Vulnerable learners in the age of COVID-19: A scoping review

© 2020, The Author(s). This scoping review provides an overview of COVID-19 approaches to managing unanticipated school closures and available literature related to young people learning outside-of-school. A range of material has been drawn upon to highlight educational issues of this learning context, including psychosocial and emotional repercussions. Globally, while some countries opted for a mass school shut-down, many schools remained open for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This partial closure not only enabled learning in smaller targeted groups but also offered a safe sanctuary for those who needed a regulated and secure environment. In Australia, if full school closures were to be enforced over a long period, a significant proportion of students from more vulnerable backgrounds would likely experience persistent disadvantage through a range of barriers: long-term educational disengagement, digital exclusion, poor technology management, and increased psychosocial challenges. This scoping review combines research on technology availability and learning, with analysis of the long-term educational impacts of navigating the COVID-19 disruption

Attitudinal factors associated with drink counting

Introduction: ‘Count your drinks’ is a protective behavioural strategy (PBS) that has been found to be effective in reducing alcohol consumption. Previous research has shown that females, older people and low-risk drinkers are more likely to use this strategy, but little is known about the attitudinal factors associated with engaging in drink counting. This information is important for developing effective interventions to encourage use of this PBS. The aim of this paper was to assess whether the following attitudinal factors are associated with frequency of enactment of the ‘Count your drinks’ PBS: (i) perceived ease of use; (ii) perceived effectiveness; (iii) personal relevance; and (iv) believability. Methods: A total of 683 Australian drinkers completed an online survey assessing demographic variables, alcohol consumption, frequency of drink counting and attitudes to the ‘Count your drinks’ PBS. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine whether the attitudinal factors were associated with frequency of enactment after controlling for demographic and alcohol-related factors. Results: Attitudes to the ‘Count your drinks’ PBS accounted for 28% of the variance in reported frequency of drink counting. Perceptions of personal relevance, ease of use and effectiveness were found to be significantly associated with frequency of enactment. Discussion and Conclusions: Interventions designed to encourage drinkers to count their drinks should aim to increase the perceived personal relevance, ease of use and effectiveness of this strategy

Impact on staff of the Mentally Healthy Schools Framework

Purpose: The Mentally Healthy Schools Framework (MHSF), based on the population-wide Act-Belong-Commit mental health promotion campaign, is a whole-school approach primarily targeting student mental health, but it is also intended for staff. This paper presents the results of an impact survey on staff after the implementation of the Framework in a number of schools in Western Australia. Design/methodology/approach: A baseline questionnaire was completed by n = 87 staff at schools that had just signed up to the programme, and a participant questionnaire was completed by n = 146 staff at schools that had been participating for at least 17 months. Findings: The results show that the Framework has had a substantial impact on many staff in terms of increased mental health literacy and taking action to improve their mental health. Originality/value: Mental health interventions in schools generally focus on students' well-being and how to deal with student mental health problems. There are few comprehensive interventions that also include staff well-being

Brief Report: A Latent Class Analysis of Guideline Compliance Across Nine Health Behaviors

Background: Prevalence figures for health-related behaviors disguise the existence of behavioral clusters. A growing body of work indicates the potential effectiveness of using simultaneous (versus sequential) approaches to targeting health-related behaviors to make deeper inroads into addressing non-communicable diseases. To inform future interventions designed to simultaneously address multiple risk factors, the aim of the present study was to identify behavioral clusters including nine behaviors relating to smoking, alcohol consumption, nutrition, physical activity, and sleep. Method: A latent class analysis was applied to a nationally representative sample of 1849 adult Australians. Results: Of the four identified segments, one was characterized by a relatively healthy behavioral profile and another demonstrated poor results across multiple lifestyle domains. The other two groups comprised individuals who demonstrated healthy behaviors in some domains (e.g., substance use) but not in others (primarily physical inactivity and junk food consumption, respectively). Conclusions: Results suggest the opportunity to encourage individuals in the latter two groups to build on existing positive behaviors to achieve greater overall compliance with health recommendations. Particularly intensive interventions are likely needed for those in the unhealthiest group to address the potentially reinforcing effects of their multiple unhealthy behaviors