Parents and teachers’ perceptions of the tone and emotional impact of education news coverage

This study examines Australian teachers (n = 268) and parents’ (n = 206) self-reported perceptions of education news coverage and how the coverage affects them. Overall, the participants reported a perception that news coverage of teachers, schools, the education system and standardised testing was generally negative in tone. Participants reported typically feeling demoralised by negative stories and inspired by positive stories. A high importance was placed upon the public perception of education by participants. However, trust in the media reporting of educational issues was low. An exception to this general pattern of findings was that participants did not place as much importance upon the public perception of standardised testing and reported being less affected by negative or positive stories on that topic compared to the other education aspects. This research is one of the few studies to investigate the potential emotional impact that news coverage of education can have on media consumers

Running to well-being: A comparative study on the impact of exercise on the physical and mental health of law and psychology students

Research indicates that, in comparison to other university students, law students are at greater risk of experiencing high levels of psychological distress. There is also a large body of literature supporting a general negative association between exercise and stress, anxiety and depression. However, we are not aware of any studies exploring the impact of exercise on the mental health of law students specifically. This article reports evidence of a negative association between exercise and psychological distress in 206 law and psychology students. Compared to psychology students, the law students not only reported greater psychological distress, but, in addition, there was a stronger association between their levels of distress and their levels of exercise. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a simple yet effective way law schools might support the mental health of their students

I understand you feel that way, but I feel this way: The benefits of I-language and communicating perspective during conflict

Using hypothetical scenarios, we provided participants with potential opening statements to a conflict discussion that varied on I/you language and communicated perspective. Participants rated the likelihood that the recipient of the statement would react in a defensive manner. Using I-language and communicating perspective were both found to reduce perceptions of hostility. Statements that communicated both self- and other-perspective using I-language (e.g. ‘I understand why you might feel that way, but I feel this way, so I think the situation is unfair’) were rated as the best strategy to open a conflict discussion. Simple acts of initial language use can reduce the chances that conflict discussion will descend into a downward spiral of hostility

Using dual eye tracking to uncover personal gaze patterns during social interaction

We report the personal eye gaze patterns of people engaged in face-to-face getting acquainted conversation. Considerable differences between individuals are underscored by a stability of eye gaze patterns within individuals. Results suggest the existence of an eye-mouth gaze continuum. This continuum includes some people showing a strong preference for eye gaze, some with a strong preference for mouth gaze, and others distributing their gaze between the eyes and mouth to varying extents. Additionally, we found evidence of within-participant consistency not just for location preference but also for the duration of fixations upon the eye and mouth regions. We also estimate that during a 4-minute getting acquainted conversation mutual face gaze constitutes about 60% of conversation that occurs via typically brief instances of 2.2 seconds. Mutual eye contact ranged from 0-45% of conversation, via very brief instances. This was despite participants subjectively perceiving eye contact occurring for about 70% of conversation. We argue that the subjective perception of eye contact is a product of mutual face gaze instead of actual mutual eye contact. We also outline the fast activity of gaze movements upon various locations both on and off face during a typical face-to-face conversation

‘Teachers are the guinea pigs’: Teacher perspectives on a sudden reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

Primary and secondary education systems experienced substantial disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how public health policy has affected Australian teachers during the pandemic. This study examines teacher perspectives on a sudden change of policy, whereby schools were abruptly opened to students at the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, strict social distancing rules applied to the remainder of the population. Qualitative data from 372 Western Australian schoolteachers were analysed using thematic analysis. Results highlight substantial impacts on teachers’ workloads and adverse effects on wellbeing. Perceptions that they were acting as guinea pigs and subjected to different social distancing rules than other citizens were particular stressors. Findings highlight substantial consequences of public health policies on the roles and wellbeing of teachers

A game-based online tool to measure cognitive functions in students

Cognitive assessments can be expensive, lengthy and fatiguing for students and are often conducted in an artificial clinical context. In an effort to make the assessments more fun, researchers have started to introduce game elements to traditional cognitive tasks and training. This comes with a number of challenges. The main challenge is to develop an engaging tool that at the same time reliably assesses cognitive constructs in students. To address these challenges, this research aims to improve cognitive assessment with a new game-based assessment app that has been designed and developed in collaboration with researchers, teachers, students, and software engineers based on established cognitive theories, and subsequently validated through iterative testing in real world settings. The iterative development process is based on design-based research and includes cycles of design explorations, testing, analyses, redesign, and evaluation with students in authentic educational settings. The knowledge gained from the iterative process of designing a valid cognitive function app can inform other researchers who are aiming to develop cognitive assessment tools in an educational context

Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on mood and training in Australian community tennis players

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to the implementation of strict restrictions in Australia, which have severely impacted sporting activities. Tennis is played by 6.2% of the population within the Oceania region, and is a valuable sport for maintaining social, mental, and physical health. Current literature indicates the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of Australian residents. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in training and match play due to the outbreak, and its effects on emotional well-being of Australian senior tennis players. Additionally, explore any differences between middle aged (41-60 years) and senior (61 years and over) Australian tennis players. An online survey was used to assess training and match play habits, as well as ascertain the emotional well-being of tennis players. The survey was active from 24th April 2020 until 6th June 2020. Participants were adult (41+ years) tennis players from Australia. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were performed to check for differences in training hours and tennis matches played. Mann-Whitney tests were used to assess the difference in Brief Emotional Experience Scale (BEES) scores, employment status as well as the training hours and tennis matches played between the two age groups. A Kendall\u27s Tau B correlation test was performed to assess the associations of training, match play and demographic characteristics with BEES scores. Kruskal-Wallis tests assessed differences in BEES scores between participants of differing match play formats, tennis experience and cessation of tennis training time periods. There were 245 respondents who met our inclusion criteria. Tennis training hours along with the tennis matches played significantly decreased during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID-19, 85.09 and 88.48%, respectively. No significant ( \u3e 0.05) differences were observed between age groups for any of the training modality hours, nor was there any significant difference in number of tennis matches played. The participants average BEES score was 0.99 ± 1.27, indicating that respondents had a positive emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. The emotional well-being of the senior group was significantly ( = 0.002) higher than the middle aged group. Together, our results show that training and tennis match play decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, however the emotional well-being of senior tennis players in Australia appeared to not be negatively affected

Expressiveness of real-time motion captured avatars influences perceived animation realism and perceived quality of social interaction in virtual reality

Using motion capture to enhance the realism of social interaction in virtual reality (VR) is growing in popularity. However, the impact of different levels of avatar expressiveness on the user experience is not well understood. In the present study we manipulated levels of face and body expressiveness of avatars while investigating participant perceptions of animation realism and interaction quality when disclosing positive and negative experiences in VR. Moderate positive associations were observed between perceptions of animation realism and interaction quality. Post-experiment questions revealed that many of our participants (approximately 40 %) indicated the avatar with the highest face and body expressiveness as having the most realistic face and body expressions. The same proportion also indicated the avatar with the highest face and body expressiveness as being the most comforting and enjoyable avatar to interact with. Our results suggest that higher levels of face and body expressiveness are important for enhancing perceptions of realism and interaction quality within a social interaction in VR using motion capture

The Impact of Shared Versus Individual Office Space on Therapist Appraisal of Their Work Environment

Objective:  The primary objective was to investigate the impact of shared versus individual office space on therapist appraisal of the work physical and social environment, and overall appraisal of working conditions. Method:  Therapists (n = 59) from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Western Australia were surveyed about their appraisal of the social and physical work environment, in addition to their overall appraisal of working conditions. Results:  Compared to therapists with individual offices, therapists occupying shared office space reported lower appraisal of the work physical environment and lower overall appraisal of working conditions. No difference was found between groups for appraisal of the work social environment. Additionally, when statistically controlling for office space, both the appraisal of the social and physical environment made an independent contribution to the prediction of overall work satisfaction. Conclusion:  This research reveals that shared office space can negatively impact therapist appraisal of their work environment and reduce overall appraisal of working conditions. Additionally, results reveal the high importance of the physical environment for staff satisfaction in a mental health service

Mitigating implicit bias and promoting compassionate behavior in public health/healthcare professionals: Implications for treatment outcomes

Partly because it is unconscious, managing implicit bias in public health/healthcare remains intractable. Hence, administrators, practitioners, and their students unknowingly discriminate against others especially including socioeconomically disadvantaged people in the US and elsewhere. . .