problem of current shortage of low-income housing and the future demand from population growth until 2020. A three steps method is applied: (i) urban mobility is assessed and mapped on the basis of the road system and the routes of public transport; (ii) accessibility to different urban services, such as public education and health, recreation, consumption and jobs are measured and mapped considering the location of urban facilities, population distribution divided by income and age, and urban mobility; (iii) one map for urban accessibility is produced as a result of the weighted combination of accessibility to different urban facilities. This final urban accessibility map is then overlayed to empty urban lots with size and land value appropriate to low-income housing, and a simulation of their development over the future has been made. The lots with higher accessibility were selected, and the impact of urban development was assessed on the capacity of education facilities. Based on this study, we made some preliminary suggestions for widening places in some schools, the need for a new education facility (location and size) and the extension of public transport for an area with low accessibility.

Mobile texts and migrant audiences : rethinking literacy and assessment in a new media age

This article highlights the importance of rethinking literacy assessment in a digital and global world. Although pressures currently abound to narrow conceptions and practices of literacy, especially in an era of high stakes testing, digital multimodality and connectivity offer the potential for new ways of thinking, representing, and communicating, as well as new avenues for participating in relationships across social, geographic, and cultural difference. We explore the challenges of redesigning assessments so that they better take into account children's multiliterate capabilities. In so doing, we offer examples from our work in afterschool contexts that demonstrate how we have grappled with the complexities of assessment in new times.

Neighbourhood environments and children's social capital : investigating the pattern of relationships

The main purpose of this work was to investigate the pattern of relationships among three constructs: neighbourhood socio-physical environment, children's social interactions and their social capital. This work was designed as a two-phase mixed-methods research. Phase I included several qualitative studies to develop a scale of neighbourhood socio-physical environment, a scale of children's social interactions and a scale of children's social capital. Phase II was a cross-national survey that used these three scales to collect information from high school students in Beijing and Sydney. The main finding of this work was that there were strong and significant correlations among the three constructs. Children's assessment of their neighbourhood socio-physical environment was positively correlated with their social interactions and social capital, which indicated that children who lived in better neighbourhoods had more social interactions and larger volumes of social capital. Strong positive relationship was also found between children's social interactions and social capital, which implied that better-connected children interacted with their friends more.

Sensing and using social context

We present online algorithms to extract social context: Social spheres are labeled locations of significance, represented as convex hulls extracted from GPS traces. Colocation is determined from Bluetooth and GPS to extract social rhythms, patterns in time, duration, place, and people corresponding to real-world activities. Social ties are formulated from proximity and shared spheres and rhythms. Quantitative evaluation is performed for 10+ million samples over 45 man-months. Applications are presented with assessment of perceived utility: Socio-Graph, a video and photo browser with filters for social metadata, and Jive, a blog browser that uses rhythms to discover similarity between entries automatically.

Play, language and social skills of children attending a play-based curriculum school and a traditionally structured classroom curriculum school in low socioeconomic areas

Aim and method: A comparison study of four six-year-old children attending a school with a play-based curriculum and a school with a traditionally structured classroom from low socioeconomic areas was conducted in Victoria, Australia. Children’s play,
language and social skills were measured in February and again in August. At baseline assessment there was a combined sample of 31 children (mean age 5.5 years, SD 0.35 years; 13 females and 18 males). At follow-up there was a combined sample of 26
children (mean age 5.9 years, SD 0.35 years; 10 females, 16 males).
Results: There was no significant difference between the school groups in play, language, social skills, age and sex at baseline assessment. Compared to norms on a standardised assessment, all the children were beginning school with delayed play ability. At follow-up assessment, children at the play-based curriculum school had made significant gains in all areas assessed (p values ranged from 0.000 to 0.05). Children at the school with the traditional structured classroom had made significant positive gains in use of symbols in play (p < 0.05) and semantic language (p < 0.05). At follow-up, there were significant differences between schools in elaborate play (p < 0.000), semantic language (p < 0.000), narrative language (p < 0.01) and social connection (p < 0.01), with children in the play-based curriculum school having significantly higher scores in play, narrative language and language and lower scores in social disconnection.
Implications: Children from low SES areas begin school at risk of failure as skills in play, language and social skills are delayed. The school experience increases children’s skills, with children in the play-based curriculum showing significant improvements in all areas assessed. It is argued that a play-based curriculum meets children’s developmental and learning needs more effectively. More research is needed to replicate these results.

Building the capacity of family day care educators to promote children’s social and emotional wellbeing : an exploratory cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Childhood mental health problems are highly prevalent, experienced by one in five children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Although childcare settings, including family day care are ideal to promote children’s social and emotional wellbeing at a population level in a sustainable way, family day care educators receive limited training in promoting children’s mental health. This study is an exploratory wait-list control cluster randomised controlled trial to test the appropriateness, acceptability, cost, and effectiveness of “Thrive,” an intervention program to build the capacity of family day care educators to promote children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Thrive aims to increase educators’ knowledge, confidence and skills in promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing.
Methods/Design: This study involves one family day care organisation based in a low socioeconomic area of Melbourne. All family day care educators (term used for registered carers who provide care for children for financial reimbursement in the carers own home) are eligible to participate in the study. The clusters for randomisation will be the fieldworkers (n = 5) who each supervise 10-15 educators. The intervention group (field workers and educators) will participate in a variety of intervention activities over 12 months, including workshops; activity exchanges with other educators; and focused discussion about children’s social and emotional wellbeing during field worker visits. The control group will continue with their normal work practice. The intervention will be delivered to the intervention group and then to the control group after a time delay of 15 months post intervention commencement. A baseline survey will be conducted with all consenting educators and field workers (n = ~70) assessing outcomes at the cluster and individual level. The survey will also be administered at one month, six months and 12 months post-intervention commencement. The survey consists of questions measuring perceived levels of knowledge, confidence and skills in promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing. As much of this intervention will be delivered by field workers, field worker-family day care educator relationships are key to its success and thus supervisor support will also be measured. All educators will also have an in-home quality of care assessment at baseline, one month, six months and 12 months post-intervention commencement. Process evaluation will occur at one month, six months and 12 months post-intervention commencement. Information regarding intervention fidelity and economics will also be assessed in the survey.
Discussion: A capacity building intervention in child mental health promotion for family day care is an essential contribution to research, policy and practice. This initiative is the first internationally, and essential in building an evidence base of interventions in this extremely policy-timely setting.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : a retrospective on the Trading Room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called the Trading Room in an undergraduate finance unit generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this innovation, viewed through the lens of Activity Theory, demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualised feedback and benchmark their work against others. While assessment is generally seen as the carrot and the stick of learning; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the Trading Room even if there was no assessment requirement. Students did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space.