University represents a pathway to upward social mobility for many working-class people. However, this distinctly middle-class environment also provides a number of unique social psychological challenges for working-class students. Working-class university students are often in the minority group at university, they are often the first in their families to attend university, and they often feel out of place at university. They also lack the time and money required to engage with other students on campus. Consequently, they are less likely to be as integrated into social life at university as their middle-class peers. In this chapter, we consider the potential implications of this lack of social integration for working-class students' academic outcomes and mental health. In particular, we review recent research that shows that working-class students' lack of integration at university is associated with poorer academic outcomes and poorer mental health. We conclude with a discussion of potential interventions to increase working-class students' social integration at university.
ince the 2005 Social Justice report criticised the Australian Government for not addressing the inadequate life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, national efforts have been made towards closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Aboriginal Australians. The then Social Justice Commissioner, Professor Tom Calma AO, made three recommendations to address equality in life expectancy: i) a government commitment to achieving equality in health status in 25 years, ii) equality in access to primary care and health infrastructure, and iii) bipartisan support for this commitment. 2 Improvements in age-standardised mortality rates of about 10% have been observed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since 2006, but similar improvements have occurred for non-Aboriginal Australians. 3 Therefore, Australia has fallen short of the federal government's targets to close the gap in disproportionate health outcomes and life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 3 In the Prime Minister's 2020 Closing the Gap statement to Parliament, he reported "despite the best of intentions; investments in new programs; and bi-partisan goodwill, Closing the Gap has never really been a partnership with Indigenous people". 4 The "best of intentions" for Closing the Gap has been widely questioned in academic literature 5,6 and mainstream media, 7,8 including highlighting the lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples involvement in decision-making processes 9 and acknowledgement of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services as exemplars of best practice in providing holistic health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 10 Over the past 12 years, the reported "investments in new programs" funding has fluctuated, 11,12 highlighting resources as finite. The Closing the Gap framework identifies the need for research and evaluation to inform effective policies, 13 with calls for increased research in urban settings 14 and to evaluate evidence-based practices, policy and programs. 6 Early research also explored the extent to which the policy changes informed new models for research conduct. 15 In 2021, with a reformed agenda for Closing the Gap now established with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented by their community-controlled peak organisations, the Coalition of Peaks 16 -an Aboriginalled research team -felt it timely to interrogate the intentions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health through a critical review of research outputs since Closing the Gap was established in 2008.Providing an overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research since 2008 allows for an examination of the scope and characteristics of the knowledge base to inform evidencebased practices, policies and programs. To date, no review of Indigenous health research outputs have described the scope and characteristics of the research, most notably the burden of disease focus or the research designs being im...
High quality intervention research is needed to inform evidence-based practice and policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We searched for studies published from 2008–2020 in the PubMed database. A narrative review of intervention literature was conducted, where we identified researcher reported strengths and limitations of their research practice. A total of 240 studies met inclusion criteria which were categorised as evaluations, trials, pilot interventions or implementation studies. Reported strengths included community engagement and partnerships; sample qualities; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander involvement in research; culturally appropriate and safe research practice; capacity building efforts; providing resources or reducing costs for services and communities; understanding local culture and context; and appropriate timelines for completion. Reported limitations included difficulties achieving the target sample size; inadequate time; insufficient funding and resources; limited capacity of health workers and services; and inadequate community involvement and communication issues. This review highlights that community consultation and leadership coupled with appropriate time and funding, enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health intervention research to be conducted. These factors can enable effective intervention research, and consequently can help improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Despite social class being a burgeoning area of research in the higher education literature, there is no single comprehensive measure of social class in university student populations. Most previous research has included objective single-item measures (e.g., parent education or occupation) to assess social class and then sorted students into distinct social class categories using these items. Such approaches do not adequately capture the complexity and nuance of class, and they ignore the subjective and social components involved. The present paper reports the development and validation of an 11-item Comprehensive Social Class Scale (CSCS) that uses a mix of objective and subjective items to assess multiple aspects of social class, including education level, occupational prestige, family affluence, social class identity and subjective social status. Across 12 samples (N = 4926), we provide evidence for a single factor structure of the CSCS and demonstrate aspects of its reliability and validity. We conclude by discussing some limitations and suggestions for use of the CSCS in higher education populations.
IntroductionConducting ethical and high-quality health research is crucial for informing public health policy and service delivery to reduce the high and inequitable burden of disease experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Ethical guidelines and principles specifically for health research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been developed for use since 1987. However, there has been limited examination of how these are being applied to the conduct of research.Methods and analysisMurru Minyawill be a large-scale national study to examine the implementation of ethical processes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research. A mixed-methods design will be used in fourbaarra(steps). The first threebaarrawill collect knowledge, experiences and wisdom from three key groups: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, research academics, and Human Research Ethics Committees using online surveys, yarning, and semistructured interviews. This knowledge will inform the finalbaarraof developing a set of practical recommendations to support ethical conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research into the future.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval for this research project has been granted by National, State and Territory Human Research Ethics Committees. This research has been developed in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation representatives, Aboriginal community members, the National Health Leadership Forum, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research team. The knowledge translation plan will be integrated and revised throughout the project as partnerships and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities continue. All findings will be shared with peak Aboriginal research bodies and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in ways that are meaningful to them.
This mixed-methods study explored (1) family day care (FDC) educators’ confidence and capability to support children’s mental health, and (2) assessed their own mental health and wellbeing. Descriptive analysis of the survey ( n = 144) highlighted that most participants were in the normal range for mental health and wellbeing; however, identifying mental ill-health in children, access to resources and awareness of support services were areas where participants were less likely to feel confident or capable. In the interviews ( n = 14), three themes were identified in the interviews for the first research question (including the central role of the FDC educator, lack of training and resources and limited professional support) and three themes were identified for the second research question (the importance of mental health for educators, being a small business owner and connecting with other educators). The results highlighted a need for additional support and resources for educators specifically targeting the mental health and wellbeing of children.
A substantial body of research indicates that higher education students from lower social class backgrounds tend to have poorer health than those from higher social class backgrounds. To investigate sleep as a potential mediator of this relationship, online survey responses of students from five large Australian universities, one Irish university and one large Australian technical college were analysed in three studies (Study 1 N = 628; Study 2 N = 376; Study 3 N = 446). The results revealed that sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep disturbances, pre-sleep worries and sleep schedule variability mediated the relationship between social class and physical and mental health. Sleep remained a significant mediator when controlling for related variables and other mediators. Thus, the findings suggest that sleep partly explains social class differences in health. We discuss the importance of addressing sleep issues among students from lower social class backgrounds.
Introduction There is significant variation in the format and delivery of group-based smoking cessation programs. To guide research and healthcare program implementation, it is important to understand the active components of interventions. This review aimed to (1) identify BCTs used in effective group-based smoking cessation interventions, (2) determine the effectiveness of group-based smoking cessation interventions on smoking cessation at six-month follow-up, and (3) identify the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) related to effective group-based smoking cessation. Methods The following databases were searched in January 2000 and March 2022: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. BCTs used in each study were extracted using the BCT Taxonomy. Studies that included identified BCTs were computed and meta-analyses were conducted to evaluate smoking cessation at six-month follow-up. Results A total of 28 BCTs were identified from 19 Randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Studies included an average of 5.42±2.0 BCTs. The most frequent BCTs were ‘information about health consequences’ and ‘problem solving’. The pooled six-month smoking cessation was higher in the group-based intervention group (OR=1.75,95%CI=1.12-2.72, p<0.001). Inclusion of the following four BCTs: ‘Problem solving’; ‘Information about health Consequences’; ‘Information about social and environmental consequences’; and ‘Reward (outcome)’ were found to be significantly associated with increased rate of six-month smoking cessation. Conclusions Group-based smoking cessation interventions doubles the rate of smoking cessation at six-month follow up. Implementing group-based smoking cessation programs, that incorporate multiple BCTs, is recommended for an effective smoking cessation care. Implications Group-based smoking cessation programs improves smoking cessation outcomes in clinical trials. There is a need to incorporate effective individual BCTs techniques to enhance smoking cessation treatment outcomes. A robust evaluation is required to assess the effectiveness of group-based cessation programs in real world settings. There is also a need to consider the differential effectiveness of group-based programs and BCT impacts on populations e.g., Indigenous peoples.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.