Kin selection, not group augmentation, predicts helping in an obligate cooperatively breeding bird

Kin selection theory has been the central model for understanding the evolution of cooperative breeding, where non-breeders help bear the cost of rearing young. Recently, the dominance of this idea has been questioned; particularly in obligate cooperative breeders where breeding without help is uncommon and seldom successful. In such systems, the direct benefits gained through augmenting current group size have been hypothesized to provide a tractable alternative (or addition) to kin selection. However, clear empirical tests of the opposing predictions are lacking. Here, we provide convincing evidence to suggest that kin selection and not group augmentation accounts for decisions of whether, where and how often to help in an obligate cooperative breeder, the chestnut-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps). We found no evidence that group members base helping decisions on the size of breeding units available in their social group, despite both correlational and experimental data showing substantial variation in the degree to which helpers affect productivity in units of different size. By contrast, 98 per cent of group members with kin present helped, 100 per cent directed their care towards the most related brood in the social group, and those rearing half/full-sibs helped approximately three times harder than those rearing less/non-related broods. We conclude that kin selection plays a central role in the maintenance of cooperative breeding in this species, despite the apparent importance of living in large groups.

Collaborative care skills training workshops : helping carers cope with eating disorders from the UK to Australia

Purpose

The Collaborative Care Skills Training workshops, developed by Treasure and associates aim to improve the well-being, coping strategies and problem-solving skills of carers of someone with an eating disorder. Evidence has demonstrated the effectiveness of the workshops in the UK where it was developed. The aim of this pilot study was to examine whether conducting the workshops in different contexts by facilitators trained in its delivery could lead to similar impact.
Methods

The workshops were conducted with 15 carers in VIC, Australia and delivered by experienced health professionals trained in its content and delivery. A non-experimental research design with repeated measures was implemented. Quantitative data were collected at pre-and post-intervention and 8 weeks after completion of the workshops.
Results

Participation led to significant reductions in carers’ reported expressed emotion, dysfunctional coping, distress, burden and accommodation and enabling of the eating disorder behaviour, which were maintained at the 8-week follow-up.
Conclusion

Results suggest the workshops are effective in reducing carer distress and burden as well as modifying unhelpful emotional interactional styles when caring for family members with an eating disorder. The content of the workshops and its delivery, once experienced facilitators have received training, are transferable to other contexts.

Helping others or a rewarding career? Investigating student motivations to train as social workers in England

• Summary: Understanding why people want to be social workers is important both for developing social work education and for the profession as a whole. This article presents evidence about the motivations of students enrolled on social work degree programmes in England and draws on data from 3000 responses of three successive intakes of students responding to six online surveys and 26 focus group interviews involving 168 students from nine different social work programmes in six case study sites. The article locates these data in the context of earlier studies of social workers’ motivations, the changing policy context and the changes introduced by the new degree.

• Findings: Similar to previous studies, the current analysis shows that altruistic motivations dominated, but students were also influenced by career issues and the day-to-day aspects of social work. The data highlight continuities with the former qualification in social work in the UK (the DipSW) and provide evidence that the introduction of the social work degree has not dramatically changed the underlying motivations of social work students.

• Applications: Understanding student motivations is important in terms of recruitment to social work qualifying programmes and subsequent retention within the profession. Social work educators and employers need to pay attention to the consequences of mismatches between motivations and expectations about what professional practice involves.

Does moral cleansing moderate the effect of evolutionary altruism on helping intention? An exploratory study

There is strong evidence for social evolutionary motivations for helping (e.g., reciprocal altruism) and also growing support for the influence of the social cognitive theory of moral cleansing on prosociality. Where the former motivation is interpersonal, the latter is intrapersonal. This experimental study hypothesized that, in addition to main effects of evolutionary altruism and moral cleansing on helping intention, an interaction would occur between these theoretical motivations. Using three situational helping scenarios as dependent measures, the effect of participants’ morally-valenced recalled behavior (moral/immoral/achievement/failure) and the effect of their social proximity to a helping target (cousin/colleague/stranger) on helping intention was determined. Overall, 616 Australian participants (90.1% female) completed the online experiment. Two-way ANOVA demonstrated a consistent main effect of social proximity on helping intention across all three helping scenarios, supporting evolutionary social psychological explanations for helping. However, instead of moral self-regulation effects, moral identity consistency effects were induced by the moral behavior recall manipulation. A main effect of behaviour recall on helping intention occurred, with moral recall increasing helping intention. The problem of theoretical ambiguity regarding moral identity consistency and moral self-regulation is discussed, as is the useful role of null result publications in informing effective experimental design.

Participatory sensing and education: helping the community mitigate sleep disturbance from traffic noise

Purpose – This paper aims to present a project in Australia, where participants use smartphones to measure the level of traffic noise in their homes. Through the data collected, participants learn if they are subjected to sleep disturbances and, if so, understand how they can manage the issue to protect their health. The project also has a secondary purpose: the local council would like to engage its community through the exercise and be seen as acting on the community’s problems.

The Integrating Theory, Evidence and Action (ITEA) method: a procedure for helping practitioners translate theory and research into action

Introduction: The aim of this article is to describe and explain a new method for integrating theory and evidence that enables practitioners to translate evidence into action applied in their practice. Method: A new multiple methods procedure called the Integrating Theory, Evidence and Action method is described. It is a mixed method that progresses through seven distinct steps: clinical question, framework, identification, deconstruction, analysis, reconstruction, and transfer/utilization. An example of using this method to review evidence around occupational therapy with people recovering from alcohol misuse and/or abuse is provided. Findings: This method highlights the importance of theory, tests the empirical strength of theories, includes diverse forms of evidence, and encourages the integration of knowledge within clinical practice. Conclusion: The Integrating Theory, Evidence and Action method is accessible and useful to practitioners and will support their efforts to make their practice evidence based. Current methods of evidence-based practice focus mostly on research evidence (particularly quantitative evidence); however, research is only one of the ways of knowing that practitioners draw upon to guide their practice. This method enables occupational therapists to integrate theory, evidence, and practice in a coherent and translatable way.

HuNI: Helping humanities researchers get lucky

For the past three years a team of researchers have been working on ways to help people navigate a path through the expanding world of online information. The result is the Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI) platform: huni.net.au

Class Act: Dean of Admissions Parker Beverage retires after helping to enroll more than 11,000 Colby students

Over a quarter century of hard work, retiring Dean of Admissions Parker Beverage had a hand in Colby’s steady rise.