Browsing by Author "Gardner D"

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    Factors associated with self-reported health among New Zealand military veterans: a cross-sectional study
    (BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2022-05-25) McBride D; Samaranayaka A; Richardson A; Gardner D; Shepherd D; Wyeth E; de Graaf B; Derrett S
    Objective To identify factors associated with better or poorer self-reported health status in New Zealand military Veterans. Design A cross-sectional survey. Participants The participants of interest were the 3874 currently serving Veterans who had been deployed to a conflict zone, but all Veterans were eligible to participate. Study variables The EQ-5D-5L, asking about problems across five dimensions (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain or discomfort and anxiety or depression), with five levels of severity (eg, no, slight, moderate, severe or extreme problems), also containing a Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) to self-assess health state, scaled from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) imagined health. Hypothetical relationships with better health were positive social support, sleep and psychological flexibility; with poorer health, post-traumatic stress, exposure to psychological trauma, distress and hazardous drinking. Results The EQ5-D-5L was completed by 1767 Veterans, 1009 serving, a response rate of 26% from that group, 1767 completing the EQ5-D, 1458 who had deployed, 288 who had not and the 21 who did not provide deployment data. Of these, 247 were not used in the analysis due to missing values in one or more variables, leaving 1520 for analysis. A significantly higher proportion of Veterans reported ‘any problems’ rather than ‘no problems’ with four EQ-5D dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities and pain or discomfort, but no difference in anxiety or depression. Age, length of service, deployment, psychological flexibility and better sleep quality were associated with higher EQ-VAS scores; distress with lower EQ-VAS scores. Conclusion In this sample of New Zealand Veterans, psychological flexibility and good sleep are associated with better self-rated health, and distress and poor sleep with diminished health. These factors might be used as sentinel health indicators in assessing Veteran health status, and cognitive–behavioural therapy encompassing these domains may be useful in improving the health of New Zealand Veterans.
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    Fostering the Development of Professionalism in Veterinary Students: Challenges and Implications for Veterinary Professionalism Curricula
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-11-01) Gordon S; Gardner D; Weston J; Bolwell C; Benschop J; Parkinson T
    The importance of professional skills teaching and assessment within veterinary education has recently been highlighted in the veterinary education literature. This academic discourse follows the acknowledgement by both veterinary employers and graduates themselves that new graduates often lack the professional skills and attitudes needed for success in clinical veterinary practice. Traditionally, veterinary curricula have focused solely on teaching content knowledge and clinical skills; however, veterinary education curricula clearly must also contain dedicated instruction in veterinary professionalism. This must include instruction in communication skills, emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, teamwork abilities, dispute resolution strategies and the awareness that multiple approaches may be required to resolve challenges. It has become unrealistic to expect students to rely on observation and role modelling to foster the development of professionalism. There is a need to incorporate explicit learning activities that reinforce the knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviours that characterise veterinary professionalism. While role modelling remains a key aspect of the veterinary professionalism learning that takes place through the informal/hidden curriculum, many students have often had more experiences with negative role models than with positive ones. This can lead to the development of a tolerance or normalisation of negative behaviours and a decline in students’ perceptions of professionalism. This article aims to continue recent conversations on professional skills teaching within veterinary education, define what is meant by veterinary professionalism and consider the plethora of terminology used when trying to establish a definition, highlight those attributes of veterinary professionalism deemed important by veterinary stakeholders for career success and employability, and explore the challenges of incorporating the teaching and assessment of professional traits into veterinary education.
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    Posttraumatic Growth and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in People with HIV
    (Springer Nature, 2022-11) Chi D; de Terte I; Gardner D
    Receiving a diagnosis of HIV can be challenging. People with HIV (PWH) can experience high levels of distress, as well as some positive psychological changes associated with post-traumatic growth. However, the mechanisms which underlying the association of a highly stressful event (i.e., being diagnosed with HIV) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are under-explored, and this is the focus of the study. Cross-sectional survey data were provided by 77 PWH living in New Zealand. An analysis examined the roles of deliberate rumination and coping strategies as serial mediators of the associations between event centrality and PTG and PTSSs. The relationships between event centrality and PTG and PTSSs were found to be sequentially mediated by deliberate rumination and avoidance coping, but not by deliberate rumination and active coping. Further analyses explored active coping and deliberate rumination as parallel mediators, with avoidance coping as a subsequent mediator, between event centrality and PTG and PTSSs. However, these analyses were not supported. The findings indicate that the more participants appraised the HIV diagnosis as central, the greater PTG they perceived; however, the more they deliberately ruminated on it, and the more avoidance coping they adopted, the less PTG and greater PTSSs they perceived. Future studies need to explore the relationships of event centrality and coping and their associations with PTG and PTSSs.