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    Intimate partner violence : advocates expertise on the complexity of maternal protection : 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, 2018) Loft, Melanie L.
    Intimate Partner Violence is a pervasive and insidious epidemic within Aōtearoa New Zealand with one in three women experiencing psychological or physical abuse by their partners in a lifetime. The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges (NCIWR) seeks to prevent and eliminate violence and in doing so liberate women abused by their partners. This research is a contribution to the gap in psychological research which calls upon the expertise of refuge advocates from a feminist standpoint and additionally adds to valuable production of knowledge from a New Zealand context. The aim was to explore how advocates perceive and understand mothering and maternal protection in the context of intimate partner violence and moreover how advocates’ understandings impact their experience of client protection. A qualitative, thematic approach opened a space for advocates to voice their experiences and importantly challenge the socio-political landscape which maintains a focus on women’s responsibility as protectors, opposed to perpetrator accountability. Societal expectation of mothering does not take into account the context of intimate partner violence and as mothers fail to meet expectations, notions of mother-blame are ascertained. The analysis identified three major themes: The first theme concerns the severity of perpetrator harm and the direct interruption intimate partner violence has on mothering; shaping and complicating mothering. The second theme identifies a multitude of factors mothers juggle to protect their children within the context of intimate partner violence. The final theme involves understanding the mode of survival in which women come to live, how women navigate fundamental support systems, and finally how the role of the advocate is pivotal for the safety of women and children. Overall, findings showed an alignment between the expertise of advocates and existing international research.
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    Perceptual dimensions of infants' cry signals : a dissertation present in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1979) Brennan, Michael Charles
    Two experiments were performed to uncover perceptual dimensions of 24 infant cry signals. In Experiment 1, the 24 cries were rated by listeners on 50 semantic differential scales. A factor analysis of the ratings uncovered three meaningful factors (Effect, Potency & Value) which emphasise emotional aspects of the cries, and support a suggestion that different cry-types essentially differ along a continuum of intensity/aversiveness. In Experiment 2, the method of pair-comparisons was used to obtain cry similarity ratings which were submitted to INDSCAL (a multidimensional scaling program). Three dimension were uncovered which emphasise physical aspects of the cries. These dimensions (Potency, Form and Clarity) were labelled in terms of the 50 semantic differential scales using standard linear multiple regression. For both experiments, accurate predictions of cry recognition results were made from the cry similarity data, suggesting that the listeners attended to the same cry features in each task. A canonical analysis of the semantic differential factor scores and the INDSCAL dimension weights revealed two significant canonical correlations, which suggests that the two techniques are essentially describing the same perceptual space. The relative advantages of the semantic differential and the method of pair-comparisons (coupled to INDSCAL) are discussed, and also the possibility of applying the semantic differential to study different cry-types, clinically abnormal cries, and the effects of crying on the caregiver.
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    Mothers' representations of their child in a maternal mental health setting in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2005) Hannah, Andrea
    Attachment theory and research indicates that early close relationships impact on later socio-emotional functioning, and mothers' mental representations of their infants are thought to play an important mediating factor. Severe and long standing maternal mental health problems have been found to interfere with sensitive caregiving. The present study examined the use of the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI) in the clinical setting of the Maternal Mental Health (MMH) system in New Zealand. Eight mothers, all of whom had either severe post-partum depression and/or other mental health issues, were interviewed. Qualitative differences in their narratives pointed to clinically relevant maternal distortions. Less than half of the transcripts were classified as balanced (balanced 37.5%, distorted 25%, disengaged 37.5%). Results supported previous research findings that maternal mental health issues interfered with the mothers' insight into how the child experienced the caregiving environment, placing children at greater risk for developing insecure attachments. Findings indicated that certain excerpts from the WMCI could be used by MMH workers to assess risk and protective factors to the infant-mother dyad and their implications for clinical interventions. The current research offers support for an integrated approach to maternal and infant mental health in a MMH setting.
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    Experience as a mother of a "crying baby" : a single collaborative case study : a thesis submitted to the Education Department, Massey University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
    (Massey University, 1991) McLachlan-Smith, Claire
    A single collaborative case study was conducted to document a woman's experience as a mother of a "crying baby". Social constructionism provided a guiding framework for answering the foreshadowed problem and question of "why does this mother define her infant as a crying baby?". This problem provided the initial focus for the study, which commenced when the infant was thirteen weeks old and concluded shortly after his first birthday. The problem developed into four major questions regarding the mother's definitions and expectations of motherhood, her desire for a close relationship with her infant, her definition of the infant's crying as "colic", and finally a question of how a developing relationship between a mother and a "crying baby" can be supported. The study draws the conclusion that the prevailing western construction of motherhood is a difficult role to fulfill. Women in western societies carry responsibility for the welfare of their children, essentially in isolation, and this leads to unrealistic demands on their ability to cope when difficulty is experienced. Alternatives to the present construction are proposed, along with suggestions for helping mothers in difficulty to re-evaluate their roles as mothers, and to come to a personally meaningful definition of their commitment to motherhood.
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    Constant vigilance : the lived experience of mothering a hospitalised child : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Nursing at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Gasquoine, Susan
    This phenomenological study describes the lived experience of mothering a child hospitalised with acute illness or injury. Seven mothers who had experienced this crisis within twelve months of our first interview agreed to share their stories with me. The resulting data were analysed and interpreted using van Manen's interpretation of Heideggerian phenomenology. Four phenomenological themes emerged from this study. Mothers have a special kind of knowing. They have a need to do with and for their child. Handing over to or leaving their child in the care of strangers and waiting for their child to be returned to their care are very difficult things for mothers to do. Their constant vigilance is enabled by their special kind of knowing and their need to do. The difficulty of handing over, leaving and waiting is emphasised by mothers' constant vigilance. Personal experiences during the course of my study presented significant challenges to my ability to offer an effective phenomenological description of the phenomenon under study. Continuous reflection aided by dialogue with fellow phenomenological researchers has resulted in a meaningful narrative. This description of mothering in a context of crisis is useful in the potential contribution it makes to nurses' understanding of mothers' experience of the hospitalisation of their children. It supports the philosophy of family-centered care and highlights the ability of individual nurses to make a positive difference to a very stressful experience.
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    Attachment theory and music therapy : what was the relevance of attachment theory to a student's music therapy programme for 'at-risk' mothers and their babies : an exegesis submitted to Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Music Therapy
    (Massey University, 2013) Ridley, Helen
    This qualitative secondary analysis research project sought to explore the relevance of attachment theory as it might apply to a music therapy programme set up and run within a residential service for ‘at risk’ mothers and their babies. The explicit purpose of the music therapy programme was to assist the mothers in bonding with their babies. The researcher was a student music therapist on placement at the facility, involved in weekly one-to-one sessions with a total of nineteen young women and their babies, over the time that each was resident at the facility. The music therapist also ran some weekly group sessions (mothers with babies) as part of the facility’s mandatory education programme. The music therapy programme took place over twenty-two weeks, with a two week break after the first ten weeks. The research analysis commenced on completion of the programme. Thematic analysis was used to look at two types of data; data from the placement (including clinical notes and personal reflective journal), and literature on attachment theory. There was an initial review of selected literature on attachment theory and music therapy. The researcher/student music therapist then carried out an inductive qualitative secondary analysis of the data that had been generated as a standard part of her practice over the period of the student placement. This was followed by a further examination of attachment theory literature to confirm key aspects of the theory. The findings from the inductive analysis were then looked at in the light of those identified key features of attachment theory. The research findings showed many strong links between key concepts of attachment theory, and the patterns that emerged from the placement data, manifesting on a number of different levels. However some patterns might be more usefully explained and/or elucidated by other theories. Findings suggested that attachment theory provided a useful framework and language for observing and understanding the interactive behaviours and external and personal structures that appeared to work for or against mother-infant bonding. In addition, the music therapy programme seemed a particularly suitable vehicle for promoting positive mother-infant bonding. However it was found that although the music therapy programme may have been helpful in a positive mother-infant bonding process, there was no evidence to suggest that this would necessarily extend to promoting a secure attachment relationship, given the personal, structural and legal factors associated with the high ‘at-risk’ context. An attachment-based music therapy programme may well have a more useful role to play in a lower risk context where mothers and babies remained for longer in the facility, and where the programme could continue throughout the women’s transition into the community and beyond.
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    Mothers and infants : early interaction and consequences
    (Massey University, 1979) Page, A. E.
    A prospective study was designed to investigate Bowlby's (1958, 1969) theory that the development of the affectional bond between mother and infant - generally termed "attachment" - is the result of certain species-specific stimuli being prepotent as elicitors of instinctual responses in mothers and infants, and to contrast this approach with a reformulation by the author which attempts to include recent evidence pertaining to the receptor capabilities of neonates. In brief the author's formulation is that because of an evolutionary process the human infant discriminates certain visual and auditory stimulus dimensions more readily, these stimulus dimensions being particularly well represented by the caretaker's face and voice and thus once orientated to these stimulus sources selective attention will occur at a high rate. Initial orientation is seen as the result of the caretaker's proximity occurring because of response to infant signals and nutritional requirements. To test the appropriateness of the two approaches thirty primiparous women between the ages of 20 and 32 were obtained at Nelson Hospital, Nelson, New Zealand, during the first week after having given birth to a healthy infant, the group being subjected to a 17 minute film designed to teach the mothers to emit certain behaviours. These behaviours were selected as those which would provide either the infant with stimuli Bowlby (1958, 1969) suggests will elicit instinctive responses (mother's face, voice and ventral surface) or the mother with stimuli which elicit instinctive responding (infant crying, smiling and vocalizing). A second group of thirty mothers matched with the first on a number of relevant variables acted as a control group. Specific hypotheses were made which would enable the attachment relationship of the two groups to be compared, and differentiation between the two formulations to be made. The experimental manipulation was successful in producing desired infant and mother behaviours, the outcome in terms of the quality of interaction of mother and infant, and infant and stranger clearly favouring the experimental group. Specifically the mothers and infants of the experimental group engaged in more reciprocal interaction in which each was responding in a manner complementary to that of the other, such interaction beginning early during the observation, being unbroken and relatively enduring. The mutual orientation of mother and infant which brought this about was the result of infant response to the mother's presenting of her smiling, moving, talking face within the infant's visual field, this stimulus complex rather than maternal responses to signals from the infant operating. While maternal response to signals was not a significant factor in relation to maternal orientation to the infant, none-the-less it was the mother who initiated and maintained the continuing exchange and thus maternal or infant variables other than those measured must have been responsible for maintaining maternal responding. The infants in the experimental group were initially significantly more sociable to a male stranger, but by six months of age this positive response had changed to marked negative reaction for most of the infants, with some even having passed through this stage. This was in contrast to the control group whose responsiveness to the stranger was minimal at both three and six months and only rarely negative, none of the infants having passed through the stage of negative reactions to strangers. The appropriateness of current models of the attachment relationship in describing attachment was tested. All were able to describe the relationship of mother and infant in a manner which differentiated the two groups, this result being considered to give evidence of their basic similarity. The results were found to support the author's reformulation that the mother's face and voice have special stimulus characteristics in attracting high rates of attention from the infant, the resulting mutual orientation of mother and infant giving rise to attachment interaction. Thus the mother's face and voice and infant orientation towards them can be described as "precursors of attachment". Support for the mother's face, voice and ventral surface as elicitors of instinctive responses from the infant and infant signals eliciting instinctive responses from the mother was not forthcoming.
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    Aspects of Maori and Pakeha mothers' interactions with their pre-school children : ethnicity, education, interactive behaviour, and child assessment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1984) Podmore, Valerie Noelle
    An observational approach to the study of parent-child relations and children's early experiences has been recommended for some time. Observations of family members' behaviour are useful because they can add to knowledge about child rearing and child development. More recently, the need to extend the study of mother-child interaction beyond the confines of middle-class Anglo-American families also has been recognized, and within cross-cultural contexts, the use of naturalistic observational procedures has been advocated. This study was concerned with observing the interactive behaviours used by Maori and Pakeha mother-child pairs during spontaneous play. One intention was to identify some variables related to the mothers' interactions. On the basis of previous research it was proposed that maternal ethnicity, maternal education level, and child gender would be associated with differences in mothers' interactive behaviour. A second major intention was to examine the relationships among interactive behaviour and children's competence and self-esteem. It was proposed that mothers' interactions and children's self-concept, cognition, and language scores would show some specified interrelationships. The sample design included Maori and Pakeha mothers from higher and lower education-level backgrounds, and their 3-year-old sons and daughters. Each of the 75 mother-child dyads was videotaped during playcentre sessions. Subsequently, maternal interactive behaviours were coded, and satisfactory inter-observer reliability correlations were obtained. The children completed the Brown IDS Self-Concept Referents Test, and their cognitive, language, social, and physical development was assessed using the Keele Pre-school Assessment Guide (KPAG). The maternal verbal behaviours observed most frequently were Direct Commands and Questions, and the incidence of maternal initiations in command form was high. The non-verbal behaviour observed for the longest duration was the mothers' Attentive Observation of their children. Within the ethnic and education groups, individual variations in behaviour were noted. Some important group differences in behaviour also were found. For example, Maori pairs spent more time Playing Interactively (with mutual play involvement) than Pakeha pairs, and this probably reflected a practice among Maoris to learn by mutual participation. Marked education-level differences were evident on the maternal verbal behaviours, but child gender was not associated with major differences in maternal interactions. Some possible Maori-Pakeha variations in the correlates of children's cognitive and language assessments were suggested by the data. However, both Maori and Pakeha mothers' Direct Commands were associated strongly and inversely with their children's KPAG-Cognition and KPAG-Language scores, and this result was consistent with Piagetian and other theoretical perspectives. Fewer important relationships were found between maternal interaction and children's self-esteem, although children's self-concept, cognition, and language scores were strongly interrelated. This study extended the maternal interactive behaviour research both across cultures and within New Zealand. Furthermore the results affirmed, in the New Zealand context, the association between mothers' education levels and their verbal interactions, and between directive maternal speech and children's lower performance on a cognitive and language measure. Some implications for research and early educational practice were identified from the Maori and Pakeha observational and child assessment data.
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    Vulnerable parent, vulnerable child : parenting of a subsequent child following the loss of an infant to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2003) Maclean, Barbara Lois
    The aim of the present study was to investigate evidence of replacement child and vulnerable child pathology in the caregiving relationship between caregivers who had lost a previous infant to SIDS, and their subsequent children, who were now 2-3 years of age. To assess the possible traumatic disruption to the parent-child caregiving system arising from unresolved parental grieving, 20 mothers of 2-3-year-old subsequent children participated in an attachment-based clinical interview, the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI). Verbatim transcripts of the interviews were examined for content themes showing mothers' replacement feelings toward the subsequent child. The interview was then rated on a formal scoring system for the WMCI and the parents' representations of the child were classified into one of three categories: balanced, disengaged, or distorted. In addition, a modified version of the Reaction to Diagnosis Classification System (RTDSC) was used to classify the interview transcripts as Resolved or Unresolved with respect to the trauma to the caregiving system arising from the loss. To look for specific evidence of the Vulnerable Child Syndrome, the 20 mothers and a control group of 100 non-bereaved mothers of children of a similar age also completed three questionnaires: (a) the Vulnerable Child Scale (VCS) to assess parental perceptions of the child's vulnerability, (b) the Parent Protection Scale (PPS) to assess parental protective behaviours, and (c) the Achenbach Child Behaviour Checklist for ages 2-3 years (CBCL/2-3) to assess behaviour and personality problems in the child. Results of the questionnaires showed that in comparison to the control group, mothers of subsequent children perceived their children as significantly more vulnerable and reported higher levels of protective behaviours. Subsequent children, in turn, experienced significantly higher levels of sleep problems and destructive externalising behaviours. Interview data showed that 70% of mothers were Unresolved with respect to the loss regardless of the time since the death, but the children were not regarded as replacements for the dead siblings. Only 25% of interviews were categorised as balanced and the majority were characterised by ongoing fears for the child's safety, and a significant level of emotional distancing from the child.