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Item Service users’ experiences of tele-health abortion services in Aotearoa (New Zealand) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Manawatū, Aotearoa (New Zealand)(Massey University, 2025) Sutherland, Charmaine PatriciaThe Aotearoa (New Zealand) national abortion tele-health service, Decide, was launched in 2022, following legal abortion decriminalisation in 2020. The safety, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of tele-health abortion have been reported in a large body of global research. However, service user voices are often overlooked, and little is known about service delivery, especially the extent to which principles of person- and relational centred care are upheld. This study aims to address this oversight using a qualitative case study design focused on the Decide service. An online qualitative survey gathered data from 21 service users, which was analysed thematically alongside relevant textual data (seven national policy, guidance, and training documents on abortion care in Aotearoa, the Decide website content and researcher fieldnotes). A reflexive thematic analysis, guided by feminist standpoint, in conjunction with person- and relational-centred care frameworks, generated five themes: (1) the “Everything could be in done in my lunchbreak”; (2) Feeling seen, heard, and supported: Care is relational, supportive, and attentive to emotional wellbeing; (3) Care acknowledges interdependence and honours diverse support needs; (4) Care affirms autonomy and de-medicalises abortion decision-making; and (5) When person- and relational-centred care falls short: Structural strain and cultural stigma. The findings suggest that Decide services met the intended aims of being inclusive and emotionally responsive. However, pervasive stigma and structural inequalities undermine service delivery, resulting in fragmented care, erosion of trust in the service, emotional vulnerability, and suppressed autonomy. The findings highlight the importance of centring lived experience in service design and delivery, providing valuable insights for addressing service delivery issues and working toward reproductive justice.Item How do patients and families perceive forgiveness in response to medical errors, and what factors influence their willingness to forgive healthcare providers? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Lorimer, LaurenMedical errors are an unfortunate yet inevitable part of healthcare often causing psychological, emotional and physiological distress for patients and families. In the context of medical errors, forgiveness is a complicated and multidimensional phenomenon that can have a significant impact on the relationship between patients, families, providers, confidence in the healthcare system, and the broader healing process. This thesis explores how patients and their families perceive forgiveness following a medical error and the factors that shape their willingness to forgive healthcare providers. A thematic analysis was carried out using publicly available podcasts in which individuals shared their personal experiences with medical errors. Through thematic analysis of these narratives, five superordinate themes were identified. The first theme, emotional responses of victims, describes the complex emotional process of grief, anger, and eventually acceptance. The second theme, desired communication from offender, highlights the critical role of open, honest and empathetic communication from healthcare providers. The third theme, the influence of connection, investigates the influence of trust and continuity in the patient-provider relationship, interpersonal support networks, and perceived compassion as powerful elements in the healing process and willingness to forgive. The fourth theme, attribution of responsibility, explores how individuals in the study navigate issues of blame by considering both systemic and human contributions to medical errors. The final theme, advocating for change, explores how the individuals in the study find meaning and healing in their journey through efforts to improve healthcare and patient safety. This thesis contributes to an emerging body of literature on patient-centred responses to medical error, highlighting that forgiveness is not uniform or linear but rather a multifaceted journey shaped by individual experience. The findings further highlight the need for healthcare systems to adopt more transparent, compassionate, and communicative practices to facilitate emotional healing, reconciliation, and forgiveness in the aftermath of medical errors.Item “If I don’t do it, who will?” : a qualitative exploration of women’s everyday experiences of rest : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Hanna, AmandaRest is fundamental to health, overall wellbeing, and longevity. Yet in contemporary western society, moments of replenishing rest are increasingly rare. For women – whose lives are shaped by colonized, gendered power relations within late-capitalist, patriarchal systems and accelerating social worlds – rest is especially constrained. Despite its importance for our health and wellbeing, apart from ‘burnout’ research, there is very little published literature on how these dynamic social systems impact women’s everyday experiences of rest and the availability of time. Through feminist standpoint theory, relational-process ontology and critical narrative analysis, this project aims to explore the systemic oppression that continues to shape women’s lives, and how it impacts our ability to experience feeling rested. This foundation encouraged emergent sense-making and co-theorizing of what rest means for women today. Using snowball sampling through trusted intermediaries, I spoke with six self-identifying women over the age of 30 living in Te Matau-a-Māui, Aotearoa. Through open, organically unfolding conversations, we explored what rest means to them today, the barriers to meaningful rest, and what becoming rested could mean in today’s world. The findings suggest that deeply embedded societal demands, expectations, and gendered norms and power dynamics continue to replicate and reinforce a dominant narrative that positions women as limitless caregivers – responsible for holding everything together while also being crucial contributors to the household through paid employment. Throughout our conversations, the women shared stories of their exhaustion and (un)rest, suggesting that the impacts of a late-capitalist society and systemically embedded gender norms are increasingly putting pressure on and exhausting women, greatly impacting our ability to have time for ourselves and experience feeling rested. Understanding dominant narratives of women’s rest enables us to generate narratives of resistance and reimagine rest as an embodied experience that is vital for us all to live well.Item Redefining flourishing : young autistic women’s perspectives of a life lived well in Aotearoa New Zealand : 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, 2025) Goodman, Jessica MayThis thesis explores how autistic women and gender-diverse individuals aged 18–24 in Aotearoa New Zealand understand and experience flourishing. Motivated by the lack of autistic perspectives in well-being research, the study is grounded in critical realism and informed by neurodiversity and critical disability paradigms. It aims to centre lived experience and challenge deficit-based models that position autistic people as inherently lacking well-being or in need of ‘normalisation’. A two-stage primarily qualitative design was used, with 18 participants completing a custom online survey based on psychometrics of joy and flourishing. The survey combined open-ended reflections with basic quantitative ratings of life domains. These survey findings informed the development of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six participants. Reflexive thematic analysis identified five key themes: (1) Seeking Connection While Guarding the Self, (2) Intimacy as a Spectrum, (3) Family as Framework and Fracture, (4) The Hidden Cost of Coping, and (5) Redefining a Life Worth Living. Participants described flourishing not in terms of normative success, but through authenticity, sensory alignment, relational safety, and emotional sustainability. Material and psychological security emerged as foundational across narratives. Findings challenge traditional models of well-being such as PERMA and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, revealing the limitations of linear and externally defined metrics. In their place, a neurodivergent-informed model of flourishing is proposed, centred around five interwoven dimensions: security and stability; authenticity and self-acceptance; sensory and emotional regulation; reciprocal connection; and joy in the everyday. This study contributes to autistic scholarship by affirming that flourishing is not about overcoming difference but about creating environments where difference is supported. Implications for theory, practice, and policy are discussed.Item Teen sleep, emotional well-being and mental health : a qualitative study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Distance, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Kashyap, KavitaWorldwide and in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ), adolescents often obtain insufficient sleep and experience poor emotional well-being and mental health. However, limited research explores what adolescents think and experience about their sleep, emotional well-being and mental health. This experiential qualitative study aimed to learn what adolescents' think about their sleep, emotional well-being and mental health and the possible connection between these concepts. Adolescents were given the opportunity to showcase what they do, or would like to do, to get the best possible sleep, emotional well-being and mental health. Further, adolescents voiced what others, such as family and the school could do to improve their emotional well-being, mental health and sleep. Interviews were conducted with 12 adolescents at one North Island ANZ school and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis yielded six themes and four sub-themes. The ‘Knowing, Doing and Wanting to Do’ theme highlighted that many adolescents knew what impacted their sleep, mental health and emotional well-being, and were taking positive actions to support these concepts, like creating a comfortable sleeping environment. The ‘Who Influences Teen Sleep’, theme indicated that some families were already supporting their adolescents' sleep, while other adolescents noted that there were actions their family, friends or people at school could take to help their sleep. The ‘When I have a Good Sleep, I'm usually Pretty Productive…’, theme portrayed that good or poor sleep influenced productivity and energy levels. The ‘I'm Not Faking it when I'm Not Tired…’ theme showcased how good or poor sleep influenced social interactions. The ‘What’s the Connection Between Sleep, Mental Health, Mood and Emotional Well-being?’ theme highlighted the uni-or-bi-directional connections that good or poor sleep had on mood, mental health and emotional well-being. Lastly, the theme ‘What should we do now? indicated that many adolescents wanted more education at school about mental health, sleep and emotional well-being. This research highlighted that adolescents have a detailed understanding of their sleep, mental health and emotional well-being. The results of the study can inform adolescent health policies, care and interventions, and emphases the need to work with adolescents in these endeavours.Item Navigating stigma & identity : lived experiences of neurodivergent (ADHD) young Asian women in Aotearoa/New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Science in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Zhu, IreneAmidst growing awareness of neurodiversity, research is scarce on how young Asian women with ADHD experience and navigate their identities within intersecting cultural, gendered, and neurodivergent frameworks. This research explores the lived experiences of neurodivergent (ADHD) young Asian women in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This study addresses a significant gap in the existing literature on neurodivergent Asian women in this context by using a qualitative, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six purposively sampled participants aged 18-25, who were all diagnosed as adults. Five overarching themes, with 14 subthemes, are revealed by the analysis, shedding light on the individuals’ evolving perspectives of themselves, their experiences with neurodivergence, and their cultural placement. These themes include the negotiation of neurodivergence in familial and cultural contexts, post-diagnosis identity reconstruction, family and cultural dynamics, and pathways to self-understanding. In addition, the analysis highlights the concerns regarding representation, identity, and isolation, underscoring the difficulties and possibilities for enhancing public discourse about ADHD and fostering a sense of community. The findings reveal a complex and frequently contradictory process of identity reformulation and self-discovery, influenced by several interrelated factors, including cultural expectations and gendered norms. Theoretically, this study advances our understanding of how culture, identity, and neurodivergence interact, thereby helping us better comprehend how participants construct meaning.Item Exploring the influence of media messaging on sleep during pregnancy : an interview study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Thompson, Alice (Ally)The influence of popular media on societal perceptions and practices of sleep, particularly during pivotal life stages such as pregnancy, pose a critical area of study due to the potential impact upon maternal health and wellbeing. Traditionally research has predominantly focused upon sleep deficits in pregnancy, particularly during the third trimester and the detrimental health consequences. However, there has been little research considering how sleep messages are disseminated through media discourses and received by pregnant women. This thesis explores how pregnant women both navigate and negotiate sleep discourses perpetuated by online media outlets, aiming to discern the interplay between media influences and internalised experiences. Furthermore, this thesis explores the wider social discourses which may affect pregnant women’s agency and wellbeing across this unique life stage which influence experiences of sleep, and explicit sleep behaviours. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 participants who were currently pregnant with their first baby, were over 18 years of age, and residing in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Reflexive thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data, and five significant themes were produced, including: disrupted sleep and loss of sleep agency, navigating sleep advice and online media content, internalised pressure and heightened responsibility for sleep health, commercialisation of sleep and the pressure to fix sleep problems, and lastly coping strategies and resistance to sleep messaging. The findings underscore the negative impacts deficit focused media outlets can have in perpetuating sleep discourses upon pregnant women and their internalised experiences of sleep. Subsequently, highlighting the importance of understanding wider discourses which influence women’s agency and wellbeing during their pregnancy. Through critical examination of how women negotiate media representations of sleep in pregnancy, this research contributes insights into the existing literature on digital media and sleep practices. The conclusions drawn, emphasise the imperative for nuanced and supportive media narratives surrounding sleep in pregnancy. Such narratives are crucial in mitigating undue stress upon first time mothers and fostering empowerment among pregnant women to effectively manage their own sleep health.Item Do stress, depression and anxiety lead to beliefs in conspiracy theories over time? : 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, 2025-06-28) Fox, NickPrior research has found positive correlations between various indicators of psychological distress such as anxiety, depression and stress, and belief in conspiracy theories. However, whether these relationships reflect causal effects remains unclear. In this preregistered longitudinal study, we tested whether anxiety, depression, and stress affect – and are affected by – belief in unwarranted conspiracy theories. Participants (N = 970) from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom completed seven monthly online surveys between October 2022 and March 2023. Using a multiple indicator random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM), we found support for only one of 15 preregistered hypotheses: a small within-person cross-lagged effect of anxiety increasing belief in conspiracy theories. Conversely, we found no evidence that belief in conspiracy theories increases psychological distress over time. These findings align with other longitudinal studies, suggesting that any reciprocal relationship between psychological distress and conspiracy beliefs is relatively small. This raises questions about the role of distress and existential threat as primary contributors to belief in conspiracy theories.Item The destigmatisation of people with lived experience of methamphetamine use in Aotearoa-New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (by thesis) in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Cornish, HeatherWhilst only 1.1% of the total population use methamphetamine (or meth), a recent Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) drug harm ranking study placed methamphetamine second only to alcohol, with estimated societal (personal plus community) harm costs of $8 65 million (Crossin et al., 2023; Mercier, 2024). Significant stigma surrounds meth and people who use meth (PWUM) (Yasbek et al., 2022). Such stigma is multifaceted involving structural, public, associative and self-stigma. Through exploring the perceptions about meth and PWUM, of both the public and subject matter experts, this research project seeks to clarify approaches to destigmatise PWUM in ANZ, ultimately aiming to improve outcomes for those experiencing methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). Accordingly, thirty public and expert participants took part in focus groups and semi structured interviews, with Reflexive Thematic Analysis being used to analyse the transcripts produced. The inclusion of public and expert participants allowed for a comparison of the views of these two groups, highlighting obvious misinformation and potential campaign pitfalls. Seven key themes were produced, namely: the deleterious effects of meth use; the perceived ‘moral failing’ of substance use; the legal versus illegal divide; the portrayal of meth as a ‘bottom-rung’ drug; the courage of recovery; the generation gap and, finally, the systemic shortcomings in treatment. The research subsequently draws upon academic literature, interview analysis and international models of destigmatisation, applied to ANZ’s unique sociopolitical landscape, to suggest pathways for destigmatisation, the aim being to reframe meth use as a health rather than a criminal justice issue. Through policy change, media reform and education, destigmatisation can shift public perception, reduce harm and create recovery pathways not dependent on punitive measures. As will be argued, when the largest driver of stigma, structural stigma, is dismantled through policy reform, public, associative and self-stigma follow. By confronting the biases that fuel stigma, ANZ can move toward a more humane, effective and evidence-based approach to drug use and addiction.Item “I wish that I hadn't compared…my body to…theirs” : exploring female clients' experience of their female therapist's body during Anorexia Nervosa treatment : 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) Kelly, JaydeAnorexia nervosa (AN) is a type of mental distress with particularly high rates of treatment attrition. Given AN’s high mortality rate, identifying factors that influence treatment engagement is critical. Clients with AN are known to observe and assess body-related stimuli, paying significant attention to their own appearance as well as the bodies of those around them (Daly, 2016; Fairburn, 2008; Kaplan & Garfinkel, 1999; Lowell & Meader, 2005; Rance et al., 2014). As the therapist is a salient figure in treatment, their body is likely to be a significant part of the client’s experience. Despite this, there is little research on how clients with eating disorders experience their therapist’s body. However, existing studies suggest that clients form assumptions and judgments about their therapist’s body, which can impact their engagement in treatment. This research aims to build on this underexplored area by investigating how female clients with AN experience and make sense of their female-identifying therapist’s body during treatment. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three female participants who identified as recovered and had received AN treatment in New Zealand with a female therapist. Findings revealed that the therapist’s body played a key role in the client’s treatment experience. Most notably, participants compared their bodies to their therapist’s, which created a sense of similarity or difference. This comparison, in combination with their stage of recovery, led to assumptions and judgments about their therapist that influenced their willingness to engage in treatment. Specifically, at the early stages of recovery, when their anorexia nervosa was most severe, participants interpreted body comparisons through the lens of their distress, making assumptions and judgments that reduced their willingness to engage in treatment. In contrast, participants at later stages of recovery, who were motivated to recover, formed different assumptions and judgements, fostering a greater willingness to engage. The therapeutic alliance underpinned the participants' treatment engagement, meaning that the participants’ sense of trust and feeling understood were also crucial to treatment engagement. Participants strongly recommended that therapists acknowledge and discuss their bodies with clients and adopt a transparent approach. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the therapist’s body influences the client’s experience and engagement in treatment. Therefore, therapists should consider and address these reactions to support client engagement effectively.