Australian Journal of Psychology最新文献

Objective: Young Australian males 15-to-24-years-old have a high prevalence of mental health disorders and suicide but are least likely to seek professional mental health support. Most help-seeking studies fail to consider young males who are disengaged from mainstream education. This research aims to gain an enriched understanding about mental health literacy and help-seeking from the perspective of young rural males disengaged from mainstream education.

Method: Participants included sixteen males aged 15-to-24-years. All participants had disengaged from mainstream education and had experienced disadvantage. Qualitative methodology was employed using reflexive thematic analysis to analyse interview transcripts and develop themes.

Results: There were four major themes and three subthemes: 1) contextual influence, with subtheme of cultural influence; 2) a spectrum of knowledge with subtheme of subjective threshold; 3) battling stigma; and 4) genuine connection, with subtheme of redefining service models.

Conclusions: This research provides the first known insight into the help-seeking perspectives of young rural males disengaged from education. Their narratives, highlight that help-seeking is valued yet action remains ambivalent and hindered by understandings of mental health literacy, stigma, and service models. For these young men, genuine connection that honours their context and experiences is more important than demonstrating clinical expertise. This research offers practical suggestions for tailoring mental health services to meet the needs of young rural men disengaged from education.

Objective: Use of measures by practitioners in mental health (MH) is a cornerstone of evidence-based practice and essential to high-quality service provision. Session-by-session measure use, known as Measurement-Based Care (MBC), has been shown to improve treatment engagement and outcomes, yet little is known about the use of measures or MBC in Australian child and youth MH practitioners. This study surveyed Australian child and youth MH practitioners to examine the frequency of measure use, what outcomes are measured, and what facilitates measure use.

Method: This survey included Australian practitioners (N = 205) working in child and youth MH.

Results: Most practitioners reported using measures at some stage during treatment, but around 1 in 7 did not use measures at all. Only 10% used measures for every session or most sessions, which is characteristic of MBC. Symptom severity was measured by 84.3% of practitioners but only 35.6% measured goal attainment and 16.7% therapeutic alliance. The top facilitators of measure use endorsed by practitioners included free measures, better platforms to administer measures, and briefer measures.

Conclusions: There is room for improvement in the use of outcome measures by Australian child and youth MH practitioners, and specifically in the use of MBC, which may improve client engagement and outcomes. Implications for the implementation of MBC are discussed.

Objective: The motivation to leave a legacy for future generations and society's continuity is an important aspect of adult development. However, the shorter time horizon that comes with ageing might lead to prioritising more immediately rewarding goals than long-term society-beneficial (e.g., climate-proactive) goals. This study investigates the role of nature exposure and future time perspective, as well as their joint interplay in the context of social and ecological generativity across adulthood.

Method: In total, 115 individuals aged 18-85 years (M = 38.10 years, SD = 16.53 years, age-range 18-85; 67% female) participated in an experience sampling study and reported their future time perspective and social and ecological generativity at the baseline, and nature exposure in their daily situations.

Results: The results of the analyses using aggregated data set showed that nature exposure facilitates the concern for future generations and the environment in middle-aged and older (but not in younger) adults with shorter future time perspective.

Conclusion: Nature exposure can be used to enhance motivation for societal involvement in middle and older adulthood, which in turn could contribute to the well-being and sustainability of future generations.

Objective: Aboriginal Elders have supported Aboriginal health and wellbeing for generations. Aboriginal Elders also play an important role in guiding those who work in health systems to work in culturally safe ways. The Cultural Exchange Program was developed to encourage reflexivity among non-Aboriginal researchers (N = 6) through experiential learning and relationship building with local Noongar Elders (N = 5). This paper examines the transformative impacts of this program for both the Aboriginal Elders and non-Aboriginal participants.

Method: The Cultural Exchange Program was developed through an Aboriginal Participatory Action Research (APAR) approach. The Elders and researchers had active involvement and influence over the research process and interpretation of data. Themes were co-created through the APAR approach, including a reflexive thematic analysis and feedback loop.

Results: For the Elders, the program promoted a desire to educate and bring about change, facilitated healing through truth-telling, and led to experiences of cultural respect. For the non-Aboriginal participants, the program evoked deep respect for the Elders and their knowledges, surfaced unsettling colonial realities, encouraged an inwards reflection, and motivated social justice change.

Conclusions: These results highlight the transformative and healing experiences which can exist at the intersection of reflexivity, truth-telling, truth-witnessing, and relationship building.

Objective: The Essential Network (TEN) is a blended care mental health support service for Australian health professionals. We conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and researchers to understand health professionals' needs, canvas suggested changes to TEN, and examine methods of improving service uptake.

Method: Nine semi-structured individual or group interviews were conducted with 10 TEN stakeholders (external stakeholders) and eight interviews were conducted with 18 researchers or related roles with experience implementing or evaluating mental health services for health professionals (internal experts). De-identified transcripts were thematically analysed using an inductive and deductive approach.

Results: Participants highlighted the need for confidentiality, with mandatory reporting concerns being a key barrier to health professionals engaging with mental health services. External stakeholders viewed digital services as advantageous due to accessibility and anonymity, although both groups noted that concerns around effectiveness were a barrier to engagement with digital services. Both groups agreed that peer endorsement was key to implementation.

Conclusions: Digital services were viewed as promising, but best employed alongside person-to-person options in a blended care format. Services that address the unique workplace culture of healthcare, including stigma and systemic barriers to help-seeking, can create effective and scalable support for health professionals.

Objectives: In Australia, psychological measurement and testing is a core competency for all registered psychologists. This study aimed to provide a current perspective on the views of Australian psychologists in the use of psychological testing given the lack of recent Australian research.

Method: Psychologists (N = 821) completed online a demographic form and the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA) questionnaire on Test Attitudes of Psychologists - Modified (EQTAP-M), refined for the Australian setting. Constructs addressed in the survey included test appreciation, training, technology-based testing, attitudes to test use, and self-rated competence. The sample mean age was 50 years, with 84% over 34 years and 20% being males.

Results: Attitudinal differences, based on demographics and practice endorsement area, were examined. Partial support was obtained for the factorial model of previous EFPA studies. There was no difference in attitudes based upon the gender of the psychologists, but older psychologists reported less favourable attitudes and lower competence for psychological testing. Psychologists holding endorsements in organisational psychology, neuropsychology, and educational and developmental psychology indicated more positive testing attitudes and appreciation than other areas of practice. The application of technology in assessment was identified as an area that warrants further investigation and training.

Conclusions: The outcome has theoretical and practical implications for professional bodies and educational institutions that develop policies and training programs relevant to psychological measurement and testing.

Background: Sleep disturbance is common in adolescents and young adults (AYAs), impacted by stress and academic/scheduling demands that conflict with biological phase delay. COVID-19 lockdowns allowed us to study sleep in AYAs when there are lessened scheduling demands. Additionally, we could test whether a sleep self-management app was helpful during lockdowns.

Method: AYAs (ages 15-24 years) before (Pre-Lockdown; n = 65) and during lockdowns in Canada (Lockdown; n = 40) completed sleep diaries on the app; set goals based on generated feedback; and completed more sleep diaries pursuing whatever post-feedback goals they set.

Results: The Lockdown group reported later and less variable rise times (RT) and spent more time in bed (TIB), both awake and asleep. Pre-Lockdown set a goal to reduce RT variability whereas Lockdown set a goal to decrease TIB, and AYAs made behaviour changes to meet their goals. For both groups, sleep onset, duration of awakenings, sleep duration and efficiency, and insomnia severity significantly improved at endpoint.

Conclusions: AYAs slept differently during lockdowns, perhaps due to decreased scheduling. The pandemic revealed the need for accessible strategies to improve sleep health. Findings support the feasibility of using evidence-based apps, and that AYAs can effectively use self-management tools across variable global and social contexts to improve their sleep.

Objective: There is a growing popularity in the worldwide use of schema therapy (ST) to address a variety of psychological disorders. Yet, research into the cultural suitability of ST is scarce. This study aimed to explore ST clinicians' experiences of the cultural suitability of ST.

Method: Eleven clinicians from nine countries were interviewed about their experiences of practising ST. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: Two main themes, each with subthemes, were identified. The first theme was considerations for Cultural Context and Content: (i) Incongruence with Cultural Norms of Emotional Expression, (ii) "Maladaptive" or "Adaptive", But in What Context?, and (iii) Issues Related to Familism when Addressing Parent/Critic Modes. The second theme focused on clinicians' Cultural Competence: (i) Perceptions of Reduced Confidence and Competence in Providing Culturally Responsive Practice, and (ii) Clinicians' Cultural Values Impacting ST Delivery. Participants discussed strategies to improve the cultural-responsiveness of ST, suggesting areas for further development.

Conclusion: Present findings suggest that ST is not a one-size-fits-all approach, underscoring the need to improve the cultural responsiveness of ST, while better supporting clinicians to develop their cultural competence. Future research is needed to establish evidence-based cultural adaptations for ST.

Objective: Despite Paylater's increasing popularity in Indonesia, no research potentially has explored the influence of Paylater users' shopping motivation on purchase intention. This topic is important to research to create a healthier shopping environment for marketers and users. This paper presents two studies addressing this gap.

Method: Study 1 explored the values of shopping motivation influencing purchase intention in Indonesia using a non-experimental method with 299 participants aged from 18 to 40 years in Indonesia. Study 2 used experimental vignette methods to strengthen the first study's results. This study involved 752 participants with the same characteristics as Study 1.

Results: The results of Study 1 show that both utilitarian and hedonic motivations influence Paylater users' purchase intention in Indonesia, and all shopping motivation values positively influence utilitarian and hedonic motivations. In Study 2, we found that values of convenience, customisation, adventure/exploration and gratification affect the purchase intention of Paylater users in Indonesia.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate both motivations influence purchase intention, but hedonic has the most significant influence, and all shopping motivation values are significant. Therefore, each value can motivate Indonesian Paylater users' intention to purchase.

Key points: What is known about this topic.