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Understanding corrections officer safety in Aotearoa New Zealand
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Taaka, Samantha; Polaschek, Devon
Working as a corrections officer can be challenging; in addition to navigating occupational hazards in a complex environment, corrections officers are also at risk of being verbally and physically assaulted by prisoners. As such, corrections officers report high rates of physical injury and report high levels of symptoms of psychological and stress-related disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, PTSD, burnout). Corrections officers undergo the necessary task of managing prisoners and ensuring their needs are met, while risking their own safety and wellbeing to do so. Previous research has established that characteristics of prisoners, of officers, and of the prison environment contribute to the safety and wellbeing of corrections officers; however, this research is not comprehensive because studies typically examine only one type of characteristic (e.g., only prisoner characteristics or only officer characteristics, but not both). Likewise, some research examines strategies to improve corrections officer wellbeing, but again, this research is fragmented and limited in the sense that it focuses primarily on physical wellbeing and omits the emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing of officers. Therefore, in this thesis, we sought to examine multiple factors of prison work that may decrease the safety of corrections officers and identify strategies that may increase corrections officer overall wellbeing. This thesis contains five studies that investigate what contributes to the safety of corrections officers in New Zealand prisons. The first study examined characteristics of prisoners that were predictive of violence against corrections officers at three levels of severity, using a database of 1,647 incidents of prisoner-to-officer assault. Prisoners who perpetrated serious violence against corrections officers were typically younger, higher security, gang affiliated and in directed segregation, compared to prisoners who perpetrated minor or moderate violence against corrections officers. In the second study, we extracted a subsample of incidents from the previous study to narratively analyse officers’ written reports of incidents of prisoner-to-officer assault to examine officer and situational characteristics that were predictive of violence at three levels of severity. Men were more commonly victims of serious violence compared to women, and some activities and locations in prisons (e.g., movements, prisoners’ cells) were predictive of serious violence against officers. The third study used interviews with 21 corrections officers and followed a grounded theory methodology to understand how corrections officers constructed their own safety in relation to their working relationships in prison. Corrections officers emphasised a necessity to develop positive working relationships with prisoners and colleagues to maintain their safety, and did so by being respectful and honest, and by using effective communication skills. The fourth study utilised the same data and methodology as study three to examine the strategies that officers used to keep safe while interacting with prisoners. Officers used some strategies consistently during their shift (e.g., alertness) and other strategies during specific interactions with prisoners (e.g., using physical measures during incidents of physical violence). Finally, in study five, we used the same data to capture how corrections officers perceived their emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing in relation to their work in prison. Officers described feeling stressed and emotionally exhausted due to their work in prison, which negatively impacted their personal lives outside of work. Taken together, the results of this thesis indicate that there are characteristics of prisoners, of officers, and of the prison environment itself that contribute to serious harm towards corrections officers. On the other hand, there are also strategies that corrections officers use to increase their safety at work including both security-focused strategies (e.g., physical control and restraint) and relational skills (e.g., using communication to build a rapport with prisoners). This thesis examined corrections officer safety from a holistic approach by understanding how multiple factors contribute to the overall wellbeing of officers, which establishes an empirical foundation for improving the safety and wellbeing of corrections officers in New Zealand.
'Ākono'anga Māori: Practices that enable education success for Cook Islands Māori learners
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Rota-Solomon, Tereapii Elinora; Petrie, Kirsten Culhane; Hemi, Keakaokawai Varner; Fa'avae, David Taufui Mikato
Within the context of education research, our stories as Cook Islands Māori living in Aotearoa New Zealand are rarely told from our own lived experiences, even more so in Tokoroa. I see this lack of representation as significant, given our migration from the 1950s onwards in search of a better life, as well as our contribution to the economic development of this country. Our experiences are often absorbed into broader Pasifika-Pacific narratives, which overlook our distinct ways of being and knowing, as well as our histories and aspirations. Being positioned under this umbrella further generalises our experiences, specific needs, and understandings of education success as defined by our own communities. This has significantly impacted on how we have experienced education, and what it has been to experience success. In this thesis, I investigate the practice traditions that have enabled education success for Cook Islands Māori students in Tokoroa. My aim was to understand how success is created by examining the conditions that shape students' experiences, relationships, and opportunities for learning. To do this, I draw on a theoretical framework grounded in 'Ākono'anga Māori (Cook Islands Māori way of life), bringing together Vā and the Theory of Practice Architectures to understand these conditions. I am guided by a Tivaivai methodology, which weaves together the stories, histories, and practices of Cook Islands Māori families in Tokoroa over time. Within this methodology, I use Patu Tuatua as the method to gather stories from participants, through culturally grounded ways of sharing knowledge. My exploration of education policy, curriculum, pedagogical practices, assessment practices, and definitions of success across four time periods, the pre-missionary period in the Cook Islands, the missionary period, the colonial period, and the period of migration to Aotearoa New Zealand, demonstrates that education success for Cook Islands Māori learners is contingent on four significant conditions. I found that our learners experience success when their aspirations and needs are reflected in education policy, their identities are visible in the curriculum, their ways of learning are supported through culturally relational and sustaining practices, and their progress is recognised through forms of measurement that reflect their strengths. I also found that the resilience of our learners enables them to continue to experience education success by remaining grounded in their practice traditions, despite enduring constraints within education. I argue that, in order to reverse the deficit positioning that continues to underserve Cook Islands Māori learners, schools need to recognise, support, and strengthen these practices if they are to create conditions where our learners succeed. I maintain that it is imperative for strong connections between home, Church, community, and the school to be sustained, as education success is enabled when sites of learning values the practices that collectively enable our learners to experience education success.
Growth and water use dynamics of New Zealand indigenous and exotic tree species in the Wairarapa – a case study
(The University of Waikato, 2026) West, Moari; Clearwater, Michael J.; Barbour, Margaret M.; Meason, Dean
Little is known about the effect of New Zealand indigenous tree species on the forest hydrological cycle and there are limited quantitative growth and transpiration data for New Zealand indigenous tree species, particularly in a plantation setting. This thesis aims to compare growth and transpiration responses of indigenous and exotic tree species to weather conditions in a plantation setting over a two-year study period (Year 1 = 21/06/2022-21/06/2023, Year 2 = 22/06/2023-21/06/2024). This thesis also aims to assess the suitability of electronic point dendrometers as alternatives to the widely used but expensive and invasive sap flow meters for estimating tree and forest level transpiration. To achieve our aims, eight study species were selected for this thesis including three indigenous Nothofagaceae species, Fuscospora fusca, F. solandri, and Lophozonia menziesii, two indigenous Podocarpaceae species, Podocarpus totara and Prumnopitys taxifolia, one exotic angiosperm species, Eucalyptus fastigata (Myrtaceae), and two exotic conifer species, Pinus radiata (Pinaceae) and Sequoia sempervirens (Cupressaceae). Rewanui Forest Park (Wairarapa region) was selected for this thesis as it is a rare example of a forestry trial including both indigenous and exotic species. Electronic point dendrometer measurements revealed that only one of the exotic study species, S. sempervirens, had a faster growth rate than the native species during the study period, despite the much larger size of the exotic species. The other two exotic species, E. fastigata and P. radiata, were limited by canopy closure and wet microsite conditions respectively. Modelling growing season duration using the Gompertz equation highlighted the role of species-traits and the impact of weather conditions on growth. For example, F. fusca and L. menziesii demonstrated high instantaneous growth rates but a short growing season duration, particularly under drier weather conditions, suggesting that these were the most climate sensitive of the study species. Notably, all study species were modelled to cease growing on the last day of Year 1 which was wetter than Year 2. This result suggests that all study species were able to continue growing at a rate within the model parameters until the winter solstice (21st June 2023), likely due to higher than normal rainfall in late summer and early autumn of Year 1. Differences in weather also affected the other dendrometer variables. Notably, one of the shrinkage variables, tree water deficit (TWD), was low in Year 1 but exhibited a large summer peak in Year 2 for all study species. Microsite conditions appeared to affect TWD. For example, the high TWD peak for E. fastigata was likely driven by dry microsite conditions, large tree size and high sap flux densities causing increased soil water depletion and stem shrinkage in this species. The large size and likely high leaf area of E. fastigata also appeared to drive higher rates of sap flux density compared to the indigenous species, as revealed by heat ratio method sap flow meter measurements. Larger stem sizes appeared to drive higher rates of total water use for all three of the exotic species compared to the indigenous species. The effects of weather and climate on sap flux density were generally species specific. For example, little sap flux density variation was explained by the climate variables for P. taxifolia, which consistently ranked low for all measured and calculated variables. Maximum daily shrinkage (MDS), emerged as the best overall dendrometer variable for predicting sap flux density, with higher correlation and prediction strength for most of the study species. However, under the drier conditions of Year 2, TWD emerged as a stronger predictor for some of the indigenous species, namely, F. solandri, L. menziesii, P. totara, and P. taxifolia. Most of these species were, in some way, restricted by soil water conditions. Fuscospora solandri had low soil volumetric water content at the study site, L. menziesii is considered to be naturally adapted to wetter conditions than at our study site, and P. totara had high competition for soil water due to high planting density at the study site. Including climate variables helped to improve prediction strength of the dendrometer variables across all species. Together these results highlight the role of microsite conditions, stem size, leaf area, and species-traits on the impacts of trees on components of the forest hydrological cycle such as transpiration. These results also highlight the importance of species selection for afforestation projects. This work advances our understanding of water use and growth dynamics of New Zealand indigenous species that have been previously understudied, and how those dynamics compare to exotic plantation tree species.
An experimental approach to assessing climate sensitivity in juvenile Yellowbelly Flounder (Rhombosolea leporina): Methodological insights and applications
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Carter, Taylah R.; Battershill, Christopher
As anthropogenic CO₂ emissions continue to rise, marine ecosystems face the dual threats of ocean acidification and ocean warming. A number of studies have examined the effects of ocean acidification and warming on coastal marine fin fish species, but little attention has been paid to estuarine species, the assumption being that they are likely to be tolerant to fluctuations in seawater parameters given freshwater and large tidal dynamics. This thesis investigates the impacts of these stressors on the early life history of the estuarine yellowbelly flounder (Rhombosolea leporina), an ecologically and culturally significant taonga species in New Zealand. Research was conducted in two phases; a larval pilot study focusing on the transition to exogenous feeding, and a behavioural study on juveniles assessing olfactory mediated responses to food and predator cues. The larval pilot study, carried out in aquaria, revealed an extreme developmental bottleneck at approximately 14 days post-hatch (dph). Mass mortality occurred across all treatments, coinciding with the onset of metamorphosis and the “critical period” of first feeding. The extent of the mortality event masked any possible treatment effects imposed in terms of pH and temperature combinations. These results highlight the high physiological sensitivity of R. leporina during early ontogeny, independent of climate stressors. In the second phase, juvenile flounder were exposed to a fully-crossed factorial design of pH (~7.3 & ~8.0) and temperature (20°C & 25°C). Behavioural trials using a two channel choice chamber measured the proportion of time spent in stimulus streams (Perna canaliculus food cues & Notolabrus celidotus predator cues). A three-way ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of stimulus type (p = 0.017) and temperature (p=0.040), but no significant effect of pH and no interactive effects. Interestingly, 66.7% of individuals remained in the neutral mixing zone, particularly during predator trials and under elevated temperatures. These findings suggest that while R. leporina larvae remain highly vulnerable to intrinsic developmental bottlenecks, juveniles exhibit a degree of behavioural resilience to reduced pH, potentially due to their evolved tolerance of fluctuating estuarine environments. The preference for remaining stationary (crypsis) in the neutral zone is interpreted as a natural, risk-averse strategy for this benthic species. This research underscores the importance of considering species-specific ecology and life stage transitions when predicting the impacts of climate change on New Zealand fisheries. Overall, this research apparently represents the first study to experimentally examine the effects of ocean acidification and warming on estuarine flatfish species across critical early life stages. Although no clear pH-driven effects were detected in the juvenile behavioural trials, the study remains valuable in testing hypotheses around the resilience of marine species that naturally experience highly variable environmental conditions. In particular, species with significant estuarine habitat phases may possess inherent tolerance to fluctuations in seawater chemistry, yet may still face vulnerability during key developmental transitions. Investigations such as this are therefore important for improving our understanding of how climate change stressors interact with species-specific ecology and life history bottlenecks, and for informing future research on the adaptive capacity of estuarine-associated marine fishes.
The Soul of Sybil Jane Armstrong and other short stories
(The University of Waikato, 2026) McClintock, Kate; Slaughter, Tracey; Chidgey, Catherine
A care home worker learns a dark secret about her favourite resident. A young man with a brain injury desperately tries to warn his small town of impending disaster. A doctor is haunted by a dissatisfied patient. In 1930’s Alabama, a woman sells her soul to the devil to escape an asylum. The Soul of Sybil Jane Armstrong and Other Stories is a meditation on disability, horror, and the monsters we make and are made into by the world around us. This collection maps diverse experiences of disability, caretaking and unruly bodies and minds onto the horror genre, subverting expectations around agency, harm and the monstrous to explore how ableism shapes the things we fear and the things we ignore. I was inspired to write this collection by my own experiences of disability as a woman with cerebral palsy. Disabled bodies and minds feature heavily in traditional horror stories, from Frankenstein to Friday the 13th, but disabled characters are usually reduced to villains, monsters, or, at best, objects of pity. I sought to expand this framework, highlighting the horror present not in simply existing in a disabled body or mind, but in the navigation of a world designed to be hostile, and, indeed, in the harm which each individual is capable of, regardless of ability.