88 research outputs found
An Exploration of the Barriers and Facilitators Shaping Vaping Cessation Among Australian Young Adults
No full textThis study of 18–24-year-old young adults (YAs) in Australia who use, or used to use, nicotine vape products (NVPs) sought to explore their experiences when attempting to quit vaping to understand the barriers and identify facilitators of cessation. We analysed data from a survey (n = 532) of 422 YAs who vape and 110 YAs who used to vape, as well as interactive workshops (n = 12) and semi-structured interviews (n = 3), which included 7 YAs using and 8 no longer using NVPs. Social Cognitive Theory informed the data collection, with open-ended questions exploring how personal, environmental and behavioural factors shaped vaping cessation. Qualitative analyses revealed 11 themes shaping vaping cessation, including the normalisation of vaping, easy access and a desire to fit in. Vaping cessation was complicated by using NVPs to manage symptoms of mental ill-health. Additionally, former vapers reported using combustibles to replace vaping, highlighting the risk of health impacts from smoking. Potential support sources included friends and general practitioners, or family doctors. Support service development must consider de-normalising vaping, addressing underlying mental health issues and providing effective campaigns around the health risks of vaping and smoking. The findings highlight the need to invest in vaping cessation, and they can inform the design of vaping cessation programs to better support those trying to quit and ensure the success of their quit attempts
Co-designing a vaping cessation program for Australian young adults: A conceptual model
No full textIntroduction
Australian young adults (YA) report difficulties in quitting vaping. This study sought to understand what a vaping cessation program should look like from the perspective of current and former vapers, and professionals/experts involved in this health space, to inform the development of a conceptual model.
Methods
Data collection was informed by Social Cognitive Theory using co-design methodology to explore vaping cessation. Interactive workshops and semi-structured interviews were held online between March 2023-January 2024, with data from participants’ narratives and written materials thematically analysed.
Results
YAs (18-24 years) identifying as current or former vapers (n=15) and health professionals/experts’(n=13) insights informed the model framework, incorporating three main elements based on environmental, personal and behavioural factors shaping vaping cessation. Four design considerations were identified; the program needs to be affordable, accessible, appropriate and adaptable. YAs expressed a strong preference to share their quitting journey with peers, endorsing a digital forum providing a hybrid framework of support.
Conclusions
Vaping cessation is nuanced and complex requiring a multi-faceted approach targeted to the specific needs of the young adult population.
Implications
The findings can be used to inform the development of a vaping cessation program tailored to young adults in Australia and other similar contexts. Young adults perceived sharing the quitting journey and being inspired by the lived experience of others as critical components for successful vaping cessation. Social Cognitive Theory is demonstrated to be a valuable behaviour change framework for understanding vaping cessation and should be considered in future research of intervention development.Full Tex
‘I Just Don’t Drink’: Examining the Experiences of Young Adult Abstainers in Australia’s Changing Drinking Trends
No full text Increasing numbers of young adults in Australia are choosing to abstain from alcohol. Research demonstrates young adults encounter difficulties when choosing to abstain in settings where alcohol consumption is common or expected. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of abstainers aged 18–24 years to understand if the acceptance of their non-drinking practices is changing and how they managed their non-drinking practice in social contexts where alcohol consumption is common in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, we show how drinking practices are prevalent and powerful, evident through pressure from significant others to drink. Second, we show how young adults enact agency to deal with this pressure and participate as a non-drinker through (a) having a strong sense of being, (b) using an empowered verbal response to deflect pressure and (c) choosing alternative non-alcohol-related activities. The findings offer insight into how young adults wishing to refrain from alcohol may participate openly as abstainers in heterogenous drinking groups. </jats:p
'The Other Parent': A Critical Policy Analysis of Fatherhood Discourses in the Australian Government's Paid Parental Leave Scheme
No full textThe Australian paid parental leave (PPL) government scheme aims to support working parents through financial assistance and the promotion of gender equality in caregiving responsibilities. However, the scheme's implementation has been critiqued for its gendered design, which marginalises fathers and reinforces traditional gender roles. This study conducts a critical policy analysis of the PPL scheme timeline, focusing on the discursive language surrounding fatherhood in the policy text. Through an examination of key legislative documents from 2010 to 2024, three discursive themes were identified: the promotion of mothers as primary caregivers, the framing of fatherhood as an exceptional circumstance, and the role of the government as gatekeepers to parental leave (and parenthood). The findings suggest that the discursive language used in the policy perpetuates gendered stereotypes, limiting fathers' participation in caregiving and undermining efforts towards gender equality. By recognising PPL policy as a discursive structure that shapes cultural representations of parenthood, we can make meaningful impact through policy language, in so doing improving fathers' role clarity and family stability, thereby fostering a more inclusive and supportive societal environment. Recent policy updates which promote equitable and inclusive language bring hope that new iterations will encourage and support more flexible options for equitable caregiving responsibilities for parents.Full Tex
Associations Between Diet, Clinical Characteristics and Gut Microbiota in Cystic Fibrosis
No full textCystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic chronic condition characterised by aberrant mucosa and localised and systemic inflammation, which affects mainly the respiratory and digestive systems secondary to dysfunctional epithelial electrolyte and water transfer. The gut microbiota in CF is distorted in comparison with healthy controls. This includes elevation of potentially pathogenic Proteobacteria or its sub-rank taxa, and suppression of taxa belonging to the phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, which predominant in the gut microbiota and play important roles in the regulation of host metabolism and immune functions in the general population. The gut dysbiosis in CF has been linked to disease manifestations in the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. Indirect evidence from the general population and CF animal studies implies a role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis and/or management of other CF co-morbidities associated with metabolism and inflammation, such as CF-related diabetes (CFRD), colorectal cancer, malnutrition and overweight/obesity.
Among a variety of host and environmental factors that can influence the gut microbiota, diet seems to be the most modifiable. Therefore, the present study investigated the associations between gut microbiota and diet (macronutrients, micronutrients, food groups and flavonoids), as well as clinical characteristics important in CF management (e.g. lung function, body composition and psychological status), in the group of free-living adults with CF.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of Medical ScienceGriffith HealthFull Tex
The association between socio-cultural factors and well-being among young adult Middle Eastern migrants in Australia
No full textThe high prevalence of mental illness is a major public health challenge of the 21st century.
Migrant populations are at higher risk of developing mental illnesses and poor well-being due to
pre- and post-migration challenges and issues, and experience a higher rate of depression, anxiety,
schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental problems compared to the
mainstream population. They are also less happy and less satisfied with their lives than nonmigrants.
Of importance to this thesis, Middle Eastern (ME) migrants who originate from one of
the most crisis- and conflict-prone regions in the world, show very high rates of mental health and
well-being issues due to factors such as trauma and stressors faced prior to migration, language
barriers, marginalised cultural identity, discrimination, lack of opportunity to use their skills and
knowledge, and a highly stressful process of adjustment. If they are young adults, these
experiences are exacerbated by a wide range of further demanding and often stressful tasks, such
as negotiating education and employment pathways. Despite the understanding of the high
prevalence of mental health and well-being problems among the ME migrant group, their
contributing factors are still largely unknown. This points to the significance of research to better
understand well-being, as a key aspect of mental health, and its driving and reinforcing factors
among ME migrants.
Socio-cultural factors, comprising acculturation, religious identity, perceived
discrimination, perceived social support, and social connectedness, have been identified as factors
that potentially influence well-being outcomes among migrant populations. Although these factors
are increasingly recognised as important, very little is known about how they contribute to, and
the strength and nature of their association with well-being among migrants, and more specifically
among ME migrants. Therefore, this thesis aimed to explore the association between socio-cultural factors and well-being among young adult ME migrants in order to inform the development of
future interventions to promote the mental health of this population group.
To address the research aim, a cross-sectional survey study was designed. The study was
underpinned by the positivist paradigm aligned with the use of a quantitative approach where the
researcher collects statistical data using highly structured data collection instruments, and analyses
the data to test theory deductively in order to support or refute it. Data was collected from a sample
of 382 young adult ME migrants in Australia aged between 20 and 39 years using a selfadministered
questionnaire, through convenience sampling. The findings address existing gaps in
the literature on socio-cultural factors that contribute to the well-being of migrants, and enable a
deeper understanding of the pathways through which these factors shape well-being outcomes.
The thesis findings are presented in four papers which are published, in press, or under review by
international peer-reviewed journals.
Paper 1 is a validation study with two aims. First, to assess the reliability and validity of
Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Scale (SL-ASIA) using linear and orthogonal approaches. Second,
to explore the agreement between the outcomes of linear and orthogonal approaches of
acculturation using SL-ASIA. Data analysis was conducted in three stages. In the two first stages,
the linear SL-ASIA, and the orthogonal SL-ASIA were validated respectively, using Confirmatory
Factor Analysis (CFA), convergent validity, and discriminant validity indices. In the third stage,
the agreement between the validated linear and orthogonal SL-ASIA was measured using Cohen’s
kappa analysis. Based on the findings, both linear and orthogonal SL-ASIAs demonstrated
satisfactory reliability and validity indices. Also, comparing the classifications achieved by the
linear and orthogonal SL-ASIA showed a high level of consistency between the two scales. Paper 2 involved research on the relationship between socio-cultural factors and
psychological well-being among young adult ME migrants with two aims. First, to examine the
association between socio-cultural factors (i.e. acculturation, perceived social support, and
perceived discrimination) and psychological well-being. Second, to investigate the moderating
role of demographic variables (i.e. gender and education) in the association between socio-cultural
factors (i.e. acculturation, perceived social support, and perceived discrimination) and
psychological well-being. The study findings revealed that mainstream and ethnic acculturation,
perceived discrimination and perceived social support all had direct effects on psychological wellbeing.
Moreover, perceived discrimination and perceived social support were found to be
mediators in the relationship between acculturation and psychological well-being. In addition,
gender and education were found as moderators in the associations between ethnic acculturation,
perceived social support and perceived discrimination.
Paper 3 explored the association between social factors (i.e. religious identity, perceived
social support, perceived discrimination, and social connectedness) and psychological well-being
among young adult ME migrants. The findings showed that all the research variables (i.e. religious
identity, perceived social support, perceived discrimination, and social connectedness) had direct
effects on psychological well-being. The association between religious identity and psychological
well-being was found to be mediated by perceived social support, perceived discrimination, and
social connectedness. Perceived social support had the highest total effect on the psychological
well-being among all research variables.
Paper 4 aimed to determine the association between socio-demographic factors (i.e.
perceived social support, perceived discrimination, gender, education, and marital status) and subjective well-being in young adult ME migrants in Australia. It also aimed to examine the
moderating role of perceived social support in the association between perceived discrimination
and subjective well-being. Gender, education, marital status, perceived social support, and
perceived discrimination contributed significantly to some or all components (i.e. positive affect,
negative affect, and life satisfaction) of subjective well-being among ME migrants. Perceived
social support was found to have a moderating role in the association between perceived
discrimination and subjective well-being.
Collectively, the findings of this thesis highlight the significant effects of the selected
socio-cultural factors on the well-being outcomes among young adult ME migrants in Australia.
This research also identifies the associations between the socio-cultural factors in shaping wellbeing
outcomes. The findings from this research can inform professionals and institutions working
with migrants, including healthcare workers, public health officers, planners, policymakers,
educators and researchers, of the importance of considering these socio-cultural factors and
provides recommendations for further action and research. Migrants are important community
groups in Australia and worldwide and how societies act to promote their health outcomes would
benefit not only the migrant groups, but the entire populationThesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of MedicineGriffith HealthFull Tex
Factors of holistic wellbeing for members of the Aboriginal health and community workforce.
No full textThe following thesis is an explanation of a lore and culture informed perspective of worker wellbeing for the Aboriginal health and community workforce derived from the lived experiences of such workers. The entirety of this perspective required the furthering of current understandings or explanations of social and emotional wellbeing that were further removed from western understandings of being, particularly organisational wellbeing and more inclusive of notions of lore and culture. For the modelling to blossom a bricolage Indigenist methodology was required.
A qualitative methodology incorporating elements of Indigenous standpoint theory, grounded theory, critical theory, autobiographical ethnicity and yarning was used to form a bricolage for this study. This bricolage was developed after acknowledging that none of the above-mentioned approaches on their own quite fit the purposes of the current study however elements of each were considered integral. For the purposes of this study, this bricolage was labelled: Critical Aboriginal Bricolage (CAB).
Critical Aboriginal Bricolage (CAB) offers a culturally responsive research methodology that fits with the need to protect Aboriginal knowledge production and to meet academic rigour. It is an approach that promotes the active search for pieces of methodology that most fit the situation under investigation and for those for whom the investigation is occurring. The aim of CAB is to empower the voice of the subject from the culturally informed and involved perspective of the investigator.
For the knowledge produced to be most relevant to those it was produced for and from whom the knowledge came, the importance of Aboriginal ways of sharing knowledge had to be respected and used. This leads to more weight being applied to knowledge transfer through story rather than strict Western academic expectation. The author of this thesis is unforgiving in this pursuit and considers relevance to the target audience and acceptance of the themes from Aboriginal Elders to be of more value than
Western academic ‘excellence’. The author questions the status of power and authority of and over knowledge by western institutions and the legitimacy of such claims particularly with reference to Indigenist knowledges.
Australia has both an internationally recognised (through being a signatory to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)) and a moral obligation to ensure the wellbeing of Australia’s Aboriginal populations is improved as a national priority. Improvements in health outcomes and well–being are dependent on providing self-determination and sovereignty for Aboriginal peoples. This requires allowing Aboriginal people to utilise their own ontologies and epistemologies at all levels of the lived experience, be those education, work, healing, policy, child rearing, living and even dying. It also requires opportunity for Aboriginal peoples to know and to practice their own law as law is intrinsically linked to self–determination. Lore and culture have always provided Aboriginal peoples with the frameworks required to live well with each other and with place on the Australian continent. Looking at lore and culture to inform future policy and procedure is likely to lead to positive outcomes for Aboriginal peoples.
Aboriginal people as a population group experience far greater burden of disease than other Australians. This is the case across all physical and mental health indicators. There is therefore a greater need for service provision for Aboriginal peoples and communities yet engagement and adherence remain low. Access to culturally informed and appropriate health provision is often mentioned as a barrier to Aboriginal health. One identified effective strategy for increasing engagement with health and community services and further improving adherence to health and community service interventions has been to increase the number of Aboriginal workers within the fields of health and community service work.
Increasing the workforce is only a viable strategy if the workforce is stable. Aboriginal health and community service workers experience high levels of stress driven by multiple and at times unique stressors associated with the work they undertake and the communities in which they live or are from. This culminative stress impacts on the overall wellbeing of workers. Negatively impacted wellbeing is likely to be a factor influencing the high turnover and burnout rates experienced by Aboriginal people employed in health and community service work. Given the unique mix of cultural,
historical, professional and social influences of wellbeing present for Aboriginal health and community service providers it is unlikely that western explanations of workplace stress and worker wellbeing such as those offered around burnout or compassion fatigue for instance will be a true and complete fit for this workforce. Currently there is little work investigating the wellbeing of this particular workforce from a culturally rooted standpoint. As Aboriginal workers are themselves Aboriginal people and community members, if we are to be guided by the UN Declaration then culturally informed and appropriate strategies should be developed to assist with the maintenance of their wellbeing. It is therefore pertinent that strategies are developed to better maintain the wellbeing of Aboriginal workers that are developed from Aboriginal ontologies and epistemologies.
The theories offered in this thesis have come from the knowledge and experience of the workers themselves and may support this important work force in staying strong, supported, resilient and empowered in their work. Notions of lore and culture are prominent and are the basis for the theories offered as they have since the beginning of time kept us strong while caring for each other and caring for country.
A new model of holistic being, highlighting the importance of spirit is offered. This model incorporates lore as paramount in the wellbeing experience for Aboriginal people. It is further suggested that this model could be utilised with any population group as humans, in our great diversity of understandings of well-being and healthcare, all share the same basic structure of being. This involves spirit as core; mind, body and soul (as genetic memory) as a basic framework; and multiple connections influencing our story of self and other. This is all surrounded by a constant flow of positive and negative experiences that influence the choices we make and the expressions of being we create at any given time.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of MedicineGriffith HealthFull Tex
The Voices of Muslim Men: The Experiences of Australian Muslim Men in the Workplace
No full textGriffith Health, School of MedicineNo Full Tex
Engendering Occupational Health and Safety: RSI in the Poultry Processing Industry
No full textThis thesis explores the gendered discourses that surround the experience of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) for women workers in the poultry processing industry. RSI is a significant and debilitating injury and is one of the major occupational health and safety concerns for all assembly line workers. While there is a wealth of research on RSI, very few studies use a gender analysis to understand the experience of this injury. Despite RSI being a key concern for many women workers, women for the most part are ignored in research. When women are central to the analysis of RSI, injured women are labelled as neurotic, weak and marginal workers.
The thesis explains why women are represented in this way in the RSI literature. It identifies two powerful discourses at the centre of explanations of RSI, which also inform occupational health and safety research generally. The first, occupational health and safety discourse, ignores women or draws on a construction of woman that defines her primarily as wife and mother and excludes her from the category of worker. The second, medical discourse, centralises women in the analysis of occupational injury based on reproductive function, psyche and physicality. I argue that while each of these discourses conceptualise gender in a different way, they both draw on a modernist conceptualisation of gender which essentialises gender categories. Men and masculinity are used as a basis for all experience against which women’s experiences are compared and measured, thus limiting our understanding of those experiences. This has meant that women’s physiological, psychological and social differences to men are prioritised in women’s occupational health research, rather than the hazards and risks that they face at work.
This thesis offers a more meaningful explanation of women’s experience of RSI through postmodernist critiques of modernism. It deconstructs the essentialist conceptualisation of gender found in modernism and thereby disrupts the knowledge claims made about injured women workers. In particular, postmodernist insights serve to highlight the ways in which medical discourse constructs illness, disease and other social realities such as gender. However, recognising gender as a constructed category also challenges its very utility as an analytical tool. This makes talking about women as a group problematic.
The central argument of this thesis is that we need to maintain gender as an analytical concept. I argue that to speak meaningfully about women as a group we need to expand on the modernist conceptualisation of gender by incorporating insights from postmodernism. Modernism reveals the material structures that impact on gendered experience while postmodernism reveals how those experiences are constructed via dominant discourses.
These dominant discourses surrounding gender were evident in the stories of twenty-five injured poultry process workers who were interviewed as part of this research. The workers’ narratives illuminate the dominant constructions of gender that surround contemporary experiences of RSI. At the same time, their narratives highlight how women contest and negotiate these constructions through defining themselves as workers rather than women.
The study demonstrates that reading the women’s stories through a modernist and postmodernist lens reveals how gender continues to structure our experiences. This has significant implications for both occupational health and safety research and feminist research. Engendering occupational health and safety research through the incorporation of postmodernism’s emphasis on the discursive provides new ways of understanding injury and disease at work. Utilising a broad definition of gender has the potential to yield new insights into not only women’s occupational health and safety concerns, but also men’s. Furthermore, engendering occupational health and safety could provide a deeper and richer understanding of the occupational health and safety implications of our globalised economy.
Finally, this thesis provides evidence that gender continues to significantly impact on our lives. Over the last two decades, there have been debates surrounding the utility of gender to adequately understand our experiences. This thesis clearly demonstrates that gender still matters. It matters on both a material and a discursive level.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of Public HealthGriffith HealthFull Tex
Retraction Note to "THE USE OF FLOGGING AS A PUNISHMENT IN SAUDI ARABIA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW"
No full textTitle: "The Use of Flogging as A Punishment in Saudi Arabia from The Perspective of International Human Rights Law"Author: Hind Sebar and Shahrul Mizan IsmailOriginally published in: IIUM Law Journal, Vol. 21, Issue No. 1, Year 2021, pp. 77–102DOI: https://doi.org/10.31436/iiumlj.v29i1.609Date of Retraction: 17 May 2025
This article has been retracted and removed from public access at the request of the authors, due to concerns regarding potential legal implications.
The journal has removed the article following a formal request and internal review, in accordance with its editorial policies and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Retraction Guidelines. The decision to remove the article does not indicate any concerns regarding the scholarly integrity or peer review process.
This page serves as a public notice of the retraction to maintain transparency and ensure the continuity of the scholarly record
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