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Item The relationship between loneliness and quality of life in informal dementia caregivers : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024) Jenkins, BrieonieBackground Informal caregivers are an essential part of dementia support in New Zealand. The number of people affected by dementia is increasing. Previous studies have indicated that informal caregivers are at risk of poor mental and physical health outcomes, due to the stressors in the caregiving role. These stressors have been identified as risk factors for loneliness. Research in other populations highlights strong links between loneliness and poor health outcomes. This research explored the relationship between primary caregiving stressors, loneliness, isolation and quality of life (QOL) within the framework of the Stress Process Model. Methods This research investigated hypothesised factors leading to loneliness and quality of life in a New Zealand sample of informal dementia caregivers (n= 134). It used a cross-sectional survey design and structured questionnaire to explore background and context factors (care duration, hours per week caregiving, relationship length and help hours per week), primary stressors (Activities of Daily Living dependency, frequency of challenging behaviour, caregiver reaction and relational deprivation), loneliness, isolation, and quality of life. Descriptive analysis, correlational analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to examine the relationships between variables and conduct mediation analyses. Results The findings indicated that QOL was moderate, with the average rating between ‘neither good nor poor’ and ‘good’. The psychological domain was significantly lower than all other domains. Within the sample there was a high prevalence of loneliness (88%) and lower prevalence of isolation (21%). Overall QOL and QOL domains were significantly associated with total loneliness. Among the primary stressors, only the frequency of challenging behaviour correlated to loneliness. Both the frequency of challenging behaviour and caregiver reaction had significant correlations to QOL. Total loneliness partially mediated the relationship between primary stressors and QOL. Social loneliness was also found to partially mediate this relationship while emotional loneliness did not. Conclusions The findings show that there was a high prevalence of loneliness in the sample. They also show that primary caregiving stressors are associated with loneliness and that loneliness is associated with quality of life. This research highlights the importance of addressing loneliness in this population, suggests targeted loneliness interventions and recommends caregivers be screened for loneliness to increase access to appropriate support.Item On LIFE within the Society-of-Captives : exploring the pains of imprisonment for real : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024-12-12) Luff, Daniel JohnInstitutional and social discourse upholds the prison as an effective rehabilitative solution to crime, but more recently there has been increasing criticism of the prison as a producer of harm rather than healing. Despite such criticism, discussions of the rehabilitative potentials of prisons predominantly exclude and silence insider, incarcerate voices in criminal justice debates and literature, and often do not describe what those ‘inside’, like me, are living and experiencing. The primary aim of this project is to theorise twenty years of lived experience of incarceration in the hope of contributing to the work being done to problematise risk-averse, harmful correctional practices. Through a deeply reflexive autoethnographic performance, the reader comes with me beyond prison walls, into the largely closed off, inaccessible world within. Through navigation of my lived experience of imprisonment, I reflexively theorise memories of incarceration that are usually only speculated upon through objective, exclusionary research. The account that emerges from theorising incarceration ‘for real’ analyses the constraints of political narratives and risk averse policy and practice produced within our prison system, and within the bodies that system contains. Through an interweave of autoethnographic field noting, performance and analysis, the research unpacks the connections between the structural, socio-political issues, and the pains of incarceration. Using Arrigo’s Society of Captives (SOC) thesis, the harms being produced are theorised with regard to subjectivities constituted through prison – the prisoner, their guard, and society at large. Theoretical storying shows how socio-political issues are having considerably detrimental impacts on correctional policy and practice. Prisoners are neither seen nor heard, and their keepers too are held captive, unable to engage with their charges ethically lest they be reprimanded for doing corrections differently. Through this multi-layered harm, a society of captives is being perpetuated within which the very harm and risk it proclaims to alleviate is reproduced. Embedded in a pursuit of social justice, I argue for a relational, ethical praxis wherein people are seen, and heard, for real. The change is not only theorised but rare instances of it, and the healing power it produces, demonstrated. Through autoethnography’s theoretical praxis, and embracing of the SOC thesis’ pursuit of becoming, my research also involves considerable personal movement. It illustrates how, through the utilisation of autoethnographic methodology, in particular reflexive process, it becomes possible to ethically resist harmful representations and risk-focused correctional practices. In making these movements the research brings us out of prison, and provides in-depth consideration of my bodily attempts to reintegrate into the community after two decades of largely harmful carceral experiences. In these, the narrative contributes to a growing consciousness, global debate, and movement regarding prison, rehabilitation, and how community safety is best served. And it contributes to a process of becoming within me, a bodily movement, a transition into a place where humanness can be done differently…Item (Re)mapping women’s cosmology : transformative potentia of women’s stories : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Whanganui-a-tara/Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand(Massey University, 2023-06-30) Wass, TheaBinary difference is deeply rooted within the heart of European philosophy and underpins contemporary understandings of sexual difference. Forces of power relations circulate to uphold binary categories of gender that conflates man with the universal, upholding a single model of male subjectivity and inscribing meaning onto the bodies of women. In this research, I have engaged with a narrative approach to map a cosmology of ten women’s stories, connecting women’s bodies and experiences to the flow of forces that shape their lives through a complex assemblage of cultural practices. Thinking with Rosie Braidotti I have endeavoured to sketch a cartography of the multiple embedded, embodied and affective social positions constituted by forces operational in, and immanent to the production and circulation of knowledge about sexual difference. Relational ethics in feminist standpoint inquiry enabled me to attend to relational processes which contributed to the co-articulation of these stories, and to open out towards the multiple possibilities available outside established hierarchical categories of gendered subjectivities. Through this process, light is cast on the material conditions in which forces come to inscribe and inhabit women’s bodies as flows of power capable of both “entrapment (potestas) and as empowerment (potentia)” (Braidotti, 2019). This research resists phallogocentric notions of the universal by re-orienting towards the affirmative potential of women’s bodies made available through interconnectedness and ethical transformation in processes of becoming. By paying attention to the situated and affirmatively encompassing differences within and between women, bodies can be understood as a site of resistance and transformation.Item Conceptualising the solitude experience of solo female travellers : exploring the interplay of aloneness, social presence, and interactions : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023-11-30) Somasiri, SachithraRecent statistics in the travel and tourism industry show that the majority of the solo travel market is made up of solo female travellers (SFTs), the numbers of which are steadily increasing over time. Consequently, destination management organisations (DMOs) find SFTs as a flourishing market that creates many opportunities. In response, DMOs offer certain customised service amenities targeting SFTs, such as women-only hotels or floors. However, this research offers a deeper understanding of the multifaceted needs and experiences of SFTs in their travel discourse. Therefore, this study provides knowledge for DMOs to design more inclusive and diverse offerings when catering to this distinctive traveller segment. The existing literature is well-established in terms of the underlying needs of SFTs. Solitude is identified as one of the prime needs of SFTs and a key feature that defines present and future SFTs. Further, the various benefits of solo female travelling (for example, independence, relaxation, and self-learning) can be broadly linked with the benefits of solitude as a restorative experience. Even though existing literature identifies solitude as a need of SFTs, it is not informed about how solitude is experienced in the solo travel context. In their solo travel, SFTs encounter both solo and non-solo episodes that may shape one's solitude experience in a consumption context. Hence, the investigation of how solitude experiences of women in their solo travel discourse are shaped by their context, and the presence of and interaction with others, makes an original contribution to the literature. Focusing on the importance of solitude, this study argues that solitude as a travel need of SFTs may be influenced by the social presence of others and entail certain interpersonal dynamics (tourist-to-tourist interactions, tourist-to-service person interactions, and tourist-to-local interactions). Therefore, this research aimed to investigate how women experience and fulfil their need for solitude in their solo travel pursuits. To this end, a qualitative study was conducted. Thirty-four in-depth interviews were completed with SFTs who had travelled solo internationally. The narratives were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings emphasised the multiplicity of solitude as a travel need. Solitude was not a stand-alone experience. Instead, SFTs’ solitude experiences were multilayered, entailing differing levels of aloneness and interactions that were situational and context-bounded. SFTs found the presence of non-interactive others as a means of experiencing safe solitude. Further, the interactions within their desired levels and comfortable zones enhanced their solitude experience highlighting the possibilities of acceptable interactions within one’s solitude experience. Therefore, solitude in a bounded interactive sense can be understood in a way which is distinctive from the conventional solitude experience. On the other hand, the findings revealed certain interactive social presences of locals, other travellers, and service persons were beyond SFTs’ desires and were intrusive towards experiencing solitude. These intrusions contribute to the literature on the effects of social presence and territorial intrusions in distinctive consumption contexts. In responding towards intrusive experiences, SFTs used certain response strategies depending on the intruder. In the event of intrusions caused by locals and other travellers, SFTs mostly handled the incidents on their own. This study found complaining to be a novel response strategy of SFTs in the event of intrusive service persons, highlighting the non-complaining behaviour of SFTs with certain unique underlying reasons for suppressing complaints. Besides complaining as a novel response strategy in consumer territorial intrusion, reasons for non-complaining, also contribute to the wider literature on the complaining behaviour of solo female consumers, which could be applied in various other consumption contexts. These findings and the associated interpretations have implications for DMOs in designing solo female travelling-friendly servicescapes and offerings for women who travel with distinctive travel needs.Item ‘Is it okay to have a child?’: figuring subjectivities and reproductive decisions in response to climate change(Springer Nature, 2023-10-27) Meynell L; Morgan M; Van Ommen CIn this article, we engage feminist theorisations of figurations as “performative images that can be inhabited” (Haraway 1997/2018) to trace some of the figures which are animating stories about climate change and reproduction in Global North contexts. We focus our reading on a handful of texts which circulate around the question of ‘Is it okay to have a child, given our climate conditions and futures?’ Throughout, we consider the relationship between figurations and our subjective becomings in response to environmental devastations. We critique and resist the hegemonic figuring of ‘the human subject’ as rational and unitary (Braidotti 2014), as this figure naturalises the Western social power relations of advanced capitalism, population control and human exceptionalism. Seeking multiplicity, we look for figures and subjective openings which enable us to become response-able to the pain of ecological worlds dying around us (Haraway 2016), including from our disciplinary location of psychology.Item An evaluation of the neurosequential model of therapeutics to guide trauma-informed foster care in the New Zealand context : 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, 2024-05-12) de Bruin, MarikeThe health and well-being of children in foster care remain a clinical, as well as public health concern, both internationally and in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Children in care often have histories of significant trauma exposure, in particular to abuse, neglect and domestic violence. The link between adverse childhood experiences and poor adult outcomes in physical, mental, emotional, and social health, is well established in the literature and necessitates further research on responding to and treating children exposed to complex trauma in early life. Trauma-informed foster care has emerged in recent years as an intentional therapeutic approach to responding to the complex needs of children in care. The objective of this present study is to contribute to the field of evidence-based family trauma-informed foster care in the New Zealand context. The focus of this dissertation is on evaluating the use of a neurodevelopmental clinical problem-solving tool, the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), developed by Dr Bruce Perry from The Neurosequential Network, to guide a trauma-informed and therapeutic approach to family foster care standards within the context of a New Zealand social service organisation. A mixed-method research design was used to explore the experiences of foster parents and frontline staff involved in using and implementing this model, as well as conduct an initial outcome evaluation of its impact on children’s mental health difficulties and behavioural functioning. The results of the study suggest that the NMT is a useful and relevant tool to guide trauma-informed care in the New Zealand foster care context, and is associated with promising positive outcomes.Item Disability work matters : employment opportunities for disabled people in the New Zealand disability sector : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023-12-30) MacNeill (née Crothall), PamelaAlthough disabled citizens represent almost a quarter of the total population in Aotearoa New Zealand, they experience significant and persistent barriers to employment. This research examined the barriers and enablers to employment for disabled New Zealanders, both generally and those specifically relevant to the disability sector. The research had four aims: to examine the navigation of family, identity, and education by disabled people; to identify barriers to paid employment in both mainstream and disability sector settings; to investigate potential employment enablers; and develop recommendations. This research employed a qualitative thematic analysis approach, underpinned by the social model of disability and the theoretical concepts of Pierre Bourdieu, guiding interpretation of results. The study began with a focus group of six disabled people, to discuss possible themes for the research. Results from the focus group were then developed further to inform interviews with 13 disabled and 12 nondisabled people, on topics relating to: the navigation of family, identity, and education by disabled people; barriers to paid employment in mainstream and disability sector employment; and potential employment enablers. Key research findings include: the development of individual agency is critical to build the resilience necessary to navigate many environmental, structural, and attitudinal barriers encountered in education and employment; similar employment barriers are experienced by disabled people in all employment settings; the creation of opportunities for employers to meet with disabled people could be valuable and may lead to job offers; time-limited voluntary work, which includes pathways to paid employment, may assist to both allay employer apprehension, and enable disabled people to demonstrate capability. Research strongly suggests that the disability sector would benefit from including the lived experience of disability as a key competency for employment within a sector which exists in the name of disabled people. Ensuring disabled people achieve greater authority in their sector is an equity issue in urgent need of attention, and this study takes a step forward to address this need.Item No laughing matter : what the experiences of women working in the Aotearoa-New Zealand comedy industry can tell us about male-dominated, unregulated workplaces : 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, 2023) Davies, BridgetWith the international development of the #MeToo movement, a similar moment occurred in the Aotearoa-New Zealand (A-NZ) comedy industry. Women shared their experiences of harassment in the industry, and a Working Group emerged with the aim of making the A-NZ comedy industry safer and more inclusive. Drawing upon the existing literature about #MeToo and the challenges women face in male-dominated and unregulated industries, this study aimed to understand women’s experiences in an industry where these factors intersect. The study was based on interviews with 15 women working in the A-NZ comedy industry. A feminist phenomenological thematic analysis of these interviews provided insight into these women's experiences and meaning-making. Three superordinate themes were produced from this analysis. The first, ‘comedy requires negotiating a male-as-norm world’, discussed women's challenges in this male-dominated industry. These included being made to feel that women do not belong in the industry, being judged as a woman rather than on merit, and often feeling isolated as a woman. The second theme, ‘feeling unsafe in an unregulated space,’ discussed how the informal nature of the comedy industry creates additional challenges when combined with comedy being male-dominated. These challenges included women reporting feeling unsafe and unable to speak up. Finally, in the theme, ‘experiencing Aotearoa-New Zealand comedy’s #MeToo moment’, participants reflected on the positive changes they have observed since the initial #MeToo discussions and the challenges of implementing formal solutions in an informal space. These findings align with existing research and demonstrate the importance of the #MeToo moment for women working in the comedy industry and the factors reducing its chance of leading to significant change. Supporting this conclusion, the thesis finishes with a reflection on the specific context in which the study was undertaken, including the implications of a recent decision for the Working Group to stop accepting complaints and what this means for women comedians currently working in Aotearoa-New Zealand.Item Experiences of women of colour who were third culture kids or internationally mobile youth : an exploratory study of implications for global leadership development : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Chatiya Nantham, Rhema RojaGlobal leadership development programmes (GLDPs) are typically focussed on competency development and teaching culturally appropriate etiquette, but, adapting to new contexts often involves challenges to people’s sense of self, addressing an area which is known as identity work. Learning from people who encountered such challenges early in life could assist in developing global leaders by offering insights into the kinds of identity work strategies needed to deal with their offshore posting, and to ensure that identity work processes are designed into such programmes. To address these aims, this study draws on the lived experiences of nine women of colour who lived outside their home country as children or adolescents, a cohort known as Third Culture Kids (TCKs), to identify various identity-related issues they encountered and the lessons these experiences offer for global leadership development. As such, this interdisciplinary study draws on and contributes to literatures related to TCKs and Adult TCKs (ATCKs), global leadership development, and identity work for leadership development. This qualitative study comprised a series of workshops designed specifically to foster identity work amongst the participants. The data was collected via virtual focus group discussions. The study adopted a combination of participatory and emancipatory action research approaches, underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology and is theoretically informed by Critical Race Feminism, anti-racist feminisms, and identity theory as key influences. These decisions reflect the aim of centring attention on a cohort routinely understudied in the TCK, global leadership development and leadership development literatures, namely women of colour. The findings were thematically analysed via an inductive approach to identify the experiences and identity work strategies of participants as TCKs in response to the racist-sexist prejudices they encountered, their implicit leadership theories and their approach to leadership, showing how the focus group process was itself a vehicle for doing identity work in relationship to their leader identities. I identify the lessons that can be drawn from TCKs, and from the methods used in this study, to inform the deployment of identity work in GLDPs. From these findings, I develop frameworks explaining the identity work processes experienced by TCKs and how they internalised their leadership identity via the methods used in my study and build models for GLDPs from these insights.Item Positive emotions in English language learning in the Vietnamese tertiary contexts : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Nguyen, Thi Anh HongThis thesis explores the emotions students experienced during their English language learning trajectories in the Vietnamese tertiary context. It specifically focuses on the students’ positive emotions and on the role of hope as a mediating factor in triggering shifts in students’ emotions from negative to positive. Drawing on a sociocultural approach, this study explores the contribution of positive emotions in their English language learning. This qualitative study aims to contribute to our understanding of the complexity, diversity, and dynamics of emotions in English language learning as well as the role of Vietnamese culture in the emotions students experienced. The study is based on written narratives and interviews with students taking English language courses within three affiliated universities in Vietnam. The data were obtained from a total of 185 written narrative responses and 10 student interviews. Narrative analysis (Barkhuizen et al., 2013) was used to analyse small stories in the written narratives and thematic analysis (Talmy, 2010) was used for analysing the interview data. The findings indicate that both positive and negative emotions co-existed in the students’ English language learning experiences. The range of activity-related, success-linked, and failure-linked emotions highlighted by the findings illustrate that activity-related emotions such as enjoyment and excitement positively triggered students’ engagement, while negative emotions such as boredom negatively impacted it. Success-linked emotions originated from students’ self-assessed successes in meeting personal study or learning goals, their parents’ or teachers’ expectations, or the standards imposed by the community or society as a whole, with positive achievement emotions strongly associated with positive outcomes. In contrast, failure-linked emotions were associated with the students’ failure in achieving personal targets and in meeting the expectations others had of them, their recognition of their own shortcomings in relation to accepted social standards, or from negative evaluations from other people. Importantly, the findings showed that emotions are socially and culturally constructed, and in particular associated with the features of the local Confucian cultural heritage. Overall, the thesis illustrates the role of people living around students or in interactions with them in the emergence and development of emotions associated with English language learning. Finally, hope, as an emotion, emerged as playing a significant role in the transition between negative and positive emotions. The insights of the study contribute to the theory of emotions in language learning by delineating in detail the close and reciprocal relationship between emotions, self-efficacy and motivation, and by providing evidence of the role of hope in motivating students. It also contributes to our understanding of the role cultural factors play in shaping students’ emotions. The findings have implications for policymakers, educational trainers, school managers, teachers, parents, and language learners.