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“I don’t want to be this chaos that I live in”: Stories of resilience from adult survivors of child maltreatment
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Cameron, Lita; Jackson, Kimberly M.
Child maltreatment is a devastating public health issue with enduring effects across the lifespan. Research has focused on resilience to understand how individuals cope and adapt following adversity. However, psychological research predominately characterises resilience as an individual trait, focusing on protective factors to inform individual, therapy based interventions. Drawing on community psychology’s liberatory orientation, this thesis takes a qualitative, relational approach to resilience research, exploring how adult survivors of childhood maltreatment understand and experience resilience. It investigates what survivors find meaningful in facilitating their resilience, the role of community and social supports, and how their accounts compare with the dominant model of resilience as adaptive ‘bouncing back’. Narrative methods were used to explore how participants storied their resilience, contextualised by my insider researcher position. Semi-structured interviews, incorporating a mind mapping activity, were conducted with three participants. Narrative analysis was used to examine the function of participants’ stories of resilience. Participants’ accounts reflected a broader landscape of healing than typically emphasised in resilience literature, with therapeutic resources and interventions forming a small role. Participants also storied their resilience through ‘giving back’, using their experiences to prevent others’ suffering. Finally, resilience was formed and maintained through ongoing, exhausting labour. Overall, this thesis argues that recognising resilience as labour has important implications for conceptualising resilience and supporting survivors.
Affiliative and hostile grooming in child sexual abuse cases: Juror blame attribution and the role of expert testimony
(The University of Waikato, 2026-05-16) Van Den Anker, Kate; Evelo, Andrew
This study examined whether mock jurors’ evaluations of child sexual abuse (CSA) differ as a function of grooming type (affiliative vs. hostile) and the presence of expert testimony. Drawing on attribution theory, rape-myth frameworks, and the Sexual Grooming Model, it was hypothesised that affiliative grooming would be associated with greater victim blame, reduced perpetrator responsibility, and more lenient sentencing relative to hostile grooming, and that expert testimony would reduce these biases by clarifying the manipulative and strategic nature of grooming behaviours. A 2 × 2 × 2 mixed-subjects experimental design was used, in which participants (N = 271) recruited via CloudResearch Connect read a CSA vignette depicting either affiliative or hostile grooming, with or without expert testimony. Participants then completed measures of victim and perpetrator blame and provided sentencing recommendations. Contrary to predictions, grooming type and expert testimony did not significantly influence victim blame, perpetrator blame, or sentencing recommendations. Across conditions, participants attributed high responsibility to the perpetrator and minimal responsibility to the victim. Equivalence testing indicated that observed differences in sentencing were not statistically equivalent within a pre-specified one-year bound, although effects were small and generally consistent in direction with hypotheses. These findings suggest that when CSA is clearly established and offender responsibility is uncontested, juror judgments may be driven primarily by moral certainty rather than variations in grooming presentation. The absence of expert testimony effects further suggests that such interventions may be most relevant in contexts characterised by ambiguity, misinformation, or evidentiary uncertainty, rather than cases where responsibility is already clearly assigned. Overall, this study introduces an affiliative–hostile grooming framework within juror decision-making research and suggests that grooming distinctions may have limited influence under conditions of confirmed abuse. Future research should examine these effects in contexts involving greater evidentiary ambiguity and more ecologically valid trial processes.
Reporting guidelines for running biomechanics and footwear studies using three-dimensional motion capture
(Taylor & Francis, 2023) Hébert-Losier, Kim; Dai, Boyi; Nunome, Hiroyuki; Kong, Pui Wah; Hobara, Hiroaki; Hsu, Wei-Chun; Bradshaw, Elizabeth J.; Fong, Daniel T.P.; Vanwanseele, Benedicte
Running shoes act as an interface between the foot and the ground and play a central role in running. Running shoes are constantly evolving, as is the research on running biomechanics and footwear. Experts agree that comfort, injury prevention, and performance are important factors to consider in the design and manufacturing of running footwear; however, these topics are often complex to investigate due to their multifactorial, individualised, or subjective nature with no clear evidence-based direction for footwear prescription.
Moving beyond models: Theorizing physical disability in the sociology of sport
(Human Kinetics, 2021) Brighton, James; Townsend, Robert C.; Campbell, Natalie; Williams, Toni L.
In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, and Zygmunt Bauman) and from aesthetic, cyborg, and new materialist approaches can help reveal the materialist conditions, sociocultural structures, and lived realities of disability. In doing so, we appeal to researchers of disability sport to develop critical understandings of why alternative theoretical approaches are valuable, what theoretical choices to make, and how we can use theory to highlight oppression and empower those involved in disability sport.
How to foster visitors’ environmentally responsible behaviour in nature-based tourism of South Korea
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Lee, Jiwon; Ryan, Chris; Cockburn-Wootten, Cheryl
The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped patterns of mobility, leisure, and tourism, highlighting the importance of nearby green spaces for physical and psychological wellbeing. At the same time, increasing environmental crises underscored the vulnerability of the tourism sector to climate change. Within this context, nature-based tourism (NBT) has gained attention for its potential to promote stress recovery, attentional restoration, and wellbeing, as explained by Attention Restoration Theory and Stress Recovery Theory. These restorative outcomes are also associated with ecological awareness and environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB). However, empirical research examining the relationships among multidimensional visitor experiences, restorative outcomes, environmental attitudes (NEP), and ERB remains limited, particularly in East Asian contexts. South Korea provides a distinctive setting for this inquiry due to its mountainous geography and cultural traditions emphasising harmony with nature. In particular, Seoul’s Dullegil trails, which attract over 1.6 million visitors annually, offer a unique urban nature-based tourism context where natural and urban landscapes coexist. Accordingly, the objectives of this study are: (1) to identify the multidimensional nature of visitor experiences within Korean nature-based tourism settings; (2) to examine how these experiential dimensions relate to restorative outcomes and environmental attitudes; and (3) to investigate how such experiences and outcomes contribute to environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB). Guided by a post-positivist paradigm, this study employs a mixed methods design to capture both generalizable patterns and in-depth insights into visitor experiences. Quantitative data were collected through on-site surveys to examine relationships among key variables, while qualitative data were obtained from semi-structured interviews to explore the meanings behind individual experiences. According to the interview guideline suggested by Castillo-Montoya (2016) interview questions were systematically developed and total 26 participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling of visitors to Seoul’s Dullegil trails. Interviews were conducted on-site or nearby between December 2023 and January 2024, lasting 45–60 minutes. Visual prompts, such as photos of hiking routes, were used to encourage rich responses. All interviews were recorded, transcribed in Korean, and translated into English with back-translation to ensure accuracy. For the analysis of qualitative interview, thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke (2006)’s six-phase framework, identified ten overarching themes and 64 experiential codes, capturing cognitive, emotional, relational, and aesthetic dimensions of trekking. Frequently reported experiences included appreciation of scenery, pleasure and excitement, and stress relief. These qualitative insights informed the development of 57 structured survey items, validated through expert review using the Content Validity Index. A pilot survey with 119 responses confirmed the reliability of all items via PCA, KMO, and Bartlett’s tests, providing a robust foundation for the subsequent quantitative phase. In the quantitative phase, 598 valid survey responses were collected from trekkers on Seoul’s Dullegil trails to test hypotheses developed from the qualitative stage. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed nine experiential dimensions—immersion, therapeutic, achievement, reflective, learning, social interaction, social bonding, unpleasant, and perceived risk—alongside restorative outcomes (RES), environmental attitudes (NEP), and environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB). Structural equation modelling demonstrated robust measurement properties and adequate model fit, explaining substantial variance in RES (R² = 0.617), NEP (R² = 0.328), and ERB (R² = 0.406). Immersive experience emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor, exerting positive effects on all three outcomes. Therapeutic, achievement, and learning experiences influenced both RES and ERB, while reflective experience predicted only RES. Social bonding was positively associated with RES and ERB, whereas casual interaction had a targeted effect on ERB alone. Perceived risk showed no significant associations, while unpleasant experiences unexpectedly heightened NEP. Among outcome relationships, RES predicted ERB but not NEP, whereas NEP directly predicted ERB, indicating distinct but complementary pathways to responsible behaviour. These findings demonstrate that specific experiential dimensions contribute differently to restorative outcomes and environmentally responsible behaviour. In particular, immersive and therapeutic experiences emerged as important pathways promoting both restoration and pro-environmental engagement, while eco-centric beliefs (NEP) directly influenced environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB). This study advances theory and practice in nature-based tourism by integrating qualitative insights with quantitative modelling. It extends Attention Restoration Theory, Stress Recovery Theory, and Social Exchange Theory by identifying nine experiential dimensions and incorporating embodiment, broaden-and-build, self-determination, social norm, and social capital perspectives. Managerially, findings recommend trail designs that prioritise immersive and therapeutic features, foster social bonding, and enhance exploratory learning to jointly promote restoration and environmentally responsible behaviour. Limitations include the urban, Seoul-specific trekking context, cross-sectional and self-reported data, and limited sensitivity of NEP to short-term experiences. Future research should test generalisability across settings, employ longitudinal/experimental designs, incorporate behavioural observations (e.g., GPS/litter audits), use complementary attitudinal constructs (e.g., identity, place attachment), and examine negative experiences alongside positive ones.