An exploration of the measurement of resilience in palliative care workers

Resilience is a concept associated with the idea that some people seem to readily bounce back from adverse experiences. In order to identify the best methods to develop and sustain resilience in palliative care workers there is a need for greater understanding of how to measure the resilience construct. Despite an abundance of resilience models and theories, there is very little consensus on how resilience should be operationalised and measured. Furthermore, there are no empirical studies that explore the measurement of resilience as it pertains to the unique demands of the palliative care setting. Therefore this thesis presents four studies designed to explore the measurement of resilience in palliative care workers. All studies took place within the context of the UK palliative care sector using adult samples working in hospices, acute wards, and community settings. The first study was a systematic and methodological review of resilience measurement scales to understand how resilience is currently being conceptualised in the peer reviewed literature. The second study explored how resilience is currently operationalised through a joint factor analysis of resilience scales identified in Study One using a sample of human service (n=361) and palliative care (n=245) workers. The third study explored behaviours associated with resilience from the perspective of palliative care workers using template analysis (n=36). Results indicated that in addition to intrapersonal and interpersonal resources, palliative care workers identified procedural knowledge as a key resilience resource. Therefore, the fourth and final study presents the development and validation of a situational judgment test designed to measure a procedural knowledge resource associated with resilience in palliative care workers using a sample of subject matter experts (n=21), hospice workers (n=36), and workers from across the palliative care domain (244). Overall, findings suggest that due to the over-reliance on self-report resilience questionnaires there is a tendency to measure resilience as a trait rather than a person-situation interaction. In response to this, a new measurement approach was explored using a situational judgment test method. In the final chapter the overall findings are discussed in relation to both their theoretical and practical implications; and finally some directions for future research are suggested

Resilience Through the Lens of Interactionism: A Systematic Review

This systematic review presents findings from a conceptual and methodological review of resilience measures using an interactionist theoretical framework. The review is also intended to update findings from previous systematic reviews. Two databases (EBSCOHost and Scopus) were searched to retrieve empirical studies published up until 2013, with no lower time limit. All articles had to meet specific inclusion criteria, which resulted in 17 resilience measures selected for full review. Measures were conceptually evaluated against an interactionist framework and methodologically reviewed using Skinner's (1981) validity evidence framework. We conclude that inconsistencies associated with the definition and operationalization of resilience warrant further conceptual development to explain resilience as a dynamic and interactive phenomenon. In particular, measures of resilience may benefit from a greater focus on within-person variance typically associated with behavioral consistency across situations. The use of alternative measurement modalities to self-report scales, such as situational judgment tests, is proposed as a way of advancing knowledge in this area

INTRA-CULTIVAR DIVERSITY IN SOUTHERN ITALY OLIVE CULTIVARS DEPICTED BY MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND SSR MARKERS

In this study, SSR analysis was performed on a large number of putative clones of the main olive cultivars from two Italian regions, Sicily and Calabria, in order to study the genetic relatedness, and to detect any degree of genetic diversity, which can be used to unambiguously identify possible superior clones. These putative clones have been collected and observed in the last ten years, following an extensive investigation carried out in traditional olive growing areas, thanks to the reports of farmers, millers, technician, growers and nurseries. The set of microsatellite (SSR) markers used allowed the detection of the genetic diversity, resulting from somatic mutation, indicating the presence of polyclonal cultivars, or having gametic origin, indicating a seedling origin of many clones, which thus share sibling relationships. The presence of superior clones or superior genotypes is discussed

Divanadium Pentoxide/4H-silicon Carbide: A Schottky Contact for Highly Linear Temperature Sensors

Abstract A new temperature sensor based on a divanadium pentoxide/4H-silicon carbide (V2O5/4H-SiC) Schottky diode is presented. The realized device shows a good linear dependence vs. temperature of the voltage drop measured across the forward-biased junction. The diode performance, i.e. linearity and sensitivity, were analyzed in the temperature range from 147 K up to 400 K. Moreover, fundamental diode parameters were extracted from current-voltage characteristics

Mucedorus: the last ludic playbook, the first stage Arcadia

This article argues that two seemingly contradictory factors contributed to and sustained the success of the anonymous Elizabethan play Mucedorus (c. 1590; pub. 1598). First, that both the initial composition of Mucedorus and its Jacobean revival were driven in part by the popularity of its source, Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Second, the playbook's invitation to amateur playing allowed its romance narrative to be adopted and repurposed by diverse social groups. These two factors combined to create something of a paradox, suggesting that Mucedorus was both open to all yet iconographically connected to an elite author's popular text. This study will argue that Mucedorus pioneered the fashion for “continuations” or adaptations of the famously unfinished Arcadia, and one element of its success in print was its presentation as an affordable and performable version of Sidney's elite work. The Jacobean revival of Mucedorus by the King's Men is thus evidence of a strategy of engagement with the Arcadia designed to please the new Stuart monarchs. This association with the monarchy in part determined the cultural functions of the Arcadia and Mucedorus through the Interregnum to the close of the seventeenth century

Characterization of the PTW 34031 ionization chamber (PMI) at RCNP with high energy neutrons ranging from 100 – 392 MeV

Radiation monitoring at high energy proton accelerators poses a considerable challenge due to the complexity of the encountered stray radiation fields. These environments comprise a wide variety of different particle types and span from fractions of electron-volts up to several terra electron-volts. As a consequence the use of Monte Carlo simulation programs like FLUKA is indispensable to obtain appropriate field-specific calibration factors. At many locations of the LHC a large contribution to the particle fluence is expected to originate from high-energy neutrons and thus, benchmark experiments with mono-energetic neutron beams are of high importance to verify the aforementioned detector response calculations. This paper summarizes the results of a series of benchmark experiments with quasi mono-energetic neutrons of 100, 140, 200, 250 and 392 MeV that have been carried out at RCNP - Osaka University, during several campaigns between 2006 and 2014