1,721,007 research outputs found
Factors Associated With Smoking Amongst a Cohort of Mothers of Pacific Infants in Aotearoa/New Zealand
No full textThis thesis aims to describe the association between cigarette smoking and maternal factors amongst a cohort of Pacific mothers utilising data from a longitudinal Pacific Islands Families: First Two Years of Life (PIF) Study.
Mothers of a cohort of 1398 Pacific infants born in Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand during 2000 were interviewed when their infants were six weeks old (n=1376) and followed up at 12 and 24 months. This thesis used data from the 6-week and 12-month phase (n=1219). The interviews included questions regarding mothers cultural, socio-economic, health situation and lifestyle behaviours such as cigarette smoking. Crosstabulations and logistic regression were applied to investigate the association between health, demographic, social, cultural, and educational factors with rates and patterns of smoking.
Overall, 29.8% of mothers smoked at one year follow up, more started smoking (9.6%) than stopped (4.4%). Smokers were more likely to be 20-29 years old, Niuean, born in New Zealand, non-partnered, full-time parents, living with other smokers, earning $301-450 per week, experiencing overcrowding and smaller housing, speak English fluently, and more culturally aligned to mainstream New Zealand culture. Formal education qualifications, parity, and type of house they lived in were not significantly associated with smoking.
It is anticipated that these findings may assist tobacco control agencies in addressing smoking behaviours for Pacific people
An exploratory study aimed to determine the efficacy of an assessment battery designed to examine oral English language acquisition in refugee and migrant children.
No full textThe process of migration has resulted in population growth and contributed to the transformation of New Zealand. Migrant and refugee children face many adjustment factors and their ease in resettling in New Zealand is largely dependent on their ability to learn English. Migration stress, change, trauma and loss may result in psychological difficulties which in turn may affect their resettling and learning. The Ministry of Education and other professionals work together to enhance the quality of their service provision to facilitate easier adjustment, resettlement and effective learning for these children. An adequate assessment battery for speech language therapists to assess migrant and refugee children, is presently lacking in New Zealand. Therapists currently use various assessments, with the assistance of interpreters. The New Zealand Speech Therapists’ Association (NZSTA), in accordance with speech therapists in Group Special Education (GSE), strongly supports the need for research with these groups and the development of an appropriate assessment battery. This exploratory study aimed to determine an assessment battery for use in examining English language acquisition in refugee and migrant children and to highlight the benefit of using measurement tools that determine incremental change over time in contrast to the use of monolingual psychometric tests. The study explored a selected assessment battery and gathered data in five main focus areas, namely: cognition, language, trauma, classroom behaviour, developmental and birth information. Eligible children were those who did not have physiologically - impaired cognitive abilities. Eight cases, four refugee and four migrant students, were selected by convenience sampling. All participants were children selected from primary school 1 (three refugees and three migrants) and primary school 2 (one refugee and one migrant) primary schools, aged approximately (5-8 years). Participants included four male and four females, refugee and migrant children, and those with both high and low English ability. Based on the study’s results, recommendations were made to refine the test battery, which included test modification. For example, the use of the trauma measurement tool only if there is prior evidence of trauma, the inclusion of a larger test population who have a common primary language to allow for cost effective interpreter use and to also allow for generalisations to be made, the inclusion of an assessment of the children’s primary language in order to determine the relationship, development and acquisition of the child’s second language with reference to his/her development and skills in his native language. All of the refugee children and 3 migrant children displayed slower processing time during the administration of the tests. Migrant parents were quicker in test completion as compared to refugee parents. They displayed differences in family size, contact with extended family, socioeconomic status and educational level. Migrant children produced sentences that included correct word order and sequence whilst refugee children produced sentences that lacked adequate word order or lacked articles and determiners. The study found the proposed test battery was an effective choice for use in the assessment of both migrant and refugee children, as the battery allows for dynamic assessment of children from diverse groups and this proved to be an unbiased means of assessing their English language and cognitive skills. Recommendations are made for future, more-extensive research. These findings provide information about appropriate and reliable language acquisition tests that measure incremental change with time. This study will contribute to a developing knowledge base for speech-language therapists who work with migrant or refugee children. Effective assessment on which to base tailored language programmes will assist them to optimise their experience in New Zealand schools and enhance their English language skills
An Exploratory Study Aimed to Determine the Efficacy of an Assessment Battery Designed to Examine Oral English Language Acquisition in Refugee and Migrant Children
No full textThe process of migration has resulted in population growth and contributed to the transformation of New Zealand. Migrant and refugee children face many adjustment factors and their ease in resettling in New Zealand is largely dependent on their ability to learn English. Migration stress, change, trauma and loss may result in psychological difficulties which in turn may affect their resettling and learning. The Ministry of Education and other professionals work together to enhance the quality of their service provision to facilitate easier adjustment, resettlement and effective learning for these children. An adequate assessment battery for speech language therapists to assess migrant and refugee children, is presently lacking in New Zealand. Therapists currently use various assessments, with the assistance of interpreters. The New Zealand Speech Therapists’ Association (NZSTA), in accordance with speech therapists in Group Special Education (GSE), strongly supports the need for research with these groups and the development of an appropriate assessment battery. This exploratory study aimed to determine an assessment battery for use in examining English language acquisition in refugee and migrant children and to highlight the benefit of using measurement tools that determine incremental change over time in contrast to the use of monolingual psychometric tests. The study explored a selected assessment battery and gathered data in five main focus areas, namely: cognition, language, trauma, classroom behaviour, developmental and birth information. Eligible children were those who did not have physiologically - impaired cognitive abilities. Eight cases, four refugee and four migrant students, were selected by convenience sampling. All participants were children selected from primary school 1 (three refugees and three migrants) and primary school 2 (one refugee and one migrant) primary schools, aged approximately (5-8 years). Participants included four male and four females, refugee and migrant children, and those with both high and low English ability. Based on the study’s results, recommendations were made to refine the test battery, which included test modification. For example, the use of the trauma measurement tool only if there is prior evidence of trauma, the inclusion of a larger test population who have a common primary language to allow for cost effective interpreter use and to also allow for generalisations to be made, the inclusion of an assessment of the children’s primary language in order to determine the relationship, development and acquisition of the child’s second language with reference to his/her development and skills in his native language. All of the refugee children and 3 migrant children displayed slower processing time during the administration of the tests. Migrant parents were quicker in test completion as compared to refugee parents. They displayed differences in family size, contact with extended family, socioeconomic status and educational level. Migrant children produced sentences that included correct word order and sequence whilst refugee children produced sentences that lacked adequate word order or lacked articles and determiners. The study found the proposed test battery was an effective choice for use in the assessment of both migrant and refugee children, as the battery allows for dynamic assessment of children from diverse groups and this proved to be an unbiased means of assessing their English language and cognitive skills. Recommendations are made for future, more-extensive research. These findings provide information about appropriate and reliable language acquisition tests that measure incremental change with time. This study will contribute to a developing knowledge base for speech-language therapists who work with migrant or refugee children. Effective assessment on which to base tailored language programmes will assist them to optimise their experience in New Zealand schools and enhance their English language skills
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Factors associated with smoking amongst a cohort of mothers of pacific infants in Aotearoa/New Zealand
No full textThis thesis aims to describe the association between cigarette smoking and maternal factors amongst a cohort of Pacific mothers utilising data from a longitudinal Pacific Islands Families: First Two Years of Life (PIF) Study.
Mothers of a cohort of 1398 Pacific infants born in Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand during 2000 were interviewed when their infants were six weeks old (n=1376) and followed up at 12 and 24 months. This thesis used data from the 6-week and 12-month phase (n=1219). The interviews included questions regarding mothers cultural, socio-economic, health situation and lifestyle behaviours such as cigarette smoking. Crosstabulations and logistic regression were applied to investigate the association between health, demographic, social, cultural, and educational factors with rates and patterns of smoking.
Overall, 29.8% of mothers smoked at one year follow up, more started smoking (9.6%) than stopped (4.4%). Smokers were more likely to be 20-29 years old, Niuean, born in New Zealand, non-partnered, full-time parents, living with other smokers, earning $301-450 per week, experiencing overcrowding and smaller housing, speak English fluently, and more culturally aligned to mainstream New Zealand culture. Formal education qualifications, parity, and type of house they lived in were not significantly associated with smoking.
It is anticipated that these findings may assist tobacco control agencies in addressing smoking behaviours for Pacific people
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Social Factors Associated With Internalising and Externalising Behaviours in Pacific Island Children, at Age 11 Years
No full textPacific children experience a disproportionate number of mental health difficulties (Craig, Jackson, Han, & NZCYES Steering Committee, 2007). The World Health Organization (2013) recognizes that 50 percent of all mental health disorders have already begun before the age of 14 and are the main factors underlying disability in adolescence. Internalising and externalising behaviours in children can precede many mental health disorders that have a detrimental effect on other family members and relationships and have the potential to impair a child’s development, educational achievement and their ability to lead normal lives (Cicchetti, 1984). Therefore, it is important to examine the factors that influence the development of these problems in children of Pacific Island descent in the pre-adolescent years. It is anticipated that findings from this research project will assist health practitioners to identify and support ‘at risk’ children.
Study aims
The aims of this study were to (1) identify the distribution of internalising and externalising behaviours in Pacific Island children at 11- years-of-age, (2) isolate the social factors associated with internalising and externalising behaviours at 11-years of age, and (3) explore the relationships between family, childhood and socio-economic factors to determine whether specific combinations of factors potentially have a greater effect on behaviour.
Design and methods
The research project uses anonymous secondary data from the Pacific Islands Families Study (PIFS) which is a longitudinal, multi-disciplined study that follows a birth cohort of 1376 Pacific babies and their families born at Middlemore Hospital in 2000. For this thesis, a cross sectional design is used to examine the associations between children’s internalising and externalising behaviour and family circumstances and other variables that have been collected at the 11-year phase (Domholdt, 2005). Data collection utilised a multi-informant approach, including child, parent and teacher participants. Social variables of interest for this thesis are family characteristics (mother’s marital status and family stability, mother’s education), child characteristics (child gender, ethnicity, cultural alignment, achievement at school, peer relationships exposure to bullying and involvement) and socio economic characteristics (mothers and father’s income and household size).
Results
Findings from the study indicated that the majority of children show no or minimal signs of externalising or internalising behaviours. However, larger than expected numbers of children identified as being involved in bullying, feeling marginalised or having family members or friends that were part of a gang.
Analysis showed that there were individual factors that increased the risk of either internalising or externalising behaviours. The study also established that there were specific combinations of factors that had cumulatively greater significance on children’s internalising and externalising behaviours. There was increased likelihood of internalising behaviours for children who were female, had good relationships with their parents, difficulties in forming good relationships with other children, did not consider themselves as being good at sport, and had family members who were part of a gang. The study found that an increased likelihood of externalising behaviours was predominantly associated with socio-economic disadvantage; children with mothers in a less stable relationships, had poor reading ability, were from a low income family, lived in crowded households and had family members who were part of a gang.
Discussion
Findings from this study should be considered in relation to the possible protective factors; conditions or circumstances that provide positive adaptation despite the presence of risk factors. The ability for children to maintain good quality friendships with peers and caregivers, achieve at school and in sport and develop a satisfactory level of performance in sporting activities build self-confidence are seen as having positive prognostic implications and associated with a reduction in the likelihood of internalising behaviours developing. It is suggested that improving family stability and financial circumstances will help to reduce the prevalence of externalising behaviours.
Conclusion
This study has successfully identified the distribution of internalising and externalising behaviours (measured as scores) in Pacific Island children at 11 years, old and isolated the social factors associated with internalising and externalising behaviours. It has also established that specific combinations of family, childhood and socio-economic factors have a greater significance.
Many of the findings in this study are consistent with the literature and should assist health professionals broadly identify at-risk children. The findings from this study also support government policy initiatives that focus on addressing health and social disparities
How Effective Is the ‘X-Ray Session’ in Helping Patients Understand Their Pain?: A Quasi-Experimental Design
No full textMany patients with chronic pain are extensively investigated in the search for a 'cause' of their pain and radiological investigations are one of the most frequent ways to do this. Modern day imaging can provide evidence of pathological process. However, whilst imaging can reveal all manner of variants, these can be present in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients alike. If the patient believes in a mechanical cause of their pain (i.e. abnormality/cause = effect /pain), then they may be less easily satisfied or reassured by the finding of 'irrelevant' results.
In reviewing the literature, the evidence suggests that patients’ beliefs about their pain play a prominent role in pain perception, function and response to treatment. It therefore follows that if we can gain a better understanding of patients’ perspective’s of their pain it may lead to the development of better management.
The primary aim of this study was to gain insight into the illness experience of those with chronic pain. In particular, how effective was a single cognitive-behavioural intervention (the X-ray session) in helping patients reconceptualise their views of their chronic pain and improve their ability to exert control over the pain experience. The hypotheses were tested using a one-group pretest - post-test design (T2 & T3) with repeated measures (T1 & T4). In order to broaden the understanding of the illness experience, data was also collected during a semi-structured interview (T3). As well as investigating the group as a whole, consideration was given to gender differences. This is because anecdotal clinical observation supports comment in the literature suggesting that men and women differ in their perception, understanding and management of pain.
Analysis of the overall questionnaire data failed to show that the X-ray session, on its own, was effective in influencing illness beliefs, distorted thinking or pain related fear of movement (T2 & T3). However, a series of repeated measures analyses of variances with gender as a between subject factor showed that the Illness Perception Questionnaire - Revised (IPQ-R) subscale, emotional distress, changed differently between women and men following the X-ray session. Men's emotional distress increased while women's reduced although neither change was significant on its own. Analysis of baseline data (T1) did confirm one of the hypotheses, that women would report greater pain related fear of movement than men at the start of the programme.
While analysis of the questionnaire data failed to demonstrate significant changes, the interviews offered the opportunity to gain a greater insight into the individual’s conceptualisation of their pain. In sum, we know that patients hold implicit theories about the significance of their x-ray results, however, the broader meanings were notably more difficult to access without an in-depth interview.
Thus without ascertaining how sophisticated the knowledge and understanding of the illness representation was, or indeed if it is accurate, gaining insight into the patient’s model (in this study) remains limited
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