From longitudinal data from 223 children with disabilities in Utah, variables collected at entry into Part C early intervention and Part B early childhood special education services were used to differentiate between children and to predict placement outcomes in elementary school. Scores on the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, Parenting Stress Index, Social Skills Rating System, number of hours mothers worked outside the home, and fathers ' education in years were differentiated between children who exited from and children who remained in special education. These same scores were also used to predict whether children would remain in or exit from special education services using discriminant analysis statistical procedures. The use of scores helped differentiate and predict placement for children who entered the original study in Part B preschool special education services.

The primary objective of this study was to create and test an intervention designed to increase students’ positive attitudes toward utilizing mental health services. A review of the literature was conducted to establish the guidelines for creating an intervention that would effectively influence attitudes while being relatively easy to customize and adapt to different settings. The content of the intervention was informed by the literature, reviewed by a panel of experts, and tested with a focus group of students before being finalized. In order to test the effectiveness of the intervention, and experimental study was designed which included an experimental and control group. The control group had the same experience as the experimental group except for the content of the intervention. The control group intervention provided general health information related to topics such as diet and exercise.Student underutilization of counseling services on college campuses is a well- recognized phenomenon. By improving student attitudes toward seeking counseling, it is hypothesized that more students who could benefit from such services would indeed seek them out. This is particularly important as the rates of suicide and serious mental illness on college campuses has increased over the years. Students who receive appropriate treatment for mental health concerns often experience significant improvement. Those students whose mental health is improved may perform better academically than those who remain untreated. Healthier students have the opportunity to be more productive and successful members of the campus community.The intervention was designed to be low cost so that it could be updated and tailored for different institutions. It was also created to be disseminated over the internet to reduce obstacles for students who may wish to view it. The intervention included music, narration, pictures, and animated text to capture the attention of the viewer. The production was accomplished using low-cost software that does not require expert skills to operate.The intervention showed significant effects on the first two subscales of the attitude measure (i.e., psychological openness and help-seeking propensity), but did not show statistical significance on the third (i.e., indifference to stigma) or on the intent to seek counseling measure (ISCI). Future studies could explore improvements to the current intervention and could examine the effects of the intervention over time (i.e., longitudinal design).

This thesis develops a new framework for explaining the effects and possible trajectories of state building interventions (SBIs). This is for both examining specific interventions and learning about the precise nature of the post-Cold War global order – how power is distributed, exercised, constrained and challenged within and between states. In the post-Cold War years, but particularly since the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, so-called failed states have become a central security concern for policymakers. In tandem, there has been an influx of practitioner and scholarly interest in international ‘state building’. Prevalent approaches to state building are premised on a static conception of the state and therefore seek to evaluate SBIs in terms of whether they help create ‘more’ or ‘less’ state. In contrast, this thesis examines SBIs as a new mode of governance in the global political economy that is transformative of both intervened and intervening states, leading to the creation of a transnationalising and transnationally regulated form of statehood. Based on a conception of the state as a site of social and political struggle this study examines the ways in which SBIs affect the distribution, production and reproduction of political power in intervened states: Who rules and how? What social and political conflicts are engendered or exacerbated by SBIs, and how are they managed? What alliances and coalitions support the production/reproduction of power relationships associated with SBIs? The thesis provides a conceptual framework for understanding the complex governance terrain SBIs open up. SBIs are conceptualised as multilevel regimes – sets of social and political relationships, institutions and ideas – that exist simultaneously within and outside intervened states. While preserving the formal sovereignty of intervened states, these regimes are nevertheless established to shape political outcomes by limiting the political choices available to domestic leaders. This is operationalised by opening up and shifting power to multilevel spaces of governance within the apparatus of these countries. Through case studies from Australia, Solomon Islands and Cambodia, the thesis analyses the politics of SBIs and their broader implications for contemporary statehood. Ultimately it establishes that regardless of whether SBIs are successful or otherwise in achieving their stated objectives they are associated with the emergence of increasingly authoritarian, hierarchical and anti-competitive forms of political rule, both within and between states.

Levels of participation in physical activity and sport by the New Zealand population are in decline, whilst the levels of sedentary behaviours are rising. Developing positive physical activity experiences, perceptions and habits in childhood may provide an effective approach to decrease the burden of inactivity. The purpose of this thesis was to improve knowledge of the efficacy of a sport-based intervention to increase physical activity levels of New Zealand children from a low socio-economic background. This was achieved by implementing an after-school soccer intervention at two low decile schools in Auckland, New Zealand. To determine current levels of physical activity, fifty-eight children wore a NL-2000 pedometer for four consecutive days (three weekdays and one weekend). Mean step counts (± SD) for boys were 17018 (± 4640) and for girls 12415 (± 4329) on weekdays, and for boys 12507 (± 4338) and girls 9537 (± 4421) on weekends. Nearly 50% of girls and 37% of boys were not reaching previously published daily step count recommendations of 15,000 for boys and 12,000 for girls during weekdays. The feasibility and efficacy of a six-week after-school soccer programme (2/hr.wk-1) on physical activity levels of 70 children (43 boys, 27 girls) compared to a control group of 25 children (23 boys, 2 girls) was determined in a randomised controlled trial. Measures of physical activity (4 day sealed pedometry), mass and height were completed at baseline, Week 6 (end of the intervention), and at three-month post-intervention. Compared to control, participants in the soccer programme attained higher weekday step counts after 6 weeks (treatment 16980 ± 4515; control 15021 ± 3783) and these were sustained three months post-intervention (treatment 16218 ± 4591; control 14591 ± 3488). However, these step count differences were not statistically significant. When children were grouped into activity tertiles (low, moderate and highly active) the intervention effect was more evident in the low to moderately active children. Further analysis revealed that the treatment groups’ moderate activity tertile was significantly more active than the control at follow up (p = 0.0399). This programme may offer a viable alternative to traditional physical activity interventions which concentrate on other forms of physical activity accumulation such as active transport and physical education. However, additional research needs to be carried out to determine whether the absence of statistical differences is simply a lack of statistical power.

This thesis focuses on the impacts of privatisation on the relevant industrial structure of the economy. Standard tools of industrial organisation theory are applied to examine these impacts and, thereby, shed light on relevant welfare issues. The focus of this thesis is to examine the ramifications of privatisation in imperfectly competitive markets. Simple Cournot-Nash types of games have been developed, where the market is a duopoly containing a privatised firm with the other firm being a new entrant. These games examine the efficacy and impacts of privatisation, and the role of government in this duopoly. The thesis endrogenously derives multiple equilibria in the duopolistic market; examines decontrolling/deregulating a vertical market; looks at the potential competition in vertical markets and examines potential collusion among existing firms to forestall entry; and addresses issues of privatisation in successive duopolies with cooperative investments. Results show that whether privatisation is beneficial to the community will rely on the astute role of government intervention. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Obesity is a complex and increasingly prevalent health disorder that is associated with a wide range of medical, social, and psychological difficulties. People are more likely to be obese if they consume an energy dense diet but do not engage in physical activity. Research has indicated that interventions, when implemented during childhood, have long-term outcomes that are superior to interventions implemented in adulthood. This research piloted a behaviourally based intervention programme, with parents as the agents of change, to promote a lifestyle change for inactive children. The programme focussed on increasing physical play (lifestyle activity) and on decreasing sedentary behaviour (an obesity promoting behaviour) during children's after school leisure time. The intervention was investigated using three case studies. Although no conclusive evidence was gained regarding the effectiveness of the pilot programme there was some evidence that children participating reduced their amount of sedentary behaviour and increased the amount of time they spent in physical play. There was also evidence that parents were able to administer the programme and that they found it useful. The results from the present study suggest that the development and application of parent administered behavioural programmes, in the form of packaged interventions to prevent child obesity, warrant further investigation both in terms of the benefits and costeffectiveness it could offer parents and practitioners alike.

This study investigates key factors contributing to literacy development of underachieving readers in a junior secondary school. Two intervention programs designed to enhance the reading skills of eight underachieving readers in a junior secondary school were used. These eight individuals, of normal intelligence, had in common a history of reading difficulties. In the first of these programs eight students participated in a one-on-one reading intervention program using an adaptation of the program Making A Difference (Ministry of Education and Training, Victoria, 1992). In the second program four students from the above-mentioned cohort participated in a one-to-four intervention program involving the use of a Meta Language Awareness Program involving, among other things, Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar and Brown 1985) procedures. The underlying premise to this study is that underachieving readers are characteristically non-strategic and that through two explicit methods of instruction used they can improve their reading. A key to helping the participants break the cycle of failure in reading is to help them make the connection between effort in the use of particular reading strategies and success in the reading process. This study reveals that struggling adolescent readers have many reasons for their difficulties with reading and require different approaches to the process of reading. However, with teacher persistence in appropriate conditions, and tailoring reading experiences to meet student needs, such individuals can become successful, engaged readers who enjoy reading. A detailed analysis of one case, ‘Sarah,’ is presented since “it can provide insight into the class of events from which the case has been drawn” (Burns, 1995, p. 320). Evidence measured in tests and anecdotal records illustrate general findings about Sarah and the other seven participants. Themes related to the participants’ ultimate success in reading are elaborated in this thesis, not because they are thought to be unique but because they will most likely be recognisable to other teachers of struggling adolescent readers.

The focus of this thesis is the evaluation of three forms of an empirically-based cognitive-behavioural parenting program for separated families with adolescent children. However, to initially determine the existence of lasting affects of parental separation (occurring during childhood and adolescence), an exploratory study used a sample of 272 young adults (aged between 18 and 30 years) from intact families and 78 young adults from separated families. This study investigated the impact of parental marital status on young adult psychological adjustment, interpersonal relationships, attitudes toward divorce, and interpersonal behaviour problems. Results indicated that the effects of parental separation on father-child relationships persist into adulthood for men and women. Further, young women from separated families also reported more accepting attitudes toward divorce, and earlier age at entering into de facto or marital relationships. Young men reported more di fficulties in their relationships with mothers, moving out of the family home at a younger age, and higher levels of verbal attack behaviours in romantic relationships compared to their peers from intact families. Importantly, results suggested that both young children and adolescents experience adverse consequences of parental separation, albeit in different adjustment domains. Given these results, the need for intervention was established. While considerable efforts have gone into the development of intervention programs for young children from separated families, few efforts have focused on adolescents whose parents have separated. To redress this situation, this thesis describes the development and evaluation of three forms of delivery of a parenting program for separated families with adolescent children - group, individual, and telephone-assisted. Study 2 investigated the efficacy and acceptability of the Youth Adjustment to Parental Separation (YAPS) program - an empirically-based group cognitive-beha vioural parenting program for separated families with adolescent children. Overall, the results from this initial trial with four mothers suggested that the program was implemented as planned and that the program was acceptable to mothers. Further, the program lead to improvements in mothers' perceptions of adolescent symptomatology and their own symptomatology. However, there was limited or inconsistent change in mothers' perceptions of family relationships, the coparenting relationship, and their parenting practises, and in adolescents' perceptions of interparental conflict, coping, negative separation-related events, and problematic beliefs. Furthermore, adolescents reported deterioration in family communication and their own symptomatology. Based on the results of Study 2 and the limitations identified, recommendations were made regarding improvements to the YAPS program and to the procedures used to evaluate program effectiveness. According to the recommendations made in Study 2, the efficacy and acceptability of the YAPS program delivered as a therapist-administered individual program was evaluated with six families in Study 3. Results indicated that the program is acceptable to mothers, and that it leads to improvements in adolescent adjustment, parent adjustment, mother-adolescent relationships, father-contact, adolescent exposure to interparental conflict and other negative-separation-related events, and mothers' perceptions of family relationships. Less consistent changes were observed for adolescent ratings of family relationships, and the father-adolescent relationship, however improvements in the father-adolescent relationship were associated with increased levels of f ather-contact. Consistent improvements in adolescents' coping and their appraisal of parental separation were not observed. However, there appeared to be a relationship between parental utilisation of coping strategies and adolescent coping, suggesting that promoting adolescent coping indirectly through parental modelling and parental encouragement is an appropriate intervention strategy. Study 4 evaluated the efficacy and acceptability of the YAPS program delivered as a telephone-assisted program. Results indicated that the program is acceptable to mothers, and that it improves adolescent perceptions of family communication, their own coping, and their relationship with their father. However, mothers' ratings of their own and their child's adjustment, and adolescent ratings of their own adjustment did not change. Further, expected improvements in mothers' parenting practises, the mother-adolescent relationship, separation-related negative-events, separation-related beliefs, and the coparenting relationship were not observed. Overall, improvements observed in the evaluation of the minimal-contact, telephone-assisted YAPS program (Study 4) were considerably less than those observed in the evaluation of the individual therapist-assisted, face-to-face program (Study 3). Future evaluations of the YAPS program need to address the limitations of the current series of studies, particularly, comparison to a wait-list control group is required so that threats to internal validity can be minimised.

The popularity of non-mainstream cancer treatments raises complex issues for patients and medical practitioners and it is vital to scientifically evaluate effectiveness and investigate mechanisms of action of complementary treatments. This thesis describes sociodemographic, medical and psychological characteristics of participants in The Gawler Foundation program, which incorporates meditation, social support, positive thinking and a vegetarian diet. It describes program impact in terms of: Profile of Mood States (POMS), Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) and salivary cortisol levels. Compliance with program recommendations for up to 12-months and effects on adjustment were explored. This thesis also describes the development of a scale to assess the effects of meditation. Program participants (n=112) were predominantly female, well-educated, younger in age with good social support. Over 60% reported metastatic disease and 50% had been diagnosed for over a year. Improvements in all measures were found at program completion, with Spiritual wellbeing particularly linked to improvement in quality of life (QOL). Those with higher levels of mood disturbance and lower QOL at baseline benefited more than those who were less well adjusted. Analysis of three, six, and 12-month follow-up data showed high compliance with program recommendations. Improvements seen at program completion were mostly not maintained at follow-up, although improvements from baseline were. These results suggest that the program has significant beneficial effects on adjustment but that these may not be fully maintained at follow-up, possibly due to difficulty incorporating program recommendations into everyday life and increasing disease severity. Study limitations include self-selection, high drop-out rates and lack of a control group. Initial investigation suggested that quality of meditation experience was linked to improved adjustment and this thesis describes the initial development of a scale to assess the effects of meditation, which was divided into two sections: Experiences During Meditation and Effects of Meditation in Everyday Life, and trialled on 236 participants. Scale evaluation involved factor analysis, reliability and validity analysis. The Experiences During Meditation scale had five subscales: Cognitive effects, Emotional effects, Mystical experiences, Relaxation and Physical discomfort. The Effects of Meditation in Everyday Life scale had a single factor structure, with the final scale consisting of 30 items. Construct validity was explored by assessing correlations with the measures: Perceived Control of Internal States, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, FACIT Spiritual wellbeing subscale, POMS-Short Form and Physical Symptoms Checklist. It is anticipated that the scale may be useful for clinicians and researchers and may contribute to improved understanding of the effects of meditation practices.

Bullying is a phenomenon that has serious psychological consequences for victims, including low psychological wellbeing, poor social adjustment, psychological distress, and physical illness. Bullying has become a topic of increasing public concern and the focus of considerable research in Australia over the last decade. Parallel to this rise in interest in bullying research is a rise in research into resilience. Research has indicated that children facing distress will show a range of responses; some will regress, while others tolerate and even thrive in the face of trauma; it is this second group that are described as resilient. It was therefore postulated in this thesis that individuals exposed to bullying may not all succumb to the typical negative effects of being a victim of school bullying. While previous studies have noted the difference in reactions to bullying, this is the first study to investigate whether resilient victims can be identified, and their key psychosocial characteristics profiled. Based on this notion, it was predicted that victims of bullying could be taught a set of skills and attitudes that would build their resilience to the expected effects of bullying. The present research consisted of two studies. Study 1 had two phases. The first phase of Study 1 identified 'resilient victims' of school bullying by assessing participants on their levels of victimisation and their levels of wellbeing using a battery of questionnaires. Participants were assigned to one of four groups: resilient victims, non-resilient victims, healthy non-victims, or poor-health non-victims. From the original sample of 867 students, 111 were categorised into one of the four groups, and completed a second questionnaire package. The second phase examined the relationships between these resilience groups and eight psychosocial correlates of general resilience: individual protective factors, optimism, coping, social support, social skills, self-esteem, self-concept, and emotional intelligence. The results showed that there were significant discriminators between resilient and non-resilient victims, particularly on factors such as optimism, productive coping, self-concept and self-esteem, and so cial variables. The aims of the second study were to 1) develop a cognitive-behavioural group intervention program to teach social skills, perceived social support, self-esteem, optimism, and effective coping skills, to adolescent victims of school bullying; and 2) to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention. Ten year 7 and 8 students who reported negative consequences to high levels of bullying participated in the intervention program. Results indicated that the program had positive effects on the skills and attitudes that the program targeted. The program also appeared to have positive effects on the participants' levels of victimisation and general wellbeing.