Description:
This research is supported by the Regional University Networks Water Futures Fund and the Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend and RTP Fee-Offset Scholarship through Federation University Australia.
Description:
The water-related challenges facing humanity are complex and urgent. Although solutions are not always clear, involving the public in localised knowledge production and policy development is widely recognised as a critical part of this larger effort. Such public engagement is increasingly achieved through “citizen science”—a practice that involves non-professionals in scientific research and monitoring. Academic literature has recognised that, while citizen science is both important and necessary to strengthen environmental policy, its acceptance and successful implementation is a difficult governance challenge. Researchers agree that overcoming this challenge depends on the ability of volunteers, coordinators, scientists and decision-makers to work together to convert the potential of citizen science into practice. However, little is known about the collaborative relationships or the broader social contexts that shape and define the practice. To address these shortfalls, this thesis advances a conceptual framework for the relational analysis of citizen science that illustrates social networks and the boundaries between expert and community-based knowledge as critical sites of investigation. Through its multi-phase and mixed-methods research design, the findings of this thesis shed light on the contributions of citizen science to key waterway governance objectives, including the social, political and cultural factors that influence its acceptance and uptake in governance contexts. By unpacking the relational dimensions of citizen science, this thesis provides both theoretical and practice-based insights into how actors within and outside citizen science programs work together to achieve collective aims to engender stronger connections between science, society and policy. This thesis will benefit practitioners, policymakers and participatory advocates interested in achieving practical social change in efforts to understand and manage natural resources.
Description:
The water-related challenges facing humanity are complex and urgent. Although solutions are not always clear, involving the public in localised knowledge production and policy development is widely recognised as a critical part of this larger effort. Such public engagement is increasingly achieved through “citizen science”—a practice that involves non-professionals in scientific research and monitoring. Academic literature has recognised that, while citizen science is both important and necessary to strengthen environmental policy, its acceptance and successful implementation is a difficult governance challenge. Researchers agree that overcoming this challenge depends on the ability of volunteers, coordinators, scientists and decision-makers to work together to convert the potential of citizen science into practice. However, little is known about the collaborative relationships or the broader social contexts that shape and define the practice. To address these shortfalls, this thesis advances a conceptual framework for the relational analysis of citizen science that illustrates social networks and the boundaries between expert and community-based knowledge as critical sites of investigation. Through its multi-phase and mixed-methods research design, the findings of this thesis shed light on the contributions of citizen science to key waterway governance objectives, including the social, political and cultural factors that influence its acceptance and uptake in governance contexts. By unpacking the relational dimensions of citizen science, this thesis provides both theoretical and practice-based insights into how actors within and outside citizen science programs work together to achieve collective aims to engender stronger connections between science, society and policy. This thesis will benefit practitioners, policymakers and participatory advocates interested in achieving practical social change in efforts to understand and manage natural resources.
Description:
Funding details: Academy of Finland, 289500, 294002, 319274 Funding details: Turun Yliopisto Funding details: Australian Research Council, ARC, (Project no. DP190100580 ).
Comparative effectiveness of three exercise types to treat clinical depression in older adults : a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Description:
Introduction: Emergency nurses are at risk of compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue caused by exposure to suffering may compromise the individual's personal wellbeing and reduce work efficiency. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional survey with open responses was conducted using the Professional Quality of Life: Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue (ProQOL) scale and open-ended questions. Responses from a convenience sample of 86 nurses from two hospital emergency departments in Victoria, Australia, were analysed. Results: The median score for Compassion Satisfaction was 78% with all nurses reporting average to high scores. Most had average levels of Compassion Fatigue: Burnout median score was 53% and Secondary Traumatic Stress median score 49%. No statistically significant correlation was found between scales nor with influencing demographic characteristics. A qualification in emergency nursing was predictive of Compassion Satisfaction. Six descriptive job-associated factors contributed to nurses' stress: human resources, the organisation, job-specific components, patient mix and professional and personal components. Conclusion/s: Average to high levels of Compassion Satisfaction and low to average levels of Compassion Fatigue were found in emergency nurses. Issues contributing to stress were work and role related. An understanding of these stressors may help nurses and nurse managers to ameliorate emergency nurses' levels of stress and help limit staff burnout.
Compliance of smokeless tobacco supply chain actors and products with tobacco control laws in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan : protocol for a multicentre sequential mixed-methods study
Description:
The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) involves a simple structure first-order three-factor oblique model, with factors for depression, anxiety, and stress. Recently, concerns have been raised over the value of using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for studying the factor structure of scales in general. However, such concerns can be circumvented using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Consequently, the present study used CFA and ESEM with target rotation to examine the factor structure of the DASS-21 among an adult community. It compared first-order CFA, ESEM with target rotation, bi-factor CFA (BCFA), and bi-factor BESEM with target rotation models with group/specific factors for depression, anxiety, and stress. A total of 738 adults (males = 374, and females = 364; M = 25.29 years; SD = 7.61 years) completed the DASS-21. While all models examined showed good global fit values, one or more of the group/specific factors in the BCFA, ESEM with target rotation and BESEM with target rotation models were poorly defined. As the first-order CFA model was most parsimonious, with well-defined factors that were also supported in terms of their reliabilities and validities, this model was selected as the preferred DASS-21 model. The implications of the findings for use and revision of the DASS-21 are discussed.
Description:
The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) involves a simple structure first-order three-factor oblique model, with factors for depression, anxiety, and stress. Recently, concerns have been raised over the value of using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for studying the factor structure of scales in general. However, such concerns can be circumvented using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Consequently, the present study used CFA and ESEM with target rotation to examine the factor structure of the DASS-21 among an adult community. It compared first-order CFA, ESEM with target rotation, bi-factor CFA (BCFA), and bi-factor BESEM with target rotation models with group/specific factors for depression, anxiety, and stress. A total of 738 adults (males = 374, and females = 364; M = 25.29 years; SD = 7.61 years) completed the DASS-21. While all models examined showed good global fit values, one or more of the group/specific factors in the BCFA, ESEM with target rotation and BESEM with target rotation models were poorly defined. As the first-order CFA model was most parsimonious, with well-defined factors that were also supported in terms of their reliabilities and validities, this model was selected as the preferred DASS-21 model. The implications of the findings for use and revision of the DASS-21 are discussed.
Description:
Human wildlife conflict (HWC) is a highly studied but unresolved aspect of wildlife management. To further knowledge on HWC, this study used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate HWC implications for local people living adjacent to two key tiger conservation reserves in Nepal. The study also assessed the potential to redistribute financial benefits accruing from predator conservation to those bearing costs through associated HWC. Secondary data and anecdotal reports suggest that local people experience significant direct and indirect costs from predator conservation through livestock losses following attacks by common leopards and Bengal tigers, and additionally, crop losses due to their prey species plus two mega herbivores (elephant and one-horned rhinoceros). To investigate this situation, data regarding HWC incidents and costs were sourced through interviews with 422 local households, direct observations, and stakeholder interviews. Collected data included livestock loss (5-year time-period) and crop loss (1-year time-period). Complementary direct observation data collated livestock loss and crop damage for 12 months. Interviews were conducted also with park visitors (N=387) and tourism business owners (N=74). Results showed that tigers are involved in significantly fewer depredation events compared to leopards. Leopards predominantly killed small to medium livestock whereas tigers selected both small to medium and large sized livestock. Livestock depredation events occurred more frequently in livestock corrals relative to forest zones or crop fields. Rates of livestock losses per household per year self-reported during interviews with local people were found higher when compared to those observed by direct measurement. Prey species of tigers and leopards (most often wild boar and chital) were involved in more frequently in crop raiding events, and caused more crop damage, when compared that caused by mega herbivores. Quantities of crops lost per household were lowest in communities where effective physical barriers to wildlife were present. Park visitors and tourism business owners indicated willingness to pay for conservation of tigers and for compensation of farmers for the losses caused by tigers and their prey species. Study findings support several key recommendations proposed to mitigate negative HWC effects in the study area. These include financial support for local communities to build predator proof livestock corrals and establishment of effective physical barriers at the park borders. A dedicated tariff for park visitors and a levy for tourism business owners are also recommended to fund ongoing predator conservation and support financial compensation for local farmers affected by HWC.