Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemExploring Chinese international student conceptualisation and language use about wellbeing( 2022)A significant number of students at the higher education level study abroad for part or all their program. International students face various challenges in their studies, from academic structures that are different from their home country and language barriers to psychological and sociocultural issues. These challenges increase the risk for high levels of distress and physical and mental illness. Support for mental health and wellbeing is becoming a significant concern, with existing supports criticised for often being inadequate or inaccessible. As students’ academic performance and overall overseas experience are highly correlated with their mental health and wellbeing, it is important to identify strategies to better support international student mental health and wellbeing. This begins with the need to better understand how international students perceive, experience, and communicate about and for wellbeing. This thesis focuses on one international student population: Chinese students in Australia. Chinese international students constitute about one-third of all international students in Australia and face both language difficulties and cultural-based stigma towards seeking mental health and wellbeing support. The project includes three studies that explored lay conceptualisations of wellbeing and identified students’ language use about and for wellbeing, how students experience wellbeing, and their perspectives and preferences of activities that maintain and improve wellbeing for themselves and others. A modified prototype analysis approach was applied, which involved an online survey and semi-structured interviews. In the online survey, 123 participants created a list of wellbeing components, rated the listed wellbeing components and indicators, and wrote both high and low wellbeing narratives. Participants also freely reported activities that strengthen their wellbeing. To provide additional depth and understanding, a subset of 30 students was interviewed about their perceptions, language use, and experiences of wellbeing. Study 1 demonstrated that Chinese international students’ conceptualisations of wellbeing are prototypically structured, including several central and peripheral components, such as security, positive relationships, and self-strength. In Study 2, fifty-four meaningful words and phrases were identified that students used to communicate about and for wellbeing, including hobbies, passion, and family. Participants viewed physical illness, mental illness, and negative perspective/emotions as indicative of low wellbeing. Notably, perceptions varied when students wrote or spoke in English versus Chinese. In Study 3, participants indicated that a sense of competence, feeling supported and connected, and low levels of pressure contribute to their wellbeing, and that intrapersonal activities, like personal growth and development, were their primary approach to strengthening wellbeing. Through prototype analysis, thematic analysis, phenomenographic analysis, and language analysis, this dissertation comprehensively explores Chinese international student wellbeing conceptualisations, wellbeing language, and wellbeing experiences. In particular, the findings broaden the conceptualisations of wellbeing for the lay population of Chinese international students, offer a snapshot of the words/phrases used around wellbeing, identify the experiences and pathways that strengthen their wellbeing, and provide new data of population wellbeing through a holistic lens.
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ItemConceptualising and Measuring Wellbeing Literacy( 2022)Abstract This thesis aims to conceptualise and measure wellbeing literacy, an emergent concept regarding the capability of mindful language use about and for wellbeing. Wellbeing literacy has potential value to theory, measurement and practice in fields including wellbeing science, positive education, and public health. However, prior to this thesis, the concept of wellbeing literacy had not been operationalised or measured. A consensus on what wellbeing literacy is and how it is measured is essential for future research and practice using this concept. This thesis is comprised of three studies conceptualising and measuring wellbeing literacy for the first time. Specifically, Study 1 developed a parsimonious measure of wellbeing literacy, and used it to examine the nomological networks and incremental value of wellbeing literacy. Study 2 systematically reviewed the definitions of literacy, which were used to refine the concept of wellbeing literacy in the final study. Study 3 used a Delphi approach to gather experts’ opinions and adjusted the conceptualisation of wellbeing literacy accordingly. The findings from the overall thesis provided some of the first evidence that wellbeing literacy is a distinct construct from wellbeing and illbeing, and it also predicted significant unique variance in these constructs over and above established predictors, such as resilience and emotion regulation. Then an operational framework of wellbeing literacy was proposed based on the systematic review of literacy and refined according to 26 international experts’ feedback. This framework may be useful in developing other measurement tools of wellbeing literacy, including objective measures that do not rely on self-report. This PhD research makes an original contribution to the field of wellbeing science, positive education, and public health by clarifying what wellbeing literacy is and by conducting preliminary examinations of its use as a measurement tool. Future research could use the measure to explore the relationship between wellbeing and other key variables in wellbeing science, positive education, and public health. The operational framework could be applied in developing other measures of wellbeing literacy or education programs for wellbeing literacy.