Emotional labour demands in enabling education: A qualitative exploration of the unique challenges and protective factors

Students in enabling programs bring richness, diversity, and complexity to the teaching and learning environment. They are often from under-represented backgrounds, have experienced educational disadvantage or disruption, belong to multiple equity groups, and face academic and non-academic challenges, including mental ill-health. This pilot study explored academic staff experiences in teaching and supporting students in enabling programs. Using a collaborative autoethnographical approach, four members of a multi-institutional research group wrote first-person reflections in response to guiding questions. From generative and reflective discussions, different themes arose. A major theme was the high ‘emotional labour demands’ of teaching a vulnerable cohort, with both positive and negative effects on staff. Other major themes included: the diversity of emotional responses and coping strategies; the complex, sometimes contradictory, role of the enabling educator; the importance of communities of care and support; and the impact of witnessing students’ transformations. Within these themes, the challenges, rewards, and protective factors, which mitigate stress among enabling educators, were identified

Ontogeny of Toll-Like and NOD-Like Receptor-Mediated Innate Immune Responses in Papua New Guinean Infants

Studies addressing the ontogeny of the innate immune system in early life have reported mainly on Toll-like receptor (TLR) responses in infants living in high-income countries, with little or even no information on other pattern recognition receptors or on early life innate immune responses in children living under very different environmental conditions in less-developed parts of the world. In this study, we describe whole blood innate immune responses to both Toll-like and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor agonists including the widely used vaccine adjuvant ‘alum’ in a group of Papua New Guinean infants aged 1–3 (n = 18), 4–6 (n = 18), 7–12 (n = 21) and 13–18 (n = 10) months old. Depending on the ligands and cytokines studied, different age-related patterns were found: alum-induced IL-1β and CXCL8 responses were found to significantly decline with increasing age; inflammatory (IL-6, IL-1β, IFN-γ) responses to TLR2 and TLR3 agonists increased; and IL-10 responses remained constant or increased during infancy, while TNF-α responses either declined or remained the same. We report for the first time that whole blood innate immune responses to the vaccine adjuvant alum decrease with age in infancy; a finding that may imply that the adjuvant effect of alum in pediatric vaccines could be age-related. Our findings further suggest that patterns of innate immune development may vary between geographically diverse populations, which in line with the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ particularly involves persistence of innate IL-10 responses in populations experiencing higher infectious pressure

Models of support for student wellbeing in enabling programs: comparisons, contrasts and commonalities at four Australian universities

Students in enabling programs bring a richness and diversity to universities. This diversity is important both to the vitality of the institutions, and the social equity outcomes that enabling programs hope to foster. Yet, in crossing the bridge between pre-university and university entry, these students are often confronted by multiple challenges. Within the literature, concerns such as mental health difficulties, complex family issues and being first in the family to attend university have been shown to impact on a student’s ability to succeed academically, develop a sense of belonging in the university community and negotiate personal hurdles. While many universities provide counselling services, which are of great value, they are but one element in a more comprehensive model of support for the wellbeing of students in enabling programs. This paper will present the key features of four models of supporting enabling students’ wellbeing that have been developed at four institutions. The participating universities are the University of Tasmania, Murdoch University, The University of Newcastle, and the University of the Sunshine Coast. The models are unique, and also share commonalities, in terms of whether the support is embedded, centrally-located, proactive, informal or holistic

Infant characteristics.

<p>Infant characteristics.</p

Maturation of innate immune function in PNG infants.

<p>Whole blood samples from PNG infants aged 1–3 months (n = 18, <i>white bars</i>), 4–6 months (n = 18, <i>light grey bars</i>), 7–12 months (n = 21, <i>dark grey bars</i>) or 13–18 months (n = 10, <i>black bars</i>) were stimulated with TLR (LTA; PolyIC; LPS; Gardiquimod) and NLR (iE-DAP; MDP) ligands, and Alum alone or with LPS co-stimulation (denoted by ♦). Presented are the geometric means and 95% confidence intervals (pg/mL) for each age group for background-adjusted cytokine responses. Significance level is indicated where p<0.05.</p

Innate IL-10 responses in relation to increasing age in infancy.

<p>Presented are the geometric means and 95% confidence intervals (pg/mL) for background-adjusted IL-10 responses. Mann-Whitney U tests for significant differences in log-transformed IL-10 levels compared to the “1–3 months” age group; and Spearman rho tests for significant correlations between log-transformed IL-10 levels and ordered age groups were conducted. Significance level is indicated where p<0.05 only (<b>*</b> p = 0.046; <b>‡</b> p = 0.022).</p>♦<p>denotes LPS co-stimulation used.</p

Alum-induced chemokine production with increasing age in infancy.

<p>Whole blood samples from PNG infants aged 1–3 months (n = 10, <i>white bars</i>), 4–6 months (n = 9, <i>light grey bars</i>), 7–12 months (n = 10, <i>dark grey bars</i>) or 13–18 months (n = 9, <i>black bars</i>) were stimulated with Alum. Presented are the geometric means and 95% confidence intervals (pg/mL) for each age group for background-adjusted chemokine responses. Significance level is indicated where p<0.10.</p

Correlations between innate inflammatory cytokine responses and age.

<p>Spearman rho correlation coefficients for the slope/trajectory of log-transformed inflammatory cytokine responses across ordered age groups: 1–3, 4–6, 7–12 and 13–18 months were determined. Significance level is indicated; bold-faced and italicized text highlight correlations with p<0.05.</p>♦<p>denotes LPS co-stimulation used.</p

Innate TNF-α responses in relation to increasing age in infancy.

<p>Presented are the geometric means and 95% confidence intervals (pg/mL) for background-adjusted TNF-α responses. Mann-Whitney U tests for significant differences in log-transformed TNF-α levels compared to the “1–3 months” age group; and Spearman rho tests for significant correlations between log-transformed TNF-α levels and ordered age groups were conducted. Significance level is indicated where p<0.05 only (<b>*</b> p = 0.049).</p>♦<p>denotes LPS co-stimulation used.</p