School of Psychology
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- Publication11.12 - Clinical Psychology Responses to the Climate Crisis(Elsevier Ltd, 2022)
; Intervention in issues related to climate change is becoming a defined area of practice for clinical psychologists, with general competencies and a potential for specialization. Our chapter is a collaboration among several psychologists engaged in climate and environment-related research and practice. We synthesize findings and practices from climate science, environmental psychology, environmental justice, psychotherapy, health psychology, and international perspectives. The field of clinical psychology is primed to respond to the climate crisis by creatively applying knowledge of mental health and functioning and the delivery of just, culturally appropriate, and empirically supported treatments and therapies.
- PublicationThe 2019-2020 bushfires and COVID-19: The ongoing impact on the mental health of people living in rural and farming communities(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, 2021-02)
; ; ; ; ; - Publication2:0 for the Good Guys: Character Information Influences Emotion PerceptionPrevious research has demonstrated that facial social category cues influence emotion perception such that happy expressions are categorized faster than negative expressions on faces belonging to positively evaluated social groups. We examined whether character information that is experimentally manipulated can also influence emotion perception. Across two experiments, participants learned to associate individuals posing neutral expressions with positive or negative acts. In a subsequent task, participants categorized happy and angry expressions of these same individuals as quickly and accurately as possible. As predicted, a larger happy face advantage emerged for individuals associated with positive character information than for individuals associated with negative character information. These results demonstrate that experimentally manipulated evaluations of an individual’s character are available quickly and affect early stages of face processing. Emotion perception is not only influenced by preexisting attitudes based on facial attributes, but also by information about a person that has been recently acquired.
- PublicationAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander utilisation of the Quitline service for smoking cessation in South Australia(CSIRO Publishing, 2013)
; - PublicationAboriginal child and adolescent mental health: a rural worker training model
Objective: The Third National Mental Health Plan places a strong emphasis on the development of an Aboriginal mental health workforce. This paper documents the establishment, implementation and initial evaluation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child and Adolescent Mental Health Traineeship Program, a partnership initiative involving Hunter New England Area Health Service (HNEAHS), Hunter New England Aboriginal Mental Health (HNEAMH) and the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW), with guidance and input from additional collaborators.
Conclusions: The program includes: (i) employment as a child and adolescent mental health worker and professional support and supervision through HNEAHS; (ii) a mentoring program provided through HNEAMH; (iii) formal academic studies in Aboriginal Mental Health; and (iv) a clinical education and supervision program conducted through the Department of Psychological Medicine, CHW. Initial feedback suggests that this is a promising program to train Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health workers. Further evaluation will provide information about its viability and effective-ness in providing an integrated, collaborative child and adolescent mental health service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. - PublicationAboriginal EnglishAboriginal English is the name given to the dialectal varieties of English spoken by the majority of Aboriginal people throughout Australia. Malcolm (e.g. 2008a) reports that the origins of Aboriginal English varieties are diverse. The most important influence in many regions was the earlier pidgin language known as Aboriginal Pidgin English (also called NSW Pidgin, see Meakins (this volume) for further discussion), which resulted from contact between Aboriginal people in the Sydney area and the British settlers beginning in the late 18th century (see Malcolm 2000c; Troy 1994). Malcolm (2000c) reports that the input for this pidgin language included 18th-century varieties of British English, local Aboriginal languages, and English-based contact language varieties from maritime sources, such as whaling. In parts of northern Australia, Aboriginal English may have developed instead from decreolisation of varieties of the Aboriginal creole language, Kriol. And in some regions Aboriginal English may be the result of the Aboriginalisation of English, without significant influence from pidgin or creole varieties. Malcolm (2008a: 127) explains that the "strong resemblances between Aboriginal English varieties Australia-wide, and their maintenance as distinct from Australian English, suggest that to a large extent convergence has taken place upon an agreed ethnolect."
- PublicationAboriginal English in the criminal justice systemThe participation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system in Australia has been one of considerable public discourse and concern over the past fifteen years, with Aboriginal people being greatly overrepresented in police custody and prison. Concerns over this situation contributed to the establishment of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody between 1987-1991, which made over 300 recommendations, addressing issues ranging from conditions in prisons, to far-reaching social, educational and health matters (RCIADC 1991).
- PublicationAboriginal Offender Rehabilitation Programs
This chapter highlights the ongoing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the criminal justice system and emphasises an urgent need for the development of appropriate responses to this problem. A key response to this issue is through the provision of culturally secure, relevant and effective rehabilitation programs for Aboriginal people within the criminal justice system. This chapter proposes an Aboriginal psychological approach to the development, implementation and delivery of culture-specific rehabilitation programs to reduce re-offending and Aboriginal people’s contact with the criminal justice system. It will outline how such an approach, which is grounded in Aboriginal Law and culture, can also accommodate standard therapeutic techniques and approaches based on the ‘what works’ literature and the key principles for effective intervention outlined in the Risk, Needs and Responsivity Model.
- PublicationAboriginal Ways of Using EnglishThe majority of Australian Aboriginal people speak some kind of English. But often this is not quite the same as English spoken by other Australians. This book presents results of sociolinguistic research about Aboriginal ways of using English in non-remote Australia, by bringing together a number of my publications over a thirty-year period. The focus is on language and communication of Aboriginal people who speak English as their first and main language, and who do not speak a traditional language fluently.
- PublicationAbraham Flexner and Robbert Dijkgraaf (2017) The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey. 104 pages. ISBN: 9780691174761The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the most prestigious, exclusive research centers in the world, at least in pure mathematics and mathematical, theoretical physics. It was catapulted into world recognition in 1933 with the hiring of Einstein as one of its first professors. The faculty hold lifetime positions, have no teaching or publication requirements, and few committee obligations. he Institute currently supports some 200 visiting ‘Members’ and ‘Visitors’ each year, among whom are some of the world’s most promising post-doctoral students. It is a private institute, it gives no degrees, and is supported by endowments, grants, and gifts, and, to some extent, by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
- PublicationAbsorption, Fantasy Proneness, and Trance: Dissociative Pathways of Affective Self-Regulation in Trauma(2012)
; ; This thesis set out to investigate the role of dissociation in the human response to traumatic events. The overarching aim was to determine if different forms of exposure to trauma are related to an individual's ability to employ dissociations in experience to self-regulate emotional responses. The role of individual differences in the related personality traits of absorption, fantasy proneness, and imagery ability in generating trance-like dissociations of experience are examined by combining trait questionnaire measures with state measures of the phenomenology of trance, a condition characterised by dissociations in experience. Findings are applied to investigate the role of dissociation in the relationship between recollections of childhood trauma and adults' emotional responses (e.g., skin conductance and heart rate variability) to images of traumatic events. Finally, the dissociation-related neural processes implementing affective self-regulation in trauma exposed adults are examined in an experimental electroencephalographic study. Study 1 examined the structure of experience while responding to a standardised trance induction. Exploratory factor analysis on the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) determined five factors of trance experience named Altered Awareness, Negative Affect, Self-Control, Positive Affect, and Imagery. - PublicationAbsorption-PCI Testing ProcedureThis script is one that can be used as a normal induction in clinical settings and you might deepen the trance by inserting the word 'hypnosis' in suitable places, if you wish to do so for those clients who need to know they are going to be hypnotised. The script was specifically designed for experimental sessions, such as its use with the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) (Pekala, Wenger, & Levine, 1985).
- PublicationAbstract 5114: The role of microvesicles on immune function in response to cancer
Cell to cell communication is vital for the co-ordination of physiological process and the regulation of an organism's phenotype. More recently communication via extracellular membrane vesicles has gained recognition. We first described a novel mechanism for the spread and dominance of multidrug resistance (MDR) and enhanced metastatic capacity in cancer via submicron microparticles (MPs). MPs are plasma membrane vesicles released spontaneously from various cell types, carrying bioactive material and are implicated in different physiological and pathophysiological processes. Through this communication apparatus, cancer cells can acquire and secure a survival advantage by various mechanisms. This study aims to examine a role of MPs in altering immune cell function in cancer.
The effects of MPs isolated from human breast cancer cells were examined on antigen presenting cells (APC) in vitro. MP-mediated effects on cell phenotype and functionality was assessed by cytokine profiling and migration assay. We observed a cancer cell induced change in immune cell phenotype and functionality which have the potential to support a reduced global immune response in cancer. The elucidation of this pathway provides novel therapeutic strategies which can be exploited for the treatment of cancer.
- PublicationAbstract 5306: Microparticles as novel prognostic markers in multiple myeloma(American Association for Cancer Research, 2015-08-01)
; - PublicationAbstract B19: Functional translation of total RNA packaged in microparticles shed from multidrug resistant cancer cells(American Association for Cancer Research, 2015-02-13)
- PublicationAbstract B52: A novel personalized therapeutic management in multiple myeloma(American Association for Cancer Research, 2015-02-13)
- PublicationThe Academic Development Study of Australian Twins (ADSAT): Research Aims and Design(Cambridge University Press, 2020-06-02)
; ; ; - PublicationAcademic psychologists' perspectives on the human research ethics review processAcademic staff members at 18 randomly selected Australian schools of psychology responded to evaluation questions about the human research ethics review process at their university. Most of the 86 respondents rated the process at their university as working well and gave positive ratings for the clarity and reasonableness of ethics decisions and for the informal guidance provided by the ethics review committee. Ratings were lower for timeliness and predictability of decisions, and for the openness of the committee to suggestions. Written comments by respondents suggested 14 matters of concern, such as that the ethics committee uses guidelines inappropriate for psychological research, goes beyond its expertise, prevents harmless research, makes arbitrary decisions, is not accountable to researchers, and refuses to allow payment of participants. Respondents at seven universities mentioned that they had fast-track, in-school review for low-risk research. Respondents at these universities gave significantly higher total ratings of the review process.
- PublicationAcceptability and feasibility of telehealth as a training modality for trainee psychologist placements: a COVID-19 response study(Taylor & Francis, 2022)
; ; ; ; ; Objective
This study examined the extent to which telehealth placements are feasible for developing perceived competence as a psychologist and are an acceptable training modality for provisional psychologists.
Method
Fifteen provisional psychologists who undertook a postgraduate placement using telehealth completed an online survey. Acceptability and attitudes towards future telehealth service provision were assessed via Likert scales and open-ended questions. Feasibility was assessed via comparison using Wilcoxon Rank Signed tests of pre- and post-placement self-efficacy using the Psychology Counsellor Self-Efficacy Scale. Open-ended questions were analysed using content analysis.
Results
Participants reported high satisfaction with the telehealth placement. Perceived self-efficacy improved between pre- and post-placement on all competencies except for research. Students reported that a telehealth placement enabled them to improve in all areas, with particular benefits including rapport building, therapeutic questioning, and management of safety and ethical concerns. Challenges of a telehealth placement included assessing mental status, isolation from peers, and technical difficulties. Students reported positive attitudes towards future use of telehealth.
Conclusions
Telehealth appears to offer an acceptable, feasible and valuable training experience for developing competence for provisional psychologists. Undertaking a telehealth placement may help prepare clinicians for future use of telehealth, especially in relation to ethics and risk management.