ResearchOnline@ND (University of Notre Dame)
Not a member yet
7734 research outputs found
Sort by
Planning and pedagogical considerations for teaching children with autism spectrum disorder in physical education
Get PDFAround the world, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition. It is linked to a wide range of deficiencies across multiple domains, including restrictive and repetitive behaviors that impair interaction or engagement with others. School-aged children with ASD face challenges that make physical activity more difficult. To address challenges associated with ASD, physical education interventions need to be tailored to the child’s needs and abilities. Despite advances in research on children with ASD in physical education, adopting contemporary approaches is yet to be the norm. This review aimed to examine the literature on intervention models to improve the physical activity skills of children with ASD and to suggest practical considerations for delivering an effective physical education program and lessons. The recommendations provided in this review support teachers in applying strategies that maximize meaningful learning opportunities for children with ASD and use effective pedagogies that meet their needs
Influence of distal insertion technique, valve selection, and patient demographics on shunt survival in ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion: A retrospective analysis of an Australian case series
No full textBackground Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt insertion is a means of diverting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for management of hydrocephalus. Revision rates, operating time, and length of stay (LOS) following laparoscopic insertion of the distal catheter have been mixed. There are limited data on the role of adhesiolysis during VP shunt insertion. Valve characteristics have also been shown to influence patient outcomes. There is a paucity of Australian data reporting on the effect of these variables on shunt outcomes. We aimed to study patient demographics, indications, and surgical and instrument variables in the Australian context. Methods We performed a retrospective, multi-surgeon, single-centre analysis of VP shunts inserted in adults via an open or laparoscopic technique. Data on patient demographics and surgery characteristics were collected from the hospital medical records and the Australasian Shunt Registry. The primary outcome was shunt revision rate and secondary outcomes were postoperative complications, operating time and LOS, and shunt survivability. Results Fifty-six participants were eligible for analysis. The overall revision rate was 14.3 %, which was lower than the national average. The distal catheter revision rate was 0 %. Laparoscopic insertion of the distal catheter was shown to significantly reduce operating time (70.4 min in the open group and 50.7 min in the laparoscopic group, p \u3c 0.001). This was demonstrated across different aetiologies, and when controlling for age and valve-type (p \u3c 0.05). The revision rate of non-programmable was higher than programmable valves (42.9 % versus 2.9 %, respectively). There were no differences between previous abdominal surgery, LOS, complication, or revision rate between open and laparoscopic insertion. VP shunt survivability was greater in the laparoscopic group (90-day shunt survival of 96.7 % and 92 % in the laparoscopy and open groups, respectively; p \u3e 0.05). We did not find any significant difference in operating time or length of stay for age, sex, or previous abdominal surgery, even when accounting for surgical technique. Indication and shunt survivability varied widely between age groups. The use of laparoscopic insertion increased over time, though surgeons did not crossover techniques. Conclusions The overall distal revision rate of VP shunts is low. Laparoscopic insertion of the distal catheter reduces operating time and may improve shunt survivability. Larger studies are needed to confirm differences in shunt survivability in open versus laparoscopic distal catheter insertion, between age groups, clinical indications, and valve type on patient outcomes
Process evaluation of a data-driven quality improvement program within a cluster randomised controlled trial to improve coronary heart disease management in Australian primary care
No full textBackground: This study evaluates primary care practices’ engagement with various features of a quality improvement (QI) intervention for patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) in four Australian states.
Methods: Twenty-seven practices participated in the QI intervention from November 2019 –November 2020. A combination of surveys, semi-structured interviews and other materials within the QUality improvement in primary care to prevent hospitalisations and improve Effectiveness and efficiency of care for people Living with heart disease (QUEL) study were used in the process evaluation. Data were summarised using descriptive statistical and thematic analyses for 26 practices.
Results: Sixty-four practice team members and Primary Health Networks staff provided feedback, and nine of the 63 participants participated in the interviews. Seventy-eight percent (40/54) were either general practitioners or practice managers. Although 69% of the practices selfreported improvement in their management of heart disease, engagement with the intervention varied. Forty-two percent (11/26) of the practices attended five or more learning workshops, 69% (18/26) used Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, and the median (Interquartile intervals) visits per practice to the online SharePoint site were 170 (146–252) visits. Qualitative data identified learning workshops and monthly feedback reports as the key features of the intervention.
Conclusion: Practice engagement in a multi-featured data-driven QI intervention was common, with learning workshops and monthly feedback reports identified as the most useful features. A better understanding of these features will help influence future implementation of similar interventions
Critical success factors for intersectoral collaboration: Homelessness and COVID-19 – Case Studies and learnings from an Australian city
No full textIntroduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionally impacted people experiencing homelessness, including people sleeping rough, people in temporary accommodation and those living in boarding houses. This paper reports on intersectoral responses across six health and social care agencies in Inner Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Prior to the pandemic the six agencies had established an Intersectoral Homelessness Health Strategy (IHHS), in recognition of the need for intersectoral collaboration to address the complex health needs of people experiencing homelessness.
Description: The governance structure of the IHHS provided a platform for several innovative intersectoral responses to the pandemic. A realist informed framework was used to select, describe, and analyse case studies of intersectoral collaboration.
Discussion: The resultant six critical success factors (trust, shared ways of working, agile collaboration, communication mechanisms, authorising environment, and sustained momentum), align with the existing literature that explores effective intersectoral collaboration in complex health or social care settings. This paper goes further by describing intersectoral collaboration ‘in action’, setting a strong foundation for future collaborative initiatives.
Conclusion: While there is no single right approach to undertaking intersectoral collaboration, which is highly context specific, the six critical success factors identified could be applied to other health issues where dynamic collaboration and integration of healthcare is needed
Engaging the early adolescent: What do stakeholders say about the keeping kids engaged in school
No full textThe level of engagement of students in schooling has long been associated with the type of educational outcomes achieved. This relationship is very apparent during early adolescence. It is during this developmental period that young people navigate the transition between primary and secondary school and may disengage from schooling. The Imagined Futures’ Keeping Kids Engaged in School program is an intervention program designed to promote early adolescent students’ desire to stay connected with school. The research explored how students and their parents/caregivers, and key school informants from four participating Government schools in Western Australia perceived the program. Two forms of qualitative data were collected from four focus group interviews with 24 students in Years 5 to 8 who had participated in the program and one-to-one interviews with five of their parents/caregivers and five key school informant staff members. Results indicated that participants from all four schools strongly endorsed the value of the program. The research had a particular focus on honouring the voices of the young people to whom the program was directed. It is their endorsement of the program that is of particular import
Traumatic Heterotopic Ossification: Pathophysiological Mechanisms, Epidemiological Characteristics, and Risk Factors
Get PDFTraumatic heterotopic ossification (tHO) refers to the complication of pathological formation of ectopic bone in soft tissues, which follows tissue insult secondary to burn, neurological and orthopaedic injury [2]. Common to these diagnoses is the involvement of central and or peripheral nervous system trauma. Although known risk factors are associated with developing tHO, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Research to date, primarily in single injury cohorts, has provided minimal translatable results [2]. Thus, clinical guidelines for early screening and prophylactic drug therapy are lacking, and treatment options are limited. To move the body of knowledge forward, machine learning approaches, such as IBM Watson for Drug Discovery (WDD), may offer a solution to enhance basic science discovery by providing important insights into the biological processes and genetic influences implicated in tHO. Investigating the key genes and signalling pathways that are dysregulated in and related to the development of tHO through analysis of human biospecimens may lead to the identification of putative targets that could be used to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of pathological ectopic bone formation. Fibroblasts, which can acquire bone-forming characteristics under dysregulated neuroinflammatory conditions induced by injury, make them an attractive candidate progenitor cell that may contribute to tHO pathogenesis.
The challenges to enhancing clinical tHO management are highlighted in the burn patient context, as despite four decades of research, the lack of translatable evidence is stark, and difficulties in conducting multi-centre trials due to low event rate and patient care heterogeneity remain [2]. Thus, injury complicated by tHO significantly impacts patient quality of life, hampering physical and psychosocial functioning and impeding rehabilitation [3]. As such, it is hypothesised that a diagnosis of tHO in trauma patients prolongs hospital length of stay (LOS) and increases healthcare costs.
Furthermore, at the commencement of this program of research, there were no published epidemiological data available for Western Australian (WA) tertiary hospital trauma patients to help iv understand tHO prevalence, LOS outcomes and risk profile or data evaluating the accuracy of medical diagnostic coding and specificity of clinical documentation for tHO diagnoses. Purposeful multi-centre data pooling of at-risk trauma populations was therefore warranted and instigated as part of this research program to address several aforementioned research, understanding and clinical practice gaps. Specifically, to comprehensively explore and identify novel tHO risk factors and to quantify the impact of tHO on the health care system. By combining information from burn patients and individuals with a higher prevalence of tHO, this program aimed to unveil underlying causes that may not be apparent due to the relative rarity of tHO following burns in the WA cohort. This research program aimed to explore and seek a novel understanding of the pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and risk factors of traumatic heterotopic ossification in adult trauma patients. To confirm novel and applicable results, the methods were designed to build a detailed risk profile and define the mechanisms that perpetuate the tHO process to provide new targets for detection, prevention, and intervention
Formation fit for purpose: Empowering religious educators working in Catholic schools
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to provide curriculum support to religious educators working in Catholic schools. The paper provides a practical response to research advocating serious attention be given to religious educators because they are at the “coalface” of Catholic education, increasingly confronted by content and policy decisions, the diverse values and needs of their students, and other competing cultural and social challenges. Religious educators play a significant role in the evangelising mission of the Catholic Church as interpreters of Scripture and Tradition and can positively or negatively influence the quality of their students’ learning and its application. Entitled RECALL, the support offered to religious educators in this paper is research-led and utilises educational, standards-based principles. It is a community-minded approach that aims to build religious literacy and deepen the religious educators’ awareness and connections to the legacy of the Catholic Faith Tradition. The desired outcome is to inspire evidence-based conversations encompassing faith and reason, the perceived value and reality of the identity and mission of the Catholic Church, and its impact on Catholic culture and education. Intended to enhance rather than replace existing professional formation, the approach has structures, pedagogical processes, and practices that draw from a set of overarching theoretical considerations. Furthermore, the approach employs three guiding questions for categorising and analysing Catholic content. The questions are: (i) “Who are we as Catholics and what is our mission?” (ii) “What do we believe?” and (iii) “How do we practice?” The proposed curriculum support to religious educators may foster a culture of learning in Religious Education that is focused on improving and progressing the quality of educational outcomes for students. The premise is that if religious educators are supported to engage with the great Gospel narrative, their students may do the same
Bipolar disorder and oxidative stress: A bibliometric perspective
No full textObjective: Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress and the disruption of antioxidant defenses play an important role in the neurobiology of bipolar disorder(BD). Studies have found that increased oxidative stress may be associated with cell apoptosis and neuronal damage in BD patients. Hence, this study explored the research field related to BD and oxidative stress from a bibliometrics perspective.
Methods: Literature search and relevant data retrieval based on the Web of SciencesCore Collection (WoSCC). R software (version 4.2.2), VOSviewer software (version1.6.18), and CiteSpace (version 6.1.6) were used in this bibliometric analysis.
Results: A total of 2081 publications related to BD and oxidative stress were published between 1986 and 2024. Bipolar Disorders was the journal that had the most publications in this area (72; 3.46%; IF = 5.9), while the United States (1285; 61.7%)and the University of Toronto (377; 18.1%) were the most productive country and institution, respectively. Apart from “oxidative stress” and “bipolar disorder,” the most frequently used keywords were “schizophrenia,” “prefrontal cortex,” and “nitric oxide.”
Conclusions: The growing number of publications related to BD and oxidative stress in recent years highlights the importance of this research field. Hot topics in research related to BD and oxidative stress included animal experiments and molecular mechanisms, psychiatric-related inflammation and biomarkers, neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolism. Furthermore, the biological mechanisms of BD, particularly bio-markers and inflammation, may be the emerging research priority area in the futur
Cancer nurses’ voices and recommendations to address workforce challenges
No full textObjectives: Amidst the fulfilment of making a positive impact on patients’ lives, cancer nurses also contend with high workloads, limited resources, and barriers to career advancement. Understanding the perceptions of cancer nurses is essential in addressing these challenges and fostering an environment that promotes both professional satisfaction and optimal patient care. Our aim was to explore Australian cancer nurses\u27 experiences and perspectives of workforce challenges and their proposed solutions to address them.
Methods: The Cancer Nurses Society Australia workforce cross-sectional survey was distributed online in 2022 through professional networks and social media. Free text responses to open-ended questions were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and inductive processes. Results: Responses from 601 cancer nurses highlight the intricate interplay between rewards and obstacles experienced by the profession and identify key areas for improvement. Positive and negative quotes highlight the passion of cancer nurses which were summarized into themes and subthemes: 1) Finding fulfilment while struggling against the tide. While feeling undervalued and facing workload pressures, burnout and limited opportunities for career progression, nurses express love for their jobs, finding it rewarding yet emotionally challenging. 2) Grassroots solutions versus organizational inertia. Proposed solutions included addressing nurse-to-patient ratios, proactive succession planning, more specific education, dedicated time for learning, and mentorship and career development programs. Perceived barriers to initiatives included lethargic management and resistance to change. Networking opportunities, appropriate remuneration, and interdisciplinary teamwork with an appreciation of individual expertise are desired.
Conclusions: Our findings give a voice to the cancer nurses of Australia. Nurses identified a range of solutions to address workforce challenges.
Implications for nursing practice: Addressing the systemic issues that contribute to high workload and impede nurses’ well-being and their recognition, and promoting policies to support professional growth will increase satisfaction, enhance patient care outcomes, and contribute to a sustainable workforc