Television journalism : the cultural politics of contemporary current affairs interviewing

This thesis examined television current affairs interviewing to determine the influence of the cultural politics of Australian commercial and non-commercial networks. Marketplace pressures to rate highly was the major influence on commercial programs resulting in the use of shorter dramatic interviews, more celebrities, fewer politicians, hidden cameras and ambush interviews.

A case study exploring the sociocultural characteristics of adult Japanese ESL learners in Australian EAP programs

Research findings show that the poor level of English accomplishment amongst Japanese students in English as Second Language (ESL) settings continues to be an issue of concern. This interpretative study adopted an ethnographic case method to explore and advance reader’s understanding of Japanese learner’s sociocultural characteristics and, also, to investigate how cross-cultural similarities/ differences between the sociocultural heritage of Japanese learners and the contextual factors of Australian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) study abroad programs interact. This study aims to interpret the problems surrounding the poor performance of Japanese students in Australian ESL contexts and identify issues not present in the literature that warrant further investigation. Interviews, structured by a thematic reporting framework, were used as the interpretive instrument for data collection. Data, supported by the reporting framework, was analysed using a constant comparative method. The exploratory nature of this report led to the following conclusions. Firstly, Japanese students’ past educational experience interferes with Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in Australian EAP study abroad programs. Secondly, Japanese students have a predisposition towards integrative motivation. Thirdly, significant others influence Japanese learners’ ability to cope with transition issues, such as managing academic and social problems. Finally, contextual factors of Australian EAP programs (e.g. course materials, teaching and learning methodology and assessment) negatively impact English language learning. This study raises questions about the difficulties experienced by Japanese learners in Australian EAP study aboard programs.

Cross cultural perspectives of teachers : a study in three countries

In a shrinking world where globalization has blurred the boundaries across nation states and cultural divides, limitations on intercultural communication can readily give rise to glib generalizations and lack of understanding of diversity. Acknowledging the key role of teachers in shaping the views of future generations, this paper reports on the first stage of a research study on the intercultural understanding of teachers in Australia, Japan, and Thailand. Overall, the teacher participants had diverse cross-cultural experience, differing both in extent and nature of the contact. The methodology used a common survey instrument, except for its language of presentation. However, instead of using a traditional comparative approach to contrast responses of the three target groups, the study asked teachers to provide their perceptions of prevailing world views of people in their own AND the other two countries. The reciprocal nature of the observations provides a powerful methodology to explore perceived intercultural similarities and differences. The article also considers problems associated with response set in investigations of this kind. Three scales are considered — change through intervention, symbolic inner self, and independent thought and action — and the data reveal some similarities but also some striking differences in perceptions across countries. The differences signal a lack of intercultural understanding which is being explored further in a second, qualitative stage of the research. The findings indicate the need for increasing shared programs, exchanges and other opportunities for reciprocal relations that foster genuine dialogue, partnership and intercultural understanding between countries.

Contemporary planning education and Indigenous cultural competency agendas : erasing terra nullius, respect and responsibility

As noted in Universities Australia’s (2011a, 2011b) investigations into Indigenous Cultural Competency, most universities have struggled with successfully devising and achieving a translation of Indigenous protocols into their curricula. Walliss & Grant (2000: 65) have also concluded that, given the nature of the built environment disciplines, including planning, and their professional practice activities, there is a “need for specific cultural awareness education” to service these disciplines and not just attempts to insert Indigenous perspectives into their curricula. Bradley’s policy initiative at the University of South Australia (1997-2007), “has not achieved its goal of incorporation of Indigenous perspectives into all its undergraduate programs by 2010, it has achieved an incorporation rate of 61%” (Universities Australia 2011a: 9; http://www.unisa.edu.au/ducier/icup/default.asp).

Contextually, Bradley’s strategic educational aim at University of South Australia led a social reformist agenda, which has been continued in Universities Australia’s release of Indigenous Cultural Competency (2011a; 2011b) reports that has attracted mixed media criticism (Trounson 2012a: 5, 2012b: 5) and concerns that it represents “social engineering” rather than enhancing “criticism as a pedagogical tool ... as a means of advancing knowledge” (Melleuish 2012: 10). While the Planning Institute of Australia’s (PIA) Indigenous Planning Policy Working Party has observed that fundamental changes are needed to the way Australian planning education addresses Indigenous perspectives and interests, it has concluded that planners “! perceptual limitations of their own discipline and the particular discourse of our own craft” were hindering enhanced learning outcomes (Wensing 2007: 2). Gurran (PIA 2007) has noted that the core curriculum in planning includes an expectation of “knowledge of ! Indigenous Australian cultures, including relationships between their physical environment and associated social and economic systems” but that it has not been addressed. This paper critiques these discourses and offers an Indigenous perspective of the debate.

Assessment of proximal outcomes of self-management programs : translation and psychometric evaluation of a German version of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQtm)

Purpose This paper describes the translation, cultural adaption, and psychometric evaluation of a German version of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ™), a widely used generic instrument assessing a wide range of proximal outcomes of self-management programs.

Methods The translation was carried out according to international standards and included forward and backward translations. Comprehensibility and content validity were tested using cognitive interviews with 10 rehabilitation inpatients. Psychometric properties were examined in rehabilitation inpatients (n = 1,202) with a range of chronic conditions. Factorial validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis; concurrent validity was explored by correlations with comparator scales.

Results The items of the German heiQ™ were well understood by rehabilitation inpatients. The structure of the eight heiQ™ scales was replicated after minor adjustment. heiQ™ scales had higher correlations with comparator scales with similar constructs, particularly mental health concepts than with physical health. Moreover, all heiQ™ scales differentiated between individuals across different levels of depression.

Conclusion The German heiQ™ is comprehensible for German-speaking patients suffering from different types of chronic conditions; it assesses relevant outcomes of self-management programs in a reliable and valid manner. Further studies involving its practical application are warranted.

Demographic and socio-cultural correlates of medical mistrust in two Australian states:Victoria and South Australia

Studies on medical mistrust have mainly focused on depicting the association between medical mistrust and access/utilization of healthcare services. The effect of broader socio-demographic and psycho-social factors on medical mistrust remains poorly documented. The study examined the effect of broader socio-demographic factors, acculturation, and discrimination on medical mistrust among 425 African migrants living in Victoria and South Australia, Australia. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, low medical mistrust scores (i.e., more trusting of the system) were associated with refugee (β=−4.27, p<0.01) and family reunion (β=−4.01, p<0.01) migration statuses, being Christian (β=−2.21, p<0.001), and living in rural or village areas prior to migration (β=−2.09, p<0.05). Medical mistrust did not vary by the type of acculturation, but was positively related to perceived personal (β=0.43, p<0.001) and societal (β=0.38, p<0.001) discrimination. In order to reduce inequalities in healthcare access and utilisation and health outcomes, programs to enhance trust in the medical system among African migrants and to address discrimination within the community are needed.

Developing programs for African families, by African families: engaging African migrant families in Melbourne in health promotion interventions

Obesity is an emerging problem for African migrants in Australia, but few prevention programs incorporate their cultural beliefs and values. This study reports on the application of community capacity-building and empowerment principles in 4 workshops with Sudanese families in Australia. Workshop participants prioritized health behaviors, skill and knowledge gaps, and environments for change to identify culturally centered approaches to health promotion. The workshops highlighted a need for culturally and age-appropriate interventions that build whole-of-family skills and knowledge around the positive effects of physical activity and nutrition to improve health within communities while reducing intergenerational and gender role family conflicts.

The limitations of front-end loading in undergraduate university programs

This paper shows how Mead’s theory of emergence can prove explanatory in how the theory-practice gap is co-created and sustained in front-end loading university programs. Taking teacher education as an exemplar, we argue that the trainee teacher encounters different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two “fields of interaction” of the training program, namely, on-campus work and in-school experience. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian teacher education program. We conclude that role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction in front-end loading programs inhibit the trainee professional from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the workplace. Further, we propose that Mead’s theory of emergence proves effective in explaining a major limitation of front-end-loaded university programs.

The limitations of front-end loading in undergraduate university programs

This paper shows how Mead’s theory of emergence can prove explanatory in how the theory-practice gap is co-created and sustained in front-end loading university programs. Taking teacher education as an exemplar, we argue that the trainee teacher encounters different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two “fields of interaction” of the training program, namely, on-campus work and in-school experience. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian teacher education program. We conclude that role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction in front-end loading programs inhibit the trainee professional from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the workplace. Further, we propose that Mead’s theory of emergence proves effective in explaining a major limitation of front-end-loaded university programs.

Exploring cultural inclusion: perspectives from a community arts organisation

Using focus group interviews and individual stories of participants from secondary data, we  illuminate the role of Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV) in Australia in how it promotes cultural  inclusion through programs of social and civic service. Our findings confirm the significance of  cultural inclusion and the potentially useful role of arts in creating inclusive organisations and  communities. We further develop a framework of cultural inclusion in the workplace to provide  a holistic understanding of the cultural inclusion process that can lead to the development of  inclusive workplaces. As social inclusion is central to Australia’s national identity, this article helps  researchers and practitioners to understand how cultural inclusion and inclusive organisational  theories collide and complement each other to create inclusive organisations.

Supporting healthy communities through arts programs

There are some evaluations, critical descriptions of programs and systematic reviews on the benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from participation in arts programs. These include: improved physical and mental health and wellbeing; increased social inclusion and cohesion; some improvements in school retention and attitudes towards learning; increased validation of, and connection to, culture; improved social and cognitive skills; and some evidence of crime reduction.The effects of arts programs can be powerful and transformative. However, these effects tend to be indirect.For example, using these programs to reduce juvenile anti-social behaviour largely work through diversion: providing alternative safe opportunities to risk taking, maintenance of social status, as well as opportunities to build healthy relationships with Elders and links with culture.Art forms such as song, dance and painting, coupled with ceremony, are integral to cultural continuity and cultural maintenance in Indigenous Australian communities.

Supporting healthy communities through sports and recreation programs

There is some evidence, in the form of critical descriptions of programs and systematic reviews, on the benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from participation in sport and recreational programs. These include some improvements in school retention, attitudes towards learning, social and cognitive skills, physical and mental health and wellbeing; increased social inclusion and cohesion; increased validation of and connection to culture; and crime reduction.Although the effects of sports and recreation programs can be powerful and transformative, these effects tend to be indirect. For example, using these programs to reduce juvenile antisocial behaviour largely work through diversion, providing alternative safe opportunities to risk taking, maintenance of social status, as wellas opportunities to build healthy relationships with Elders and links with culture.Although Indigenous Australians have lower rates of participation in sport than non-Indigenous people, surveys suggest that around one-third of Indigenous people participate in some sporting activity (ABS 2010). That makes sports a potentially powerful vehicle for encouraging Indigenous communities to look at challenging personal and community issues.Within Indigenous communities, a strong component of sport and recreation is the link with traditional culture. Cultural activities such as hunting are generally more accepted as a form of sport and recreation than traditional dance. Therefore sport and recreation are integral in understanding ‘culture’ within Indigenous communities, as well as highlighting the culture within which sport and recreation operate.

Approaching cultural landscapes in post-settler societies: ideas, policies, practices

This thesis contends that the concept of cultural landscape is a useful tool for dismantling heritage management programs that promote demarcations between natural/settler/indigenous heritage values in protected areas in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Approaching cultural landscapes in post-settler societies: ideas, policies, practices

This thesis contends that the concept of cultural landscape is a useful tool for dismantling heritage management programs that promote demarcations between natural/settler/indigenous heritage values in protected areas in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States.