Search

Little research has investigated professional identity in Australian clinical psychology postgraduate students. The current study examined potential predictors of professional identity for these students. Anonymous, self-report cross-sectional surveys for Australian postgraduate clinical psychology students were distributed via online survey links sent by their institution's Program Director. Respondents reported professional identity, motivation, engagement, satisfaction with program, resilience, burnout, demographics, and enrolment type. Data from 77 respondents were analysed. Students reported an average 4.25/5 for sense of professional identity as a psychologist. Age, work experience, and stage of program were not associated with professional identity. In multivariate analyses, higher student satisfaction, lower burnout, and lower engagement with "student" aspects of postgraduate study were associated with stronger professional identity. Levels of professional identity were relatively high and showed little influence of demographic variables. However, there is likely to be a reciprocal relationship between satisfaction with postgraduate study and professional identity for students, which would need to be evaluated in a different design to understand directions of association. Results also suggest that supporting postgraduate students in self-care and helping students to balance professional responsibilities and academic aspects of study are likely to assist in fostering postgraduates' professional identity. What is already known about this topic: Professional identity provides a sense of self in relation to membership of a specific profession. Students in health and social services professions, including psychology, have demonstrated emerging professional identities in their areas of study. In working professionals, professional identity has been found to be important for wellbeing and for relationships with colleagues and clients. What this paper adds: Professional identity amongst a sample of Australian postgraduate students in clinical psychology was independent of demographic variables such as age, gender, and previous work experience. Stronger professional identity in the current sample correlated with higher satisfaction with the program of study and lower level of burnout. In multivariate analysis, higher satisfaction with the program of study, lower burnout, and lower engagement with "academic" aspects of the program each independently predicted higher level of professional identity. From these cross-sectional findings, potential causal associations between predictors and professional identity remain to be clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluate the utility of brief online training for facilitating mental health professionals' perceived knowledge, confidence, and comfort in working with non-binary clients, and building positive attitudes. Baseline participants were 79 Australian registered mental health professionals, of whom 38 completed online training and a one-week follow-up assessment. Participants completed an assessment of attitudes, comfort, confidence, and perceived knowledge pertaining to non-binary people before and after completing online training. The training (30-minute average completion time) provided information on non-binary people's lives using text, images, embedded video, and links to optional resources. Follow-up measures completed one-week post-intervention indicated engagement in the training may lead to increased perceived knowledge, confidence and comfort. Attitudes were positive at baseline and were not significantly different at follow-up. Providing brief online training for working with non-binary people in mental health might improve practitioner perceived knowledge, confidence and competence at low cost and with easy access. Future research is required to account for limitations and build on current outcomes. Key Points What is already known on this topic: Little is known about the effects of brief online training regarding non-binary genders on mental health practitioner's attitudes, confidence, comfort, and perceived knowledge. Previous research has shown that brief training can increase positive attitudes for, knowledge of, behavioural intent, and cultural competence for working with sexual and gender minorities, though has not specifically focused on non-binary people. Previous literature has highlighted positive associations between practitioner knowledge and the well-being of non-binary people accessing health services. What this paper adds: This paper adds to the ongoing genesis of options for training mental health practitioners about non-binary people and relevant issues. Findings suggest beneficial outcomes from both prior professional training in this area and the brief training used in the study. The brief online training used in the study was associated with higher perceived knowledge, confidence, and comfort for working with non-binary clients, but further research is needed to understand reasons for change in these variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Given Australia's rapidly ageing population, demand for neuropsychological assessment to assist with the diagnosis and treatment/management of dementia and stroke will increase. Accurate and reliable neuropsychological assessment is dependent on the availability of appropriate normative data. Although more than a quarter of the Australian population comprises culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) individuals, there have been no CALD‐specific normative studies published in Australia to date. The primary purpose of the current study was to collect norms on Australia's largest and one of its fastest growing CALD groups, Chinese Australians. Other aims included delineation of the influence of demographic factors and assessment of reliability coefficients of neuropsychological test scores for Chinese Australians. Method: A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to N = 145 community dwelling Chinese Australians aged 55–87 years with the assistance of Chinese‐speaking interpreters. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant influence of demographic factors across most test scores and norms were provided by the relevant stratifications. The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Third Edition (WAIS‐III) Digit Symbol Coding (DSC) emerged as the most reliable tests for use with Chinese Australians. Conclusion: The influence of demographic variables and reliability coefficients of neuropsychological tests developed for dominant western cultural groups cannot be assumed to be the same across CALD groups. Use of CALD‐specific norms is recommended to increase the reliability and validity of neuropsychological testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Self‐kindness, which is thought to be part of self‐compassion, has the potential to contribute to mental health, as well as serve as a focus for interventions. However, little attention has been given to the potential role of self‐kindness specifically, especially in the context of mindful presence and available social support, in buffering distress. Method: Structural equation modelling was used to test a theoretically based model of how these factors relate to each other and psychological distress. Participants were 592 Australian university students. Results: Results confirmed our hypotheses, showing that: (a) receiving social support is important to the capacity for self‐kindness both directly and indirectly through the ability to “be present,” and (b) the relationship between social support and psychological distress is partially mediated by the practices of self‐kindness and being present. The model of social support, being present, and self‐kindness accounted for half the variance in psychological distress. With the addition of stressors, a regression model explained a total of 62% of the variance. Conclusions: These findings have implications for understanding the construct of self‐kindness and its role in the development of interventions to improve student success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The aim of this study was to explore the preferred acculturation strategies adopted by Indian subcontinental adolescents living in Australia. The study also examined the demographic, ethnocultural, and psychological factors that could influence subcontinental migrant groups' attitudes towards acculturation and their acculturation strategies. Method A cross-sectional design was used in which the dependent variables were the four acculturation strategies. Multivariate data analysis was conducted. Pearson's correlation, analysis of variance, and step-wise multiple regression analyses were performed to establish the relationships among the study variables. Results Integration was the most preferred strategy and marginalisation was the least preferred strategy for all ethnic groups. Acculturation preferences are predicted partly by the adolescents' ethnicity, their ethnic identity, friendship choices, acculturative stress, sense of mastery (self-concept) and gender. The findings provide significant information on the acculturation practices of Indian subcontinental adolescents, including their ethnic identity search and commitment, their psychological well-being and their integration strategies. Conclusions Educational institutions could benefit from increased awareness of the needs of these culturally diverse groups, especially if this information is incorporated into teacher training materials. The inclusion of intercultural relations courses in the academic curriculum would promote harmonious relations between culturally diverse ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Type- D personality is a construct that describes a tendency to simultaneously experience negative emotions and inhibit self-expression for fear of negative social judgement. The link between type- D and poor health outcomes may be partly mediated by two prominent psychosocial mechanisms, poor-quality health-related behaviour and poor perceived-social support. Method The present study replicated and extended a 2008 UK and Irish prevalence study, utilising a sample from the Australian general population. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between type- D personality and subjective levels of social support, health-related behaviours and neuroticism, as well as examining the estimated prevalence rate of type- D in the general Australian population. Nine hundred and fifty five Australian participants over the age of 18 (194 male and 761 female) completed four measures assessing levels of type- D personality, quality of health-related behaviours, perceived-social support and neuroticism. Results As hypothesised, the estimated prevalence rate was not found to be significantly different from the rate obtained by Williams et al. (2008). In addition, type- D individuals reported significantly lower perceived-social support and poorer-quality health behaviours than non-type- D individuals. Conclusions The results of this study provide further support for the association of type- D personality with poor health-related behaviours and poor perceived-social support, as well as demonstrating the applicability of the type- D construct to the Australian general population for the first time. General healthcare applications are discussed, as well as the potential for type- D personality research to influence public illness prevention in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the role of emotion regulation and reinforcement sensitivity in dysfunctional eating behaviours. Two hundred twenty-eight adults from the Australian community completed self-report inventories assessing the variables. Dysfunctional restrained eaters differed from those who did not engage in restrained eating in terms of their emotion regulation, impulsivity, and sensitivity to reward. Difficulties in emotion regulation, low impulsivity, and sensitivity to reward predicted engagement in restrained eating. Emotional eaters significantly differed from those who did not engage in dysfunctional levels of emotional eating in terms of their emotion regulation, impulsivity, and sensitivity towards reward, and difficulties in emotion regulation predicted emotional eating. Finally, dysfunctional external eaters differed from non-dysfunctional external eaters in terms of their emotion regulation, impulsivity, sensitivity towards reward, as well as sensitivity towards punishment, and difficulties with emotion regulation and sensitivity towards reward predicted external eating. These findings highlight the importance of the inclusion of emotional functioning in models of development and maintenance of eating disorders, and support the potential implementation of treatment interventions that address emotion regulation and include strategies to cope with impulsivity and reinforcement sensitivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian population is experiencing a rapid ageing of the population, and as such, an increased need for gerontological practitioners in the helping professions will continue to grow. Terror management theory ( TMT), which was used to frame this study, posits that because of the fact that humans are aware of their own mortality, they are compelled to avoid the anxiety associated with it. Personal ageing and interaction with older adults may be reminders of the unavoidable decline and death that faces us all. The purpose of this study is to examine comfort in spending time with older adults amongst students, academic teaching staff, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and social work. We sought to determine if TMT helped predict fear of being with older adults. Ageism, contact with older adults, and known demographic factors associated with attitudes towards older adults were also examined. Hierarchical multiple regression explained nearly 46% of the variance in comfort with older adults and indicated that fear of ageing, positive ageism, negative ageism, contact with older adults, and sex were significant predictors. Educational efforts aimed at addressing beliefs about ageing and older adults may contribute to further comfort in working with older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical neuropsychologists are increasingly involved in delivering psychological interventions to people with neurological conditions. This is a key competency for accredited Australian postgraduate neuropsychology courses; however it is not clear how effective courses are in preparing neuropsychologists to deliver interventions. The study aims were to (a) determine the frequency and confidence with which particular types of interventions are delivered by Australian neuropsychologists, (b) examine the availability of opportunities to deliver interventions on clinical placements, (c) identify barriers to delivering interventions in current workplaces; and (d) determine which factors influence the frequency and confidence with which neuropsychologists deliver interventions. An online survey was completed by 114 participants who had graduated from a postgraduate neuropsychology program. Results indicated that respondents delivered different intervention types with varying frequency. They reported limited opportunities to practice these interventions on placements. The majority wanted to be doing more interventions, with lack of time, resources, and adequate training being the major barriers. There were several significant relationships between the frequency and confidence with which respondents delivered interventions and the perceived quality of their postgraduate training. These results highlight the need to consider appropriate postgraduate training options in delivery of interventions, including increasing opportunities to practice interventions on placements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents normative data for the Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test ( RAVLT). A representative sample of 390 healthy young adults aged between 18 and 34 living within the Sydney metropolitan area, Australia, completed Form AB of the RAVLT as part of the Macquarie University Neurological Normative Study. Retest data were collected from a subsample of 98 participants after an interval of 1 year. Norms were derived for commonly used measures of the RAVLT and are presented for the whole sample as well as separately for males and females with different levels of education. Age was not found to impact significantly on test performance for this group of young adults, and therefore age-adjusted norms are not provided. An excel program to calculate RAVLT standard scores (mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3) can be downloaded from http://www.psy.mq.edu.au/RAVLT. Poor test-retest reliability raises concerns about the use of the RAVLT in clinical diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weiner's attribution theory was used to examine the attributions made by recruiters during a selection interview and their subsequent hiring decisions. A quasi-experimental design was used in which level of ability (high, low) and effort (high, low) was manipulated. The impact of the manipulations on three outcomes was examined: (1) expectations of future job performance, (2) perceived level of responsibility for the failure, and (3) hiring recommendations. Seventy experienced recruiters from an Australian organisation read four transcripts of interview segments about a job applicant's response to missing a deadline. Findings were consistent with attribution theory; recruiters detected differences in the causes of past work outcomes offered by applicants, which in turn affected their expectations about future work performance, responsibility for failure, and recommendations to hire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to compare rates of depressive and anxious symptoms among older adults with and without diabetes. The study also examines differences in depression, anxiety, and diabetes-related emotional distress between middle-aged and older adults with diabetes. A total of 224 participants completed a range of questionnaires measuring depression, anxiety, and diabetes-related emotional distress (if applicable). One hundred and three adults with diabetes (55 middle-aged, mean age = 47 years, range 40-59 years and 48 older, mean age = 69 years, range 60-81 years) were recruited from a tertiary diabetes clinic. One hundred and twenty-one adults without diabetes (72 middle-aged, mean age = 52 years, range 40-59 years and 49 older, mean age = 65 years, range 60-76 years) were recruited from either a university student pool or a registry of adults aged 50 and above. Older adults with diabetes had significantly higher levels of depression and comparable levels of anxiety with older adults without diabetes. Older adults with diabetes had significantly lower levels of depression, anxiety, and diabetes-related distress than middle-aged adults with diabetes. Diabetes is associated with high rates of depression and anxiety, with middle-aged adults more adversely affected than older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine occurrence of romantic relationships and relationship break-ups among young adults in Hong Kong and Australia and to explore associations between relationship style, identity status, negative affect, cultural group, and relationship experiences. Data were collected from Chinese tertiary students in Hong Kong ( n = 279) and Anglo-Australian tertiary students in Melbourne, Australia ( n = 204). Participants completed a questionnaire including demographics, romantic relationship items, the Love Schemas Scale measuring romantic relationship style, the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Secure relationship style and more mature identity statuses were associated with having had a romantic relationship. Among those young people with romantic relationship experience, break-ups were less common for those with a foreclosed identity status, skittish (avoidant) relationship style, and Hong Kong Chinese background. Negative mood was higher among those for whom a break-up had been recent. Hurt experienced following a break-up was greater when the break-up was partner initiated and among those with less secure relationship styles and identity statuses. Overall, individual factors were stronger predictors of relationship status than cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earliest characterisation of Australian sex offenders subjected to post-sentence legislation is presented. Demographic, developmental, clinical, and criminal characteristics were obtained for sex offenders under post-sentence orders in Western Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. Data on 50 offenders were recorded from psychological and psychiatric risk assessment reports statutorily required at the initiation of post-sentence legal proceedings. The findings describe a group of demonstrably dangerous men who exhibited an early onset of sexual offending, high rates of mental disorder, sexual deviance, and antisociality. Their developmental histories are characterised by early deprivation, disadvantage, abuse, early exposure to substance abuse, and social and psychological dislocation. These offenders present a conundrum to criminal justice agencies. They are an objectively unfortunate group and have engaged in significantly harmful behaviours. However, the early onset of their offending suggests that early intervention services, such as those offered by mental health professionals, have a critically important role to play in any effort to alter offending trajectories such as those exhibited in this sample. A paradigm shift in public policy from a post hoc model to a well-resourced preventative and public health approach to the problem of sexual violence is proposed. Broad treatment implications are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed analysis of the different sectors of the psychology workforce was conducted as part of the National Psychology Workforce Survey: Independent Private Practice (IPP), Employed in Public Sector (EPuS) and Employed in Private Sector (EPrS). A total of 11,897 psychologists responded to the workforce survey, a response rate of 48%. Of these 8,086 were fully registered and currently working in a psychology role. Sectors were compared on a range of practice characteristics and differences were explored using a series of ANOVAs and post-hoc analyses. Results of analyses revealed qualitative differences between the three sectors. Strategies for maintaining the employed workforce were also collected and are reported to be as much about increasing work satisfaction and support for professional and development opportunities as about salary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective data on the training profiles of Australian psychologists is scarce, despite important reforms across the higher education sector. This study aimed to profile Australian psychological training leading to registration. Universities, Registration Boards and registrants were profiled during 2008. Results revealed that there were 1063 postgraduate places a year across 34 university postgraduate training programs, with two thirds of places in clinical psychology. However, half of psychologists do not undertake postgraduate training, but undertake four years of university psychology followed by a 2 year internship (4+2) to make up the minimum standard for registration of 6 years training. Those with over 6 years of university training tended to work more in clinical, university or specialised areas of practice, whereas those with 4+2 were more likely to work in schools and general counselling. One quarter of psychologists are College members and 13% have doctoral qualifications. Analysis revealed a workforce that is actively engaged in ongoing professional development, supervision and further training. The profession has grown steadily in size by 6.24% per annum over the past 8 years and this presents a challenge for increasing the supply of postgraduate training places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]