ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7927-6098
Current Organisation
James Cook University
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Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Date: 08-2021
DOI: 10.2174/1573404816999201012193342
Abstract: Exercise has many physiological and psychosocial benefits for postmenopausal women. Previous research has shown that sedentary postmenopausal women of North Queensland perceive a number of barriers to exercise however, when they are given the right opportunity, they perceive it as a positive experience. This study aimed to determine whether an 8-week aerobic and resistance group-based exercise intervention had an effect on the physiological and psychosocial health of postmenopausal women living in North Queensland. A secondary aim was to explore the participatory experiences of women. A total of thirty-three postmenopausal women volunteered for the intervention, which consisted of group-based circuit style sessions three times per week, incorporating aerobic and resistance exercises. Primary outcome measures included blood pressure, blood lipids, body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, cardiorespiratory fitness, peripheral bone density, and strength. Secondary measures included exercise self-efficacy and menopausal quality of life using the Menopause- Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MENQOL). Focus groups were conducted post-intervention to discuss participants’ exercise experiences. A total of twenty-six women completed the eight-week program. Significant increases were found in cardiorespiratory fitness (p=0.00), upper body strength (p=0.00), lower body strength (p=0.00), exercise self-efficacy (p=0.00), and the MENQOL psychosocial (p=0.01), physical (p=0.00) and sexual (p=0.01) domains. Waist girth (p=0.01) and triglycerides (p=0.02) were significantly decreased. Participants also reported that they had more motivation and confidence, increased strength, and improved functional activities, and also experienced the disappearance of pain and positive feelings from the intervention. Participants mostly enjoyed the social effect, the lack of feeling self-conscious, the friendly competitiveness, and the facilitator. An 8-week group-based exercise intervention can improve the physiological and psychosocial health of postmenopausal women. Sedentary postmenopausal women can have a positive exercise experience, which may increase the likelihood of future exercise participation.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2014
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 31-08-2023
DOI: 10.2196/44020
Abstract: University-affiliated student-led health care services have emerged in response to the challenges faced by universities in securing quality clinical placements for health care students. Evidence of the health care benefits and challenges of student-led health care services is growing, while evidence of clinical placement performance remains variable and not generalizable. Though there have been previous attempts to develop a framework for evaluation of clinical placement performance, concerns have been raised about the applicability of these frameworks across the various placement settings. Additionally, the perspectives of all key stakeholders on the critical areas of clinical placement performance have yet to be considered. This study’s objective is to gather information on areas of measurement related to student learning outcomes, experience of placement, and costs of placement and then develop consensus on which of those areas need to be included in a framework for evaluation of clinical placement performance within the context of student-led health care services. The aim of this paper is to outline a protocol for a modified Delphi study designed to gain consensus on what is important to measure when evaluating an allied health clinical placement. We will recruit up to 30 experts to a heterogeneous expert panel in a modified Delphi study. Experts will consist of those with firsthand experience either coordinating, supervising, or undertaking clinical placement. Purposive s ling will be used to ensure maximum variation in expert panel member characteristics. Experts’ opinions will be sought on measuring student learning outcomes, student experience, and cost of clinical placement, and other areas of clinical placement performance that are considered important. Three rounds will be conducted to establish consensus on what is important to measure when evaluating clinical placement. Each round is anticipated to yield both quantitative data (eg, percentage of agreement) and qualitative data (eg, free-text responses). In each round, quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively and used to determine consensus, which will be defined as ≥70% agreement. Qualitative responses will be analyzed thematically and used to inform the subsequent round. Findings of each round will be presented, both consensus data and qualitative responses in each subsequent round, to inform expert panel members and to elicit further rankings on areas of measurement yet to achieve consensus. Data analysis is currently underway, with a planned publication in 2024. The modified Delphi approach, supported by existing research and its ability to gain consensus through multiround expert engagement, provides an appropriate methodology to inform the development of a framework for the evaluation of clinical placement performance in allied health service. DERR1-10.2196/44020
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 14-11-2014
DOI: 10.1017/S1041610213001889
Abstract: Cognitive impairment places older adults at increased risk of functional decline, injuries, and hospitalization. Assessments to determine whether older persons are still capable of meeting the cognitive challenges of everyday living are crucial to ensure their safe and independent living in the community. The present study aims to translate and validate the Chinese version of the Problems in Everyday Living (PEDL) test for use in Chinese population with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The cultural relevancy and content validity of the Chinese version of PEDL (C-PEDL) was evaluated by a seven-member expert panel. Forty patients with MCI and 40 cognitively healthy participants were recruited to examine the psychometric properties of C-PEDL. Significant differences in the C-PEDL scores were found between the patients with MCI and the cognitively healthy controls in both educated ( F = 9.96, p = 0.003) and illiterate ( F = 10.43, p = 0.004) populations. The C-PEDL had excellent test-retest and inter-rater reliabilities, with intraclass correlation coefficient at 0.95 and 0.99 respectively. The internal consistency of C-PEDL was acceptable with Chronbach's α at 0.69. The C-PEDL had moderate correlation with the Mini-Mental State Examination ( r = 0.45, p = 0.004) and the Category Verbal Fluency Test ( r = 0.40, p = 0.012), and a moderate negative Spearman's correlation with the Global Deteriorating Scale ( r = –0.42, p = 0.007). The C-PEDL is a valid and reliable test for assessing the everyday problem-solving ability in Chinese older population with MCI.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2012
DOI: 10.4276/030802212X13286281651199
Abstract: Obesity is commonly associated with severe mental illness (SMI). Physical activity has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality from chronic conditions. The aim of this exploratory study was to explore the physical health parameters and physical activity levels of people with SMI in North Queensland. Twenty participants from the general population and 21 participants with SMI volunteered to participate in this comparative study. Information regarding participants' physical activity levels in the previous 7 days was collected. Anthropometric measures were taken, including body mass index, blood pressure and waist-to-hip ratio. Body mass index was significantly higher for participants with SMI (p = 0.05). Total domestic and garden metabolic equivalent of task (MET) mean (p = 0.03), total leisure MET mean (p = 0.00), total moderate MET mean (p = 0.04), total vigorous MET mean (p = 0.01), total work MET mean (p = 0.05) and overall total physical activity (p = 0.00) scores were significantly higher for participants from the general population. This study found differences in physical health parameters and activity levels between these two populations. These results can inform future occupational therapy by providing a direction for intervention.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2012
DOI: 10.4276/030802212X13286281650956
Abstract: Physical exercise has been proven to benefit the general population in terms of mental health and wellbeing. However, there is little research investigating the impact of exercise on mental health and quality of life for people who experience a severe and enduring mental illness. This review aims to describe the effect of physical exercise intervention on the mental health and quality of life of people with severe mental illness. Quantitative and qualitative articles published between 1998–2009 were sourced using electronic databases. Articles were included if the study intervention involved exercise and the outcome measure included mental health or quality of life. Sixteen articles were analysed for common themes and appraised critically. The findings show that exercise can contribute to improvements in symptoms, including mood, alertness, concentration, sleep patterns and psychotic symptoms. Exercise can also contribute to improved quality of life through social interaction, meaningful use of time, purposeful activity and empowerment. Future research is warranted to describe the way exercise can meet the unique needs of this population. Studies with a focus on psychological outcome measures would provide greater evidence for its use in therapy.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.MATURITAS.2007.04.003
Abstract: Weight gain and the associated increased risk of coronary artery disease are associated with the postmenopausal period. However, moderate intensity physical activity may be cardioprotective in this period. Australian women remain predominately sedentary despite the health benefits of regular exercise. Self-efficacy is an important predictor of exercise behaviour influencing exercise adoption when faced with potential barriers. Determination of exercise self-efficacy levels and the most significant barriers to exercise is necessary for the success of intervention programs for this population. Postmenopausal women (N=101) resident in tropical North Queensland were recruited via announcements in local media, service club newsletters and electronic bulletin boards. Following data collection, participants were categorised as exercisers (n=53) or non-exercisers (n=48) based on whether they had performed a minimum of 150 min of accumulated moderate intensity exercise in the past 7 days. Exercise self-efficacy was determined via questionnaire. Results indicated that exercisers had a higher level of exercise self-efficacy and felt significantly more confident to exercise when faced with barriers compared to non-exercisers (p<.001). Discriminant function analysis found that exercise self-efficacy provided the greatest discrimination between exercisers and non-exercisers. The barrier items of conflicting schedules, difficulty getting to an exercise location and the weather were the main contributors to discrimination between exercisers and non-exercisers. Findings suggest that future intervention programs should aim to increase exercise self-efficacy and address these barriers so that more postmenopausal women resident in North Queensland can obtain the health benefits of exercise.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.ARR.2014.02.008
Abstract: Global concern on the potential impact of dementia is mounting. There are emerging calls for studies in older populations to investigate the potential benefits of combining cognitive and exercise interventions for cognitive functions. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the efficacy of combined cognitive and exercise training in older adults with or without cognitive impairment and evaluate the methodological quality of the intervention studies. A systematic search of Cinahl, Medline, PsycINFO, ProQuest, EMBASE databases and the Cochrane Library was conducted. Manual searches of the reference list from the included papers and additional internet searches were also done. Eight studies were identified in this review, five of which included a cognitively impaired population and three studies included a cognitively healthy population. The results showed that combined cognitive and exercise training can be effective for improving the cognitive functions and functional status of older adults with and without cognitive impairment. However, limited evidence can be found in populations with cognitive impairment when the evaluation included an active control group comparison. Further well-designed studies are still needed to explore the potential benefits of this new intervention paradigm.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-09-2012
Abstract: The issue of safety of the cognitively impaired elderly people living alone has been continuously raised. Traditional psychometric measures of cognitive abilities may not adequately reflect older adults' functioning in a real everyday context. To conduct a systematic review on instruments available for evaluating the everyday problem-solving or everyday competence of the elderly with cognitive impairment and to critically review the measurement properties of the identified instruments. We searched the databases such as Cinahl, Medline, PsycINFO, AARP Ageline, ProQuest and the Cochrane Library for the time period between January 1995 and December 2010. Reference lists of the included papers were also manually searched. Five instruments were included. All the instruments focused their framework on Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) domains which meet well with suggestions from other studies on the importance of IADL in determining an elderly in idual's capability to live independently in the community. No available instruments for the moderate to severe impairment group were identified under this review. Few existing instruments to assess the ability of everyday problem-solving of the elderly with cognitive impairment can be identified in the literature. Further research validating them against functional, real-world outcomes is needed.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-12-2017
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 21-05-2014
Abstract: the aim of this study was to compare the effects of a functional tasks exercise programme to a cognitive training programme in older adults with mild cognitive impairment. a single-blind randomised control trial with the intervention group compared with an active control group. out-patient clinic. older adults with mild cognitive impairment (n = 83) aged 60 and older living in the community. participants were randomised to either a functional task exercise group (n = 43) or an active cognitive training group (n = 40) for 10 weeks. All outcome measures were undertaken at baseline, post-intervention and 6-month follow-up using Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination, Trail Making Test, Chinese Version Verbal Learning Test, Category Verbal Learning Test, Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale and Problems in Everyday Living Test. the functional task exercise group showed significant between-group differences in general cognitive functions, memory, executive function, functional status and everyday problem solving ability. The improvements were sustained over time at 6-month follow-up. a functional tasks exercise programme is feasible for improving cognitive functions and functional status of older adults with mild cognitive impairment. This may serve as a cost-effective adjunct to the existing interventions for populations with mild cognitive impairment. ACTRN12610001025022.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-11-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-07-2018
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 03-11-2022
Abstract: niversity-affiliated student-led health care services have emerged in response to the challenges faced by universities in securing quality clinical placements for health care students. Evidence of the health care benefits and challenges of student-led health care services is growing, while evidence of clinical placement performance remains variable and not generalizable. Though there have been previous attempts to develop a framework for evaluation of clinical placement performance, concerns have been raised about the applicability of these frameworks across the various placement settings. Additionally, the perspectives of all key stakeholders on the critical areas of clinical placement performance have yet to be considered. his study’s objective is to gather information on areas of measurement related to student learning outcomes, experience of placement, and costs of placement and then develop consensus on which of those areas need to be included in a framework for evaluation of clinical placement performance within the context of student-led health care services. The aim of this paper is to outline a protocol for a modified Delphi study designed to gain consensus on what is important to measure when evaluating an allied health clinical placement. e will recruit up to 30 experts to a heterogeneous expert panel in a modified Delphi study. Experts will consist of those with firsthand experience either coordinating, supervising, or undertaking clinical placement. Purposive s ling will be used to ensure maximum variation in expert panel member characteristics. Experts’ opinions will be sought on measuring student learning outcomes, student experience, and cost of clinical placement, and other areas of clinical placement performance that are considered important. Three rounds will be conducted to establish consensus on what is important to measure when evaluating clinical placement. Each round is anticipated to yield both quantitative data (eg, percentage of agreement) and qualitative data (eg, free-text responses). In each round, quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively and used to determine consensus, which will be defined as ≥70% agreement. Qualitative responses will be analyzed thematically and used to inform the subsequent round. Findings of each round will be presented, both consensus data and qualitative responses in each subsequent round, to inform expert panel members and to elicit further rankings on areas of measurement yet to achieve consensus. ata analysis is currently underway, with a planned publication in 2024. he modified Delphi approach, supported by existing research and its ability to gain consensus through multiround expert engagement, provides an appropriate methodology to inform the development of a framework for the evaluation of clinical placement performance in allied health service. ERR1-10.2196/44020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-06-2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1440-1630.2009.00838.X
Abstract: Rural and remote health education during undergraduate training is a strategy to alleviate the shortage of rural health professionals. Undergraduate rural exposure can be beneficial in improving students' perceptions towards rural and remote practice as well as their decision to work rurally. This study examined James Cook University (JCU) final year occupational therapy students' perceptions towards rural and remote practice and if their perceptions had changed over the course of their study. Questionnaires were administered to 58 final year occupational therapy students at JCU during a block class. Quantitative data analysis was performed on responses. The change in the students' career intentions from not considering to considering rural and remote practice over the duration of their study was found to be significant (exact P = 0.003). The influential factors identified in students considering rural employment included the rural location of their close family and friends (exact P = 0.006), the overall occupational therapy programme (U = 171.5, P = 0.045), good fieldwork experience (U = 144, P = 0.039) and inspiring fieldwork supervisors (U = 135.5, P = 0.01). The course curriculum was not found to influence the students' perceptual change. This study has found that students' perceptions towards rural and remote practice changed over the course of their university programme. A greater focus on the academic staff and fieldwork supervisors' perceptions towards rural and remote practice may be required in the development of rural undergraduate programmes. Identification of students who have family/close friends living in rural and remote areas may encourage occupational therapists to work in rural areas.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-06-2013
DOI: 10.1002/OTI.1355
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the development of a new functional task-based exercise programme and initially test its feasibility as well as effectiveness for older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study used a single-group repeated-measures design. A total of 11 patients (mean age 71.8 years) were recruited to participate in a structured functional task exercise programme for 10 weeks. All outcome measures were undertaken at baseline, post-intervention and post-3-month follow-up using the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), Chinese Version Verbal Learning Test (CVVLT), Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (Lawton IADL) and Problems in Everyday Living test (PEDL). Data were analysed using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. Cohen's d effect size was used to assess the practical significant effects. The participants showed significant improvement in NCSE composite score, VFT, CVVLT total free recall, CVVLT 10-minute delayed free recall, Lawton IADL and PEDL. Results of this study demonstrate that the newly designed functional task exercise programme, which uses simulated tasks, is feasible and beneficial to cognitive functions and functional status of older persons with MCI. The findings of the current study further reinforce occupational therapy practitioners' understanding that "occupation" is a "means" and an "end". Further study with a larger population is needed to draw more definitive conclusions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-11-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1741-6612.2009.00389.X
Abstract: This study aimed to determine whether cardiovascular-related physiological differences existed among postmenopausal women in relation to their physical activity levels. Participants were postmenopausal women (n= 101) resident in North Queensland. A self-report questionnaire determined recent exercise history. Anthropometric and physiological measures were obtained. Participants also performed a six-minute graded exercise test to determine cardiorespiratory fitness. Compared with the women who exercised, those women who did not exercise had a lower level of cardiorespiratory fitness (P= 0.00) and higher resting diastolic blood pressure (P= 0.01), BMI (P= 0.00) and WHR (P= 0.02). Discriminant function analysis found that a combination of BMI and cardiorespiratory fitness discriminated between the two groups. Postmenopausal women who performed moderate-intensity physical activity had more favourable cardiovascular-related physiological characteristics. Health professionals should encourage more postmenopausal women to participate in moderate-intensity activity to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-12-2018
DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2016.1258090
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate how an in idual's social determinants of health are affected by the acquisition of physical disability in adulthood. The secondary aim was to report the described facilitators and barriers to living with a disability. This qualitative study used an exploratory, descriptive approach. Nine in iduals with a neurologically derived disability were purposively recruited from a rehabilitation center in northern Queensland. Participation in the study involved semi-structured interviews. QSR NVivo was used for the data analysis process. Changes to social determinants of health resulting from the acquisition of disability had substantial flow-on consequences in all aspects of life for the in idual and those close to them. Income had the greatest influence over the other social determinant of health. Following the acquisition of disability, the reduced inflow and increased outflow of finances had subsequent negative effects on housing, transport and social interactions, and also personal relationships. When considering changes to the social determinants of health resulting from disability acquisition, it is impractical to view these changes and those affected in isolation. Consideration of this multidimensional effect on life associated with the acquisition of disability will be useful in disability research, advocacy and support services. Implications for Rehabilitation Social determinants of health are known to have a direct influence on health status. As social determinants of health decrease, morbidity and mortality rates increase. Following the acquisition of disability, there is a decline in social determinants of health. This decline affects quality of life for in iduals' with a disability, and those closest to them. The effects of declining social determinants of health may inhibit the rehabilitation process. Thus, it is important to acknowledge the multifaceted impact the acquisition of disability has on peoples' lives, and the consequences this may have for their rehabilitation.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-07-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/AJAG.12908
No related grants have been discovered for Fiona Barnett.