Working effectively with consumers: Perspectives from students, teachers, nurses, and consumers

Preparing enrolled nurses (ENs) to effectively work with mental health consumers is crucial to meeting Australia's healthcare demands. This qualitative study aimed to explore various stakeholders' perceptions regarding the mental health knowledge, skills, and attributes (KSAs) required by ENs to engage with individuals experiencing mental health issues, thus guiding future training priorities. The sample comprised 44 participants including 18 students, 3 graduate ENs, 5 experienced ENs, 5 registered nurses (RNs), 4 nurse unit managers (NUMs), 5 teachers, and 5 consumers of mental health services. Focus groups were used to collect data from the students, whilst individual interviews were conducted with all other participants. A thematic analysis revealed communication was the most vital skill for effectively working with mental health consumers. Skills such as critical thinking and clinical reasoning were also deemed crucial, given the volatile nature of the mental health inpatient environment, necessitating effective responses to acute escalations to prevent adverse outcomes for both staff and consumers. Essential knowledge components included understanding mental health disorders, symptoms, and treatments, particularly medications used for mental health issues. Participants also emphasised the importance of attributes like confidence and empathy in supporting and caring for consumers, who often experienced trauma and vulnerability. These findings provide valuable insights into the content that should be incorporated into the diploma of nursing (DN) training to produce competent graduate ENs.

Digital self-report instruments for repeated measurement of mental health in the general adult population: a protocol for a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Digital technologies present tremendous opportunities for enabling long-term measurement of mental health in the general population. Emerging studies have established preliminary efficacy of collecting self-report data digitally. However, a key challenge when developing a new self-report instrument is navigating the abundance of existing instruments to select relevant constructs for measurements. This review is a precursor to developing a novel future integrated digital instrument for repeated measurements. We interrogate the literature as the first step towards optimal measurement of the multifaceted mental health concept, in the context of digital repeated measurement. This review aims to identify (1) digital self-report instruments administered repeatedly to measure the mental health of the general adult population; (2) their structure and format; (3) their psychometric properties; (4) their usage in empirical studies; and (5) the constructs these instruments were designed to measure (as characterised in the original publication), and the constructs the instruments have been used to measure in the identified empirical studies.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Five major electronic databases will be searched. Studies administering mental health instruments (in English) repeatedly to community dwellers in the general adult population are eligible. A reviewer will preliminarily screen for eligible studies. Then, two reviewers will independently screen the full text of the eligible articles and extract data. Both reviewers will resolve any disagreement through discussion or with a third reviewer. After the data extraction, a reviewer will manually search for the structure, format, psychometric properties and the original constructs these instruments were developed to measure. This review will synthesise the results in a narrative approach. The reporting in this review will be guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval is not required as no data will be collected. Findings of the systematic review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42022306547.

Exploring the relevance of intersectionality in Australian dietetics: Issues of diversity and representation

Through an exploration of the origins of dietetics in the West, and specifically in Australia, we problematise the lack of diversity within the profession through the lens of intersectionality. Dietetics in Australia continues to be dominated by Australian-born women, and ideologies about dietitians perpetuate narratives of white, young, slim, women. Intersectional approaches to critiquing diversity in dietetics provides a useful framework to extend critical studies of health disparities into disparities in the dietetics professional workforce, which is advanced through structural, political and representational intersectionality guided critique. Through the analysis, a dialog is prompted in order to chart paths forward to find 'how differences will find expression' within the professional group. To do this, dietetics as a profession must reckon with its historical roots and step forward, out of a perceived position of objective neutrality regarding people and diversity, and into a position that can recognise that professional institutions have the power to exclude and marginalise, along with the power to include and transform.

Public Stranger Violence-What Makes You Vulnerable?A Comparison of Perspectives From Young Adults and Industry Experts

The purpose of this study was to determine the situational and individual factors that influence vulnerability to public stranger violence (PSV) from the perspective of young adults and industry professionals. In total, 25 young adults aged between 18 and 29 years formed one sample and participated in one of four focus groups. The second sample consisted of 10 industry professionals with backgrounds in policing, corrections, and forensic psychology. Each professional participated in an individual semistructured interview. Both samples were asked questions regarding vulnerability and safety in public, where responses were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Multiple themes were identified and categorized into situational and individual factors associated with victimization. Situational factors referred to aspects of the environment that may influence vulnerability to PSV and included visibility, location, and level of support for potential victims. Individual factors referred to aspects about the person that may influence vulnerability to PSV and included unpredictability, ease of target, stereotypes, in-groups versus out-groups, distractions, and personality traits. Although both samples identified similar situational factors, young adults were found to be either unaware of individual factors identified by industry professionals as influencing vulnerability or at least misunderstood some of these factors. This is problematic as young adults may be basing their public behaviors on misinformation that may in fact increase, rather than decrease, vulnerability to PSV. The findings from this study have implications for the design of personal safety programs as well as community-based interventions to reduce vulnerability, the prevalence of PSV, and the negative outcomes associated with PSV, including anxiety and fear of crime.

The Personality Inventory for DSM-5–Brief Form: An Examination of Internal Consistency, Factor Structure, and Relationship to Aggression in an Incarcerated Offender Sample

This study evaluated the internal consistency and factor structure of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5–Brief Form (PID-5-BF), and its relationship to aggression in 438 incarcerated Australian male offenders. Results provide support for the internal consistency and five-factor and bifactor structure of the PID-5-BF. The PID-5-BF total score, as well as the domains of Antagonism, Disinhibition, and Negative Affect (low), demonstrated significant relationships with aggression. These results provide preliminary support for the psychometric properties of the PID-5-BF within prison settings, and suggest that a PID-5-BF assessment may be useful within forensic settings to screen for broad maladaptive personality characteristics that are indicative of a greater propensity for aggressive behavior.

Psychological wellbeing, distress and coping in Australian Indigenous and multicultural prisoners: a mixed methods analysis

The Australian prison population is growing and becoming increasingly diverse. Yet very little research has investigated mental health concerns for multi-cultural prisoners. This mixed methods study aimed to identify the prevalence of mental health factors (wellbeing, distress and coping) in a cohort of 530 prisoners from Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and English-speaking backgrounds (ESB) at a maximum-security prison in Victoria, Australia. Focus group interviews were also conducted with an additional 40 prisoners. It was found that Indigenous prisoners had significantly higher levels of distress and more symptoms of anxiety and depression than CALD and ESB prisoners. CALD prisoners had a greater sense of 'feeling in control' in prison than ESB prisoners. The focus group interviews also identified several factors that contributed to mental health differences between the groups. Findings reinforce the need for a more individualised approach in addressing mental health issues for prisoners cross-culturally.

A Content Analysis of Personal Safety Apps: Are They Keeping Us Safe or Making Us More Vulnerable?

Despite personal safety apps claiming to increase safety, few studies have examined the usefulness of such apps in reducing public stranger violence. A content analysis of personal safety apps available in the iTunes store and Google Play identified location-based services, personal alarms, crowd-sourced hot spot data, and geofencing as the most common features. The majority of apps offered interventions either at the time of the event or post-event, suggesting that they may reduce a user's fear of crime but have limited usefulness in reducing vulnerability to victimization. Implications for users, app designers, and key stakeholders are discussed.

Development and validation of the Shy Bladder and Bowel Scale (SBBS)

Currently research exploring paruresis and parcopresis, anxiety relating to urinating and having bowel motions in public respectively is limited. While there are several validated measures of paruresis, no valid measure assessing parcopresis is currently available. The present study investigates the development and validation of the Shy Bladder and Bowel Scale (SBBS) which assesses both paruresis and parcopresis. Two participant groups were utilised to validate this scale, a student psychology cohort (n = 387) and a public cohort (n = 334). An eight-item two-factor model was identified in the psychology cohort and confirmed in the public cohort. The two-factor SBBS was found to be a valid and reliable measure of paruresis and parcopresis. Paruresis and parcopresis-related concerns were associated with social anxiety in both cohorts. Subscales for both paruresis and parcopresis (i.e. difficulty, interference and distress) were positively correlated, suggesting individuals are likely to report similar levels of concerns across both conditions. Further, individuals self-identifying with either paruresis or parcopresis reported significantly higher scores on the respective SBBS subscales than non-identifying paruresis and parcopresis individuals. The SBBS also demonstrated strong test–retest reliability in a small sample of adults (n = 13). Overall, the developed scale provides clinicians and researchers with a valuable tool to evaluate both paruresis and parcopresis.

Chasing The 'Like': Adolescent Use Of Social Networking Sites In Australia

The current study investigated how adolescents behave on Social Networking Sites (SNSs) and how they interpret the feedback they receive online from others. Thirty-four Australian adolescents (26 girls, 8 boys) aged 13 to 17 years participated in the study. Five semi-structured focus groups (3 mixed groups, 2 all-girl groups) were conducted to explore how adolescents perceive their own and others' SNS behaviours, the motivation underlying these behaviours, and the expected outcomes related to particular behaviours. Teenagers reported that they spend a good deal of time planning their SNS posts, felt that the information they posted was a true reflection of them as a person, and thus interpreted feedback ("likes") as measuring their self-worth. In contrast, some teenagers were perceived as "chasing the like" for status and popularity while not caring about how accurately their posts represented them as a person. A potential gender bias in these findings is discussed.

Defining Cyberbullying: A Multiple Perspectives Approach

To date, there has been a lack of consensus among researchers, practitioners, and laypersons about the definition of cyberbullying. Researchers have typically applied the key characteristics of intent to harm, power imbalance, and repetition from the definition of traditional bullying to cyberbullying, but how these characteristics transfer from the real world to a technology-mediated environment remains ambiguous. Moreover, very few studies have specifically investigated how cyberbullying is defined from the perspective of bullies, victims and bystanders. To this end, this article will propose a three-part definition of cyberbullying, which incorporates the perspective of bullies, victims and bystanders.

What do we mean by social networking sites?

The purpose of this study was to explore people's conceptual understanding of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) through exploring the combined use of a range of popular SNSs, including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Google Plus. Seventy-three adults, aged 18 to 63, participated in an online survey that used open-ended questions to ask how participants define and use different SNSs. Four themes were identified, including the explicit presentation and interpretation of different selves, the love-hate relationship with SNSs, privacy and danger concerns, and limited SNS knowledge. The findings from this study suggest that researchers need to consider how people use SNSs in combination as this influences the decisions people make about which SNS accounts they use and how they present themselves on these sites.