Francesca Collins

Subjective wellbeing and ‘felt’ stigma when living with HIV.

PurposeThe impact of stigma on subjective wellbeing was explored in adults living with HIV in Australia and the USA. It was hypothesised that this population would report poorer subjective wellbeing than the general population and that ‘felt’ stigma would contribute significantly to reported levels of subjective wellbeing.MethodsA total of 274 participants were recruited through Australian AIDS councils and HIV-specific online support groups. Participants completed a composite questionnaire comprising the personal wellbeing index—adult (PWI-A), the HIV version of the unsupportive social interactions inventory (USII) and demographic and health-related items. The PWI-A total score was used to form a personal wellbeing index, ranging from 0 to 100.ResultsParticipants reported mean PWI-A total scores of 54.7, considerably below the normative range of 70–80 for Western populations. There was a strong negative correlation between PWI-A total scores and USII total scores with the experience of high levels of unsupportive social interactions being associated with reduced levels of subjective wellbeing.ConclusionsOur study suggests that despite antidiscrimination legislation, ‘felt’ stigma in the form of unsupportive social interactions continues to exert a negative impact on subjective wellbeing. Reduced subjective wellbeing may increase the risk of adverse health behaviours, such as medication non-adherence, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviours and non-disclosure of HIV serostatus.

Investigating Dissociation Online: Validation of a Web-Based Version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale

ABSTRACT A Web-based version of Carlson and Putnams (1993) Dissociative Experiences Scale was piloted to establish its psychometric equivalence with the original “pen and paper” (PP) version. Forty-two Australian adult university students completed the PP DES and 293 predominantly Australian, US and UK adults completed a Web-based version of the DES via the Internet. Internet responders were significantly older, and reported higher levels of dissociation, than the PP responders, however, examination of the DES mean scores and Cronbachs alphas produced by PP and online responders provides support for the equivalence of the two versions. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature regarding the validity of online versions of traditionally paper-based psychological questionnaires. Furthermore, the Internet proved beneficial as a data collection tool in the present study as only complete data sets were collected and data collection and processing was efficient, eliminating problems common in paper-based studies. The present findings indicate that the DES can be administered online with confidence, although further investigation is needed to determine the impact of education, ethnicity and history of trauma and abuse on the scores of online responders.

Factors Inhibiting and Driving Innovation in ICT Education 1

The ICT-Ed Project is one of a number of national DETYA-funded studies currently investigating educational innovations in the major disciplines at the university level. The ICT-Ed Project focuses on educational innovation in information and communication technology (ICT)–related disciplines, such as computer science, information systems and software engineering. As part of this study university teaching staff from relevant departments across Australia participated in mini-conferences where they discussed the factors driving and inhibiting educational initiatives in their disciplines. This paper reports the issues identified and discusses them with reference to national and international trends in university funding and governance. Broad issues described include policy and funding priorities, technological development, changing student populations and staff motivation. Although participants in the study were drawn from ICT-related departments, many of the issues described are relevant to university educators more generally. Keyword: Educational Change From the horse’s mouth: Factors inhibiting and driving innovation in ICT education Julianne Lynch & Francesca Collins