Dying for a tan : explaining intentions to use sunscreen with the theory of planned behaviour, threats to appearance and mortality, and the theory of terror management : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

Skin cancer has become one of the most prevalent forms of cancer throughout the world (Arthey & Clarke, 1995), with New Zealand leading the world in both melanoma-related deaths and incidences. It has been indicated that 80 per cent of skin cancers could be avoided through appropriate sun prevention. Decreasing the amount of sun exposure has become the primary objective of skin cancer prevention. The present study applied the variables of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, specifically perceived behavioural control, subjective norm and attitudes, and the additional constructs of conscientiousness and anticipated regret to explain intentions for sunscreen use. An appearance-based intervention and a health-based intervention were investigated to assess changes in intentions to use a sunscreen. Finally, the Theory of Terror Management was examined to assess if this theory could help to explain sunscreen use. To examine the above issues three types of questionnaires (a mortality-based intervention, an appearance-based intervention and a control condition) were administered to beachgoers in New Zealand (N=145) and the United Kingdom (N= 277). The theory of planned behaviour significantly explained 53.1 per cent of participants' intentions to use a sunscreen amongst New Zealand beachgoers, and 44.9 per cent amongst British beachgoers. Specifically, raising an individual's perceived behavioural control, subjective norm and attitude towards sunscreen could be positive ways to increase sunscreen use. Furthermore, the concepts of conscientiousness and anticipated regret explained a further 14.6% and, 10.9% for the New Zealand and British samples respectively. No significant results for the use of mortality and appearance-based interventions were found, and the Theory of Terror Management was not significantly found to explain sunscreen intentions. Despite various limitations, the present research has gained useful information opening the doors for future research

The influence of art expression on achievement in two junior high school social studies units.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

'When the skies fight': HIV, violence and pathways of precarity in South Africa

Based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa, this article explores the skies that fight, the proverbial lightning strikes that bring HIV into women's lives and bodies. Departing from earlier studies on ARV programmes in and beyond South Africa, and broadening out to explore the chronic struggle for life in a context of entrenched socio-economic inequality, this article presents findings on women's embodiment of and strategic resistance to structural and interpersonal violence. These linked forms of violence are discussed in light of the concept of precarity. Across two sections, the findings trace the pathways through which precarity entered women's lives, drawing on verbal, visual and written accounts collected through participant observation, participatory photography and film, and journey mapping. In doing so, the ethnography articulates the intersection of structural and interpersonal violence in women's lives. It also reveals the extent to which women exert a 'constrained agency', on the one hand, to resist structural violence and reconfigure their political relationship with the state through health activism; and, on the other hand, to shift the gender dynamics that fuel interpersonal violence through a careful navigation of intimacy and independence

HIV illness meanings and collaborative healing strategies in South Africa

Traditional health care practices were formally recognised and advocated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1978. The implications of the WHO’s directive have been diverse, and have shifted over the subsequent three decades of international health care. Similarly, the landscape of disease and illness, within and beyond South Africa, has been significantly influenced by the burgeoning international and regional HIV-epidemic. In South Africa the move to democracy was coupled with a decentralisation of the National Health System (NHS), increasing rates of HIV-infection, and a political desire to recast traditional healing as an African cultural practice deserving of state endorsement. This paper considers the multiple illness meanings and treatment strategies employed by HIV-positive people and traditional healers living in Cape Town, South Africa. In order to offer an understanding of treatment strategies that move between the biomedical and traditional healing, this paper draws on the distinction between the psychosocial aspects of illness and the biological disorder of disease. The first section of the paper presents a case study of an HIV-positive woman’s experiences of the illness and the disease of HIV, and explores her concomitant health care strategies based on her shifting conceptions and experiences of HIV. The subsequent section moves into a detailed analysis of interviews conducted with a sample of traditional healers. This section highlights the traditional healers’ overlapping and also divergent views on the causation and treatment of HIV and AIDS-related illnesses amongst their HIV-positive clientele. Finally, this paper places traditional healing practices and practitioners within the context of South Africa’s NHS in order to suggest some of the potential benefits and limitations around collaboration between biomedical and traditional health care paradigms

Executive Summary Urban Health Initiative/ Homeless Shelter Project

The purpose of the Urban Health Initiative/Homeless Shelter Project is both to increase the health education and health status of homeless shelter residents and to offer medical students the opportunity to perform community service through acting as health educators and advocates for this underserved population, thus increasing medical student knowledge of homeless health issues

‘You Have to Raise a Fist!’: Seeing and Speaking to the State in South Africa

Since joining the Open Governance Partnership in 2011, South Africa has been committed to addressing the ‘grand challenge’ of open governance through improving public services, creating safer communities and increasing accountability. This article contrasts this supranational commitment to open governance with accounts of citizens’ everyday engagement with the state at a micro-level. Based on a year of multi-sited ethnography, the article highlights the value of bringing people – in this case, HIV-positive citizens living in Khayelitsha, Cape Town – into focus through a series of visual participatory processes in which they share their experience of public service provision and engagement with the state. The article reflects, first, on how citizens ‘see’ the state in relation to service delivery and, second, on how they ‘speak’ to the state as members of civil society. It offers an understanding of how citizens themselves perceive ‘open governance’ in their everyday lives