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    Globalisation in the Malaysian context : the experience of Malay adolescents with 'conduct disorders' : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū Aotearoa/New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Daud, Mohd Najmi
    The process of globalisation offers opportunities for a country to progress to be a greater and more competitive nation. The Malaysian government is highly inspired by the concept of globalisation in progressing towards the vision of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020. Globalisation as a process is very demanding, requiring changes to the Malaysian political, cultural, economic, educational and social landscape. These changes have presented immense challenges to Malay adolescents where Western values have conflicted with traditional values and aspirations. Without adequate preparation, the potential incommensurability of values affects the locally defined wellbeing among Malay adolescents. Given that, how Malay adolescents understand and adapt to the globalisation process remains elusive. Therefore, this research is designed to explore the experiences of Malay adolescents who are considered to experience ‗conduct disorders‘ within the Malaysian context of globalisation. This research is a qualitative research inquiry, which utilised Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a method of analysis. IPA is an approach that explores in detail personal lived experience to examine what the world is like from the point of view of the participants. Initial data was collected from 28 participants with 12 participants selected from a rehabilitation centre for young offenders in Malaysia for a more thorough analysis. The lived experience of the participants is presented and explained through three levels of analysis, the participants' demographic background and history, detailed life experiences of each case and finally, the meaning they attached to their experiences. The analysis suggests that the understanding of the Malay adolescents is constructed reflecting the changes in the dynamic of all segments of life alongside the emerging new lifestyles that are embedded in the processes of globalisation. Their lived experiences are described by referring to a complex relationship with and various tensions between different tenets. Those tenets include the traditional Malay cultures, values, beliefs and practices, which are much influenced by Islamic teaching, and the emergent new values and worldviews associated with globalisation and modernisation. Due to their vulnerability regarding self-characteristics, innate capabilities and the systemic flaws of relevant support systems, they are described as problematic in meeting the new, yet challenging environment. The participants lost their primary and reliable sources of survival. Instead, they are being introduced to various alternative resources that promote values and cultures that are against the normality of local practices. As a result, they end up in the criminal justice system. Realising that they have gone ―off track‖, the participants shared their intention to recover through various strategies, which include both action oriented and cognitive frameworks, but at the same time, they expected to face a range of hassles that may contribute to some difficulties for them to make progress. This research comes out with an argument that questions the appropriateness of the relevance of the diagnostic system of conduct disorders as defined in DSM. The experiences of the participants‘ suggested that they simply reacted to the changing context which offered immense challenges to their lived experiences. Therefore, rather than disordered the adolescents can be understood as responding to the conflicting conditions they face. Keywords: Malay adolescents, globalisation, conduct disorders, lived experiences, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
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    Conduct disorder : an evaluation of a parenting intervention : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Lawrence, Susan K
    The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the parenting component of the Youth Horizon Trust programme for families of young people with severe conduct disorder. Empirical research supports the assertion that interventions designed to change parental discipline practices are the most effective interventions in reducing conduct problem behaviour in young people. Eleven parents of Youth Horizon Trust programme participants completed a multi-method questionnaire conducted with repeated assessments over a twelve week period. The constructs measured have been consistently linked to conduct disorder. The questionnaires and a similar evaluation method were used in prior North American research (Frick, Christian, & Wootton, 1999; Shelton, Frick, & Wootton, 1996). The present study was designed to determine whether there were differences in parenting practices during a three month portion of intervention (hypothesis 1), among parents in the first, second and third years of programme participation (hypothesis 2), towards the end of programme involvement, compared to parents early in the programme (hypothesis 3) and related to the level of the young person's distress at the time of intake (hypothesis 4). The present study found firstly, that the two positive parenting scale results differed from prior research but the three negative parenting subscales showed similarities in the direction of changes (Frick et al., 1999). Secondly, there was no overall relationship between the time duration of the intervention and improvement in parenting practices, but changes in the third year indicated reductions in negative parenting practices and improved parental involvement, monitoring, supervision, and consistency. In addition, the most distressed young people at the beginning of the treatment programme had parents who indicated less involvement in their parenting practices. The overall implication drawn from the findings is that improvement in supervision, monitoring, and consistency of discipline by parents are more readily adopted than involvement and positive parenting practices. Further research with more extensive monitoring, larger samples and over a greater time frame are discussed.
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    Characteristics of treatment completers and non-completers in a residential programme for severe conduct disorder : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2003) Miller, Caroline
    The study centres on a long-term residential programme for the treatment of severe conduct disorder. A number of young people leave the programme before completion of treatment. The focus of the study is to examine existing data from psychometric tests to determine whether the data can provide material which delineates a completer profile and a non-completer profile. The data was originally collected as part of the assessment and diagnostic process for entry to the programme. All of the young people met criteria for a diagnosis of severe conduct disorder with early onset. Secondary data analysis was used, to delineate a profile of each group. Differences between the two groups were found in the areas of resilience factors, internalising and externalising characteristics, and comorbidity with a range of disorders. Comorbidity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was particularly prevalent. As the data samples were small the current study is exploratory and descriptive, rather than predictive or inferential. Gender and ethnicity affect both the manifestation of conduct disorder and response to treatment. However, the small sample size did not allow separate analysis along gender or ethnic lines. Both of these areas warrant further research. Conduct disorder is a complex disorder, which affects every domain of the young person's life including family, individual development, educational achievement, peer relations, social relations, criminal history, and physical and mental health. Ecological models have explanatory utility in terms of aetiology, symptomatology, and treatment rationale covering all domains and are used as a framework for this study. This study reviews relevant literature, gives a brief outline of the specific programme, describes the method and results of the secondary analysis of the test data, and concludes with a discussion about the implications of the findings, and some suggestions for the design of further programmes and for future research in this area.
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    Multisystemic treatment (MST) of antisocial behaviour in youth : the role of the family in facilitating change : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2004) Curtis, Nicola Mary
    The current dissertation includes three studies that examined (a) the overall effectiveness of Multisystemic Treatment (MST) achieved in previous outcome studies, (b) the effectiveness of MST with antisocial youth in New Zealand, and (c) a range of variables and their ability to predict MST treatment outcomes. Study 1 adopted meta-analytic strategies to evaluate the overall effectiveness of MST in comparison to other treatment approaches or usual services in the treatment of antisocial behaviour in youth. The meta-analysis integrated the results from seven primary and four secondary MST outcome studies involving 708 participants. Results indicate that across different presenting problems and samples, the average effect of MST was d = 0.55; across both instrumental and ultimate outcome measures, youth and their families treated with MST were functioning better and offending less than 70% of their counterparts who received alternative treatment or services (Curtis et al., 2004). Study 2 used a one-group pre- to post-treatment design to evaluate the efficacy of MST in New Zealand with 65 antisocial youth and their families. Results show that significant pre- to post-treatment improvements occurred in many of the instrumental and ultimate indicators of treatment outcomes. Gains were either maintained at or evident by the 6- and 12-month follow-up intervals. Study 3 examined data collected from participants in Study 2 to explore a range of variables hypothesised to predict the effectiveness of MST in New Zealand. Results show that parent and youth stages of change were significantly related to improvements in ultimate outcomes (i.e., school attendance and decreased frequency and severity of offending behaviour) at post-treatment. With regard to decisional balance, parent perceptions of youth motivation and improved family relations (pros) were positively related to their youth's readiness to change. Findings related to therapist availability indicate evidence of a potential sleeper effect in that the benefits of therapist contacts during treatment appear not to have been fully realised until follow-up periods. No valid associations were found between adherence ratings and treatment outcomes. Implications of these results for the continued refinement and dissemination of MST are discussed.