Conversation in Isolation: Australian health students’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic

With the advent of telecommunication technologies and social media, many health care professionals are using social media to communicate with their patients and to promote health. However, the literature reveals a lacuna in our understanding of health care professionals’ perception of their behavioral intentions to use innovations. Using the Unified Technology Acceptance Framework (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology), in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 Australian health care experts to uncover their intent and actual use of social media in their medical practices. Results revealed that social media tools offered five significant benefits such as (i) enhanced communication between health care professionals and their patients, (ii) community support, (iii) enabled e-learning, (iv) enhanced professional network, and (v) expedited health promotion. However, result also revealed barriers to social media usage including (i) inefficiency, (ii) privacy concerns, (iii) poor quality of information, (iv) lack of trust, and (v) blurred professional boundary. Peer influence and supporting conditions were also found to be determinants of social media adoption behaviors among health care professionals. This study has important implications for health care providers, patients, and policy makers on the responsible use of social media, health promotion, and health communication. This research is also among the very few studies that explore Australian health care professionals’ intent and actual use of innovations within a health care setting.

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A New Scale of Readiness for Health Care Students to Encounter Partner Abuse

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520981131 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088626052098113

Author(s):

Simon Sawyer ◽

Glenn Melvin ◽

Angela Williams ◽

Brett Williams

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Psychometric Properties ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Partner Abuse ◽

Content Validation ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Good Reliability ◽

Health Care Students ◽

Australian Health ◽

Health Care Practitioners

Partner abuse (PA) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Health care practitioners regularly encounter patients experiencing PA and require comprehensive education on how to respond. This study describes the creation and validation of a new measure of readiness to encounter patients experiencing PA for health care practitioners and students. Initial item development and content validation were informed by expert feedback. Psychometric properties were assessed using data collected from Australian health care students, using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Internal consistency, inter-scale correlations, and test–retest analysis were performed. An initial pool of 67 items was reduced to 48 following content validation by 5 experts as a measure of construct validity. A total of n = 926 responses were collected, which were randomly split into two groups to perform a PCA and CFA. The PCA resulted in a 31-item version, which was further reduced to a 27-item version following the CFA, containing four factors. Internal consistency and test–retest analyses demonstrated good reliability. The produced scale is a 27-item measure of readiness to encounter patients experiencing PA, which has demonstrated good psychometric properties with a sample of Australian health care students. Results indicate that self-efficacy and Emotional-readiness are a large component of readiness. The scale may be used to measure the readiness of a cohort, or as a pre and post-intervention measure, and results may provide insight into the educational needs of a cohort.

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Asymmetry and Leverage with News Impact Curve Perspective in Australian Stock Returns’ Volatility during COVID-19

Journal of Risk and Financial Management ◽

10.3390/jrfm14070314 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (7) ◽

pp. 314

Author(s):

Najam Iqbal ◽

Muhammad Saqib Manzoor ◽

Muhammad Ishaq Bhatti

Keyword(s):

Stock Returns ◽

Garch Model ◽

Bad News ◽

Good News ◽

Fiscal Policies ◽

News Shocks ◽

Australian Health ◽

Egarch Model ◽

Negative Effect ◽

The Garch Model

This paper studies the effect of COVID-19 on the volatility of Australian stock returns and the effect of negative and positive news (shocks) by investigating the asymmetric nature of the shocks and leverage impact on volatility. We employ a generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model and extend the analysis using the exponential GARCH (EGARCH) model to capture asymmetry and allegedly leverage. We proxy the news related to the negative effect of COVID-19 on the Australian health system and its economy as bad news, and on the other hand, measures taken by government economic stimulus packages through their monetary and fiscal policies as good news. The S&P ASX200 (ASX-200) index is used as a proxy to the Australian stock market, and we use value-weighted returns of the stocks listed on ASX-200 for the period 27 January 2020 to 29 December 2020. The empirical results suggest the EGARCH model fits better in capturing asymmetry and leverage than the GARCH model in estimating the volatility of the Australian stock returns. However, another interesting finding is that the EGARCH model with volatility equation without news demonstrates a larger (smaller) leverage effect of the negative (positive) shocks on the conditional volatility compared to its variant with the news.

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An assessment of the water use associated with Australian diets using a planetary boundary framework

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s1368980021000483 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (6) ◽

pp. 1570-1575 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bradley G Ridoutt ◽

Danielle Baird ◽

Kim Anastasiou ◽

Gilly A Hendrie

Keyword(s):

Water Use ◽

Health Survey ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

Food System ◽

Dietary Habits ◽

Dietary Diversity ◽

Dietary Guidelines ◽

Australian Health ◽

Activity Component ◽

Intervention Point

AbstractObjective:Agriculture accounts for around 70 % of global freshwater withdrawals. As such, the food system has been identified as a critical intervention point to address water scarcity. Various studies have identified dietary patterns that contribute less to water scarcity. However, it is unclear what level of reduction is necessary to be considered sustainable. The pursuit of unnecessarily aggressive reductions could limit dietary diversity. Our objective was to assess the sustainability of water use supporting Australian dietary habits and the adequacy of current dietary guidelines.Design:Dietary intake data were obtained from the National Nutrition and Physical Activity component of the Australian Health Survey. For each individual daily diet, the water scarcity footprint was quantified, following ISO14046:2014, as well as a diet quality score. Water scarcity footprint results were compared with the planetary boundary for freshwater use downscaled to the level of an individual diet.Setting:Australia.Participants:9341 adults participating in the Australian Health Survey.Results:Dietary water scarcity footprints averaged 432·6 L-eq (95 % CI 432·5, 432·8), less than the 695 litres/person per d available to support the current global population of 7·8 billion, and the 603 litres/person per d available for a future population of 9 billion. Diets based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines required 521 L-eq/d, or 379 L-eq/d with lower water scarcity footprint food choices.Conclusions:Diets based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines were found to be within the freshwater planetary boundary. What is needed in Australia is greater compliance with dietary guidelines.

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