Significant Results

The following information is an extract of the ReCAP 2006 Annual Report outlining the significant research results for the School of Psychology in 2006.

Promoting resilience in West Kimberley Aboriginal children and youth
This research, supported by Healthway funding, aimed to develop culturally sensitive ways of building strong and happy young people in remote Indigenous communities in the West Kimberley, Western Australia. Initially, collaborative agreements were developed with key figures from Broome agencies and One Arm Point Community to provide consultancy to the Curtin Project Team throughout the project. Agency and community people then took part in interviews and discussion groups to identify the risk and protective factors affecting the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal children and youth; explore coping strategies in individuals, families, communities, and agencies; and identify strategies for promoting strengths in young people and communities. A feedback phase then took place to reflect back important information given in the interviews about mental health issues and interventions for Aboriginal young people and communities. Throughout 2004 and 2005 the project then supported the One Arm Point Community to develop and implement activities to build resilience and promote the wellbeing and mental health of young people, families and the community as a whole. A community development and capacity building approach was used to ensure the transfer of skills and knowledge to community members, leaving a more sustainable system in place when the Curtin Project Team withdrew at the end of 2005. As part of this process a Youth Project named "Baawa Ingul Gooron" ("Kids Having Fun") was developed. Funding has been secured in 2006 by the community to continue to implement this Youth Project and to meet other goals in the community, based on findings from the research project. In 2006, this project was awarded the Healthway Health Promotion Research Project Award. Curtin Project Team investigators included Assoc Professor Clare Roberts, Assoc Professor Brian Bishop, Professor Jan Piek and Dr David Vicary, plus doctoral student Melinda Andrews and research assistant Cate Engelbrecht.

Prevention of depression and anxiety in children
Dr Rosie Rooney, Assoc Professor Clare Roberts and Dr Robert Kane, with colleagues Professor Sven Silburn and Assoc Professor Lisbeth Pike have assessed the efficacy of a school-based universal program (Aussie Optimism - Positive Thinking Program: AOP-PT) for 8-9 year old children in preventing internalising disorders. AOP-PT includes activities such as pleasurable events, a fear hierarchy, cognitive restructuring, as well as relaxation training. It is a school based intervention, where the program is run by teachers and carried out as a part of the school curriculum. In a randomised controlled trial of twenty low socioeconomic schools, funded by Healthway, Dr Rooney and colleagues found a significant difference between the intervention and control group on the Children's Attribution Style Questionnaire at post-test. The intervention group children were less pessimistic than children in the control group. At 6-month follow-up, intervention group children reported lower levels of depression on the Child Depression Inventory than control group children. These effects were apparent for children who had received 70% or more of the AOP-PT program modules in their classrooms. In addition, fewer intervention group children (n =4, 3.9%) had developed depressive disorders (Major Depression or Dysthymia) after receiving the program, compared to control group children (n =11, 13.9%) at post-test. These results provide early evidence that AOP-PT is associated with resilience in children from low SES backgrounds, and has the potential to prevent depressive disorders. The significant effect for attribution style at post-test followed by the significant reduction in depressive symptomatology at 6 month follow-up suggests that the AOP-PT is helping children to think more optimistically, which in turn may be helping to reduce depressive symptomatology and clinical disorders in the short term. The Healthway grant had provision for an additional 18-month follow-up conducted in 2006. These results are currently being analysed.