/library/oar/handle/123456789/55270 2025-12-28T04:03:25Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/85238 Title: How do primary school children make sense of their being diagnosed with dyslexia? : a grounded theory study Abstract: With the increasing awareness of specific learning difficulties, and continuous demands on the educational psychologist working in a school setting, to assess and diagnose, it is valuable to explore children’s experience of getting a diagnosis, how they construct their understanding of the diagnosis and how they assimilate it. Research considering children’s views on receiving and assimilating the diagnosis of dyslexia and their meaning making of dyslexia after disclosure and its impact on them is very limited. To address this gap, five 7-10-year-old children participated in four group sessions that explored how children with dyslexia construct the meaning of their diagnosis and its implication for their well-being. Grounded theory analysis identified “Positive meaning making contributes to hope” as the core category that highlighted a process that children go through in the meaning making of dyslexia diagnosis. This comprised of the categories “Feeling scared”, “I have dyslexia, but it is OK”, “Facing adversities” and “Coping with dyslexia.” The core category was positioned in the context of Snyder’s theory of Hope (1994). The study contributes a fresh insight on dyslexia contrary to the prevalent deficit lens. The findings help professionals reflect on how to best approach the communication of a dyslexia diagnosis to children and what support services best to offer children in their journey towards a positive meaning making of this challenge. Description: M.PSY.ED. 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/85236 Title: Suicide in the Maltese islands between 1995 and 2018 Abstract: According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2018), one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Research on suicide is of critical importance for effective suicide prevention, however it is lacking in the local context. This study investigated the prevalence and the characteristics of the individuals who died by suicide in the Maltese Islands between 1995 and 2018. The research questions addressed the demographic, suicide-related, psychiatric, adverse life events and other variables pertaining to the individuals in the study. Data were collected from Felice et al. (2014)’s study, post-mortem records, the National Mortality Register, and the medical records from Mount Carmel Hospital and Mater Dei Hospital. A quantitative methodology was used to carry out secondary data analysis. Statistical tests were used to analyse trends and relationships between selected variables. The total number of suicides in this study was 635 individuals. An increasing suicide trend was found over the study’s 24-year period. The most salient findings included the heightened suicide risk for males, individuals aged 30 to 49, single or separated individuals, and unemployed or pensioners. Hanging was the most commonly used suicide method. These findings started addressing the research gap in the Maltese Islands and broadening the understanding of suicide in the local context. The identification of at-risk groups and commonly used suicide methods provides important implications for suicide prevention efforts. Conclusively, this study highlights the complexity of suicide and makes recommendations for future research, policy, and practice, at multiple levels, in order to address this public health priority. Description: M.PSY.CLINICAL 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/85136 Title: The experience of parenting children with and without autism in Malta : six case studies Abstract: The experience of a parent bringing up a child with an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is likely to differ in many ways from that of a parent of a Typically Developing (TD) child. This study aims to compare the parenting experiences of raising a child with or without an ASC. A qualitative explorative approach was adopted through in-depth interviews with six families of 5-8-year-old children, three with a TD child and three with a child with an ASC. Thematic analysis resulted in three main themes: 1) common challenges faced by both groups of parents, including consideration of the home environment as key in their child’s development, the central role in child-rearing taken by mothers, and the strong sense of lack of time for meeting the children’s needs. These challenges were also commonly met with a positive attitude and a belief that children needed discipline. 2) Different parenting approaches were also found between the two groups of parents, namely about parental expectations of parents regarding their children’s successes in life (social skills-related goals in comparison with academic success), and the amount of effort dedicated to specific disciplinary strategies. 3) Thirdly, parents of children with an ASC sought different types and levels of support for child rearing. This study enhances the understanding of the experiences of parents of children with and without an ASC in Malta and how different parents may be supported to better meet the needs of their children. Description: M.PSY. 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/85135 Title: The synergistic effects of personality and occupational stress on depression and anxiety amongst healthcare professionals Abstract: The field of healthcare has been shown to be among the most stressful settings for one to work in (Koinis et al., 2015). In addition, healthcare professionals face greatly elevated rates of mental health difficulties as well as overall poorer levels of health (Weinberg and Creed, 2003). This study investigates the role of perceived occupational stress and personality in two of the most commonly cited mental health difficulties within this population; depression and anxiety. A total of 200 healthcare professionals (35% males; 65% females) recruited through convenience sampling from Mater Dei Hospital, completed online surveys consisting of psychometric tests to gauge personality, perceived occupational stress, depression and anxiety, as well as key demographic variables. These included the BFI (Personality), the BJSQ (Occupational Stress), PHQ-9 (Depression) and the GAD-7 (Anxiety). Results indicate that the local scenario is similar to findings presented in international research with healthcare professionals scoring much higher in depression and anxiety compared to the general population. Data was analysed at a descriptive, bivariate and finally, multiple regression level. Multiple regression analysis identified gender, conscientiousness, neuroticism and perceived occupational stress as relevant predictors for depression, explaining 37-38% of variance. In addition, gender, neuroticism and perceived occupational stress were identified as relevant predictors for anxiety, explaining 43-44% of variance. These findings suggest that male healthcare professionals with low conscientiousness, high neuroticism and high perceived occupational stress are most likely to experience elevated rates of depression. Male healthcare professionals who score high in neuroticism and perceived occupational stress are also most likely to experience elevated rates of anxiety. Description: M.PSY. 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z