Jacqueline S Yoxall

Supporting women to achieve breastfeeding to six months postpartum – The theoretical foundations of a successful program

BACKGROUND Although the benefits of breastfeeding to six months are well-established, only about half of Australian women succeed. The factors associated with successful breastfeeding are rarely translated into effective interventions. A new educational and support program, called the Milky Way program has been demonstrated to be effective in supporting women to achieve prolonged breastfeeding. In the Milky Way program, breastfeeding is considered an embodied performance which requires an engaged combination of body, mind and spirit. This paper aims to explain how the two theories that informed the program were used to better enable womens long term breastfeeding success. METHOD The theory of self-efficacy is first described as a way to develop womens cognitive processes to organise and execute the course of actions to breastfeed for a longer period of time. Birth territory theory is then presented. This theory discusses women as embodied selves; an essential concept for breastfeeding success. Birth territory theory also describes the effects of the holistic environment on the woman and explores the effects of power that is used in the environment. This power can be used integratively to strengthen the womans breastfeeding confidence and success or, disintergratively which reduces her confidence and undermines her success. CONCLUSION Strategies based on self-efficacy theory are helpful, but are not sufficient to promote breastfeeding to six months. Health educators also need to foster the womans connection to, and trust in, her body and her babys body to breastfeed spontaneously. Being aware of environmental impacts on how the woman and baby breastfeed; and using ones own power integratively is crucial to women being able to achieve prolonged breastfeeding.

Evaluating the reliability and validity of the proposed muscle dysmorphia criteria

This study aimed to: (a) determine the inter-rater reliability of the proposed muscle dysmorphia criteria, (b) investigate if muscle dysmorphia (MD) represented a syndrome of frequently co-occurring symptoms, and (c) determine the level of correlation between the proposed MD criteria and the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale. Men (N = 48) aged 18 years and older who were currently participating in resistance training were assessed using the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale and a one-on-one interview. Two qualified psychologists assigned a diagnosis of MD to those participants who appeared to meet the proposed criteria for MD. Inter-rater reliability and the frequency of co-occurring symptoms in participants were assessed. The correlation between MD and the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale was explored. The inter-rater reliability between the researchers was low (Cohens kappa = .39; p ≤ .05). A Binomial test revealed that MD represented a syndrome of frequently co-occurring symptoms; there was a significant probability (>.70) of a participant with one diagnostic symptom of MD (criterion 2a or 3) to exhibit another symptom (criterion 1) of the disorder. Point-biserial correlation indicated that the proposed MD criteria, excluding criterion 2b, were significantly correlated with the total score of the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale and its subscales, excluding Muscle Satisfaction. The study provides some evidence to question the acceptance of the proposed MD criteria.

Faking Bad in Workers Compensation Psychological Assessments: Elevation Rates of Negative Distortion Scales on the Personality Assessment Inventory in an Australian Sample

The workers compensation system provides a clear external incentive for deliberate feigning of physical or mental illness to some individuals. Although it has been asserted that all pre-liability workers compensation psychological assessments should involve assessment of deliberate feigning, the lack of an agreed standard for assessing this response style creates a substantial challenge in practice. Over the last two decades, substantial attention has been given to measures of psychopathology that also include validated negative distortion indices. The Personality Assessment Inventory) has been validated in both the clinical and forensic population, and is reportedly used by many Australian psychologists. This study explores rates of elevation of negative distortion scales on the PAI as a potential indicator of deliberate feigning in a large Australian workers compensation sample.

Detection of malingering: A survey of Australian psychologists' current practices

[Extract] In conditional discrimination choice tasks, one learns to make a choice conditionally based on the presenting discriminative/cue stimulus. Prior research has shown that when each type of correct choice is followed by a cue-unique trial outcome (differential outcomes procedure), learning is faster and more accurate than when a single, common outcome is delivered for all types of correct choice. This learning effect has been termed the differential outcomes effect (DOE). Results are discussed here for brain regions that are active in mediating the DOE, while healthy young adults performed delayed conditional discrimination under event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Based on two different work motivation theories, the relationships between personality traits (Big Five, CSE: core self-evaluation) and the importance of various job aspects was investigated. In Study I (N=118), graduates with high scores on Openness to experience and Agreeableness placed emphasis on Herzbergs motivation factors, whereas no relations were found for hygiene factors. In Study II (N=117 employees), the Big Five accounted for 30% of the variance in importance of the motivating potential of a job (Job Characteristics Model) and CSE showed incremental validity. Results are discussed regarding person-job fit and the practical utility of the CSE construct.Individual differences in learning nondeterministic relationships were investigated in samples with high mathematical proficiency. Probability Learning tasks were included within selection tests for admission to the French Air Transport Pilot Training. In Study 1 (N=401), two cues had positive and negative relationships with a target criterion. Four classes, homogeneous in mathematical performance, differed in learning the nondeterministic relationships. _ Fast-learners swiftly learned the relationships. _ Medium- and Slow-learners were slower but eventually succeeded. _ Nonlearners (12%) failed to learn even the positive relationship. These patterns replicated in Study 2 (N=448), including a third-irrelevant-cue. The irrelevant cue made the task more complex and degraded more the learning of the negative than the positive cue. Response time analyses confirmed that differences in the learning profiles went along with differences in the decision-making processes.