Back from the brink: reclaiming `quality` in the pursuit of a transformative education agenda

Discussions about ‘quality’ and ‘quality assurance’ abound in contemporary Australian universities. Since 1992, the Australian federal government has ‘promoted’ and/or mandated the use of particular quality assurance mechanisms within higher education and in 2001 The Australian University Quality Agency began to conduct the first of a series of ‘audits’ aimed at determining how well particular institutions meet standards and achieve
outcomes overseen, at least indirectly, by government agencies.

A profile of complainants about advertising in Australia: an agenda for research

Investigation of consumer complaint responses within the area of advertising in Australia stems from the suggestion that the more money spent on advertising in a country the greater the need for consumer protection from 'unacceptable' advertising. This research will allow the formulation of strategies to enable more effective marketing communications.

Consumer complainants amongst internet users: an exploratory study with an agenda for further research

The Internet has had a greater impact on consumer behaviour than any other innovation in recent years. Previous research has identified certain demographic traits of consumer who complain yet these demographic triggers are markedly different to the demographic profile of Internet users. This leads to the generation of several research questions that need to be considered to enable the development of effective strategies that need to be implemented to deal with the issues raised by this most important group of stakeholders - the users.

Power plays : Australian theatre and the public agenda

Power Plays capitalises on this moment of renewed and heightened interest by investigating the why and the how of eight contemporary Australian playwrights: Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Reg Cribb, Ben Ellis, Wesley Enoch, Hannie Rayson, Stephen Sewell and Katherine Thomson. These writers are passionate about the theatre as a forum for public discussion and they interrogate current issues in their work. Their plays reflect the passing show of cultural, political and economic life in Australia, telling audiences something critical about what is going on: this is the state of play, this is what we are.

The author has conducted extensive interviews with these writers and offers an extended analysis of some of their recent plays.

Prevention of type 2 diabetes in a primary health care setting interim results from the Greater Green Triangle (GGT) Diabetes Prevention Project

Although clinical trials have shown that lifestyle modifications reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, translating lessons from trials to primary care remains a challenge. The aim of the study was to evaluate efficacy and feasibility of primary care-based diabetes prevention model with modest resource requirements in rural Australia. Three hundred and eleven subjects with at least a moderate risk of type 2 diabetes participated in a combined dietary and physical activity intervention. Clinical measurements and fasting blood samples were taken at the baseline and after intervention. After 3 months intervention, total (change −3.5%, p < 0.001) and LDL cholesterol (−4.8%, p < 0.001) plasma levels as well as body mass index (−2.5%, p < 0.001), weight (−2.5%, p < 0.001), and waist (−1.6%, p < 0.001) and hip (−2.7%, p < 0.001) circumferences reduced significantly. A borderline reduction was found in triglyceride levels (−4.8%, p = 0.058) while no changes were observed in HDL cholesterol (+0.6%, p = 0.525), glucose (+0.06%, p = 0.386), or systolic (−0.98%, p = 0.095) or diastolic (−1.06%, p = 0.134) blood pressure levels. In conclusion, a lifestyle intervention improved health outcomes – especially obesity and blood lipids – in a population at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Our results suggest that the present model is effective and feasible to carry out in primary care settings.

Effects of a walking program in the psychiatric in-patient treatment setting: a cohort study.

Issue addressed: To assess the effectiveness of a walking program in a psychiatric in-patient unit. Method: In-patients at a private psychiatric unit were offered the opportunity to participate in a daily morning 40 minute walk led by an activity supervisor. After discharge, outcomes for patients who had regularly participated in the walking group (n=35) and patients who had not participated (n=49) were compared for length of stay during their period of admission and Clinical Global Impression - Severity (CGI-S) and  Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) scores measured at admission and discharge. This was a retrospective analysis of data collected routinely. Results: There were no significant differences between the two cohorts on most primary outcome measures, including length of stay, DASS scores at admission and at discharge and CGI-S scores at admission. Patients who had not participated in the walking group had a significantly lower score on a single measure, the CGI-S, than patients who had participated (p=0.001). Conclusions: This study showed no evidence that in-patients benefited from participating in the physical activity program. However, this must be  interpreted within the confines of a number of study limitations and, as such, the findings can neither support nor refute the effectiveness of physical activities.

Prevention of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle intervention in an Australian primary health care setting : Greater Green Triangle (GGT) Diabetes Prevention Project

Background
Randomised controlled trials demonstrate a 60% reduction in type 2 diabetes incidence through lifestyle modification programmes. The aim of this study is to determine whether such programmes are feasible in primary health care.

Methods
An intervention study including 237 individuals 40–75 years of age with moderate or high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. A structured group programme with six 90 minute sessions delivered during an eight month period by trained nurses in Australian primary health care in 2004–2006. Main outcome measures taken at baseline, three, and 12 months included weight, height, waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose and lipids, plasma glucose two hours after oral glucose challenge, blood pressure, measures of psychological distress and general health outcomes. To test differences between baseline and follow-up, paired t-tests and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were performed.

Results
At twelve months participants' mean weight reduced by 2.52 kg (95% confidence interval 1.85 to 3.19) and waist circumference by 4.17 cm (3.48 to 4.87). Mean fasting glucose reduced by 0.14 mmol/l (0.07 to 0.20), plasma glucose two hours after oral glucose challenge by 0.58 mmol/l (0.36 to 0.79), total cholesterol by 0.29 mmol/l (0.18 to 0.40), low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.25 mmol/l (0.16 to 0.34), triglycerides by 0.15 mmol/l (0.05 to 0.24) and diastolic blood pressure by 2.14 mmHg (0.94 to 3.33). Significant improvements were also found in most psychological measures.

Conclusion
This study provides evidence that a type 2 diabetes prevention programme using lifestyle intervention is feasible in primary health care settings, with reductions in risk factors approaching those observed in clinical trials.

Trial Number
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN38031372

Teaching and learning online : older adults in a community setting

This research was designed to assess whether the older adult learning in IT environments and online represents a different pedagogy from that of younger learners, as has been suggested by some authors in the literature. The study was conducted in a community learning and employment centre in an Australian rural town, and involved interviews with six teachers of older adults, and nine older learners. The results did not support the need for a particular pedagogy for older learners, instead supporting an approach to teaching that was based around teachers identifying learner characteristics and needs and responding to them as individuals. This finding has been interpreted in the context of already published iterative and interactive teaching models, and has considerable implications for the effective teaching and learning of older adults. Those implications are discussed in the paper.

Encouraging small firm up-take of SCM using education: a future research agenda

The success of supply chain management (SCM) practices often depends on small firms in the supply chain adopting these practices, yet they are often reluctant to do so. The existing literature mostly explores SCM adoption barriers rather than approaches to encourage adoption. This paper argues that an educational perspective has promise, and proposes a research agenda which should guide future studies by all researchers studying small firm SCM up-take. The agenda encompasses the diversity of small firms, the major educational players, appropriate types of education approaches and the theoretical framework to underpin this research. The paper then gives an example of how this research agenda can be applied to a specific research project which will explore the impact of the Supply Chain Knowledge Centre (SCKC), a state of the art SCM education facility developed by GS1 Australia, on small firm SCM up-take.

Quality of life indexes for national policy: review and agenda for research

A number of governments and public policy institutes have developed ldquoQuality of Life Indexesrdquo – statistics that attempt to measure the quality of life for entire states or regions. We develop 14 criteria for determining the validity and usefulness of such QOL indexes to public policy. We then review 22 of the most-used QOL indexes from around the world. We conclude that many of the indexes are successful in that they are reliable, have established time series measures, and can be disaggregated to study subpopulations. However, many fall short in four areas: (1) indexes vary greatly in their coverage and definitions of domains of QOL, (2) none of the indexes distinguish among the concepts of input, throughput, and output that are used by public policy analysts, (3) they fail to show how QOL outputs are sensitive to public policy inputs, and (4) none have examined convergent validity against each other. We conclude that many of these indexes are potentially very useful for public policy and recommend research to further improve them.