Niki Harré

Bio: Niki Harré is an academic researcher from University of Auckland. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poison control & Positive Youth Development. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 49 publications receiving 1859 citations.

The role of biological and genetic causal beliefs in the stigmatisation of 'mental patients'

Abstract: Research indicates that the 'mental illness is an illness like any other' approach to destigmatisation has failed to improve attitudes. This study replicated, with 469 New Zealanders, previous find...

The Transtheoretical Model and stages of change: a critique Observations by five Commentators on the paper by Adams, J. and White, M. (2004) Why don't stage-based activity promotion interventions work?

Abstract: The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) has for some time now enjoyed fame (or even notoriety). Indeed, Health Education Research has been pleased to publish a number of articles over recent years. We were especially pleased to publish Adams and White’s (Adams and White, 2004) interesting and arguably heretical paper which appears in this edition of the Journal (and was published in advance on our website). We felt this would be an excellent opportunity to repeat our recent venture in which we invited a Commentary Group of distinguished researchers to react to three articles on the European Smoking Prevention Framework Approach in Health Education Research, 18(6), 664–677 (2003). Accordingly, we invited six equally distinguished commentators to provide a critical review of the TTM. We are very grateful to these six colleagues for their efforts—and, of course, we thank Jean Adams and Martin White for not only agreeing to their paper being subjected to critical scrutiny, but actively encouraging debate on a subject that is partly technical and partly ideological! Keith Tones Executive Editor

Key competencies in sustainability in higher education : toward an agreed-upon reference framework

Abstract: Hundreds of sustainability programs have emerged at universities and colleges around the world over the past 2 decades. A prime question for employers, students, educators, and program administrators is what competencies these programs develop in students. This study explores convergence on competencies for sustainability programs. We conducted a Delphi study with 14 international experts in sustainability education on the framework of key competencies in sustainability by Wiek et al. (Sustain Sci 6: 203–218, 2011), the most frequently cited framework to date. While experts generally agreed with the framework, they propose two additional competencies, suggest a hierarchy of competencies, and specify learning objectives for students interested in a career as sustainability researcher. The refined framework can inform program development, implementation, and evaluation to enhance employability of graduates and facilitate comparison of sustainability programs worldwide.

Self-enhancement, crash-risk optimism and the impact of safety advertisements on young drivers

Abstract: In Study 1, young drivers (aged between 16 and 29 years, N = 314) rated their driving attributes relative to their peers. They also rated their likelihood of being involved in a crash relative to their peers (crash-risk optimism), their crash history, stereotype of the young driver, and concern over another health issue. A self-enhancement bias was found for all items in which self/other comparisons were made. These items formed two major factors, perceived relative driving ability and perceived relative driving caution. These factors and perceived luck relative to peers in avoiding crashes significantly predicted crash-risk optimism. In Study 2, an experimental group of young drivers (N = 173) watched safety advertisements that showed drinking and dangerous driving resulting in a crash, and a control group (N = 193) watched advertisements showing people choosing not to drive after drinking. Each group then completed the self/other comparisons used in Study 1. The same factors were found, but only driving caution significantly predicted crash-risk optimism. The experimental group showed more self-enhancement on driving ability than the control group. In both studies, men showed substantially more self-enhancement than women about their driving ability. Implications for safety interventions are discussed.

A systematic review of the literature

Abstract: OBJECTIVE — To systematically review the incidence of posttransplantation diabetes (PTD), risk factors for its development, prognostic implications, and optimal management. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS — We searched databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and others) from inception to September 2000, reviewed bibliographies in reports retrieved, contacted transplantation experts, and reviewed specialty journals. Two reviewers independently determined report inclusion (original studies, in all languages, of PTD in adults with no history of diabetes before transplantation), assessed study methods, and extracted data using a standardized form. Meta-regression was used to explain between-study differences in incidence. RESULTS — Nineteen studies with 3,611 patients were included. The 12-month cumulative incidence of PTD is lower (10% in most studies) than it was 3 decades ago. The type of immunosuppression explained 74% of the variability in incidence (P 0.0004). Risk factors were patient age, nonwhite ethnicity, glucocorticoid treatment for rejection, and immunosuppression with high-dose cyclosporine and tacrolimus. PTD was associated with decreased graft and patient survival in earlier studies; later studies showed improved outcomes. Randomized trials of treatment regimens have not been conducted. CONCLUSIONS — Physicians should consider modification of immunosuppressive regimens to decrease the risk of PTD in high-risk transplant recipients. Randomized trials are needed to evaluate the use of oral glucose-lowering agents in transplant recipients, paying particular attention to interactions with immunosuppressive drugs. Diabetes Care 25:583–592, 2002

A Meta-analytic Review of Components Associated with Parent Training Program Effectiveness

Abstract: This component analysis used meta-analytic techniques to synthesize the results of 77 published evaluations of parent training programs (i.e., programs that included the active acquisition of parenting skills) to enhance behavior and adjustment in children aged 0-7. Characteristics of program content and delivery method were used to predict effect sizes on measures of parenting behaviors and children's externalizing behavior. After controlling for differences attributable to research design, program components consistently associated with larger effects included increasing positive parent-child interactions and emotional communication skills, teaching parents to use time out and the importance of parenting consistency, and requiring parents to practice new skills with their children during parent training sessions. Program components consistently associated with smaller effects included teaching parents problem solving; teaching parents to promote children's cognitive, academic, or social skills; and providing other, additional services. The results have implications for selection and strengthening of existing parent training programs.

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

Abstract: Sector: Education Address: 24 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland Phone: +353 (0)1 661 7177 Email: info@ncca.ie

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

Abstract: Susan Goethel Campbell’s exhibition Field Guide explores the nature of art and the conceptual process through a multimedia installation that also reflects upon temporality, art history, ecology and science. Introduced with a time-lapse video of weather patterns captured by web cam over the course of an entire year, atmospheric effects assume the quality of translucent washes that blur distinctions between opacity and transparency, painting and technology. Aerial views of built environments set against expansive cityscapes present essential imagery for large-format digital woodblock prints realized in monochromatic tonals and saturated grids of yellow and blazing orange. Some combine undulating wood grain patterns with pinhole perforations to admit light; others consist of diaphanous walnut stains applied to hand-crafted paper, a self-referential allusion to art’s planarity and permeable membrane. The evanescence of these views is echoed in pristine impressions of filtered dust and shimmering milkweed assemblages contained in Plexiglas light boxes. Known as Asclepias, milkweed is an herbaceous flower named by Carl Linnaeus after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, due to its efficacious medicinal powers. Like the weather, the milkweed’s reflective silver filaments respond to shifting currents of air paired with gently wafted treetops projected in the viewing room. Here pearls of light corresponding to the spheres and pinpricks of the prints on the walls float randomly over the fictitious frame of a cubical vitrine. Orbs appear and disappear amid nocturnal shadows as figments of the imagination, their languid dispersion eliciting not-ofthis-world sensations of suspension, ascent and transcendence. This joined to the mesmerizing stillness of a gallery pierced occasionally by the sound of supersonic aircraft, a reminder of the machine in the garden. Beyond, the history of landscape photography and the Romantic sublime are encoded in works titled “Old Stand” that render minuscule figures of stationary box photographers against the grandeur of ice-capped Rockies. In some of the works the human figure is effaced as a historical memory through exquisitely modulated rubbings whose unbounded spatiality contrasts with the reflexive interiority of the viewing room. Campbell’s incandescent vision of nature asserts the phenomenal power of art to elevate the human spirit in the presence of heart-stirring beauty. It dares to reaffirm the timeless union between the material and immaterial substance of the universe, between human life and the ephemera of the natural world. f i l m