Edith Cowan University

About: Edith Cowan University is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Tourism. The organization has 4040 authors who have published 13529 publications receiving 339582 citations. The organization is also known as: Edith Cowan & ECU.

Reaching perinatal women online: The healthy you, healthy baby website and app

Abstract: Overwhelming evidence reveals the close link between unwarranted weight gain among childbearing women and childhood adiposity. Yet current barriers limit the capacity of perinatal health care providers (PHCPs) to offer healthy lifestyle counselling. In response, today’s Internet savvy women are turning to online resources to access health information, with the potential of revolutionising health services by enabling PHCPs to guide women to appropriate online resources. This paper presents the findings of a project designed to develop an online resource to promote healthy lifestyles during the perinatal period. The methodology involved focus groups and interviews with perinatal women and PHCPs to determine what online information was needed, in what form, and how best it should be presented. The outcome was the development of the Healthy You, Healthy Baby website and smartphone app. This clinically-endorsed, interactive online resource provides perinatal women with a personalised tool to track their weight, diet, physical activity, emotional wellbeing, and sleep patterns based on the developmental stage of their child with links to quality-assured information. One year since the launch of the online resource, data indicates it provides a low-cost intervention delivered across most geographic and socioeconomic strata without additional demands on health service staff.

Negotiation of Meaning in Child Interactions

Abstract: This research examines conversational interactions between children, a group generally overlooked in second language acquisition (SLA) research. Specifically, the research focuses on (a) whether children can negotiate for meaning, (b) what strategies they use, and (c) whether diere are differences between the ways adults and primary school children negotiate for meaning. Some possible effects of negotiation for meaning on child SLA are also explored. Students (n = 192) from age 8 to 13, were paired to form 96 age- and gender-matched dyads. The pairs worked together on 2 communication tasks: a one-way and a two-way task. From the transcriptions made of their conversations it was apparent that, like adults, children also negotiate for meaning and use a variety of strategies to do so. Although the pattern of use by children seems to differ from that of adults, the differences are not categorical but, rather, are manifest in the proportional use of particular strategies. Further, the evidence indicates that, like adults, primary school learners also benefit from the process of negotiation for meaning. It appears to provide them with the opportunity to receive comprehensible input, to produce comprehensible output, and to obtain feedback on their attempts. The results show that tasks that promote negotiation for meaning can be undertaken successfully by primary school second language (L2) learners, and provide evidence that diere is a valid argument for making use of such pedagogical practice in L2 teaching for this age group of learners. The differences between the child and adult findings (see Oliver, 1995) highlight the fact that findings from adult studies cannot be generalized to child studies without adequate and appropriate research involving child learners.

Product involvement and the evaluation of wine quality

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between wine drinkers' product involvement and their engagement with wine quality. It examined particularly how they conceptualise quality, how they evaluate it, and the dimensions of quality they focus on.Design/methodology/approach – The study used focus groups (including wine tasting as a stimulus) and individual interviews to elicit data. Wine drinkers across Australia were informants for the study.Findings – There appears to be a relationship between involvement level and how wine quality is perceived. Higher‐involvement drinkers seemed more inclined to conceptualise wine quality as objective whereas lower‐involvement consumers tended to see it as subjective. Lower‐involvement informants often focused more on sensory dimensions of wine quality (like flavour or smoothness), while high‐involvement drinkers used more cognitive dimensions such as interest or complexity. Further, there appears to be evidence for a group of medium‐involvem...