Connar Jo Mcshane

James Cook University · Department of Psychology

This article explores perceptions of social capital and sustainability of farming and its contribution to regional development. A review of the literature highlights challenges in the operationalization of social capital as a development tool and the limits of research that gauges community perceptions of the role of social capital in their region’...

Objective: The aim of this research was to gain insight into the key stressors for Australian farming families. It is well established that the farming work environment consists of a number of unique stressors which arise from dependency on factors beyond an individual's control (e.g. climate conditions) as well as the overlap between work and fam...

Research suggests that the perception of a threat, high levels of self-efficacy, and high levels of social connectedness and trust may facilitate engagement in preparatory behaviours for severe weather events. To identify the psychosocial determinants of preparatory behaviours in cyclone- and flood-prone communities, a questionnaire was completed b...

The increasing transient population within rural and remote communities challenges the sustainability of regional Australia. Challenges to sustainability are particularly present for mining communities that have an increasing reliance on transient workforces. Identifying ways to increase length of residency within mining communities could assist in...

This paper aims to understand how experience with the fringe effects of a cyclone influences perception of cyclone severity. Understanding how certain types of experience influences risk perception should help to clarify why there is an unclear link between experience and risk perception within the existing literature. A total of 155 respondents w...

Objective The current study evaluated whether an active inoculation (interactive skill development) or a passive inoculation message (provision of information) were effective tools for conferring resistance to misinformation about climate science in the context of extreme weather events. Method Participants were randomly assigned to one of the thr...

Psychological theory suggests there is a positive association between risk perception and protective behavior. Empirical research has, however, found mixed support for the positive link between risk perception and protective behavior. One explanation for the inconsistent link is the way in which risk perception has been conceptualized and/or operat...

Structural upgrades can mitigate property damage caused by tropical cyclones. However, people in high-risk areas do not always install these upgrades. This paper used the protective action decision model (PADM) as a theoretical framework for explaining one specific type of structural mitigation behavior: the installation of cyclone shutters. The re...

Cyclone preparedness activities can significantly reduce household-related property damage and the negative knock-on effects. Research has found, however, that many people do not perform these behaviours. It is, therefore, important to understand why some people do, and others do not, perform such behaviours. This paper aims to investigate whether...

This research aimed to understand peoples’ perceptions of environmental threats to inform threat message construction and branch away from the previous “one size fits all” approach to environmental campaigns. The study used a health decision making model (Extended Parallel Process Model) to cluster individuals based on common cognitive characterist...

Cyclones cause significant damage to property, infrastructure and housing. Fortunately, property owners can undertake structural upgrades to reduce damage. However, installation of structural upgrades in cyclone-prone regions such as North Queensland has been relatively low. This paper explains why some people do, and others do not, install structu...

Past research has found that a wide variety of psychological and demographic factors can influence mitigation behaviours related to various extreme weather events (e.g., flood, earthquake, etc.). However, the understanding of these factors specifically in context of cyclones is limited. Project stakeholders wanted to understand why resilience measu...

Executive Summary In 2014, the Cyclone Testing Station (CTS) at James Cook University (JCU) and Suncorp began investigating cyclone resilience in North Queensland. The effort began with a review of claims data from Cyclones Yasi (2011) and Larry (2006) to identify key drivers of losses in cyclones. That work led to an investigation of engineering s...

The application of the Extended Parallel Process model in formulating typologies. Separating individual’s based on cognitive characteristics and tailoring water-saving messages to educate a community under environmental threat.

Sustainability efforts can vary based on community needs as what is important to one community may not be so for another. Mining communities can vary greatly depending on the type of mining activity, the resource being mined, the workforce structures used by the mine, as well as whether mining activity was introduced or not. The aim of this study w...

Social cohesion and inclusion is important for the attraction and retention of residents as well as the economic development of communities. Relationships that are formed based on trust allow for greater productivity as individuals are more likely to work together. As such, the aim of this study was to identify resident perceptions of social cohesi...

Community sustainability is particularly important for communities near mining operations as they can experience significant boom and downturn periods. The sustainability of a community is determined by its environmental, human, social, cultural, public structural, and commercial resources, its community capital. Research has been conducted on each...

In cyclone-prone regions like North Queensland, insurance premiums are priced to reflect the high potential for economic loss from cyclone events. To address premium affordability, insurance companies (e.g., Suncorp) have begun offering their customers discounts for installing or performing mitigation measures aimed at reducing property damage. How...

The number of people estimated to be displaced due to environmental factors is between 50 million and one billion by 2050. Displaced peoples quality of life and health is impacted by whether host country citizens perceive displaced people to pose a threat to factors such as housing and safety. The current project provides preliminary data on Austra...

Introduction: Research in the field of climate change has identified that the severity of extreme weather events is likely to increase. As these events can have detrimental effects to both physical and mental health, it is important to understand the factors that promote resilience. Past research suggests that social resilience to hazards encompass...

A wealth of research has explored household pro-environmental behavior (PEB), however very little research has explored PEB in the workplace. This constitutes a considerable gap in the literature and in practice. Workplaces provide substantial opportunities for the implementation of behavioral interventions and policies. Using the Theory of Planned...

Introduction: Much of the focus of lead risk health campaigns has been on vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women, thus not communicating the risk of exposure for other adults. This becomes a particular issue for adults who are long-term residents of communities near lead mines as they can be at an increased risk of exposure to l...

International efforts to prevent the spread of biological threats to agri-food production are increasingly being devolved from national governments to farming industries and farmers. Previous research has highlighted the farm-level and institutional challenges in engaging farmers in biosecurity. However, little is known sociologically about what fa...

Rural and remote communities are facing increasing challenges to their community sustainability and development. These challenges revolve around issues with workforce development and the subsequent reliance on fly-in, fly-out or temporary workforces which challenge the economic and social stability of the community. Therefore strategies need to be...

Background: Promoting the sustainability of key existing industries is crucial to the continued development of regional Australia. In doing so, it is important to consider the role of industry workers responsible for engaging with and adhering to sustainability guidelines and practices within these key industries. This is particularly important for...

This paper demonstrates how the landscape is an integral component in the development of tourism experiences in agricultural regions. It proposes that agricultural landscapes are composed of three components: naturescape, farmscape and culturescape. Building on the tourist gaze, this research demonstrates how tourists can move from viewing the land...

Harmonisation of disease management practices across global space and the devolution of responsibility to a broader range of actors are two increasingly important approaches for ordering biosecurity governance. While these forms of ordering have been examined individually, the social science biosecurity literature provides limited insights into how...

The need to mitigate the losses from severe wind events in Australia has been highlighted repeatedly over the last decade, paralleling that of the hurricane-prone south east United States of America. The Northern Australia Insurance Premiums Taskforce final report¹ released in 2015, along with numerous other studies and reports, emphasised that mit...

The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) has undertaken a regional study of the role and value of agriculture to the Wet Tropics region of North Queensland. A theoretical framework was developed, as part of the project, in order to quantify and qualify the contributions that agriculture makes to regional economies, and to i...

The amount a community is prepared for a natural disaster impacts on their ability to be resilient during and after the event has occurred. Predicting the factors that influence the level of preparation can provide useful recommendations in increasing the level of resilience. The key variables that were investigated to predict preparation and resil...

The degree an individual is prepared for a potential threatening event impacts on their ability to be resilient during and after the event. As such, predicting the factors that influence the level of preparation can provide useful recommendations in increasing the level of resilience. The current study sought to extend the applicability of the Exte...

Past research by McShane (2011) has reported that the farming family lifestyle is characterised by a high stress working environment. When this finding is considered in conjunction with the comparatively high suicide rates reported for men and women who work in the farming/agricultural sector (Caldwell et al., 2004; Andersen et al., 2010), there is...

Abstract: For the past 25 years the number of farming families in Australia has been in steady decline. This presents concerns for the sustainability of rural communities due to the significant role the farming industries have in local economic stimulation. Reducing the decline and stabilising the farming family population requires consideration of...

This study investigated whether work-home (WHI) or home-work interference (HWI) explained or affected the strength of the relationship between farmers' stresses and reported psychological distress. Distribution of questionnaire package; included Work-Home Conflict Scale, Farm Stress Survey, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Participants recruited vi...