Felicity Allen

Development and Psychometric Validation of the Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Well-Being Scale:

Due to the growing interest in holistic health and well-being, the Mental, Physical, and Spiritual Well-being Scale was developed. This well-being scale has 30 items and incorporates mental, physical, and spiritual subscales. An initial set of items was developed and 186 university students responded to these. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using principal components analysis with varimax rotation (N = 100) to reduce the number of items in the scale. Three factors were extracted based on the eigenvalues, loading coefficients exceeding 0.3, and the scree test. Ten items from each of the three factors were selected, reducing the number of items from 66 to 30. Another factor analysis, performed on 129 employees of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and 229 students from Monash University, indicated three factors were representative of the mental, physical, and spiritual subscales. Test-retest reliabilities over 1 mo. ranged from 0.87 to 0.97 for the three subscales whilst internal consistency ranged from 0.75 to 0.85. Concurrent validity was examined using the General Health Questionnaire and the Spiritual Well-being Scale. The discriminant validity of the MPS was also explored using three activity groups nominated as highly physical (weight training) or highly mental (chess) or highly spiritual (prayer). Out of a total of 88 cases, 77.3% of these were correctly classified into their actual activity group based on their scores. Sample sizes were moderate and testing was of limited samples. More psychometric work is needed but preliminary findings indicate an accurate and reliable test.

The role of social drinking motives in the relationship between social norms and alcohol consumption

Social norms are key predictors of college student drinking. Additionally, the social reasons for consumption (i.e. social drinking motives) are important to understanding drinking behaviour. This study investigated the effects of social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption. A total of 229 college students completed an online questionnaire assessing their drinking behaviour, social drinking motives and their perceived drinking social norms. Drinking social norms were assessed as descriptive norms (i.e. the individuals perceived prevalence of alcohol consumption), and injunctive norms (i.e. the individuals perceived approval of drinking by their peers). Additionally, injunctive norms were further separated into distal (socially distant peers) and proximal (socially close peers). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed descriptive norms, proximal injunctive norms and social motives all independently predicted alcohol consumption. Additionally, the relationship between proximal injunctive norms and consumption, and descriptive norms and consumption was mediated by social motives. Lastly, there was a significant three-way interaction between descriptive norms, distal injunctive norms and social motives on drinking. Consideration of both the individual factors and the complex interplay between social norms and social motives on alcohol consumption is necessary to further understand drinking behaviour, and to develop more effective alcohol harm-reduction strategies.

A Theoretical Model of EGM Problem Gambling: More than a Cognitive Escape

Although electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling is established as a particularly risky form of gambling (Dowling, Smith and Thomas, Addiction 100:33–45, 2005), models of problem gambling continue to be generalist so factors and processes specific to EGM gambling can be overlooked. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 EGM problem gamblers and six gambling counsellors and used grounded theory methods to develop a theoretical model of EGM problem gambling. The final model demonstrates the importance of both situational and structural characteristics in maintaining excessive EGM gambling. Originally a harmless pastime, EGM gambling became a means by which gamblers cognitively and physically avoided problems. EGM venues were highly accessible, had an inviting atmosphere, and were private yet companionable. Games were entertaining and distracting. Maladaptive coping habits, low social support and few alternative social spaces contributed to the reliance on gambling.

Impact of alcohol harm reduction strategies in community sports clubs: Pilot evaluation of the good sports program

OBJECTIVE Approximately 4.5 million Australians are involved in community sports clubs. A high level of alcohol consumption tends to be commonplace in this setting. The only program of its type in the world, the Good Sports program was designed to reduce harmful alcohol consumption in these Australian community sports clubs. The program offers a staged accreditation process to encourage the implementation of alcohol harm-reduction strategies. METHOD We conducted a postintervention adoption study to evaluate whether community sports club accreditation through the Good Sports program was associated with lower rates of alcohol consumption. We examined alcohol consumption rates in 113 clubs (N = 1,968 participants) and compared these to consumption rates in the general community. We hypothesized that members of clubs with more advanced implementation of the Good Sports accreditation program (Stage Two) would consume less alcohol than those with less advanced implementation (Stage One). RESULTS Multilevel modeling (MLM) indicated that on days when teams competed, Stage Two club members consumed 19% less alcohol than Stage One club members. MLM also indicated that the length of time a club had been in the Good Sports program was associated with reduced rates of weekly drinking that exceeded Australian short-term risky drinking guidelines. However consumption rates for all clubs were still higher than the general community. Higher accreditation stage also predicted reduced long-term risky drinking by club members. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that community sports clubs show evidence of higher levels of alcohol consumption and higher rates of risky consumption than the general community. Implementation of the Good Sports accreditation strategy was associated with lower alcohol consumption in these settings.

Image analysis of gunshot residue on entry wounds II - A statistical estimation of firing range

A statistical investigation of the relationship between firing range and the amount and distribution of gunshot residue (GSR), used automated image analysis (IA) to quantify GSR deposit resulting from firings into pig skin, from distances ranging between contact and 45 cm. Overall, for a Ruger .22 semi-automatic rifle using CCI solid point, high velocity ammunition, the total area of GSR deposit on the skin sections decreased in a non-linear fashion with firing range. More specifically there were significant differences in the amount of GSR deposited from shots fired at contact compared with shots fired from distances between 2.5 and 45 cm; and between shots fired from a distance of 20 cm or less, with shots fired at a distance of 30 cm or more. In addition, GSR particles were heavily concentrated in the wound tract only for contact and close range shots at 2.5 cm, while the particle distribution was more uniform between the wound tract and the skin surfaces for shots fired from distances greater than 2.5 cm. Consequently, for future scientific investigations of gunshot fatalities, once standards have been established for the weapon and ammunition type in question, image analysis quantification of GSR deposited in and around the gunshot wound may be capable of providing a reliable, statistical basis for estimating firing range.

Survey of health problems of overseas students

Abstract In the context of several findings of increased medical consultation following migration, thisarticle examines a particular problem; “foreign student syndrome”. It has been accepted among university medical services for some years that foreign students are more prone than the native born to visit them with a physical symptom covering an underlying psychological problem. A search of the records of 2 Australian University Health Services failed to find any evidence in support of this hypothesis. The possibility that Western trained physicians are labelling as pathological the normal behaviour of members of other cultures is discussed.

Association of risky alcohol consumption and accreditation in the ‘Good Sports’ alcohol management programme

Background Involvement in community sports clubs is often associated with high levels of risky alcohol consumption; however, developing prevention-focused interventions in these settings can be complex. We examined the association of reduced risky alcohol consumption with the implementation of the Good Sports Programme (GSP)—a programme that accredits clubs in three stages, on the basis of their implementation of alcohol-related harm reduction strategies. Methods Using a cross section of football and cricket clubs, consumption was compared between clubs accredited at level 1, 2 or 3 of the GSP and clubs not accredited (92 clubs; 1924 individuals). Drinking above Australian guidelines for short-term risk (more than four standard drinks) on the last playing day prior to the survey and drinking at the club over the last 12 months at average levels exceeding short- and long-term risk (more than two standard drinks) guidelines were also examined. Results Multilevel modelling indicated that higher accreditation stage (0, 1, 2, 3) was associated with a 0.79 reduction in the odds of risky consumption on the playing day; a 0.85 reduction in the odds for short-term risky drinking, and a 0.86 reduction in long-term risky drinking. Conclusions The findings suggest that higher accreditation in the GSP is associated with reduced rates of risky alcohol use at a population level.

Cognitive Processes Associated with Gambling Behaviour

Gambling behaviours can be pathological if positive response is extreme, but very little is known about the psychological precursors of pathological gambling in Australia. This study examined the relationships between self-reported gambling behaviours and scores on locus of control measures. The sample of 80 male and 75 female undergraduate students completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen and Levensons multidimensional Locus of Control Scale. No significant association was found for the self-reported gambling behaviours with scores on the Internal scale but a positive one obtained between scores on the Powerful Others subscale. Self-reported gambling behaviours differed significantly for men reported that they gambled more than women. For these Australian undergraduates an additional question on borrowing money increased the apparent frequency of pathological gambling. Thus an avenue for further research is the development of a valid and reliable measure of gambling behaviours in an Australian sample.

Gaming machine gambling: different payoffs for men and women?

The aim of this study was to examine the association between gender and problem electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling. One hundred and twenty-three males and 209 females (N=335; three participants did not identify their gender) with a mean age of 44.9 years were surveyed in gaming venues within Metropolitan Melbourne. The results showed a greater representation of Australian-born (74%) among the female group, compared to the male group (64%). The women were also older (47% were aged 41–60 years) than the men (48% of males were aged 19–40 years). Significant relationships were found between gender, age, marital status and religion and pathological EGM gambling. The results of this study showed the pathological EGM gambler was likely to be male, under the age of 45 years, single and possibly of the Greek Orthodox faith. Implications of this study suggest that different forms of gambling may suit different cultures and that other issues pertaining to cultural aspects of gambling need to be explored in greater depth.

Euthanasia: Why Torture Dying People When We Have Sick Animals Put Down?

Most people would define euthanasia as the deliberate ending of a life by a second person, either by act or omission, on the basis of the second persons judgment about the quality of that life. Usually, the life that is terminated cannot be sustained without intensive inpatient medical care, and occasionally the life is believed to be so burdensome and distressing as to not be worth living. These two judgments broadly encompass medical euthanasia. Ending a life on the basis of political judgment about the quality of the life in question — that it is too costly or not sufficiently worthy to continue — is social euthanasia. One of the objections to formalising and legalising the current practice of medical euthanasia is that this recognition will lead to toleration of deliberately ending the lives of members of minority ethnic or religious groups, the elderly, the psychiatrically disturbed, or the intellectually disabled — the “slippery slope” argument.