Basketball is a sport with many complex demands that require a combination of fitness, skills, team tactics and strategies, and motivational aspects. However key areas that are likely to play an important role in a basketball player's success are muscular strength, fitness and body size. Methods of evaluating and developing these characteristics have been extensively tested in controlled research settings, but there is a dearth of research exploring the value of, and methods of improving, muscular strength, fitness and body size of basketball players within the demanding schedule of an elite junior development program. These were therefore explored in this thesis.

Community interventions are a recent development in the field of prevention. This study sought to address the current gap in this area, between scientific knowledge and community practice, through an understanding of practitioners’ experiences of implementation. A case study was undertaken to explore the context and complexity of implementation processes. Data was collected concurrently with the implementation of a community intervention located in rural Victoria, Australia, which aimed to reduce early school leaving. Implementers’ perspectives on a guide to best practice, developed from the academic literature, were sought. Concepts from systems theory and ecological approaches were combined to create a framework suitable for the analysis of the data. The intervention was viewed as an open system. Its progression from being a subsystem of the funded organization to a subsystem of both the funded organization and the community was examined. Factors such as meeting community needs and community members as program staff were found to facilitate community acceptance. The interactions within and between the subsystems of the intervention and the community were also explored. School retention rates were suggestive of some level of impact on school leaving. Additional positive outcomes were the facilitation and/or strengthening of links between community subsystems, and a perceived change within the funded organization. This thesis goes some way towards bridging the gap between science and practice in this field. Findings contribute to the debate regarding flexibility versus fidelity and a greater understanding of the unique challenges faced by rural interventions.

Recent decades have seen an expansion of the early intervention field, particularly with children who are deemed at risk of adverse outcomes due to socio-economic or other disadvantage. Early educational intervention has taken many forms, but those involving both the child and parent together have been shown to have the strongest effects. Additionally, intervention in the early years, enhancing the child’s ability to engage with formal schooling, has been found to have a lasting impact not just on the educational trajectory of the individual, but also on the life opportunities which become available. This thesis reports an investigation of the implementation of the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program in a regional city in Victoria, Australia. Here, for the first time, this intensive, graduated, two-year program was delivered to a group of Australian-born families experiencing trans-generational poverty and educational disadvantage. The administering agency trained para-professionals from the community who undertook fortnightly home visits to instruct parents in a standard curriculum designed to enhance the learning readiness of their children. Parents, in turn, delivered the program in daily sessions to their children aged four and five. On alternate fortnights this instruction was provided at group meetings for parents. Following previous research, it was expected that HIPPY would result in positive outcomes in terms of cognitive and socio-emotional functioning for children. The experience of parents and staff were also explored as part of the process evaluation. Implementation issues were documented, and their relevance to program outcomes was considered. Analysis of complementary qualitative and quantitative data showed that children made substantial gains in several areas. Interviews with parents revealed that HIPPY was enjoyable and achievable, and contributed to children’s increased confidence, early learning, and familiarity with schoolwork. Formal psychological testing demonstrated clear gains for children in terms of their early school skills and socioemotional development, although results in the areas of general cognitive development, school readiness, and academic self-esteem were inconclusive. Process evaluation found that HIPPY was relevant and feasible in this population and highlighted several key aspects of program implementation. Findings are discussed in the light of international literature in the early intervention area, and implications for future practice and research are drawn out.

In this thesis, I investigated the influence of personality and situational variables on the experience of flow in order to enhance flow state in tennis competition. Based on propositions of the sport-specific flow model (Kimiecik & Stein, 1992), I conducted three interconnected studies. In Study 1, I examined the relationship between personality variables and flow. In Study 2, I tested the effect of the interaction between two key personality variables, trait sport confidence and action control, and key situational variables, self- and externally-paced tasks, on flow state and performance. Finally, in Study 3, I investigated the efficacy of an imagery intervention designed to enhance confidence and action control to increase flow state and self-paced and externally-paced performance in tennis competitions. The purpose of Study 1 was to investigate the influence of personality variables on dispositional flow and state flow in junior tennis players. I entered personality variables, which demonstrated moderate correlations with flow, into regression equations. Except for the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), I entered the Action Control Scale-Sport (ACS-S), the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ), and the Trait Sport Confidence Inventory (TSCI) as predictor variables into stepwise multiple regression analyses with the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS- 2; N = 271) and the Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2; N = 134), respectively, as criterion variables. The results showed that trait sport confidence was the strongest predictor of dispositional flow, accounting for 32.83% of the variance, and action control was the strongest predictor of state flow, explaining 15.52% of the iii variance. On a DFS-2 subscale level, confidence was the main predictor for challenge-skills balance and sense of control, whereas imagery use was the main predictor for clear goals, unambiguous feedback, concentration on the task at hand, and autotelic experience. In the FSS-2 regression analyses, action control was the strongest predictor for most of the entered criterion variables of state flow subscales, namely clear goals, unambiguous feedback, and sense of control. The purpose of Study 2 was to test the Kimiecik and Stein’s (1992) hypothesis that person and situation factors interplay in the generation of flow state. Based on the findings in the previous study, I chose examine interaction and main effects between two key personality characteristics, namely trait sport confidence and action control, and situational variables, such as a self-paced service task and an externally-paced groundstroke task, on flow state and performance in tennis. Following service and groundstroke performance, the participants, junior tennis players (N = 60) between 12 to 18 years, completed the FSS-2. Based on a median split on the TSCI, I assigned participants to groups of high or low confidence. I carried out a two-way repeated-measures ANOVA on flow state with high and low confidence as levels of the independent group factor and self-paced and externally-paced tasks as levels of the repeated measures factor. The results showed a significant main effect between groups of high and low confidence and flow, F(1, 58) = 6.82, p < .05, ç² = .11. The interaction for flow state was not significant, but revealed a moderate effect size, F(1, 58) = 2.64, ns, ç² = .04. I carried out similar ANOVAs on performance showing a significant main effect for performance. Participants demonstrated a greater accuracy in the groundstroke task than in the service task, showing a large effect size, F(1, 58) = 12.74, p < .001, ç² = .18. Analyses of interaction effects between high and low confidence and self- and externally-paced tasks on performance outcome showed a moderate effect size, but was not significant, F(1, 58) = 2.97, ns, ç² = .05. Following the same procedure for action control, I used a median split to divide participants into groups of action orientation and state orientation. There were no significant main or interaction effects between action- and state-oriented groups and flow. With regard to performance, a significant main effect was found for task type, with participants scoring higher on the groundstroke than the service task, and performance outcome, F(1, 58) = 12.13, p < .001, ç² = .17, indicating a large effect size. The purpose of Study 3 was to examine the effect of an imagery intervention on flow state and performance in tennis competition. The study included an A-B design with a baseline and post-intervention phase to evaluate the efficacy of imagery, using a standardised imagery script. I measured flow state and performance over a range of official ranking-list tournaments. I developed the imagery script based on findings of Study 1, taking into account correlational results between personality variables of action control, imagery use, and trait sport confidence and dimensions of flow. The script consisted of three parts, starting with a relaxation component, then imagery on self-paced performance of first and second serves, and, finally, imagery in externally-paced performance situations, including forehand and backhand groundstrokes. For the intervention, four male junior tennis players between 13 and 15 years of age worked with the imagery script three times a week for four consecutive weeks. Participants were of an advanced skill level, being ranked between 203 and 244 in the Australian Junior Ranking List at the beginning of the study. After the four-week intervention phase, all participants demonstrated an increase in service and groundstroke performance winners. In addition, participants increased their ranking-list position from beginning to end of the study between 24 and 145 positions. Visual inspection of the data revealed that three participants increased in state flow intensity across phases. In a social validation interview, which I conducted at the end of the study, three participants confirmed an increase in flow and confidence level after the intervention. Overall, results confirmed several propositions of Kimiecik and Stein’s (1992) sport-specific flow model. Firstly, dispositional personality variables, action control, imagery use, and trait sport confidence demonstrated a moderate relationship with flow. Secondly, significant and near-significant main and interaction effects were evident between situational and personal variables on the experience of flow state. Thirdly, an imagery intervention showed an increase in flow and performance. With regard to future research, I recommend the use of the flow model, as proposed by Kimiecik and Stein (1992), to further assess the influence of personality and situation characteristics and their interaction on flow. In addition, more studies on the flow-performance relationship would be fruitful to enhance theoretical understanding and to inform applied work.

To maintain consistently low riding-eights, many jockeys engage in repetitive cycles of rapid, short-term weight loss, termed "wasting". The physical and psychological effects of "wasting" are not well understood, although several recent studies suggest that, at least in the short-term, they may be numerous, and with any one of them having a potentially detrimental effect on both the health and riding performance of jockeys. The major aims of the research reported were to investigate the weight-management experiences of jockeys in Australia, and to examine a range of cognitive and other psychological effects of rapid weight loss in this professional athlete population. The methodological framework used to address these aims incorporated both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Four focused case studies illustrated that cognitive responses to weight fluctuations and competition were generally idiosyncratic, with variations within individuals across a range of cognitive functions and testing conditions. The exception to this finding was attentional processing speed, which appeared to be impaired in response to weight loss in most cases. Collectively, the results of the three studies indicate that the need for wasting, and the lack of safe and effective options to meet this need, continue to be pervasive and problematic facets of life for professional kockeys, in terms of their effects on psychological well-being and cognitive function.

This thesis explores the impact of emotional intelligence on frontline employee service performance in the casino industry. Emotional intelligence is a relatively recent psychological construct that has attracted substantial interest in both the popular literature and within academia. A major appeal of emotional intelligence lies in its possibility of contributing to a portion of the remaining variance in job performance that traditional cognitive intelligence leaves unexplained (Van Rooy & Viswesvaran, 2003). However, the predictive validity of emotional intelligence varies considerably and depends on the context, criterion of interest, and specific theory used (e.g. Emmerling & Goleman, 2003). Furthermore, as agreed by most personality psychologists, a new construct such as emotional intelligence needs to provide incremental validity over well-established constructs to be welcomed into the relevant field (Brackett & Mayer, 2003). With respect to job context and selected criteria, it has been claimed that there is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance in the case of roles which are associated with emotional labour, such as customer service (Daus & Ashkanasy, 2005). With regard to theory, various models have been proposed as a means of conceptualising the construct within the relevant literature. These models have been associated with a range of tests which purport to assess emotional intelligence and its predictive validity. In an attempt to emphasize the importance of the role of assessment in operationalising emotional intelligence, Petrides and Furnham (2001) have proposed the theory of trait EI, which is measured using a self-report test. These authors indicated that the theory encompasses behavioural tendencies and self-perceived abilities like a personality trait; therefore, its investigation should be primarily conducted within a personality framework (Petrides & Furnham, 2001; Petrides, Furnham & Frederickson, 2004). From the perspective of predictive validity, this thesis applies the concept of trait EI in the context of the casino high-end market (casino key accounts), and analyses its relationship with the service performance of casino service representatives for the high-end market (casino key account representatives). From the perspective of incremental validity, the thesis incorporates the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality factors as another independent variable to analyse the additional variance in the dependent variable explained by trait EI in predicting the service performance of casino key account representatives. This study also tests the mediating roles of customer orientation and adaptability in the context of hierarchical relationships of the influence of personality traits (trait EI and FFM) on service performance evaluation, based on the hierarchical model theory proposed by Brown, Mowen, Donavan & Licatal. (2002). The data used in this thesis were gathered from questionnaires, distributed within a VIP gaming room catering to casino high-end players in one of the world’s largest casinos located in Australasia. A sample of 152 usable employee responses was obtained. Multiple regression has been used to test the relevant hypotheses and Baron and Kenny’s (1986) method has been used to analyse the mediation. Through the use of the various statistical analyses, it was found that trait EI was positively related with the service performance of casino key account representatives. It also explained additional variance in the dependent variable – the service performance of casino key account representatives over and above the FFM of personality factors. Partial mediations of customer orientation and adaptability were also found between the basic personality traits and service performance of casino key account representatives. It indicates that indirect effects between the independent and dependent variables are enhanced by the incorporation of the various mediators. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the results, which includes comments on the implications of the findings, an evaluation of the limits of the current investigation, and some thoughts on possible future research.

The primary purpose of this case study on Divine Word University (DWU) is to explore the drivers that influence the organization to assume a particular model of organizing work and managing people in the pursuit of its goals. The key research questions therefore, focus on DWU culture, that is, the deeply embedded taken-for-granted basic assumptions whose influences are made visible in the organization’s behaviour and discourse. In particular, this thesis explores the behaviour and discourse associated with two aspects of the organization, the structure of decision-making and HR practices and processes. In exploring DWU culture, the study serves to explore the broader theme of university cultural emergence, embedding, cultural change, and organizational redefinition. Three ethnographic tools are used in the exploration: the semi-structured interview, documentary sources and observations. Having multiple data sources serves to triangulate the emerging cultural themes across the data sources. The data was collected over a period of six months. Documents were collected and observations made over the first five months. These serve to surface issues, concepts and themes around which interviews are conducted in the final month of data gathering. The findings show that the primary assumption defining DWU’s practices and which influences patterns of behaviour is the ideal of service linked to the missionary commitment to social advancement. This ideal has a profound impact on the culture of DWU. It provides the impetus for people to intervene to provide a service in a context where resource security is tenuous. Service in the context of this thesis is the ideal that serves as the impetus that motivates people, religious and altruistic oriented non-religious people, to render service for none or minimal material reward. This concept is contrasted with the concept of service associated with the university and taken as one of the tripartite knowledge functions. The findings also show that the outcome of the influence of service on DWU is that the behavioural expectations it promotes locate the university away from the behavioural expectations, as they are manifested in its decision-making structure and HR processes, of the collegial values-based organization. However, the findings also show that the distancing from the collegial cultural values and beliefs is nevertheless not a de-legitimization of the organization from the university field. In the contemporary context of organizational change that is allowing for the broadening of the university concept, emerging models of the university, such as DWU, occupy the contemporary end of the continuum of university models.

Little research has examined the effects of weight management on jockey’s wellbeing. However, there is a consensus that pervasive weight-loss practices (WLP) in the racing industry negatively impact on jockey’s physical, psychological and social wellbeing. The research reported herein examined the effects of the WLP used by flat-race jockeys on their physical, psychological and social wellbeing. In Study 1, 42 jockeys (10 women and 32 men) completed questionnaires examining eating behaviour, WLP and their physical, psychological and social effects of WLP. In Study 2, six male jockeys completed race day and non-race day assessments of WLP and mood and were interviewed about their experiences. In Study 3, eight jockeys (two women and six men); five family members (three wives and two fathers); and six industry professionals were interviewed about their perceptions and experiences of the lives of jockeys. Together the results of the studies showed that the WLP of jockeys have serious negative effects on their physiological, psychological and social wellbeing. Jockeys experience symptoms of life-threatening heat illness, negative mood, limited social interactions and strained relationships. Disordered eating behaviour was common and many jockeys reported symptoms consistent with DSM IV-TR disorders including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Depression, General Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobia. Weight restriction symbolised a range of other restrictions that characterise jockeys’ lives. The term, Occupational Weight-Loss Disorder (OWLD) was coined to describe and explain the findings. Recommendations to reduce the harms documented included determining minimum weights, increasing time off, professional advice and profession suitability.

Alcohol intoxication is known to considerably increase the probability of death from fire across the lifespan, to the extent that it has been isolated as the single most significant risk factor. The study investigated the combined effects of sleep inertia and alcohol impairment on fire emergency-relevant cognitive performance indicators in a young adult population. Mental tracking, visual scanning, psychomotor speed, working memory and sustained, selective, and divided attention functions were assessed for performance decrements and reference to speed-accuracy trade-off effects. Participants were 24 young adults (18-26 years) who participated in a repeated-measures study over 2 nonconsecutive nights; 1 night with alcohol administration and 1 ‘sober’ night. During the alcohol administration night, 10-minute testing blocks occurred under (1) baseline sober and (2) baseline 0.05 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) conditions. Subsequently, subjects were awoken from stage 4 sleep and assessed in two consecutive 10-minute blocks (3) and (4). Self-reports of sleepiness and clearheadedness were also taken. The same procedure was used during the sober night (with condition (2) excluded). All cognitive functions assessed showed an alcohol effect (i.e., decrements between sober baseline (1) and conditions of alcohol (2)), and an even larger sleep inertia effect (i.e., greater decrements between sober baseline (1) and conditions of sleep inertia alone (3) and (4)). Sleep inertia selectively affected performance speed on the working memory task, whilst performance accuracy on this task was affected by conditions of alcohol impairment only. When the sober and alcohol nights were compared, there was no combined or synergistic interaction between sleep inertia and alcohol impairment on the cognitive tasks or subjective measures during the first 10 minutes of sleep inertia. Conditions of combined sleep inertia and alcohol impairment produced cognitiveperformance decrements that were greater than those produced by alcohol administrationalone, but not those produced by sleep inertia alone. Indeed, sleep inertia effectsappeared to ‘override’ alcohol effects. At 10-20 minutes post-awakening, however, sleepinertia effects began to dissipate, thus ‘unmasking’ alcohol effects on some tasks,including accuracy of working memory performance, selective/sustained attention and subjective sleepiness. Divided attention performance demonstrated a complex and unpredictable pattern at 10-20 minutes post-awakening whereby performance under conditions of sleep inertia and alcohol intoxication combined became significantly worse than either condition alone, indicating that alcohol effects were also possibly being unmasked for this measure. Other measures (speed of working memory performance and subjective clearheadedness) showed no difference between conditions at 10-20 minutes post-awakening. The results suggest that (1) moderate alcohol impairment and sleep inertia do not combine to produce further decrements in neurocognitive functioning than those caused by the effects of alcohol or sleep inertia alone and (2) sleep inertia poses a greater risk to fire emergency escape than moderate alcohol impairment. Moreover this data suggests that when awoken abruptly in an emergency situation, prior alcohol consumption to 0.05 BAC will not further impede cognitive functioning that is already compromised by a state of sleep inertia. The study considers the importance of the arousing effects of task complexity, the BAC curve (particularly the descending limb), and speed-accuracy trade-off effects in predicting the effects of sleep inertia and alcohol on cognitive performance.

Sport and Traditions of Feminist Theory involves a philosophical examination of the opportunities that are offered to females who seek authority in sporting participation, by an examination of the ideas that emanate from various streams of feminist thought. Chapter One introduces the concepts of oppression and authority in sport for females. It also introduces Rortian pragmatism, and four strands of feminist thought which will be utilised throughout the thesis; liberal, standpoint, poststructural and Foucauldian feminism. Finally it briefly suggests the potentials for each of these feminisms to explain and alter the situation of women in sport. Chapter Two is an elaboration of Rortian liberalism. It explains the concepts of anti-foundationalism, the private-public split and the ideal liberal society. These ideas are then applied to an understanding of the opportunities for freedom in sport. Sport is viewed as a symbolic language medium where athletes have the opportunity to express their private freedom through idiosyncratic action. The chapter then goes on to address feminist concerns with Rortian pragmatism. It will be suggested that the female position in society forces a reformulation of Rortian pragmatism to include the possibility of collective expressions of freedom, and to recognise the systematic oppression of women in, and by, society. The female athlete must negotiate the unenviable position of performing in a practice that has a long history of male control over sporting discourses, and female exclusion from, or incorporation into, those sporting discourses. A feminist -reformed, Rortian pragmatism gives the female some tools with which to break down male control and produce individual and collective changes in the language; practice and theory of sport. Chapter Three is a selective history of feminist politics and female participation in sport. The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that strong poetry; i.e. collective and individual language changes which increased the opportunity for females to speak with authority, were often the result of both contingent conditions in society, and the whims of the dominant class of males. Yet two important points should be made; firstly, within that limited area of freedom in both politics and sport, women did recreate themselves and their society, and secondly, the public discourse about female athleticism throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries suggests a genealogy of ideas which continues to limit female athletic participation and authority. It would be naïve to suggest that this history of ideas about female athleticism would be broken down simply by legislative change which allows for wider female participation in sport. Chapter Four investigates one mechanism of gaining authority for females in society and sport, the liberal intervention of equal opportunities. It has been suggested by radical and postmodern feminisms that such an intervention is inadequate because it leaves in place the structure of ideas that oppress females in the first place. Critiques of liberal feminist interventions in sport likewise suggest that such interventions maintain the maleness of reason in sport. Females are asked to participate and be judged in sports that have a male history and male structure of control. However, because Rortian pragmatism recognises that sport is a symbolic medium, liberal interventions should not be discarded. There are a number of sports which women either are not allowed to play or are discouraged from playing. The liberal intervention may allow women to participate in sport, and gain authority through their local and specific languages of participation. Chapter Five is an application of feminist standpoint theories to women's authority in sport. Feminist standpoints will be suggested as an important method for doubting the certainty of gendered truth statements in sport and society. The truth statements, which oppress women in sport reporting, and reinforce different modes of sport participation, will be deconstructed using feminist standpoint theories. Rortian pragmatism offers tools with which alternate candidates for truth status may be produced and disseminated throughout the sporting world. These alternatives may grant women greater authority in performing and talking about sports. Chapter Six will look at the postmodern and Foucauldian treatments of the female body as another mechanism of challenging the his-story about female athletes, which continues to limit both their participation in sports and their commentary about sports. It will be suggested that the fuzziness of the athletic body allows women all sorts of opportunities to challenge the maleness of authority in sport. One case study, which will be particularly investigated here, is the suggestion that women athletes could look at drugs as a mechanism for approaching the narrowly defined -by men- participation standards of male athletes. And as authority in sport is partially granted on the basis of objective sporting performance, females should view the drug ban as potentially a piece of phallocentric legislation designed to maintain male power. Other case studies that could be investigated at a later date are the suspicions about genetic engineering and virtual reality sport, and the distaste for female athletes aborting before sporting performance. Are these suspicions and distaste mechanisms of the control of the female athlete's performance which females should oppose? The final chapter summarises the opportunities that a reformed Rortian pragmatism, reformed by the female question, provides for females in sport. Sport as a bodily activity may offer some potentials and obstacles that are not present in theoretical activities like education and politics. This is not to imply a dualism, but simply to suggest that sport, like dance and theatre, is an activity where the body's movements and actions are symbolically communicative.