Using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) across cultures

DASS-21 has been validated in a number of populations such as Hispanic adults, American, British and Australian. The findings show that the DASS-21 is psychometrically sound with good reliability and validity. It is clear from the literature that the DASS-21 is a well established instrument for measuring depression, anxiety and stress in the Western world. Nonetheless, the lack of appropriate validation amongst Asian populations continues to pose concerns over the use of DASS-21 in Asian samples. Cultural variation may influence the individual’s experience and emotional expression. Thus, when researchers and practitioners employ Western-based assessments with Asian populations by directly translating them without an appropriate validation, the process can be challenging. In summary, we have conducted a series of rigorous statistical tests and minimised any potential confounds from the demographic information. The advantages of this revised DASS-18 stress scale are twofold. First, the revised DASS-18 stress scale possessed fewer items, which resulted in a cleaner factorial structure. Second, it also had a smaller inter-factor correlation. With these justifications, the revised DASS-18 stress scale is potentially more suitable for the Asian populations.

Dr. Seuss and the "Great Balancing Act" : Exploring the Ethical Places You’ll Go Within Australian Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

Stories by children’s writer Dr. Seuss have often been utilised as non-traditional narrative reflections regarding the issues of ethics and morality (Greenwood, 2000). Such case studies are viewed as effective teaching and learning tools due to the associated analytical and decision-making frameworks that are represented within the texts, and focus upon the exploration of universally general virtues and approaches to ethics (Hankes, 2012). Whilst Dr. Seuss did not create a story directly related to the sport, exercise or performance domains, many of his narratives possess psychological implications that are applicable in any situation that requires ethical consideration of the thinking and choices people make. The following exploration of the ‘ethical places you’ll go’ draws upon references to his work as a guide to navigating this interesting and sometimes challenging landscape for sport, exercise, and performance psychologists (SEPP).

Performance in the spotlight : exploring psychology in the performing arts

Sport and exercise psychologists are often sought after to apply their knowledge, skills and experience from a sporting context into other performance-related industries and endeavours. Over the past two decades, this has noticeably expanded out from a natural progression into the performing arts with other ‘typical’ performers (e.g., dancers, actors, musicians, singers) through to people who work in high pressure environments that consist of clear performance outputs and requirements that are usually linked to high impact consequences for non-achievement (e.g., lawyers, surgeons, executives, military personnel, safety professionals). Whilst these areas of application continue to increase in popularity and performance psychology is more readily recognised as an important factor in people performance across industries, the use of psychology within the performing arts continues to deepen and solidify its value as an essential and critical factor for success. This article focuses on the contribution of psychology to the performing arts that I have observed over more than 20 years – obtained through a variety of roles primarily within the dance sector including as performer, educator, health professional, researcher, commentator and senior leader.

Five minute call : where are you just before the curtain goes up

For any dancer, whether a student or professional, the five minute call is the final prompt to say ‘Get ready, you’re about to go on!’ It can be a time of cool confidence or a last minute rehearsal of steps; joking with colleagues to take your mind off the performance, or a period of overwhelming anxiety about everything that could possibly go wrong.

Psychology students’ beliefs about integrating Complementary and Alternative Therapy (CAT) into their future psychology practice

We investigated whether belief-based differences exist between students who have strong and weak intentions to integrate complementary and alternative therapy (CAT) into future psychology practice by recommending CAT or specific CAT practitioners to clients. A cross-sectional methodology was used. Psychology undergraduate students (N = 106) participated in a paper-based questionnaire design to explore their underlying beliefs related to CAT integration. The study was undertaken at a major university in Queensland, Australia. The theory of planned behaviour belief-based framework guided the study. Multivariate analyses of variance examined the influence of behavioural, normative, and control beliefs on the strong and weak intention groups. A multiple regression analysis investigated the relative importance of these belief sets for predicting intentions. We found that clear differences emerged between strong and weak intenders on behavioural and normative beliefs, but not control beliefs. Strong intenders perceived the positive outcomes of integrating CAT, such as being able to offer clients a more holistic practice and having confidence in the practitioners/practices, as more likely to occur than weak intenders, and perceived the negative outcome of compromising my professional practice as less likely. Strong in-tenders were more likely than weak intenders to perceive that a range of important referents (e.g., clients) would think they should integrate CAT. Results of the regression analysis revealed the same pattern of results in that behavioural and normative beliefs, but not control beliefs, significantly predicted intentions. The findings from this study can be used to inform policy and educational initiatives that aim to encourage CAT use in psychology practice.

University Student Depression Inventory (USDI) : confirmatory factor analysis and review of psychometric properties

Background: The 30-item USDI is a self-report measure that assesses depressive symptoms among university students. It consists of three correlated three factors: Lethargy, Cognitive-Emotional and Academic motivation. The current research used confirmatory factor analysis to asses construct validity and determine whether the original factor structure would be replicated in a different sample. Psychometric properties were also examined. Method: Participants were 1148 students (mean age 22.84 years, SD = 6.85) across all faculties from a large Australian metropolitan university. Students completed a questionnaire comprising of the USDI, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) and Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS). Results: The three correlated factor model was shown to be an acceptable fit to the data, indicating sound construct validity. Internal consistency of the scale was also demonstrated to be sound, with high Cronbach Alpha values. Temporal stability of the scale was also shown to be strong through test-retest analysis. Finally, concurrent and discriminant validity was examined with correlations between the USDI and DASS subscales as well as the LSS, with sound results contributing to further support the construct validity of the scale. Cut-off points were also developed to aid total score interpretation. Limitations: Response rates are unclear. In addition, the representativeness of the sample could be improved potentially through targeted recruitment (i.e. reviewing the online sample statistics during data collection, examining the representativeness trends and addressing particular faculties within the university that were underrepresented). Conclusions: The USDI provides a valid and reliable method of assessing depressive symptoms found among university students.

Characteristics of culturally and linguistically diverse mental health clients

The present study examined Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre (QTMHC) client characteristics in order to provide a better understanding for development of future health service delivery models. Archived data that was collected for 1499 clients over two years period (2007-2009) was analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi squares. The results indicated that clients were referred from a range of sources and were generally adults. There were more women than men, who sought services. At least half of the clients had language barriers and relied on bilingual workers. Most frequently expressed mental health issues were mood disorder symptoms, followed by symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis and anxiety. Acculturation strains and stressors were described as the most common psychosocial issues. Mental health and psychosocial issues differed for age, gender and world regions from which the CALD clients originated. The findings provided an understanding of clients who seek services at QTMHC. Various ways in which transcultural services and data bases can be further improved are discussed.

A comparison of perceived crash risk among cyclists and drivers in Brisbane

The Queensland Government has implemented strategies promoting a shift from individual car use to active transport, a transition which requires drivers to adapt to sharing the road with increased numbers of people cycling through transport network. For this to occur safely, changes in both road infrastructure and road user expectations and behaviors will be needed. Creating separate cycle infrastructure does not remove the need for cyclists to commence, cross or finish travel on shared roads. Currently intersections are one of the predominant shared road spaces where crashes result in cyclists being injured or killed. This research investigates how Brisbane cyclists and drivers perceive risk when interacting with other road users at intersections. The current study replicates a French study conducted by co-authors Chaurand and Delhomme in 2011 and extends it to assess gender effects which have been reported in other Australian cycling research. An online survey was administered to experienced cyclists and drivers. Participants rated the level of risk they felt when imagining a number of different road situations. Based on the earlier French study it is expected that perceived crash risk will be influenced both by the participant’s mode of travel and the type of interacting vehicle and perceived risk will be greater when the interaction is with a car than a bicycle. It is predicted that risk perception will decrease as the level of experience increases and that male participants will have a higher perception of skill and lower perception of risk than females. The findings of this Queensland study will provide a valuable insight into perceived risk and the traffic behaviours of drivers and cyclists when interacting with other road users and results will be available for presentation at the Congress.

Interventions for preventing abuse in the elderly (protocol)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows:The primary objective of the review is to assess the effectiveness of primary, secondary and tertiary intervention programmes utilised to reduce or prevent, or both, elderly abuse in organisational, institutional and community settings. We will also identify and report on adverse consequences or effects of the intervention/s in the review.The secondary objective is to investigate whether intervention?s effects are modified by types of abuse, types of participants, setting of intervention or cognitive status of the elderly.

Posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic depreciation as predictors of psychological adjustment

Informed by current trauma literature, this study explored the relationships between Posttraumatic Growth (PTG; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995), Posttraumatic Depreciation (PTD; Cann et al., 2010) and other post-trauma outcomes including well-being, psychological flourishing, and psychological distress. The predictive utility of PTG and PTD was also examined. The sample comprised 104 trauma survivors who completed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory – 42 (Baker et al., 2008) and several outcome measures. As expected, PTD showed strong linear correlations with well-being, flourishing and distress, and emerged as a significant predictor of scores on such measures. However, PTG showed negligible correlations with well-being, flourishing and distress. This reaffirms that PTG and PTD measure conceptually distinct and independent dimensions of experience, which has implications for therapeutic practice.

Working with refugee survivors of torture and trauma : an opportunity for vicarious posttraumatic growth

Clinical work with people who have survived trauma carries a risk of vicarious traumatisation for the service provider, but also the potential for vicarious posttraumatic growth. Despite growing interest in this area, the effects of working with survivors of refugee-related trauma have remained relatively unexplored. The aim of the current study was to examine the lived experiences of people working on a daily basis with survivors of torture and trauma who had sought refuge in Australia. Seventeen clinical, administrative, and managerial staff from a not-for-profit organisation participated in a semi-structured interview that was later analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Analysis of the data demonstrated that the entire sample reported symptoms of vicarious trauma (e.g., strong emotional reactions, intrusive images, shattering of existing beliefs) as well as vicarious posttraumatic growth (e.g., forming new relationships, increased self-understanding, greater appreciation of life). Moreover, effortful meaning making processes appeared to facilitate such positive changes. Reduction in the risks associated with this work, enhancement of clinician well-being, and improvement of therapeutic outcomes is a shared responsibility of the organisation and clinician. Without negating the distress of trauma work, clinicians are encouraged to more deeply consider the unique positive outcomes that supporting survivors can provide.

A salutogenic approach to healing following child sexual assault

Decades of research has now produced a rich description of the destruction child sexual assault (CSA) can cause in an individual’s life. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dissociative Identity Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, anxiety, Panic Disorder, intimacy issues, substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidal ideation and attempts, are some of the negative outcomes that have been attributed to this type of traumatic experience. Psychology's tendency to dwell within a pathological paradigm, along with popular media who espouse a similar rhetoric, would lead to the belief that once exposed to CSA, an individual is forever at the mercy of dealing with a massive array of accompanying negative effects. While the possibility of these outcomes in those who have experienced CSA is not at all denied, it is also timely to consider an alternative paradigm that up until now has received a paucity of attention in the sexual assault literature. That is to say, not only do people have the ability to work through the painful and personal impacts of CSA, but for some people the process of recovery may provide a catalyst for positive life changes that have been termed post-traumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1995). To begin with in this chapter, the negative sequale’ of childhood sexual assault it discussed initially. Inherent to this discussion are questions of measurement and definitions of sexual assault. The chapter highlights ways in which the term CSA has been defined and hence operationalised in research, and the myriad problems, confusions, and inconclusive findings that have plagued the sexual assault literature. Following this is a review of the sparse literature that has conceptualised CSA from a more salutogenic (Antonovsky, 1979) theoretical orientation. It is argued that a salutogenic approach to intervention and to research in this area, provides a more useful way of promoting healing and the gaining of wisdom, but importantly does not negate the very real distress that may accompany growth. This chapter will then present a case study to elucidate the theoretical and empirical literature discussed using the words of a survivor. Finally, the chapter concludes with implications for therapeutic practice, which includes some practical ways in which to promote adaptation to life within the context of having survived this insidious crime.

Exploring the process of meaning making in healing after childhood sexual assault : a case study approach

Childhood sexual assault (CSA) is one of the most devastating of all traumatic experiences with population studies documenting survivors experiencing higher levels of pathology than general trends in survivors of other traumatic experiences. Yet recent research has demonstrated that far from being permanently crippled by their experiences, many adult survivors of CSA manage to heal and move forward in their lives to experience a rich and fulfilling existence. In this paper two case studies are presented to provide a detailed account of how a person who has experienced CSA may find a pathway to healing. Moreover, data demonstrates that meaning making, spiritual or otherwise, is a pivotal part of acceptance of CSA and ensuing growth. The case studies highlight the unique journeys of two women and the underlying similarities in their pathway to healing. Clinical implications of the research are discussed and specific strategies for encouraging healing and growth are outlined.

Effects of schedule pressure on construction performance

Accelerating a project can be rewarding. The consequences, however, can be troublesome if productivity and quality are sacrificed for the sake of remaining ahead of schedule, such that the actual schedule benefits are often barely worth the effort. The tradeoffs and paths of schedule pressure and its causes and effects are often overlooked when schedule decisions are being made. This paper analyses the effects that schedule pressure has on construction performance, and focuses on tradeoffs in scheduling. A research framework has been developed using a causal diagram to illustrate the cause-and-effect analysis of schedule pressure. An empirical investigation has been performed by using survey data collected from 102 construction practitioners working in 38 construction sites in Singapore. The results of this survey data analysis indicate that advantages of increasing the pace of work—by working under schedule pressure—can be offset by losses in productivity and quality. The negative effects of schedule pressure arise mainly by working out of sequence, generating work defects, cutting corners, and losing the motivation to work. The adverse effects of schedule pressure can be minimized by scheduling construction activities realistically and planning them proactively, motivating workers, and by establishing an effective project coordination and communication mechanism.

The deep trauma of secondary victimisation : parents of sex offenders

The publication of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) introduced the notion that a life-threatening illness can be a stressor and catalyst for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Since then a solid body of research has been established investigating the post-diagnosis experience of cancer. These studies have identified a number of short and long-term life changes resulting from a diagnosis of cancer and associated treatments. In this chapter, we discuss the psychosocial response to the cancer experience and the potential for cancer-related distress. Cancer can represent a life-threatening diagnosis that may be associated with aggressive treatments and result in physical and psychological changes. The potential for future trauma through the lasting effects of the disease and treatment, and the possibility of recurrence, can be a source of continued psychological distress. In addition to the documented adverse repercussions of cancer, we also outline the recent shift that has occurred in the psycho-oncology literature regarding positive life change or posttraumatic growth that is commonly reported after a diagnosis of cancer. Adopting a salutogenic framework acknowledges that the cancer experience is a dynamic psychosocial process with both negative and positive repercussions. Next, we describe the situational and individual factors that are associated with posttraumatic growth and the types of positive life change that are prevalent in this context. Finally, we discuss the implications of this research in a therapeutic context and the directions of future posttraumatic growth research with cancer survivors. This chapter will present both quantitative and qualitative research that indicates the potential for personal growth from adversity rather than just mere survival and return to pre-diagnosis functioning. It is important to emphasise however, that the presence of growth and prevalence of resilience does not negate the extremely distressing nature of a cancer diagnosis for the patient and their families and the suffering that can accompany treatment regimes. Indeed, it will be explained that for growth to occur, the experience must be one that quite literally shatters previously held schemas in order to act as a catalyst for change.