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Combined Abstracts of 2006 Australian Psychology Conferences
due to the high intercorrelations between the subscales.
theoretical gap by addressing this concern using a qualitative semi-structured thematic analysis.
A repeated case study of the career plans of 150 students studying management at the University of Canterbury
Family and paid work: A discursive analysis of government policy and mothers’ talk KAHU, ER. (Massey University) ella@kahu.org
JORDAN, J., CAMMOCK, P., & MATTHEWS, T. (University of Canterbury)
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overnment policy influences lives not just materially, but also ideologically through the promotion of certain discourses. A Ministry of Women’s Affairs policy and two focus groups of first time mothers were critically analysed to explore how the policy’s construction of women’s roles impacts on mothers’ choices. Deploying an economic rationalist discourse, the policy positions women as workers first and foremost; motherhood is constructed as an inevitable but invisible demand, and paid work is constructed as essential to well-being and a duty of citizenship. The policy is driven by capitalist goals of economic growth rather than the needs of women. In contrast, the mothers deployed an intensive mother discourse which positions them as the natural caregivers of their children. However, the pressure of successful woman and economic rationalist discourses, which construct mothering as worthless and paid work as essential, manifested in the women’s talk as guilt and conflict. This tension is managed in part by the evolving independent mother discourse. Overall, current constructions of mother and worker do not serve women, men, or children well. We need to value care and work equally as responsibilities and rewards of citizenship to enable women and men to construct more balanced identities and lives.
jo.jordan@canterbury.ac.nz
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ne hundred and fifty students studying management at the University of Canterbury took part in a repeated case study of their career plans. Personal development plans, previously prepared as an assignment, were reanalysed to extend the understanding of new careers in New Zealand by including the prospective accounts of people at the beginning of their careers and comparing these accounts with the retrospective accounts of people in the workforce in New Zealand and other countries. The paper reports the industries that are being targeted by students and the extent to which they are interested in new industries, such as sports and arts management; the form students expect their careers to take, including the moves they anticipate making between employers, careers and countries and the reasons they give for these moves; and the understanding students have of careers and how they anchor their aspirations in other aspects of their lives. Key implications for assisting students with the development of their careers, and for career theory, are discussed. Arab Muslim refugees in New Zealand: Their resettlement and cultural adaptation experiences JOUDI, R. (Auckland University of Technology)
Supportive care needs and psychosocial functioning of adult brain tumour survivors
rose.joudi@aut.ac.nz
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he topics addressed in this research will attempt to address refugee issues that have not been adequately explored by current research. Issues that are explored include how Muslim Arab females and males deal with being resettled in a new society that differs considerably from their own culture; what affect does the shift in gender role have on the refugee, in particular the shift of gender roles within the family, the impact the label ‘refugee’ has on the lives of these individuals; and, this study will explore the experiences of individuals in terms of their search for identity, religious and cultural conflict and cultural preservation. The participants in this study consist of thirty male and female Muslim Arabs in NZ. The ages of the participants range between 17- 50 years old. These participants consist of refugees who are new arrivals and those who are considered resettled. Although there has been considerable research on migration and refugee issues, there is a lack of theoretical literature that addresses explicitly the theoretical framework that refugee research has based its work on. This research will attempt to fill in this
KANGAS, M. (Macquarie University), WILLIAMS, J., & SMEE, R. (Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney) maria.kangas@mq.edu.au
R
elative to other adult tumour populations, the brain tumour (BT) population is an understudied group with respect to understanding the psychosocial outcomes and supportive care needs associated with being diagnosed with this condition. Moreover, this is a unique tumour population given that both benign and malignant BTs can cause neuro-cognitive, functional and psychosocial disturbances depending on site and size of the lesion. A meningioma is one type of BT that commonly occurs in adults and in most instances is benign. However the supportive care needs of meningioma patients has not been previously studied. Accordingly, the overarching aim of the present study was to address this issue as well as to index survivors’ psychosocial functioning and quality of life. To date, 46 participants with a primary meningioma have been assessed on average 3 years post-diagnosis. At assessment, at least one-third of the
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