Publications by authors named "P M Neal"

Background: Despite benefits of evidence-based practice (EBP), barriers exist that prevent translation of evidence to point of care.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine types of EBP resources used by nurses, and correlate EBP resource use with nurse's self-efficacy.

Method: A descriptive correlational design was used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The disease-induced herd immunity level [Formula: see text] is the fraction of the population that must be infected by an epidemic to ensure that a new epidemic among the remaining susceptible population is not supercritical. For a homogeneously mixing population [Formula: see text] equals the classical herd immunity level [Formula: see text], which is the fraction of the population that must be vaccinated in advance of an epidemic so that the epidemic is not supercritical. For most forms of heterogeneous mixing [Formula: see text], sometimes dramatically so.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Concerns about the complexity, fragmentation and inefficiency of Australia's current youth mental health service systems have led policy makers to seek improvements through a shift to community-based solutions. However, there is little evidence of how communities can make this shift. This paper examines the efforts of one Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter, respectfully, Indigenous) community-Yarrabah in north Queensland-to develop strategies for mental health and wellbeing service system improvements for school-aged youth (5-18 years).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Almost all epidemic models make the assumption that infection is driven by the interaction between pairs of individuals, one of whom is infectious and the other of whom is susceptible. However, in society individuals mix in groups of varying sizes, at varying times, allowing one or more infectives to be in close contact with one or more susceptible individuals at a given point in time. In this paper we study the effect of mixing groups beyond pairs on the transmission of an infectious disease in an SIR (susceptible [Formula: see text] infective [Formula: see text] recovered) model, both through a branching process approximation for the initial stages of an epidemic with few initial infectives and a functional central limit theorem for the trajectories of the numbers of infectives and susceptibles over time for epidemics with many initial infectives.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pediatric obesity has become a major health care concern over the last several decades. This condition can lead to detrimental life-long physical and mental comorbidities. Pediatric primary care providers have a unique opportunity to both prevent and treat pediatric obesity in their clinics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF