A FRAMEWORK FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION - THE INDUSTRY OMBUDSMEN IN NEW ZEALAND

A FRAMEWORK FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION - THE INDUSTRY OMBUDSMEN IN NEW ZEALAN

Can the 12-item General Health Questionnaire be used to measure positive mental health?

Background. Well-being is an important determinant of health and social outcomes. Measures of positive mental health states are needed for population-based research. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) has been widely used in many settings and languages, and includes positively and negatively worded items. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that the GHQ-12 assesses both positive and negative mental health and that these domains are independent of one another. Method. Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses were conducted using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the Health Survey for England (HSE). Regression models were used to assess whether associations with individual and household characteristics varied across positive and negative mental health dimensions. We also explored higher-level variance in these measures, between electoral wards. Results. We found a consistent, replicable factor structure in both datasets. EFA results indicated a two-factor solution, and CFA demonstrated that this was superior to a one-factor model. These factors correspond to ‘symptoms of mental disorder’ and ‘positive mental health’. Further analyses demonstrated independence of these factors in associations with age, gender, employment status, poor housing and household composition. Statistically significant ward-level variance was found for symptoms of mental disorder but not positive mental health. Conclusions. The GHQ-12 measures both positive and negative aspects of mental health, and although correlated, these dimensions have some independence. The GHQ-12 could be used to measure positive mental health in population-based research

Identifying patient concerns during consultations in tertiary burns services: development of the Adult Burns Patient Concerns Inventory

ObjectivesIdentifying the issues and concerns that matter most to burns survivors can be challenging. For a number of reasons, but mainly relating to patient empowerment, some of the most pressing concerns patients may have during a clinical encounter may not naturally be the focal point of that encounter. The Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI) is a tried and tested concept initially developed in the field of head and neck cancer that empowers patients during a clinical encounter through provision of a list of prompts that allows patients to self-report concerns prior to consultation. The aim of this study was to develop a PCI for adult burns patients.DesignContent for the PCI was generated from three sources: burns health-related quality of life tools, thematic analysis of one-to-one interviews with 12 adult burns patients and 17 multidisciplinary team (MDT) members. Content was refined using a Delphi consensus technique, with patients and staff members, using SurveyMonkey.SettingWithin outpatient secondary care.ParticipantsTwelve adult burns patients and MDT members from two regional burns centres.ResultsA total of 111 individual items were generated from the three sources. The Delphi process refined the total number of items to 58. The main emergent domains were physical and functional well-being (18 items), psychological, emotional and spiritual well-being (22 items), social care and social well-being (7 items) and treatment-related concerns (11 items).ConclusionsThe Adult Burns Patient Concerns Inventory is a 58-item, holistic prompt list, designed to be used in the outpatient clinic. It offers a new tool in burn care to improve communication between healthcare professionals and patients, empowering them to identify their most pressing concerns and hence deliver a more focused and targeted patient-centred clinical encounter

Young People’s Conceptualization of Their Wellbeing: Culturally Situated Understandings in the Context of Kazakhstan

Little is known about the wellbeing of young people living in post-Soviet nation contexts such as Kazakhstan. The qualitative data reported represents the views of 309 Kazakhstani young people on their conceptualisations of wellbeing that fell broadly into three major thematic categories: external factors from one’s surroundings; relationships with others, and internal aspects of the self. The direct consequence of inadequate physical environment on health and the environment’s impact on psychological wellbeing through leisure, lifestyle, education, and employment opportunities were emphasised. Affirmative connections with others were associated with increased levels of emotional wellbeing. The importance of making independent choices as well as being actively involved in leisure, volunteering and extracurricular school activities for achieving optimal levels of wellbeing was highlighted.Newton – Al-Farabi Partnership Programme” (Reference number 172734464

Bullying prevention and mediation: the role of Values Education

The growing incidence of bullying in schools calls for alternative prevention and mediation approaches in which values are integrated into current practices. This study explores educators’ and parents’ beliefs about the explicit application of a values-based approach to bullying intervention and mediation in Catholic schools. Individual and focus group interview among teachers, principals and parents were held in three Catholic primary schools in the Sydney Metropolitan area. The study also served to identify current anti-bullying practices employed as well as to examine specific values perceived to be relevant by parents and educator in preventing and solving bullying conflicts. Respondents showed a preference for mediation interventions between bully and victim, drawing simultaneously on element of restorative practice, notions of accountability and imposition of consequences. Likewise, they supported a value-centred approach in dealing with the bully in order to achieve a positive behaviour. Specific professional development in dealing with bullying prevention in the practice of medication and consistency of practice were recommended. The paper also presents implication for professional development and creating an organic anti-bullying culture by incorporating values into the curriculum and examining the roles of students, parents, carers and the school

Taking Adventure to New Heights

I lean forward and as we flip through the air, my stomach leaves my body. I am free falling, plummeting to the earth at 120 miles per hour. An inexplicable feeling of invincibility mixed with a humbling sense of my mortality wash over me. Intense adrenaline rushes out every extremity. Somehow, there is a huge grin on my face which wouldn’t disappear until long after I arrived back on the ground

Letter from Dr. Brown

It is with great delight that I write this note introducing theinaugural issue of the journal, The Annual Review of CriminalJustice Studies (ARCJS). While the department has expressed adesire for a student-run journal for several years, it took theenterprising spirit of our newest tenure-track faculty member, Dr.Albert de la Tierra, or Professor Lobo as his students call him, forthis project to come to fruition. Without Professor Lobo inspiringhis students or applying his many gifts in this area, this journalwould have taken much longer to happen. Thank you, ProfessorLobo, for this gift to the department, our students, and to allinterested in current topics in Criminal Justice Studies. Professor Lobo’s inspiration is infectious, demonstrated byhis ability to get three of our best and brightest students in thedepartment to serve as the inaugural editorial board. ClaudiaLomeli-Rodriguez, Grace Ann Cowherd, and Serena RaquelGomez serve as the editorial committee and have set the bar highfor the quality and caliber of the journal in its very first go-around.Together, these remarkable students have compiled a compellingand exciting first issue that traverses the wide range of topics thatinterest our students. And their editorial expertise is already ondisplay, through the selection of the articles, the arrangement of theissue, and most importantly, through the compelling topics andideas that are presented herein

Codified Artifice

This written report supports the thesis exhibition entitled Codified Artifice, images of which are included in this report. The focus of this creative research is the cultural and nutritional implications of packaged foods. This research is manifested in a ceramic installation consisting of slip-cast food packages, stacked and arrayed to form a confined space. The installation asks the viewer to ponder their relationship to the containers displayed and discuss the role of packages in our food culture, and daily lives.  M.F.A