Assessment of the influence of cultural barriers to HDR supervision of non-English speaking background (NESD) students in engineering and information technology (IT) disciplines

The paper details the results of the first phase of an on-going research into the sociocultural factors that influence the supervision of higher degrees research (HDR) engineering students in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering (BEE) and Faculty of Science and Technology (FaST) at Queensland University of Technology. A quantitative analysis was performed on the results from an online survey that was administered to 179 engineering students. The study reveals that cultural barriers impact their progression and developing confidence in their research programs. We argue that in order to assist international and non-English speaking background (NESB) research students to triumph over such culturally embedded challenges in engineering research, it is important for supervisors to understand this cohort's unique pedagogical needs and develop intercultural sensitivity in their pedagogical practice in postgraduate research supervision. To facilitate this, the governing body (Office of Research) can play a vital role in not only creating the required support structures but also their uniform implementation across the board.

Review of the under the limit drink driving rehabilitation program

The combination of alcohol and driving is a major health and economic burden to most communities in industrialised countries. The total cost of crashes for Australia in 1996 was estimated at approximately 15 billion dollars and the costs for fatal crashes were about 3 billion dollars (BTE, 2000). According to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development and Local Government (2009; BITRDLG) the overall cost of road fatality crashes for 2006 $3.87 billion, with a single fatal crash costing an estimated $2.67 million. A major contributing factor to crashes involving serious injury is alcohol intoxication while driving. It is a well documented fact that consumption of liquor impairs judgment of speed, distance and increases involvement in higher risk behaviours (Waller, Hansen, Stutts, & Popkin, 1986a; Waller et al., 1986b). Waller et al. (1986a; b) asserts that liquor impairs psychomotor function and therefore renders the driver impaired in a crisis situation. This impairment includes; vision (degraded), information processing (slowed), steering, and performing two tasks at once in congested traffic (Moskowitz & Burns, 1990). As BAC levels increase the risk of crashing and fatality increase exponentially (Department of Transport and Main Roads, 2009; DTMR). According to Compton et al. (2002) as cited in the Department of Transport and Main Roads (2009), crash risk based on probability, is five times higher when the BAC is 0.10 compared to a BAC of 0.00. The type of injury patterns sustained also tends to be more severe when liquor is involved, especially with injuries to the brain (Waller et al., 1986b). Single and Rohl (1997) reported that 30% of all fatal crashes in Australia where alcohol involvement was known were associated with Breadth Analysis Content (BAC) above the legal limit of 0.05gms/100ml. Alcohol related crashes therefore contributes to a third of the total cost of fatal crashes (i.e. $1 billion annually) and crashes where alcohol is involved are more likely to result in death or serious injury (ARRB Transport Research, 1999). It is a major concern that a drug capable of impairment such as is the most available and popular drug in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007; AIHW). According to the AIHW (2007) 89.9% of the approximately 25,000 Australians over the age of 14 surveyed had consumed at some point in time, and 82.9% had consumed liquor in the previous year. This study found that 12.1% of individuals admitted to driving a motor vehicle whilst intoxicated. In general males consumed more liquor in all age groups. In Queensland there were 21503 road crashes in 2001, involving 324 fatalities and the largest contributing factor was alcohol and or drugs (Road Traffic Report, 2001). 23438 road crashes in 2004, involving 289 fatalities and the largest contributing factor was alcohol and or drugs (DTMR, 2009). Although a number of measures such as random breath testing have been effective in reducing the road toll (Watson, Fraine & Mitchell, 1995) the recidivist drink driver remains a serious problem. These findings were later supported with research by Leal, King, and Lewis (2006). This Queensland study found that of the 24661 drink drivers intercepted in 2004, 3679 (14.9%) were recidivists with multiple drink driving convictions in the previous three years covered (Leal et al., 2006). The legal definition of the term “recidivist” is consistent with the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act (1995) and is assigned to individuals who have been charged with multiple drink driving offences in the previous five years. In Australia relatively little attention has been given to prevention programs that target high-risk repeat drink drivers. However, over the last ten years a rehabilitation program specifically designed to reduce recidivism among repeat drink drivers has been operating in Queensland. The program, formally known as the “Under the Limit” drink driving rehabilitation program (UTL) was designed and implemented by the research team at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety in Queensland with funding from the Federal Office of Road Safety and the Institute of Criminology (see Sheehan, Schonfeld & Davey, 1995). By 2009 over 8500 drink-drivering offenders had been referred to the program (Australian Institute of Crime, 2009).

The psychological distress of the young driver : a brief report

Objective: To explore the role of psychological distress in the self-reported risky driving of young novice drivers. Design: Cross-sectional online survey of 761 tertiary students aged 17-25 years with an intermediate (Provisional) driving licence who completed Kessler’s Psychological Distress Scale and the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale. Setting: Queensland, Australia, August-October 2009. Main outcome measures: Psychological distress, risky driving. Results: Regression analyses revealed that psychological distress uniquely explained 8.5% of the variance in young novice’s risky driving, with adolescents experiencing psychological distress also reporting higher levels of risky driving. Psychological distress uniquely explained a significant 6.7% and 9.5% of variance in risky driving for males and females respectively. Conclusions: Medical practitioners treating adolescents who have been injured through risky behaviour need to aware of the potential contribution of psychological distress, whilst mental health professionals working with adolescents experiencing psychological distress need to be aware of this additional source of potential harm. The nature of the causal relationships linking psychological distress and risky driving behaviour are not yet fully understood, indicating a need for further research so that strategies such as screening can be investigated.

Rating counselor - client behavior in online counseling: Development and preliminary psychometric properties of the Counseling Progress and Depth Rating Instrument

Although there are widely accepted and utilized models and frameworks for nondirective counseling (NDC), there is little in the way of tools or instruments designed to assist in determining whether or not a specific episode of counseling is consistent with the stated model or framework. The Counseling Progress and Depth Rating Instrument (CPDRI) was developed to evaluate counselor integrity in the use of Egan's skilled helper model in online counseling. The instrument was found to have sound internal consistency, good interrater reliability, and good face and convergent validity. The CPDRI is, therefore, proposed as a useful tool to facilitate investigation of the degree to which counselors adhere to and apply a widely used approach to NDC

Psychometric properties and health correlates of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory in Australian community-residing older women

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric properties and health correlates of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) in a cohort of Australian community-residing older women. METHOD: Cross-sectional study of a population-based cohort of women aged 60 years and over (N = 286). RESULTS: The GAI exhibited sound internal consistency and demonstrated good concurrent validity against the state half of the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the neuroticism domain of the NEO five-factor inventory. GAI score was significantly associated with self-reported sleep difficulties and perceived memory impairment, but not with age or cognitive function. Women with current DSM-IV Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) had significantly higher GAI scores than women without such a history. In this cohort, the optimal cut-point to detect current GAD was 8/9. Although the GAI was designed to have few somatic items, women with a greater number of general medical problems or who rated their general health as worse had higher GAI scores. CONCLUSION: The GAI is a new scale designed specifically to measure anxiety in older people. In this Australian cohort of older women, the instrument had sound psychometric properties.

Intensive Case Management: A Critical Re-Appraisal of the Scientific Evidence for Effectiveness

Intensive Case Management (ICM) is widely claimed to be an evidence-based and cost effective program for people with high levels of disability as a result of mental illness. However, the findings of recent randomized controlled trials comparing ICM with ‘usual services’ suggest that both clinical and cost effectiveness of ICM may be weakening. Possible reasons for this, including fidelity of implementation, researcher allegiance effects and changes in the wider service environment within which ICM is provided, are considered. The implications for service delivery and research are discussed.

Enhancing employment services for people with severe mental illness: the challenge of the Australian service environment

Objectives:  Comparatively few people with severe mental illness are employed despite evidence that many people within this group wish to obtain, can obtain and sustain employment, and that employment can contribute to recovery. This investigation aimed to: (i) describe the current policy and service environment within which people with severe mental illness receive employment services; (ii) identify evidence-based practices that improve employment outcomes for people with severe mental illness; (iii) determine the extent to which the current Australian policy environment is consistent with the implementation of evidence-based employment services for people with severe mental illness; and (iv) identify methods and priorities for enhancing employment services for Australians with severe mental illness through implementation of evidence-based practices. Method:  Current Australian practices were identified, having reference to policy and legal documents, funding body requirements and anecdotal reports. Evidence-based employment services for people with severe mental illness were identified through examination of published reviews and the results of recent controlled trials. Results:  Current policy settings support the provision of employment services for people with severe mental illness separate from clinical services. Recent studies have identified integration of clinical and employment services as a major factor in the effectiveness of employment services. This is usually achieved through co-location of employment and mental health services. Conclusions:  Optimal evidence-based employment services are needed by Australians with severe mental illness. Providing optimal services is a challenge in the current policy environment. Service integration may be achieved through enhanced intersectoral links between employment and mental health service providers as well as by co-locating employment specialists within a mental health care setting.

Development and evaluation of the Clinician Suicide Risk Assessment Checklist

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a new instrument - the Clinician Suicide Risk Assessment Checklist (CSRAC). The instrument assesses the clinician's competency in three areas: clinical interviewing, assessment of specific suicide risk factors, and formulating a management plan. A draft checklist was constructed by integrating information from 1) literature review 2) expert clinician focus group and 3) consultation with experts. It was utilised in a simulated clinical scenario with clinician trainees and a trained actor in order to test for inter-rater agreement. Agreement was calculated and the checklist was re-drafted with the aim of maximising agreement. A second phase of simulated clinical scenarios was then conducted and inter-rater agreement was calculated for the revised checklist. In the first phase of the study, 18 of 35 items had inadequate inter-rater agreement (60%>), while in the second phase, using the revised version, only 3 of 39 items failed to achieve adequate inter-rater agreement. Further evidence of reliability and validity are required. Continued development of the CSRAC will be necessary before it can be utilised to assess the effectiveness of risk assessment training programs.

Walking when intoxicated : an investigation of the factors which influence individuals' drink walking intentions

Annually, in Australia, 10-15% of all road-related fatalities involve pedestrians. Of those pedestrians fatally injured, approximately 45% were walking while intoxicated or 'drink walking'. Drink walking is increasing in prevalence and younger persons may be especially prone to engage in this behaviour and, thus, are at heightened risk of being injured or killed. Presently, limited research is available regarding the factors which influence individuals to drink walk. This study explored young people's (17-25 years) intentions to drink walk, using an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Participants (N = 215), completed a self-report questionnaire which assessed the standard TPB constructs (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control) as well as the extended constructs of risk perception, anticipated regret, and past behaviour. It was hypothesised that the standard TPB constructs would significantly predict individuals' reported intentions to drink walk and that the additional constructs would predict intentions over and above the TPB constructs. The TPB variables significantly predicted 63.2% of the variance in individuals' reported intentions to drink walk, and the additional variables, combined, explained a further 6.1% of the variance. Of the additional constructs, anticipated regret and past behaviour, but not risk perception, were significant predictors of drink walking intentions. As one of the first studies to provide a theoretically-based investigation of factors influencing individuals' drink walking intentions, the current study's findings have potentially significant implications for understanding young people's decisions to drink walk and the design of future countermeasures to ultimately reduce this behaviour.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS)

The greatly increased risk of being killed or injured in a car crash for the young novice driver has been recognised in the road safety and injury prevention literature for decades. Risky driving behaviour has consistently been found to contribute to traffic crashes. Researchers have devised a number of instruments to measure this risky driving behaviour. One tool developed specifically to measure the risky behaviour of young novice drivers is the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) (Scott-Parker et al., 2010). The BYNDS consists of 44 items comprising five subscales for transient violations, fixed violations, misjudgement, risky driving exposure, and driving in response to their mood. The factor structure of the BYNDS has not been examined since its development in a matched sample of 476 novice drivers aged 17-25 years. Method: The current research attempted to refine the BYNDS and explore its relationship with the self-reported crash and offence involvement and driving intentions of 390 drivers aged 17-25 years (M = 18.23, SD = 1.58) in Queensland, Australia, during their first six months of independent driving with a Provisional (intermediate) driver’s licence. A confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken examining the fit of the originally proposed BYNDS measurement model. Results: The model was not a good fit to the data. A number of iterations removed items with low factor loadings, resulting in a 36-item revised BYNDS which was a good fit to the data. The revised BYNDS was highly internally consistent. Crashes were associated with fixed violations, risky driving exposure, and misjudgement; offences were moderately associated with risky driving exposure and transient violations; and road-rule compliance intentions were highly associated with transient violations. Conclusions: Applications of the BYNDS in other young novice driver populations will further explore the factor structure of both the original and revised BYNDS. The relationships between BYNDS subscales and self-reported risky behaviour and attitudes can also inform countermeasure development, such as targeting young novice driver non-compliance through enforcement and education initiatives.

Neoproterozoic glacial deposits of the Kimberly Region and northwestern Northern Territory, Australia

Neoproterozoic glacigenic formations are preserved in the Kimberley region and northwestern Northern Territory of northern Australia. They are distributed in the west Kimberley adjacent to the northern margins of the King Leopold Orogen, the Mt Ramsay area at the junction of the King Leopold and Halls Creek Orogens, and the east Kimberley, adjacent to the eastern margin of the Halls Creek Orogen. Small outlier glacigenic deposits are preserved in the Litchfield Province, Northern Territory (Uniya Formation) and Georgina Basin, western Queensland (Little Burke Formation). Glacigenic strata comprise diamictite, conglomerate, sandstone and pebbly mudstone and characterize the Walsh, Landrigan and Fargoo/Moonlight Valley formations. Thin units of laminated dolomite sit conformably at the top of the Walsh, Landrigan and Moonlight Valley formations. Glacigenic units are also interbedded with the carbonate platform deposits of the Egan Formation and Boonall Dolomite. δ13C data are available for all carbonate units. There is no direct chronological constraint on these successions. Dispute over regional correlation of the Neoproterozoic succession has been largely resolved through biostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic analysis. However, palaeomagnetic results from the Walsh Formation are inconsistent with sedimentologically based correlations. Two stratigraphically defined glaciations are preserved in northwestern Australia: the ‘Landrigan Glaciation’, characterized by southwest-directed continental ice-sheet movement and correlated with late Cryogenian glaciation elsewhere in Australia and the world; and, the ‘Egan Glaciation’, a more localized glaciation of the Ediacaran Period. Future research focus should include chronology, palaeomagnetic constraint and tectonostratigraphic controls on deposition.

A case study examination of the influence of cultural diversity in the multicultural nursing workforce on the quality of care and patient safety in a Saudi Arabian hospital

The purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of cultural diversity, in a multicultural nursing workforce, on the quality and safety of patient care and the work environment at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh region. Study background: Due to global migration and workforce mobility, to varying degrees, cultural diversity exists in most health services around the world, particularly occurring where the health care workforce is multicultural or where the domestic population comprises minority groups from different cultures speaking different languages. Further complexities occur when countries have a multicultural workforce which is different from the population for whom they care, in addition to the workers being from culturally diverse countries and with different languages. In Saudi Arabia the health system is mainly staffed by expatriate nurses who comprise 67.7% of the total number of nurses. Study design: This research utilised a case study design which incorporated multiple methods including survey, qualitative interviews and document review. Methods: The participant nurses were selected for the survey via a population sampling strategy; 319 nurses returned their completed Safety Climate Survey questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Kruskal–Wallis test) were used to analyse survey data. For the qualitative component of the study, a purposive sampling strategy was used; 24 nurses were interviewed using a semi-structured interview technique. The documentary review included KAMC-R policy documents that met the inclusion criteria using a predetermined data abstraction instrument. Content analysis was used to analyse the policy documents data. Results: The data revealed the nurses‘ perceptions of the clinical climate in this multicultural environment is that it was unsafe, with a mean score of 3.9 out of 5. No significant difference was detected between the age groups or years of experience of the nurses and the perception of safety climate in this context; the study did reveal a statistically significant difference between the cultural background categories and the perception of safety climate. The qualitative phase indicated that the nurses within this environment were struggling to achieve cultural competence; consequently, they were having difficulties in meeting the patients‘ cultural and spiritual needs as well as maintaining a high standard of care. The results also indicated that nurses were disempowered in this context. Importantly, there was inadequate support by the organisation to manage the cultural diversity issue and to protect patients from any associated risks, as demonstrated by the policy documents and supported by the nurses‘ experiences. The study also illustrated the limitations of the conceptual framework of cultural competence when tested in this multicultural workforce context. Therefore, this study generated amendments to the model that is suitable to be used in the context of a multicultural nursing workforce. Conclusion: The multicultural nature of this nursing work environment is inherently risky due to the conflicts that arise from the different cultural norms, beliefs, behaviours and languages. Further, there was uncertainty within the multicultural nursing workforce about the clinical and cultural safety of the patient care environment and about the cultural safety of the nursing workforce. The findings of the study contribute important new knowledge to the area of patient and nurse safety in a multicultural environment and contribute theoretical development to the field of cultural competence. Specifically, the findings will inform policy and practice related to patient care in the context of cultural diversity.