Job satisfaction and 'welfare-to-work' : is any job a good job for Australian mothers?

This exploratory study sought to assess the job satisfaction of employed Australian single mothers who had mandatory employment participation requirements. In particular, we sought to identify the characteristics of the job and the individual that were closely associated with participant’s job satisfaction. Self‑report data on job satisfaction, employment characteristics and parenting stress were collected from 155 employed single mothers. Participant job satisfaction was compared to female Australian population norms and linear regression analyses determined the job‑related and individual predictors of single mothers’ job satisfaction. Findings from this exploratory study revealed that single mothers involved in a mandatory welfare‑to‑work program experienced significantly lower job satisfaction than the Australian female population. The individual variable, parental distress, negatively predicted each of the six job satisfaction domains while being employed on a casual basis was inversely associated with three domains (job security, work hours and overall job satisfaction). The Australian government purported that making the transition from welfare to work would improve wellbeing for program participants, under the assumption that ‘any job’s a good job’. However, the relatively low levels of job satisfaction experienced by single mothers in the current study provide little support for this assumption.

Perceptions of wellness to monitor adaptive responses to training and competition in elite Australian football

Perceptions of wellness are often used by athletes and coaches to assess adaptive responses to training. The purpose of this research was to describe how players were coping with the demands of elite level Australian football over a competitive season using subjective ratings of physical and psychological wellness and to assess the ecological validity of such a monitoring approach. Twenty-seven players completed ratings for 9 items (fatigue, general muscle, hamstring, quadriceps, pain/stiffness, power, sleep quality, stress, well-being). Players subjectively rated each item as they arrived at the training or competition venue on a 1–5 visual analog scale, with 1 representing the positive end of the continuum. A total of 2,583 questionnaires were analyzed from completions on 183 days throughout the season (92 ± 24 per player, 103 ± 20 per week; mean ± SD). Descriptive statistics and multilevel modelling were used to understand how player ratings of wellness varied over the season and during the week leading into game day and whether selected player characteristics moderated these relationships. Results indicated that subjective ratings of physical and psychological wellness were sensitive to weekly training manipulations (i.e., improve steadily throughout the week to a game day low, p < 0.001), to periods of unloading during the season (i.e., a week of no competition, p < 0.05) and to individual player characteristics (e.g., muscle strain after a game was poorer in players with high maximum speed, p < 0.01). It is concluded that self-reported player ratings of wellness provide a useful tool for coaches and practitioners to monitor player responses to the rigorous demands of training, competition, and life as a professional athlete.

Individual calibration for estimating free-living walking speed using the MTI monitor

Purpose : This study was conducted to devise a new individual calibration method to enhance MTI accelerometer estimation of free-living level walking speed.

Method : Five female and five male middle-aged adults walked 400 m at 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 km·h-1, and 800 m at 6.5 km·h-1 on an outdoor track, following a continuous protocol. Lap speed was controlled by a global positioning system (GPS) monitor. MTI counts-to-speed calibration equations were derived for each trial, for each subject for four such trials with each of four MTI, for each subject for the average MTI, and for the pooled data. Standard errors of the estimate (SEE) with and without individual calibration were compared. To assess accuracy of prediction of free-living walking speed, subjects also completed a self-paced, "brisk" 3-km walk wearing one of the four MTI, and differences between actual and predicted walking speed with and without individual calibration were examined.

Results : Correlations between MTI counts and walking speed were 0.90 without individual calibration, 0.98 with individual calibration for the average MTI, and 0.99 with individual calibration for a specific MTI. The SEE (mean ± SD) was 0.58 ± 0.30 km·h-1 without individual calibration, 0.19 ± 0.09 km·h-1 with individual calibration for the average MTI monitor, and 0.16 ± 0.08 km·h-1 with individual calibration for a specific MTI monitor. The difference between actual and predicted walking speed on the "brisk" 3-km walk was 0.06 ± 0.25 km·h-1 using individual calibration and 0.28 ± 0.63 km·h-1 without individual calibration (for specific accelerometers).

Conclusion : MTI accuracy in predicting walking speed without individual calibration might be sufficient for population-based studies but not for intervention trials. This individual calibration method will substantially increase precision of walking speed predicted from MTI counts.

Individual variability in Diel Vertical migration of a marine copepod : why some individuals remain at depth when others migrate

The diel vertical migration (DVM) of the copepod Metridia pacifica was examined in Dabob Bay (47°45.05′N, 122°49.71′W), a fjord in Washington state. Although the population showed deep daytime residence (75-175 m), a proportion of the population was found in the surface waters at night. For individuals that migrated to the surface, the mean size of the oil sac was much smaller than those that remained at depth (mean lengths of oil sac 0.25 mm for individuals collected between 0 and 25 m at night, compared with 0.43 mm for individuals from between 125 and 175 m). Similarly, the C : N ratio was lower for animals collected from near the surface, indicative of their lower lipid reserves. These results suggest that individual variability in DVM was influenced by body condition, with those animals with larger lipid stores not needing to risk coming to the surface to feed at night.

Independent and joint associations of TV viewing time and snack food consumption with the metabolic syndrome and its components; a cross-sectional study in Australian adults

Background:
Television (TV) viewing time is positively associated with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adults. However, the mechanisms through which TV viewing time is associated with MetS risk remain unclear. There is evidence that the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient poor snack foods increases during TV viewing time among adults, suggesting that these behaviors may jointly contribute towards MetS risk. While the association between TV viewing time and the MetS has previously been shown to be independent of adult’s overall dietary intake, the specific influence of snack food consumption on the relationship is yet to be investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the independent and joint associations of daily TV viewing time and snack food consumption with the MetS and its components in a sample of Australian adults.

Methods:
Population-based, cross-sectional study of 3,110 women and 2,572 men (>35 years) without diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Participants were recruited between May 1999 and Dec 2000 in the six states and the Northern Territory of Australia. Participants were categorised according to self-reported TV viewing time (low: 0-2 hr/d; high: >2 hr/d) and/or consumption of snack foods (low: 0-3 serves/d; high: >3 serves/d). Multivariate odds ratios [95% CI] for the MetS and its components were estimated using gender-specific, forced entry logistic regression.

Results:
OR [95% CI] for the MetS was 3.59 [2.25, 5.74] (p≤0.001) in women and 1.45 [1.02, 3.45] (p = 0.04) in men who jointly reported high TV viewing time and high snack food consumption. Obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension (women only) were also jointly associated with high TV viewing time and high snack food consumption. Further adjustment for diet quality and central adiposity maintained the associations in women. High snack food consumption was also shown to be independently associated with MetS risk [OR: 1.94 (95% CI: 1.45, 2.60), p < 0.001] and hypertension [OR: 1.43 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.02), p = 0.05] in women only. For both men and women, high TV viewing time was independently associated with the MetS and its individual components (except hypertension).

Conclusion:
TV viewing time and snack food consumption are independently and jointly associated with the MetS and its components, particularly in women. In addition to physical activity, population strategies targeting MetS prevention should address high TV time and excessive snack food intake.

Socioeconomic status, neighborhood characteristics, and walking within the neighborhood among older Hong Kong Chinese

Objective: 

O where are you going? O do you imagine? Reproduction and response : a reflexive sociology of scholarship of teaching and learning in practical legal training

My doctoral research studies Australian PLT practitioners’ engagement with scholarship of teaching and learning. I argue that many PLT practitioners are motivated to engage with scholarship of teaching and learning in their work. There are, however, individual and extra-individual impediments.
PLT practitioners are lawyers that teach in institutional practical legal training (“PLT”). Satisfactory completion of mandatory PLT is an eligibility requirement for admission to the Australian legal profession. The PLT requirement is additional to academic legal qualifications. PLT is undertaken at a post-graduate level with, or after, the academic law degree.
My study investigates PLT practitioners’ motivations and capabilities to engage with scholarship of teaching and learning (“SoTL”). I study organisational symbolic support for SoTL in PLT, and organisational allocation of resources to SoTL in PLT.
The study involves individual and extra-individual domains of PLT practitioners’ work. It considers how social structures (e.g. “the juridical”) are inscribed into individuals’ practices (“teaching”) and, conversely, whether practices influence social structures.
My research adopts qualitative methodologies. These involve inter-disciplinary exchanges between law, legal education, practice research, sociology of law, cultural theory, and theory and practice of teaching and learning. My theoretical framework draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s “reflexive sociology”, and Michel de Certeau’s “heterological science”.
I sourced data from documents, and semi-structured interviews with 36 Australian PLT practitioners. Documentary sources include statutory instruments, speeches, reports, practice directions, histories, and scholarly publications.
To analyse the data I adopted Kelle’s characterisation of “theoretical sensitivity”, drawing on “explicit” and “emergent” analysis strategies derived from “grounded theory”. The explicit strategies were based on my theoretical framework. The emergent strategy involved sensitivity to non-explicit concepts and theories that emerged from the data. Computer-aided qualitative data analysis software expedited these methods.
My findings to date question dominant legal structures’ readiness for change, the implications of this for teaching and learning in PLT, and in particular for PLT practitioners’ engagement with SoTL in PLT.
The espoused rationale for mandatory PLT (in statutes) is improvement for the protection of clients, the administration of justice, and to assure quality legal services. The tacit rationale is improved quality of legal education, and experiences, for lawyers-to-be. My thesis argues dominant structures in legal education impede the espoused and tacit objectives, and impede PLT practitioners’ engagement with scholarship of teaching and learning.

Greater cognitive effort for better learning : tailoring an instructional design for learners with different levels of knowledge and motivation

The capacity limitation of working memory is a widely recognised determinant of human learning. A cognitive load exceeding the capacity hampers learning. Cognitive load can be controlled by tailoring an instructional design to levels of learner prior knowledge. However, such as design does not necessarily motivate to use the available capacity for better learning. The present review examines literatures on the effects of instructional design, motivation, emotional state, and expertise level on cognitive load and cognitive effort, which ultimately affect working memory performance and learning. This examination suggests further studies on the effects of motivation and negative emotional states on the use of working memory. Prospective findings would help better explain and predict individual differences in the use of working memory for cognitive learning and task performance.

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.

"My blarsted greenstone throne!" Māori princesses and nationhood in New Zealand fiction for girls

This chapter focuses on Isabel Peacocke’s The Runaway Princess (1929) and Mona Tracy’s short story collection, Piriki’s Princess and Other Stories of New Zealand (1925), which incorporates a swathe of princesses, Māori and Pākehā. The princesses to be discussed in this chapter occupy liminal states: between Māori and Pākehā, child and adult, individual and collective subjects. Whether Māori and Pākehā, they figure in narratives of identity-formation that implicitly or explicitly incorporated comparisons between Māori and Pākehā. This chapter tracks this continuum of representations working from Māori to Pākehā and beginning with two Māori princesses who feature in Tracy’s stories ‘A Deserted Settlement’ and ‘Four Tons of Flax’.

Exploring and expressing Italian musical heritage in Melbourne (Australia): a women’s community choir

Australia comprises many cultures, ethnicities, and languages. Belonging to community music groups by older people can enhance quality of life, offer a sense fulfilment, and provide a space through which cultural and linguistic identity may be shared and celebrated. This qualitative case study explores engagement by older members of La Voce Della Luna, an Italian women’s community choir based in Melbourne, Victoria. Older Australians, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds frequently rely on voluntary community arts organisations to enhance quality of life. Singing together can provide ways for individuals and communities to express themselves, build community identity, improve quality of life, and celebrate cultural heritage. The members of the choir know that under their inspiring conductor they would learn new songs, new languages and new ways of performing. Their music director saw that the women’s singing together opened new horizons of social engagement and new ideas such as social justice and women’s rights.
This case is from the larger ongoing joint research project (2008 ongoing), Well-being and ageing: community, diversity and the arts in Victoria. Data were gathered from documentary sources and by individual and focus group semi-structured interviews (2013) and were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Significant themes emerged: social connection and combatting isolation, the maintenance and transmission of cultural heritage, and opening horizons about music making and social justice. This paper demonstrates that active music making makes it possible for older women to learn new skills, new ideas, and create for themselves a resilient community.

Personality and plasticity: consistent responses within-, but not across-temperature situations in crabs

Recent research suggests that repeated assays of behaviour, conducted both within and across situations, could reveal important insights into two traditionally distinct areas of study: animal personality and individual differences in behavioural plasticity. However, at present relatively few studies present such data, and few consider how changing abiotic conditions affect behavioural plasticity. Individual differences in metabolic rate have been suggested as a proximate mechanism promoting personality, leading one to speculate that individual differences in metabolic sensitivity to temperature may affect behavioural responses in ectotherms. At present, only one study (out of two) has tested for and shown individual differences in behavioural responses to temperature. Here, we repeatedly assayed the behaviour of a marine crab across a narrow range of temperatures to test for individual differences in responses to temperature. We observed large inter-individual differences in behaviour that were consistent over time at a given temperature (evidence for personality), and individual differences in responses to temperature (evidence for plasticity). This study adds to the very scant literature on ectotherm behavioural sensitivity to temperature, and suggests the phenomenon might be widespread. We speculate about the role of metabolism as a proximate mechanism that might explain these individual differences in plasticity and make suggestions for future research to test this hypothesis. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Early-developmental stress, repeatability, and canalization in a suite of physiological and behavioral traits in female zebra finches

Adaptive developmental plasticity allows individuals experiencing poor environmental conditions in early life to adjust their life-history strategy in order to prioritize short-term fitness benefits and maximize reproductive output in challenging environments. Much research has been conducted to test whether such adoption of a "faster" life-history strategy is accompanied by concordant changes in behavior and physiology, with mixed results. As research in this field has focused on comparison of mean-level responses of treatment groups, few studies include repeated measures of response variables and the effect that developmental stress may have on repeatability per se. We investigated how early-developmental stress affects the mean expression of (and repeatability in) a variety of behavioral and physiological traits in female zebra finches. We predicted that: (1) individuals subjected to nutritional restriction in the nestling phase would have higher feeding and activity rates, with associated increases in hematocrit and basal metabolic rates (BMRs), (2) nutritional restriction in early life would alter adults' stress-induced corticosterone level, and (3) developmental stress would, respectively, influence the amount of among-individual and within-individual variation in behavioral and physiological traits, hence affecting the repeatability of these traits. In comparison to control females, stressed females did not differ in activity rate or stress-induced corticosterone level, but they did have higher levels of feeding, hematocrit, and BMR. Among-individual variance and repeatability were generally higher in stressed females than in controls. Finally, we found that developmental dietary restriction significantly reduced the amount of within-individual variance both in activity rate in the novel environment and in stress-induced corticosterone level. Our results not only confirm previous findings on the effect of early-developmental stress on BMR, but also extend its effect to feeding rate and hematocrit, suggesting that developmental plasticity in these traits is ontogenetically linked. Early-developmental stress may disable particular genetic canalizing processes, which would release cryptic genetic variation and explain why repeatability and among-individual variance were generally higher in the stressed groups than in controls. For activity rate in the novel environment and with stress-induced corticosterone level, however, early-developmental stress significantly reduced within-individual variance, which may be a consequence of increased canalization of these traits at the micro-environmental level.

Australian PLT practitioners’ engagements with scholarship of teaching and learning

 Drawing on Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology and Certeau’s heterological science to investigate individual and extra-individual dimensions of Australian PLT practitioners’ engagements with scholarship of teaching and learning, this thesis identified obstacles and opportunities for recognition of professional legal education and training as emergent professional practice in law and education.

Combined use of GPS and accelerometry reveals fine scale three-dimensional foraging behaviour in the short-tailed shearwater

Determining the foraging behaviour of free-ranging marine animals is fundamental for assessing their habitat use and how they may respond to changes in the environment. However, despite recent advances in bio-logging technology, collecting information on both at-sea movement patterns and activity budgets still remains difficult in small pelagic seabird species due to the constraints of instrument size. The short-tailed shearwater, the most abundant seabird species in Australia (ca 23 million individuals), is a highly pelagic procellariiform. Despite its ecological importance to the region, almost nothing is known about its at-sea behaviour, in particular, its foraging activity. Using a combination of GPS and tri-axial accelerometer data-loggers, the fine scale three-dimensional foraging behaviour of 10 breeding individuals from two colonies was investigated. Five at-sea behaviours were identified: (1) resting on water, (2) flapping flight, (3) gliding flight, (4) foraging (i.e., surface foraging and diving events), and (5) taking-off. There were substantial intra- and inter- individual variations in activity patterns, with individuals spending on average 45.8% (range: 17.1-70.0%) of time at sea resting on water and 18.2% (range: 2.3-49.6%) foraging. Individuals made 76.4 ± 65.3 dives (range: 8-237) per foraging trip (mean duration 9.0 ± 1.9 s), with dives also recorded during night-time. With the continued miniaturisation of recording devices, the use of combined data-loggers could provide us with further insights into the foraging behaviour of small procellariiforms, helping to better understand interactions with their prey.