An evaluation of the 'Living with Cancer' project: Using neuro-linguistic programming techniques to maximise the coping strategies of carers and patients living with cancer in Ellesmere Port

The 'Living with cancer' project aimed to improve communication, relationship, and coping skills of health professionals, cancer patients and their carers in Ellesmere Port. The project delivered NLP Diploma training to 55 health professionals between April 2001-March 2004.Commissioned by Chester and Halton NHS Trust and funded through the New Opportunities Fund

Exploring colorectal cancer patients' perceptions of the quality of their care

This report discusses the local situation in Halton with regard to colorectal cancer care by exploring how patients perceived the quality of their care.Widnes Primary Care Grou

An evaluation of the Wallasey Heart Centre

This project report discusses an evaluation of Wallasey Heart Centre, an intermediate cardiovascular clinic designed to provide accessible high-quality patient care to an area with a high prevalence of of coronary heart disease and poor access to existing secondary care services. The service began in October 2000 with funding for three years. The views of local GPs, local cardiologists, and Wallasey Heart Centre staff and patients were sought

From carbon to copper : studies of novel nanomaterials

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 15, 2008)Vita.Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.Nanomaterials are materials on the order of 10-9 m that are currently being investigated for use in a wide range of applications in the growing field of nanotechnology. This dissertation documents the synthesis, characterization, and applications of two particular types of nanomaterials: single-walled carbon nanotubes and copper-based coordination polymers. The synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotube gels and foam is detailed, and a series of techniques including scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and viscometry were employed to learn more about the properties of the gels and foam. Methane sorption studies were performed using the gel, and there is a potential use for the foam in composite materials as well. Single crystal X-ray diffraction was used to determine the structures of various Cu(I) and Cu(II) coordination polymers. The thermal stability of the coordination polymers was studied by thermal gravimetric analysis. The seven different structures reported are compared, and their potential applications are also discussed.Includes bibliographical reference

An application of activity theory to the “problem of e-books”

The “problem of e-books” is defined as the difficulty improving the adoption rates of e-books by students. The adoption rates of e-books for academic use remain low, and research into the reasons for this have resulted in inconclusive findings. Factors such as student perception, and variations in experimental methodology and technology, contribute to difficulties in generalising findings and establishing conclusive causes for this problem. To better understand the causal factors for low adoption rates and the student's experience with ereaders and digital text, an investigation was conducted by the lead researcher as a student enrolled in a postgraduate course. The experiment was designed using e-book and digital text documents on an ereader for academic study and the results analysed with the framework of Activity Theory. This methodology allowed exploration of the problem within the authentic experience of a student to examine the effects of this social environment on ereader and e-book use. Analysis of the work domain was conducted and a comparative assessment of the observed effect of using the digital documents on an ereader compared with the paper book. Findings show that attempts to apply self-regulation and metacognitive learning techniques within the activity using the ereader were abandoned due to breakdowns in operations, and that this resulted in a perceived lower quality of achievement. The effect on the processes used by the student were extreme and were observed to be highly dependent on the student's use of specific learning strategies. The experimental methodology employed in this investigation enabled identification of the role of the social environment in the use of course documents on an ereader for academic study. The functionality of the ereader was such an extremely poor fit with the observed academic processes that a redesign approach for ereader and e-book technology is proposed as a solution to the low adoption rates of e-books

The Role of Emotional Regulation in Anxiety and Depression symptom interplay and expression among adolescent females

Depression and anxiety are highly comorbid constructs. However little is known about the mechanisms that underpin this comorbidity/connectivity or the divergence between constructs that seems to occur in adolescence. The current study targeted emotion regulation (ER) as a potential plausible mechanism for explaining how anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescence might begin to connect, perpetuate, and ultimately diverge from one another. Using data from a cross-sectional school-based study, of adolescent females (age 11–18 years; N = 615; majority were white (97.7%)), we modelled variation in ER using latent profile analysis. Then, using network analysis (NA), we generated separate depression-anxiety symptom networks for adolescents at varying levels of ER. Three latent classes of ER were identified (low ER 15%, intermediate ER 34%, high ER 51%). The results of the network comparison test found no significant differences in global strength between the ‘low ER’ and the ‘intermediate ER’ ability network. This study is among the first to attempt to model change in depression-anxiety symptom connectivity in adolescence in relation to a common contextual/risk factor. The current study therefore offers a unique contribution to the examination of the role of transdiagnostic factors in the study of adolescent depression and anxiety from a network perspective, and provides a promising framework for the study of ER among anxiety and depression symptomatology in adolescence

Effects of Environmental Education on Self-concept and Environmental Responsibility

Environmental Scienc

Stressful events and adolescent psychopathology: A person-centred approach to expanding adverse childhood experience categories

Stress from cumulative adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can pose a serious risk of experiencing anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders in adolescence. However, there is a paucity of research identifying specific profiles or combinations of exposure to other forms of stressful life events and their impact on adolescent psychopathology. This study attempted a conceptual expansion of the ACE checklist by examining these stressful events. The study used cross-sectional data from a modified version of the CASE Study survey where 864 adolescents (56% female, n = 480), aged from 11 – 18 years were recruited from four post-primary schools in the North-West region of NI. Latent class analysis of the 20-item stressful events checklist revealed 3 distinct risk classes: a low-risk class (53.5%), at-risk class (42.7%), and an immediate-risk class (3.8%). Results showed those at most risk of adolescent psychopathology had the highest probability of encountering interpersonal relationship issues, experiencing family dysfunction, and having close friends experiencing psychological difficulties. Findings indicate that the original ten ACE categories may be too narrow in focus and do not capture the wide range of childhood adversity. Expanding the ACE checklist to include other stressful events is discussed as these may also be antecedents to psychopathologic responses