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    Exploring the narratives of people with lived experiences of eating-related distress and their stories of recovery : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Amarasekara, Natasha Amrini
    A significant portion of the eating disorder literature prioritises a clinical perspective informed by diagnostic classification and clinical markers of recovery. Yet, research into the perspectives of people’s lived experiences provides very different accounts of eating-related distress and personal recovery. The personal recovery model privileges lived experiences, where symptom remission is not necessary to recover/y, but instead “recovery in” as opposed to “recovery from” is better aligned. Broad qualitative analyses cite factors in alignment with the recovery model; however, these studies often abstract from the daily, lived recoveries. In this study, I examined the narratives of recovery among 15 adults with lived experiences of eating-related distress. Specifically, those who self-identified challenges related to food, weight, body shape, and/or exercise, and identified as doing better currently relative to one’s own past experiences. A day in the life questioning approach allowed for a micro-contextualised view of recovery, exploring what it means to be “in” or “enacting” recovery across daily practices. A narrative analysis was conducted which attuned to complex social, cultural, and relational contexts, grounded within a social constructivist epistemological approach. Narratives included: Re-Appraising Body, Image and Identity, Neutrality and Nourishment, Routine and Structure, and Media and #Recovery. Participants formed intentional daily practices in recovery, largely described as an active process requiring continued re-appraisal. Daily practices centered around energy, function, pleasure, accomplishment, comfort, control, self-development, visibility, and routine. Participants described alignment, resistance, and opposition to master narratives and sociocultural prescriptions on recovery, offering a counter narrative to the clinician and researcher recovery perspectives that have traditionally dominated the literature and guided service provision to date. Overall, these multi-layered narratives align with critical feminist perspectives and may importantly inform evidence-based practice from the “inside out”.
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    The psychological changes in patients undergoing elective aesthetic surgery : a longitudinal study : 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, 2017) Hung, Mindy Min-Yu
    The popularity of elective cosmetic surgery has risen rapidly over the last two decades, drawing attention to its pursuit and psychological effects. However, the literature shows mixed results regarding the psychological outcomes of cosmetic surgery, suggesting methodological weaknesses across a majority of the studies, and lending weight to the belief that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the psychological benefits of cosmetic surgery. The current study explores the psychological change in cosmetic surgery patients before and six months after the surgery, using mixed methods of applied longitudinal analysis and thematic analysis. It explores the psychological differences between 17 prospective cosmetic surgery patients and a comparison group of 20 not planning cosmetic surgery, examines why patients undergo surgery, and looks at factors that could influence surgery outcomes. Psychological measures were taken before the surgery and two weeks, three months and six months after the surgery. The psychological outcome variables include global self-esteem, appearance evaluation and orientation, psychological wellbeing and body image-related quality of life. No psychological difference was found between prospective cosmetic surgery participants and the comparison group, except that the surgery participants were more dissatisfied with their overall appearance and their body image experiences were more likely to have negatively affected their lives preoperatively compared with the comparison group. Cosmetic surgery was sought to address concerns and dissatisfaction over physical appearance, and under the expectation of postoperative psychological enhancement. Cosmetic surgery participation was significantly associated with increased appearance satisfaction over time, whereas no significant changes was found in other psychological variables. The majority of the postoperative cosmetic participants reported that their appearance dissatisfaction in other parts of their bodies have a somewhat negative impact on their lives, whereas the comparison group described that such appearance dissatisfaction has no effect on their lives or minor preoccupation at the most. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.
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    Performing weight change : a performative reading of reality-making through a relationship of meaning and doing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in English at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2009) Caseley, Allyson June
    Reading the reality-making processes that create bodies in weight change performances challenges us to understand the relationships between meanings and actions, or between discourses and materiality. This study uses a performative model to elaborate how discourses and materiality can be read in texts in such a way to bring transparency to the process of materiality-making, agency and causality. The texts used in this study are transcribed interviews of participants who identified themselves as undergoing weight change. Reading weight and body-making as a discursive-material relationship enriches a shared understanding in the interdisciplinary space of psychology and English. The performative model chosen for this study offers sufficient structure to read both the generic features of reality-making and individually-nuanced reality-making practices, presenting psychologists with a sophisticated understanding of change processes. To read reality-making with detailed transparency, we require tools of analysis that can directly read discourses and actions as shared spaces of relationship, through which material entities can emerge. For such tools of analysis, this study utilizes and extends the model of performativity offered by Dr Karen Barad (2007). In using this model to read text performatively, the unique features that are creating performances of weight change are accessed through a reading of boundary-making practices, through the relationship between meaning and doing that establishes what matters in accessing possibilities for meaning and possibilities for doing, and through the elaboration of subject-object relationships into a sequenced performance.
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    Social physique anxiety, pregnancy and exercise : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2004) Blind, Janet Mary
    The purpose of this study was to examine SPA and exercise during and after pregnancy. Women enrolled in community ante-natal classes participated in the investigation (Exercisers n = 36; Non-exercisers n = 17). Participants completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS), Reasons for Exercise Inventory (REI), Exercise Behaviours and Preferences Scale and a modified Body Esteem Scale, and provided general demographic and exercise data during pregnancy and 6 weeks and 3 months post-pregnancy. Repeated measures ANOVA indicated that participant reasons for exercise changed significantly over the course of pregnancy from intrinsic to extrinsic, reflecting self-presentational motives. SPA has been found to be positively related to self-presentational motives in previous research, although significant results were not replicated in this study.
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    How females perceive masculine advertising models? : Master of Business Study in Marketing at Albany Campus, Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Xu, Yujun
    This research helps to discover: (1) relevant masculinity types for male advertising models in China; (2) Chinese female consumers’ reaction to different masculinity types of male advertising models; (3) different characteristics of Chinese females that are relevant for reactions to different types of male advertising models in China. Based on a online survey with 384 female respondents in China, we found that Stern and Sophisticated masculinity type would be the most welcomed one among female’s view. Our results also show the importance of fashion leaders who hold totally different opinions with fashion followers. Moreover, we do not find the significant differences between different age groups, gender identity or living environment. But we confirm that fashion leaders tend to be younger, more masculinity urban female in our survey. These results should be an innovative field to the existing literature and provide implications for future male model studies. Keywords: Male masculinity types; Fashion Leadership; Stern and sophisticated; Hofstede’s cultural dimensions; Metrosexuality.
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    The relationships between body image, activity levels and coping styles in women : in fulfillment of the requirements for masterate thesis
    (Massey University, 2001) Gordon, Fiona
    This study investigated whether any relationship exists between Activity, Body Image Dissatisfaction and Coping Skills. Three questionnaires were combined to investigate Activity, Body Image Dissatisfaction and Coping Skills. They were presented to participants as a world wide website. Usable answers were submitted by 214 women, aged 18-65. The study did not identify a psychological factor that correlates with exercise non-adherence. Body Image Dissatisfaction and Coping Skills were found to be related. Women's level of exercise was not affected by their body image or coping style. Poor body image is correlated with maladaptive and emotion-focused coping skills. Therefore training in adaptive coping skills might reduce poor body image in women.
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    Body image and attitudes in preadolescent children : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Mason, Shari
    Research into the area of body image and satisfaction is diverse, although several areas have not been adequately studied. The main aim of the current research was to study some of these areas. Areas of assessment included male body satisfaction, satisfaction with body parts and functioning, the effect of puberty on female body satisfaction, body size perceptions and attempts to change the muscularity or size of the body. Male and female participants, aged 10 to 13 years were given the Body Image and Attitudes Questionnaire which was devised for the current study. Participants were divided into three groups for the sake of analysing results: Males, Non-menstrual females and Menstrual females. The distinction between the female groups proved invaluable as the two groups responded in vastly different ways. Post-pubertal females appeared to be the least satisfied with their body, although males and pre-pubertal females also showed some degree of dissatisfaction. A large number of children had attempted to change their body, and there was no significant difference between weight loss attempts in males and females. Several areas for future research were recognised, including Maori body satisfaction, effects of puberty on male body satisfaction and further research into male satisfaction with their body and its' functioning.
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    Femininity and the female body : a discourse analysis of young women's talk : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Eagle, Natasha Anne
    This research looks at how 11 women aged 18-25 talk about femininity and the feminine body. The analysis is based on interview data collected in 2000, in Palmerston North and Napier, New Zealand. A discursive approach was used in analyzing the texts. The main assumption was that the meanings the women give to events and people when talking about femininity are likely to be related to their constructions of their bodies. Four main areas were looked at: the first was how the women talk of their bodies in relation to their evaluative sense of self; the second was how the women talk about the standards of beauty that are presented to them in the media; the third being how the women talk about themselves as consumers of fashion and beauty products; and the last was how the women talked about their understanding of femininity. Women generally constructed their physical appearance as relating closely to their sense of self, particularly their self-esteem. Beauty standards, especially those portrayed in the media were constructed as standards of physical attractiveness that are impossible to live up to. As a result of this, the women talked about depression and anxiety. In order to attempt to live up to these standards of beauty, women also talked of the ways they altered their appearance, particularly in regards to weight-loss, as well as the use of fashion and cosmetics. The concept of femininity was difficult for the women to talk about, as many had never given the idea much thought. Stereotypic notions of femininity as passive and self sacrificing were usually used, along side new ways of thinking about the concept, which often involved adopting valued masculine traits, such as independence and describing them as now relating to being a woman.
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    Shaping up and fitting in : a grounded theory of women's body image : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Hamid, Jennifer
    The present study employed a qualitative approach informed by a feminist perspective, specifically the generative, inductive methods of grounded theory to explore women's experiences regarding their body image. Reports of 11 women's experiences were obtained using a semi-structured interview framework. This study aimed to explore the cognitive, behavioural and psychological dimensions of women's body concerns, focusing on weight, shape, size and appearance; how these concerns affect the women; and what the women perceive as having contributed to their concerns. The preliminary grounded theory developed suggests that each of the women, to various degrees, monitor, evaluate, regulate and/or alter their bodies in specific ways, in order to maximise positive feelings about themselves, and minimise negative ones. The model developed in this study is process oriented and suggests that for most of the women, being happy with their bodies, or not feeling unhappy with them, is only a transitory part of an ongoing cyclical process of monitoring and regulating. These findings have important implications for education and prevention, and for 'treatment'. They also suggest many worthwhile avenues for future research.
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    Starting the conversation about eating and body image : the clinical experiences of young women with type 1 diabetes : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Barry, Raewyn Janice
    A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, in particular the concomitant restrictive eating and insulin regimen and the threat of short- and long-term complications associated with poor metabolic control, may introduce or exacerbate psychosocial or psychological stressors for young people. Moreover, the focus on eating and the increase in body mass index that is often associated with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes may exacerbate eating, weight and body image issues for young women in particular. Whilst weight control measures can be healthy, there are a variety of disturbed eating behaviours that young women may employ for this purpose. These behaviours range from those that may be relatively benign through to more risky behaviours, including the practise of manipulating or omitting insulin for weight loss, which can jeopardise optimal health outcomes. To understand the milieu in which eating, weight and body image issues develop as well as talking about them in a clinical setting, this qualitative study aimed to explore the both lived and clinical experience of young women with type 1 diabetes. The participants in this research were 12 young women with type 1 diabetes attending diabetes services and 5 health professionals working with this group. The stories of both groups were explored thematically and analysed using a narrative methodology on two levels, namely the personal story and the public narrative. Firstly, the analysis demonstrated the variations and contradictions within the lived experience stories of the young women and the areas of congruence and discordance between the clinical experience stories of the young women and the health professionals. Secondly, the socially available narratives that shaped the stories were explicated. The analysis showed that there is often a paradigm clash between the biomedical goal of stable metabolic control and living a “normal” life. Whilst the health professionals described their collaborative approach, some of the young women perceived that their clinical interactions were dominated by biomedical goals. These perceptions threatened the functionality of the clinical relationships. This suggests that health professionals should seek to minimise and manage the discordance that young people may experience between living a “normal” life and living with diabetes. Exploring the lived experience of diabetes, the young women experienced a range of eating, weight and body image issues, and 2 young women had engaged in insulin omission, culminating in serious health complications. The clinical experience stories indicated that, if weight was talked about at all clinically, it tended to be in medical terms, and weight gain was not always discussed if it fell within medically acceptable parameters. Moreover, health professionals were reluctant to ask about disturbed eating behaviours unless they had cause to suspect them. These findings suggest that there are two possible areas of intervention. Firstly, talking about weight and body dissatisfaction may help identify risk factors that foster the development of disturbed eating behaviours. Secondly, screening for disturbed eating behaviours may help identify them before they become entrenched.