Biopsychosocial life-span perspective of menopause

Examines the role of biological, psychological and social factors within the individual menopausal experiences of women and the aging process. Sexual function, well-being, role, interpersonal relationships and body image were researched in a series of thre studies in a community sample of women aged 35 to 65 years.

Development in Papua New Guinea : various meanings in the context of logging in West New Britain

Development in Papua New Guinea ... is research into village level issues of logging. In New Britain, nationals are offered royalties for cutting their rainforest. Information about ecology and biodiversity is usually late in coming, and such information to them does not appear to advance their development. This thesis offers the most specific method for dealing with small communities in Papua New Guinea, and confronts the issue of self development. It is posited that all other development must encourage self development in Papua New Guinea. Evidence brought here shows the need to make the Melanesian community central to development strategies.

To accomplish such a strategy, there is a need to consider Melanesian cultures. An explanation of world views ensues. The world views of people of the Pasismanua region, of New Britain's south coast, was compared broadly with Melanesian cultures and Melanesian development in a variety of circumstances. Consequently, the suggestions made are broadly applicable to situations where resources must be well monitored. There are many such situations in Pacific nations, which suggests that the thesis will be of usc to a wide research community.

Since research is grounded in ethnographic as well as other research, this kind of study generates many other research questions, and the research is designed to lead to other studies. Certain aspects of the design become disclosed when the research has progressed. As well, the background of an expatriate researcher is intrusive, and must be mitigated by some form of participation in the host culture. This is a central tenet of the thesis. This participation increases sensitivity to culture and yields a circumspect consideration of the colonial issue. Occupied for many years by colonial powers especially Australia, all New Guinea including West New Britain shows the effects of colonisation. It also shows evidence of the new colonialism of cash-cropping, and of the destruction of biodiversity. This becomes a central theme, as does the position of this researcher as a participant in a global economic culture encroaching on and invited by Papua New Guinea.

Opiate dependent individuals' perceptions and experiences of methadone and rapid opiate detoxification treatments

Examines opiate dependent individuals' experiences and perceptions of methadone and other treatment programs to provide an insight into the process of reducing and/or ceasing heroin use. The findings indicated a need for a more inclusive model of care that values individual circumstances, needs and preferences.

Fractured lives : Australian prisoners of war of the Japanese and their families

Examines how the particular nature of captivity by the Japanese during World War II intensified and complicated the impact, legacy and memory of war for POWs and their families. It presents insights into the experience of the prisoners' wives and how battalion associations protect and promote the remembrance of war.

Homeostatic mechanism : subjective quality of life and chronic pain

Investigates the maintenance of subjective quality of life in the presence of chronic pain. A homeostatic mechanism is proposed and examined in terms of the roles of the suggested components and how these are altered by the threat of chronic pain.

Cultural ways of knowing

As a strategic response to HIV, this research made a significant contribution to the development of effective models of translation - from a rhetoric of lived experiences of HIV to social, political and cultural change. This brought benefits to areas such as HIV health promotion and education, practice and policy.

Framing everyday experience

This practice-based research involved two blogs created within different contexts: one in the small Western Australian town of Kellerberrin, the other in the Sydney suburb of Petersham. Blogging was developed as an artform: to deepen social connection within small geographical areas; to reveal new knowledge about these specific localities; and to extend and critique traditions of socially-engaged and "relational" art practice.

Rural markets and school choice

This thesis examines how families and schools in a rural Victorian setting engage with education markets and policies of school choice. Focusing on federal funding and state conveyancing policies, the study employs policy sociology and social geographies perspectives to examine policy effects on social relations and the implications for equity.

My name is Karen

Introduction : My name is Karen. In this chapter, I take a narrative approach and highlight ‘critical incidents’ that have caused me to reflect on my ‘being’ and recall events from childhood and adulthood. ‘Being’ or ‘to be’ is what Wilcock (1999) described as ‘being true to ourselves, to our nature, to our essence and to what is distinctive about us’ (p. 5). The state of ‘being’ requires time to think, reflect and to discover who we are (Wilcock 1999). My name is part of this. The constructivist view of learning posits that the learner comes with a representational model of personal constructs (in this instance, one’s name being a personal construct) and within these personal constructs, the learner makes sense of their learning situation (Stacey 1998). From the constructivist view, the teacher negotiates meaning with the learner through reflection, dialogue, guidance and feedback because the learner interprets ideas and constructs meaning based on pre-existing understandings (Candy 1991; Stacey 1998). Reflecting on my ‘being’ gives insight into the representational model of my personal constructs, of which my name is one. As a learner, this insight helps me interpret new information within a meaningful context. As a teacher, this insight informs me on how to engage with the students I teach.

Relationships and attraction among individuals with autism spectrum disorder

This research investigated attraction among individuals with autism. We found that those with autism prefer partners who assist them to meet their social and cognitive needs. Partners of those with autism chose to trade-off emotional and social skills for other traits. Lastly, those with autism had lower self-perceived mate value.

The colonial museum and UNESCO in the Asia-Pacific region

This thesis is an account of the role of UNESCO in promoting museology in the Asia-Pacific region after World War II. It shows how the strategy to advance cross-cultural mutual understanding through museum programmes built upon the British colonial museum system and facilitated new professional networks.