Steve Provost

Action learning enhances professional development of research supervisors: an Australian health science exemplar

The worldwide academic workforce is ageing. At the same time, health and human services workforces are expanding. The preparation of educators to fill gaps in expertise and to position the health sciences for future growth is an urgent need. The findings from a recent action learning project that aimed to enhance the professional growth and development of higher degree researcher student supervisors in a School of Health and Human Sciences are presented. Seven early career researchers and the facilitator met for two hours every two to three weeks over 4 months between April and July 2010, in a rural and regional university in New South Wales, Australia. The processes initiated were a combination of experiential knowledge, referral to relevant published reports, use of an effective supervision checklist, and critical conversations. Learning outcomes centered on higher degree management and supervision pedagogy, communities of practice, knowledge translation, and the establishment of a research culture. The contextual barriers and implications of the methodology and learning outcomes for the professional development of health and human science practitioners, researchers and educators is also discussed.

CEQ and GDS outcomes in psychology, 1994-2003

This study was undertaken to develop and evaluate the efficacy of an early intervention for children who had been injured in an accident. The aim of the intervention was to prevent the development of longterm psychological consequences. Brochures were developed for children, adolescents, and their parents. These brochures detailed common responses to trauma (and normalized such responses), and suggestions for minimizing any post-trauma distress. Participants were children aged 7-15 admitted to hospital for traumatic injury. The intervention was delivered to one of two hospitals, within 72 hours of the trauma. 103 children and parents participated in the study. The parents and children completed structured interviews and questionnaires 2 weeks, 4-6 weeks and 6 months post-trauma. Outcome analyses also indicated that the intervention reduced parental distress at 4-6 weeks post-trauma. The intervention did not impact significantly on child adjustment over this time period. Results of the 6 month follow-up suggested that the intervention resulted in an amelioration of child anxiety from one to six months post-trauma, whereas the controls exhibited an increase in anxiety over this time period. Overall, it was concluded that the early intervention is a simple, practical, and cost-effective method of reducing child and parent distress post-trauma.