Adolescence is considered a time of change and, to some extent, upheaval. Psychological Sense of Community has been utilised as a framework for understanding adolescents’ experiences in their communities. The present study explored the experiences of 10 adolescents from two urban schools in eastern Australia, a specialist school for students with a mild intellectual disability, and a mainstream school. Using Photovoice, an ethnographic research method utilising photographs generated by the research participants as the primary data source, the participants were actively engaged in taking photographs about their day to day lives in their communities. The photographs were supplemented by individual semi-structured interviews and small group discussions. Results confirmed the importance of meaningful relationships with family, neighbours, pets and peers for participants from both groups. Levels of participation in a range of activities were also explored. Concepts of community including place, neighbourhood, virtual communities and communities of interest were elicited from participants. Many aspects of adolescent life were similar for both groups, although family provided more support to participants with an intellectual disability in enabling them to participate actively within the community. Discussions about spirituality were more prominent with participants without a disability, possibly reflecting language and cognitive abilities. All participants expressed concerns about growing up, letting go of childhood and facing responsibilities associated with adulthood. Overall, the present study suggested that the day to day experiences of adolescents from both groups were similar with social interactions underpinning what they considered to be important.

Introduction: Factors have been identified in association with the psychological adjustment of children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes such as metabolic control (McDonnell et al., 2007), maternal functioning (Schmidt, 2007) and protective parenting (Mullins et al., 2004). Parenting factors may have an impact on young children (Whittemore et al., 2003; Davis et al., 2001); while other factors such as self-efficacy are important to adolescent patients (Littlefield et al., 1992) as responsibility for diabetes management is gradually transferred from parent to child (Palmer et al., 2004). Many studies have examined family and peer support in the context of adolescents’ capacity to cope with their diabetes (La Greca & Bearman, 2002; Lewandowski & Drotar, 2007), but few have demonstrated the link between diabetes-specific factors for adolescent patients and psychological adjustment in their mothers (Berg et al., 2007). The number of studies on very young patients with Type 1 diabetes is also limited (Grey et al. 1995) in spite of the doubling of incidence of diabetes in children under five years of age in Australia (Taplin et al., 2005). Objective: To examine the child, adolescent and parental factors associated with psychological adjustment and health status in children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and their mothers over a post-diagnosis period of 12 months.Method: Sixty-two families of young patients from birth to 18 years of age completed standard measures in a longitudinal analysis on psychological and diabetes-specific variables. Data included child/adolescent measures of adjustment, self-report measures of maternal psychological adjustment, parental protectiveness, maternal separation anxiety, adolescent quality of life, self-efficacy and medical records of metabolic control at the first time point following diagnosis, and repeated at the second time point 12 months post-diagnosis. Results: Increased psychological symptoms in mothers were mildly associated with poor child/adolescent adjustment following diagnosis, and then moderately associated 12 months post-diagnosis. Metabolic control was adequate, although levels declined over time, and adolescent metabolic control was predicted by both maternal and adolescent adjustment. In a separate test, maternal and adolescent adjustment and self-efficacy were associated with quality of life for adolescents. Relatively high levels of maternal separation anxiety and protectiveness were shown; however they were not associated with the other variables. Conclusions: This study highlights the role of mothers in the adjustment of children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and the potential risk to the adjustment of a significant minority of young patients and their mothers over time. The influence of maternal adjustment to quality of life and diabetes health status of adolescents was emphasised. Support for families in the first year after diagnosis is indicated.

Research has shown that athletes who sustain injury often experience negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depressed mood, and that a negative psychological state can have a detrimental effect on injury rehabilitation and return to sport. For the most part, researchers have focused on athletes who have experienced short to moderate term injuries. Few have addressed long-term injury rehabilitation (LTIR). This thesis focuses on athletes who had experienced season ending injuries. Each athlete (3) was interviewed (four times) and invited to participate in psychological interventions (e.g., psycho-educational and cognitive behavioural) throughout LTIR lasting at least nine months. Athletes’ experiences are reported as long, narrative case studies. While the case studies explore four broad themes (affect, coping, social support, and psychological interventions) the overall narratives articulate the coherence and discord among athletes’ LTIR experiences (e.g., the positive and negative consequences of social support, life stress, pain, affect; the value of psychological interventions; the therapeutic aspect of ‘just’ talking to someone; etc.). The intimate issues identified and lived by each participant are examined and discussed in relation to the pre-existing athletic injury literature. Complex and dynamic relationships among the variables (e.g., emotional and behavioural responses, social factors, and physiological aspects) proposed in integrated models of injury rehabilitation (e.g., biopsychosocial) emerged in these narratives. These integrated models outline the dynamic and interrelated responses athletes have in response to injury and are the maps that practitioners treating these athletes may use. The athletes’ stories presented here, therefore, express some of the common ground injured athletes travel and are also rich and full of unique personal experiences. In both senses, though, they depict the actual, dynamic, rough, and often lonely process of LTIR—they are the real-life territory that those maps only partially describe.

The frequency of all residential fires that are attended by the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade is routinely recorded and hence well known. However, the frequency of residential fires which are not attended, including instances where the occupant of a dwelling has extinguished the fire or the fire has self-extinguished, has not previously been investigated in an Australian sample. This project includes two studies: in the first study the aim was to develop the Fire Safety Awareness and Experience Interview Schedule and to determine whether the risk factors for attended fires (in which there are fatalities or injuries) are different to the risk factors of residential fires not attended to by the fire brigade. Additionally, the first study aimed to determine the incidence of unattended residential fires by retrospective report from adults since the age of 18. The second study aim was to determine whether correct and regular maintenance behaviours were being carried out by occupants who own a smoke alarm. Five hundred participants, recruited from four shopping centers located in Melbourne, Victoria, completed the Fire Safety Awareness and Experience Interview Schedule. The questionnaire collected information on all residential fire experiences, including attended and unattended fires, since the age 18. Results showed that participants had approximately a 50% chance of experiencing either an attended or unattended residential fire within their adult lifetime; and the mean annual probability of having an unattended fire experience (0.8 fires per 100 adult years) was higher than the probability of having an attended fire experience (0.37 fires per 100 adult years). In addition, of all residential fires in which fire service attendance status was known, the vast majority of fires (78%) were unattended. Results also revealed the vast majority of unattended fires were caused when cooking was left unsupervised by the cook; and oil or food was usually the first material ignited. Of concern is the number of instances in which the unattended fire was extinguished via dangerous actions (i.e. moving the burning object the sink or floor of the home). It is therefore important to educate people on how to safely fight a cooking fire should one occur and occupants should be encouraged to have a fire blanket in an accessible location in their kitchens. Findings from Study Two revealed that the vast majority of the sample (96%) reported owning a smoke alarm. However, over one third of owners are not testing their alarms and 17% are not carrying out battery changes. Overall, the results from this project can be used to help prevent cooking fires in Australia and the developed interview schedule can be used to collect comparison data from other States and Territories. Furthermore, the development instrument can be used to collect unattended home fire data internationally.

Moving away from home to embark on a career at an elite level involves the individual within a broader social ecology where a range of factors influence the dynamic transition. In 2000, Indigenous and non-Indigenous past and present AFL footballers and AFL administrative staff suggested that relocation was one of the issues faced by Indigenous AFL footballers. The focus of the current study was to learn about relocation and settlement experiences from the perspectives of 10 Indigenous Australian AFL footballers, examining the social, cultural, organisational, and psychological challenges. Five participants were drafted to the AFL within 12 months, and five participants were drafted to the AFL prior to 2002. Participants were listed players from seven Victorian AFL clubs. Interviews were also conducted with eight representatives (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) from organisations associated with the AFL. Players were asked questions about their own relocation and settlement experiences. Secondary informants were asked questions about their involvement with Indigenous players relocating and their perception of the relocation process for Indigenous players in the AFL. Interviews were semi-structured and conversational in style and analysed for unique and recurring themes using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Each of the stories reflected subtle differences experienced during relocation, highlighting the importance and value of using a phenomenological and qualitative framework to understand each player’s perspective and experiences of relocation. The findings demonstrated both facilitative and barrier factors influencing the relocation, settlement, and adaptation experiences. These included opportunity and social mobility, social support and kindredness, culture shock, and racism and homogeneity. Each player’s story about relocation and subsequent settlement and adaptation, highlighted the importance of family, connection, and kindredness as an overarching theme. The findings emphasise the need for receiving environments, in this case the AFL, to treat every player on an individual basis rather than grouping them into a collective. It is essential that a player is understood in relation to his socio-cultural context. The AFL has implemented significant changes to welcome cultural diversity, but as a mainstream organisation, it has been developed within mainstream values. Just as society in general needs to acknowledge Australian history and the overall discrepancies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous opportunities and living standards, the AFL has to continue to de-institutionalise stereotypes and increase the cultural awareness of all groups to continue being a forerunner of progressive race relations. The current study represents an important initial step in the identification and description of the relocation processes from the vantage point of Indigenous footballers.

Humans are capable of selecting information that is goal-relevant. Irrelevant (distractor) information, however, typically is not filtered completely and impacts on responses to the goal. Recent theories of selective attention indicate that distractor interference is determined by the perceptual load of a visual display and the availability of cognitive control mechanisms (working memory load). It is unclear however, which mechanisms assist efficient selective attention and how irrelevant distracting information is rejected. Using a go/no-go visual attention task (Experiment 1) and a visual search task (Experiment 2), this series of experiments examined distractor processing in visual selective attention.

Maori smoking prevalence rates are double those of non-Maori. Despite recent government funded health promotion targeting Maori, this disparity appears to be widening. Smoking prevalence rates for Pakeha New Zealanders continue to fall, whereas Maori smoking prevalence rates remain stable at 50% of all Maori adults over the age of 15. In response to community demand for smoking cessation assistance, some Maori health providers developed a residential intervention based on marae. This study examined the effectiveness of that approach to aiding smoking cessation among Maori. A secondary purpose of the study was to support the development of uniquely Maori approaches to research, by utilising a kaupapa Maori methodology. The literature on kaupapa Maori health research methodology was reviewed. Consequently, Te Whare Tapa Wha, a contemporary Maori paradigm is used as the central organising framework for analysing and understanding both the act of research and smoking behaviour. Two groups of smokers were interviewed, a group undertaking a Noho Marae smoking cessation programme (n=26) and a group of unaided quitters (n=104). Participants were interviewed prior to their quit attempt and again four months later. Nineteen of the unaided quitters were lost to follow-up. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Few significant differences existed between the groups at the first interview. Among participants who completed both interviews, point prevalence at follow-up was 35% for the Noho Marae group versus 14% for the unaided group. The findings support the effectiveness of Noho Marae smoking cessation interventions. Recommendations on how to strengthen New Zealand's tobacco control programme are made. A greater emphasis on delivering to whanau, rather than focusing interventions on individuals, is recommended. Priority is currently given to groups identified as having higher smoking rates. Decline in smoking prevalence may be hastened by identifying and serving the groups most ready to change smoking behaviour. Further research is indicated, for example, to better understand the smoking cessation needs of pregnant Maori women.

Maori smoking prevalence rates are double those of non-Maori. Despite recent government funded health promotion targeting Maori, this disparity appears to be widening. Smoking prevalence rates for Pakeha New Zealanders continue to fall, whereas Maori smoking prevalence rates remain stable at 50% of all Maori adults over the age of 15. In response to community demand for smoking cessation assistance, some Maori health providers developed a residential intervention based on marae. This study examined the effectiveness of that approach to aiding smoking cessation among Maori. A secondary purpose of the study was to support the development of uniquely Maori approaches to research, by utilising a kaupapa Maori methodology. The literature on kaupapa Maori health research methodology was reviewed. Consequently, Te Whare Tapa Wha, a contemporary Maori paradigm is used as the central organising framework for analysing and understanding both the act of research and smoking behaviour. Two groups of smokers were interviewed, a group undertaking a Noho Marae smoking cessation programme (n=26) and a group of unaided quitters (n=104). Participants were interviewed prior to their quit attempt and again four months later. Nineteen of the unaided quitters were lost to follow-up. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Few significant differences existed between the groups at the first interview. Among participants who completed both interviews, point prevalence at follow-up was 35% for the Noho Marae group versus 14% for the unaided group. The findings support the effectiveness of Noho Marae smoking cessation interventions. Recommendations on how to strengthen New Zealand's tobacco control programme are made. A greater emphasis on delivering to whanau, rather than focusing interventions on individuals, is recommended. Priority is currently given to groups identified as having higher smoking rates. Decline in smoking prevalence may be hastened by identifying and serving the groups most ready to change smoking behaviour. Further research is indicated, for example, to better understand the smoking cessation needs of pregnant Maori women.

Maori smoking prevalence rates are double those of non-Maori. Despite recent government funded health promotion targeting Maori, this disparity appears to be widening. Smoking prevalence rates for Pakeha New Zealanders continue to fall, whereas Maori smoking prevalence rates remain stable at 50% of all Maori adults over the age of 15. In response to community demand for smoking cessation assistance, some Maori health providers developed a residential intervention based on marae. This study examined the effectiveness of that approach to aiding smoking cessation among Maori. A secondary purpose of the study was to support the development of uniquely Maori approaches to research, by utilising a kaupapa Maori methodology. The literature on kaupapa Maori health research methodology was reviewed. Consequently, Te Whare Tapa Wha, a contemporary Maori paradigm is used as the central organising framework for analysing and understanding both the act of research and smoking behaviour. Two groups of smokers were interviewed, a group undertaking a Noho Marae smoking cessation programme (n=26) and a group of unaided quitters (n=104). Participants were interviewed prior to their quit attempt and again four months later. Nineteen of the unaided quitters were lost to follow-up. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Few significant differences existed between the groups at the first interview. Among participants who completed both interviews, point prevalence at follow-up was 35% for the Noho Marae group versus 14% for the unaided group. The findings support the effectiveness of Noho Marae smoking cessation interventions. Recommendations on how to strengthen New Zealand's tobacco control programme are made. A greater emphasis on delivering to whanau, rather than focusing interventions on individuals, is recommended. Priority is currently given to groups identified as having higher smoking rates. Decline in smoking prevalence may be hastened by identifying and serving the groups most ready to change smoking behaviour. Further research is indicated, for example, to better understand the smoking cessation needs of pregnant Maori women.

Maori smoking prevalence rates are double those of non-Maori. Despite recent government funded health promotion targeting Maori, this disparity appears to be widening. Smoking prevalence rates for Pakeha New Zealanders continue to fall, whereas Maori smoking prevalence rates remain stable at 50% of all Maori adults over the age of 15. In response to community demand for smoking cessation assistance, some Maori health providers developed a residential intervention based on marae. This study examined the effectiveness of that approach to aiding smoking cessation among Maori. A secondary purpose of the study was to support the development of uniquely Maori approaches to research, by utilising a kaupapa Maori methodology. The literature on kaupapa Maori health research methodology was reviewed. Consequently, Te Whare Tapa Wha, a contemporary Maori paradigm is used as the central organising framework for analysing and understanding both the act of research and smoking behaviour. Two groups of smokers were interviewed, a group undertaking a Noho Marae smoking cessation programme (n=26) and a group of unaided quitters (n=104). Participants were interviewed prior to their quit attempt and again four months later. Nineteen of the unaided quitters were lost to follow-up. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Few significant differences existed between the groups at the first interview. Among participants who completed both interviews, point prevalence at follow-up was 35% for the Noho Marae group versus 14% for the unaided group. The findings support the effectiveness of Noho Marae smoking cessation interventions. Recommendations on how to strengthen New Zealand's tobacco control programme are made. A greater emphasis on delivering to whanau, rather than focusing interventions on individuals, is recommended. Priority is currently given to groups identified as having higher smoking rates. Decline in smoking prevalence may be hastened by identifying and serving the groups most ready to change smoking behaviour. Further research is indicated, for example, to better understand the smoking cessation needs of pregnant Maori women.