Social Work - Theses
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ItemThe Michael White Archive: New learnings from White’s therapeutic practice in the realms of abuse and trauma( 2022)This research focuses on the video archive of Michael White, an Australian social worker whose development of narrative therapy (with David Epston) has profoundly influenced counselling practice internationally. The main objective of this study was to extrapolate aspects of White’s work that were not fully articulated in his published writings. Specifically, the focus was on White’s practice with people with experiences of abuse and associated trauma. This informed the guiding research question: In Michael White’s video archive, what therapeutic practices and ideas did he demonstrate in responding to experiences of abuse and trauma that were not fully articulated in his published writings on narrative therapy? This research employed a theory-building qualitative poststructuralist feminist archival methodology to investigate not only the archive (the past), but also to directly influence contemporary practice (the present). Hence the following sub-questions also informed the study: How can the therapeutic practice of contemporary narrative therapists be influenced by engagements with Michael White’s video archive? What changes in narrative therapists’ practice become possible through their engagement with Michael White’s video archive? A further sub-question related to: How can feminist research be undertaken on the archive of a senior man who is no longer alive? With these research questions as guides, 21 videos were selected, reviewed, transcribed and analysed. Through this process, the researcher produced four ‘Domain’ documents that articulated her learnings/findings from her engagements with the video sample. The structure of the Domains comprised an interweaving of de-identified excerpts of transcripts from Michael White’s video archive, the researcher’s own therapeutic practice, her own discussions with practitioners, and narrative therapy literature. Informed by the aims of engaging in research that was collective, practice-based and reflective of a diversity of contemporary voices, the Domains were shared with participants in practitioner focus groups, which were made up of 45 narrative practitioners from 10 different countries. The findings from the focus groups resulted in four findings chapters in relation to: (1) narrative practice at times when the therapist is more centred; (2) narrative practice and memory; (3) narrative practice as a way of linking emotion with meaning and action; (4) narrative practice as a way of attending to gender politics and a refusal to separate practices of abuse/violence from power. Finally, in accordance with a feminist ethic, the researcher wrote five first-person commentaries to convey her own subjective learnings throughout the project. This thesis provides multiple contributions to knowledge in the field of narrative therapy and community work, including: methodological innovations that enable ethical collective engagement with the archive (and other archives) to influence practice in the present, identification of richer descriptions and multiple new concepts to aid narrative therapists in responding to those subjected to abuse and trauma, documentation of 42 ways in which the practice of counsellors in 10 countries has been changed as a result of participation in this research.
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ItemClinical Supervision in Australian Youth Cancer Services( 2022)This thesis explores the clinical supervision within Australian Youth Cancer Services. The study uses a two-phase exploratory sequential mixed-method design to investigate the role clinical supervision plays in supporting the delivery of youth-friendly cancer care, the practice of clinical supervision within the interprofessional team environment and the factors identified as influencing the effectiveness of clinical supervision in the specialist setting. In Phase 1, qualitative data were collected from national focus groups with healthcare professionals. Following analysis, data from the focus groups informed the subsequent development of an online survey administered in Phase 2, to a larger national sample of healthcare professionals working in the sector. The results highlight the complex and demanding nature of working with young people in an oncology setting. Most participants recognised the value of clinical supervision and how it could support delivering developmentally appropriate cancer care. Only half of the participants received clinical supervision when this research was undertaken, with significant variations in its understanding and practice across professional disciplines and jurisdictions. Using these findings, in conjunction with existing clinical supervision literature and consultation with key stakeholders, a clinical supervision framework has been developed to guide its practice across Australian Youth Cancer Services.
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ItemA strength-based, mixed-methods, explorative approach employing the Tree of Life as an intervention to enhance respectful relationships and challenge bullying( 2022)ABSTRACT What is bullying? Bullying is a behaviour intended to intimidate or persecute someone. Although bullying generally consists of a series of encounters in which a targeted person is subjected to some kind of abuse against which he or she cannot adequately defend themselves, it would be wrong to assume that we can exclude the possibility of bullying occurring on a single occasion. Manifestly, a person can be bullied, once only, by another person or group, with traumatising results (Rigby, 2008, p. 24). Bullying is a problem regularly found among children who attend institutions of schooling. Longitudinal studies of bullying behaviours indicate that there are prevailing and damaging consequences for both victims and bullies (Hornby, 2016; Goodstein, 2013; Hymel & Swearer, 2015). In essence, there are four aspects to bullying: it is a deliberate behaviour; it is not typically a one-off incident; it involves a power imbalance; and it is harmful (Hornby, 2016, p. 2). The study employed a mixed methods approach to evaluate the ‘Tree of Life’ as a narrative intervention to address bullying in primary schools. The aim of the study was to explore whether the Tree of Life intervention could be adapted to a mainstream school setting to respond to bullying in schools and engender positive peer relationships. The design utilised semi-structured, whole class interviews to explore the nature of peer relationships. The strength-based intervention enabled the researcher to document students’ collective values and beliefs about their relationships. Pre-and post-intervention, quantitative data were gathered to measure the effectiveness of the intervention. Qualitative analysis was applied to identify the relationship between students’ value systems and their relationships with each other, both within the classroom and in the playground. The study was implemented in a Reception to Year 9 college in South Australia. Two classes of students aged 10 and 11 years of age were invited to participate in the study. The findings of this study indicate that, within a peer ecology, a personal sense of identity and collective shared understandings contributed significantly to a sense of belonging and wellbeing for students. Commensurate with the students’ sense of wellbeing and belonging within the peer ecology, there was a reduction in bullying incidents reported in the post-intervention Peer Relations Surveys.
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ItemYoung and Positive: Young People Living With HIV in Contemporary Australia( 2022)The scientific, political and community response to HIV has changed significantly over the last 40 years of the pandemic and, with it, the lived experience of people with HIV in Australia. Young people diagnosed with HIV today receive their diagnosis in a very different context than those diagnosed in previous generations. Biomedical advances in treatment have led to U=U (i.e., undetectable viral load = untransmissible virus through sex or breastfeeding) and pre-exposure prophylaxis and rendered HIV a chronic condition. However, despite these advances in the biomedical aspects of the virus, stigmas persist. The successes of the Australian HIV response mean that relatively few young people aged 18–29 are living with HIV in Australia. While young people aged 18–29 are considered ‘adults’ in existing health and HIV services, evidence increasingly defines this age group as being distinct from the broader adult population in important ways. This means that the needs of young people living with HIV risk being overlooked in the context of health promotion and service design and delivery. The changing nature of what it means to be young—and HIV positive—in Australia today raises questions about whether the HIV service infrastructure is catering for the needs of all people living with HIV. However, very little research has explored how young people with HIV in Australia feel connected to and access HIV services and support; this is a missed opportunity to ensure they are being meaningfully recognised and supported. The Young + Positive study used a convergent parallel mixed-method design underpinned by a multidimensional theoretical approach to address this gap. Survey data (n = 60) and qualitative interviews (n = 25) were gathered between 2017 and 2019. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to explore how young people aged 18–29 understand HIV and their connection, capacity and willingness to access care and support, and aimed to identify opportunities for improving engagement around their HIV support needs. The implications of the research findings suggest that young people see themselves as a distinct cohort with specific needs in relation to their HIV and that opportunities exist to integrate young people more meaningfully into existing HIV service systems to better meet their support needs.
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ItemHow do we understand and measure the role of attitudes in violence against women?( 2022)Men’s violence against women (MVAW) is a prevalent problem with serious health, social and economic consequences. Government policy and academic literature concerned with preventing and improving responses to this violence commonly propose changing attitudes as a key strategy. Data on attitudes measured at the individual level are also identified as indicators to plan action to prevent the problem, to monitor progress, evaluate intervention effectiveness and as a partial test of explanatory theories. Although there is a large body of literature pertaining to attitudes towards MVAW, a theoretically informed examination of their role and significance remains a gap in the literature (Pease & Flood, 2008). Specifically, there is a need to better understand the role of attitudes in different aspects of the problem. Understanding the covariates of attitudes towards MVAW is important as this can help to illuminate factors shaping attitudes as well as targeting and planning of actions to achieve change in them. The extant literature suggests that gender ideology is an influential covariate, but this has yet to be confirmed in scholarly research at a population-level in Australia. Further, there is no existing research examining the relative influence of theoretically relevant dimensions of gender ideology on attitudes towards MVAW. The Australian National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey is the longest running periodic survey of its kind in the world, having its origins in 1987. Some conceptual and theoretical work was undertaken prior to the 2006 wave of the survey by researchers Pease and Flood (2009). Since this time the survey has undergone substantial redevelopment and there have been further waves involving large national samples. This thesis with publication contributes to addressing the gaps identified above. First it draws on the extant theoretical literature to explore the role and significance of attitudes in the problem of MVAW. This is followed by two studies. In the first, the covariates of attitudes to MVAW are explored using data from the 2013 wave of the survey (Study 1; N= 17,517). This national probability study confirms that gender ideology has a stronger influence on attitudes to MVAW than demographic factors. It suggests the need for a more comprehensive and conceptually informed measure of gender ideology, and to investigate whether it is possible to identify domains within this broader construct. A tentative conceptual model is developed to identify key theoretical pathways between gender subordination and MVAW. In the second study, data from the 2017 wave of the survey (national probability sample N=17,542), were used, along with a new multi-dimensional measure of gender ideology, to assess the relative importance of selected theoretical domains in the Australian population, and the relative strength of the relationship between the domains and attitudes towards MVAW. Implications for further conceptual development, research and practice are discussed.
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Item“What do you do that’s so special, anyway?”: A critical realist examination of the mechanisms of change in feminist-informed sexual assault counselling( 2022)Abstract This research examines what is causative of positive change for victim/survivors of sexual assault when they engage in feminist-informed sexual assault counselling. Research was conducted at two, publicly-funded Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASA) in Melbourne, Australia. CASAs are grounded in a gendered analysis of violence against women, and utilise traditional feminist counselling principles. To date, the majority of research regarding recovery from the impacts of sexual violence occurs in the field of psychology, and focuses on whether a reduction of post-traumatic stress symptoms has taken place. This is, however, a reductionist perspective on the impact of sexual violence, and misses a wide range of impacts that survivors can experience. Additionally, a focus on post-traumatic stress symptoms absents the social context within which sexual violence occurs, and the place that wider socio-political forces have in shaping a victim/survivor’s experience of, and recovery from, sexual violence. Feminist counselling has historically included a focus on both the wider impacts of sexual violence and also the social context within which sexual violence occurs. However, there has been no specific research at the Victorian CASAs – and very little research at international sexual assault counselling centres – to determine what happens in feminist-informed sexual violence counselling that supports the change process for victim/survivors. This research therefore seeks to answer the question: What are the mechanisms that cause positive change in feminist-informed sexual assault counselling? To answer this primary research question, the philosophy of critical realism was utilised to conceptualise the research, and guide methodology. Critical realism has not been widely adopted within the counselling research field, and few applied examples exist within feminist research. Therefore, this thesis sought to answer a second research question in relation to the adoption of critical realism: Does critical realism represent a viable philosophy to use in the research of feminist counselling mechanisms? This research employed a qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants recruited via two CASAs, comprising both counsellor/advocates and victim/survivors. The data were analysed following a critical realist model of scientific activity, primarily utilising the inferences of abduction and retroduction to identify causal mechanisms. Three primary mechanisms of change were identified: 1) the counsellor’s active recognition of the victim/survivor as having value as both a human being and legal subject; 2) a shift in the victim/survivor’s false consciousness regarding who is responsible for the sexual violence perpetrated against them, and; 3) a sense of perceived control over the counselling process for victim/survivors. The findings of this research contribute to the significant knowledge gap regarding the interventions, change mechanisms, and outcomes that a feminist-informed approach to sexual violence counselling provides. The research indicates that feminist-informed counselling activates mechanisms of change that are not conceptualised or theorised in existing evidence-based treatments for survivors of sexual violence. Therefore, this research offers counsellors additional interventions to support the change process in their work with victim/survivors. The findings of this research also demonstrate that critical realism is a viable and beneficial philosophy to utilise when conducting research in both feminist- and counselling-related research.
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ItemJourneys of connecting: Understanding cultural connection for First Nations children and young people in out-of-home care in Victoria, Australia( 2022)On the continent now known as Australia, European colonisation has greatly affected First Nations families’ lives. As in other colonised contexts, there has been enormous cultural loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over time, in part because of child removal practices. In Australia, these practices resulted in the ‘Stolen Generations’, whereby 10–30% of all First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families, communities, Countries—and, by extension, cultures (Wilson, 1997). Today, recognition of this cultural loss and the importance of Indigenous children’s rights to culture is reflected in international law (United Nations, 1989, 2007) and in contemporary out-of-home-care (OOHC) policy and practice. While cultural rights are recognised and protected, it remains that cultural connection is poorly understood and inconsistently supported in Australian OOHC systems. This thesis makes a critical contribution to better understanding how cultural connection is understood, and experienced in OOHC contexts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members, including Aboriginal young people who have lived in OOHC, in Victoria, Australia. Using a mixed-methods approach, underpinned by Indigenous Standpoint Theory, the findings highlight the complex nature of cultural connection as a process of culturally connecting, which intertwines identity and culture. It demonstrates the importance of reconceptualising cultural connection as a journey of culturally connecting, experienced over time. The findings highlight how journeys of culturally connecting are best supported by Indigenous peoples, in accordance with Indigenous relationality, to impart knowledges of mob and ancestry that are pertinent to belonging, identity and the practice of mob-specific culture. This thesis shows that it is possible to better support cultural connection in OOHC where cultural disconnection has already occurred. However, there are no easy set of solutions to realise cultural connection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people within a system that produces cultural disconnection by design. The best way to support cultural connection is to prevent First Nations children and young people from entering OOHC in the first place. Our self-determination, as First Nations peoples, is paramount to this venture.
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ItemCloaked in Strength An exploration of Aboriginal mothers’ experiences of family violence and the role of cultural practice as a tool of engagement, resilience and resistance( 2021)The violence in the lives of Indigenous women globally has been sustained and perpetuated through generations of patriarchal and colonial subjugation. As a result, a growing and important discourse on Indigenous feminist thought explores the possibilities of Indigenous women’s polity, agency and gendered standpoint. In Australia, the nature of domestic and family violence (DFV) experienced by Aboriginal women is distinct and of urgent concern as rates rapidly increase. The Cloaked in Strength study seeks to examine the lived experience of DFV of urban Aboriginal women using an Indigenous women’s standpoint and an Aboriginal woman researcher’s subjectivity. The study begins with a broad narrative review of the literature pertaining to DFV, Indigenous women and feminism, and cultural practice. A critical interpretive synthesis of the literature follows, enabling a deeper review of Indigenous mothering and DFV. The study engaged 17 Aboriginal mothers living in Melbourne through yarning interviews and a series of possum skin cloak workshops to consider their stories of DFV. The research uses a possum skin cloaking methodology to frame its engagement with Aboriginal women. Cultural practices and their restoration as a process of healing and cultural continuity are under-researched as protective factors and important mechanisms to support Aboriginal women in the context of DFV. In Aboriginal communities across south-eastern Australia, possum skin cloaks were traditionally made in preparation for the birth of a baby, were inscribed with tribal lore, and imbued the wearer with cultural identity and place. Contemporary possum skin cloak making is grounded in renewal, belonging and cultural strength – all synonymous with healing in the context of DFV. The findings are themed as Aboriginal women’s place, relationships, being and future in the context of DFV. They relate to the marginal positioning of Aboriginal women within the private and public spheres, in their communities and across society. Analysis of the interviews draws attention to the nature of Aboriginal women’s relationships and how structures of power impact their mothering and the obfuscation of accountability. The trauma of DFV is a feature of the findings, as are survival and hope. Several significant areas of discussion emerge, including the perpetuation of silences, the relationality of Aboriginal women and the support they provide one another, and the agency Aboriginal women demonstrate that informs a self-represented counter-narrative. Methodological findings related to the possum skin cloaking highlight important considerations about DFV research with Aboriginal women. These are discussed in the contexts of authorising environments, and repositioning value, agency and resistance. They explore assumptions about Aboriginal women and their citizenship value and the ways in which Aboriginal women establish safety and self-representation in contexts of violence. Tenuous DFV theorisation and the silent locations of DFV discourses are detailed throughout the discussion. An important conclusion is that DFV research is important to Aboriginal women. While Indigenous women’s feminisms vary around the world, they have a unifying feature that foregrounds Indigenous women’s gendered and cultural experiences of being in the world. Colonialism, inextricably shaped by patriarchy, uniquely positions Indigenous women worldwide in their resistance against violence. Empirical research, conducted appropriately, can un-silence Aboriginal women’s voices.
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ItemPeople with and without refugee experience co-creating a shared world through narrative practices( 2021)In this thesis, I look at Australian grassroots community initiatives where people with refugee experience share their stories with people from the established community, most without refugee experience, who listen to them. More specifically, I seek to understand how ‘ordinary’ people are responding to the problems of refugees through narrative practices. For this, I foreground an understanding of these problems as existential, consisting of experiences of worldlessness and superfluity. Through a critical, post-structural perspective and interview-based inquiry, I explore how narrative practice in storytelling can support people as they resettle and build their lives. I argue that definitional ceremony, in particular, is a powerful practice because it provides people with refugee experience the opportunity to present themselves on their own terms to others in the community. I discuss the myriad ways narrative practice supports the crafting and recounting of preferred selves. When definitional ceremonies turn listeners into active and responsive witnesses, storytellers’ understandings of themselves and their lives are validated. On the grounds that definitional ceremonies are constitutive of identities and worlds I argue that they are political and therefore have value in the pursuit of social change at the local level. Through the lens of definitional ceremony I suggest a process-oriented approach to storytelling that promotes negative capability, highlights the significance of communitas and considers the principle of an aesthetics of existence to guide and sustain grassroots action. This research introduces possibilities for anyone seeking to create storytelling events that centre the interests of people with refugee experience. More generally, it offers ideas to all those who seek to take relational responsibility in the way they engage with people with refugee experience and their stories. The theoretical and practical contributions of this research emphasise that small-scale and localised action, through meaningful narrative practices, can help address the existential problems that people with refugee experience face. Methodologically, academics who work from post-structural perspectives might be interested in my discussion on the transferability of narrative practices to research interviews, my development of resonance work to (re)present and analyse interview materials and my proposition to read back people’s narratives to reciprocate their time and effort and acknowledge their valuable contributions to knowledge.
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ItemIlluminating skills and knowledges of women who have lost a male partner to suicide: A feminist insider narrative practice research project( 2021)Abstract This qualitative exploratory study, from a feminist insider position, uses narrative practice to privilege the insider knowledge of widows , and to contribute new knowledge about how women respond to the suicide of a male partner. Narrative therapy, co-developed by Michael White and David Epston (1990), is a non-pathologising practice that situates experiences of hardship in their historical and social contexts. It supports people to free themselves from stigmas generated by contemporary attitudes and to craft preferred identities. Narrative practices arose specifically to counter discourses that marginalise and stigmatise people, and is thus particularly suited to assisting those bereaved by suicide as they are subject to significant stigmatisation. Feminist-informed qualitative research is underpinned by a reflexivity in relation to one’s own positioning, interests, values and knowledges. It ‘generates problematics from the perspective of women’s experiences’ (Harding, 1987, p. 6). In this project, I drew on my own lived experience of bereavement, which came about through the suicide of my husband and father of my children 16 years ago. Influenced by Wilkinson and Kitzinger (2013), this study does not minimise or maximise insider experience; rather it uses it in transparent ways. Seventeen women were interviewed from Australia, the United States and Canada. These women brought expertise, commitment and care to the project. The women’s rigorous contributions were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of reflexive thematic analysis in a manner consistent with narrative practice and feminist understandings. The exploration of widows’ grief following the death of a spouse by suicide has been given little attention in bereavement research (Flake Ford, 2016; Miers et al., 2012). The literature that exists has not considered suicide bereavement in its specific social, political, ethical and historical contexts, and has forsaken considerations of power. This poststructuralist study questions socially constructed norms of contemporary Western culture in relation to suicide, provides openings for fresh thinking and argues for the recognition and application of insider knowledges. In this research, responses to suffering and loss are honoured and explored. Such responses have been absent or thinly described in previous studies. The ways in which women actively negotiate and break through the embodied stigma and taboo that often accompany losing a partner to suicide, and the skills and knowledges that women deemed helpful in their transition from ‘partnerhood’ to ‘widowhood’, are richly documented, witnessed and shared (see Leahy et al., 2012; Speedy, 2004). Based on the analysis of widows’ responses, this thesis offers new understandings to the field of suicide bereavement, and provides recommendations to first responders, practitioners and service providers on more supportive and less stigmatising practice responses to suicide.