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Development and Evaluation of a Digital Health Behaviour Change Intervention that Promotes Ergonomic Ways of Using Digital Technologies to Children and Adolescents in Australia
Get PDFA web-based digital health behaviour change intervention that promotes ergonomic ways of using digital technologies to children and adolescents in Australia was developed and evaluated as part of the research in this thesis. Findings from this research provide new evidence to inform the development and support the use of a health behaviour change intervention to promote ergonomic ways of using digital technologies to children and adolescents in Australia
Co-design of an Online Mindfulness Program for Informal Carers of People Living With Dementia: A Qualitative Study of Co-designers’ Experience
Get PDFIntroduction: Informal carers face significant challenges related to care provision for people living with dementia. Participating in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program could improve the wellbeing of informal carers. However, engaging in these programs can be difficult for informal carers due to the needs of their care recipients. Purpose: This study aimed to co-design an online mindfulness program in collaboration with a range of stakeholders and those with lived experience as carers. Methods: This co-design study adopted an interpretive descriptive qualitative approach to the development of the program. The stakeholders (co-designers) included people with lived experience as informal carers and experts with experience in delivering mindfulness programs. The co-designers reviewed the program content which comprised a range of resources including a booklet, online content and audio recordings of mindfulness activities and provided feedback on the content and delivery methods, via one-to-one interviews. The data were synthesised via inductive content analysis. Findings: Two main categories were formulated: support for participants and program delivery and content. Sub categories for support for participants included, recognition of participants’ roles, promoting self-care and acceptance through mindfulness, accounting for participants’ limitations, developing a virtual social support network and providing support beyond the program. Sub-categories for program delivery and content included tailoring the program to the practical needs of the participants, providing options for program delivery and ensure a culturally safe program. Conclusion: Co-design approaches in collaboration with people with lived experience is essential for the successful adaptation of authentic and appropriate programs which account for carers’ complex care demands and individual challenges. Co-design is an approach that can provide valuable insight about tailoring online programs for end-users to minimise implementation challenges and maximise the potential benefits
Policy-Oriented Understanding of Low Births: Why Cash Support Isn't Enough to Fix Japan's Low Birth Rate
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Life Cycle Assessment of the Decarbonisation Opportunities of a Brick Manufacturing Facility in Australia
Get PDFThis research tackles the urgent challenge of reducing carbon emissions within the construction industry, where building materials—especially bricks—play a significant role in global greenhouse gas emissions. Brick manufacturing, in particular, significantly contributes to the industry’s carbon footprint, underscoring the need for decarbonisation strategies. This study examines potential pathways to achieve this by exploring alternative fuel options and assessing their environmental impact using life cycle assessment (LCA). Focusing on a brick manufacturing plant in Australia, identified as Plant A, the study uses a cradle-to-gate LCA approach to establish baseline emissions and evaluate the benefits of various fuel-switch scenarios. Key results show that switching the current mixed grid electricity and natural gas to solar power delivers the most significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, achieving cuts of 69%. Switching natural gas to biomethane leads to a 58% reduction while moving from grid electricity to solar achieves a 16% decrease. These findings highlight the significant carbon savings achievable through fuel-switching in brick production, aligning with sustainable construction goals and climate targets. It is evident from the study that renewable energy integration should be prioritised, biomethane should be considered as a practical interim solution, and hydrogen’s viability for longer-term decarbonisation should be assessed. Future research should expand to a cradle-to-cradle perspective to capture the full environmental benefits of brick production, including reuse, recycling, and circular processes
An extension of the theory of planned behaviour to predict exclusive breastfeeding among Australian mother-father dyads using structural equation modelling
No full textObjectives: The objective of this paper was to examine the predictors of breastfeeding exclusivity at two time-points (6 and 26 weeks postpartum) using a dyadic mother–father extended model of the theory of planned behaviour. Design/Method: A sample of 1139 first-time Australian mother–father dyads completed measures of each of the Theory of Planned Behaviour variables (intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control) and additional psychosocial and behavioural predictors of breastfeeding, including problems with breastfeeding, psychological distress, childcare stress, partner support, and the frequency and time of first public breastfeed. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine the factor structures of the latent constructs to be included in the structural model. Structural equation modelling was used to model pathways between variables. Results: Breastfeeding exclusivity at 6 weeks was significantly predicted by breastfeeding self-efficacy at 6 weeks, intention to exclusively breastfeed, and frequency of public breastfeeding over the month prior, whereas childcare stress, partner support, time of first public breastfeed, and fathers' variables (attitudes and subjective norms) had little influence. Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between mothers' attitudes, psychological distress, and breastfeeding problems with breastfeeding exclusivity at 6 weeks. Breastfeeding exclusivity at 26 weeks was significantly predicted by mothers' attitudes, self-efficacy, breastfeeding exclusivity at 6 weeks, and frequency of public breastfeeding in the month prior. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of breastfeeding self-efficacy and confidence to breastfeed in public as crucial constructs in promoting long-term exclusive breastfeeding and provides support for an extended theory of planned behaviour model in predicting breastfeeding outcomes
Personalised News Summarisation Using Demographic-aware BART Model
Get PDFThe exponential growth of digital media has led to a saturation of online news content, making it increasingly important to deliver information that resonates with readers’ specific backgrounds and interests. While traditional summarisation methods treat all audiences homogeneously, recent advances highlight the need for demographic-aware approaches. However, existing automated news summarising systems rarely incorporate these nuances, often defaulting to one-size-fits-all summaries. Therefore, this research introduces a novel frameworkforpersonalised newssummarisation that accounts for reader-specific factors such as age, geography, and cultural background. We developed a specialised dataset linking demographic attributes to narrative priorities and used this to finetune an open-source BART model for dynamic, audience-aligned information emphasis. Integrated into a user-friendly web application, this model enables the generation of tailored summaries that better meet individual preferences. Comparative evaluations reveal that our approach substantially surpasses traditional summarisation tools, including leading models like ChatGPT 3.5 and Gemini, by providing more contextually relevant content
It’s not my responsibility: Working with autonomy-restricting algorithms facilitates unethical behavior and displacement of responsibility
No full textWhile algorithmic decision-making technology can greatly improve efficiency at work, it has the potential to promote unethical decision making in humans who work with the technology. In this paper, we test how the moral disengagement mechanism, displacement of responsibility arises, as an outcome of working with autonomy-restrictive algorithmic decision-making (ADM) technology. We draw upon the tenets of the job characteristics model and moral disengagement theory to test how job autonomy-restrictive ADM affects moral disengagement through displacing an individual’s responsibility for unethical behavior. We experimentally manipulated the level of job autonomy afforded by an algorithmic ADM system across two realistic work simulations. In Study 1 (N = 276), we first showed that participants working with autonomy-restricting ADM engaged in higher rates of unethical behavior that disadvantages customers to the benefit of the organization, compared to those who work with autonomy-affording ADM. In Study 2 (N = 256), we used a novel measure of the cognitions associated with displacement of responsibility to show that working with an autonomy-restricting ADM system leads individuals to experience subjectively lower levels of personal responsibility for the negative consequences of their decisions and leads them to displace this responsibility onto a figure of authority, which can be a human or the technology itself. Altogether, our findings provide new insights into how the cognitive process of moral disengagement unfolds, and indicate that job autonomy, as afforded or restricted in an algorithmic decision-making context, is an important consideration when implementing ADM technology
