title: Controlled intoxication: the self-monitoring of excessive alcohol use within a New Zealand tertiary student sample

authors: McEwan, Brett James

subjects: drinking

abstract: Aims: Drawn from a study aimed at exploring students’ drinking behaviour and attitudes, this article focuses upon findings that revealed how heavy-drinking students monitored and managed their experiences of alcohol intoxication.
Methods: 819 students residing within three university student residences were invited to participate in three phases of data collection. Utilising a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, a total of 15 focus group interviews and 18 indepth interviews were undertaken, and 501 students (61%) completed a written survey questionnaire. 
Results: Sixty percent of students agreed with the statement “I usually know beforehand if I am going to get drunk”. One-half of male drinkers and one-third of female drinkers reported they were intoxicated on a weekly basis. When drinking to intoxication, the majority of students monitored a range of drinking effects (a total of 14 were identified) which they considered were signals for the need to either slow down or stop drinking. 
Conclusions: The majority of drinkers in this study who consume alcohol with the intention of getting intoxicated, typically drink to a predetermined level of intoxication, and maintain that level by monitoring a range of drinking effects—this behaviour has been termed controlled intoxication. Future harm-minimisation strategies could be developed that encourage heavy-drinkers to adopt ‘safer’ drinking-effect signals as indicators to slow down or stop drinking.

text: Controlled intoxication: the self-monitoring of excessive alcohol use within a New Zealand tertiary student sample Aims: Drawn from a study aimed at exploring students’ drinking behaviour and attitudes, this article focuses upon findings that revealed how heavy-drinking students monitored and managed their experiences of alcohol intoxication.
Methods: 819 students residing within three university student residences were invited to participate in three phases of data collection. Utilising a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, a total of 15 focus group interviews and 18 indepth interviews were undertaken, and 501 students (61%) completed a written survey questionnaire. 
Results: Sixty percent of students agreed with the statement “I usually know beforehand if I am going to get drunk”. One-half of male drinkers and one-third of female drinkers reported they were intoxicated on a weekly basis. When drinking to intoxication, the majority of students monitored a range of drinking effects (a total of 14 were identified) which they considered were signals for the need to either slow down or stop drinking. 
Conclusions: The majority of drinkers in this study who consume alcohol with the intention of getting intoxicated, typically drink to a predetermined level of intoxication, and maintain that level by monitoring a range of drinking effects—this behaviour has been termed controlled intoxication. Future harm-minimisation strategies could be developed that encourage heavy-drinkers to adopt ‘safer’ drinking-effect signals as indicators to slow down or stop drinking.

year: 2011

title: The Potential for Re-Invasion by Mammalian Pests at Maungatautari Ecological Island

authors: Connolly, Trevor Allan

subjects: Maungatautari

abstract: Mammalian pests are excluded from Maungatautari Ecological Island by an XcluderTM pest-proof fence. Inevitably, the fence integrity will be compromised at some point by mechanisms such as treefall and flood-scour: such events could lead to pest re-invasion. Knowledge of pest activity directly outside the reserve would assist reserve managers in developing optimal breach-response procedures. This thesis described baseline data on the presence, timing of activity and behaviour of mammalian pest animals found directly at the Maungatautari fence. Two seasonal video studies investigated the effects of season (summer and winter), exterior habitat (forest and pasture) and simulated breach type ('tree-fall' and 'flood scour') on the number of pest sightings. Significantly more sightings were recorded in summer (788) than in winter (428), particularly for rodents. Rabbits were sighted significantly more often at pasture sites, but habitat type did not significantly affect sightings of any other species; nor did breach type affect sightings of any species. Ship rats were commonly sighted within the fence hood gutter. Overall, rodent, possum and cat sightings were very high, and mustelid sightings extremely low, in both seasons. Over 95% of non-lagomorph sightings were nocturnal, and the greatest threat of invasion was found to come nocturnally, from mice, and in the summer. A probability model showed that although the cumulative probability of a mammalian pest encountering a fence breach increases dramatically after dark, in reality there is always a threat of encounter, and this is always increasing with time. Over the same two studies, the behaviour of pest mammals sighted was also described. Pests were found to show interest in and enter summer breaches more often than winter breaches (p lt 0.001). Simulated breaches were encountered by pests within the first 24 hours at a very high rate (95% summer, 92.5% winter), and most likely to enter a breach were rodents. Over 7 days, breaches were encountered and entered by increasing numbers of species and possibly by more individuals; all species were shown to be willing to enter. The threat of invasion by ship rats was probably underestimated because of their higher activity within the fence hood than at the fence base; mustelids may also offer a greater threat than the results suggest, because they almost always entered a breach. It was strongly recommended that when the fence integrity is compromised, physical response should be as quick as possible, especially at night. Future research was strongly encouraged, particularly to understand invasion behaviour of animals such as ship rats and stoats, and to describe pest behaviour at real breach events.

text: The Potential for Re-Invasion by Mammalian Pests at Maungatautari Ecological Island Mammalian pests are excluded from Maungatautari Ecological Island by an XcluderTM pest-proof fence. Inevitably, the fence integrity will be compromised at some point by mechanisms such as treefall and flood-scour: such events could lead to pest re-invasion. Knowledge of pest activity directly outside the reserve would assist reserve managers in developing optimal breach-response procedures. This thesis described baseline data on the presence, timing of activity and behaviour of mammalian pest animals found directly at the Maungatautari fence. Two seasonal video studies investigated the effects of season (summer and winter), exterior habitat (forest and pasture) and simulated breach type ('tree-fall' and 'flood scour') on the number of pest sightings. Significantly more sightings were recorded in summer (788) than in winter (428), particularly for rodents. Rabbits were sighted significantly more often at pasture sites, but habitat type did not significantly affect sightings of any other species; nor did breach type affect sightings of any species. Ship rats were commonly sighted within the fence hood gutter. Overall, rodent, possum and cat sightings were very high, and mustelid sightings extremely low, in both seasons. Over 95% of non-lagomorph sightings were nocturnal, and the greatest threat of invasion was found to come nocturnally, from mice, and in the summer. A probability model showed that although the cumulative probability of a mammalian pest encountering a fence breach increases dramatically after dark, in reality there is always a threat of encounter, and this is always increasing with time. Over the same two studies, the behaviour of pest mammals sighted was also described. Pests were found to show interest in and enter summer breaches more often than winter breaches (p lt 0.001). Simulated breaches were encountered by pests within the first 24 hours at a very high rate (95% summer, 92.5% winter), and most likely to enter a breach were rodents. Over 7 days, breaches were encountered and entered by increasing numbers of species and possibly by more individuals; all species were shown to be willing to enter. The threat of invasion by ship rats was probably underestimated because of their higher activity within the fence hood than at the fence base; mustelids may also offer a greater threat than the results suggest, because they almost always entered a breach. It was strongly recommended that when the fence integrity is compromised, physical response should be as quick as possible, especially at night. Future research was strongly encouraged, particularly to understand invasion behaviour of animals such as ship rats and stoats, and to describe pest behaviour at real breach events.

year: 2008

title: An evaluation of Te Rau Puawai workforce 100: Addressing the recruitment and retention of Maori students in tertiary education institutions: A literature review

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: Maori students

abstract: To evaluate the Te Rau Puawai programme, the Ministry of Health commissioned the
Maori and Psychology Research Unit of the University of Waikato in July 2001. The
overall aim of the evaluation was to provide the Ministry with a clearer understanding
of the programme including: the perceived critical success factors, the barriers if any
regarding Te Rau Puawai, the impact of the programme, the extent to which the
programme may be transferable, gaps in the programme, and suggested
improvements.
To achieve this end, a review of relevant literature was undertaken to provide a
framework to understand the patterns that arose from the information that we
collected as part of this evaluation.
The review of literature is presented in this technical report.

text: An evaluation of Te Rau Puawai workforce 100: Addressing the recruitment and retention of Maori students in tertiary education institutions: A literature review To evaluate the Te Rau Puawai programme, the Ministry of Health commissioned the
Maori and Psychology Research Unit of the University of Waikato in July 2001. The
overall aim of the evaluation was to provide the Ministry with a clearer understanding
of the programme including: the perceived critical success factors, the barriers if any
regarding Te Rau Puawai, the impact of the programme, the extent to which the
programme may be transferable, gaps in the programme, and suggested
improvements.
To achieve this end, a review of relevant literature was undertaken to provide a
framework to understand the patterns that arose from the information that we
collected as part of this evaluation.
The review of literature is presented in this technical report.

year: 2002-05-01