Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick

Biography

I have worked as a Psychology lecturer at Monash University since 1995.  Prior to working as a lecturer I worked on several NH&MRC and ARC projects investigating (1) the effects of stress management techniques on heart rate reactivity, (2) adolescent risk taking behaviour, and (3) children’s road safety attitudes and behaviours.

Email Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick

Research Interests

My primary research interests are subjective well-being and positive psychology.  I am interested in both the measurement and prediction of what makes people happy and satisfied with their life.

• Positive Psychology
  I am interested in examining how the various pathways to happiness such as pleasure, engagement and meaning influence health and well-being and the optimal level of each of these happiness pathways for well-being.  I am also interested in investigating whether utilisation of character strengths results in greater meaning, engagement, subjective well-being and productivity and how this translates to educational, health, community and work settings.
• Subjective Well-Being and Scale Development
  I have been researching health measurement issues since 1990. In particular the focus has been on the development of holistic health scales which have included the Mental, Physical, Spiritual and Well-being Scale and the Multidimensional Health Scale. Collaborative work at the Centre for Adolescent Health during 2000 resulted in the initial development of an adolescent resilience scale. In 2006 I initiated the development of a sense of community measure.
• Measurement of Well-Being
  I am interested in all issues related to the measurement of well-being, such as state versus trait, short-term versus long-term, on the spot versus retrospective, subjective versus objective, current versus retrospective and self-rating versus other rater/s methods.
• Predictors of Subjective Well-Being
  My interest in predictors of subjective well-being is focused on the influence of social support networks (e.g., work, significant relationships, family friendships and communities) and personality types on subjective well-being. The effects of sociodemographic factors and work conditions on this relationship, is also a focus. The significance of meaning in life to happiness is also a research interest.
• Subjective Well-Being in the Work Context
  'Happy people make happy employees'. This is the general proposition of interest. In particular factors associated with organisational culture and climate such as perceived organisational support and family friendly workplaces are examined to determine their influence on employee subjective well-being and positive work-related outputs such as organisational citizenship behaviour and organisational commitment.
• Sense of Community
  I am interested in clarifying the conceptualisation and measurement of the construct Sense of Community.
• Sport Psychology
  I am also interested in psychological interventions for enhancing sporting performance. This has led me to develop a mental imagery scale called the Multidimensional Mental Imagery Scale, for use with athletes and performers.

Postgraduate Research Projects

• Orientations to happiness as predictors of subjective and psychological well-being.
• The efficacy of a positive psychology internet intervention for psychological health.
• Psychological well-being and emotional intelligence as predictors of organisational citizenship behaviour and intention to leave.
• Social support and sense of community as predictors of subjective well-being.

Teaching

I have been lecturing at Monash University, in the Department of Psychology since 1995. My main area of teaching is professional practice and ethics. I teach ethics to fourth year students, Masters of Health Psychology students and Organisational Psychology students. I also run a third year research project investigating “what makes people happy?” and have lectured in health psychology and testing and assessment.

Grant Support

Recently funded research

• ARC - Linkage - Awarded $300,000 for 2006-2009. Prof GV Currie; Prof T Richardson; Prof PG Smyth, Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick. Investigating Transport Disadvantage, Social Exclusion and Well Being in Metropolitan, Regional and Rural Victoria.
• Strategic Grant Scheme - awarded $35,000 for 2006 Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick (Chief Investigator), Professor Fiona Judd. An investigation into the constituents and determinants of Sense of Community using qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Monash Small Grant - $20,000 in 2003/2004. Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick (Chief Investigator), Professor Fiona Judd, Dr Sue Burney. Relative Contributions of Rurality and Sense of Community to Subjective Well-being. A one year to study investigating the subjective well-being of urban, rural and remote Victorians in 2003/04. This study found that community connectedness, rather than geographical features of a locations (i.e., rural, remote, urban) influenced individuals' subjective well-being.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Papers:

Norrish, J. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (in press). Is the study of happiness a worthy scientific pursuit? Social Indicators Research.

Newton, F., Ewing, M, Burney, S. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2007). Medical clinic facilities and doctor characteristics: What older rural males value. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 15, 41-45.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., Judd, F., Scannell, E. D., & Burney, S. (2006). Relative contributions of rurality and community connectedness to subjective well-being in Victorian coastal regions. International Journal of Rural Psychology, 6, 1-19.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., & Macrae, K. (2004). A review of mental imagery scales. Journal of Mental Imagery. 28, 121-148.

Olsson, C. A., Bond, L., Burns, J. M., Vella-Brodrick, D. A., & Sawyer, S. M. (2003). Adolescent resilience: A concept analysis. Journal of Adolescence. 26, 1-11.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., & White, V. (1997). Response set of social desirability in relation to the Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Psychological Reports, 81, 127-130.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., & Allen, F. C. L. (1995). Development and psychometric validation of the Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Psychological Reports, 77, 659-674.

Peer reviewed full conference papers:

Gallagher, E. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2007). What makes people happy? Social support and emotional intelligence as predictors of subjective well-being. Proceedings of the 8th Quality of Life Conference.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2006). Comparison of sociodemographic,personality and social support variables as predictors of quality of life. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Australian Centre on Quality of Life Conference, Melbourne, November 24.

Murray, K. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2006). Organisational support and employee conscientiousness as predictors of subjective well-being and organisational citizenship behaviour. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Australian Centre on Quality of Life Conference, Melbourne, November 24.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., Scannell, E., Judd, F. & Burney, S. (2005). Examining quality of life among rural, remote and urban residents of Victoria. Proceedings of the 6th Quality of Life Conference.

Conference Presentations:

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2006). Comparison of Sense of community with family, friend and significant other social support as predictors of subjective well-being. Tenth Trans-Tasman Community Psychology Conference, April 20-23, 2006, The University of Natre Dame, Sydney, Australia.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2006). What is Sense of Community and is it universally consistent? Tenth Trans-Tasman Community Psychology Conference, April 20-23, 2006, The University of Natre Dame, Sydney, Australia.

Murray, K. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2005). Organisational support and employee conscientiousness as predictors of subjective well-being and organisational citizenship behaviour. 7th Annual Australian Centre on Quality of Life Conference, Melbourne, November 24.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2005). Comparison of sociodemographic,personality and social support variables as predictors of quality of life. 7th Annual Australian Centre on Quality of Life Conference, Melbourne, November 24.

Pitsopoulos, C. N. E., Vella-Brodrick, D. & Coleman, G. J. (2005). Organisational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction as outcome variables in a model of occupational stress and affect. 6th Australian Industrial Organisational Psychology Conference, June 2005, Gold Coast, Queensland.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., Judd, F., Scannell, E., & Burney, S. (2004). 6th Quality of Life Conference, 25 November 2004 Deakin University, Toorak, Melbourne.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2000). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Multidimensional Health Scale. Third Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies, Girona, Spain.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2000). Factors influencing mental imagery ability. Sport Psychology Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (1998). Importance of mental, physical, social and spiritual dimensions for well-being. 33rd Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., & Macrae, K. (1998). Dimensions of effective mental imagery. 33rd Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. & Nettleton, N. (1997). Development of the Multidimensional Health Scale: Expert opinion study. 14th World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine, Cairns, Australia.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. & Macrae, K. (1997). Expert opinions regarding the constituents of mental imagery. International Society of Sports Psychology IX World Congress of Sports Psychology, Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel.

Vella-Brodrick, D. A. & White, V. (1996). Further psychometric support for the Mental, Physical and Spiritual Well-Being Scale. International Congress on Stress and Health, Manly, NSW, Australia.