Introduction The second national survey of the mental health and wellbeing of Australian children and adolescents found that almost one in seven (13.9%) 417 year-olds were assessed as having a HBS108 Assignment Task II Page 2 of 7 mental disorder in the previous 12 months, amounting to 560,000 Australian children and adolescents (Lawrence et al. 2015). Mental health and wellbeing is influenced by a wide range of factors and, increasingly, evidence is pointing to physical activity as an important contributor to mental health, including for children and adults (Mammen and Faulkner 2013). While evidence highlights the potential for physical activity to improve mental health and wellbeing, many Australian children and adolescents have low levels of physical activity. According to the most recent available data, only 30% of children aged 217 meet the physical activity guidelines, and physical activity levels decline markedly with age: from 61% of 25 year olds to 26% of 512 year olds to 8% of 1317 year olds meeting the physical activity guidelines (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018). These data indicate considerable potential to improve both the physical and mental health of young people in Australia by increasing their levels of physical activity. This assignment requires you to investigate research evidence related to physical activity and mental health for young people. Key questions on this topic that can be answered through research include: 1. Is physical activity associated with better mental health among young people? 2. What are the perceptions and experiences of young people with depression who participate in a physical activity program? 3. Can school skills-building programs that include physical activity improve young peoples mental health? In this assignment you will answer questions based on research studies that address these important questions. Task A Using the skills you developed in Topic 2, locate the journal article referenced below. Read the article carefully before answering Questions 1 (i)(vii). Belair, MA, Kohen, DE, Kingsbury, M & Colman, I 2018, Relationship between leisure time physical activity, sedentary behaviour and symptoms of depression and anxiety: evidence from a population-based sample of Canadian adolescents, BMJ Open, vol. 8, no. 10, e021119, doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-021119. Q. 1. (i) What is the study design? How does this study design rate (in comparison to other quantitative study designs) in terms of determining causal relationships between variables (i.e., between physical activity and mental health)? (NOTE: In selecting the study design you need to distinguish between data collected over a number of years and combined in the analysis, and data collected over a number of years and analysed longitudinally, i.e., individual study participants followed up over time). (5 marks) HBS108 Assignment Task II Page 3 of 7 (ii) The researchers measured symptoms of depression and anxiety, based on a seven- item scale with items such as I am too fearful or nervous. For each of these items, participants were asked to rate how well the statement described themselves using the response options: never or not true, sometimes or somewhat true or often or very true. What type of measurement scale was used to measure items such as I am too fearful or nervous? (3 marks) (iii) Participants were classified as being Physically Active or Physically Inactive. What type of measurement scale is this? (3 marks) (iv) In Table 3, the likelihood of having severe symptoms of depression and anxiety was compared for being Not active for physical activity relative to being Active. The odds ratio (OR) was reported as: 1.85 (1.42 to 2.41). Briefly explain what these three figures mean. Your answer should include completing the following sentences: The OR of 1.85 means that and The 95% confidence limit (1.42 to 2.41) means that (5 marks) (v) In the Conclusions, the researchers state that associations between sedentary behaviour and depressive symptoms are less clear. What data from Table 3 supports this statement? You must include at least two examples of odds ratios and associated confidence intervals and what they mean to achieve full marks. (5 marks) (vi) The odds ratios in Table 3 were adjusted for confounding variables including Major stressful life events. Briefly explain how major stressful life events could possibly confound the relationship between physical activity and mental health. (5 marks) (vii) Can you conclude from this study that increased physical activity will lead to improved mental health for adolescents? Briefly explain the reasons for your answer. (5 marks) Task B Using the skills you developed in Topic 2, locate the journal article referenced below. Read the article carefully before answering Questions 2 (i)(iv). Carter, T, Morres, I, Repper, J & Callaghan P 2016, Exercise for adolescents with depression: valued aspects and perceived change, Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 3744, doi: 10.1111/jpm.12261. Q. 2. (i) Describe two types of bias which could be at play given the above situation. (NOTE: You have been introduced to two types of bias in this unit, however, you may have to use credible sources such as reputable websites or textbooks to investigate other types of bias to inform your answers to this question). (3 marks) (ii) Based on what we have learned about scales of measurement in this unit, name the scale of measurement used by implementing a 9-category frequency scale and briefly justify your answer. (5 marks) HBS108 Assignment Task II Page 4 of 7 (iii) In the data analysis, the researchers identified the following key themes: 1. The importance of choice 2. A sense of achievement 3. Being distracted 4. Routine 5. Physiological change 6. Emotional, psychological and behavioural change 7. A cycle of change. If you were responsible for the coding analysis, identify the key theme into which you would code each of the following participants comments. To save on words, just write the key theme and the number that identifies the comment you do not have to write out the comments. Reading the results section of the journal article will assist in making your coding decisions; and if in doubt about a coding decision, opt for the theme that you consider to be closest to the participants comment. a. They didnt make me do something hard if I didnt feel like it. b. It took my mind off other things that were stressing me out. c. Im not sure why, but I just seemed to be a bit happier after the sessions. d. My life has been a bit all over the place, but this helped me get a bit more structure e. in my life. f. I feel good because Ive done something I didnt think Id be able to do. g. Its a bit strange, but after the sessions I felt like I had more energy. h. It seemed to be a bit of a good chain reaction one thing helped other things. (7 marks) (iv) Qualitative studies are designed to provide new insights and understandings about a health issue. Briefly describe, in your own words, how the findings from this study contributed to a new understanding of the role of physical activity in improving mental health for adolescents. (5 marks) Task C Using the skills you developed in Topic 2, locate the journal article referenced below. Read the article carefully before answering Questions 3 (i)(v). Melnyk, BM, Jacobson, D, Kelly, S, Belyea, M, Shaibi, G, Small, L, OHaver, J & Marsiglia, FF 2013, Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in High School Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 45, no. 4, doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.05.013. Q. 3. (i) Identify the study design used by Melnyk (2013). Based on this study design, are the study findings likely to have good internal validity? Briefly explain the reasons for your answer. Based on the study location and the demographic characteristics of the study sample, is this study likely to have good external validity? Briefly explain the reasons for your answer. (6 marks) HBS108 Assignment Task II Page 5 of 7 (ii) What was the independent study variable? What were the dependent study variables? (5 marks) (iii) Refer to the baseline characteristics data in Table 1. Which factor(s) had statistically significant difference(s) between intervention (COPE program) and control (Healthy Teens) groups, and how did you decide this? (3 marks) (iv) Figure 1 includes the number of participants from both groups who were lost to follow-up. What type of bias is this called, and how might it affect the study findings? (3 marks) (v) Was the program effective in achieving its aims? Briefly explain your answer by summarising, in your own words, the main study findings. (6 marks) Task DConclusion The introduction to this assignment set out three questions related to physical activity and mental health for young people: 1. Is physical activity associated with better mental health among young people? 2. What are the perceptions and experiences of young people with depression who participate in a physical activity program? 3. Can school skills-building programs that include physical activity improve young peoples mental health? Q. 4. (i) Suppose you are a Policy Officer in the Population Health Division of the Commonwealth Department of Health. You are required to write a policy brief for the Health Minister that summarises (in your own words, and in plain language that would be understood by a general audience) the key findings from the three studies in this assignment related to the three questions above (and their implications), and concludes with a recommendation for future action. Your recommendation might be for a more comprehensive review of the evidence, further research, or the introduction of programs or policies to improve the mental health of young people by increasing their levels of physical activity. As part of your recommendation, include a specific example (., based on the evidence you have reviewed, what should be included in a more comprehensive review, what further research is required, or what programs or policies should be implemented?). (18 marks) Note: 8 marks will be awarded for writing, grammar, presentation and referencing HBS108 Assignment Task II Page 6 of 7 How to structure your assignment This assignment should take the form of a structured report (. a question/answer format) rather than an essay and should be approached with a formal scientific writing style (. full sentence structure). Please note you are not expected to re-write the questions in your assignment as this would be an unwise use of your word count. Please use appropriate section and question numbers to label your answers clearly. Assignment Title Top of the first page (please do not submit a cover page) Student name & ID Either as a footer OR under the assignment title COMPULSORY: Label all responses to questions with the appropriate question number Font 12 point, Times New Roman Line Spacing 2 Margins Normal Borders None Use of references Include all references cited in your assignment (including those that you are instructed to locate and use) in a reference list at the end of the assignment, using the Deakin-Harvard (. author-date) referencing style. If you refer to any additional data not included in these sources, you must reference these additional sources of data too. Remember that, as covered in Topic 2, references are not restricted to academic journals, and can include books and reports from reputable websites. Information about the Deakin-Harvard referencing style is available here: Word limit The word limit for the assignment is 1,200 words (excluding the reference list but including in-text citations and headings). You are permitted a 10% margin over the word limit, but words over 1,320 will not be assessed. This is done to ensure equity among studentsit is unfair if students who exceed the word limit get higher grades (due to including extra material over the word count) than students who comply with the limit. Also, concise writing that states the key points without being unnecessarily verbose is an important report-writing skill that you can demonstrate in your assignment! Using the TurnItIn Originality check and Assignment Submission Before submitting your assignment you should check the originality of your work (excluding the abstracts as these will impact on your TurnItIn score) by using TurnItIn. In Week 4 there was a PowerPoint presentation shown during your HBS108 lecture that covered this process. You should ensure that your answers to the assignment questions are written in your own words. It is NOT acceptable in this assignment to answer questions using blocks of text taken from the references provided (though the occasional word or technical term is acceptable). Your lecturer will also show you how to submit your assignment online via Moodle.
Hide
