Fun environmentalism! Potential contributions of autonomy supportive psychology to developing low carbon lifestyles in Australian households

To achieve sustainable levels of Australian household carbon emissions, individuals will have to adopt and maintain high impact pro-environmental behaviours across a number of behavioural domains. It is hypothesised that motivation type will be a critical factor in bringing about personally sustainable changes. In particular, selfdetermined (autonomous) motivation will be essential for generalisation of proenvironmental behaviour. If this hypothesis is supported, the next challenge is to identify optimal ways of promoting autonomous behaviour change, drawing on and expanding from Self-Determination Theory. It is proposed that a general move towards a positive, holistic approach to environmentalism is necessary, one aspect of which is to make environmental action more satisfying, interesting, and fun

The relationship between country and individual household wealth and climate change concern: The mediating role of control

Although past findings are inconclusive, there is evidence of a negative relationship between wealth—at the household and country level—and climate change concern. One explanation for this relationship is that wealth provides a buffer against the risks of climate change, leading people in wealthy countries or wealthy households to perceive a greater sense of control over climate change impacts which in turn results in lower levels of concern. We tested this hypothesis with data sourced from the OECD Environment Directorate which conducted a detailed household survey in 2011 of 11 OECD countries (N=10,162). Our results accord with past studies showing a significant negative relationship between country and household wealth and individuals’ perceptions of the seriousness of climate change. Moreover, our findings suggest that this relationship is mediated through sense of control, measured at the country level by the readiness index and at the household level by the extent of adoption of energy efficiency improvements. These findings raise the question of how best to incentivise action on climate change amongst those with the ability - but not necessarily the motivation - to respond

The relationship between country and individual household wealth and climate change concern: The mediating role of control

Although past findings are inconclusive, there is evidence of a negative relationship between wealth—at the household and country level—and climate change concern. One explanation for this relationship is that wealth provides a buffer against the risks of climate change, leading people in wealthy countries or wealthy households to perceive a greater sense of control over climate change impacts which in turn results in lower levels of concern. We tested this hypothesis with data sourced from the OECD Environment Directorate which conducted a detailed household survey in 2011 of 11 OECD countries (N=10,162). Our results accord with past studies showing a significant negative relationship between country and household wealth and individuals’ perceptions of the seriousness of climate change. Moreover, our findings suggest that this relationship is mediated through sense of control, measured at the country level by the readiness index and at the household level by the extent of adoption of energy efficiency improvements. These findings raise the question of how best to incentivise action on climate change amongst those with the ability - but not necessarily the motivation - to respond

What factors facilitate a GP survey high response rate?

Copyright © 2005 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.General practitioners are inundated with surveys seeking information about their beliefs and practices by a range of health researchers, policy makers and marketers. Their time for these surveys is often unpaid, or under-rewarded, or impinges on other responsibilities. If response rates are too low – something all too common – results are impossible or difficult to interpret.J. Fielding, H. Clothier, N. Stocks N and H. Kell

The common in-group identity model enhances communication about recycled water

Despite the potential of recycled water to provide a safe alternative water source, recycled drinking water schemes have met with community resistance that has undermined their implementation. The aim of the current study was to identify effective means of communicating information about recycled drinking water by drawing on the common in-group identity model. In an online, experimental study, we explored whether awareness of a common/shared superordinate identity could enhance the impact of information on public perceptions of recycled drinking water. The results showed that the communication of information increased participants' acceptance, perceived knowledge and positive emotions toward recycled drinking water and lowered their risk perceptions. Moreover, the results provide the first experimental evidence to show that the effect of information on recycled water was enhanced when the information was attributed to a scientist that shared a superordinate identity with participants, albeit only for those that identify strongly with the superordinate identity

Delta infection without increase in severity of hepatitis.

The findings of increased morbidity of HbsAG positive hepatitis with delta infection in a study by Dr. Smedile et al were contrary to those of studies performed by the authors. A group of 27 and a group of 41 drug abusers were examined serologically and had liver biopsies performed. There was no significant difference in histological findings between delta positive and delta negative patients in the 27 member group. None of the 41 member group showed any increase in severity of illness. Ethnic origin may be an important factor in the pathogenicity of the delta agent

Moderate influenza vaccine effectiveness in Victoria, Australia, 2011

We used a sentinel general practitioner (GP) network to conduct surveillance for laboratory-confirmed influenza amongst patients presenting with influenza-like illness (ILI) in Victoria, Australia in 2011. The test-negative variation of the case control study design was used to estimate effectiveness for seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine. Cases and controls were ILI patients that tested positive and negative for influenza, respectively. Vaccination status was recorded by GPs and vaccine effectiveness (VE) was calculated as (1-adjusted odds ratio)x100%. There were 529 patients included in the study, of which 29% were influenza-positive. Twelve percent of study participants were reported as vaccinated, 6% of cases and 15% of controls. Adjusted VE against all influenza was 56%, but not statistically significant. There was generally little variation in VE estimates when stratified by virus type and subtype, which is consistent with good matches between circulating strains and the vaccine strains. The VE was higher among adults of working age than among children

Effectiveness of Seasonal Influenza Vaccine against Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Virus, Australia, 2010

To estimate effectiveness of seasonal trivalent and monovalent influenza vaccines against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus, we conducted a test-negative case–control study in Victoria, Australia, in 2010. Patients seen for influenza-like illness by general practitioners in a sentinel surveillance network during 2010 were tested for influenza; vaccination status was recorded. Case-patients had positive PCRs for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus, and controls had negative influenza test results. Of 319 eligible patients, test results for 139 (44%) were pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus positive. Adjusted effectiveness of seasonal vaccine against pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus was 79% (95% confidence interval 33%–93%); effectiveness of monovalent vaccine was 47% and not statistically significant. Vaccine effectiveness was higher among adults. Despite some limitations, this study indicates that the first seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine to include the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus strain provided significant protection against laboratory-confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 infection

Action following the discovery of a global association between the whole genome and adverse event risk in a clinical drug-development programme

Observation of adverse drug reactions during drug development can cause closure of the whole programme. However, if association between the genotype and the risk of an adverse event is discovered, then it might suffice to exclude patients of certain genotypes from future recruitment. Various sequential and non-sequential procedures are available to identify an association between the whole genome, or at least a portion of it, and the incidence of adverse events. In this paper we start with a suspected association between the genotype and the risk of an adverse event and suppose that the genetic subgroups with elevated risk can be identified. Our focus is determination of whether the patients identified as being at risk should be excluded from further studies of the drug. We propose using a utility function to determine the appropriate action, taking into account the relative costs of suffering an adverse reaction and of failing to alleviate the patient's disease. Two illustrative examples are presented, one comparing patients who suffer from an adverse event with contemporary patients who do not, and the other making use of a reference control group. We also illustrate two classification methods, LASSO and CART, for identifying patients at risk, but we stress that any appropriate classification method could be used in conjunction with the proposed utility function. Our emphasis is on determining the action to take rather than on providing definitive evidence of an association