Browsing by Author "Stephens, Christine"

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    The impact of trauma on health and the moderating effects of social support : a study with the New Zealand police : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Stephens, Christine
    Traumatic experiences are an inherent part of many aspects of police work and the effects of trauma on police officers are of increasing concern to the New Zealand Police. There is evidence that social support following trauma may directly influence the development of adverse post traumatic stress reactions. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a specific psychiatric outcome of traumatic stress with a diagnosis (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994), which includes the traumatic experience as well as a constellation of symptoms. There is also evidence that additional physical health symptoms are associated with PTSD. Several factors have been explored as variables that could intervene between the traumatic experience and the development of symptoms and there is a growing body of empirical evidence for social support as an important factor. Horowitz' (1986) theoretical model of PTSD aetiology suggests that social support is a moderator of the experience of trauma in the development of stress reactions. The form of the interaction predicted by this model is known in the social support literature as the 'buffering hypothesis'. The primary aims of the present study were to extend the current evidence for the preventive role of social support in PTSD. Using a theoretical approach, it focused on the specific aspects of support which could buffer the stress\PTSD relationship. The theoretical model of PTSD, and the existing evidence, suggest that perceived emotional support, and in particular the opportunities to talk about the traumatic experience, are the salutary aspects of social support following trauma. It was hypothesised that aspects of emotional support such as opportunities to talk about trauma would moderate the relationship between traumatic experiences and psychological and physical health outcomes. The study also aimed to examine the prevalence of PTSD and physical health symptoms, and their relationship to the traumatic experiences of police officers. To meet these aims and test the hypotheses, 527 police officers in one geographical region of New Zealand were surveyed by questionnaire. Initial results showed that the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in the New Zealand Police is similar to that of other groups in the community who have suffered traumatic experiences. The wide range of traumatic experiences that were affecting the health of police officers were most likely to have occurred while they were at work. The results of regression analyses showed that the numbers of traumatic experiences were positively related to levels of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and physical health symptoms. The particular social support variables that moderated the effects of traumatic experiences on psychological and physical outcomes were: the ease of talking about trauma in the work place; the attitudes to expressing emotion; emotional support from peers; and emotional support from outside work. These results support the theoretical model of PTSD and social support that was tested in the study, and substantiate suggestions that, to buffer stress, the type of support must be specifically related to the needs elicited by the stressor. The results were further discussed in terms of the limitations of cross-sectional design, the measures used and suggestions for further research to confirm and extend the findings. The implications for police organisations were also discussed. These included the additive health effects of ongoing traumatic stress, the effects of other organisational stressors which must be taken into account, emotional support as an important factor intervening between traumatic experience and health outcomes, and the importance of support from peers and from family and friends which was highlighted in the present study.
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    The Mediating Role of Happiness in the Relationship Between Older Adults’ Intentional Activities and Health
    (School of Psychology, Massey University, 2012) Henricksen, Annette; Stephens, Christine
    The present study examined the nature of relationships between older adults’ intentional happiness-enhancing activities, happiness and health outcomes, and extended previous research by testing the prediction that happiness mediates the relationship between intentional activities and health. Multiple regression analysis of survey responses from a representative population sample of 2289 adults (aged 55-73 years) was employed to test predictions. Happiness was found to fully mediate the relationship between socially related activities and physical health, to partially mediate the relationships between personal interest and achievement oriented activities and physical health, and to fully mediate the relationships between these types of intentional activity and mental health. Results support the utility of investigating older adult’s intentional activities as a determinant of happiness and indicate that they also benefit health outcomes through happiness.
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    Multigenerational caregiving for older people in Bali : combining macro and micro perspectives to understand ageing, family, and caregiving : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand. EMBARGOED to 17 January 2025.
    (Massey University, 2022) Lestari, Made Diah
    Most of the existing research on family caregiving focuses on the nuclear family, consisting only of parents and children as the research population and women as the primary caregivers. Research on family caregiving needs to take into account demographic and social-cultural contexts. Thus, I sought to explore caregiving and ageing in multigenerational households. As populations continue to age, older people’s needs for special care has become a critical issue that affects families as the primary support of older people and sometimes presents a burden for families in terms of caregiving. While we are witnessing the development of public provisions to support our ageing population, at the same time, the cultural obligation to care for older generations may be reinforced by policies, effectively shifting state responsibilities to the private sphere. The study was framed by a critical gerontology approach to ageing issues from two perspectives: political-moral economy and humanistic gerontology. Critical gerontology provides space for a dialogue between macro and micro perspectives in understanding ageing and family caregiving. The research was conducted in Bali, where most older people live in multigenerational households. At the macro level of caregiving, this study aimed to critically review the regional ageing policies in Indonesia. Using critical discourse analysis, this study explored constructions of older people’s identities in regional ageing policies and found two identity constructions, namely “material ageing” and “cultural ageing”. Such positioning has macro and micro effects on ageing and caregiving practices. At the intersection between macro and micro levels of caregiving, individual narrative interviews were conducted from January until May 2020 with 49 members of 11 multigenerational households to explore the social construction of ageing and family caregiving specific to Balinese culture. Thematic analysis, narrative analysis, and discursive positioning analysis were used to analyse the interview data, exploring: (a) important aspects of local knowledge about multigenerational caregiving reported by participants; (b) the role played by the local narratives in shaping family members’ stories of multigenerational caregiving; and (c) how two dominant ageing discourses in regional ageing policies, “decline” and “successful ageing”, were taken up by older people and their family members in constructing their stories on ageing and family caregiving. I discussed the collective implications of these findings for the micro experiences of ageing and policy and developed a theoretical model of multigenerational caregiving, including its opportunities and challenges by synthesising the findings into a socioecological model. This model provided the basis for an analysis of the intersection between private and public domains of multigenerational caregiving and suggestions for initiatives at the family, community, society, and cultural levels to ensure the sustainability of family caregiving in Bali as well as providing support for the family caregivers.
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    Occupational overuse syndrome and psychosocial stressors in the work place : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology, at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1993) Stephens, Christine
    There is continuing concern about the incidence of Occupational Overuse Syndrome among workers using keyboards in New Zealand, but very little local research into the possible causes of the syndrome. Following results from overseas research, it is hypothesised that differences in rates of pain reporting by keyboard workers are related to job stress caused by different levels in the quality of the work environment. An interaction between autonomy and work pressure is also hypothesised. Keyboard users in several different job types, working in eight different newspaper offices of the same newspaper company, were surveyed. The results confirmed the hypotheses. Post hoc analysis showed that there were important differences between the types of stressors that predicted pain reporting between offices, and those that predicted pain reporting between job types. These results confirm the importance of considering psychosocial factors in work and workplace design for the prevention of OOS. Conclusions are also drawn about the situation specificity of such empirical research, and the need for more theoretical work in the search for the aetiology of OOS.
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    The stereotyping of 'old people' : a qualitative exploration of preschool children's constructions of older adults : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Hebenton, Kate
    Despite an ageing population, in Western countries, children and older adults are being provided fewer opportunities to spend time together. Intergenerational (IG) programmes were developed to intentionally bring these two groups together, for the mutual benefit of both parties. However, the voices of children, particularly preschool aged children, are often excluded from the research focussing on these programmes. The aim of the current research was to explore the experiences of the preschool children engaged in a shared-site intergenerational programme, based in New Zealand, and to explore the children’s constructions of older adults. Seventeen children participated in the study, aged between 3 and 5 years old. Methodological choices were ethnographically informed, and included interviews, observations, photographs, and the children’s drawings. Analysis of the data from all four methods produced two key themes. The first revealed that the relationships the children developed with the older adults were with this group as a collective, rather than with particular individuals. Although the children were able to experience individual connections with older adults, these were dependent on the context, and often temporary. The second theme detailed how the children understood what it means to be an older adult, which involved the identification of its group members. The children held a belief that old age was manifested physically, and each child used a singular physical feature of old age to identify older adults as a group. This focus on the physical highlighted the important role that observation played in the children’s developing conceptualisation of older adults. These findings suggest that the children were stereotyping the older adults, but that there was no positive or negative judgement placed on these stereotypes, they just simply existed. They also support a discursive understanding of stereotypes, as opposed to a cognitive one, which is how much of the existing literature conceptualises stereotyping. Finally, the findings demonstrate that very young children are capable of participating in qualitative research, and that they have important and interesting contributions to offer. Future research should prioritise the inclusion of these voices and would benefit from the use of multiple methods to engage children.