Bachelor with Honours Dissertations - open access
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The "Bachelor with Honours Dissertations - open access" collection contains digital copies of AUT University B(Hons) dissertations approved for open access.
B(Hons) dissertations are required to be open access from April 2022. Past students may contact the Tuwhera team (tuwhera.opentheses@aut.ac.nz) if they wish to make their B(Hons) open access.
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- ItemThe Effectiveness of Acupressure Therapy on Anxiety: A Scoping Review(Auckland University of Technology, 2022) Wang, Stephanie YifanBackground: Mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression are considered the most common psychiatric disorders in the western world. Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent among the adult population; however, they remain underdiagnosed and under-treated because of their heterogeneity and the presence of various somatic symptoms. Pharmacological and psychological therapies are generally the first line of treatment for anxiety disorders. However, because of anxiety disorders’ high recurrence and chronicity, the side effects and high costs associated with conventional treatment modalities can also lead to under-treatment. Acupressure is a non-invasive alternative to acupuncture and has demonstrated effectiveness in managing psychosomatic disorders. However, due to high clinical disparities in the method of clinical application of acupressure treatment within existing research, it is difficult to recommend the best practice for anxiety management. Objective: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore and summarise the types of acupressure interventions, the most frequently used acupoints, methods of application, treatment time, and the effectiveness of such interventions in managing anxiety through a systematic scoping review. Methods: The scoping review protocol was reported following the preferred reporting items for systemic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) manual for evidence synthesis guidelines, which was published in July 2022 and acted as the fundamental guide for the scoping review process. A total of six electronic databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source, AMED, PsycINFO, and Scopus), Google, and Google scholar were searched to identify eligible sources. Results: A total of 76 studies were included in this review, with the publication range from 1987 to 2022. Three categories of acupressure intervention were noted within the included studies: acupressure on traditional acupoints, acupressure on auricular acupoints, and a combination of traditional and auricular acupoints. The most frequently used acupoints, application methods, the most common issues where anxiety was treated with acupressure and the effectiveness of acupressure on anxiety management are identified. Conclusions: Acupressure is an effective, non-invasive, low-cost alternative for reducing anxiety in various settings despite the discrepancies in the intervention protocol. Acupressure therapy in managing anxiety is highly recommended for routine nursing care in patients with complex medical conditions, emergency and pre-operative settings, students, and healthcare workers at risk of burnout. Further studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses are required to provide a more in-depth understanding and recommendations on whether acupressure intervention using the most used acupoints identified from this review can effectively reduce other types of anxiety disorders, such as social or specific phobias.
- ItemWhat Are the Outcomes of Burnout Interventions That Include a Sleep Hygiene Practice? A Systematic Review(Auckland University of Technology, 2023) Geary, Hannah JeanBackground: A bi-directional relationship between poor sleep and burnout has been illustrated in existing literature, with nurses being highly susceptible to experiencing both, given the nature of their work. This systematic review sets out to identify and assess the literature to explore the outcomes of burnout interventions for nurses that include sleep hygiene practices. The purpose of this review is to generate insight into how sleep hygiene is contextualised and which types of interventions are more effective at supporting the well-being of nurses. Methods/design: Systematic searches of English language peer-reviewed journals were conducted in four databases; MEDLINE, CINAHL Complete, Scopus, and PsycINFO using keywords related to burnout, interventions, and nurses. Throughout June and July 2022, the database searches were carried out. 1,239 studies were identified, with publication dates ranging from 2015-2022. Results: 12 studies met the inclusion criteria, and thus, were included in this review. Using key headings, the relevant data from each study was placed into tables. Half of the studies found significant improvements on at least one dimension of burnout. Sleep hygiene practices that were incorporated into the interventions included mindfulness, yoga, meditation practices, progressive muscle relaxation, and the inhalation of essential oils. Combining multiple sleep hygiene practices into an intervention seems to be helpful in reducing burnout amongst nurses. Discussion: Individual interventions such as gong meditation, inhaling patchouli oil, and yoga require further research to support their effectiveness in alleviating burnout in nurses. There is also limited evidence to establish conclusions around which of these interventions are more effective than others due to several limitations that have been identified in this review, including the difficulty in making comparisons between the interventions due to the heterogeneity of burnout measurement tools used and the lack of detailed descriptions about the administration of particular interventions. In addition, majority of the studies included in this review were pilot studies, so this causes further difficulty to make conclusions because the effectiveness of these interventions cannot be based on pilot data alone. Thus, further research and replication is needed in this area.
- ItemParental Mind-Mindedness and Children’s Helping Behaviour(Auckland University of Technology, 2022) Gordon, ShaniahProsocial behaviour in children is related to many positive outcomes in the social and educational domains. Therefore, it has been of interest to researchers to study the antecedents of these behaviours. This research project examines the relationship between parental mind-mindedness and children’s helping behaviours, exploring whether mind-mindedness could be an antecedent. Parental mind-mindedness has been found to relate to children’s social competence development, such as acceptance and interactions with school-aged peers. However, few studies have looked at mind- mindedness in relation to early developing prosocial behaviour. This study hypothesized that mind- mindedness would be positively associated with toddler’s prosocial actions as measured by their readiness to help an experimenter in need. One hundred and eighty-four parent-child dyads were assessed for parental mind-mindedness and helpful behaviour on helping tasks ranging in difficulty. The results showed that the relationship between mind-mindedness and children’s behaviour on simple helping tasks was weakly, but statistically significantly correlated. However, this association went away after controlling for parental verbosity. Mind-mindedness was unrelated to children’s performance on more difficult helping tasks. These findings were not aligned with the expectation. Reasons why were outlined and future recommendations were made to examine the relationship between children’s developing prosocial behaviour and the role that parental behaviour and language, such as mind-mindedness might play.
- ItemComparing the Perceived Orgasm Satisfaction and Responses to Orgasmic Difficulty of Heterosexual, Bisexual and Homosexual Women in New Zealand(Auckland University of Technology, 2022) Gavelle, Java Cristina TainaIntroduction: This research will aim to compare the orgasmic satisfaction, orgasm difficulty and perceived partner response to orgasm difficulty women in New Zealand with different sexual orientations. The study uses a non-probability based convenience sampling in the form of an online self-report survey to gather information. Methods: The sample consisted of 667 women aged from 18 to 76 years old who identified as heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. A Kruskal-Wallis was conducted to compare all three sexual orientation groups and orgasm satisfaction, orgasm difficulty and partner response to orgasm difficulty. More specific Mann-Whitney U tests followed these to see exactly where the differences lie between the groups. Results: There were no significant differences in orgasm satisfaction between the different sexual orientations. Significant differences in partner response to difficulty and orgasmic difficulties were observed across the different sexual orientation groups. Bisexual women reported the highest level of personal distress to orgasm difficulty, and both heterosexual and bisexual women reported higher levels of perceived partner distress to orgasm difficulty compared to homosexual women. Conclusion: This study contains several limitations; however, this study provides novel research into women of different sexual orientations and orgasm satisfaction, orgasm difficulty and perceived partner distress to orgasm difficulty.
- ItemDoes Sibling Attachment Mediate the Effects of Parental Attachment on Future Romantic Relationships?(Auckland University of Technology, 2022) Challa, Lalitha SameeraIndividual’s experiences with social relationships across adolescence, young adulthood and particularly during formative years in childhood are of substantial value in the context of well-being and health. Various scholars have researched the influence of parent and peer attachments on romantic relationships; however, little is known about the role siblings play in romantic relationships. A nation-wide survey in Aotearoa reported that 60% of families with children have more than two children (Statistics NZ, 2020). Accordingly, this research examined the links between sibling attachment, parental attachment, and romantic relationship quality. 151 students aged 18 or older, from the psychology department at the Auckland University of Technology answered an anonymous survey which explored their attachment with their parents, and siblings in childhood, and romantic partners in adulthood. Results from the data analysis reported sibling attachment to be the strongest predictor of romantic quality. In comparison, maternal attachment was a stronger predictor of romantic relationship quality, than paternal attachment. Furthermore, findings from the path analyses revealed that sibling attachment mediated the impacts of parental attachment on the quality of romantic relationships. Some of the study limitations included the sample being small and female dominated; however, recommendations for future research were discussed. Overall, the current study contributes to understanding how sibling attachments influence parental attachment impacts on romantic relationships, and highlights how attachments with various family members in early life plays into their romantic relationships. This research hopes to facilitate an exciting direction for future research around sibling and parental attachment.