The Psychology Centre

Research at The Psychology Centre

The Psychology Centre has a focus on the development and dissemination of innovative clinical research and evaluations. Some of our projects are developed internally and reflect the strengths and interests of the staff and board. However, a majority of our research is directed by strategic collaborations or through direct contractual arrangements with funders.

We are currently running, or have recently completed, a number of research projects. These include,

Counselling Project Support and Development
Juanita Ryan, John Fitzgerald & Karma Galyer
This project is a consolidation and follow-up of the Brief Interventions project. This project will have its own page very soon, so please check back.

Evaluation of Waikato DHB Mental Health Services MH-Smart First Stage Implementation Project
John Fitzgerald, Karma Galyer & Philippa Thomas
The collection of specific MH-SMART data by Waikato DHB’s mental health service has been mandatory since July 2005. This project had the goal of determining how Waikato DHB’s mental health staff have been collecting elements of the MH-SMART data set (specifically HoNOS), the accuracy of the data collected, and how they use these data to inform clinical practice. Click here to see how the project went.

Waikato District Psycho-oncology business plan.
Philippa Thomas & John Fitzgerald
To find out more, click here.

Brief Mental Health Interventions in Primary Care: The co-ordination and evaluation of primary care mental health counselling initiative.
John Fitzgerald, Karma Galyer & Juanita Ryan
The primary focus of this evaluation projects was the collection of screening, intake, and traditional outcome data on all patients who used a region-wide brief primary care counselling service. To access some of the project documentation, and find out how the project went, go directly to the project page by clicking here.

Sexual abuse and mental injury: Developing practice guidelines
Raranga Whatumanawa.
John Fitzgerald, Andrea Hodgetts, Juanita Ryan, John Collier, Jan Brassington & Tracey Augustine
The Psychology Centre was sub-contracted by Massey University to investigate outcome measurement for mental injury resulting from sexual abuse.This project was part of a larger research programme which was being conducted by The Psychology Clinic at Massey University, in Palmerston North, to investigate the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for mental injury resulting from sexual abuse.The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) funded the research programme.The project involved a large team of researchers as well as an Advisory Committee representing clinicians, service providers, and tangata whenua. Want to see more? Click here to go to the project page.

Best practice outcome assessment for children and youth with high and complex needs.
John Fitzgerald

The challenged children and youth with high and complex needs (HCN) led to the development of a joint sector approach in New Zealand to meet their needs. The strategy, aptly named the ‘Intersectoral Strategy for Children and Young People with High and Complex Needs’ encourages collaboration at various agency levels to streamline service delivery and improve outcomes. However, the need to assess outcomes with a standardised and robust battery of measures that are user friendly, objective, and appropriate for use in New Zealand, was recently identified by the HCN Intersectoral Unit. To address this, a research team based at the Massey University Psychology Clinic was commissioned to independently evaluate suitable measures. The Psychology Centre is working collaboratively with the Massey team to achieve these ends. This research is funded by the HCN Unit, which operates under the auspices of the Department of Child Youth and Family Services.

Click here for more information.

Archive
To find out more about the following projects please go to our research archive page.

The management of child and adolescent anxiety in Primary Care: Evaluation of a brief training intervention for General Practitioners.
John Fitzgerald & Joanne Clarkson

Are General Practitioners prepared for child and adolescent mental health presentations?A survey of training, perceived competence and confidence.
John Fitzgerald & Joanne Clarkson

Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Research Project.
Philippa Thomas, Wendy Tuck, Jeannette Shennan, & Helen Conaglen

Provision and evaluation of a family debriefing service following youth suicide and suicide attempts -- piloting and evaluating a programme for families who have experienced a traumatic event.
John Fitzgerald

Examining the role of stigma-tolerance, self-concept and pathology in adolescent help-seeking and service utilisation -- a two centre collaborative study.
John Fitzgerald, Gerard Dolan, & Ian Evans

Psychological evaluation of the child’s best interests: The interpretation of data in the preparation of child welfare reports in the New Zealand Family Court -- a project in the New Zealand Family Court.
John Fitzgerald & Natasha Moltzen