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    Exploring how psychologists in Aotearoa New Zealand perceive adventure therapy : a qualitative study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Nicholls, Stephen
    Adventure Therapy (AT) is gaining prominence in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) as a mental health intervention practice that can address a wide range of client presentations. Against a backdrop of pressing mental health needs, it offers to be an effective tool to improve client outcomes. AT combines adventurous group activities in the outdoors, with a therapeutic intent. As an approach, AT has its roots in the early twentieth century with Outward Bound, Scouting and tent therapy. While the research base has provided evidence of AT’s effectiveness, it is considered limited due to the absence of randomised controlled trials and the diversity of programmes. Practitioner perception research into AT is growing and is important for ongoing practice development. However, despite psychologists being an important part of mental healthcare delivery, they have not featured in previous literature. This study seeks to fill this gap by answering the question: How do psychologists in Aotearoa NZ perceive the practice of AT? It seeks to identify key perceptions, to explore the utility, effectiveness, and uncover barriers with psychologists using AT. Using a qualitative research design drawn from a critical realist perspective and applying reflexive thematic analysis, data was gathered from psychologists across Aotearoa NZ who had experience in using AT in their practice. Findings showed that AT is seen to be a milieu of therapeutic elements that embraces physical and psychological risk. Notably, it was observed that for AT to have a lasting impact, focus was required on pre/post transitions and follow up. Needs for additional skill development were outlined with collaboration from outdoor instructors a preferred model to acquire outdoor skillsets. Its unique characteristics provide tension in delivering AT to efficiency standards inherent in traditional talk therapy and, although AT provides successful outcomes, it is relatively unknown in psychological circles. The insights from this research contribute to the ongoing refinement and expansion of AT as a valuable mental health intervention.
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    Deepening our understanding of social media use in high-performance athletes : 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, 2023) Gill, Hamish David Cotty
    Social media has had a significant impact upon high-performance athletes in New Zealand and around the world. This impact can be seen in the way that we interact with our favourite sports teams and athletes. Social media has developed into a cost-effective medium which embraces interactivity, diversity, and collaboration, which athletes can take advantage of to help push their personal “brand” and awareness. Such an awareness affords the general population unique insights into the lives of high-performance and professional athletes around the world. Social media has also changed the way the athletes themselves interact with the world around them and how these interactions shape their performance and their wellbeing. However, very little research in New Zealand has been undertaken to explore general social media usage in high-performance athletes, and how this usage impacts their performance and their daily lives. This study investigated the various uses for and consequences of social media usage in high-performance athletes in New Zealand, and as result, deepens our understanding of how high-performance athletes make sense of, regulate, and engage with social media. This study had three aims: (i) to understand why New Zealand high-performance athletes use social media, (ii) to understand if social media effects their performance, and (iii) to examine social media’s impact on wellbeing. The study consisted of an initial screening survey, followed by a semi-structured interview and involved 11 athletes who had represented New Zealand. A thematic analysis established key themes and indicated that athletes used social media for connection, improvement, and motivation. Additionally, three overarching themes were established that represented the consequences associated with social media use; these were body image, pressures, and control. The study draws from various theories in making sense of the findings and highlighting their relevance to high-performance athletes. The findings showed that social media engagement has a profound effect on high-performance athletes in New Zealand. The findings from this study suggest that social media engagement can both positively and negatively affect performance and wellbeing of high-performance athletes.
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    Experiences surrounding sports participation for 16-18-year old female students : 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, 2021) Pfitzinger, Katrina
    Sport participation has been found to decrease with age particularly in the later teenage years. According to a survey conducted by Sport New Zealand (2019), participation in sports in New Zealand was reported to decrease between the ages 15 and 17, and young females were found to participate in sports 1.5 hours less per week than males of the same age group. The aim of this research was to explore the barriers and motivations for participation in sport of 16-18-year-old females in New Zealand. By identifying what young women enjoy and what holds them back in their sports participation, changes should be made to the sports environment in order to increase and retain the participation of young women in sports. Semi-structured interviews took place over email with 16, 16-18-year-old female high school students who participate in sport for school and clubs. Participants were recruited from a secondary school in Auckland, North Shore. The interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six step thematic analysis guide. The identified themes were divided into barriers to participation and motivators for participation. The overarching barrier themes were: 1. too much pressure in sport 2. time restraints due to sports participation 3. poor health due to overtraining 4. financial strain and 5. gender inequality in support and recognition. The overarching motivating themes were: 1. sport is fun, 2. enjoy the improvement of skills and competence and competing, 3. friendships and socialising 4. sports related health benefits 5. support, and 6. professional sport. The findings found differing and welcome more positive perspectives in regard to health, body image, and weight and sports role than previous research. Students did face major difficulties in balancing their academic commitments with their sports and socialising. Another key factor found by this study was the important role parents play in their child's sport plus also identified coaching techniques as being highly influential on participants enjoyment of their sport. A lack of peer support for female sports was also identified as a barrier for females as male sports are taken more seriously and regarded more highly. An area that I recommend more research should be done on is the culture surrounding individual sports. This study is one of few who have conducted qualitative research into the views of young women in sports. The implications of this research and possible future directions are discussed as well as my recommendations.
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    The influence of social and psychological factors on practices and performance of Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) endurance rider-owner-trainers in Aotearoa/New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Science at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa/New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Webb, Hilary Jane
    Since 1998, governance of endurance horse riding in Aotearoa/New Zealand was aligned with the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) to enable regular participation in world championships. These aspirations were facilitated by a high-performance programme. Despite this support, New Zealand riders performed poorly in FEI-level competitions within New Zealand and at world championships. This research aimed to understand factors that influenced the practices and performance of endurance riders in FEI-level competition within New Zealand. A qualitative methodology was chosen for the ability to understand meaning from participants’ perspectives, to understand context, and to identify unanticipated influences in this under-researched subject. Twenty-three purposively selected participants contributed data to four studies during the 2016–17 endurance riding season in New Zealand. A survey and an observational study collected participants’ self-reported descriptions of practices. Pre- and post season interviews explored participants’ motivations, competitive orientations, experiences, and perspectives. The complementary results from all studies showed that the performances of rider-owner-trainer participants were logistically, psychologically, and socially constrained. Amateur status limited time, money, and number of horses so participants rode slowly to avoid harming their horse and not achieving their goals. Performances were constrained by autonomous forms of motivation that drove risk averse practices and a task-focused competitive orientation that emphasised horsemanship over winning. Finally, through modelling, compliance, and comparison, the small, closely connected endurance riding community reinforced a conservative ethos that stigmatised harming horses. Based on the understanding of performance constructed in this research, adaptive performance strategies, autonomy-supportive coaching and greater use of sport science tools were recommended to enable riders to be comfortable with risk and riding at speed. Inadequate training could not be dismissed as a reason for poor performances, therefore further work was suggested to explore variation and periodisation in training programmes. The results suggest the qualitative methodology could provide contextual understandings of practices and performance in other countries where horse welfare suffers from competitiveness. The results also bring into question the relevance of the FEI for New Zealand riders because, although competitive, participants’ style of endurance riding emphasised intrinsic enjoyment, their own and their horses’ well-being, and persistence in their sport of choice.
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    Athlete basic psychological needs and coaches' contribution to their satisfaction : a case study of a high-performance sports team : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sport & Exercise Science at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Wood, Warrick
    A significant and robust body of research has led to a general consensus that sports coaches play a significant role in influencing a range of athlete experiences and outcomes. In this regard, self-determination theory and basic psychological needs theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) are two major frameworks within which to consider and understand human motivation, psychological needs, performance and well-being. The primary aim of this study was to investigate athlete perceptions of and experiences regarding their basic psychological needs and to examine their coaches’ contributions towards meeting such needs within the context of a high-performance sports team. The team concerned involved female athletes competing within a New Zealand national competition. A wider purpose was the projected intention of identifying practical insights for coaches into high performance athletes’ basic psychological needs, based on (1) athletes’ interpretations of how coaches impact on their need satisfaction through need-supportive and need-neglecting behaviours, and (2) how athletes experience each of the needs within the bounds of a team setting. Given such objectives, the investigation utilised a qualitative case study approach that involved participant interviews and extended researcher observations of team activities encompassing meetings, practices and games throughout a seven-month (playing season) period. The observations undertaken sought to provide a fuller understanding of the context of the case being studied, as well as providing the researcher with a rich exposure to relevant coaching attitudes and behaviours and athlete responses to these, with such elements underpinning the perceptions adopted and their expression by the athletes. Utilising interpretative phenomenological analysis as the analytic method (Smith, 1996), the data revealed the athletes’ perceived importance of experiencing satisfaction of their basic psychological needs within their team environment. Furthermore, the data identified coaching attitudes and behaviours that the athletes perceived as supporting and those that that they perceived as neglecting of such needs. The behaviours observed were consolidated into themes that coaches might utilise or avoid when working with athletes in a high-performance context. The findings obtained extend the extant literature in a number of ways. Firstly, they deepen an understanding of the significance of basic psychological needs to athletes within a high-performance sport environment. Additionally, they pull together a number of distinctive coaching behaviours that were identified by participants as being need-supporting or need-neglecting in their effects. Furthermore, various attitudinal elements, such as trust in the coach, were identified as influencing the ways through which the athletes interpreted their coaches’ contributions to supporting or neglecting their personal psychological needs. The study design capturing unique elements of a specific case restricts any extended generalisation of the findings. However, it is important to note that the focal point of athletes’ perceptions of coaches’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to basic psychological needs universally held and experienced (Deci & Ryan, 2000) enables the potential for degrees of relevance across settings. Given the specifics of the participants and the setting, this relevance is particularly likely in regard to female high-performance athletes operating within a team context. The conclusions can enhance an understanding of the importance of basic psychological needs for athletes in high-performance settings and even more widely, and the various ways through which coaches attitudinally and behaviourally can support or neglect the satisfaction of such needs.