Australian Catholic University

About: Australian Catholic University is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 2721 authors who have published 10013 publications receiving 215248 citations. The organization is also known as: ACU & ACU National.

Self-efficacy, planning and action control in an oral self-care intervention

Abstract: To evaluate a theory-guided intervention on oral self-care and examine the possible mechanisms among self-regulatory factors, two brief intervention arms were compared, an information-based education treatment and a self-regulation treatment focusing on planning and action control. Young adults (N = 284; aged 18-29 years) were assessed at baseline and 1 month later. The self-regulation intervention improved levels of oral self-care, dental planning and action control. Moreover, a moderated mediation model with planning as the mediator between experimental conditions and dental outcome, and self-efficacy as well as action control as moderators elucidated the mechanism of change. More self-efficacious participants in the self-regulation condition benefitted in terms of more planning, and those who monitored their actions yielded higher levels of oral hygiene. Dental self-efficacy, dental planning and action control are involved in the improvement of oral self-care. Their joint consideration may contribute to a better understanding of health behavior change.

The status of Australian nurse practitioners: the second national census

Abstract: A five-section questionnaire was mailed to all 234 authorised Australian nurse practitioners in late 2007. An 85% response rate was achieved (202 responses). Respondents had a mean age of 47.0 years and 84.2% were women. Only 145 nurse practitioners (72% of respondents) reported being employed in Australia at the time of the census. Emergency nurse practitioners were the most commonly employed nationally (26.9%). Nearly one third of employed nurse practitioners reported that they were still awaiting approval to prescribe medications despite this being a core legislated skill. Over 70% stated that lack of Medicare provider numbers and lack of authority to prescribe through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme was extremely limiting to their practice. These findings are consistent with the international literature describing establishment of reformative health care roles.