| 1. |
- Cordier, Reinie, et al.
(författare)
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Formal intergenerational mentoring at Australian Men's Sheds : a targeted survey about mentees, mentors, programmes and quality
- 2016
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Ingår i: Health & Social Care in the Community. - : Hindawi Limited. - 0966-0410 .- 1365-2524. ; 24:6, s. e131-e143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Intergenerational mentoring enables a purposeful exchange of skills and knowledge to enhance individual and social outcomes for sub-groups at risk of health and social disparities. Male intergenerational mentoring may be an approach to help address these disparities in young men. Over 1000 Men's Sheds operate in Australia with 39% providing some form of mentoring mainly to youth. Yet, little is known about the variables intrinsic to creating and running quality programmes. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of formal intergenerational mentoring programmes, review their quality against the Australian Youth Mentoring Network (AYMN) quality benchmarks, and identify the factors that predict quality in these programmes. All known Australian Men's Sheds were invited to participate in an online cross-sectional survey. Forty sheds with formal mentor programmes completed the survey for a total of 387 mentees (mean = 9.7 mentees/programme), the majority being male. The majority of mentor programme facilitators were unpaid male volunteers aged 61 years and older, and programmes were unfunded. Promoting social and emotional well-being of the mentees was the primary focus in more than half of the programmes, and working on a shared construction project was the most common activity. Respondents rated the three most important factors that influenced programme effectiveness as being: (i) meaningful activities; (ii) mentors’ approach; and (iii) a safe environment. Univariate analyses revealed that mentoring programmes that had a system in place for screening mentors, trained mentors and evaluated the programme were most likely to rate highly against the AYMN quality benchmarks.
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| 2. |
- Cordier, Reinie, et al.
(författare)
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Piloting the use of experience sampling method to investigate the everyday social experiences of children with Asperger syndrome/high functioning autism.
- 2016
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Ingår i: Developmental Neurorehabilitation. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1751-8423 .- 1751-8431. ; 19:2, s. 103-110
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: This pilot study explored the nature and quality of social experiences of children with Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism (AS/HFA) through experience sampling method (ESM) while participating in everyday activities.METHODS: ESM was used to identify the contexts and content of daily life experiences. Six children with AS/HFA (aged 8-12) wore an iPod Touch on seven consecutive days, while being signalled to complete a short survey.RESULTS: Participants were in the company of others 88.3% of their waking time, spent 69.0% of their time with family and 3.8% with friends, but only conversed with others 26.8% of the time. Participants had more positive experiences and emotions when they were with friends compared with other company. Participating in leisure activities was associated with enjoyment, interest in the occasion, and having positive emotions.CONCLUSIONS: ESM was found to be helpful in identifying the nature and quality of social experiences of children with AS/HFA from their perspective.
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| 3. |
- Henning, Belindi, et al.
(författare)
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A pilot play-based intervention to improve the social play interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder and their typically developing playmates
- 2016
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Ingår i: Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0045-0766 .- 1440-1630. ; 63:4, s. 223-232
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background/aim: Occupational therapists play a key role in addressing the social difficulties of children with ASD. However, interventions are often time intensive, without outcomes generalising beyond the clinic setting. To examine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an intervention to address the social play skills of children with ASD.Methods: Participants in this multiple case study design were five children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), five typically developing playmates and five parents of children with ASD. Two therapists and parents delivered the intervention involving clinic play sessions and home modules. Parents' treatment adherence was recorded. The Test of Playfulness was scored by a blinded rater to examine child outcomes following the intervention. Line graphs were used to examine case data. Percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) was used to calculate the single-case effect size for each child.Results: Parents completed 92.2% of the intervention. Children's case data showed an upwards trend from pre- to post-intervention in four of the five pairs (child with ASD and playmate). However, there was a decrease in scores from post-intervention to the two-month home follow-up for all but one pair. PND indicated the intervention was effective for two children with ASD and three of their playmates, had a questionable effect on three children with ASD and no observable effect on two playmates.Conclusion: The intervention demonstrated preliminary feasibility and effectiveness for improving the social play skills of some children with ASD. Careful consideration is needed to identify which children with ASD and which playmates would be best suited for this intervention approach.
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| 4. |
- Sim, Angela, et al.
(författare)
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Relationship satisfaction in couples raising a child with autism spectrum disorder : A systematic review of the literature
- 2016
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1750-9467 .- 1878-0237. ; 31, s. 30-52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Couples raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face challenges that may impact on their relationship. The purpose of this review was to compare relationship satisfaction in couples raising children with and without ASD and to identify factors associated with satisfaction in couples with a child with ASD.Methods Thirteen databases were searched and studies were systematically screened against predetermined inclusion criteria. Twenty six articles, ranging from good to strong methodological quality, met the criteria for inclusion. Of these, seven were included in a meta-analysis comparing relationship satisfaction in couples raising a child with ASD with couples raising children without disabilities.Results The meta-analysis showed that couples raising a child with ASD were found to experience less relationship satisfaction than couples raising a child without a disability (Hedges's g = 0.41, p < 0.001); however, evidence from the narrative synthesis was mixed when compared with couples raising children with other disabilities. The most consistent evidence implicated challenging child behaviours, parental stress and poor psychological wellbeing as risk factors, and positive cognitive appraisal and social support as protective factors.Conclusion Findings demonstrate that couples raising a child with ASD would benefit from support to assist them in maintaining satisfaction in their relationship with their partner. However, further studies are needed to gain a greater understanding of the risk and protective factors and how these co-vary with relationship satisfaction over time. A theoretical framework has been developed to scaffold future research.
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| 5. |
- Vaz, Sharmila, et al.
(författare)
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Is using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in a community sample the optimal way to assess mental health functioning?
- 2016
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An important characteristic of a screening tool is its discriminant ability or the measure's accuracy to distinguish between those with and without mental health problems. The current study examined the inter-rater agreement and screening concordance of the parent and teacher versions of SDQ at scale, subscale and item-levels, with the view of identifying the items that have the most informant discrepancies; and determining whether the concordance between parent and teacher reports on some items has the potential to influence decision making. Cross-sectional data from parent and teacher reports of the mental health functioning of a community sample of 299 students with and without disabilities from 75 different primary schools in Perth, Western Australia were analysed. The study found that: a) Intraclass correlations between parent and teacher ratings of children's mental health using the SDQ at person level was fair on individual child level; b) The SDQ only demonstrated clinical utility when there was agreement between teacher and parent reports using the possible or 90% dichotomisation system; and c) Three individual items had positive likelihood ratio scores indicating clinical utility. Of note was the finding that the negative likelihood ratio or likelihood of disregarding the absence of a condition when both parents and teachers rate the item as absent was not significant. Taken together, these findings suggest that the SDQ is not optimised for use in community samples and that further psychometric evaluation of the SDQ in this context is clearly warranted.
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