Significant changes to Australians' behaviours toward the natural environment are needed to mitigate a climate emergency. Yet, Australian's existing concerns for the natural environment have not translated into meaningful action. To address this, a qualitative analysis explored Australians' avoidance/approach motivations and negative and positive emotions when reporting reasons to protect the natural environment. A qualitative secondary data analysis was employed with a sample of 482 Australians aged 18 to 84 years (M = 45.55, SD= 15.76) recruited via an online survey. Utilising a content analysis methodology, results showed that participants reported avoidance motivations of loss, destruction, death and suffering. Approach motivations were also reported with anthropocentric and eco-centric drivers. Negative emotions of fear, contempt and hopelessness were identified, whilst positive emotions of compassion, gratitude, awe, beauty, and enjoyment were also conveyed. These findings illustrate the diversity of pro-environmental motivations in Australia, suggesting a multi-pronged approach may be beneficial for environmental communications.

Bushfires are anticipated to become more severe in Australia due to climate change. However, Australians have a long history with bushfires, making them part of the Australian identity. We theorise that Australian identity would therefore lead people to be less likely to subjectively attribute bushfires to climate change and, in turn, be less supportive of climate policy. This pre-registered, cross-sectional study examined these relationships using a representative Australian sample (N = 5,038). In support of our hypotheses, subjective attribution partly explained the relationship between Australian identity and climate policy support. Specifically, those higher in Australian identity were less likely to attribute bushfires to climate change, which reduced their climate policy support. These findings expand our understanding of how differences in the content of a country's national identity can impact climate outcomes and suggest that public campaigns should consider how appeals to national identity may influence climate policy support.

Future-oriented emotional appeals, such as fear or hope, may be more effective in increasing climate action when they reflect the specific fears and hopes of the target population. However, qualitative evidence on what people find uniquely fearful and uniquely hopeful about climate change remains limited. To address this gap, an online qualitative survey asked 299 Australians (Mage = 33.09, SDage = 12.14) to identify what they found fearful and hopeful about climate change. Through inductive thematic analysis, three themes reflected Australians' fear: (1) 'Change and Instability', (2) 'Inaction and Negligence by Government, Large Corporations, and Others', and (3) 'Intergenerational Impacts and Legacy'. Additionally, three themes reflected Australians' hope: (1) 'Changing Attitudes and Changing Pro-environmental Habits', (2) 'Progress, Technology, Sustainability, and Innovation', and (3) 'An Opportunity for Change'. While some elements of what Australians find fearful or hopeful may be unique (e.g., bushfires), others (e.g., intergenerational impacts) align with global concerns. These insights offer valuable guidance for designing interventions that aim to foster fear and hope to promote climate action.

OBJECTIVES:Adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experience disruptions to normal adolescent development. Lack of preparation for transition from paediatric to adult care can have negative biopsychosocial outcomes. We aimed to explore adolescents' perspectives on how IBD affects their lives. Additionally, we aimed to understand adolescents and their parents' views on transition from paediatric to adult IBD care. DESIGN:Qualitative study. Adolescents and parents participated in semi-structured interviews together. METHODS:Participants included eight adolescents with IBD (four females; four with Crohn's disease, two with ulcerative colitis and two with IBD-U; mean age = 16) and their parent(s) (n = 9). Data were analyzed using template thematic analysis. RESULTS:Three themes were identified that reflected how IBD conflicts with typical adolescent development because of the need for careful planning to manage the disease and its symptoms (e.g., loss of bowel control, fatigue). They also described the active role parents currently play in managing their child's IBD, from managing medication to organizing appointments and communicating with healthcare professionals. Anxiety and apprehension of adolescent participants towards transitioning from adolescent to adult care were also captured. CONCLUSIONS:Healthcare providers and carers must work together with adolescents with IBD to ensure they are ready for adult care, where they will need to take sole responsibility for managing their chronic condition.

Despite an increase in climate-driven natural disasters, Australia has been slow to adopt pro-climate policy, partially due to resistance on the political right. Measures of ideology beyond the left-right continuum, including conventionalism, dominance and anti-egalitarianism, predict climate change-related attitudes in several Anglophone nations. A consistent additional predictor is partisan affiliation with specific political parties. The aim of this study (N = 390) was to compare the associations of right-wing ideological beliefs and identification with major political parties (Liberal, Labor and Greens parties) with climate mitigation and adaptation policy support, to determine whether either or both underpin support for climate policy in the Australian context. Path analysis revealed that anti-egalitarianism (negatively) and Greens partisan identity (positively) predicted both forms of climate policy support, whereas Liberal partisan identity and conventionalism only (negatively) predicted support for mitigation but not adaptation policy. Neither dominance nor Labor partisan identity predicted either type of policy support. Results indicate that some partisan identifications sit alongside ideological beliefs as unique drivers of climate policy support. Applying a social identity framework, we suggest that climate policy shifts within political parties could lead some partisans to alter their support in line with these changes.

Aims:Fatigue in IBD is pervasive, with very few intervention options available to patients. Research has indicated that psychological therapies are a promising strategy for managing IBD fatigue. However, no such intervention is available to date. This study aimed to evaluate the opinion of patients and health professionals on a potential psychological intervention for IBD fatigue. Methods and Results:A total of seven patients (Crohn's disease = 5, ulcerative colitis = 2) and seven health professionals participated in semi-structured interviews. Results were derived by using a template analysis, revealing four key themes and associated subthemes: (1) it's a trade-off; (2) buy-in, trust and credibility; (3) accountability; and (4) accessibility and equity. Important factors identified were a self-led online intervention, where patients can converse with other patients. Patients determined a facilitator with IBD-specific knowledge to be important. Health professionals were concerned with the cost-effectiveness and duration of an intervention, whereas patients were less concerned about the financial cost if there is perceived benefit to the intervention. Conclusion:Findings indicate the need to balance support with accessibility for patients. The lack of consensus of who can deliver an intervention by health professionals is significant and underscores the need for mental health care to be integrated into IBD health services. Nurses were recommended as an alternative to mental health professionals. However, the nurses interviewed emphasized the impact this would pose on their workloads. As such, there needs to be a diversity of supporting staff in IBD health care teams to ensure that future psychological interventions are feasible.

Future-oriented emotional appeals, such as fear or hope, may be more effective inincreasing climate action when they reflect the specific fears and hopes of the targetpopulation. However, qualitative evidence on what people find uniquely fearful anduniquely hopeful about climate change remains limited. To address this gap, an onlinequalitative survey asked 299 Australians (Mage = 33.09, SDage = 12.14) to identifywhat they found fearful and hopeful about climate change. Through inductive thematicanalysis, three themes reflected Australians’ fear: (1) ‘Change and Instability’, (2)‘Inaction and Negligence by Government, Large Corporations, and Others’, and (3)‘Intergenerational Impacts and Legacy’. Additionally, three themes reflectedAustralians’ hope: (1) ‘Changing Attitudes and Changing Pro-environmental Habits’, (2)‘Progress, Technology, Sustainability, and Innovation’, and (3) ‘An Opportunity forChange’. While some elements of what Australians find fearful or hopeful may beunique (e.g., bushfires), others (e.g., intergenerational impacts) align with globalconcerns. These insights offer valuable guidance for designing interventions that aimto foster fear and hope to promote climate action.

Vehicle idling near schools produces harmful air pollutants that impact child health and development. School-based environmental education programs provide an opportunity for children to act as change agents for reducing idling around school, empowering them to modify their parents' pro-environmental behaviours. In 2023, the Idle Off pilot assessed the impact, acceptability and feasibility of an education program in two schools in Melbourne, Australia. The program was designed to empower students as change agents to influence and decrease their parents' idling behaviours. Forty grade 5-6 students took part in three education sessions focusing on air pollution, advocacy and evaluation of students' effort. Idling observations, surveys, focus groups with students and interviews with parents were conducted. Students, parents and teachers rated the program highly as acceptable and feasible. We found improvements in student confidence, environmental awareness, and reductions in idling behaviour, supported by both observational, qualitative, and quantitative data. Children described taking active roles in sharing knowledge at home, influencing household routines, and promoting change in their communities. The program offers a low-cost and scalable solution to reduce idling behaviours in parents and promote environmental attitudes and behaviours in both parents and their school-aged children.

Right-wing adherents are more likely to deny climate change and less likely to support climate mitigation policy than their left-wing counterparts. Correlational evidence suggests that this denial might be motivated by a need to preserve the existing socioeconomic and sociocultural systems against threats that arise from the implementation of climate change mitigation policies. We further interrogate this motivated threat account in the Australian context. Study 1 (N = 451) showed positive indirect effects for the conventionalism and dominance subdimensions of right-wing ideology on climate change denial via socioeconomic and sociocultural mitigation threat perceptions, partially replicating prior U.S. based cross-sectional research. We experimentally manipulated these mitigation threat types in Study 2 (N = 778), finding no differences between threat conditions and a no message control on climate change denial (and mitigation policy support) across levels of right-wing ideology endorsement. Although our Study 1 findings support the motivated threat account, threat-based arguments against climate policy action tested in Study 2 did not appear to increase climate change denial and reduce mitigation policy support among right-wing adherents. This suggests that prevailing ideological beliefs and existing beliefs about climate policy could be more important than threat-based messaging. We discuss theoretical and methodological reasons for these diverging results.

Climate change mitigation requires effective behaviour change methods. Cognitive dissonance interventions have been successful in promoting positive health behaviour change, and preliminary evidence suggests that they may be useful interventions for pro-environmental behaviour change, particularly within households. However, a comprehensive overview of cognitive dissonance intervention methods targeting household pro-environmental behaviours and effectiveness is lacking. This scoping review explores the effectiveness of cognitive dissonance-based interventions in promoting household pro-environmental behaviours, drawing from 23 studies that targeted 12 distinct household-related behaviours. Our findings indicate that commitment-based interventions were the most prevalent and effective, demonstrating significant increases in pro-environmental behaviours across various household contexts. Specifically, 12 of 17 studies employing commitment methods reported significant positive results. Additionally, induced hypocrisy showed effectiveness, particularly in reducing food waste, whereas a framing technique aimed at promoting the uptake of paperless billing was not effective. Overall, cognitive dissonance-based interventions were found to increase household pro-environmental behaviour significantly. This review highlights the strength of cognitive dissonance interventions in bridging the attitude-behaviour gap commonly observed in environmental psychology. Notably, commitment-based strategies have shown versatility and effectiveness in the public arena, significantly promoting a variety of pro-environmental behaviours. The current research was constrained by limitations, including inconsistent language and reporting methods, as well as variability in intervention descriptions, demographic details, and effect sizes. Furthermore, the focus on research conducted in Global North countries underscores the need for future studies to include Global South populations and to perform thorough demographic analyses. Addressing these issues will ensure a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of cognitive dissonance interventions across various groups.

BACKGROUND:Chronic pelvic pain, defined as persistent pain in the structures of the pelvis, is a condition that significantly impacts the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of up to one-third of people worldwide, with substantial associated costs to both the individual and healthcare system/s. The present trial aims to establish the efficacy of e-hypnotherapy over relaxation and waitlist controls on pain, HRQoL and biopsychosocial outcomes, and evaluate cost-effectiveness. METHODS:A parallel-group, investigator-blinded, randomised controlled trial will be conducted. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated to either a 7-week online personalised e-hypnotherapy programme (n=44), a 7-week online personalised relaxation control (n=44) or waitlist control (n=44). The primary outcome will be self-reported pain level, and secondary outcomes will include psychological distress, QoL, pain catastrophising, self-efficacy, central sensitisation, somatic symptoms, fatigue and sleep. Cost-effectiveness will also be examined. Longitudinal qualitative interviews will be conducted with participants in the e-hypnotherapy (n=20) and relaxation (n=20) groups to understand meaningful change and barriers/facilitators for ongoing use. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION:This protocol has received ethics approval in Australia from the Deakin University Research Ethics Committee (DUREC ref. 2024-080). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national and international conferences related to chronic pelvic pain and mind-body interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12623000368639p.

We examined data from 59,508 participants across 63 countries to construct a measure of climate policy support and document associations with political orientation across the resulting scale. Preregistered analyses identified a three-factor model capturing support for tax-based, nature protection, and green transition policies. The scale demonstrated configural and metric invariance across all 63 countries, scalar invariance across 49 countries, and each subscale showed good reliability. There was substantial variability in the associations between political orientation and support for each policy domain: in many countries, conservatism predicted less support, but in a substantial minority, it predicted greater support. Policies were less supported in nations with higher emissions per capita, and there was some evidence that the negative associations between conservatism and policy support were stronger within higher emission nations. Rather than universally suppressing climate policy support, conservatism might be a more important barrier to climate policy support within high emission societies.

Using an Australian sample, the current study investigated the usefulness of protection motivation theory (PMT) in predicting intentions for two climate actions-one individual action (limiting household heating and/or cooling) and one collective action (writing a letter to a local Member of Parliament urging them to take action to mitigate climate change). The data were analysed in two ways: (1) regression analysis, to examine the independent effects of coping and threat appraisals, and (2) latent profile analysis (LPA), to understand how the coping and threat appraisals may act in combination. The regression showed that PMT explained a significant amount of variance for both behavioural intentions. While perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy were significant unique predictors of both behavioural intentions, perceived response costs were a significant unique predictor of heating and/or cooling intentions. Although the regression analysis suggests that people were more motivated by coping appraisals for both outcomes, the LPA indicates that the coping appraisals are unlikely to lead to stronger intentions unless individuals perceive climate change to be sufficiently threatening. PMT research could benefit from employing LPA to identify participant profiles with heightened likelihoods of reporting stronger intentions to participate in climate actions.

Climate change is currently one of humanity’s greatest threats. To help scholars understand the psychology of climate change, we conducted an online quasi-experimental survey on 59,508 participants from 63 countries (collected between July 2022 and July 2023). In a between-subjects design, we tested 11 interventions designed to promote climate change mitigation across four outcomes: climate change belief, support for climate policies, willingness to share information on social media, and performance on an effortful pro-environmental behavioural task. Participants also reported their demographic information (e.g., age, gender) and several other independent variables (e.g., political orientation, perceptions about the scientific consensus). In the no-intervention control group, we also measured important additional variables, such as environmentalist identity and trust in climate science. We report the collaboration procedure, study design, raw and cleaned data, all survey materials, relevant analysis scripts, and data visualisations. This dataset can be used to further the understanding of psychological, demographic, and national-level factors related to individual-level climate action and how these differ across countries.

Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions' effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior-several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people's initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is frequently understood as a diagnosis applicable mainly to women, despite population studies suggesting similar prevalence between men and women. The scarce available information suggests that compared to women, men may face additional gender-related barriers to diagnosis and treatment when attempting to engage with support and treatment for BPD-related difficulties. The current study presents a qualitative in-depth exploration of the help-seeking and diagnosis experiences of four men with BPD. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, three themes were generated: (1) “There's just no help out there”: barriers to treatment; (2) self-understanding and insight; and (3) the importance of emotional and psychological connection with health care professionals and close family and friends. Having a greater understanding of male-specific experiences of BPD could improve the helpseeking journeys of men with BPD through early identification, accurate and timely diagnosis, to relevant and effective treatment and support.

BackgroundIndigenous Psychology within Australia reflects the traditional knowledges of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and their understanding of the cultivation of relational social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB). However, these perspectives are poorly incorporated into dominant "Western" psychological theories and practice, such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). This represents a barrier to the cultural safety of current mental health practice and its decolonisation within Australia.ObjectivesThis study brought together CBT Practitioners and Practitioners of an Aboriginal Wellbeing practice ("Wayapa") to engage in a series of yarns (guided focus groups) to share perspectives, insights, and stories on their own and each other's practices.MethodIndigenous qualitative research approaches including Research Topic Yarning were engaged to decolonise the research environment and support dialogue at the cultural interface of the two practices.ResultsThrough experiencing Wayapa, CBT practitioners reflected on gaps in their own practice, with an enthusiasm for the opportunities that Wayapa provided to decolonise their practice. Wayapa practitioners were able to celebrate the holistic nature of their practice and the possibility for it to inform dominant "Western" psychological theories and practice, such as CBT, and encourage a more connected and culturally safe way of working with First Nations peoples.ConclusionsCreating safe cultural interfaces between "Western" and Indigenous Psychologies, and building awareness of the value of Aboriginal grounded wellbeing models, can help to promote and expand culturally safe practices within Australian psychological practice. What is already known about this topic: The cultural safety and relevance of CBT for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples remains uncertain.There is limited knowledge of Aboriginal wellbeing practices and Indigenous Psychologies amongst non-Indigenous Australian mental health practitioners, including psychologists.Broadened understanding of Aboriginal wellbeing practices such as Wayapa Wurrrk, may contribute to decolonising psychology in Australia.What this topic adds: CBT and Wayapa share common and unique tools and concepts that can support the social emotional wellbeing of all Australians.Wayapa Wurrrk concepts such as earth mindfulness and the centring of Country as a foundation for wellness and social emotional wellbeing represent gaps in current CBT practice.Work at the cultural interface of "Western" and Indigenous Psychology offers a pathway to promote appreciation for, and active utilisation of, Indigenous psychologies including the social emotional wellbeing framework (SEWB).In this article, we recognise both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Nations of Australia. We acknowledge and pay respect to the knowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are unique, all with their own languages, knowledge systems, beliefs, and histories. We recognise the collective terms they prefer also vary. With respectful consideration to these preferences, typically we will specify Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples when referring to First Nations Peoples in this article. From time to time, we use the term Indigenous. However, we note that for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, this is not preferred. As such, we have only used this where we are referencing it's use from another source, or it is the established use of the term, such as its use in "Indigenous knowledges". Where referring to individual Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, we have endeavoured to incorporate their preferences, including for example, reference to the Country they are connected to.

Sending unsolicited sexts is increasingly recognised as harmful and, in some countries, constitutes a criminal offence. Recipients of unwanted/unexpected sexts often report compromised mental health, yet it is currently unknown how people deal with these sexting experiences. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study explored help-seeking behaviours following the receipt of unwanted sexts and barriers to reaching out for support in Australia, where the law currently does not recognise unsolicited sexting as a criminal offence. In total, 883 participants, Mage = 22.52 years (SD = 3.09), were recruited comprising 539 (61.2%) women, 325 (36.9%) men, and 17 (1.9%) other/non-binary. Overall, women were more likely to receive unsolicited sexts (389, 81%) than men (66, 26.2%), and ≥97.7% of respondents across genders never sought support in response to these experiences. Template thematic analysis revealed the receipt of unwanted sexts was often regarded “too trivial” to seek support for, which was captured under the theme of it’s just an image. Regarding barriers to help-seeking, three themes were generated: it’s an awkward experience to talk about, I did not realise it was a violation, I didn’t know where to go. Young Australian adults often did not seek support due to feelings of awkwardness and shame associated with receiving unwanted sexts, a lack of understanding of the violating nature of these experiences and young age, and minimal knowledge of supports. This study illustrates that community attitudes and the legal framework in Australia towards unsolicited sexting need to change to recognise this sexting variant as harmful and illegal.

Dark Tetrad (D4) traits have been shown to influence both perpetration and victimisation of dating related anti-social behaviours. To inform prevention and intervention measures against these behaviours, it is important to understand how persons with elevated D4 traits search for partners and what aspects of dating they appraise as positive versus negative. This study aims to qualitatively explore the role of personality in dating experiences; specifically, preference for dating platform and perceived dating outcomes in those with elevated D4 traits. In total, 480 adults from Australia, (288 women, 186 men, and 6 non-binary) aged 18- 70 years (M = 29.51, SD = 12.82), took part in an online qualitative and quantitative survey. Participants with elevated traits of psy-chopathy, narcissism and sadism showed a greater preference for meeting people offline. Applying template analysis, we generated three themes for positive experiences: finding a new partner, connecting with others, and material and personal benefits. For negative experiences, we identified four themes: not being able to find a partner, misrepresentation, online and in-person victimisation, and difficulties with navigating close relation-ships. Whilst persons with elevated D4 traits value connecting with others, they dislike deceptive dating practices and often perceive themselves to be victimised in online and offline settings. Future studies should investigate whether dating experiences differ across individuals who score within elevated versus lower range on D4 traits.

Reducing individual fossil fuel use is an important component of climate change mitigation, but motivating behaviour change to achieve this is difficult. This experimental study tests the impact of Protection Motivation Theory based messages on intention to reduce fossil fuel use in 3803 US adults recruited via Amazon MTurk (mean age = 36.11 years; 51.4% female). Only messages targeting self-efficacy and response efficacy increased intention to reduce fossil fuel use relative to the control group. However, only the self-efficacy message had an impact on its corresponding construct, highlighting the importance of manipulation checks in model testing. Given the urgency of responding to climate change, the potential for additive benefits of effective messages should be considered irrespective of their underlying psychological mechanism. Study preregistration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2G6BQ. Data related to this manuscript: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2TRBK.