Emerging Adult Resilience

This study examined how emerging adult resilience predicts perceived stress, life satisfaction, and coping skills, while controlling the number of daily hassles. Resilience is the process of overcoming the negative effects of risk exposure, coping successfully with traumatic experiences, and avoiding the negative trajectories associated with risks (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005; Olsson et al., 2003; Pooley & Cohen 2010). Based on previous literature, lowered perceived stress, increased coping skills, and increased life satisfaction have all been related to resilience, though these are looked at individually and not all together (Diener et al., 1985; Ong & Legger, 2022; Wang. 2019). In this study, emerging adults (N = 42) filled out a survey on Qualtrics that measured demographics, resilience, perceived stress, life satisfaction, and coping skills. After controlling the number of daily hassles, resilience did not predict higher perceived stress levels, b = -0.23, SE = 0.47, t(39) = 0.50, p = .622, 95% CI [-1.18, 0.71], sr2 = .01. Resilience did predict higher coping skills, b = 3.03, SE = 0.94, t(39) = 3.23, p = .003, 95% CI [1.13, 4.93], sr2 = .21. However, it was found that resilience did not significantly predict life satisfaction, b = -0.12, SE = 0.26, t(39) = -0.48, p = .636, 95% CI [-0.64, 0.40], sr2 = .004. Results suggest that resilience predicts better coping skills, indicating the importance of building emerging adults’ resilience throughout the lifespan so that recovery ability is heightened after future hard life events

Early Timeline of Lean Tissue Mass and Strength Improvements in Trained Men Following a High Volume/Frequency Resistance Training Program

International Journal of Exercise Science 12(4): 1094-1109, 2019. The purpose of this study was to determine the early timeline effect of a systemic high volume/frequency resistance training intervention on lean tissue mass and strength in trained men. Twenty-two healthy resistance trained men, age (32.29 ± 9.75 years), training age (9.40 ± 6.18 years) were placed on a 4-week resistance training (RT) intervention with lean mass and strength assessed pre, mid, and post intervention. RT consisted of 6 exercises: flat smith chest press, pull ups, triceps pushdowns, dumbbell bicep curls, leg press or walking lunges, and standing calf raises, completing 5 sets of 6-12 repetitions, 6 days per week. One-way repeated measure ANOVA’s were conducted to determine the impact of time on lean mass, leg press 1-RM, chest press 1-RM, and absolute/relative resistance training volume. Lean mass increased pre to mid 1.27 ± 1.18 kg, (2.03%), mid to post 1.14 ± 1.16 kg, (1.78%), and pre to post 2.41 ± 1.29 kg, (3.84%). Leg press 1-RM increased pre to mid 16.08 ± 34.90 kg, (6.09%), mid to post 27.53 ± 27.69 kg, (9.82%), and pre to post 43.61 ± 40.13 kg, (16.42%). Chest press 1-RM increased pre to mid 5.77 ± 5.51 kg, (4.45%), mid to post 6.70 ± 5.83 kg, (4.94%), and pre to post 12.47 kg ± 5.83 kg, (9.62%). High volume/frequency resistance training results in significant early improvements in lean mass and strength in trained men

Spatiotemporal and plantar pressure patterns of 1000 healthy individuals aged 3-101 years

Objective The purpose of this study was to establish normative reference values for spatiotemporal and plantar pressure parameters, and to investigate the influence of demographic, anthropometric and physical characteristics. Methods In 1000 healthy males and females aged 3–101 years, spatiotemporal and plantar pressure data were collected barefoot with the Zeno™ walkway and Emed® platform. Correlograms were developed to visualise the relationships between widely reported spatiotemporal and pressure variables with demographic (age, gender), anthropometric (height, mass, waist circumference) and physical characteristics (ankle strength, ankle range of motion, vibration perception) in children aged 3–9 years, adolescents aged 10–19 years, adults aged 20–59 years and older adults aged over 60 years. Results A comprehensive catalogue of 31 spatiotemporal and pressure variables were generated from 1000 healthy individuals. The key findings were that gait velocity was stable during adolescence and adulthood, while children and older adults walked at a comparable slower speed. Peak pressures increased during childhood to older adulthood. Children demonstrated highest peak pressures beneath the rearfoot whilst adolescents, adults and older adults demonstrated highest pressures at the forefoot. Main factors influencing spatiotemporal and pressure parameters were: increased age, height, body mass and waist circumference, as well as ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion strength. Conclusion This study has established whole of life normative reference values of widely used spatiotemporal and plantar pressure parameters, and revealed changes to be expected across the lifespan

Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care - South Australia, July - December 2018

The Australian palliative care sector is a world leader in using routine clinical assessment information to guide patient centred care and measure patient and family outcomes. Providers of palliative care are commended for their commitment to excellence in delivering evidence-based, patient-centred care by using the routine Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) assessment framework and contributing patient data toward national outcome measurement and benchmarking. PCOC acknowledges the dedication and willingness of clinicians to improve the care of patients, their families and caregivers. The information collected is not just data - it represents the real-life outcomes of over 40,000 Australians who die an expected death every year. While the focus of this report is on the most recent information relating to July to December 2018, results over the last three years are also presented to highlight achievements and improvement in outcomes. The most recent information corresponds to 23,333 patients, having 29,931 episodes of care and 70,135 palliative care phases from 127 services who provide palliative care in hospital / hospice or in the person\u27s home

A profile of patients receiving palliative care in Western Australia for January - June 2019

The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) is a national program that aims to improve the quality and outcomes of palliative care in Australia. This is achieved via a standardised clinical language that supports a national data collection. This report provides a high level profile of 4,181 patients who received palliative care in Western Australia during July to December 2018 and had their pain, symptom, family / carer and psychological / spiritual issues assessed as part of routine clinical care

Using service design to co-create a digital strategy to improve tertiary education participation amongst under-represented markets

Participation in tertiary education is an important factor in achieving social parity and access to opportunity for Australians. The current government agenda is to increase participation amongst low socio-economic, culturally and linguistic diverse, Indigenous and remote peoples to be representative of their proportion in the population. This paper draws on the field of service design to bring an innovative approach to developing social marketing strategy. This research reports the findings of two qualitative studies involving 211 participants across Australia to elicit a psychologically based approach to segmentation and generate innovative digital solutions that will increase applications to participate in tertiary education. This work is the result of a multi-disciplinary team that brought together practioners from the widening participation and equity fields along with social marketers and service marketers

1000 Norms Project: Protocol of a cross-sectional study cataloging human variation

Background Clinical decision-making regarding diagnosis and management largely depends on comparison with healthy or ‘normal’ values. Physiotherapists and researchers therefore need access to robust patient-centred outcome measures and appropriate reference values. However there is a lack of high-quality reference data for many clinical measures. The aim of the 1000 Norms Project is to generate a freely accessible database of musculoskeletal and neurological reference values representative of the healthy population across the lifespan. Methods/design In 2012 the 1000 Norms Project Consortium defined the concept of ‘normal’, established a sampling strategy and selected measures based on clinical significance, psychometric properties and the need for reference data. Musculoskeletal and neurological items tapping the constructs of dexterity, balance, ambulation, joint range of motion, strength and power, endurance and motor planning will be collected in this cross-sectional study. Standardised questionnaires will evaluate quality of life, physical activity, and musculoskeletal health. Saliva DNA will be analysed for the ACTN3 genotype (‘gene for speed’). A volunteer cohort of 1000 participants aged 3 to 100 years will be recruited according to a set of self-reported health criteria. Descriptive statistics will be generated, creating tables of mean values and standard deviations stratified for age and gender. Quantile regression equations will be used to generate age charts and age-specific centile values. Discussion This project will be a powerful resource to assist physiotherapists and clinicians across all areas of healthcare to diagnose pathology, track disease progression and evaluate treatment response. This reference dataset will also contribute to the development of robust patient-centred clinical trial outcome measures

Francisella tularensis Transmission by Solid Organ Transplantation, 20171.

In July 2017, fever and sepsis developed in 3 recipients of solid organs (1 heart and 2 kidneys) from a common donor in the United States; 1 of the kidney recipients died. Tularemia was suspected only after blood cultures from the surviving kidney recipient grew Francisella species. The organ donor, a middle-aged man from the southwestern United States, had been hospitalized for acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome, pneumonia, and multiorgan failure. F. tularensis subsp. tularensis (clade A2) was cultured from archived spleen tissue from the donor and blood from both kidney recipients. Whole-genome multilocus sequence typing indicated that the isolated strains were indistinguishable. The heart recipient remained seronegative with negative blood cultures but had been receiving antimicrobial drugs for a medical device infection before transplant. Two lagomorph carcasses collected near the donor's residence were positive by PCR for F. tularensis subsp. tularensis (clade A2). This investigation documents F. tularensis transmission by solid organ transplantation

Cognitive and behavioral predictors of light therapy use

Objective: Although light therapy is effective in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other mood disorders, only 53-79% of individuals with SAD meet remission criteria after light therapy. Perhaps more importantly, only 12-41% of individuals with SAD continue to use the treatment even after a previous winter of successful treatment. Method: Participants completed surveys regarding (1) social, cognitive, and behavioral variables used to evaluate treatment adherence for other health-related issues, expectations and credibility of light therapy, (2) a depression symptoms scale, and (3) self-reported light therapy use. Results: Individuals age 18 or older responded (n = 40), all reporting having been diagnosed with a mood disorder for which light therapy is indicated. Social support and self-efficacy scores were predictive of light therapy use (p's<.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that testing social support and self-efficacy in a diagnosed patient population may identify factors related to the decision to use light therapy. Treatments that impact social support and self-efficacy may improve treatment response to light therapy in SAD. © 2012 Roecklein et al

Learning hand in hand: Engaging in research-practice partnerships to advance developmental science.

Developmental science research often involves research questions developed by academic teams, which are tested within community or educational settings. In this piece, we outline the importance of research-practice partnerships, which involve both research and practice-based partners collaborating at each stage of the research process. We articulate challenges and benefits of these partnerships for developmental science research, identify relevant research frameworks that may inform these partnerships, and provide an example of an ongoing research-practice partnership