Psychology

Chae Rose

Lecturer, Psychology
chae.rose@jcu.edu.au

Lucy Bird

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
lucy.bird@jcu.edu.au

Nerina Caltabiano

Adjunct Professor
nerina.caltabiano@jcu.edu.au

Kannan Singaravelu Jaganathan

Lecturer Psychology
kannan.singaravelujaganathan@jcu.edu.au

Janine Lurie

Lecturer, Psychology
janine.lurie@jcu.edu.au

Liza van Eijk

Senior Lecturer, Psychology
liza.vaneijk@jcu.edu.au

Marie Caltabiano

Adjunct Professor
marie.caltabiano@jcu.edu.au

Kerry McBain

Associate Professor
kerry.mcbain@jcu.edu.au

Exploring Student Perspectives on Generative artificial intelligence Integration in Education

Liza van Eijk

Professionally Psyched: A Podcast to build professional identity, career clarity, and belongingness

Connar McShane

01 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2025

JCU Learning & Teaching Innovation Grant

“Bonus Chats”: A podcast series to build professional identity

Connar McShane

01 Jul 2024 - 31 Dec 2024

This project will use a podcast series to build professional identity within the psychology undergraduate cohort. The 15- minute podcast episodes will feature staff, PhD and Honours students discussing their research and contemporary issues relevant to the discipline. Research has shown that professional identity is important in the retention of people to organisations and careers. This project aims to build a sense of belongingness and community with the psychology undergraduate students through a creative and flexible delivery that showcases the diversity and opportunities within the psychology discipline. Improved retention, performance and engagement are the ultimate long-term goals.

Mental Health Among Medical Professionals in Foshan City, China (Old ID 22511)

Wendy Li

20 Jan 2016 - 31 Jan 2017

This project aims to investigate mental health among medical professionals in Foshan City, China. The mental health of physicians is now recognised as a serious issue in China after a number of high profile incidences in which doctors have been attacked by patients. Of course, being a high stress occupation, mental health issues caused by professional stress and burnout have always been present among medical professionals. This study seeks to use a mix-methods approach to explore such issues.

Serving the underserved in the tropics: Making a difference with positive psychology (Old ID 25136)

Wendy Li

28 Jun 2019 - 29 Jun 2019

As the first AASP (mini) conference focusing on serving the underserved in the tropics, the proposed mini conference aims to address this gap to promote making a difference in tropical Asia with positive psychology. The themes of the mini conference include: * mental health and psychological wellbeing in the tropics; * projudice, discimination and structural inequality; * individual and community resilience.

A pilot study into the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for improving veteran mental health in North Queensland (Old ID 27280)

Wendy Li

01 Jan 2022 - 31 Dec 2023

This pilot study aims to test the effectiveness of a MBSR intervention on veteran mental health in North Queensland. MBSR is a clinically standardized 8-week group intervention, with one 2.5-hour session each week and an all-day (6 hours) self-retreat session in week 6. It provides systematic training in mindfulness to improve mental health through self-regulating arousal to stress. Fifty veterans living in Townsville will be recruited to participate in the MBSR intervention. To assess the effectiveness of MBSR, a repeated-measures design will be employed, with mental health outcomes being measured at four timepoints.

Examining the clinical utility of MRI for Multiple Sclerosis (Old ID 30051)

Liza van Eijk

15 Jul 2023 - 01 Feb 2024

The aims of this project are to examine whether these quantitative MRI measures derived from clinical scans can assist with 1) characterising the disease severity, and 2) predicting the prognosis of patients with Multiple Sclerosis receiving care at the Townsville University Hospital, as a first step to examine how quantitative MRI measures can be used to assist with treatment planning. The funds will be used to hire a casual research assistant at James Cook University to process the MRI scans on a high performance computing system.

Social Psychology in Mental Health Studies: Showcase of Postgraduate Research in the Asia-Pacific Region

Wendy Li

11 Jan 2024 - 28 Jun 2024

We intend to invite 15-20 postgraduate students and 8-10 academics (including early- and mid-career researchers and senior academics) to join this Asian Association of Social Psychology's (AASP) Small Group Meeting (SGM). The SGM aims to: 1) showcase the achievements of our next generation of social psychology researchers who are working on research in the intersection between social psychology and mental health via research presentations and Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition; 2) Organise a “Research Capacity Building Workshop”; 3) support research students in the Asia-Pacific region to publish papers in this research field via the “Conversations with Editors”; 4) inspire research students via “‘What Next’ Dialogues with Academics”; and 5) promote AASP among research students in Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Radio relationships and well-being in older age (Old ID 26687)

Amanda Krause

01 Jan 2020 - 30 Dec 2022

This project addresses a need for non-invasive, cost-effective solutions to assist older Australians in managing their well-being. It aims to examine the role of radio relationships, including those developed between presenters and listeners and amongst presenters, in improving older Australians’ psychosocial well-being. It seeks to explore how the radio can promote individual and community well-being using participatory methods and a multi-phase, mixed methods design. Expected outcomes include evidence relating to the characteristics of listening and production practices that enhance experiences of social connection and social well-being; and substantiating the mechanisms underpinning these benefits. An evidence-based resource will be produced.

Implementation of Quantified Neonatal Brain MRI at Term-Equivalent Age at Townsville University and Cairns Hospital for Infants at High Risk of Adverse Neurodevelopmental Outcomes (Old ID 27559)

Liza van Eijk

01 Jan 2022 - 29 Mar 2027

Infants born preterm, with low birth weight, or whom have a hypoxic event are at risk for developing adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Currently, the timing of MRI is variable at Townsville University and Cairns Hospital’s Neonatal Units, with the infant often being at an age for which anaesthesia is required to undergo an MRI. This project aims to enable neonatal MRI (at term-equivalent age) for infants identified as high risk based, which is safer, less costly, and provides additional information for early personalized treatment plans in comparison to a later MRI (>4 months) - similar to the changes at Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital.