Holistic health: Shaping women’s experiences of positive body image

This PhD thesis seeks to contribute to a nuanced understanding of positive body image and how it is expressed among a group of women participating in holistic health culture in a modern Western society. Qualitative data were collected from in-depth ethnographic interviews with 25 women in Perth, Western Australia, to illuminate an understanding of their holistic health beliefs and practices, perceptions of appearance and health ideals, as well as their understandings of positive body image. Thematic analysis of the data through Nvivo revealed several overarching themes, demonstrating how certain aspects of holistic health culture may encourage or dissuade the development of positive body image. Overall, while some aspects of holistic health culture may help facilitate positive body image (e.g. a focus on wellbeing, embodying self-care, feminist identity), other elements of holistic health culture (e.g. nutritional regimes, rigid and idealistic health standards) have the potential to reinforce self-objectification processes, which are antagonistic to the development of positive body image. The findings from this thesis assist in considering the possible influences that may facilitate or dissuade features of positive body image among women, and provide timely guidance on the design of interventions to promote positive body image in the field of public health

Young people's views regarding participation in mental health and wellbeing research through social media

Social media is a central component in the lives of many young people, and provides innovative potential to conduct research among this population. Ethical issues around online research have been subject to much debate, yet young people have seldom been consulted to provide a youth perspective and voice. Eight (8) focus groups involving 48 Grade 9 Western Australian secondary school students aged 13-14 years were held in 2012, to investigate how young people perceive the feasibility and acceptability of social media when used as a research tool to investigate various issues relevant to their mental health and wellbeing. Whilst young people recognise many benefits of researchers using social media in this way, such as its relevance, innovation and accessibility, there were salient issues of privacy, consent, and practicality that require careful negotiation. There is a need for continued exploration and scientific debate of the moral and ethical implications of using social media for research, to help ensure this is employed in an appropriate and effective way that is respectful of and sensitive to the needs and views of young peoplepeer-reviewe

The Ripple Effect: Promoting a Supportive Secondary School Culture by Mobilising Bystanders to Bullying

The social context of bullying is pivotal with peers present as bystanders to the majority of school bullying interactions. Bystander responses can impact profoundly on the maintenance and course of school bullying and range from inciting the bullying through joining in or assisting the perpetrator, or inhibiting the bullying through actively intervening and supporting the bullied student. This qualitative study sought to elicit students’ perceptions of the bystander role and recommendations of the supports needed at the school level to encourage positive bystander behavior

Comparison of single-nucleotide polymorphisms and microsatellites in detecting quantitative trait loci for alcoholism: The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism

BACKGROUND: The feasibility of effectively analyzing high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) maps in whole genome scans of complex traits is not known. The purpose of this study was to compare variance components linkage results using different density marker maps in data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Marker maps having an average spacing of 10 cM (microsatellite), 0.78 cM (SNP1), and 0.31 cM (SNP2) were used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting maximum number of alcoholic drinks consumed in a 24-hour period (lnmaxalc). RESULTS: Heritability of lnmaxalc was estimated to be 15%. Multipoint variance components linkage analysis revealed similar linkage patterns among the three marker panels, with the SNP maps consistently yielding higher LOD scores. Robust LOD scores > 1.0 were observed on chromosomes 1 and 13 for all three marker maps. Additional LODs > 1.0 were observed on chromosome 4 with both SNP maps and on chromosomes 18 and 21 with the SNP2 map. Peak LOD scores for lnmaxalc were observed on chromosome 1, although none reached genome-wide statistical significance. Quantile-quantile plots revealed that the multipoint distribution of SNP results appeared to fit the asymptotic null distribution better than the twopoint results. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, variance-components linkage analysis using high-density SNP maps provided higher LOD scores compared with the standard microsatellite map, similar to studies using nonparametric linkage methods. Widespread application of SNP maps will depend on further improvements in the computational methods implemented in current software packages

The invisibility of covert bullying among students: Challenges for school intervention

Covert bullying behaviours are at least as distressing for young people as overt forms of bullying, but often remain unnoticed or unacknowledged by adults. This invisibility is increased in schools by inattention to covert bullying in policy and practice, and limited staff understanding and skill to address covert behaviours. These factors can lead to a school culture that appears to tolerate and thus inadvertently encourages covert bullying. This study explores these dynamics in Australian primary and secondary schools, including the attitudes of over 400 staff towards covert bullying, their understanding of covert bullying behaviours, and their perceived capacity to address these behaviours both individually and at a whole-school level. While most respondents felt a responsibility to intervene in bullying situations, nearly 70% strongly agreed with statements that staff need more training to address covert bullying. Only 10% of respondents described their current whole-school strategies as very effective in reducing covert bullying, and fewer than 40% reported their school had a bullying policy that explicitly referred to covert bullying. These results suggest an urgent need for sustainable professional development to enhance school staff understanding, skills and self-efficacy to address covert bullying through school policy and practice, and the need to identify and consolidate effective strategies to better address these behaviours

National Safe Schools Framework: Policy and Practice to Reduce Bullying in Australian Schools

In 2003 Australia was one of the first countries to develop an integrated national policy, called the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF), for the prevention and management of violence, bullying, and other aggressive behaviors. The effectiveness of this framework has not yet been formally evaluated. Cross-sectional data collected in 2007 from 7,418 students aged 9 to 14 years old and 453 teachers from 106 representative Australian schools were analyzed to determine teachers’ perceptions about the extent of implementation of the NSSF, teachers’ capacity to address student bullying, and students’ reports of bullying in their school, 4 years following the framework’s dissemination. While methodological issues limit the findings, schools appear not to have widely implemented the recommended safe school practices, teachers appear to need more training to address bullying, especially covert bullying, and bullying prevalence among students seems relatively unchanged compared to Australian data collected 4 years prior to the launch of the NSSF

Young people\u27s views regarding participation in mental health and wellbeing research through social media

Social media is a central component in the lives of many young people, and provides innovative potential to conduct research among this population. Ethical issues around online research have been subject to much debate, yet young people have seldom been consulted to provide a youth perspective and voice. Eight (8) focus groups involving 48 Grade 9 Western Australian secondary school students aged 13-14 years were held in 2012, to investigate how young people perceive the feasibility and acceptability of social media when used as a research tool to investigate various issues relevant to their mental health and wellbeing. Whilst young people recognise many benefits of researchers using social media in this way, such as its relevance, innovation and accessibility, there were salient issues of privacy, consent, and practicality that require careful negotiation. There is a need for continued exploration and scientific debate of the moral and ethical implications of using social media for research, to help ensure this is employed in an appropriate and effective way that is respectful of and sensitive to the needs and views of young people

Australian covert bullying prevalence study

The safety of members of the school community is essential to enhance the academic, social development and well being of young people. In line with the United Nations\u27 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF) is regarded as.a highly innovative, collaborative effort on behalf of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to foster the development and implementation of a series of whole-of-school initiatives to produce an integrated national policy for the prevention and early intervention of bullying and other aggressive and violent behaviours. Yet despite the impact of the NSSF in terms of reducing direct, face-to-face \u27overt\u27 bullying, such as hitting, punching, kicking and teasing, evidence suggests that a less direct form of \u27covert\u27 bullying is becoming more prevalent and insidious, fuelled in part by the growth of new forms of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). From this perspective, the Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study (ACBPS), commissioned by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), represents a significant first step to understand and tackle this phenomenon

‘It’s all about context’: Building school capacity to implement a whole-school approach to bullying

Student bullying behaviours are a significant social issue in schools worldwide. Whilst school staff have access to quality bullying prevention interventions, schools can face significant challenges implementing the whole-school approach required to address the complexity of these behaviours. This study aimed to understand how schools’ capacity to implement whole-school bullying prevention interventions could be strengthened to promote sustainability and improve student outcomes. Qualitative methods were used to observe schools over time to gain insight into their implementation capacity to improve student social and emotional wellbeing and prevent and ameliorate harm from bullying. A four-year longitudinal, multi-site case study intensively followed eight schools’ implementation of Friendly Schools, an Australian evidenced-based whole-school bullying prevention intervention. Regular in-depth interviews with school leaders and implementation teams over four years led to the refinement of a staged-implementation process and capacity building tools and revealed four common drivers of implementation quality: (1) strong, committed leadership; (2) organisational structures, processes and resources; (3) staff competencies and commitment; and (4) translating evidence into local school policy and practice. This paper considers the strengths of qualitative data in understanding how and why bullying prevention interventions work as well as actions schools can take to enhance their implementation and sustainability of complex social interventions

Three year results of the Friendly Schools whole-of-school intervention on children\u27s bullying behaviour

A group randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Friendly Schools program to reduce student bullying behaviour. This socio-ecological intervention targeted the whole school, classroom, family, and individual students to reduce bullying behaviour. Self-report data were collected in 29 schools over three years from a cohort of 1968 eight to nine-year-olds. Surveys measured frequency of being bullied, bullying others, telling if bullied and observing bullying. Results indicate that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24 and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students. No differences were found for self-reported perpetration of bullying. The findings suggest whole-of-school programs that engage students in their different social contexts appear to reduce their experiences of being bullied and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied