Despite the recent attention to the LGBT community in the mainstream media as well as psychological research, few resources have been channeled toward the “T” in this acronym. The trans community, and gender diversity in general, have been an afterthought in research claiming to study gender and sexuality. Research on sexual minorities has been assumed to capture the experiences of this population, despite its quite distinct needs and experiences, as well as alarmingly high rates of violence and suicide. This project is a qualitative analysis of the processes and strategies trans and gender non-conforming individuals use to communicate their identity to others, and how they address barriers they face in their everyday lives. Participation was open to all trans or gender non-conforming individuals. Five individuals who identified as trans or genderqueer volunteered to participate in individual semi-structured interviews about their experiences in communicating their gender identity to others. All participants were White university students at a local mid-sized university in a rural Midwestern setting. Interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), using the process outlined by Smith and Osborn (2008). Six themes in total were pulled from the data: (1) Gender identity, (2) Barriers to communication, (3) Strategic responses, (4) Individual impacts, (5) Community politics, and (6) Coping. These results emphasized the complexity and irreducibility of trans individuals’ daily lives, demonstrating simultaneously the tremendous harm of transphobic discrimination and the strength and insight of these individuals into their own experiences. Findings supported the use of the Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 1995) in the trans population and further underscored the need for continued research on all trans individuals’ experiences, especially those who identify as non-binary, trans people of color, and trans women.

Varied academic accounts exist of the psychological and physiological benefits experienced through engagement with music. MacDonald, Kreutz and Mitchell (2012) state that there is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that music has the ability to positively affect our feelings of health and wellbeing. Despite qualitative studies into the benefits of music on older people, in particular singing, (Hallam et al, 2013; Clift et al, 2008), there has been less focus on this retired generation. In a study by Pickles (2003) into music and the ‘third age’, a plea is made for a further understanding of the musical opportunities and needs for this age group. For the first time ever there are more than ten million people now aged over 65 within the UK (UK Parliament website, 2015) and their number exceeds those under 16 (McVeigh, 2009). Contemporary studies indicate a positive correlation between good health and wellbeing with productive pastimes (Stephens & Flick, 2010; Franklin & Tate, 2009), and further evidence shows a positive correlation between those who are married and lifespan longevity (Jaffe et al 2006). This supports the need to further research the function of music as a motivational activity and its position within couple relationships in the older generation. The aim of this investigation was to explore lifelong musical engagement and its role in the wellbeing of married couples in retirement. Five retired couples who were in good health and actively engaged in musical pursuits were interviewed individually utilising an idiographic methodology, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Seeking to offer new insights into the importance of music in this key area of health, identity and social relationships each participant offered meaningful perspectives on the phenomenon being investigated. Analysis of their narratives revealed three overarching themes: i) the centrality of music throughout the lifespan, ii) music as a therapeutic tool, and iii) music in the present and its role in future selves. Significant findings showed how the use of music within the dyadic relationship facilitates a joint identity through the lifespan which continues into old age, assists social reconstruction when agency is under threat, brings positivity and respect through matched musical preferences, enriches feelings of positivity for the future as musical engagement is still possible when mobility becomes an issue, enhances feelings of togetherness, and provides joy through the provision of a legacy to future generations. Recommendations are made for future research into expanding awareness of specific areas of musical engagement which enhance a sense of wellbeing in older age couples, and increasing knowledge of its role in other age group intimate partnerships.

Aims: There is a well-established link between asthma and anxiety, leading to exacerbations for both conditions. National guidelines and policy documents recommend the provision of psychological interventions for this comorbidity, although evidence for their effectiveness is inconclusive. This thesis had two objectives: a) to evaluate cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions for reducing anxiety in adults and/or children with asthma, given that CBT has a stronger evidence base for relevant respiratory and mental health conditions, b) to explore the lived experience of the interplay between childhood asthma and anxiety directly from the affected population in order to identify specific thinking and behaviour patterns that may maintain this comorbidity. Method: The first journal article outlined a systematic review. Three major electronic databases and manual searches were used to find relevant published and unpublished research. Trials meeting inclusion criteria, primarily utilising validated anxiety measures and employing both cognitive and behavioural techniques, were evaluated using adapted quality criteria. The second empirical article implemented interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the mechanisms maintaining the interplay between asthma and anxiety as experienced by 11 young people (aged 11-15) living with the comorbidity. Results: Fourteen trials met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. The reviewed trials showed reasonable preliminary support for the effectiveness of CBT for anxiety in individuals with asthma across the age range. The favourable results were largely maintained long-term. The empirical article revealed three super-ordinate themes: i) ‘the influence of asthma’ by inhibiting valued activities or developmental tasks, triggering catastrophic thinking and leading to a generalisation of asthma coping strategies to managing anxiety; ii) ‘the influence of anxiety’ by affecting appropriate medication use and triggering hyperventilation-induced asthma exacerbations; and iii) ‘the interaction between asthma and anxiety’ by forming an unhelpful positive feedback loop and triggering symptom confusion. Conclusions: The systematic review discussed the moderate overall study quality and called for more methodologically robust research, examining CBT models tailored to this population and utilising clinically representative samples. The empirical article pointed to possible maintaining mechanisms identified, which lend themselves to a cognitive-behavioural framework, potentially including mindfulness-based interventions, and may be used to tailor psychological treatments.

This research examined how men and women experience stress and coping during the early stages ofIVF, focusing on time, gender and couples. Both members of three heterosexual couples took part separately in two or three semi-structured interviews over a six-month period, producing fourteen accounts. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to preserve participants' unique experiences alongside interpretation and generation of broader themes by the researcher. Infertility and fertility treatment were not always seen as stressful, but often as a problem to be tackled in the best way, both emotionally and practically. Stress arose from specific, time-limited issues. Participants' emotional responses were shaped by perceptions of the effect of stress on fertility, a desire to stay positive, and downward comparison with other fertility patients who were perceived to be coping poorly. Participants emphasised their choices as logical, careful decisions, weighing up multiple factors including alternatives like adoption, and temporal and financial investments. Over time, perceptions of IVF changed from a precise, technical process to one subject to luck-and chance, although the process itself was perceived as becoming easier with experience. The study was originally positioned within the transactional stress and coping model, but a self-regulatory perspective provided a better fit for the data The fmdings are linked to each model where appropriate, and the implications suggest use of the transactional model to understanding specific, time- limited events, and a self-regulatory framework to explore general fertility treatment experiences. Suggestions for future work include greater use of the self-regulatory framework to study infertility and fertility treatment; paying attention to couples' willingness to adopt in shaping infertility experiences; conducting interviews at different times during treatment cycles, and during different treatment cycles; and using alternative data gathering methods including Internet Mediated Research.

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a therapeutic modality which is commonly argued to be oriented to a medical model, and so to diverge significantly in theory and practice from the traditional relational and humanistic roots of counselling psychology. A large body of literature and research exists which examines counselling psychologists’ professional identity in medical settings, but there appears to be a significant gap in the extant literature relating to how counselling psychologists experience professional identity specifically in the practice of CBT, a therapeutic modality which presently provides a considerable amount of employment for counselling psychologists. To address this gap, the present study sought to explore qualitatively whether counselling psychologists’ experience of their professional identity is affected by the inclusion of CBT in their practice. A sample of eight counselling psychologists who worked with CBT and had been qualified for at least five years were interviewed. Data gathered from the semistructured interviews were transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a method selected because it is concerned with the detailed examination of personal lived experience and the meaning of experience to participants. The methodology was approached within the contextual constructionist epistemological framework. Three superordinate themes, each containing four subordinate themes, emerged from participants’ accounts: (i) components of professional identity; (ii) the contribution of CBT to the professional self; and (iii) how CBT compromises the professional self. The findings are discussed in relation to the relevant literature, and lines of enquiry that have emerged have been located in current postmodern literature, arguments and debates. One main conclusion of the present study is that feeling comfortable with CBT can CBT, Counselling Psychology and Professional Identity 3 depend upon practitioners’ initial training, personal experience, cultural background, personal characteristics and personal beliefs – that is, the professional self as emerging from the personal self. Clinical implications, methodological limitations, directions for future research and reflections upon the researcher’s reflexivity are presented.

Existing research has started to explore the experiences of the people around children and adults diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA). However, there are very few studies looking at the experiences of fathers, and there are less studies in relation to adults rather than children. This study aims to take an in depth look at the experiences of these fathers in order to start building our knowledge of the experiences of being the father of someone with a diagnosis of AS or HFA. Four fathers of sons and three fathers of daughters with a diagnosis of AS or HFA were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. The experiences of the fathers were explored qualitatively, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Analysis of the transcripts brought out four superordinate themes for the seven fathers. The first theme: 'The changing role but constant responsibility of being a "Father"' described the fathers' perceptions of their roles and responsibilities towards their child as they have grown up and into the future. The second theme: 'The importance of knowledge and understanding' described the importance the fathers placed on developing their understanding of their child and the need for other people to understand them and their child. The third theme: 'The intense emotional impact' came from the fathers' descriptions of the positive and negative emotional reactions to the challenges their children and families have faced. The final theme: 'The importance of good support' includes the fathers' good and bad experiences of support services and support from family and friends. The results of the analysis are discussed in relation to the existing literature and in terms of what they mean for the clinical practice of people working with fathers of children and adults with AS or HFA. The strengths and limitations of the study are also discussed.

In line with dominant Western discourses regarding mental health, research concerning the wellbeing of forced migrants has tended to take an individualistic, symptom-focused approach. Although not without value and utility, it is argued that this narrow focus has the potential to obscure other important experiences, processes and perspectives relating to forced migration, such as considering how refugees make sense of and respond to their experiences at individual and familial levels. For example, there is no known qualitative research within the UK - and little internationally - which explores how the experience of forced migration impacts upon individual and family wellbeing, from the perspective of parents. Hence the aim of this study was to widen the narrow focus regarding refugee wellbeing. A qualitative approach was adopted, with semi-structured interviews exploring the experience of fleeing home and its impact upon family life in the UK for six refugee mothers. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was selected as a suitable approach to data analysis. Three master themes emerged across participant data, namely: Loss as a constant companion to parenting; A shifting view of the self as a mother, and Taking the good with the bad in family life. A rich account of these master themes and corresponding subthemes is provided. Findings are discussed in relation to existing literature, alongside implications for clinical psychological research and practice, methodological considerations and suggestions for future research.

The aim of this thesis was to contribute to our understanding of the therapeutic relationship between clinicians and individuals who have committed sexual offences against children and adults. To do this a systematic review was carried out which explored the relationship between attachment styles and types of sexual offending to investigate whether there is an association between types of sexual offences and types of insecure attachment styles. 16 articles were identified and evaluated. The results of this review indicated that individuals who have sexually offended against children demonstrated more insecure childhood maternal and paternal attachments alongside higher rates of insecure adult attachment styles whereas individuals who have sexually offended against adults demonstrated a more variable pattern of maternal and paternal attachments. Types of sexual offending did appear to be related to different insecure attachment styles with child molesters predominantly identified as preoccupied and fearful and rapists classified as dismissing. A separate qualitative study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was also completed which explored the experiences of therapists involved in the delivery of group treatment for sexual offenders. Some of the experiences reported were similar to those outlined in previous studies (the importance of collegial support, the experience of intrusive cognitions, managing challenging characteristics of sexual offenders and the perception of being involved in protecting the public) but some were not (the prestige felt from belonging to a niche profession, the pride of pushing professional boundaries and the perception of protecting the patient and managing professional challenges) offering further insight into the possible types of experiences encountered. An awareness and appreciation for the integral role attachment status plays in sexually deviant behaviour enables clinicians to anticipate the relational dynamics that may emerge during treatment and modify interventions appropriately to facilitate effectiveness and maintain the therapeutic alliance. In addition by exploring the experiences of sex offender therapists an understanding of the ways in which the therapeutic relationship and a therapist’s sense of self may be impacted can be garnered (Hernandez, Engstom & Gangsei, 2010; Lyn & Burton, 2004) assisting individuals and organisations in ensuring that the rewards are maximised and the challenges supported and reduced.

Background: Family members of people with eating disorders are often involved in caregiving. To better understand the impact on them, outcomes such as burden, distress, and less frequently quality of life (QoL) are taken into consideration. Despite advancements in the knowledge base surrounding the experiences of adult and parental caregivers of individuals with eating disorders, particularly Anorexia Nervosa, there is a scarcity of qualitative exploration from the sibling perspective, particularly that of adolescent siblings. Objectives: The systematic review aimed to identify research and synthesise findings relating to informal caregivers’ quantitative ratings of quality of life in the context of eating disorders. The primary study aimed to explore in detail the lived experience of adolescent siblings with a brother or sister with Bulimia Nervosa or Eating-Disorder-Not-Otherwise-Specified. Method: Applying a priori inclusion and exclusion criteria to papers identified from a combination of systematic searches of electronic databases and hand searches of other pertinent literature, revealed eight studies to be included for review. Within the qualitative study, eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with siblings (aged 12-19-years) who had a brother or sister with an eating disorder. An interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was utilised to analyse interview data. Results: The review highlighted low ratings for aspects of quality of life for informal caregivers of individuals with eating disorders, and some emerging comparative and subgroup differences. Three super-ordinate themes emerged from the qualitative exploration: Sibling Identity, The Vulnerable Social ‘Self’, and Intra- and Inter-Personal Coping. Discussion: Overall the findings provide particular insight into the quality life of informal caregivers and the unique experiences, feelings and various roles of adolescent siblings of people with eating disorders. Implications regarding caregiver support and the needs of siblings specifically are considered. Strengths and limitations, as well as future research possibilities are outlined for both the systematic review and empirical study.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / In this thesis, the author explores the phenomena of attitudinal behaviour of some users (management and administrative support personnel) in the adaptation of enhanced information system applications (EISAs) during the last decade of the programme lifecycle of the Student Enrolment Management System (SEMS) programme at a South African university, hereinafter referred to as the University. Using the qualitative approach through Case Study Methodology and IPA in this research, the author uses research methods such as observation, content analysis, semi-structured interviews, case studies, or focus groups based on the lived experience of the interviewees. The outcome reveals that EISAs do not fail the users; instead the users of the systems failed to achieve the objectives of the EISAs at the University. It is found that personal beliefs and attitudes must be divorced from what the institution-wide objectives of the EISAs are. The notion of continually challenging and reworking previously agreed concepts and strategies is counter-productive and can become a very expensive exercise. This is evident if the total amount of money and effort spent on the SEMS programme is evaluated over the last decade. The general consensus reached at the conclusion of this research is that user attitude impacts the functionality of an application system. One of the fundamental issues highlighted is the state of mind of the people utilising EISAs in their daily work-related activities. It is found that a majority of administrative staff utilising the EISAs are physically present at the University but psychologically and emotionally absent whilst performing their daily student administrative duties. It would be useful to determine if they (the users) would be willing and able to radically change their behaviour to fit the ideal of rational discourse.