The original purpose of this investigation was to determine if soccer players who performed an agility training program in a specialized training shoe would have a lower incidence of acute ankle sprains as compared to controls. Two elite male college soccer teams participated in the study. The experimental team performed an agility training program two to three days per week over a three month period wearing the Nike Free Trainer. Data on ankle sprain incidence throughout the season was collected, as well as scores on tests of ankle strength, static balance, dynamic balance, agility and self-reports of ankle function. These scores were compared to those of the control team. Statistical analysis showed a statistically significant improvement in the experimental team members in the anteromedial reach direction of the dynamic balance test (p=0.001). This group also showed positive trends in ankle strength ratio and five of the eight other reach directions of the dynamic balance test. Unfortunately, pre-test, post-test statistical analysis was possible for only half of the experimental team subjects. Post-test data was not generated for the other half of these subjects due to unrelated injury or subject noncompliance. Lack of pre-test data due to subject non-compliance in the control team hindered between group statistical comparisons. This study uncovered promising trends as to the potential for gains in dynamic balance as a result of agility training with Nike Free Trainer. This study also established the reliability of three clinical tests of ankle strength, static balance and dynamic balance. Future well-designed studies are recommended to research this area further to discern the effect of this agility training program on dynamic balance and establish its’ effect on ankle sprain incidence.

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / This thesis focuses on behavioural interventions for preventing sexual transmission of HIV. The international literature on the evaluation of this type of intervention largely originates from developed countries and from Africa. China, where the AIDS epidemic is growing rapidly, lacks rigorous evaluation studies to determine the effectiveness of HIV prevention activities. This study develops a model to inform decision-making based on evidence generated in settings other than those for which policy is being developed. This model is illustrated through two case studies in China, the first on HIV/AIDS prevention strategies targeting young people, and the second on men who have sex with men. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284184 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007

Nurses espouse a caring ethic and demonstrate effectiveness in prevention of patient falls but are often observed taking risks with patients’ safety. These actions reflect poor congruence between espoused values and behaviours. Attitudes, values and involvement in decision- making are factors that influence work behaviours. Nurses’ attitudes are held to be a definitive factor in prevention work; however, few studies have focused on adherence with best practice principles of fall prevention. Yet nurses claim no authority to change their work. It was assumed that increased adherence would be achieved by improving nurses’ attitudes through participation in decision- making surrounding fall prevention practice. This study aimed to tes t this assumption by empowering nurses working in two medical wards with high numbers of patient falls to improve their ownership of practice by utilising critical social theory and action research. Nurses’ attitudes, including self-esteem, professional values and work satisfaction were established before and after a practice development project using action research. Mixed methods were employed by praxis groups meeting fortnightly for a year reflecting on, and re-engineering practice. Action research occurred in cycles focusing on assessment, communication, everyday work, and performance. Nurses’ work was re-organised to gain time to spend in prevention work. Patients’ environments were made safer and more patient-centred. New and effective ways of assessing risk to fall, communication of risk and monitoring nurses’ performance of prevention work were created and evaluated. Analysis demonstrated that nurses had good self-esteem and professional values but were not satisfied with their work. Self-esteem and professional values were unaffected by participation in work-related decisions however, nurses expressed increased sense of ownership, more satisfaction and were observed to engage in more prevention work. In conclusion, manipulation of attitudes and values is not warranted if attitudes and values are good. However, participation in work-related decision- making engages practitioners and leads to greater congruence between values and behaviour. The “unspoken rules” constraining practice that were exposed in the action research oblige nurses to assume authority, confronting and dispelling these constraints to enable more therapeutic care to emerge. Recommendations include promoting practice development as the preferred means for cultural change and improving person-centred care whilst recognising its fragile nature and dependence on clinical leadership.

Alcohol and cannabis are the two most commonly used licit and illicit drugs in most developing countries including Australia. The burden of disease, social costs and harms associated with the use of these drugs is considerable. As such, the need for prevention is clear. Although an array of school-based drug prevention programs exist, the majority of these show minimal effects in reducing actual drug use. The most common impediments to their success concern obstacles to implementation and dissemination of programs, and a lack of sequential and developmentally appropriate messages. The aim of this thesis was to address these limitations by developing and evaluating an integrated school-based prevention program to reduce alcohol and cannabis use. The innovative program known as the Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course is founded on current evidence-based research, adopts a harm-minimisation approach to drug prevention and is embedded within the school health curriculum. The core content of the program is delivered over the internet using novel cartoon storylines to engage students. The early development of the course consisted of a cross-validation trial to test the feasibility and generalisability of an existing Climate Schools program for alcohol prevention. Extensive collaboration with teachers, students and health professionals was later conducted to extend and modify the Climate Schools framework to include the prevention of cannabis use. To date, this is the first time an internet-based harm-minimisation cannabis prevention program has been developed for use in schools. To establish the efficacy of the comprehensive Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course, a cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted with 10 schools in Sydney (n = 764). Results from this trial demonstrated the innovative course to be effective in increasing knowledge regarding alcohol and cannabis use, and in decreasing the use of these drugs six months following the intervention. This novel approach was found to be acceptable to students and teachers as a means of delivering drug education in schools. This thesis provides support for the more widespread dissemination of the Climate Schools model in schools. The barriers to dissemination require further research and are discussed.

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / This thesis focuses on behavioural interventions for preventing sexual transmission of HIV. The international literature on the evaluation of this type of intervention largely originates from developed countries and from Africa. China, where the AIDS epidemic is growing rapidly, lacks rigorous evaluation studies to determine the effectiveness of HIV prevention activities. This study develops a model to inform decision-making based on evidence generated in settings other than those for which policy is being developed. This model is illustrated through two case studies in China, the first on HIV/AIDS prevention strategies targeting young people, and the second on men who have sex with men. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284184 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007

In May 1996 the AIDS Council of NSW launched Talk Test Test Trust ???Together (TTTT), an HIV prevention campaign aimed at decreasing risk of infection within gay men???s relationships. The rationale behind TTTT was ???negotiated safety???: that it was safe not to use condoms for anal sex in primary relationships if specific steps were followed. TTTT generated contestation within AIDS Councils in Australia and New Zealand, but also amongst researchers, policy makers and gay communities. Arguments about TTTT and negotiated safety appeared logical and reasonable and did not fall neatly along an Australia/New Zealand divide. This study used a qualitative approach to interview key HIV educators in New South Wales who were involved in the development of TTTT and New Zealand educators who did not promote negotiated safety. This thesis argues that in order to understand the contestation around negotiated safety and TTTT it is necessary to understand the broader social and historical factors that shape HIV prevention contexts and practice. These include factors arising from the epidemic itself (which, to some extent, were responsible for the difference between Australia and New Zealand) such as the increasing complexity of gay men???s risk reduction strategies, the rise of a positive voice, and impact of treatments and factors associated with and the broader context such as the rise and continuing history of a gay political and social movement and associated identity and community formation, and later, fragmentation, changing concepts of love, intimacy and relationships and of risk and the uncertainty, anxiety and fear from living in a complex individualised detraditionalised world. This approach will show that a focus on a dynamic epidemic, and the broader social and historical context can shed light on arguments made about negotiated safety and TTTT. Further, applying Bourdieu???s formulation of the complex interaction of habitus, fields and practice (1977) makes sense not only of the arguments made about negotiated safety and TTTT, but of educator practice and of HIV prevention, of the broader HIV and AIDS sector, and of how societies continue to learn to live with and adapt to the epidemic.

Diss. Göteborg : Univ., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D., Natural Resources)--University of Idaho, November 15, 2007. / Major professor: James R. Fazio. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-76). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.