Dissertations / Theses on the topic '170103 Educational Psychology'

This study investigates linguistic, perceptual, and pedagogical change (LPPC) in a short-term, study abroad English immersion program. It proposes the LPPC Interactive Model of second language acquisition based on Gardner's 1985 socioeducational model and Woods' 1996 beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge (BAK) structure. The framework is applied in a cross-cultural context, highlighting participants in the 1993 Camosun Osaka Aoyama English Language Institute involving Japanese English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students from Aoyama Junior College in Osaka, Japan, and non-Japanese ESL teachers at Camosun College and Canada's University of Victoria in British Columbia. The study examined the definition of teacher achievement; distinctions between language activation and language acquisition in the short-term, study abroad context; development of the constructs student BAK+, teacher BAK+, and class BAK+ to describe interactions in "class fit"; and the influence of temporal parameters on linguistic, perceptual, and pedagogical change. Data from teacher and student surveys and interviews suggest that change occurs in each of the linguistic, perceptual, and pedagogical dimensions and support constructs proposed for the model.

Environmental education (EE) research has identified factors affecting people's environmental understanding and personal behaviours. However, it has been criticized for its largely individualistic, apolitical focus on school children. The present research used an action research (AR) approach to develop and test a model of community adult EE drawn from empowerment theory and practice, and health promotion in particular. Participants in two locations in Melbourne, Australia, engaged in skills training in peer leadership, grassroots group development, advocacy, and AR. Using adult education methods of guided discussion and peer interaction, participants were encouraged to establish and lead a group around an issue of personal and local concern, with the researcher acting as consultant. Empowerment-oriented activities and outcomes were documented. The research identified that the adult EE program, and the AR methodology used, was instrumental in fostering personal and collective environmental advocacy and empowerment. The research also highlighted the important sponsoring role in promoting environmental advocacy played by empowering community organizations with members of high local standing. Thirdly, the effort to protect urban heritage and amenity was recognized as a direct environmental issue. An EE incorporating environmental psychology principles could enhance residents' understanding about the meaning and sense of community they derive from their relationship with their urban environment, and inform their advocacy efforts.

This thesis draws upon the various knowledges of Sudanese students from refugee backgrounds, and upon the principles of critical pedagogy. Cross-Marked critiques current educational practices which marginalise, exclude and objectify those who are emerging from refugee pasts; seeks to re-frame refugeity as a state of being rather than a fixed identity; and foregrounds ways in which all ethnographic and pedagogical collaborators can share in an evolving criticality, using multiple and creative methodologies and contexts. The seven films (six co-participant films and my own reflexive film) and exegesis which comprise Cross-Marked comment on the complexities of the performance of identity for both the researcher and her co-participants. Taken together, the films and the exegesis seek to offer new methods and an evocative depiction of how to move further toward an engagement with 21st century intercultural collaboration, both inside and outside of the classroom.

The recent rise in wellbeing discourses in education can be situated more broadly in the rise generally of psychological and therapeutic interventions into schools in Australia. It also comes against the background of rising public concern about youth mental health. The heightened public concern, coupled with government, economic and departmental imperatives has led to a feverish rollout of wellbeing interventions, teaching strategies, documents, and research to tackle the problem of wellbeing. Within an educational context increasingly under pressure from neoliberalism, government funded secondary schooling also has often been held to democratic ideals about its purpose to produce certain kinds of young people. Wellbeing discourses have emerged in education policy, reports, and research and indicative of these discourses is a heightened focus on personal responsibility, individualised monitoring, and regulation of emotions and behaviours. Often these neoliberal forms of wellbeing subjectivity are sustained by mainstream psychological epistemologies and discourse. This project investigated the historical contingency and conditions of possibility that have given rise to neoliberal wellbeing subjectivities. Informed by historical thinking (Teo, 2015) and a critical community psychology focus (Fox et al., 2009; Kagan et al., 2011; Sloan, 2000) the project investigated the ways in which psychology as an epistemic institution co-constructs neoliberal wellbeing subjectivities that move beyond disciplinary boundaries and into policy and the Australian social imaginary to create certain human kinds (Hacking, 1986). Specifically, through post-structural critical policy analysis (Bacchi, 2009) of the key ministerial education declarations in Australia from 1989 to 2019, it is shown that certain kinds of young people are problematised as being risky citizens. It is demonstrated that wellbeing, as a problem representation in education policy, operates to individualise and responsibilise risk and to bifurcate educational success and failure according to a psychological meritocracy. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that neoliberal wellbeing obscures factors such as social class which have long been indicators of educational marginalisation and inequity. For critical community psychology to be invested in a wellbeing which is responsive to notions of fairness, inclusion and agency, it is proposed that epistemic justice needs to also be included in research and praxis. An example of enacting critical praxis is detailed through an evaluation of a student engagement program for young people from the African-Australian diaspora. Centring the young people as epistemic agents was seen to be an important way to counter the majoritarian stories (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002) of them being at-risk. Their stories offer important insights that disrupt the homogenising, acultural, class-blind neoliberal subjectivities which currently dominate and constrain the space of possibility for young people.

This exploratory study investigated the impact of participation in a three-week journey style outdoor education program upon levels of resilience attributes and coping skills of adolescents. Globalisation and modernisation has increased the social burdens of the 21st century and amplifies pressures to conform to unrealistic expectations in society, resulting in negative impacts on young people’s mental health and well-being. These life stressors, along with the excessive amount of time that young people spend using technology, is impacting their development and causing young people to experience increased amounts of psychological distress. In order to manage these stressors, young people often require the development of adaptive coping skills and resilience attributes. Schools can assist their students by supporting the development of resilience attributes and coping skills which are crucial for the future success of young people, to thrive, cope with adversity, and live at an optimal level of human functioning. Outdoor education programs are regularly delivered by schools to students worldwide as an effective method to facilitate the development and enrichment of personal and social attributes. However, this field is undermined by ad hoc theory and limited research that supports the ability to enhance levels of resilience and coping skills through outdoor education programs with adolescents in mainstream school settings. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the effects of an extended journey style outdoor education program on levels of resilience attributes and coping skills with adolescents. Specifically, the study used a mixed method approach to investigate if the resilience attributes and coping skills were context specific to the setting in which they were developed. The research is framed around particular theories including experiential learning, transactional theory, optimal arousal theory of play, the adventure experience paradigm theory, developmental theory and behaviouristic theories. This research examined two groups of Year 10 boys who were aged between 14 and 17 years (N = 111). The program group (n = 69), who participated in an extended journey-style outdoor education program, and the control group (n = 42), who did not participate in any outdoor education programs, completed the same survey measures. To identify which particular attributes of resilience and coping that were strengthened and developed through participation in the three-week program, both groups answered the Resilience Scale and the Brief COPE scale questionnaires within a similar timeframe. Post-positivist theory was used to analyse the quantitative data, and constructivist theory was used to analyse the qualitative data. The quantitative results revealed that the program group reported higher scores of resilience and resilience attributes compared with the control group following participation in the outdoor education program. Repeated measures t-tests showed significant increases in Overall Resilience and the Existential Aloneness, Perseverance and Purposeful Life subscales. A mixed-design analysis of variance model (ANOVA) revealed a main effect for group and Self-Reliance, F (1, 109) = 7.31, p = .008, and an interaction effect for both time and group was also found for Overall Resilience, F (1, 109) = 3.86, p = .043 and Existential Aloneness, F (1, 109) 9.40, p = .003. Compared to the control group, the program group showed reductions in coping skills that have the potential to undermine well-being in youth, such as Substance Use and Behavioural Disengagement, while increasing in adaptive coping skills such as Active Coping, and Planning after the program. The qualitative phase of the research addressed the question of whether the resilience attributes and coping skills developed during the program were transferred and drawn upon by the participants in their lives back at school six-months after the program. Qualitative data was collected through two means; observation data, and small group semi-structured interviews. The researcher conducted field observations of one group's experience during the three-week program. The observation data provided an insight into the goals and activities of the program and helped to inform the design of the semi-structured interview guides. Small group semi-structured interviews were conducted with the program group (n = 18) immediately after completion of the outdoor education program. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were then conducted with the same 18 participants six-months after the program. Semi-structured interviews conducted immediately after completion of the program highlighted that participants increased their capacity to demonstrate Overall Resilience, as well as Self-Reliance and Independence, Mental Strength, Determination, and various Developmental Tasks. The students also reported developing positive relationships with their peers, leaders, and the natural environment. An awareness and increased levels of appreciation was shown towards their relationships with family members and technology. A range of coping skills were also developed and applied by the boys during the program, including Putting Things into Perspective; Removing Oneself from the Stressor; Ability to Accept Social Support; Addressing the Issue; Chunking; Coming to Terms with Difficulties; Cognitive Reframing and Applying Positive Thinking; Distraction and Avoidance. Thematic analysis of researcher observations and both sets of semi-structured interview responses revealed three main themes that impacted the development and transference of resilience attributes and coping skills during and after the program. These themes included the program design, the group leader and the learner. The findings showed that most participants struggled to make links between the different contexts of learning. Some of the attributes and skills developed did transfer; however, a common finding was that most participants felt their learnings had dissipated in the six months after the program. This research supports the notion that outdoor education programs are an effective method to develop resilience attributes and coping skills in young people, however, for the transfer of learning to occur in other contexts, it is recommended that practitioners re-assess their intervention’s program design and implement more strategies to improve the transfer of learning. Overall, the findings of the thesis are discussed in terms of the development and refinement of program design of extended outdoor education programs which aim to foster the transference of resilience and positive coping skills into other contexts. Future research directions and implications of the results in relation to professional practices associated with the development of resilience and adaptive coping skills through outdoor education programs are also presented.

This thesis developed and validated the Role Strain Questionnaire for Junior Athletes (RSQ-JA), an instrument designed to measure the role strain junior elite athletes experience in their multiple life domains (e.g., school, sport, family and friendships). Results supported a 22-item five factor structure for the RSQ-JA. These factors reflected five components of role strain, namely; (i) overload in school, (ii) overload in sport and between roles, (iii) conflict, (iv) underload, and (v) ambiguity. The RSQ-JA therefore provides the first valid measure to assess the role strain associated with the dual careers of junior elite athletes.

This thesis provides an analysis of a particular approach to enhancing learning in early childhood within the family. It involves an evaluation of practice and theory in an educationally disadvantaged and multi-cultural community. The Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) has a 30 year history and was inttoduced into Australia in 1998 by the Brotherhood of St Laurence. It is a two-year intensive program with four and five-year-old children and their families. Current understanding of the importance of learning in the early years, and intensive adult-child communication, explain why programs such as HIPPY which engage parents as teachers of their young children can be effective. Early learning experiences are at home. Later programs in school often appear to be inadequate to redress early disadvantage because they intervene too late and lack the resources to provide the necessary adult-to-child input. The research reported here was an evaluation of the second intake of 33 children (32 families) into HIPPY in Australia. A triangulation research method involved (a) participant observation of the program, (b) interviews with stakeholders, and (c) an assessment of children in the program and in a matched comparison group. Direct testing and teacher assessment of children was undertaken in the areas of general development, literacy, numeracy and school behaviour during the children's first and second years of schooling. The research findings indicated that the program was well implemented at a number of different levels and that the overseas model can be successfully implemented in multi-cultural Australian conditions. The approach to the diverse language backgrounds of families was a major area of successful adaptation from the standard model. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis indicated that the program enhanced children's school progress. The study identified lessons for future evaluation studies of the program in Australia. The research findings indicate an encouraging start for HIPPY in Australia. In broader terms, the study points to the potential importance to disadvantaged children of well implemented home-based early childhood education programs.

A low level of physical activity and sport participation among adolescents has been particularly evident over the past decade, and youth inactivity has become a significant public health issue that has attracted the attention of many researchers around the world (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015; World Health Organization, 2011). The purpose of this research project is to critically examine the major constraints and motivations in relation to physical activity and sport participation among male high school students who live in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Using the hierarchical model of leisure constraints designed by Crawford, Jackson and Godbey (1991) and the motivational model developed by Frederick and Ryan (1993), this study explores the determinants of their physical activity and sport participation levels. Data were collected via a self-reported questionnaire completed by 909 male students aged 16–19 from Riyadh high schools in 2010–2011.

Nightmares have been described as the most common form of disturbed dreaming. The definition most widely accepted considers two criteria as definitive elements of nightmares, acute anxiety or fear, and awakening from sleep with full alertness. Contemporary studies suggest that nightmares are relatively common and can either be benign or malignant to the point of being compared to psychosis. Thus when nightmares become frequent and/or recurrent, they tend to become problematic and warrant treatment. The current study aimed to investigate the frequency of nightmares in a large community based sample and trial a brief story line alteration technique. More specifically, the current research was designed to conduct two related studies in order to elucidate nightmare frequency and intensity in an Australian sample and examine the efficacy of self-help nightmare treatments. The main hypotheses in the first study predicted that more than 10% of the sample would report weekly nightmares and significant gender differences in reporting nightmares would be observed. Participants in the first study were 440 university students (115 men and 325 women) aged between 18 and 34 (M = 20.41 years). Participants completed the retrospective metric/s Nightmare Frequency Questionnaire (NFQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Addendum. The results showed that yearly, monthly and weekly nightmares were common, in particular weekly nightmares. However no significant differences between genders were found. Participants in the second study were 20 students who reported weekly nightmares aged between 18-31 (M = 21.6 years) and completed a battery of retrospective metrics including the Nightmare Effects Survey (NES), Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS-37 items). The main hypotheses in the second study predicted that the Storyline Alteration Technique (SLAT) would ameliorate nightmare frequency and waking distress overtime and achieve significantly better therapeutic outcomes in contrast to the Systematic Desensitization (SysD) technique. Results showed that the SLAT was efficacious in significantly ameliorating nightmare frequency overtime and in contrast to the SysD technique. It was concluded that weekly nightmares were more prevalent than previous retrospective findings had indicated and self-help nightmare treatments were efficacious in ameliorating nightmare frequency, associated waking distress and poor sleep.

The purpose of personality assessment can be broadly divided into three categories: description, prediction, and intervention. In assessing personality, psychologists have relied heavily on developing, administering, and scoring personality tests and techniques. Personality tests can be categorised according to a range of schemas including: objective or projective tests, idiographic, or nomothetic approaches. Projective tests differ from objective tests in several ways. They are less obvious in their intent, are less structured, and rely almost exclusively on clinical interpretation. The growth of sport psychology has largely coincided with an era dominated by objective testing. With the increasing maturation of the field of sport psychology, there appears to be a greater appreciation for diversity of training models, research methodologies, and therapeutic approaches other than the cognitive-behavioural model. For example, psychodynamic formulations and interpretations have begun to appear more frequently in the sport psychology literature (e.g., Andersen, 2000; Giges, 2000; Hill, 2001; Strean & Strean, 1998). I believe the timing is right to develop a sport- specific projective test. In this dissertation, I focus on the processes followed to develop the Athlete Apperception Technique (AAT). Several researchers have used the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), developed by in 1935 by Morgan and Murray, as a guide to develop population and culturally specific projective tests. The AAT was also developed using the TAT as a blueprint. The majority of tests developed to assess personality in sport are essentially objective tests. Bouet (1970), however, took some tentative steps in developing a sport specific projective test. Unfortunately Bouet did not produce a test that could be of practical use to either researchers or practitioners. The current research extends Bouet’s work with the development of a projective test for use with athletes. Presented here are three studies. Study 1 was used to develop a preliminary image set (Set-A), depicting a wide range of sport related scenarios. Data collection incorporated the pilot testing of over 100 pictures and drawings of sport situations with approximately 200 athletes representing a number of sports and levels of participation. In Study 2, twelve experts (judges) rated image Set-B (48 images) on a range of criteria using Murray’s (1943) image set guidelines and Morgan’s (1999) image examination guidelines as blueprints. Upon completion of expert ratings the 27 highest rated images were developed into original drawings by a professional artist for subsequent use in the administration of image Set-C. In Study 3, 75 participants completed image Set-C with the focus being to trial and seek recommendations for the make-up of the final image set (Set-D). Participants wrote a short story about each image by identifying a central character, describing what had preceded the moment being captured, what they expected to happen, and describing the relationships between the central character and other depicted characters. Written responses (over 100,000 words) were analysed using several thematic content analyses methods (e.g., identification of stimulus properties of images, import summary including: dilemma, intention, complication, means, and outcome of stories). Standard descriptive statistics were also calculated. Based on both the qualitative and quantitative analyses image Set-C was reduced to a final image set (Set-D: 10 images). I have also included a case example to demonstrate the administration, analysis, and interpretation of responses to several AAT images. My objective is to develop the AAT to the extent that it can be used in research and applied settings. The ongoing challenge will be to popularise the use of the AAT. It is intended that the AAT can best contribute to sport psychological knowledge when findings are integrated with multiple sources of data (e.g., questionnaires, intake interviews). The AAT may help sport practitioners identify and assess personality features, relationships, anxieties, achievement motivation, and perfectionism. The significance of this research is the development of a projective assessment tool specifically for sport. The AAT should augment the recent shift in orientation for service delivery to athletes and provide a more in-depth understanding of athletes’ characters, motivations, anxieties, and hopes.

A number of studies have examined the behavioural and academic difficulties that follow paediatric Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and made recommendations that students with an ABI be provided with an aide program. However, there is a lack of studies that have been carried out to examine the outcomes of the implementation of aide programs in the paediatric ABI population. The current study investigated the impact of aide programs on eight students (aged nine to fifteen years) with an ABI. In addition, the current study also investigated factors that were found to promote positive outcomes of aide programs. Measures used included: direct observation; interviews with the students, parents, teachers and aides; and neuropsychological tests including the BRIEF, CAFT, TEA-Ch, and WISC-IV Digit Span subtest. The data were analysed descriptively using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Results demonstrated that the provision of an aide program resulted in a decrease in negative behaviours in the classroom and an increase in students‟ access to the curriculum. In addition to three frequently discussed factors (including individual assessments of students' cognitive profile, the provision of education and support to teaching staff on the impact of ABI), additional factors important to the outcome of aide programs were raised. These factors included aides having an adequate knowledge of the curriculum, aides being able to provide support through a positive helping style, and awareness of the students' need to fit-in. A model to promote positive outcomes of aide programs for students with an ABI was then proposed based on these six factors. This model suggested that these six factors fall into one of two stages required for the provision of aide programs with positive outcomes. The factors in stage one are those that require consideration during preparation for the implementation of an aide program. The factors in stage two require consideration during service delivery of an aide program (i.e. in the classroom). Consideration of both stages was found to lead to positive outcomes of aide programs, with an absence of either stage found to lead to negative outcomes of aide programs for students with an ABI.

This research project examines perceptions and attitudes towards science of a group of Technical and Further Education students studying Beauty Therapy at Victoria University. Many members of this group displayed a high level of science anxiety as described by Mallow, (1978). They lacked confidence in their science ability and were very anxious about passing the science units in their Beauty Therapy courses, despite having successfully passed science subjects at school. Previous observations on Beauty Therapy students showed that most succeeded in their science units but still lacked confidence in their ability to apply their knowledge. The science units in Beauty Therapy are complex and require a detailed knowledge of Human Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, Skin Biology, Cosmetic Chemistry, and Microbiology. The participants in the study were interviewed using a semi-structured interview working together with a questionnaire to establish background information. The probes covered the participants’ experiences in science at school together with their attitudes towards science and influences from other areas. The aim was to identify factors which undermined the confidence of these participants. The interviews were recorded and the transcripts were analysed for themes using a progressive coding process. The themes were grouped into clusters. The study showed clearly that the participants’ confidence in their science ability was undermined by their school experiences in science. It related to attitudes and pedagogies employed by a particular science teacher in their secondary school. Participants described enjoying science previously. Particular aspects identified were an inability to get help when they needed it; the use of sarcasm or derogatory remarks to discourage questions; boring lessons mostly composed of copying notes from the board or textbooks; lack of relevance and a lack of enthusiasm displayed by the teacher. This led to a situation where participants dreaded their science lessons and in some cases truancy.

Students who have difficulty conforming to school rules and expected school behavioural norms are at risk of being excluded from their own schools, and possibly from further education. Failure to complete twelve years of schooling places the students at a social and economic disadvantage for the rest of their lives. Intervention programs attempt to address students’ behavioural and social issues and assist them to maintain their connection with education. This thesis examines an intervention program in Melbourne, Australia which is staffed by special education teachers and located away from the home schools of the students. Inappropriate student behaviours were identified from a review of the intervention unit’s historical records. These behaviours were then compared and aligned with earlier analyses of difficult behaviours, in particular the categories from the Achenbach Child Behaviour Check List. Quantitative analysis methods were used to validate the Behaviour Rating Scale that was developed to measure pre and post intervention behaviour. The Behaviour Rating Scale outcomes were used in conjunction with a Sessional Evaluation Measure (SEM) to assess the effectiveness of the off-site intervention program. The thesis concludes with a model identifying key elements of effective intervention programs based on both investigations undertaken and the literature reviewed.

Teachers’ work involves an emotional struggle, which is becoming an increasing concern due to recent public interest in teacher attrition and emotional exhaustion. The project aimed to explore the emotional work of teachers while also investigating ways to support teachers in this work.

This study systematically explored the outcomes and implementation processes of the School Sport Leadership Program (SSLP), which was integrated into some secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia. The main principle behind the SSLP was to train secondary school-aged students to become sport leaders, who deliver sporting activities to primary schools with the aim to encourage participation in sports and physical activities and develop their competencies. The overarching aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of the program utilising rigour methodology design, and to provide a comprehensive view of the developmental outcomes for the young people, as well as the program’s impact on the school community.

The aim of this dissertation was twofold. First, this thesis explored the role that working memory plays in children’s motor learning. Working memory is responsible for the temporary storage and manipulation of information in the mind, and is the primary mechanism underpinning the conscious acquisition of motor knowledge. However, working memory is still developing throughout childhood and, therefore, it is possible that most (if not, all) motor information learnt during childhood occurs sub-consciously. Indeed, the results showed that a person’s working memory capacity influenced skill performance and learning. Children with larger working memory capacity had a greater tendency to test hypotheses (i.e., make alterations to technique) when performing a motor skill, were more likely to consciously control their movements as indicated by the Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale, and were advantaged when verbal instructions were provided. Further, studies with adults showed that working memory capacity predicted both performance in a pressured situation and the amount of EEG coherence between the motor regions of the brain and the verbal-analytical and visuo-spatial regions. The second main aim of this dissertation investigated the influence that modified equipment had on children’s skill acquisition. As hypothesised, skill performance and learning was enhanced when using modified equipment (e.g., smaller racquets and lower compression balls) compared to using full-size equipment. Importantly, the use of modified equipment placed fewer demands on working memory during performance of a skill, which implies that it encourages an implicit mode of learning. Overall, this thesis contributes to the small but growing literature examining implicit motor learning in children and increases our understanding of the influence that working memory has on the acquisition of motor skills.

Academic performance is an important aspect of functioning for all children, particularly during late childhood with the pending transition to high school and subsequent increase in academic demands. Research suggests that it is important for children in late childhood to achieve academically not only to aid their learning as schooling progresses, but also to reduce the likelihood of a range of short and long-term negative outcomes. Factors which affect academic performance have been explored in previous research, however there has been limited research attention given to how children’s relationships in late childhood may influence academic outcomes. While it is recognised that parents and teachers play important roles in children’s lives, and that teachers play a leading role in relation to children’s acquisition of academic skills and knowledge, the level of influence these key relationships have on academic performance scores in late childhood is largely unknown. The current study investigated the effect of Child-Parent and Child-Teacher Attachment relationships on academic performance.

English Language teaching in post-colonial university settings poses a range of challenges for the teacher as well as students. The main focus of this thesis is to analyse and improve English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in a Malaysian university setting. Drawing on Lea and Street’s work in particular, an Academic Literacies (AL) perspective is employed to capture the complexities of teaching and learning academic writing within and beyond an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. While providing a sound theoretical rationale, the AL perspective does not help with the practical aspects of teaching. Kumaravadivelu’s Post-Method Pedagogy (PMP) is enlisted to guide a teacher with teaching principles. Three PMP teaching principles are collapsed and adapted from an original list of ten to activate three AL conditions: negotiated interaction to reduce power-relational mismatches, the promoting of learner autonomy to improve knowledge conditions, and ensuring relevant culture and contexts in understanding socio-cultural conditions.

This study examines transitional patterns of family relationships in new cultural settings by focusing on the choices and challenges confronting a little known and vulnerable migrant group, the Nuäär of South Sudan and Ethiopia. It explores how the concepts of gender identification and gender roles, especially men’s roles, have changed within Nuäär families as a result of migration and resettlement experiences. The study uses a qualitative research strategy by applying a constructivist theoretical framework, which emphasises how knowledge is constructed through human experience and interaction. It also applies an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates perspectives from sociology, psychology, and refugee and forced migration studies to identify gaps in the literature and contribute new knowledge to understanding and debates about the Nuäär in particular and the migrant experience in general. The methods employed to collect data included focus groups, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. A total of 44 men and women ranging in age from 18 to 65 years participated in semi-structured interviews or focus group discussions between April and December 2014. Participant observations and home visits were also conducted to gain insight into how men, women and family groups interact and cope with adapting to their new environment, and the impacts of this on gender roles and practices. The data was analysed and interpreted intensively using constructivist grounded theory to show how Nuäär men and women experience and cope with the challenges of changing gender roles in a new country and social environment. The thesis attempts to capture the dynamic and diverse nature of Australian Nuäär experiences during this community’s periods of displacement, transition, refugee life and resettlement in Australia. The findings reveal profound ongoing changes in Nuäär cultural traditions and particularly in the renegotiation of how masculinities are defined and experienced through resettlement, which creates many problems within Nuäär families. The research also shows the ways in which Nuäär men have been struggling with loss of the traditional status conferred by manhood, and their resistance to seeing their partners and their children depart from traditional Nuäär culture despite the transformations brought about by resettlement. The thesis also explores the significance of coping strategies used by Nuäär migrants in dealing with these resettlement challenges and the renegotiation of gender roles that this involves.

The important role of psychosocial well-being in increasing the manifestation of intellectual giftedness in adolescents is evident in the literature. In this thesis three psychological perspectives have provided the theoretical background for the development of a conceptual model of the psychosocial well-being in adolescents: 1. Psychosocial theory relating psychosocial development in adolescence to the successful resolution of identity crisis in the form of the ego strength of fidelity. 2. The social cognitive identity style model which adds additional insight into the identity function of adolescents as processing self-relevant information about self and constructing self-identity. 3. The constructive-developmental theory that refers to complexity of mind as a means of understanding the mental health of adolescents. The major aim of this thesis was to examine the usefulness of the conceptual model as a construct of the three key strengths to explore the psychosocial well-being in Saudi gifted adolescents. The usefulness of the conceptual model of psychosocial well-being in Saudi intellectually gifted adolescents was examined using a two stages approach. The first stage investigated the conceptual relationship between identity style and psychosocial ego strengths with 226 Saudi gifted high school students. The sample comprised 134 males and 132 females, ranging in age from 15 to 17. Identity style and psychosocial ego strengths were assessed using two validated instruments. Markstrom’s Psychosocial Inventory of Ego Strengths (PIES) was developed to measure Erikson’s eight ego strengths (hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care, and wisdom). Berzonsky’s Identity Style Inventory (ISI-3) was used to measure three styles of identity processing orientation: the informational, normative and diffuse-avoidant styles. Both instruments were translated in Arabic. Analysis was undertaken using statistical tests including ANOVA and stepwise regressions to test whether males and females differed in the use of three identity styles, and to test the relationships between identity style and the total PIES score and the PIES subscale fidelity as associated with the positive resolution of identity crisis in adolescence. Recruited from Stage 1, 18 structured interviews were undertaken in Stage 2. These interviews followed the Structure of Subject- Object Interview (SOI) procedure and analytic structure developed by Lahey, Souvaine, Kegan, Goodman and Felix in 1990. Gender differences were examined for the three identity styles of processing (ISI-3) and the eight ego strengths subscales. Both males and females used all three identity styles; however, the males scored significantly higher on the information and normative styles than the females whereas females scored higher on the diffuse/avoidant styles. For the PIES, females scored higher than males on the subscales of love and care. There were no significant differences for the other six subscales. Stepwise linear regression was used to assess the relative contribution of the three identity styles and gender to the PIES total score, and for the PIES subscale fidelity. Informational style accounted for 14% of the variation in the PIES total score. The diffuse– avoidant style was negatively associated with the PIES total score and gender was significant. 23 percent of the variance in the PIES total score was explained by these three variables. All ISI-3 styles and gender were significantly associated with the Fidelity sub-scale, with approximately 17% of the variance explained. The findings of the Subject–Object Interview (SOI) analysis, which focused on complexity of mind, were limited as all participants showed no evidence of higher order of mental capacity more than the socialized mind among all three identity styles. The conceptual model has confirmed the relationships between the social cognitive processing self-relevant information and the psychosocial ego development. The psychosocial health among intellectually gifted adolescents can be understood through the identity styles as functional aspects of psychosocial well-being. The complexity of mind explains the order of mental capacity among intellectually gifted adolescents.

The issue of graduate employment has long been a focus in research, particularly in accounting education. Increasingly, higher education institutions promote this aspect to help them attract and retain high-quality students and maintain their competitive advantage in the market place. Given its importance, the present research analyses the association between the three self-efficacy factors of the general self-efficacy scale (GSES): initiative, effort and persistence on accounting near-graduate employment outcomes. Currently, no studies in accounting education have analysed this association in this context, so this research constitutes a contribution to the literature. Furthermore, there is limited research on the association of overall general self-efficacy (GSE) with accounting student employment outcomes. In addition to the three-factor GSES structure, the present study also includes students’ individual characteristics (i.e., gender, age, residency, study mode and language), and WIL participation as potential factors impacting near-graduate accounting students’ employment outcomes. Furthermore, the study also examines the potential association between the three factors of the GSES with students’ participation in WIL programs during their degree course. The three-factor self-efficacy construct, based on a trait-like method, was adopted instead of the overall GSES structure, as the former approach enables a deeper analysis of the GSE concept via the employment of separate independent variables. Consequently, the importance of the individual factors and their impact on employment and WIL participation is clearly and distinctively revealed. The study sample consisted of 337 near-graduate accounting students from Victoria University and Swinburne University of Technology, both based in Melbourne, Australia. The research employed logistic regression, as well as Lasso and R-glmulti statistical techniques, to examine the main research questions. In addition, Mann-Whitney U tests and Pearson chi-square tests were conducted to examine the association between accounting students’ individual characteristics (gender, age, residency, study mode and language) and the three factors of GSES (initiative, effort and persistence). The study results indicate that two out of the three GSES factors (specifically, initiative and persistence) showed a significant relationship with the employment outcomes of near-graduate accounting students. The study results also confirmed prior research findings, which found that individual characteristics (i.e., language, study mode, residency and age) were significantly associated with employment outcomes. Furthermore, the results showed no significant association between the three self-efficacy factors and students’ WIL participation. The results of this study provide some important implications for accounting higher education with regard to improving the employment outcomes of accounting near-graduates. These include: (i) developing closer links with industry to improve student familiarity with workplace requirements; (ii) incorporating WIL programs into the accounting curriculum, such as in a professional degree program; (iii) tailoring parts of the curriculum, where possible, in order to improve student self-efficacy; (iv) promoting WIL and providingwider opportunities to access the program; and (v) examining the need for higher education reform to improve international student access to WIL participation during degree courses.

Researchers in sport (Sheard & Golby, 2010) and other performance domains (Florian, Mikulincer, & Taubman, 1995) have identified hardiness as a personality characteristic that contributes to performance by differentiating the way individuals respond to stressors they face. The purpose of this study was to investigate how an applied psychology intervention to improve hardiness would affect the way athletes coped with stressors in their elite sport environment. In this qualitative study, I used a case study design consisting of an initial interview session followed by a further five intervention sessions, based on cognitive behavioural therapy. The participants were two first-year professional rugby players at an elite club in a top level national competition. I present each case as a separate story detailing the identification of sources of stress experienced by each player, the process of the hardiness intervention to address those sources of stress, and the outcomes for the participants. The analysis confirmed the effect of the players’ ‘hardy attitudes’ on stress. Results showed specific examples of how hardiness facets related to performance and subjective experience. In both cases the Commitment and Control facets of hardiness showed greater change than the Challenge facet. Threats from competitive ‘on-field’ stressors proved more manageable than relationship-based threats. Based on the findings from the study, I question the fit of the Challenge dimension within Kobasa’s (1981) model of hardiness, and the degree to which the facet is amenable to change within a short-term intervention. Although this study was limited to two case studies, I identified interpersonal factors relevant to the hardiness construct that interacted strongly with hardiness facets in determining subjective responses to stress.

Back pain is a major health problem in the Western World impacting on individuals, their families and the whole society. Back pain causes significant economic costs due to health expenses and absenteeism from work. Most cases of back pain respond well to treatments and are resolved within weeks. However, some individuals do not respond well to medical treatments and experience persistent back pain that becomes chronic in nature. Chronic back pain is characterised by its duration and its poor response to medical interventions. The literature researched indicated that in most cases the experience of chronic back pain is heavily influenced by psychosocial factors, which impact on individuals more than the original injury or disease. There is limited literature in relation to biopsychosocial factors and treatment up-take. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of biopsychosocial factors in the experience of chronic back pain. It was hypothesised that biopsychosocial factors would have an impact on the number of treatments received and the level of disability reported. A total of 201 adult participants (men and women) completed a battery of questionnaires that collected demographic information, psychological distress, social support, pain levels and disability scores. The findings indicated that psychosocial factors had a greater impact on the number of treatment sessions and reported disability than level and/or duration of pain. Education level was the strongest marker for both hypotheses with tertiary educated participants reporting significantly higher numbers of treatment sessions and lower disability scores. The findings of this study supported the Biopsychosocial Model of Health and the Theory of Social Causation. In addition, the findings supported previous research that advocated that a diagnosis of chronic back pain is a unique condition different from acute or temporary pain. Furthermore, the findings supported the creation of new diagnostic and measurement tools for chronic back that include psychological and social measures in addition to biological indicators. Finally, the findings offered renewed backing for interdisciplinary approaches to the treatment of chronic back pain in light to its multifaceted nature.

Sleep is an essential part of human life and is associated with both physical and mental health. When, where and how people sleep is known to vary across different cultures (Glaskin and Chenhall, 2013) but very little is documented about whether there are significant differences in attitudes and beliefs about sleep across different cultures or different ethnic groups. Previous research has found that both dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep and poor sleep hygiene knowledge can contribute to sleeping problems, especially for those with insomnia. As non-pharmacological treatments for insomnia often include addressing cognitive aspects related to sleep it is important that there is a good understanding of how sleep beliefs and attitudes may vary across groups and individuals, including possible ethnic differences. However, there has been no research, to the author’s knowledge, investigating the possible differences in sleep attitudes and beliefs between older adult Vietnamese migrants and Australians. This study aimed to examine the dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep, sleep hygiene knowledge and sleep perceptions between these two ethnic groups. Sex differences on the dependent variables were also of interest. Insomnia status was addressed as it is a possible confound. The participants consisted of 207 subjects (100 Vietnamese and 107 Australians). There were 36 males and 54 females for the Vietnamese sample with a mean age of 65.50 years (SD = 5.62). The Australian sample consisted of 50 males and 57 females with a mean age of 68.82 years (SD = 7.32).