Connar McShane

Tourism development in agricultural landscapes: the case of the Atherton Tablelands, Australia

Abstract This paper demonstrates how the landscape is an integral component in the development of tourism experiences in agricultural regions. It proposes that agricultural landscapes are composed of three components: naturescape, farmscape and culturescape. Building on the tourist gaze, this research demonstrates how tourists can move from viewing the landscape to engaging with it. A case study of the Atherton Tablelands, located in the Wet Tropics region of Australia, was conducted using content analysis and field observations. The results show that the development of activities within the culturescape enables tourists to engage with the agricultural landscape. This finding has important implications for the farmscape, where agricultural resources (produce) are often used in the creation of memorable tourism experiences in agricultural regions.

Development and validation of a work stressor scale for Australian farming families.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this research was to gain insight into the key stressors for Australian farming families. It is well established that the farming work environment consists of a number of unique stressors which arise from dependency on factors beyond an individuals control (e.g. climate conditions) as well as the overlap between work and family environments. Despite this, limited research has included family factors in the assessment of stress felt by farmers and their families. This research sought to develop a scale of stressors for farming families in an Australian sample. DESIGN A survey design was used for validity and reliability studies. The validity study involved assessment of factor structure, concurrent validity and discriminant validity. The reliability study used a test-retest reliability design. PARTICIPANTS Participants were recruited from across Australia (38% Queensland; 30% New South Wales) and multiple industries (43% beef; 27% broadacre cropping; 26% horticulture). The validity study involved 278 participants and the reliability study involved 53 participants. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Development of a Farming Family Stressor scale. RESULTS The generated Farming Family Stressor scale presented satisfactory levels of concurrent validity (e.g. r = .73 against the Farm Stress Survey total score), discriminant validity (e.g. r = -.42 to r = .53 against the Satisfaction with Life and Kessler-10 total scores, respectively), internal consistency (Cronbachs alpha >.90) and test-retest reliability (rho > .66). CONCLUSION This research lends insight into the complexity of stressors for farming families and has implications for occupational health and mental health programs that seek to reduce stress and improve health outcomes for that group.

Connections: the contribution of social capital to regional development

This article explores perceptions of social capital and sustainability of farming and its contribution to regional development. A review of the literature highlights challenges in the operationalization of social capital as a development tool and the limits of research that gauges community perceptions of the role of social capital in their region’s development. The current study investigated stakeholder attitudes regarding regional development within a target region in North Queensland, Australia. Focus groups were conducted at regional, state and national levels. Findings suggest stakeholders perceived social capital to be important for farming sustainability and regional development, but thought it could variously help or hinder effective development. Future research should embrace social capital as a multi-dimensional construct with positive and negative implications for regional development depending on stage and context.

Building resilience in Australian farming communities: the relationship of farm and family to well-being

Background: Theorised pathways in an ‘extended’ common-sense model of illness representations (CSM) in those affected by Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) were examined. Analysis contrasted between those using complementary medicines (CAM-users) and those not using CAM (non-users). Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey. Participants (n=653) were recruited from an IBS self-help network and other online illness discussion forums and assessed on the IPQ-R, the BMQ-General, the Brief-COPE and IBS-QOL. Findings: CAM-users reported poorer quality of life compared to non-users. Stronger perceptions of illness consequences and emotional representations were strongly correlated with reduced quality of life and poorer emotional outcomes in both groups. Self-blame and behavioural disengagement partially mediated the pathway from perception to outcome. Discussion: Findings suggest consistency with CSM theory. The detected influence of representations on quality of life (via coping strategies) suggests health psychologists could address components of illness perceptions to improve quality of life in those affected by IBS.Background: Psychological preparation has been demonstrated to improve post-operative outcomes including pain and health care resource use. This systematic review (registered with the Cochrane Anaesthesia Review Group) will investigate which methods of preparation are effective and for which outcomes. Economic data will be reviewed where available. Methods: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of adults undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia are included. Papers are identified using electronic searches, reference lists and contact with authors of studies to identify unpublished research. Expected results: In a meta-analysis including 38 RCTs, Johnston and Vogele (1993) found psychological preparation to be effective in improving various postoperative outcomes. It is expected that this up-dated review will provide further evidence about which techniques are effective because more studies are now available. Current stage of work: Papers are being screened for inclusion. Discussion: Identifying effective pre-surgical interventions may result in improved patient outcomes and healthcare resource use.[Extract] Background: Qualities of resilience have been strongly identified within farming populations. This resilience is being challenged, with high suicide rates raising concerns about the mental health of the farming population. This research explored those factors which impacted the resilience of farming families of Australia. Methods: Interviews were conducted (N=53 participants) and analysed using Grounded Theory and Content Analysis. Based on qualitative findings, a subsequent sample (N=278) of farming families from across Australia completed the survey. Measures of stressors, work-life balance, coping, buffering characteristics and well-being were distributed. Findings: Outcomes suggested themes of commitment and identification with farming helped build resilience. Path analysis indicated that buffering characteristics mediated and moderated the impact of stressors and role interference on indicators of well-being, χ² (18)=23.98, p=0.156. Discussion: Recommendations were made for raising awareness to the farming community of the risk factors for poor health and suggestions for increasing the resilience of groups at-risk of poor well-being.Resiliance and Health - 26th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 21st - 25th August 2012Using two behavioral risk tasks (Balloon Analogue Risk Task BART; Lejuez et al. 2002 and Columbia Card Task, CCT; Figner et al. 2009) that mimic important features of real-world risk taking behaviors, we investigated the effects of different types of negative affect on risk taking. Methods: Participants (N¼50) were first administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond et al. 1983). One month later, they completed the BART and the cold CCT, in counterbalanced order. State mood was assessed before participants played the CCT and BART. Findings: Higher levels of anxiety were associated with less risk taking in both tasks; depression was unrelated to risk taking. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that these findings were robust to mood effects. Discussion: Findings from the current study indicated that healthy subjects’ risk taking tendencies vary between anxiety and depression. Implications for prevention of health risks are discussed. 194 EHPS 2012 abstracts Downloaded byBackground: Physical exercise contributes to healthy ageing, and strength training has beenshown to improve independence in older people.Method: Six hundred older people wererandomly selected from ...Background: Conceptual clarification of salutogenesis (Antonovsky 1987) and resilience – what is common and different? Methods: A systematic research synthesis 1992–2010 based on about 1300 papers ...Resiliance and Health - 26th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 21st - 25th August 2012This conference abstract looks provides an analysis of the behaviour change techniques used in Scottish Government supported behaviour change interventionsBackground: The aim of this research was to examine variables that influence attention to health information in order to develop a predictive model. Methods: Community participants(N=330) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions presenting information about coronary heart disease (CHD) or road accidents. Information was either risk or neutral in valency. Attention to information was measured using a surprise recall task. Other variables measured included perceived risk, optimism, control and coping strategies. Findings: Overall, participants in the CHD condition remembered significantly more risk information than participants in the road condition. Participants in the road condition endorsed significantly lower beliefs in personal control perceptions while also endorsing greater beliefs in other’s control over their own road outcomes. Discussion: While perceived control is usually emphasised as integral in adopting protective behaviours these findings suggest that they are also central in communicating health information.

The farming family work environment: consideration of a hypothesised model of role interference

Background: Existing models of the work-home interface and work-family conflict has traditionally considered role interference to occur from only the two domains of work and home (Carlson et al., 2000; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Frone et al., 1992). However, more recent research suggests that maintaining balance between these domains requires consideration of multiple potential sources of conflict (Pocock et al., 2009). This difference in perspective is particularly relevant to family business environments which present more complex interfaces due to dual roles, blurred boundaries, and succession issues (Danes & Morgan, 2004). The aim of the current research was to explore the factors which affected role completion in the context of a farming family business. Research has suggested that the farming family work-home interface may be unique to other workplace structures and therefore likely to have a differential impact on health and well-being (McShane & Quirk, 2009). Methods: Participants (N=278) from farming families from across Australia and farming produce types were invited to complete a questionnaire package which explored the relationship between characteristics of the working environment and reported levels of psychological distress, work burnout, and life satisfaction. Findings: Factors that interfered with role completion originated from multiple sources such as personal characteristics, work demands, home demands, and external demands. Findings from correlation matrices, exploratory factor analysis and path analysis (χ² (₁₈)=23.98, p=.156) indicate that work stressors, role interference, and low commitment and identification with farming results in higher reported psychological distress and work burnout and lower reported life satisfaction. Discussion: Communication, trust and commitment to farm and family appeared to be important in reducing the impact of role interference on well-being. Outcomes of the research have resulted in a hypothesised contextually specific model of role interference for farming families of Australia.Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are very common. Regional chronic shoulder and neck pain (SNP) and widespread chronic pain due to fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are examples of MSDs characterized by ...This research aimed to address the gap in evidence-based treatment available for cancer survivors who are experiencing cognitive dysfunction. The research aim was to test the feasibility of a group cognitive rehabilitation intervention designed to improve cognitive function and quality of life for people who have completed cancer treatment. Three groups of adults were recruited: an intervention group of 23 cancer survivors who completed a 4-week group cognitive rehabilitation treatment, a comparison group of 9 cancer survivors, and a matched community sample of 23 adults who had never experienced cancer. The manualised “ReCog” intervention was developed by the authors for this study and was delivered by a clinical health psychologist and a provisionally registered psychologist, in small groups of 4-8 participants. The two comparison groups completed assessments but did not receive the intervention. Measures of objective and subjective cognitive functions, quality of life, psychosocial distress, and illness perceptions were used. The results indicated that the intervention was effective in improving overall cognitive function, visuospatial/constructional performance, immediate memory, and delayed memory beyond practice effects alone. It was helpful in reducing participants’ perceptions of cognitive impairment and psychosocial distress, as well as promoting social functioning and understanding of cognition. The improvements were maintained at three months after the intervention. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the treatment. The results provided evidence for the feasibility of a brief group-based cognitive rehabilitation intervention to treat cognitive problems experienced by cancer survivors.