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Start date: 2020Subject: search.filters.subject.520302 Clinical psychology

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    The impact of community support on addiction recovery : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Browne, Lisa
    Historic research on recovery from addiction has maintained a focus on a medicalised model of treatment where social problems become redefined as medical problems. However, recent research has suggested that treatment models which emphasise social supports have been increasingly effective in supporting recovery from addiction. Through our research, we aimed to gain a further understanding of the impact of community support on addiction in particular peer support through qualitative interviews with members of a peer support group, Speed Freaks. A thematic analysis was then conducted which identified four main themes of; Building Connections and Belonging, the Role of Identity in Recovery, Navigating Social Perceptions and Stigma, Empowerment and Personal Growth. These themes spoke to Speed Freak’s ability to support its participants on their recovery from addiction. This provides a clear evidence to the importance of treatment models which encompass an element which looks to the support which peers can offer.
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    “Why aren’t you crying more?” : young New Zealand men talk mental health in a shifting climate of masculinities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025-11-02) Peacock, Matthew
    “Why Aren’t You Crying More?” invites an examination of the mental health attitudes and practices of young men in the context of New Zealand masculinities. There appears to be increasing recognition that traditional, hegemonic masculinities are implicated in men’s mental health practices and outcomes. This has facilitated a proliferation of public discourse about men’s mental health issues. Moreover, there appears to be increasing attenuation and nonconformity of traditional masculinities in certain contexts, particularly amongst young men. There has been limited exploration of the implications of attenuated and nonconforming masculinities for men’s mental health. Furthermore, there is little research that has examined the possibility of shifts in gendered mental health attitudes or practices, particularly in New Zealand. This research begins to address these gaps by exploring the experiences of young New Zealand men. This research asks, “how are young New Zealand men experiencing masculinity, and what are the implications for their mental health attitudes and practices?” In depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen young, everyday New Zealand men. The analysis employed social constructionism informed Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Findings depict a social context in which young New Zealand men’s mental health practices are still influenced by masculine norms of strength and toughness. Simultaneously, participants suggest these norms are softening, with reducing stigma and social punishment of nonconformity. Participants experience promotion of traditionally non masculine mental health practices, and observe normalisation of emotional expression, help-seeking practices, and vulnerability in men. They caveat that these movements are neither universal nor ubiquitous, as promotional efforts fail to simultaneously address the dynamic conditions that perpetuate men’s conformity to norms of strength and invulnerability. Within this context of conflicting gendered mental health messaging, this thesis finds that young men do not simply accept or reject prescribed norms. Instead, young men engage in dynamic processes of adaptation, resistance, and selective disclosure, depending on context, trust, and perceived risk. This thesis contributes to the existing research corpus by applying emerging contemporary masculinities work to the field of mental health. It calls for future interventions that are nuanced and empathetic, and offers considered insights for how to support New Zealand men’s wellbeing.
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    Bridging the gap between social justice theory and practice : addressing sociopolitical context in trauma therapy with survivors : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Dennis, Jessie Anne
    A trauma-informed approach to therapeutic intervention has been adopted across mental health disciplines, including in work with survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence. However, trauma discourses have also been criticised for prioritising medicalised and psychiatric understandings and neglecting the historical, cultural and gender factors which enable and perpetuate violence. Feminist, decolonial and social justice-informed trauma frameworks highlight the need for the sociopolitical contextualisation of trauma within therapy. Increasingly, mainstream ethical and trauma-informed care guidelines also demand that therapists are equipped to explore the sociopolitical factors involved with trauma and distress. However, there is little research about therapists' experiences engaging in such conversations. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, more knowledge is needed about these conversations as they occur in trauma therapy. In this study, a narrative inquiry approach was used to investigate ten therapists’ (psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists) stories of discussing the sociopolitical context of trauma in therapy with survivors of interpersonal violence. Interviewees told stories that explored how they navigate the inclusion of sociopolitical context in their therapeutic conversations, perceived therapeutic outcomes from these conversations, and what skills, tools and professional and personal learning have been involved. Narrative analysis showed how respondents who were committed to exploring sociopolitical context positioned themselves in resistance to more dominant medicalised trauma narratives, including in their professional training. They outlined the fundamental importance of a relational and power-aware approach, which includes witnessing, collaboratively externalising narratives and being actively non-neutral. Stories described ways in which clients transformed shame and increased their sense of agency through exploring broader social narratives impacting their experience of trauma and healing. Learning in the areas of intersectionality, personal privilege and power was highlighted as necessary to hold these conversations appropriately.
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    “Fumbling in the dark” : an exploration of the lived experience of female, adult children of divorce : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (by thesis) in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand Aotearoa
    (Massey University, 2025) Van Manen-Esdaile, Leontine
    Divorce is a major time of adjustment for children, bringing numerous short- and long-term impacts. Research here often focuses on the impact of divorce in explanation of intergenerationally transmitted unstable and unhealthy relationships. Little is known about the lived experience of adult children of divorce (ACD) who, despite experiencing parental disharmony and/or parental divorce, experience long-term romantic relationships. This study explored the lived experience of ten Aotearoa New Zealand women (18- to 45-year-olds) who experienced parental divorce prior to turning 18 and were in a relationship of over five-years. Narrative captured through two, one-hour virtual interviews was explored using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This facilitated analysis of participants’ insights into the multiple realities of parental relationships, divorce and subsequent influences on their own relationship journeys. Participants’ journeys featured persistently “unhealthy relationships” built on a lack of understanding for how to do relationships and how to communicate effectively because of what they observed or did not observe within their parents’ relationships, but also their parent-child relationships. Traumatic experiences of parental disharmony and/or divorce were exacerbated by an absence of emotional parental support and invalidation of needs within the context of changing events. This diminished participants’ self-worth, informing the unhealthy behaviours that underpinned their journeys. Critical self-reflection and change assisted participants’ transition from unhealthy relationships informed by confusion and isolation to healthy, safe, and joyful relationships. Findings reinforced the need to genuinely accommodate children’s emotional needs and developmental stages beyond the mechanics of physical needs and custody arrangements. With a view to facilitate ACD relationship journeys uninhibited by parents’ relationships, considerations for the wellbeing of young people who experience parental disharmony/divorce are made, including role modelling effective communication, anticipating children’s emotions without presumption, parents as emotional resources, and external resources.
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    The therapeutic counterspace as an ethical encounter : a dignified response to gendered sexual violence and women’s narratives of pain : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Perry, Amelia Juanita
    This project emerged from reflection on the shadow stories of women and clinicians’ journeys through systems of gendered sexual violence response, and a desire to apprehend and resist the interrelations between western institutional systems where women’s pain is produced as suffering, and responses that listen to women’s narratives through the restrictions of pathologising practice to configure a hysterical, shameful subject that needs to be ‘fixed’. In this project, I take up the position of ethical activist through affirmative ethics in order to move from a listening of pain as symptoms to be extinguished, towards a transformation of therapeutic counterspaces that can hear affective intensities as a process of becoming response-able. In the bringing together of seven professionals that work in the gendered sexual violence sector through a collaborative reflective workshop, we-together opened spaces to share our shadow stories of hearing affective intensities through imperceptible processes and embedded and embodied resistances, to legitimate the untellable practices of creativity and curiosity as a relational assemblage of becoming response-able, developing a collective voice to apprehend ethical activist counterspaces as a ‘moving we’. And in doing so, we evoke our expert knowledges of relational affective intensities to move the institutions we work within to become part of the collective relational assemblage, advocating for the creation and protection of spaces where collaborative reflective practices are mobilised as the response-ability for dignified responses to women’s pain, and as pathways to freedom, hope and joy for women who have experienced gendered sexual violence, and for the clinicians that walk along side them, together.
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    Wireless and tiredness : investigating interrelated influences of electronic media use, sleep, and fatigue : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Pukeahu, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025-10-13) Peters, Jonathan Bosco Alexander
    This thesis investigates the relationships between electronic media use, sleep, and fatigue. This thesis opens by introducing a conceptual framework for understanding electronic media use and evaluating terminology of sleep and fatigue concepts. The current research field of electronic media use–sleep health in adults is then mapped through an umbrella scoping review. This review revealed a predominance of correlational studies between subjective addiction symptoms and sleep satisfaction through which causal relationships were impossible to delineate. A theoretical perspective is developed on the causal interrelationships between electronic media use, sleep health difficulty, and fatigue through an investigation into experimental and theoretical studies. A novel intervention is then introduced to encourage self-directed use of electronic media in service of sleep health. The intervention is tested using a multiple-baseline single case experimental design study with sailors in active duty with Te Taua Moana O Aotearoa, The Royal New Zealand Navy. Through analysing changes in behavioural and self-report measures of electronic media use, sleep health, sleepiness, vigilance, and fatigue, no immediate effects of the intervention were observed. While longer-term improvements were observed in subjective fatigue at six-month follow-up, these could not be solely attributed to the intervention. Conceptual, theoretical, and practical complications of researching these topics are discussed throughout this thesis and summarised at the end.
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    Exploring the Wraparound Process through a decolonising lens : global insights, Māori whānau perspectives, and quantitative outcomes of engagement with Te Kahu Tōī Intensive Wraparound Service : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Doctorate of Clinical Psychology qualification, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University, Te Whanganui-a-Tara - Wellington, Aotearoa - New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025-09-03) Lightfoot, Lucy Rose
    This thesis investigates the Wraparound Process as a potential framework with which equitable care and positive outcomes can be achieved for diverse populations of children, youth and whānau with high and complex needs (HCN). The main objective was to contribute to the pursuit of equitable wellbeing and service experiences, particularly for children, youth and whānau with HCN in Aotearoa. The project took a decolonising research approach and prioritised obligations and duties conferred by te Tiriti (the Treaty of Waitangi). The global use of the Wraparound Process with underrepresented racial ethnic groups was explored via a scoping review, and multiple methods were utilised to explore experiences and outcomes of the Wraparound Process as delivered by Te Kahu Tōī Intensive Wraparound Service (TKT IWS; a Ministry of Education service) in two separate studies. The first study was a reflexive thematic analysis of Māori whānau experiences of the Wraparound Process. The second study was a quantitative single cohort pre-test post-test outcome analysis. Overall, results demonstrated that the Wraparound Process both generally - and as delivered by TKT IWS in Aotearoa - is an effective service delivery framework that can meet the needs of diverse populations. However, service specific and systemic problems were identified. Consequently, increased investment and provision of the Wraparound Process is recommended with an emphasis on attuned, culturally responsive service design and delivery. In a wider sense, this research project adds to the growing body of evidence that calls for systemic societal reform centring decolonisation and relationality.
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    From classroom to community and back again : using client feedback and stakeholder insights to enhance new university-based Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) training programme : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Rendell, Jaime L.
    Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy training has remained largely unchanged since its inception and is largely absent from the literature. There have been calls for the comprehensive evaluation of EMDR training and a more rigorous EMDR curriculum that is culturally appropriate for use in Aotearoa New Zealand. This research used community stakeholder insights to enhance a novel university-based EMDR training programme, ensuring it is fit-for-purpose in Aotearoa. Clients of trainees also provided feedback for course improvement and to assess training efficacy. The experiences of Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) members involved in a course co-design initiative were also explored to ascertain its efficacy and inform future similar projects. Data from semi-structured interviews and focus group was analysed using general inductive thematic analysis to identify key themes. Relationships was a theme common to all groups and underpinned most other findings. Cultural relevance, growth, and perpetual improvement were noted as important considerations for course designers to guide refinements. Confidence was a key training outcome, largely due to its impact on client outcomes. Clients experienced effective, transformational EMDR therapy from trainees and the SAG co-design project was a success, largely due to authentic facilitation that encouraged the development of relationships within the group. This study is the first to use stakeholder and client insights to inform EMDR training design and adds an Aotearoa context to EMDR client literature. Implications for the training programme include adopting a relational approach, engaging in outreach, and be values-driven to produce successful outcomes for trainees and clients.
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    “Just amazed at how much humans can actually survive…and that I think was really quite inspiring” : a phenomenological perspective of vicarious posttraumatic growth in psychologists : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (by thesis) in Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Fischer, Andrea
    Psychologists are routinely exposed to vicarious trauma through their client’s narratives. While the negative impacts of trauma work are well documented, less is known about the potential for positive impacts. Vicarious posttraumatic growth (VPTG) refers to the personal and professional growth that can emerge from working with trauma and which parallels posttraumatic growth (PTG) that can be experienced by individuals who experience trauma directly. Understanding psychologists’ experiences of VPTG and how to support their well-being benefits not only the therapist but also their clients and the profession and is especially relevant given the current shortage of psychologists amid unprecedented demand in Aotearoa New Zealand. This thesis aimed to gain understanding of the complexities of working therapeutically with trauma focusing on experiences of VPTG and coping strategies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four psychologists and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to examine their lived experiences. The analysis showed that the psychologists were profoundly impacted by their work, and it triggered existential questioning and meaning-making which influenced their personal and professional lives in both positive and negative ways. Four themes emerged 1) Empathetic engagement with clients 2) Responses to engaging in trauma work 3) Coping with the impact of trauma work and 4) Changes to schemas and behaviours. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the personal and professional impact of trauma work and the coping strategies that can contribute to growth, particularly within the context of Aotearoa. Further research is needed to explore how growth can be promoted at personal, professional and organisational levels for psychologists in Aotearoa, who not only work with challenging content but also often within demanding work environments.
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    The relationship between loneliness and quality of life in informal dementia caregivers : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) Jenkins, Brieonie
    Background Informal caregivers are an essential part of dementia support in New Zealand. The number of people affected by dementia is increasing. Previous studies have indicated that informal caregivers are at risk of poor mental and physical health outcomes, due to the stressors in the caregiving role. These stressors have been identified as risk factors for loneliness. Research in other populations highlights strong links between loneliness and poor health outcomes. This research explored the relationship between primary caregiving stressors, loneliness, isolation and quality of life (QOL) within the framework of the Stress Process Model. Methods This research investigated hypothesised factors leading to loneliness and quality of life in a New Zealand sample of informal dementia caregivers (n= 134). It used a cross-sectional survey design and structured questionnaire to explore background and context factors (care duration, hours per week caregiving, relationship length and help hours per week), primary stressors (Activities of Daily Living dependency, frequency of challenging behaviour, caregiver reaction and relational deprivation), loneliness, isolation, and quality of life. Descriptive analysis, correlational analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to examine the relationships between variables and conduct mediation analyses. Results The findings indicated that QOL was moderate, with the average rating between ‘neither good nor poor’ and ‘good’. The psychological domain was significantly lower than all other domains. Within the sample there was a high prevalence of loneliness (88%) and lower prevalence of isolation (21%). Overall QOL and QOL domains were significantly associated with total loneliness. Among the primary stressors, only the frequency of challenging behaviour correlated to loneliness. Both the frequency of challenging behaviour and caregiver reaction had significant correlations to QOL. Total loneliness partially mediated the relationship between primary stressors and QOL. Social loneliness was also found to partially mediate this relationship while emotional loneliness did not. Conclusions The findings show that there was a high prevalence of loneliness in the sample. They also show that primary caregiving stressors are associated with loneliness and that loneliness is associated with quality of life. This research highlights the importance of addressing loneliness in this population, suggests targeted loneliness interventions and recommends caregivers be screened for loneliness to increase access to appropriate support.