How should activity guidelines for young people be operationalised?

Background: If guidelines regarding recommended activity levels for young people are to be meaningful and comparable, it should be clear how they are operationalised. It is usually open to interpretation whether young people are required to meet activity and screen time targets (1) all days of the week, (2) on most days of the week, (3) on average across all days, or (4) whether compliance should be understood as the probability that a randomly selected young person meets the guidelines on a randomly selected day. This paper studies this question using data drawn from the Australian Health of Young Victorians study.Methods: The subjects for this study were 885 13–19 year olds who recalled four days of activities using a computerised use-of-time instrument, the Multimedia Activity Recall for Children and Adolescents (MARCA). Daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time were calculated. The prevalence of compliance to Australian guidelines (≥ 60 min/day of MVPA and ≤ 120 min/day of screen time outside of school hours) was calculated using the four methods.Results: The four methods resulted in significantly different prevalence estimates for compliance to the MVPA guideline (20–68%), screen guideline (12–42%) and both guidelines (2–26%). Furthermore, different individuals were identified as compliant by the different methods.Conclusion: Clarification of how compliance to guidelines should be operationalised would assist in comparisons between studies, and in consistency in determining correlates of compliance

Exploring the psychological attributes underpinning elite sports coaching.

The influential role of the coach in athlete performance and development has long been acknowledged, and coaches are now considered ‘performers’, just like their athletes. The purpose of the present study was to explore the psychological attributes elite coaches perceived to underpin their ability to coach most effectively and factors perceived to influence attribute development. Qualitative research methods were implemented where 12 elite coaches (eight male, four female) participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive thematic analysis generated nine higher order themes related to psychological attributes: (a) attitude, (b) confidence, (c) resilience, (d) focus, (e) drive for personal development, (f) being athlete-centred, (g) emotional awareness, (h) emotional understanding, and (i) emotional management. In addition, three higher order themes were generated related to factors perceived to influence attribute development: (a) education, (b) experience, and (c) conscious self-improvement. Findings indicated that several attributes perceived to be essential to coaching effectiveness related to the emotional nature of coaching, where coaches’ abilities to identify, understand, and manage emotions in both themselves and others had many positive effects

Forensic Investigation of Cyberstalking Cases using Behavioural Evidence Analysis

Behavioural Evidence Analysis (BEA) is, in theory, useful in developing an understanding of the offender, the victim, the crime scene, and the dynamics of the crime. It can add meaning to the evidence obtained through digital forensic techniques and assist investigators with reconstruction of a crime. There is, however, little empirical research examining the application of BEA to actual criminal cases, particularly cyberstalking cases. This study addresses this gap by examining the utility of BEA for such cases in terms of understanding the behavioural and motivational dimensions of offending, and the way in which digital evidence can be interpreted. It reports on the forensic analysis of 20 cyberstalking cases investigated by Dubai Police in the last five years. Results showed that BEA helps to focus an investigation, enables better understanding and interpretation of victim and offender behaviour, and assists in inferring traits of the offender from available digital evidence. These benefits can help investigators to build a stronger case, reduce time wasted to mistakes, and to exclude suspects wrongly accused in cyberstalking cases

Three faces of context and their implications for career: a study of public sector careers cut short

This paper examines the impact of context on careers. It is based on a study of senior managers in an English Local Authority. It offers two important contributions: first, an empirical contribution examining how context matters to individuals in their career-making in the setting of the UK public sector. Our findings point to three aspects or faces of context: proximal events, ideology and enduring structural features. The first, context as ideology, attends to meaning-making that is collective in nature, and that incorporates concepts of power, domination, subordination and resistance. Our second refers to the enduring structural features. These are on-going trends and developments, predictable and traceable over the medium to long-term which offer rules and resources, thus structuring opportunity and constraint. Finally, the third face, context as proximal events, refers to (often unexpected) contingencies that arise at particular moments. Although bounded both spatially and temporally, they can significantly impact on career decision making. The second contribution of the paper builds upon this empirical base to develop theoretical and conceptual understanding of the link between career and context, illustrating the interconnectedness of the various faces of context and the dynamic ways in which these influence career-making over time

A sociological exploration of the tensions related to interprofessional collaboration in acute-care discharge planning

Patient discharge is a key concern in hospitals, particularly in acute care, given the multifaceted and challenging nature of patients' healthcare needs. Policies on discharge have identified the importance of interprofessional collaboration, yet research has described its limitations in this clinical context. This study aimed to extend our understanding of interprofessional interactions related to discharge in a general internal medicine setting by using sociological theories to illuminate the existence of, and interplay between, structural factors and microlevel practices. An ethnographic approach was employed to obtain an in-depth insight into healthcare providers' perspectives, behaviours, and interactions regarding discharge. Data collection involved observations, interviews, and document analysis. Approximately 65 hours of observations were undertaken, 23 interviews were conducted with healthcare providers, and government and hospital discharge documents were collected. Data were analysed using a directed content approach. The findings indicate the existence of a medically dominated division of healthcare labour in patient discharge with opportunities for some interprofessional negotiations; the role of organizational routines in facilitating and challenging interprofessional negotiations in patient discharge; and tensions in organizational priorities that impact an interprofessional approach to discharge. The findings provide insight into the various levels at which interventions can be targeted to improve interprofessional collaboration in discharge while recognizing the organizational tensions that challenge an interprofessional approach

The association of puberty and young adolescent alcohol use: do parents have a moderating role?

Purpose: To explore the extent to which parent-adolescent emotional closeness, family conflict, and parental permissiveness moderate the association of puberty and alcohol use in adolescents (aged 10-14)

Feasibility study of the National Autistic Society EarlyBird parent support programme

The EarlyBird programme is a group-based psychoeducation intervention for parents of young children with autism. Although it is widely used in the United Kingdom, the evidence base for the programme is very limited. Using a mixed method, non-randomised research design, we aimed to test (1) the acceptability of the research procedures (recruitment, retention, suitability of measures), (2) the parental acceptability of EarlyBird (attendance, views of the programme, perceived changes) and (3) the facilitator acceptability of EarlyBird (fidelity, views of the programme, perceived changes). Seventeen families with a 2- to 5-year-old autistic child and 10 EarlyBird facilitators took part. Pre- and post-intervention assessment included measures of the child’s autism characteristics, cognitive ability, adaptive behaviour, emotional and behavioural problems and parent-reported autism knowledge, parenting competence, stress and wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were completed at post-intervention with parents and facilitators. For those involved in the study, the research procedures were generally acceptable, retention rates were high and the research protocol was administered as planned. Generally, positive views of the intervention were expressed by parents and facilitators. Although the uncontrolled, within-participant design does not allow us to test for efficacy, change in several outcome measures from pre- to post-intervention was in the expected direction. Difficulties were encountered with recruitment (opt-in to the groups was ~56% and opt-in to the research was 63%), and strategies to enhance recruitment need to be built into any future trial. These findings should be used to inform protocols for pragmatic, controlled trials of EarlyBird and other group-based interventions for parents with young autistic children

Interprofessional team-based placements: The importance of space, place, and facilitation.

Interprofessional education in practice settings typically requires greater resource investment than in the classroom or online. Increased interest in return on investment means research on the outcomes of practice-based interprofessional education is needed. In this article, we report findings from a qualitative study involving a series of focus groups with health sciences' students during their interprofessional placements in three community health settings in Western Australia. An exploratory case study approach was adopted to determine students' perceptions of the placement and their learning. The presage-process-product (3P) model of learning and teaching was employed to illuminate to the nature of this interprofessional education experience. Verbatim transcripts were analysed by two researchers using an inductive approach to derive key themes. Findings illuminate a number of factors that strongly influenced student perceptions of their learning in interprofessional practice-based placements including a dedicated space to collaborate and learn; exposure to a wide range of professions in practice settings; the approach of the facilitators; and students' previous clinical experience, year level and the timing of the placement. Students reported that the placement enhanced their knowledge, professional communication, leadership, understanding of other health professions and collaboration. This study provides contemporary insight into key factors that influence student learning during practice-based interprofessional placements

Extending working life and the management of change. Is the workplace ready for the ageing worker?

Increasing longevity and the strain on state and occupational pensions have brought into question long-held assumptions about the age of retirement, and raised the prospect of a workplace populated by ageing workers. In the United Kingdom the default retirement age has gone, incremental increases in state pension age are being implemented and ageism has been added to workplace anti-discrimination laws. These changes are yet to bring about the anticipated transformation in workplace demographics, but it is coming, making it timely to ask if the workplace is ready for the ageing worker and how the extension of working life will be managed. We report findings from qualitative case studies of five large organisations located in the United Kingdom. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with employees, line managers, occupational health staff and human resources managers. Our findings reveal a high degree of uncertainty and ambivalence among workers and managers regarding the desirability and feasibility of extending working life; wide variations in how older workers are managed within workplaces; a gap between policies and practices; and evidence that while casualisation might be experienced negatively by younger workers, it may be viewed positively by financially secure older workers seeking flexibility. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges facing employers and policy makers in making the modern workplace fit for the ageing worker