The women in the novels of Samuel Richardson

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 193

An evaluation of the falls prevention practice of community-based allied health professionals working in primary care

Objectives: This study aimed to explore allied health professional’s (AHP) current practice and understanding of falls prevention and to investigate self-reported change following a professional development workshop. Methods: Four professional development workshops were designed targeting exercise, home safety interventions, the LiFE program and medication reviews. Self-reported surveys were collected pre, post and at three-month follow-up. Results: Seven workshops were run in Northern Sydney with 161 participants. AHP identified practice barriers were regularly assessing falls risk and collaborating with other service providers. At three months, change in practice was reported by participants in the exercise (88.1%), home safety (48%), LiFE (78.6%), and medication review (62.5%) workshops. Discussion: These findings provide good support for the effectiveness of professional development workshops in knowledge translation for medication review and exercise based interventions. Further studies and initiatives into promoting screening for falls risk and greater collaboration between community service providers is recommended

Foster Youth, Child Abuse, and Head Trauma: Navigating the Treatment Gap for Victims of Abuse-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Foster Care System

93 pagesAbuse-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a leading cause of death for children in the United States. Foster youth are particularly vulnerable to abuse and significantly more likely to experience an abuse-related TBI than their non-foster peers. TBIs can worsen over time and prompt medical attention produces the best outcomes. However, children in the foster care system may face significant challenges in receiving medical care during the optimal time frame, preventing proper treatment. This thesis examines the specific barriers that foster youth face in accessing care and identifies new protocols and procedures that have the potential to overcome these obstacles. Psychological barriers, including fear, guilt, denial, and loyalty, combined with environmental factors such as ignorance, neglect, limited resources, and lack of awareness, can impede proper treatment and follow-up care for abuse-related TBIs. By implementing more accurate identification processes, treatments that are effective in the subacute and chronic phases of TBI, and a comprehensive rehabilitation approach, flexible avenues of treatment can be pursued to enhance long-term outcomes and support the recovery of foster youth affected by abuse-related TBIs

Motivations surrounding the pursuit of postgraduate study

This paper addresses a paucity of research that exists regarding the pursuit of postgraduate study by students. The central focus of this paper is to explore the motivations of students pursuit of postgraduate study and choices in relation to particular masters courses. The identification and analysis of the motivations behind students pursuit of postgraduate work seeks to negate the commodification of education. In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. In higher education, a postgraduate course is a marketable item which seeks to satisfy students’ wants or needs. By identifying students’ wants and needs, teachers in the higher education sector have a more acute chance of delivering to postgraduate students the commodity that they desire; thereby educators are keeping pace and dealing with current public demand. This paper provides a broad framework through which postgraduate opportunities can be contextualised and their implications considered in the forum of different and wide ranging approaches surrounding opportunities for its provision. The learning from this research has wide ranging application, including insight for academic and professional development in higher education as they face the key challenge of meeting students’ wants and needs. This paper refers to the findings emanating from a qualitative Masters in Education thesis in University College Dublin which took the form of an original exploration of the pursuit of postgraduate study within the primary sector from the perspective of motivation and choice. The main result that emerged from the study indicated that the motivations surrounding students pursuit of masters degrees are essentially a match between their perception of what a masters constitutes and what perceived personal, professional, cultural and career needs they want met. It also emerged that postgraduate students displayed no discernablili

Causal relationship between eWOM topics and profit of rural tourism at Japanese Roadside Stations "MICHINOEKI"

Affected by urbanization, centralization and the decrease of overall population, Japan has been making efforts to revitalize the rural areas across the country. One particular effort is to increase tourism to these rural areas via regional branding, using local farm products as tourist attractions across Japan. Particularly, a program subsidized by the government called Michinoeki, which stands for 'roadside station', was created 20 years ago and it strives to provide a safe and comfortable space for cultural interaction between road travelers and the local community, as well as offering refreshment, and relevant information to travelers. However, despite its importance in the revitalization of the Japanese economy, studies with newer technologies and methodologies are lacking. Using sales data from establishments in the Kyushu area of Japan, we used Support Vector to classify content from Twitter into relevant topics and studied their causal relationship to the sales for each establishment using LiNGAM, a linear non-gaussian acyclic model built for causal structure analysis, to perform an improved market analysis considering more than just correlation. Under the hypotheses stated by the LiNGAM model, we discovered a positive causal relationship between the number of tweets mentioning those establishments, specially mentioning deserts, a need for better access and traf^ic options, and a potentially untapped customer base in motorcycle biker groups

Developing inter-cultural competencies without travelling: Internationalising the curriculum for healthcare students

Healthcare professionals work with increasingly diverse groups of colleagues and patients in their practice, and it is essential that they develop intercultural competence. International experiences in healthcare curricula can help in this development, but healthcare students on courses tend to have limited opportunities for travel. This paper presents data on the use of an online classroom to provide an environment in which physiotherapy students from two countries could work together to review video case studies to enhance their knowledge and understanding of selected patient conditions and compare different approaches to diagnosis and treatment. These activities were integrated into the usual curriculum in both countries. Evaluation of students’ experiences showed that they valued the opportunity to engage with their peers in another country and were readily able to identify professional and academic benefit from participation. They commented on the impact on their professional identity formation, the benefits of widening their community of practice, and of becoming more interculturally competen

A comparison of specific positive future expectancies and global hopelessness as predictors of suicidal ideation in a prospective study of repeat self-harmers

Background. Hopelessness and the lack of positive future expectancies have been related to suicidality. This is the first study to compare the power of positive future expectancies and global hopelessness in the prediction of suicidal ideation. In short, are specific positive expectancies or global hopelessness attitudes more closely related to suicidality? Method. One hundred and forty four adults hospitalized following a suicidal self-harm episode completed a range of clinical and psychological measures in hospital and were followed up approximately 2.5 months after discharge. All participants reported at least one other self-harm episode in addition to the index episode. Results. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that specific positive future expectancies were better predictors of Time 2 suicidal ideation than global hopelessness. In addition, as hypothesized, negative future thinking was not independently associated with suicidal ideation. Limitations. Short-term follow-up. Conclusions. Specific, idiographic expectancies for positive events (i.e., positive future thinking) are more important predictors of suicidal ideation than global attitudes of hopelessness. Unlike global hopelessness, they provide more options for intervention (e.g., identifying life goals and plans). These findings are particularly noteworthy given the widespread use of measures of global hopelessness. The theoretical and clinical implications are discussed

Familiarity of speaker accent on Irish children’s performance on a sentence comprehension task

Objectives: This study sought to determine whether children’s performance on a sentence comprehension task is affected when sentences are spoken in an unfamiliar native accent. Method: Fifty typically developing school-aged children living in Southern Ireland (Cork) participated; 25 in a younger group (mean 7;08 years) and 25 in an older group (mean 9;09 years). The children completed a computer-based comprehension task during which 20 sentences were spoken in a Cork accent (familiar) and 20 were in a Tyrone accent (unfamiliar). The sentences were matched for syllable length and syntactic complexity. Main results: The younger children made significantly more errors when sentences were spoken in an unfamiliar accent. The older children made a similar number of incorrect responses to both familiar and unfamiliar accents. Conclusion: Younger children’s performance on comprehension tasks may be reduced when sentences are spoken in an unfamiliar accent. Possible explanations and the clinical implications are discussed

Promoting student engagement with academic literacy feedback: an institute wide initiative

The transition to higher education, while often exciting, is demanding for many students. Successful transition necessitates learning the conventions of scholarly conversation, including how to read and create work in an academic context. Knowledge of academic literacy practices is an important part of this process but these discourses and practices are often unfamiliar to students and this has implications for the development of academic identities. In this article, we report on an institution-wide initiative between librarians, lecturers and learning developers, designed to raise awareness of the role of feedback in developing academic literacies. While the rate of participation was low this initiative offered a space outside the formal curriculum and assessment processes to engage with students about feedback. The associated publicity raised the profile of feedback internally and offered valuable opportunities to open conversations about feedback with students and staff. The evolution of the initiative is discussed

Valuing the ecosystem service benefits from kelp forest restoration: A choice experiment from Norway

Habitat loss and degradation are recognised as the most important causes of species decline and extinction in marine ecosystems. It is also widely recognised that a range of restoration actions are now essential to halt further decline. From a policy perspective, demonstration that restoration activity is in the interest of society is an important goal. In this paper, the welfare impacts of restoring Norwegian kelp forests to areas where they once were dominant but which now lie barren are estimated using the discrete choice modelling approach. The paper also examines if more direct contact with the environmental good under investigation influences respondents' willingness to pay to restore ecosystem features. The results indicate a positive and significant marginal societal willingness to pay for the ecosystem services associated with kelp forest restoration. The enhanced biodiversity levels as a result of the restoration activity are the most highly valued by the Norwegian public although the size of the area restored is more highly valued by respondents who are active marine environment users. It is argued that without incorporating these non-market values into the decision making process marine policy decisions may be made that are not in fact in the best interest of society