This thesis examined the relationship between children’s visual art and hospital contexts. It specifically focused on children’s art in the Tile Project within the Mater Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. This ethnographic study consisted of interviews with the creators of the Tile Project as well as interviews and a survey with parents, staff, and children within the Mater Children’s Hospital. The interviews were informed by a review of literature in the areas of art in health settings. The study made observations of the community interacting with the tiles and collected images of the tiles used in the hospital and employed the framework of Bourdieu’s (1993) fields of cultural production and Abbs’s (1987) aesthetic field and dimensions, as well as the aesthetic dimensions of Beardsley (1982), Eisner (1985), and Csikszentmihalyi (1990). The study investigated the aesthetic characteristics of the tiles and their health outcomes in relation to the hospital community. This study is significant because the Mater Children’s Hospital Tile Project was a project that reflected art in healthcare settings involving Community Arts, art in design, and art in public buildings. The research identified the unique nature of the Tile Project which saw the hospital as a children’s space with artworks for children by children. The study reflected on the value of the tiles in having a healing and distracting quality for parents and children alike and that engagement with the tiles through touch, imagination, and playful games improved the atmosphere of the hospital.

This ethnographic study provides insight and understanding, which is needed to educate and support the Triage Nursing role in Australian Emergency Departments (EDs). The triage role has emerged to address issues in providing efficient emergency care. However, Triage Nurses and educators have found the role challenging and not well understood. Method: Sampling was done first by developing a profile of 900 nurses who undertake the triage role in 50 NSW EDs through survey techniques. Purposive sampling was then done with data collected from participant observation in four metropolitan EDs (Level 4 and 6), observations and interviews with 10 Triage Nurses and the maintenance of a record of secondary data sources. Analysis used standard content and thematic analysis techniques. Findings: An ED culture is reflected in a standard geography of care and embedded beliefs and rituals that sustain a cadence of care. Triage Nurses to accomplish their role and maintain this rhythm of care used three processes: gatekeeping, timekeeping and decision-making. When patient overcrowding occurred the three processes enabled Triage Nurses to implement a range of practices to restore the cadence of care to which they were culturally oriented. Conclusion: The findings provide a framework that offers new ways of considering triage nursing practice, educational programs, policy development and future research.

<p>The objectives of the study were to examine (1) employees' experiences in using mental/life skills and (2) sport psychology consultants' experiences in teaching mental/life skills to employees in business settings. The study was conducted through qualitative interviews. Two interview guides were created to answer the objectives. Six participants, three employees who used mental/ life skills and three consultants who worked both in sports and in business took part in the study. The interviews were analysed inductively. The results pointed towards that mental/ life skills can beneficially be used at workplaces in order to increase effectiveness, improve communication between employees and to develop the employees further. The results also indicated that sport psychology consultants can successfully work in business but additional educations is an advantage. The results of the study are discussed from the point of related theoretical frameworks and research in sport and work psychology.</p>

The objectives of the study were to examine (1) employees' experiences in using mental/life skills and (2) sport psychology consultants' experiences in teaching mental/life skills to employees in business settings. The study was conducted through qualitative interviews. Two interview guides were created to answer the objectives. Six participants, three employees who used mental/ life skills and three consultants who worked both in sports and in business took part in the study. The interviews were analysed inductively. The results pointed towards that mental/ life skills can beneficially be used at workplaces in order to increase effectiveness, improve communication between employees and to develop the employees further. The results also indicated that sport psychology consultants can successfully work in business but additional educations is an advantage. The results of the study are discussed from the point of related theoretical frameworks and research in sport and work psychology.

Interest in youth civic engagement continues to increase and a small but growing group of organizations are seeking to get young people involved in political activism. At the same time, researchers are giving more attention to the features of adolescent settings and how they relate to the overall development of young people. What remains to be absent is a contextual understanding of how the characteristics of adolescent settings contribute specifically to political development. The purpose of this study is to identify organizational level characteristics of youth organizations that promote the political development of adolescents. Semi-structured interviews and grounded theory analysis with 15 young activists revealed a “Big Six” of organizational characteristics and properties that influence participation in societal involvement behaviors. Post hoc analyses also revealed potential relationships between political development and the Big Six. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed and directions for future research are delineated.

With rising levels of immigration comes a need to know what fosters positive adaptation for the youth growing up in a new culture of settlement.The issue is increasingly studied; however, little of the research conducted has combined a developmental with a contextual approach. The aim of this dissertation was to explore the adaptation of immigrant youth on the basis of developmental theories and models which put emphasis on setting or contextual conditions. This entailed viewing immigrant youths as developing organisms that actively interact with their environments. Further, immigrant youths were seen as embedded in multiple settings, at different levels and with different contextual features. Two of the overall research questions addressed how contextual features of the settings in which the youth are embedded were related to adaptation. Results from all three studies combined to show that the contextual feature of a setting is not of prime or sole importance for the adaptation of immigrant youth, and that the contextual feature of SES diversity is of greater importance than theethnic compositions of settings. The next two overall research questions addressed how the linkage between settings was related to adaptation. The results indicated that adaptation is not always setting specific and that what is happening in one setting can be related to adaptation in anothersetting. Further, it was found that the cultural distance between settings is related to adaption, but that contextual factors affect this relationship. Overall, the results of the dissertation suggests that the adaptation of immigrant youth is a complex matter that is explained better by interaction and indirect effects than by main and direct effects. This highlights the importance of taking all settings in which the immigrant youths are embedded into account and to account for how the settings interact to understand the factors that foster and hinder positive adaptation of immigrant youth. / <p>The article "Homophily in friendship networks of immigrant and nonimmigrantyouth: Does context matter?" in the list of studies is published electronically as "Peer selection and influence of delinquent behavior of immigrant and nonimmigrant youths: does context matter?"</p>

Sport participation in the United States is often characterized as a unitary experience that naturally instills a standardized set of values. In this work, however, I challenge the mythology of a unitary conceptualization of sport participation and examine how the experiences and outcomes of playing sports change depending on the setting in which the participation occurs. Specifically, I undertake an investigation into the differences between playing sports in an organized setting and playing them in an informal, unstructured setting. Drawing from the findings of three distinct studies, I first demonstrate through a mixed-method historical study how the field of sport management has narrowed its focus over time to exclude the more playful forms of sport and physical activity. In the second and third studies, I show the experiential and developmental outcomes that are potentially overlooked by maintaining a narrow definition of sport that excludes sport played in unstructured settings. In the second study, a phenomenological examination of pre-teen youth sport participants reveals that the meaning of the experience of playing youth sports derives not from playing in one setting alone, but emerges through the synthesis of experiences accrued in both organized and unstructured settings. In the third study, the relative influences of time spent participating in organized sports and informal sports during childhood are assessed with respect to the development of participant creativity. Like the phenomenological study, the results of this quantitative analysis again point to the importance of balancing participation in both organized and unstructured settings. The most creative individuals are those who split their sport participation time across both settings, as opposed to individuals with below-average creativity, who spent the majority of their sport participation time in organized settings. Combined, the results of these three studies demonstrate the historical shift (in both research and practice) away from unstructured sport settings, and highlight the potentially transformative sport development implications of reincorporating unstructured sport settings on the overall experiences and outcomes of sport participation. / text

‘Patients bring more than just their bodies and diseases’ (Baker et al 1999: 173) The study explores what may be the nature of the need, if any for counselling/psychotherapy for older people who suffer a debilitating physical injury or illness. This is explored within medical settings where the emphasis is on the physical functional rehabilitation of people who have suffered a variety of physical traumas. The theoretical issues related to this are the ageing process and old age, the body, the ‘self’ and, the impact of the trauma. The literature review, whist acknowledging that people do suffer emotional and psychological reactions, offers very little literature on both the practicalities and theoretical orientation of work with people with chronic physical illness or injuries and, in particular, with older people within medical settings. It is documented that depression influences a person’s engagement with rehabilitation and delays discharge, plus increases use of medication. This study shows an awareness of these issues and of counselling/psychotherapy approaches that may be helpful in these circumstances.

Most LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings are commercial office buildings and multi-use buildings. As of October 2009, 35,000 projects were registered in the LEED system, "comprising over 4.5 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 91 countries." However, as of April 30, 2009, only 43 healthcare projects had achieved LEED certification. Currently, most studies focus on the economic benefits and energy consumption of LEED certified buildings, rather than human factors. A small gain in productivity can result in a heftier financial gain. Even modest improvements in productivity and absenteeism can substantially outweigh the energy cost. This study surveyed 164 staff in the two healthcare settings for case study, and 146 staff in the six LEED certified healthcare settings for the main study in climate zone 2 and 3. Telephone interviews with the six facility managers were used to verify the survey results and further examine the healthcare facilities? performance and the effectiveness of the LEED strategies from facility managers' perspectives. Independent t-test was used to examine the difference between the LEED and Non-LEED hospitals in one healthcare system and results showed that building performance were rated higher by staff in LEED certified hospital than Non-LEED hospital. MANOVA was conducted to compare the staff's ratings between Silver and Gold certification levels, male and female, and also explore the possibility of interaction effect. Multilevel regression modeling was used to test how the building performance variables affect the overall comfort and productivity. Study results showed that staff in the Gold certified hospital had significant higher ratings in most the performance variables. Gold certified healthcare settings were significant better in rated building overall, overall comfort and controllability than Silver certified healthcare settings. And males felt more comfortable in temperature than females in healthcare facilities. Regarding the overall comfort and productivity, building design, efficiency of the space use, temperature comfort and controllability over building system were significant predictors for staff overall comfort; and lighting comfort, temperature comfort and controllability over building system had significant positive relationship with perceived productivity. LEED certified healthcare settings appear to have a good environment and building performance for occupants. Controllability, lighting, temperature, use of space, building design were important factors in staff comfort and productivity.

This ethnographic study provides insight and understanding, which is needed to educate and support the Triage Nursing role in Australian Emergency Departments (EDs). The triage role has emerged to address issues in providing efficient emergency care. However, Triage Nurses and educators have found the role challenging and not well understood. Method: Sampling was done first by developing a profile of 900 nurses who undertake the triage role in 50 NSW EDs through survey techniques. Purposive sampling was then done with data collected from participant observation in four metropolitan EDs (Level 4 and 6), observations and interviews with 10 Triage Nurses and the maintenance of a record of secondary data sources. Analysis used standard content and thematic analysis techniques. Findings: An ED culture is reflected in a standard geography of care and embedded beliefs and rituals that sustain a cadence of care. Triage Nurses to accomplish their role and maintain this rhythm of care used three processes: gatekeeping, timekeeping and decision-making. When patient overcrowding occurred the three processes enabled Triage Nurses to implement a range of practices to restore the cadence of care to which they were culturally oriented. Conclusion: The findings provide a framework that offers new ways of considering triage nursing practice, educational programs, policy development and future research.