The Role of Occupational Science in Public health and Wellbeing Practice

In this paper I will explain the link between occupational science and public health and wellbeing. The explanation will include discussion of common areas of interest such as environmental sustainability. It will also determine the importance of establishing and understanding the meanings of human occupation in public health practice and consider why interventions that ignore peoples’ meanings of occupation are unlikely to succeed. The scope of contemporary public health is broad and it encompasses a range of issues from global environmental sustainability to individual health behaviours. Environmental sustainability issues are inextricably linked to human activities to the extent that Pratarelli (2012) has proposed that we should refer to ‘human activity issues’ rather than ‘environmental issues’. Occupational science commentators such as Whiteford and Hocking (2012) have also talked about the significance of human occupation in relation to environmental degradation. This is just one example of the link between occupational science and public health. Occupational science includes a quest to understand why people do as they do (Hocking and Wright-St Clair 2011). Next in this paper and using the public health issue of skin cancer prevention as an example, I explain why interventions that ignore peoples’ meanings of occupation are unlikely to succeed. I illustrate with findings from a grounded theory study designed to explore why young women do as they do in the sun

The conflict between the land owner, mineral right holder and the mining title holder in South African mining law

South African law recognises that the right to minerals is one of the rights of ownership of land which can be subtracted from the full dominium It was thus inevitable that the exploitation of South Africa's mineral wealth, in precious stones, precious metals and base minerals, should lead to a conflict between the interests of the owner of the land and the interests of the person, who by contract with the land owner or by law, became entitled to work the mineral deposits in such land

Enriching Teacher Self-Efficacy Through a Support Centric Evaluation Model: A Mixed Methods Study of TEAM\u27s Impact on Teacher Self-Efficacy

The effectiveness of teacher evaluation systems is determined by the extent to which they can support improved instructional practice. Research suggests that implementation factors such as attitudes of school leaders (Kimball & Milanowski, 2009), perceptions of fairness (Delvaux, Vanhoof, Tuytens, Vekeman, Devos, & Petegem, 2013), the relationship of the evaluator and the teacher (Weber, 1987), and the quality of the feedback provided can all impact the effectiveness of the evaluation system (Conly & Glasman, 2008; Danielson, 2012; Delvaux et al., 2013; Weber, 1987). This mixed methods study attempted to determine the extent to which these implementation characteristics occurring within the context of the Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM) acted as an intervening variable for teacher self-efficacy, the belief system that mediates teacher behavior. Limitations in the sample size resulted in an inability to conduct the statistical analysis needed to determine the extent to which implementation might act as an intervening variable. However, the study did find that the school with the implementation characteristics most aligned to those outlined in the research had an overall higher teacher self-efficacy average on both the pre and post administration of the Teacher Efficacy Belief Scale-Self. The study also examined how the implementation of TEAM influenced teacher efficacy. Bandura (1977) suggests that there are four sources of efficacy development: mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and affective states. The study found that the teachers’ perceptions of fairness and the attitude of the principal gave power to the sources of efficacy. Teachers were more likely to utilize the evaluation experience as a source of efficacy if they perceived the process and feedback to be fair and if there was an expectation that they utilize the process to improve their practice. In addition, teachers were more likely to utilize the feedback provided if it was connected to student outcomes. Support for the evaluation process was also linked to the generation of affective states for the teachers, or to positive and negative stress responses. Finally a model for principal practice is provided that involves the generation of a support centric evaluation model that could serve to ensure that teacher self-efficacy is supported throughout the evaluation process

Dynamic soil properties across a suburban landscape, Ankeny, Iowa

Humans influence soil properties through agriculture, urbanization, and many other activities. This study investigated the degree to which humans influence dynamic soil properties (including bulk density, organic carbon, and heavy metal concentrations) in a suburban landscape and assesses the variability of these soil properties with respect to the length of time that has passed since disturbance or construction activities. Aerial photos were used to delineate residential areas from different years and nine time periods of development were established. Ten homes from each time period of development were randomly selected and soil samples were collected from the center of the front yard of each home. Soil cores were divided into 0-5, 5-10, and 10-20 cm increments with a composite of five cores. The soils were analyzed for bulk density, total carbon, inorganic carbon, heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn), pH, and particle size distribution. Organic carbon content was determined by subtracting the inorganic carbon from the total carbon. Soils adjacent to older homes could be recovering from disturbance that occurred during construction. It was found that bulk density ranged from 0.68 to 1.88 g/cm3 for the entire study area with a mean of 1.13 g/cm 3 at depth 0-5 cm, 1.34 g/cm3 at 5-10 cm, and 1.44 g/cm3 at 10-20 cm. The mean soil bulk density for the time periods ranged from a low of 1.23 g/cm3 for soil adjacent to homes built prior to 1939 to 1.70 g/cm3 for soil adjacent to homes built from 2003-2005. The bulk density was positively correlated with the sand content the latter of which contributed to the higher bulk density in soils from the most recent time periods of development. The higher bulk density values of these soils could also be due to compaction during construction or an accumulation of organic matter. The organic carbon ranged from 0.01 to 8.41% for the entire study area with a mean of 3.11% at depth 0-5 cm, 1.92% at depth 5-10 cm, and 1.38% at depth 10-20 cm. The mean organic carbon for the time periods of development ranged from 4.49% from soils around houses developed prior to 1939 to 0.49% for soils from time period of development 2003-2005. Concentrations of Cu and Pb were higher in soils from older residential areas. The mean Cu concentration for the Pre 1939 time period of development was a high of 20.8 mg kg-1 and for time period 2003-2005 was a low of 14.9 mg kg-1. Nickel concentrations increased with depth with a mean of 20.1 mg kg-1 at depth 0-5 cm, 21.0 mg kg-1 at depth 5-10 cm, and 22.2 at depth 10-20 cm. Organic carbon was positively correlated with concentrations of Pb, Cu, and Cr. All the heavy metals were positively correlated with one another except Zn. The data suggests that all the metals except Zn have a common origin, which is most likely parent material. Higher concentrations of Cu and Pb could be due anthropogenic inputs or due to the higher organic matter content in soils adjacent to older homes. There may be a source that causes an increase in Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, and Ni concentrations in soil adjacent to homes built from 1983-1990