Optimism : what it is and its relevance in the school context

"For myself, I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use to be anything else". Winston Churchill Optimism has its modern roots in philosophy dating back to the 17th century in the writings of philosophers such as Descartes and Voltaire (Domino & Conway, 2001). Previous to these philosophical writings, the concept of optimism was revealed in the teaching of many of the great spiritual traditions such as Buddhism and Christianity (Miller, Richards, & Keller, 2001). In the 20th century, optimism became defined in juxtaposition to pessimism, sometimes conceptualized as a bipolar unidimensional construct and by others as two related but separate constructs (Garber, 2000). Contemporary models (Scheier & Carver, 1985; Seligman, 1991) have increasingly focused on distinguishing optimism-pessimism as a general dispositional orientation, as described by expectancy theory, and as an explanatory process, described by explanatory style theory.

School based youth health nurses and attrition : the reasons for moving on

Like the UK, Australia has a number of school nursing models and programmes. The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program (SBYHNP) is a new and unique model of school nursing in Queensland, Australia. The SBYHNP represents a philosophical and structural shift from traditional school nursing programmes. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the reasons School Based Youth Health Nurses (SBYHN) leave school nursing. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with participants who practiced as SBYHN and left the SBYHNP. This case study reveals six themes: The politics’: Navigating the organisational divide, 'Unconditional positive regard’: Surviving without team cohesion, 'Absolutely exhausted’: Maintaining physical and emotional strength, ‘Definitely geographical’: Managing the tyranny of time and distance, ‘If things fell into place’: Thinking about what could have been, and ‘A stepping stone’: Moving on to the next nursing position. This case study suggests nurses considering school nursing as a specialty should seek opportunity to understand this complex role, ensure realistic expectations and ndertake relevant qualifications. This approach may secure the investment made by nurses and schools and create demand for a highly sort after position.

In-hospital mortality rates after a cemented femoral component for displaced neck of femur fractures

Aim This prospective cohort study investigated whether the use of preoperative anticoagulants is an independent risk factor for the outcomes of surgical treatment of patients with a neck of femur fracture. Methods Data was obtained from a prospectively collected database. All patients admitted for a neck of femur fracture between Nov 2010 and Oct 2011 were included. This resulted in three hundred twenty-eight patients with 330 neck of femur fractures. Four groups were defined; patients preoperatively (i) on aspirin (n = 105); (ii) on clopidogrel (n = 28); (iii) on warfarin (n = 30), and; (iv) without any anticoagulation history (n = 167, the control group). The non-warfarin group included the aspirin group, clopidogrel group and the control group. Primary outcome was the in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were the postoperative complications, return to theatre and length of stay. Results Thirteen in-hospital deaths were identified, 4 deaths in the aspirin group, 1 death in the clopidogrel group, 2 deaths in the warfarin group and 6 deaths in the control group. No significant difference in the mortality rates was found between the different groups. Also in the secondary outcomes, no significant difference was found between the four groups. A trend to a higher wound complication rate for the warfarin group was detected. Conclusion The use of clopidrogel or aspirin pre operatively is not an influence on short term patient outcome for patients with a neck of femur fracture. Surgical procedures should not be delayed to reverse their influence.

Injury prevention among friends : the benefits of school connectedness

Unsafe road behaviors, violence and alcohol use, are primary contributors to adolescent injury. Research suggests that adolescents look out for their friends and engage in protective behavior to reduce others' risk-taking and that school connectedness is associated with reduced injury-risks. This study examined the role of school connectedness in willingness to protect and prevent friends from involvement in alcohol use, fights and unlicensed driving. Surveys were completed at two time points, six months apart, by 545 13-14 year olds from seven Australian high schools. Females were significantly more likely than males to report willingness to protect their friends. School connectedness significantly and positively predicted willingness to protect across all three injury-risk behaviors, after accounting for sex and own involvement in injury-risk behaviors. School connectedness may therefore be an important factor to target in school-based prevention programs, both to reduce adolescents' own injury-risk behavior and to increase injury prevention among friends.

Time, space, and text in the elementary school digital writing classroom

Theorists of multiliteracies, social semiotics, and the New Literacy Studies have drawn attention to the potential changing nature of writing and literacy in the context of networked communications. This article reports findings from a design-based research project in Year 4 classrooms (students aged 8.5-10 years) in a low socioeconomic status school. A new writing program taught students how to design multimodal and digital texts across a range of genres and text types, such as web pages, online comics, video documentaries, and blogs. The authors use Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device to theorize the pedagogic struggles and resolutions in remaking English through the specialization of time, space, and text. The changes created an ideological struggle as new writing practices were adapted from broader societal fields to meet the instructional and regulative discourses of a conventional writing curriculum.

Investigating the school experiences of girls whose parents are separated or divorced : implications for practice

The study investigated the school experiences of girls whose parents are separated or divorced. The case study, conducted in a metropolitan, all-girls Catholic school in Brisbane, drew upon theoretical understandings from childhood studies and children's rights to reveal the school experiences of participants, from their own perspectives. Findings showed that students express emotions about their families while at school, are active agents in their own learning, and seek teachers' understanding of their situation, while respecting their family's privacy. The research points to the need for strengths-based, resilience-building strategies in schools, for an inclusive culture of respect for family diversity, and for understanding of students' transitions between households and family types.

In for the long haul : family business succession at HaulageCo

This is a case about family business succession. Because many successions fail, the 'problem of succession' is a key issue in the family business field (see Aronoff 1998; Bird eta/. 2002; Dyer & Sanchez 1998; Sharma 2004; Zalu·a & Sharma 2004). Indeed, from the non-family business literature, we know one third of relay successions - like this case where there is an identified successor - will fail, with the prospective CEO leaving before succeeding the incumbent CEO (Cmmella & Shen 2001). Research on next generation family business members is limited. Successor ath·ibutes (Chrisman, Chua & Sharma 1998; Sharma & Rao 2000), as well as various characteristics such as socialisation (Garcia-Aivmez, L6pez-Sintas & Gonzalvo 2002) a11d gender (Haberman & Danes 2007; Vera & Dean 2005) have all been considered to play a role. So too have successor intentions (Stavrou & Swiercz 1998), motivation (Le Breton-Miller, Miller & Steier 2004), commitment (Sharma & Irving 2005) and transformation from follower to leadership (Cater & Justis 2009). In this case, by outlining the socialisation of the successors, explanations of their motivations for joining a11d their current employment we can begin to see some of the underlying mechanisms at work motivating the next generation to join and stay in the family business.

Preventing infections following caesarean section

Surgical site infections following caesarean section are a serious and costly adverse event for Australian hospitals. In the United Kingdom, 9% of women are diagnosed with a surgical site infection following caesarean section either in hospital or post-discharge (Wloch et al 2012, Ward et al 2008). Additional staff time, pharmaceuticals and health supplies, and increased length of stay or readmission to hospital are often required (Henman et al 2012). Part of my PhD investigated the economics of preventing post-caesarean infection. This paper summarises a review of relevant infection prevention strategies. Administering antibiotic prophylaxis 15 to 60 minutes pre-incision, rather than post cordclamping, is probably the most important infection prevention strategy for caesarean section (Smaill and Gyte2010, Liu et al 2013, Dahlke et al 2013). However the timing of antibiotic administration is reportedly inconsistent in Australian hospitals. Clinicians may be taking advice from the influential, but out-dated RANZCOG and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2011, Mangram et al 1999). A number of other important international clinical guidelines, including Australia's NHMRC guidelines, recommend universal prophylactic antibiotics pre-incision for caesarean section (National Health and Medical Research Council 2010, National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health 2008, Anderson et al 2008, National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health 2011, Bratzler et al 2013, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2011a, Antibiotic Expert Group 2010). We need to ensure women receive preincision antibiotic prophylaxis, particularly as nurses and midwives play a significant role in managing an infection that may result from sub-optimal practice. It is acknowledged more explicitly now that nurses and midwives can influence prescribing and administration of antibiotics through informal approaches (Edwards et al 2011). Methods such as surgical safety checklists are a more formal way for nurses and midwives to ensure that antibiotics are administered pre-incision (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2011 b). Nurses and midwives can also be directly responsible for other infection prevention strategies such as instructing women to not remove pubic hair in the month before the expected date of delivery and wound management education (Ng et al 2013). Potentially more costly but effective strategies include using a Chlorhexidine-gluconate (CHG) sponge preoperatively (in addition to the usual operating room skin preparation) and vaginal cleansing with a povidone-iodine solution (Riley et al 2012, Rauk 2010, Haas, Morgan, and Contreras 2013).

The influence of families on early adolescent school connectedness : evidence that this association varies with adolescent involvement in peer drinking networks

School connectedness is central to the long term well-being of adolescents, and high quality parent-child relationships facilitate school connectedness. This study examined the extent to which family relationship quality is associated with the school connectedness of pre- and early teenagers, and how this association varies with adolescent involvement in peer drinking networks. The sample consisted of 7,372 10-14 year olds recruited from 231 schools in 30 Australian communities. Participants completed the Communities that Care youth survey. A multi-level model of school connectedness was used, with a random term for school-level variation. Key independent variables included family relationship quality, peer drinking networks, and school grade. Control variables included child gender, sensation seeking, depression, child alcohol use, parent education, and language spoken at home. For grade 6 students, the association of family relationship quality and school connectedness was lower when peer drinking networks were present, and this effect was nonsignificant for older (grade 8) students. Post hoc analyses indicated that the effect for family relationship quality on school connectedness was nonsignificant when adolescents in grade 6 reported that the majority of friends consumed alcohol. The results point to the importance of familyschool partnerships in early intervention and prevention.

Boosting the effects of a curriculum based injury prevention program through a school connectedness intervention : final report to NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust

Injury is the leading cause of death among young people (AIHW, 2008). A primary contributing factor to injury among adolescents is risk taking behaviour, including road related risks such as risky bicycle and motorcycle use and riding with dangerous or drink-drivers. Injury rates increase dramatically throughout adolescence, at the same time as adolescents are becoming more involved in risk taking behaviour. Also throughout this period, adolescents‟ connectedness to school is decreasing (Monahan, Oesterle & Hawkins, 2010; Whitlock, 2004). School connectedness refers to „the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others in the school‟ (Goodenow, 1993, p. 80), and has been repeatedly shown to be a critical protective factor in adolescent development. For example, school connectedness has been shown to be associated with decreased risk taking behaviour, including violence and alcohol and other drug use (e.g., Resnick et al., 1997), as well as with decreased transport risk taking and vehicle related injuries (Chapman et al., accepted April 2011). This project involved the pilot evaluation of a school connectedness intervention (a professional development program for teachers) to reduce adolescent risk taking behaviour and injury. This intervention has been developed for use as a component of the Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY) curriculum based injury prevention program for early adolescents. The objectives of this research were to: 1. Implement a trial School Connectedness intervention (professional development program for teachers) in ACT high schools, and evaluate using comparison high schools. 2. Determine whether the School Connectedness program impacts on adolescent risk taking behaviour and associated injuries (particularly transport risks and injuries). 3. Evaluate the process effectiveness of the School Connectedness program.

Australian boarding school supervisors : a voluntary position?

This paper aims to examine how Australian boarding supervisors (particularly non-teachers) are defined in regards to employment. The practices of Queensland’s School X (real name withheld) are used as an example of the difficult issues involved – although whether this case study is repeated elsewhere in the industry would take further research. The paper illustrates that the employment of boarding supervisors is dealt with at a basic level by a modern award, however its provisions do not represent what occurs in practice. If there is no enterprise bargain which improves upon the award, two possible explanations are put forward to explain the difference between award conditions and practice. The first is that the contract between boarding supervisors may not be one of employment. Relevant case law regarding whether a person is an employee or independent contractor is examined, and when applied to a typical boarding situation, it is concluded that any contract should be one of employment. The second explanation is that there is no legal contract at all between boarding supervisors and a school. Drawing on School X’s example where supervisors were classed as ‘volunteers’, the paper examines what the legal effect of that term might be. It could be seen to be a denial of an intention to create legal relations, a critical element in contract formation. Again, important cases are analysed on the topic of intention, and applied to a boarding context. It is argued that given the objective circumstances of a typical agreement, there is an intention to create legal relations. In particular, a little known Queensland case involving the non-employment status of boarding supervisors, which may be the cause of the confusion, is critically examined to determine its usefulness in answering the issue. Finally, the implications of not classifying boarding supervisors as employees are briefly discussed.

Characteristics of low-speed vehicle run-over events in children : an 11-year review

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics associated with fatal and non-fatal low-speed vehicle run-over (LSVRO) events in relation to person, incident and injury characteristics, in order to identify appropriate points for intervention and injury prevention. Methods: Data on all known LSVRO events in Queensland, Australia, over 11 calendar years (1999–2009) were extracted from five different databases representing the continuum of care ( prehospital to fatality) and manually linked. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were used to analyse the sample characteristics in relation to demographics, health service usage, outcomes, incident characteristics, and injury characteristics. Results: Of the 1641 LSVRO incidents, 98.4% (n=1615) were non-fatal, and 1.6% were fatal (n=26). Over half the children required admission to hospital (56%, n=921); mean length of stay was 3.4 days. Younger children aged 0–4 years were more frequently injured, and experienced more serious injuries with worse outcomes. Patterns of injury (injury type and severity), injury characteristics (eg, time of injury, vehicle type, driver of vehicle, incident location), and demographic characteristics (such as socioeconomic status, indigenous status, remoteness), varied according to age group. Almost half (45.6%; n=737) the events occurred outside major cities, and approximately 10% of events involved indigenous children. Parents were most commonly the vehicle drivers in fatal incidents. While larger vehicles such as four-wheel drives (4WD) were most frequently involved in LSVRO events resulting in fatalities, cars were most frequently involved in non-fatal events. Conclusions: This is the first study, to the authors’ knowledge, to analyse the characteristics of fatal and non-fatal LSVRO events in children aged 0–15 years on a state-wide basis. Characteristics of LSVRO events varied with age, thus age-specific interventions are required. Children living outside major cities, and indigenous children, were over-represented in these data. Further research is required to identify the burden of injury in these groups.