<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant to fund the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Empowerment Program, through Olive Crest, a mental health agency in Santa Ana, California. This program seeks to support adolescents with ADHD and their caregivers by educating them about this mental health disorder. The ADHD psycho-education support groups, offered in English and Spanish, will educate families on ADHD causes, symptoms, treatments, and behavioral interventions. Actual submission of this grant was not a requirement of this project.</p>

<p> There is little research addressing caregiver stress while in the hospital setting. This study sought to answer the question, Would utilization of an oncology care partner program during hospitalization increase communication and preparedness for discharge while decreasing caregiver stress? A two phase study was utilized to generate standard of care data and data resulting from the intervention. A quantitative pre and post survey method was used. Qualitative data was included from conversations between the researcher and subjects. Communication and comfort upon discharge improved with the intervention, but there was no significant change in caregiver stress levels. Though this study had a small sample size, there are positive implications for the patient, family caregiver, nurses and hospital. The utilization of such a program has merit and further research is needed to validate the findings.</p>

<p> A spinal cord injury (SCI) can be debilitating and research is necessary to examine how patients' quality of life (QOL) can be improved through both psychological and physical remedies. This study's central research question was: Does participation in surfing improve perceptions of quality oflife in an individual with spinal cord injury? By interviewing eight individuals with SCis, the researcher attempted to assess, by means of a qualitative semi-structured interviews, whether participation in surfing activities had a positive impact on the respondents' perceived QOL. Respondents experienced improved QOL as a result of their participation in surfing with the Life Rolls On foundation because they felt supported, independent, relaxed, and exhilarated. Their perceived QOL was improved by the benefits of making friends and feeling like part of a community. It was hypothesized that respondents would report psychological benefits from recreational post-injury physical activities. These findings indicate support for the hypothesis.</p>

The 'model minority' label given to Chinese populations in New Zealand and other Western countries have made it difficult to truly comprehend the difficulties faced by some Chinese ethnic minorities. Despite comparable rates and types of mental health problems to their European counterparts, identifiable barriers have led to Chinese ethnic minorities underutilising mental health services. The present study investigated the mental health service utilisation in native- and foreign-born Chinese youth in New Zealand, paying particular attention to barriers to service utilisation and viable solutions for these difficulties. It consisted of three individual projects and explored the views of Chinese community and mental health professionals and Chinese university students, comparing their perspectives to university students of other ethnicities. Findings showed that despite a willingness to seek help from their family and mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists, school counsellors), respondents identified a myriad of obstacles to the help seeking of Chinese youth. These included physical barriers (e.g., financial and transport constraints), personal barriers (e.g., stigma, problems accepting their difficulties), service barriers (e.g., paucity of knowledge regarding mental health problems and available services) and family barriers (e.g., obstruction from family members). Family and service barriers distinguished the difficulties faced by Chinese in comparison to European youth, particularly with regards to the adherence of professionals to stereotypes of Chinese youth, a unique finding of this study. In order to reduce such barriers, the Chinese university students and professionals advocated for greater education regarding mental health problems and services in the Chinese community, education for Chinese parents regarding adolescent issues, an increase in the number of practicing Chinese professionals that is coupled with improved cross-cultural training for non-Chinese professionals, as well as individual assessment and treatment approaches with Chinese youth and their families. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune syndrome characterized by a severe and rapid onset of paralysis that ascends without warning. It has an unknown aetiology and is generally unknown by most people, including medical professionals. When a person who has had GBS is asked to speak about their experience, they are likely to talk about aspects of it that are personally meaningful. Their account can be likened to a story in that it collates seemingly unconnected facts, episodes of activity and emotional attributions into a sequence that provides knowledge and understanding. A story is a powerful form for expressing suffering and experiences and so is particularly suitable for the study of trauma and illness. The actual process of creating the story, plus its presentational and organisational forms, provides sources for uncovering the identities authors choose to create and present of themselves. Six people who have had GBS were interviewed about their experience, and their stories were analysed using a narrative inquiry to discern the meanings attributed to GBS from the participants’ own understandings and perspectives. The intended focus of the research was holistic and content based. The result of the narrative inquiry was a plot common to all six narratives. Namely, GBS is an inexplicable condition, during which horrendous things happen, but people do recover with time and it is likely their life view will be changed in the process. Four fundamental issues, identity, meaning, making sense and meaningfulness were drawn from the stories and configured into a narrative of the researcher’s making. What the participants chose to speak about became the meanings, or themes, major and minor, of their stories. No event has meaning in itself, however traumatic events can precipitate crises of meaning. When these crises are viewed within the context of other events, and are perceived to add value to life, then they have meaningfulness. In the telling of meanings and meaningfulness, the purpose for storying and the audience to whom the story is directed are the criteria for which the storylines are chosen. Both the story and the storying provide opportunities for the authors to create and offer images of themselves, that are then open to interpretation by an audience. As a traumatic experience, GBS enabled six people to tell their stories. In doing so they were able to make sense of important issues for themselves, and re-examine the way they saw themselves and the world.

Family participation in residential interventions for children has been reliably shown to enhance children’s adaptation to the community following discharge. This finding, however, had predominantly been observed in long-term residential programmes in North America. This thesis examines the influence of family involvement on outcome for children in a short-term residential intervention - the Children’s Health Camp, in Auckland, New Zealand. This service offers children and families, who may be experiencing social, emotional, physical and/or behavioural challenges, individualised interventions that often include a five-week residential stay. A ‘high family involvement’ condition, a community-based programme that followed a residential intervention, was compared with a ‘low family involvement’ condition (the traditional residential programme). No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups on parent-report measures of child behaviour and parenting practices, although significant improvements in children’s behaviour (including emotional, social and conduct aspects) for both groups were found. Reasons for the lack of difference between the groups, and the difficulties inherent in conducting outcome research in a residential facility for children are highlighted. Other influences on outcome for children and families, such as residential staff members’ attitudes toward family involvement were also examined. The optimal conditions for successful short-term residential interventions for children are proposed.

Psychosis typically emerges after a heterogeneous range of premonitory symptoms. This has been labelled the ‘pre-psychotic period’ (PPP). Emotional disturbances are prominent features of this state and have shown to be risk factors for psychosis. The present study had two interrelated aims: to explore in-depth the experiential nature of the emotional changes that occur during the PPP; and to examine whether there are similarities between these pre-psychotic emotional changes and the concept of delusional atmosphere. Twelve men experiencing first-episode psychosis with delusional thought content were recruited for the study. Information regarding their emotional experiences during the PPP was gathered using a semi-structured interview format. Corroborating information about observable changes in the men’s behaviour during the PPP was also gathered from a family member or friend of theirs who had close contact with them during this time. The data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. A variety of strong emotional changes were reported during the PPP, including depression, anxiety, anger, and guilt, as well as love and happiness. Negative emotions were prominent during this time, but positive emotions were also found to be a feature of this state for some people. Overall, the PPP was characterised by an increase in distress over time. Features of delusional atmosphere that were evident during the PPP included: experiences of derealisation and the environment feeling different; anxiety and confusion and a drive to find and explanation for the changes that were being experienced; and a sense of apprehension that something significant was about to happen. The relevance of these findings to researchers and clinicians working in this area is discussed.

The 'model minority' label given to Chinese populations in New Zealand and other Western countries have made it difficult to truly comprehend the difficulties faced by some Chinese ethnic minorities. Despite comparable rates and types of mental health problems to their European counterparts, identifiable barriers have led to Chinese ethnic minorities underutilising mental health services. The present study investigated the mental health service utilisation in native- and foreign-born Chinese youth in New Zealand, paying particular attention to barriers to service utilisation and viable solutions for these difficulties. It consisted of three individual projects and explored the views of Chinese community and mental health professionals and Chinese university students, comparing their perspectives to university students of other ethnicities. Findings showed that despite a willingness to seek help from their family and mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists, school counsellors), respondents identified a myriad of obstacles to the help seeking of Chinese youth. These included physical barriers (e.g., financial and transport constraints), personal barriers (e.g., stigma, problems accepting their difficulties), service barriers (e.g., paucity of knowledge regarding mental health problems and available services) and family barriers (e.g., obstruction from family members). Family and service barriers distinguished the difficulties faced by Chinese in comparison to European youth, particularly with regards to the adherence of professionals to stereotypes of Chinese youth, a unique finding of this study. In order to reduce such barriers, the Chinese university students and professionals advocated for greater education regarding mental health problems and services in the Chinese community, education for Chinese parents regarding adolescent issues, an increase in the number of practicing Chinese professionals that is coupled with improved cross-cultural training for non-Chinese professionals, as well as individual assessment and treatment approaches with Chinese youth and their families. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Family participation in residential interventions for children has been reliably shown to enhance children’s adaptation to the community following discharge. This finding, however, had predominantly been observed in long-term residential programmes in North America. This thesis examines the influence of family involvement on outcome for children in a short-term residential intervention - the Children’s Health Camp, in Auckland, New Zealand. This service offers children and families, who may be experiencing social, emotional, physical and/or behavioural challenges, individualised interventions that often include a five-week residential stay. A ‘high family involvement’ condition, a community-based programme that followed a residential intervention, was compared with a ‘low family involvement’ condition (the traditional residential programme). No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups on parent-report measures of child behaviour and parenting practices, although significant improvements in children’s behaviour (including emotional, social and conduct aspects) for both groups were found. Reasons for the lack of difference between the groups, and the difficulties inherent in conducting outcome research in a residential facility for children are highlighted. Other influences on outcome for children and families, such as residential staff members’ attitudes toward family involvement were also examined. The optimal conditions for successful short-term residential interventions for children are proposed.

Psychosis typically emerges after a heterogeneous range of premonitory symptoms. This has been labelled the ‘pre-psychotic period’ (PPP). Emotional disturbances are prominent features of this state and have shown to be risk factors for psychosis. The present study had two interrelated aims: to explore in-depth the experiential nature of the emotional changes that occur during the PPP; and to examine whether there are similarities between these pre-psychotic emotional changes and the concept of delusional atmosphere. Twelve men experiencing first-episode psychosis with delusional thought content were recruited for the study. Information regarding their emotional experiences during the PPP was gathered using a semi-structured interview format. Corroborating information about observable changes in the men’s behaviour during the PPP was also gathered from a family member or friend of theirs who had close contact with them during this time. The data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. A variety of strong emotional changes were reported during the PPP, including depression, anxiety, anger, and guilt, as well as love and happiness. Negative emotions were prominent during this time, but positive emotions were also found to be a feature of this state for some people. Overall, the PPP was characterised by an increase in distress over time. Features of delusional atmosphere that were evident during the PPP included: experiences of derealisation and the environment feeling different; anxiety and confusion and a drive to find and explanation for the changes that were being experienced; and a sense of apprehension that something significant was about to happen. The relevance of these findings to researchers and clinicians working in this area is discussed.