19683 research outputs found
Sort by
Supporting Engagement in Everyday Life at Home and in the Community: Active Support
No full textMany people with intellectual disabilities live in poor-quality supported accommodation services where they spend a significant part of their day disengaged—doing nothing. It is clear that it is the quality of staff support rather than the number of staff that makes the difference and that all people with intellectual disabilities can be engaged for much of their day. Engagement in meaningful activities and social interactions is a fundamental prerequisite to a good quality of life. When staff consistently use a practice known as Active Support, people with intellectual disabilities have higher levels of engagement and a better quality of life. This chapter lays out the essential elements of Active Support and the frontline managerial practices and organisational features necessary to embed it in services. Finally, it considers the connections between Active Support and other person-centred practices, such as support planning, positive behaviour support, and supported decision making.</p
Effect of behavioural activation for individuals with post-stroke depression: systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBackground: Previous research showed that behavioural activation is as effective as cognitive-behavioural therapy for general depression. However, it remains unclear if it leads to greater improvement in depressive symptoms when compared with standard treatment for post-stroke depression. Aims: To compare the effectiveness of behavioural activation against control conditions in reducing depression symptoms in individuals with post-stroke depression. Method: This review searched five databases from inception until 13 July 2021 (updated 15 September 2023) for randomised controlled trials comparing behavioural activation and any control conditions for post-stroke depression. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk-of-Bias 2 tool. The primary outcome was improvement in depressive symptoms in individuals with post-stroke depression. We calculated a random-effects, inverse variance weighting meta-analysis. Results: Of 922 initial studies, five randomised controlled trials with 425 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that behavioural activation was associated with reduced depressive symptoms in individuals with post-stroke depression at 6-month follow-up (Hedges' g -0.39; 95% CI -0.64 to -0.14). The risk of bias was low for two (40%) of five trials, and the remaining three (60%) trials were rated as having a high risk of bias. Heterogeneity was low, with no indication of inconsistency. Conclusions: Evidence from this review was too little to confirm the effectiveness of behavioural activation as a useful treatment for post-stroke depression when compared with control conditions. Further high-quality studies are needed to conclusively establish the efficacy of behavioural activation as a treatment option for post-stroke depression.</p
Location and access to health courses for rural students: an Australian audit
No full textBackground: The undersupply of health professionals in rural areas impacts healthcare access for those living in rural Australia. A strategy to increase the rural health workforce is to recruit and educate rural people. However, long-standing inequities for rural Australians in accessing tertiary education persist. The aim of this study was to audit the 2023 offerings of Australian allied health, nursing, dental and medical university courses to identify geographical availability and those delivered online. Methods: A desktop audit of Australian allied health, nursing, dental and medical courses offered in 2023 was undertaken to identify the courses and delivery modes of those courses offered in regional, rural and remote locations. The audit involved searching lists of professionally accredited courses and university websites, which is publicly available information about health courses. Data were tabulated and descriptive statistics used for data analysis. Results: There were marked differences in online and rural course offerings across health professions in Modified Monash (MM) Model category 2–7 locations. Nursing/midwifery had the most courses while pharmacy, podiatry, dental and medicine had few offerings and optometry had none. Social work, nursing/midwifery and psychology also had the most online course offerings. Most courses were offered in MM2 and MM3 locations with few offerings in rural or remote areas. The availability of studying part-time was very limited and often this was only for the early years of the course. Inconsistencies relating to the course information on university websites existed relating to course delivery mode descriptions. Conclusions: There is a lack of rural on-campus or online course offerings for some allied health disciplines, dentistry and medicine. Provision of end-to-end, flexible courses in rural areas or online is needed to reduce access barriers for rural students and to enable sustainable rural health workforce development
An artificial intelligence framework for explainable drift detection in energy forecasting
No full textAccurate energy consumption forecasting is crucial for reducing operational costs, achieving net-zero carbon emissions, and ensuring sustainable buildings and cities of the future. Despite the frequent use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms for learning energy consumption patterns and predictions in Building Science, relying solely on these techniques for energy demand prediction addresses only a fraction of the challenge. A drift in energy usage can lead to inaccuracies in these AI models and subsequently to poor decision-making and interventions. While drift detection techniques have been reported, a reliable and robust approach capable of explaining identified discrepancies with actionable insights has not been discussed in extant literature. Hence, this paper presents an Artificial Intelligence framework for energy consumption forecasting with explainable drift detection, aimed at addressing these challenges. The proposed framework is composed of energy embeddings, an optimized dimensional model integrated within a data warehouse, and scalable cloud implementation for effective drift detection with explainability capability. The framework is empirically evaluated in the real-world setting of a multi-campus, mixed-use tertiary education setting in Victoria, Australia. The results of these experiments highlight its capabilities in detecting concept drift, adapting forecast predictions, and providing an interpretation of the changes using energy embeddings
Transition from rehabilitation hospital to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for people with brain injury and spinal cord injury: a data linkage protocol
No full textAbstract: INTRODUCTION: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) are both major contributors to permanent disability globally, with an estimated 27 million new cases of TBI and 0.93 million new cases of SCI globally in 2016. In Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides support to people with disability. Reports from the NDIS suggest that the cost of support for people with TBI and SCI has been increasing dramatically, and there is a lack of independent analysis of the drivers of these increases. This data linkage seeks to better understand the participant transition between rehabilitation hospitals and the NDIS and the correlation between functional independence in rehabilitation and resource allocation in the NDIS. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a retrospective, population-based cohort study using Australia-wide NDIS participant data and rehabilitation hospital episode data. The linked dataset provides a comparison of functional independence against which to compare the NDIS resource allocation to people with TBI and SCI. This protocol outlines the secure and separated data linkage approach employed in linking partially identified episode data from the Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre (AROC) with identified participant data from the NDIS. The linkage employs a stepwise deterministic linkage approach. Statistical analysis of the linked dataset will consider the relationship between the functional independence measure score from the rehabilitation hospital and the committed funding supports in the NDIS plan. This protocol sets the foundation for an ongoing data linkage between rehabilitation hospitals and the NDIS to assist transition to the NDIS. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval is from the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee. AROC Data Governance Committee and NDIS Data Management Committee have approved this project. Research findings will be disseminated to key stakeholders through peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and presentations to clinical and policy audiences via AROC and NDIS.</p
Pre-cycling contemplation–an explanation on the interplay between recycling consideration and purchase intention, and the role of semiotic knowledge
No full textThe waste crisis in Australia has been exacerbated in recent years, emphasising the need to investigate consumer recycling. Purchasing intention of products with recyclable packaging, or recycling shopping behaviour, is identified as a more relevant touchpoint to improve overall recycling efforts, indicating that recycling signs and relevant constructs are important to be investigated. Drawing the conceptual framework from the Theory of Planned Behaviour and extending it, the study aimed at investigating the influences of semiotic knowledge, or the knowledge of signs, on recycling shopping behaviour in the context of Fast-Moving Consumers’ Goods. The construct of precycling was also conceptualised and incorporated in the model to establish the prerequisite conditions for semiotic knowledge. Using Structural Equation Modelling and AMOS 26 software, the research validated moral norms and recycling considerations as the factors constituting one’s pre-cycling contemplation, with semiotic knowledge displaying a moderating effect. The research contributes to the domain of recycling shopping behaviour and precycling, in which semiotic knowledge is found to enhance consumers’ tendency for purchasing products with recyclable packaging. Recommendations were made towards manufacturers in retail environments and policymakers for waste reduction
Making the Student Experience Everybody’s Business: Cultivating Collaboration in the Exosphere
No full textIt has long been recognised that a key element in improving student transition, retention and success in higher education is cross-institutional consistency and unity of action among disparate academic, policy and support units. However, transferring this principle into practice often requires overcoming departmental silos, negotiating shared understandings of key concepts, and establishing patterns of cross-institutional collaboration in spaces where this may have been lacking. This study examines the effect of a program of supported communities of practice among teaching academics that sought to improve the culture of learning and teaching in a large science, health and engineering faculty in an Australian university. We found indications that these communities of practice promoted collaboration by functioning as loci of cross-institutional consultation and coordination, providing the basis for an enhanced student experience. We interpret this finding through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of development, and propose an approach based on academic communities of practice as a way of building cross-institutional unity of action and making the student experience everybody’s business
Development and Validation of the Cheers Attitudes towards Non-drinkers Scale (CANS)
No full textNon-drinkers report experiencing stigma, which can act as a barrier to non-drinking. Two studies were undertaken to develop and test a new scale to measure attitudes towards non-drinkers. In Study 1, 29 items were presented to 426 Australian drinkers. In Study 2, the refined 12-item Cheers Attitudes to Non-drinkers Scale (CANS) was presented to 389 drinkers. Alcohol consumption, Harm and the Regan Attitudes towards Non-drinkers Scale (RANDS) were presented for scale validation. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors representing the Threats to Fun, Connection and Self that drinkers perceive non-drinkers to pose. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale meets the required fit indices and had good reliability (α = 0.842). Evidence of validity was shown through significant correlations with Alcohol Consumption, Harm and the RANDS. These studies show the CANS to be a reliable and valid measure that could be utilised to understand and modify the stigma experienced by non-drinkers