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Item Mental health conceptualisations and perspectives on mental health services of Black Sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand : a doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu Campus, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-08-22) Musakwa, MichelleThe number of African migrants and refugees is increasing in Aotearoa-New Zealand (A-NZ). However, there is still limited understanding regarding the mental health experiences of Black Sub-Saharan Africans. Without adequate knowledge of the experiences of this population, it is difficult for mental health professionals to provide culturally appropriate services. As such, it is prudent to develop an understanding of the way this population conceptualises, experiences, and manages mental health and mental distress. This study explores how Black Sub-Saharan Africans in A-NZ conceptualise and manage mental health and their perspectives on mental health services in A-NZ. A qualitative approach was employed, with data collected through nine semi-structured individual interviews and two focus groups (each with four Black Sub-Saharan African women). Individual interview data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, highlighting the role of identity in mental health conceptualisation and the intergenerational and gender differences that exist. Focus group data were analysed through Reflexive Thematic Analysis and key themes identified included barriers to accessing services and participants’ preferences regarding mental health services. Overall, this study found that culture and identity play a critical role in how Black Sub-Saharan Africans perceive mental health. These factors also influence people's experiences with mental health services. Understanding the cultural nuances of Black Sub-Saharans in A-NZ can help mental health clinicians develop an ethos of engagement that promotes better quality of care.Item Family finds a way : experiences of multigenerational transnational new Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2021) Ran, GuanyuThe Immigration Act 1987 fundamentally transformed New Zealand’s immigration policy from one that was race-based to one based on economic needs of New Zealand society. It opened the borders to immigrants from much wider regions. As a result of this “open-door” immigration policy, a substantial new Chinese immigrant community from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established in New Zealand. Building a closely-tied multigenerational family is an important feature of family life for this immigrant group. Often, multiple generations live together or within close proximity with one another in highly interdependent relationships. However, a growing number have also started to maintain their family lives transnationally, with different family members across generations living apart but maintaining close ties, with frequent interactions across national borders. Given this transnational family arrangement is very different from Chinese traditional practices of family maintenance, the impact of this change on the wellbeing and functioning of these families and their individual family members is an issue of increasing academic interest. This thesis responds to these concerns and explores the relationship between people’s experiences of transnational migration and their multigenerational family dynamics. Through engaging with individual life stories and perspectives of 45 participants across generations from new PRC immigrant families living in New Zealand, this thesis seeks to understand how those families with closely-tied multiple generations cope with dislocation and relocation during the process of transnational migration. It also investigates how transnational migration experiences contribute to new emergent domestic dynamics, including the development of new strategies and practices to maintain family traditions, interests and coherence across national borders, as well as shifting intergenerational relationships. The empirical data demonstrates that despite the increasing proportion of new PRC families living transnationally, their experiences of managing family lives vary. I argue that this diversification of transnational family experiences is largely attributed to the interaction of various impact factors associated with both the internal dynamics of immigrant families themselves and external contexts where those families are closely related. My research also attests that family members’ transnational migration experiences accelerate changes to the way they perform family life, particularly amplifying intergenerational differences and altering intergenerational dependency. Even though those changes introduce vital challenges towards multigenerational family maintenance and coherence, my research reveals that families are resilient and able to actively forge multistranded resources as well as engage various transnational activities in response to those challenges. While this thesis poses intriguing perspectives and culturally-specific scenarios to study immigrant families in New Zealand society, more importantly, it also contributes to the broad theorisation of transnational family formation and maintenance in the increasingly globalised world.Item Acculturation, social dominance, and systemic discrimination at each degree of employment : exploring their roles at different steps towards decent work for skilled Indian migrants in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Hariswamy, SumedhaAccess to decent work is a major obstacle for skilled Indian migrants e.g., to New Zealand, but little is known about the key steps through unemployment, under-employment, and full employment. Unlike previous research which has conglomerated all steps into one, this thesis explores the roles of acculturation, social dominance, and systemic discrimination in skilled Indian migrants' career trajectory at each step of employment separately, and then combined them into an overall but graded model. Taking an exploratory approach, an online questionnaire based on Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique focused on positive and negative critical incidents of job-hunting at each step of employment (unemployment, entry-level, intermediate-level, and full employment). Forty-four skilled Indian migrants completed the survey by providing direct experience of the positive and negative critical incidents encountered throughout their job-hunting journey. Eight content analyses were conducted for positive and negative critical incidents in the four stages of employment. The themes of networking, work experience, and skills and qualifications were crucial at all four steps of employment as depicted in Figure 1. However, as skilled Indian migrants stepped closer to full employment, the themes of work experience and skills and qualifications emerged more frequently in successful job hunting, rather than being a consistent barrier from progressing towards full employment in a skilled Indian migrant's job-hunting journey. This is perhaps to be expected since the work experience and skills and qualifications would be increasingly relevant, as skilled Indian migrants got closer to full employment. Networking was a consistent theme across all stages of employment. This thesis identified whom the respondents networked with which informed which acculturation style was used by skilled Indian migrants. When skilled Indian migrants networked with Indian community members, they adopted the separation acculturation style. When the respondents networked at an organisational level with recruitment agencies and ex-employers, they adopted the integration acculturation style. Systemic discrimination theory was not well supported, as the themes of work experience and skills and qualifications which were predicted to be systemic barriers, were found to be more relevant to human capital theory in conjunction with social dominance theory. Discussion recommends that future studies compare the responses between both skilled Indian migrants and New Zealand employers. Finally, the findings of the present research have the potential to be a blueprint for newcomer skilled Indian migrants to form strategic pathways to attain full employment in New Zealand. The results of this study can be tailored to the particular stage of employment a newcomer skilled Indian migrant is currently in, and it can inform them of which job-seeking behaviours best worked at the same stage of employment for other skilled Indian migrants in New Zealand.Item From colonial past to New Zealand classroom : the biographical narrative of Will Potter, commercial secondary school teacher (1958-1976) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Burne, Jacqueline MoniqueThis thesis tells the teaching story of one post-primary Commerce teacher, Will Potter—my father. Will taught in five New Zealand post-primary schools from 1958 until his retirement in 1976. This case study of Will looks at what makes his story unique: he was an immigrant of Dutch descent, whose first language was not English and who came to teaching without qualifications at age 51, and went on to write Commerce textbooks. He also began teaching at a significant time in New Zealand post-primary education—the 1950s, with rising school rolls and lack of teachers and facilities. This qualitative study of Will involved document analysis of his memoir, letters, and papers, a focus group discussion with Will’s three other children, and semi-structured interviews with people who taught with or were taught by Will. Four research questions guided the study, and sociocultural–historical theory was used as a framework to reveal the complexity of his personal, interpersonal, and wider contextual teaching story. Two major backdrop influences are revealed about Will’s life: his colonial background in what was the Netherlands East Indies (NEI; now Indonesia) and his internment in Japanese concentration camps during World War II (WWII). Reasons are provided for his decision to go teaching, and his pedagogical approaches are described. Of particular note is his storytelling, mainly of his internment experiences. He wrote eleven Commerce textbooks that were used in New Zealand post-primary and tertiary settings, as well as overseas. This story will add to the store of New Zealand teacher stories as well as contribute to the social history of the Dutch who were forced to leave the NEI post WWII.Item Negotiating the in-between : how two foreigners living in rural Japan narrated changes in their identities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Education (Guidance Studies), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2009) Lankshear, AndrewThis thesis used narrative inquiry to find out how two foreigners, who had resided in rural Japan for a long period of time, narrated reflectively how they had changed as a result of their cross-cultural transitions. This thesis came about through my own transition experiences in Japan leading to a hybrid, bicultural notion of myself, and my subsequent curiosity as to how others underwent changes in identity, possibly leading also to hybrid selves. Each participant was interviewed twice. Their changes were contextualised within dominant themes arising from their life stories. In addition, they were analysed using a modified version of Herbert Hermans' personal position repertoire (2001), which was able to identify key identity positions and underlying beliefs that aided or hindered their transitions. This research found that the participants' respective dominant life themes of estrangement and communion had major impacts on their cross cultural transitions, local relationships, and life satisfaction. The first participant followed a theme of estrangement and evoked identity positions and imagined audiences to justify his stance. The second participant took on a learning model to enhance her relationships with the local Japanese, resulting in alterity, the incorporation of a Japanese identity position in her own personal position repertoire and subsequently a hybrid self. In both participants some identity positions were aligned to Japanese ways of being, consequently coming to the fore in their psyches, whereas others were subjugated. Also new positions were incorporated, while others were lost, with affective outcomes. The participants' transitions were impacted on by their environments. The first participant initially worked within a foreign enclave and had no close personal Japanese friends. The second participant was immersed in local public schools and enjoyed high recognition in her small, rural town. Motivating factors for being in Japan were also found to be of consequence for the participants' cross-cultural transitions. This thesis was able to capture the complexity of the participants' cross-cultural transitions through considering them as having multiple selves that were revealed through reflective life stories and collated within a personal position repertoire.Item The motivation to migrate, acculturation, and finding employment : the case of African migrants in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2008) Udahemuka, Martine Marie-GloriaThe present study tested a model whereby Psychological Acculturation mediated the relationship between the Psychological Motives to Migrate and the Employment Outcome of African migrants in New Zealand. These concepts had not been previously studied together. Job search strategies, interview behaviours, qualifications and duration of time in the host country are principally known as predictors of employment outcome; therefore, their impacts were also taken into consideration. One hundred and five African migrants completed a questionnaire, which included a number of reliable measures used to assess the concepts of: (a) Psychological Motives to Migrate (Tharmaseelan, 2005), (b) Psychological Acculturation preferences (Ward & Rana-Deuba, 1999) and (c) Employment Outcome (Mace, 2004; Tharmaseelan, 2005). Job search strategies and interview behaviours were assessed with Mace's (2004) measures. Multivariate analyses showed that over and above demographic migration categories (economic, family, humanitarian, student and visitor), psychological motives to migrate (financial betterment, family building, exploration and escaping) predicted acculturation preferences. Specifically, voluntary migrants (those motivated by 'family building' and 'exploration') preferred to adapt to New Zealand culture, while less voluntary migrants (those motivated by 'escaping') had a higher preference to maintain their culture of origin. Acculturation preferences were not found to mediate the relationship between motives to migrate and employment outcome. The predicted links to employment outcome were not supported. Duration of time in New Zealand was correlated with acculturation preferences. Implications of the findings point to the fundamentally of assessing reasons to migrate from a psychological perspective, and also provide important linkages between motivational theory and acculturation theory. The implication must however be interpreted cautiously as per the limitations of the study. It was recommended that future researchers test the same model with improved measures and with a larger sample. In addition, future researchers could assess and compare the acculturation preferences and employment experiences of the 1.5 generation and their adult parents.Item Home away from home? Spanish immigrants in Germany : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University(Massey University, 2003) Borzner, ChristinaThis paper is based on my research among Spanish Immigrants in Germany. In-depth interviews, participant observation and a questionnaire were being used to explore, which meanings "home" can take on in the context of migrants' experiences in the migration process. Different aspects are considered, like background of the migration, development of long-term settlement, language and social networks to get an insight in the migrants' physical and emotional involvement in both, Germany and Spain. I argue that the experiences and concepts of home in this context do not have to be limited to either the country of origin or the country of destination, but can entail both. The preservation of Spain as the true homeland does not have to preclude an emergent sense of home in Germany at the same time. Furthermore, I propose that the physical as well as cognitive movement between both countries might be an integral part of the migrants' conception of home.Item A transitional study of migration, alcohol use and concept of alcohol drinking behaviours amongst Chinese migrants in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Philosophy, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Zhang, HeMigration is a complex and stressful life changing event. Resettlement process can cause tremendous stress for Chinese migrants, due to the huge differences between China and New Zealand. Alcohol use behaviours among migrants are complex and likely influenced by many factors, including social norms, mental health and acculturation. The drinking culture among Chinese migrants may alter due to acculturation. This research was conducted as a preliminary study to explore the factors that shape the alcohol consumption patterns, beliefs and the factors that could influence alcohol consumption related aspects from migration, acculturation and social adjustment amongst 12 Chinese migrants in New Zealand. A qualitative research design using one on one interviews and focus groups was utilised in this research. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study revealed Chinese migrants’ cultural norms, beliefs and attitudes towards the use of alcohol and the way they have been acculturated to a more westernised drinking culture with widened choices of multicultural alcoholic beverages in New Zealand. However Chinese migrants still maintained some traditional Chinese drinking customs and also integrated oriental and western drinking culture together in their drinking occasions in New Zealand. Adapting to the New Zealand drinking culture in a problematic way, or using alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with negative emotions or loss due to migration can lead to harmful drinking behaviours, e.g., drinking and driving, excessive alcohol consumption. The initial migration period, homestay and family living in New Zealand were identified as the protective factors to prevent excessive alcohol consumption and risky drinking behaviours among Chinese migrants in New Zealand. The research indicated further studies of drinking culture among Asian migrants are needed in New Zealand.Item Psycho-social correlates of employment amongst skilled newcomers to New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2004) Mace, Karen AlisonThis socially relevant research focused on immigrants and refugees who have arrived in New Zealand in the last five years and investigated the affect, behaviours and cognitions associated with trying to find work that matched their qualifications. While there has been a lot of research on immigrants and refugees from various perspectives, not much has focused specifically on the psycho-social correlates of under-employment that skilled newcomers to New Zealand face, in trying to find work that matches their existing qualifications. This research investigated how a) behaviours used pre-interview, b) behaviours used at interview, c) cognitive flexibility, d) acculturation style adopted by the newcomer to New Zealand, e) acculturation 'fit' between the acculturation styles of the newcomer and the employment community predicted (i) how close the newcomer came to finding a job that matched their qualifications and subsequent (ii) employment related emotional well-being. A sample of 70 newcomers (66% migrants, 17% refugees) filled in a questionnaire on these issues. Pre-interview behaviours, "here's what I can do for you" behaviours at interviews, cognitive flexibility and adapting to New Zealand culture all significantly predict how close the newcomer will come to finding jobs that match their qualifications and this in turn predicts employment related emotional well-being. Research of this kind may be used eventually to inform immigration policy and, more importantly, to assist immigrants with finding employment that matches their qualifications.Item Caledonia stern and wild : Scottish identity in Wanganui and Rangitikei 1880-1918 : presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a Master of Arts degree in History at Massey University(Massey University, 1995) Annabell, Jessie MThis thesis is a tentative examination of forms of Scottish national identity in New Zealand within two institutions - the Caledonian Society and the Presbyterian Church. The reason why a small, ephemeral, secular organization is considered on the same basis as a very substantial religious institution such as the Presbyterian Church is that they both derived their character from Scotland. The time - between about 1880 and 1918 - covers a period in which conceptions of national identity were changing, both for Scots in New Zealand and for New Zealanders in general. The area - Wanganui and Rangitikei - is not considered especially Scottish when compared with Otago or Southland. When figures for Otago and Southland are removed from population calculations, however, Wanganui and Rangitikei assume a fresh significance. Proportions of Presbyterians, and proportions of Scottish-born are significantly above the average. [From Introduction.]