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Education as Preparation for Eternity: Teachers in Seventh-day Adventist Schools in Australia and the Solomon Islands, and Their Perceptions of Mission
No full textQuestions addressed in this book include:
What do teachers in Seventh-day Adventist schools in Australia and the Solomon Islands believe is their mission?
What was the original motivation that led to the setting up of Adventist schools in Australia and the Solomon Islands?
What aspirations do the current administrators have for Adventist schools?
What congruence exists between the original motivation, the current aspirations of administrators, and the beliefs of teachers about their mission
The Lift Project: Stress Less
No full textThe Lift Project is an evidence-based mental health and wellbeing program that draws together the findings of over 400 studies from the disciplines of Neuroscience, Lifestyle Medicine and Positive Psychology. The program is endorsed by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine and the Global Positive Health Institute. Approximately 25,000 world-wide have engaged with the program
The Lift Project: Feelings Follow Your Focus
No full textThe Lift Project is an evidence-based mental health and wellbeing program that draws together the findings of over 400 studies from the disciplines of Neuroscience, Lifestyle Medicine and Positive Psychology. The program is endorsed by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine and the Global Positive Health Institute. Approximately 25,000 world-wide have engaged with the program
Our Daily Work: God’s Idea
No full textTeach your members how to connect two key segments of their lives: church and work
Volunteers: An Effective Medium for Delivering Therapeutic Lifestyle Interventions
Get PDFPurpose: Lifestyle modification programs have been shown to effectively treat chronic disease. The Coronary Health Improvement Program has been delivered by both paid professional and unpaid volunteer facilitators. This study compared participant outcomes of each mode in the United States.
Design: Pre-/post-analysis of CHIP interventions delivered between 1999 and 2012.
Setting: Professional-delivered programs in Rockford Illinois 1999-2004 and volunteer-delivered programs across North America 2005-2012.
Subjects: Adults ≥21 years (professional programs N = 3158 34.3% men, mean age = 54.0 ± 11.4 years; volunteer programs N = 7115 33.4% men, mean age = 57.4 ± 13.0 years).
Measures: Body mass index, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), blood lipid profile (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein), and fasting plasma glucose.
Analysis: Analysis of Covariance, with adjustment for age, gender, BMI change and baseline biometric and effect sizes.
Results: The professional-delivered programs achieved significantly greater reductions in BMI (.4%, P \u3c .001) and HDL (1.9%, P \u3c .001) and the volunteer-delivered programs achieved greater reductions in SBP (1.4%, P \u3c .001), DBP (1.1%, P \u3c .001), TC (1.4%, P = .004), LDL (2.3%, P \u3c .001), TG (4.0%, P = .006), and FPG (2.7%, P \u3c .001). However, the effect size differences between the groups were minimal (Cohen’s d .1-.2).
Conclusions: Lifestyle modification programs have been shown to effectively treat chronic disease. The Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) lifestyle intervention has been delivered by both paid professional and unpaid volunteer facilitators. This study compared selected chronic disease biometric outcomes of participants in each mode in the United States. It found volunteer-delivered programs do not appear to be any less effective than programs delivered by paid professionals, which is noteworthy as volunteers may provide important social capital in the combat of chronic disease
The Influence of Human Support on Adherence to, and Outcomes of an Online Interdisciplinary Mental Health Promotion Intervention for a Healthy Adult Cohort
Get PDFEscalating mental health distress has prompted the call for mental health promotion initiatives to improve the mental resilience of the general population and provide a buffer against common mental health disorders. Digital delivery modes offer accessible and scalable opportunities to implement lifestyle-based interventions to enhance mental well-being. However, digital interventions are hampered by sub-optimal adherence, which negatively impacts outcomes. Little is known about the effectiveness of human support to improve adherence to and outcomes of digital interventions amongst general population cohorts.
This dissertation documents the rationale for and findings of a randomised comparative study that assessed the influence of adding different types of human support to an online, interdisciplinary mental health promotion intervention. Participants were randomised into three intervention groups: standard intervention with automated emails only (S); standard intervention plus personalised text messages (S+pSMS); and standard intervention plus videoconferencing support (S+VCS). A questionnaire was administered pre- and post-intervention to assess changes in depression, anxiety, stress, mental health, vitality, life satisfaction, and flourishing. Adherence was measured by the number of video lessons viewed, points scored for experiential activities, and the number of weeks that participants logged activity. Inductive, thematic analysis of free-text responses in the post-intervention questionnaire elicited participant perceptions about facilitators and barriers impacting adherence. The study results led to a series of three publications, which addressed the three research questions presented in the dissertation and a fourth publication that consolidated the findings and reviewed them in the context of the current literature.
The first publication addressed Research Question 1—What is the influence of different modes of human support on the outcomes of a web and mobile app, lifestyle-based mental health intervention for a healthy adult cohort? This publication found that human support had little influence on the outcomes of the intervention. Significant improvements were recorded from baseline to post-intervention in every outcome measure, irrespective of the types of human support offered (P≤0.001). Between-group differences were not observed for any of the outcome measures: depression (P=0.93), anxiety (P=0.25), stress (P=0.57), mental health (P=0.77), vitality (P=0.65), life satisfaction (P=0.65), and flourishing (P=0.99).
The second publication addressed Research Question 2—What is the influence of different modes of human support on attrition and adherence to a web and mobile app, lifestyle-based mental health intervention for a healthy adult cohort, including the influence of participant preference? Early dropout attrition differed between the groups (P=.009), being disproportionally higher in the videoconferencing support group. However, there was no difference in adherence behaviour between the groups (i.e., number of videos viewed, P=0.42; mean challenge points scored, P=0.71; and the number of weeks challenge points were logged, P=0.66), indicating that human support had little effect.
The third publication addressed the final research question—What do healthy adult participants perceive as the facilitators of, and barriers to, adherence to a web and mobile app, lifestyle-based mental health intervention? Qualitative thematic analysis revealed that human support did not feature strongly as a facilitator or barrier to intervention adherence. Perceived adherence facilitators included engaging content, time availability, accessibility, enjoyable challenges, valuing the program, and personal motivation. Time scarcity was overwhelmingly perceived as the most dominant adherence barrier. Other barriers included completing and logging experiential activity, content length, technical difficulties, and interindividual personal factors.
The study’s findings provided novel insights into an exposed research gap, as little was known about the influence of human support on adherence to and outcomes of a digital mental health promotion intervention when delivered to a general population group. The fourth publication, a review, synthesised the overall findings of this dissertation in conjunction with other recent literature and provided recommendations for future studies
Jessica Matthews: Integrative Health Educator
No full textSimon Matthews (Wellcoaches Australia) and Darren Morton (Avondale University) introduce the passionate people making a difference in the pioneering field of lifestyle medicine. In this episode Simon Matthews (Wellcoaches Australia) and Darren Morton (Avondale University) speak with innovative integrative health educator Jessica Matthews
The Lift Project: Stress Less
No full textThe Lift Project is an evidence-based mental health and wellbeing program that draws together the findings of over 400 studies from the disciplines of Neuroscience, Lifestyle Medicine and Positive Psychology. The program is endorsed by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine and the Global Positive Health Institute. Approximately 25,000 world-wide have engaged with the program
This Gift, This Poem
No full textOne of poetry\u27s chief purposes is to draw people together. In moments of crisis, we turn to poetry because it has the unique ability to express and formalise emotion, to bring something of ourselves into being. This anthology, This Gift, This Poem, does exactly that, keeping readers in its tender yet bracing hold
7 Dimensions of Wellness: Physically Energised (Exercise)
No full textThe 7 Dimensions of Wellness is a 9-part short documentary series that explores pathways for enhancing our overall health and wellbeing. Join Darren Morton as he speaks to leading experts, conducts fun experiments and presents fascinating insights into how we can live our best life