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The UC Research Repository collects, stores and makes available original research from postgraduate students, researchers and academics based at the University of Canterbury.
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The impact of shared mobility on community wellbeing in two contrasting communities in Christchurch
(2023) Kingham, Simon; Fitt , Helen; Curl , Angela; Dares , Cushla; Russell , Els; Coppens , Anna; McKerchar , Christina; Conrow , Lindsey; Banwell , Karen; Berghan , James; Williman, Jonathan
Biology of Spelungula cavernicola Forster (Gradungulidae), a New Zealand cave-dwelling spider
(1993) McLachlan, Andrew R. G.
Spelungula cavernicola, New Zealand's largest and only protected native spider, was studied for one year in caves in the Honeycomb Hill System, Oparara Valley, near Karamea, South Island. These spiders were found mainly in complete darkness within 10 or 20 m of a cave entrance, but were also present deep in the caves. The numbers of spiders recorded through the year showed little temporal variation except when juveniles emerged from egg sacs. Some short-term variation in numbers may be due to migration in and out of sites, or variable search effort, or both. Spiderling emergence from egg sacs may be seasonal,. but size class data suggest that the timing. of emergence differed between years. The hypothesis that Spelungula lives only one year_ was refuted using size-class data. All size-classes of animals were present all year, and except for newly emerged spiderlings, occurred in uniform proportions, giving evidence of overlap of generations. Two estimates of longevity from size-class data are 3 years and 5 years, which may be underestimates because adult longevity could not be estimated. A preliminary investigation of habitat selection of Spelungula was made using multiple logistic regression of 84 random cave sites. Presence of cave wetas was a significant variable, whereas, passage size, light, water, temperature, humidity, presence of other animals, and distance to cave entrance were not. The implications of these results for conservation management are discussed.
Introduction: Indo-Pacific Security
(World Scientific Publishing, 2024) Khoo , Nicholas; Nicklin , Germana; Tan, Alex; Khoo N; Nicklin G; Tan A
Mutuality as a method: advancing a social paradigm for global mental health through mutual learning
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023) Bemme , Dörte; Roberts , Tessa; Ae-Ngibise , Kenneth A.; Gumbonzvanda , Nyaradzayi; Joag , Kaustubh; Kagee , Ashraf; Machisa , Mercilene; van der Westhuizen , Claire; van Rensburg , André; Willan , Samantha; Wuerth , Milena; Aoun , May; Jain , Sumeet; Lund , Crick; Mathias, Kaaren; Read , Ursula; Taylor Salisbury , Tatiana; Burgess, Rochelle A.
Purpose: Calls for “mutuality” in global mental health (GMH) aim to produce knowledge more equitably across epistemic and power differences. With funding, convening, and publishing power still concentrated in institutions in the global North, efforts to decolonize GMH emphasize the need for mutual learning instead of unidirectional knowledge transfers. This article reflects on mutuality as a concept and practice that engenders sustainable relations, conceptual innovation, and queries how epistemic power can be shared. Methods: We draw on insights from an online mutual learning process over 8 months between 39 community-based and academic collaborators working in 24 countries. They came together to advance the shift towards a social paradigm in GMH. Results: Our theorization of mutuality emphasizes that the processes and outcomes of knowledge production are inextricable. Mutual learning required an open-ended, iterative, and slower paced process that prioritized trust and remained responsive to all collaborators’ needs and critiques. This resulted in a social paradigm that calls for GMH to (1) move from a deficit to a strength-based view of community mental health, (2) include local and experiential knowledge in scaling processes, (3) direct funding to community organizations, and (4) challenge concepts, such as trauma and resilience, through the lens of lived experience of communities in the global South. Conclusion: Under the current institutional arrangements in GMH, mutuality can only be imperfectly achieved. We present key ingredients of our partial success at mutual learning and conclude that challenging existing structural constraints is crucial to prevent a tokenistic use of the concept.
A qualitative study to explore various meanings of mental distress and help-seeking in the Yamuna Valley, North India
(Medknow, 2021) Rawat , Meenal; Jadhav , Sushrut; Bayetti , Clement; Mathias, Kaaren
Context: In rural India, mental healthcare remains limited due to scant state services and incongruency between provider- and patient-framing distress. Help-seeking by people with mental health problems is related to how meanings of distress are understood differently by individuals, based on their interaction with various actors in the community and the available cultural explanation within their local ecologies. Methodology: This study examines the mutually constituted relationship between meanings of mental distress and help-seeking among people residing in the Upper Yamuna Valley, Uttarakhand, North India. This qualitative study builds on six in-depth interviews with people with severe mental health issues and one person with epilepsy, referred as people with psychosocial disability (PPSD) in the study. The data analysis was iterative and followed thematic approach. Results: The study found that personal belief based on one's experience, such as negative self-judgment and wider cultural explanations, such as supernatural beliefs, as well as gender roles, impacted the way people address their mental health problems, in turn shaping their help-seeking behavior. Participants lost hope for a cure after years of trying to find an effective solution. Moreover, lack of access to care and remoteness of the mountainous area made help-seeking and recovery feel impossible. Conclusions: This study underscores the need for researchers and policy professionals to explore the local context and culture to improve care and treatment quality. The study also explains that personal explanation of psychosocial problems and help seeking are not unidirectional. It is a complex phenomenon layered with the local contexts which should be addressed in clinical practice, as well as future research. Finally, clinicians' training should address the local cultural language of distress to identify the problem and suggest an effective solution.