Australian Journal of Psychology最新文献

Objective: Despite the increasing presence of women in professional sport, gender biases continue to shape consumer perceptions and engagement. This study examines how gendered attitudes influence evaluations of athlete quality and, in turn, consumer intentions towards the AFLW.

Method: A community sample (N = 862) completed an online survey assessing gender attitudes, and beliefs about sport and masculinity, and perceptions of athlete quality in football.

Results: Multigroup path analysis revealed differences in consumer perceptions of women's and men's football. Traditional attitudes towards gender and masculinity were significantly related to negative perceptions of women footballers' abilities, which were also associated with reduced desire to watch and attend AFLW matches.

Conclusions: These results highlight the role of gender biases in shaping public engagement with women's sport. Addressing these biases, particularly in media representation and marketing, may be key to increasing consumer investment in women's football and promoting greater gender equity in sport.

Objectives: The current study aimed to work with young Aboriginal people from the very remote Fitzroy Valley in Western Australia to (1) identify their social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) support needs, and (2) report how they would like these supports delivered.

Methods: We interviewed 83% (n = 94) of young people aged 16-19 from the Fitzroy Valley and 89% (n = 101) of their parents. Using anf Aboriginal Participatory Action Approach, we piloted some SEWB supports and worked with 10 young people to co-design the SEWB service.

Results: Based on the interviews and co-design consultation with young people, we identified five supports to be provided in the SEWB service. These included mental health support, particularly clinical psychology for people with moderate mental illness; community wellbeing workshops; male- and female-specific wellbeing workshops; and support to access existing services.

Conclusions: Partnering with young people ensured that community strengths and challenges were incorporated in the service design. Study findings were used to secure funding for the implementation and evaluation of a SEWB service in the Fitzroy Valley. The process and lessons learned in the Project could be used to engage, consult and partner with young people to design services in other remote regions.

Objective: Practica are an integral component of postgraduate psychology training. Traditional face-to-face practica, however, have experienced challenges such as struggles to ensure students are exposed to a broad range of common mental health conditions, limited practicum availability, and student barriers to completing psychology practica, such as geographical location. Fully simulated practica represent a novel training approach that may address the challenges identified in face-to-face practica. The present study aimed to explore the perspectives and experiences of postgraduate professional psychology students completing a fully simulated practicum.

Method: Seven semi-structured focus groups were conducted, in which students (N = 30) shared their perspectives of competency development within a simulated practicum, benefits, and challenges, of a simulated practicum. Reflexive thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data and two thematic maps were developed to represent the findings.

Results: The first thematic map "Evaluating My Competence in a Simulated Environment" explored students' perspectives on increased competence as a result of the practicum. Students reported that their competence increased across a range of domains but that they may not have developed skills for responding to challenging client scenarios and expressed concerns that completing a simulated practicum might influence others' perceptions of their competence. The second thematic map "There are Unique Benefits and Challenges to a Simulated Environment" outlined safety, accessibility, the capacity to target and scaffold competency development, and peer interaction as unique strengths of a simulated learning environment. Students also identified challenges of skills practice within a simulated environment, such as inaccurate depictions of clinical presentations due to student actors' lack of familiarity with different diagnoses, and a struggle to understand the expectations of their role in a new learning environment.

Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that a fully simulated practicum may increase accessibility of psychology training programs and address a range of challenges present in face-to-face practica.

Objective: The Adult Hope Scale (AHS) is a widely used measure of hope and is reported to contain two distinct but interrelated constructs of agency (motivation to achieve goals) and pathways (planning routes to goals). Hope is thought to play a key role in the wellbeing of older people and while the AHS has been validated in young/middle-aged adults, the factor structure remains to be tested in older adults.

Method: Using computer-assisted personal communication, the AHS was completed by 1454 older Australians (726 F, age (mean (sd)) = 66.4 (5.81) y, range 55-84 y) stratified according to gender, location (metropolitan vs non-metropolitan), retirement status (yes/no) and age (55-65 vs 65 + y). Dimensionality was tested by (i) bifactor modelling (one-factor, two-factor and a bifactor model with a general factor, Hope, and two specific factors, Agency and Pathways) and (ii) exploratory graph analysis (which uses community detection algorithms to cluster variables into factors). Cross-gender invariance was also tested. Hope scores were compared between demographics and wellbeing (i.e. WHO-5 mental wellbeing and positive/negative coping questionnaire) groupings.

Results: Both bifactor modelling and exploratory graph analysis reveal that the AHS is unidimensional. Gender was shown to be invariant. Hope scores were comparable between demographic groupings, but higher scores were observed in older adults with higher mental wellbeing and positive coping with effect sizes in the small to medium range.

Conclusions: This study confirms that the AHS is a unidimensional scale and can be used to reliably measure hope in older Australian men and women.

Objective: Childhood experiences of traumatic events are common in all countries, and children may require psychotherapy after a traumatic experience. For those children who have experienced trauma and are involved in therapy, the parent-therapist relationship is important in promoting child trauma recovery. However, alliance barriers can interrupt the working relationship, compromising child treatment efficacy. Few studies have explored therapists' perceptions of the complexities in the parent-therapist relationship when treating children for trauma.

Method: This exploratory study uses trauma theory to understand obstacles interfering with the parent-therapist alliance. Qualitative research methods were used to explore data obtained from 15 therapists. An interpretive phenomenological research design supported the study to answer the research question.

Results: Therapists were motivated to work with parents, as they recognise the important role of parents in treatment. They identified alliance barriers as reduced parent investment, parent trauma and therapists' emotions. Therapists also applied a trauma-informed framework to moderate alliance obstacles preventing them from impacting child treatment success.

Conclusion: The findings highlight that therapists require knowledge of trauma theory and expertise in trauma-informed practice to work effectively with parents when treating children for trauma. This new knowledge will help therapists manage and support the parent-therapist relationship when treating children who have experienced trauma, improving long-term treatment outcomes of child psychotherapy.

Objective: Young Indigenous people are vulnerable to lateral violence, where negative feelings and behaviours are directed towards members within their own oppressed group. Lateral empowerment, in contrast, is where young people can promote resilience and strength and collectively prevent and repair the effects of lateral violence. The aim of this scoping review was to describe how young Indigenous people aged between 0 and 25 years across the CANZUS nations (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States) experience lateral violence particularly relating to the context and forms in which young people are experiencing it; and what mechanisms of lateral empowerment pertaining to healing programmes and interventions, address young Indigenous people's healthy wellbeing?

Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework to search for peer-reviewed publications between January 1980 and May 2024. In total, 170 peer-reviewed publications were thematically mapped into nine themes to provide an overview of the existing literature.

Results: Four themes to describe how young people experience lateral violence were identified: Familial and/or community violence; Interpersonal violence victimization (IVV); Peer and gang violence and Self-harm behaviour. Five themes related to the mechanisms of lateral empowerment which included: Community informed treatment approaches; Cultural identity and resilience; Family wellbeing; Use of digital technology; and Trauma intervention.

Conclusion: Young Indigenous people are experiencing lateral violence in many forms. Fortunately, empowering strategies were identified that strengthen young people's wellbeing, cultural identity, connectedness to community and country to mitigate the negative impacts of lateral violence were identified.

Objective: Emerging evidence suggests a negative impact of COVID-19 on children's mental health. The aims of this study were to examine trajectories of mental health in children younger than 6 years as well as risk and protective factors during the first year of the pandemic.

Method: In a prospective, longitudinal online study, data were collected on N = 837 children aged 1 to 5 years in Australia between May and July 2020 and after 3, 6 and 12 months, with n = 257 participating at all 4 timepoints. Individual trajectories ofanxiety, anger/irritability, depressive symptoms and sleep disturbance were analysed using latent growth mixture modelling.

Results: The results showed that 1 in 4 children experienced moderate to severe symptoms in each problem domain. The overall means for depressive symptoms, anger/irritability, and sleep disturbance decreased while anxiety increased over time. For most outcomes, two individual trajectories were identified: moderate/high-decreasing (26-29%) andlow-increasing. Important predictors were negative COVID-19 related impact on daily life, caregiver distress, lower child positive affect and self-regulation.

Conclusions: The current results highlight that the pandemic indirectly affected young children's mental health, especially in the presence of risk factors such as caregiver distress and poor child self-regulation skills.

Objective: Mental health problems in children and young people in Australia are not improving and continue to have a costly impact. Significant changes to the current child youth mental health (CYMH) system are needed and should be informed by key stakeholders such as practitioners "on the ground" delivering services.

Method: Australian practitioners (N = 206) working in CYMH were surveyed using quantitative rating scales and qualitative open-response items. The survey examined current waitlists and waitlist management strategies, treatment dropouts, perceived barriers to accessing care, satisfaction levels, and ease of navigating services.

Results: Around 70% practitioners reported being dissatisfied with the current CYMH system in meeting the needs of children, young people, and families. About 50% reported it is difficult to navigate the system to find referrals. About half of practitioners reported their service currently has a waitlist. Of those practitioners, approximately 32% reported wait times of between one and three months, and 21% reported wait times of three-to-six months. Qualitative responses from practitioners highlighted several systems issues including long waitlists, underfunded public services, and a lack of specialised training in CYMH.

Conclusion: The results reveal several practice, policy, and research priorities for improving the CYMH system in Australia.

Objective: To conduct a preliminary survey of staff involved in teaching accredited psychology units at Australian tertiary institutions about their inclusion of lived experience in education.

Method: Academics were informed about the study by Heads of School/Directors of Education. Thirty-two educators across undergraduate and postgraduate psychology courses completed an online survey. Content analysis was used to identify recurring themes and patterns in the data.

Results: Over 50% of the respondents were using their own or others' lived experience in their curriculum, with the primary reason being to enrich learning. The main barriers reported were resource constraints, perceived relevance, and work-safety concerns. Key enablers were identified as resourcing, leadership support, and increasing acceptability of lived experience. Almost two thirds of respondents self-identified as having personal lived experience.

Conclusions: This study provides an initial snapshot of the current state of lived experience inclusion in Australian psychology tertiary education. The findings are of importance for our discipline to maintain consistency with other disciplines and ensure we are preparing graduates to effectively contribute to a workforce which values consumer and community expertise.

Objective: Prosocial behaviour is essential for human existence such that it is expected in every society. However, different pathways of social change experienced by different societies over time may implicate different ways in which prosocial behaviour is understood and experienced. The current study aims to understand how societies experiencing different contexts of social changes hold their perspectives towards the meaning and practices of prosocial behaviour.

Method: A total of 42 participants from Indonesian and Australian younger and older generations participated in a focus group designed to explore cultural and generational diversity in prosociality. Themes were generated using thematic analysis and the multiple meaning of the data were discussed using a consensual qualitative research-modified (CQR-M) approach.

Results: Four themes and 23 subthemes were identified in the dataset. Findings from this study suggest that forms of prosocial behaviours are similar across cultures and generations. However, cultural differences observed in the older and younger generations reflect that Australia and Indonesia may hold different perspectives of prosocial behaviour. Interestingly, generational differences were evident in Indonesian but not in Australian participants.

Conclusions: The current study suggests that understanding and experience of prosocial behaviour are not congruent between societies going through different experiences of sociocultural changes.