Representations of Catholicism in selected works by Colm Tóibín

The aim of this thesis is to provide an original and extensive study of Colm Tóibín as the “secular revisionist who acknowledges Catholicism as an enduring element of Irish society” (Ryan, Ireland and Scotland 251). Tóibín is uniquely placed to interpret many aspects of Ireland in the latter half of the twentieth century and I will argue that intertwined with his revisionism of Irish history is a reimagining of Ireland and Catholicism in fictive terms. An extensive amount of material from Tóibín’s time as a journalist and travel writer will feature in my research because it validates my argument concerning his prolonged engagement with Catholicism. Similarly, a broad range of Tóibín’s prose will be studied because it affords opportunities for an exploration of a literary Catholic oeuvre in his fiction. Therefore, I am emphasizing that a crucial linkage of Catholicism is identifiable throughout Tóibín’s diverse canon of work. However, I will argue that divergences of attitude and mode can be found in how Tóibín depicts Catholicism in his journalism and fiction. My argument identifies Tóibín’s recurrent journalistic questioning of the Church’s teaching and leadership but I classify a benignity towards Catholicism in his travel writing and fiction. Overall, Tóibín’s fiction merits significant status in this thesis because of the representations of Catholicism in the work of a writer who has been short-listed three times for The Booker Prize.

Legacy of unresolved legal issues on mental health

ANALYSIS The time has come for a fundamental review of the Mental Health Act 2001.

Locating the transnational: representations and aesthetics of the city in contemporary European cinemas

This thesis focuses on two Western European cinematic cities, and two unique periods of their respective nations’ histories, in a bid to “locate” the transnational within a contemporary European milieu. I argue that my geo-cinematic case studies are emblematic of broader questions of the problematics of national identity in contemporary Europe in the face of cross-national flows yet, as a result of their representations as cities both “anchored” and “in flux”, they reject a European postnational identity. Through its engagement with cinematic Rome as the “Eternal City” of Europe and cinematic Dublin as the “newly Europeanised” city, my thesis traces how representations and aesthetics of the urban spaces of these two cities correspond with the tensions at the heart of the respective eras in question. Via the figures that inhabit it, navigate it and search for it, the city is utilised to highlight fixity and mobility, centrality and dislocation, in explicit and implicit ways, amid the rapidly changing landscape of its national terrain. It is through my analyses of the filmed places and sociopolitical, socioeconomic and sociocultural spaces of these capital cities under the rubric of the transnational that this research demonstrates the “pluralities” of the construct in its cinematic manifestations. It is also my aim to evaluate the concept of cinematic transnationalism when identifying and accounting for representations of a specific national, historical timeframe, when the momentousness of the changes that occur is not bound by the national, but rather is reflective of the influence of both domestic and external forces. To this end, my thesis draws attention to instances in which the nation is shown to persist and resist dilution, arguing that it is only against the backdrop and continuity of the nation (in its evershifting guises) that the transnational can be conceived in representative and aesthetic terms.

Caregiver burden and resilience among Malaysian caregivers of individuals with severe mental illness

Little research has focused on caregiver burden experienced by Malaysian caregivers of individuals with mental illness, despite the fact that data in the Asian region shows almost threequarter of patients with mental illness live with family members. The aim of this research was to examine the levels of caregiver burden and resilience of caregivers of individuals with severe mental illness and to determine the influencing factors on caregiver burden. A quantitative, cross sectional, correlational design was used to measure burden and resilience and to explore the relationship between demographic variables, caregiver stressors, resilience and caregiver burden. This study was guided by the model of Carer Stress and Burden. Data collection was conducted over two months in summer 2014. A self-administered questionnaire that consisted of four sections measuring demographic data, primary stressors, caregiver burden and resilience was used to collect data. Two hundred and one caregivers of individuals with mental illness attending Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics in Malaysia were recruited. Samples were selected using non-probability, consecutive sampling. Factors that were found to be significantly associated with caregiver burden were caregivers’ age, gender, ethnic group, employment status, having a medical condition and current health status. The primary stressors found to be significantly associated with caregiver burden include the time spent for caregiving tasks, unavailability of support with caregiving tasks, lack of emotional support and patients’ behavioural disturbances. In addition, it was found that caregivers who were less resilient reported a higher level of caregiver burden. Findings from hierarchical multiple regression indicated that caregivers’ marital status, current health status, time spent for caregiving and resilience predicted caregiver burden. This research provides insight into caregiver burden among caregivers of individuals with mental illness in Malaysia. It highlights the important factors associated with caregiver burden and the significant role of resilience in reducing caregiver burden.