Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick

Biography

I am a tenured Senior Lecturer in Psychology and have worked at the School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine at Monash University since 1995. Prior to lecturing 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. I have also worked as a fitness instructor and enjoy physical exercise, particularly going to the gym.

Email Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick

Professional Affiliations

Full Member:     Australian Psychological Society
Member:             APS College of Health Psychologists
Member:             International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA)
Member:            Australian Centre on Quality of Life
Registered Psychologist with the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria

Other Professional Activities/Experience

Current          Co-Director of the 2nd Australian Positive Psychology and Well-Being Conference to be held at Monash University, Melbourne, on Feb. 12-13, 2010.
2008-09         Member of the Board of Directors:   International Positive Psychology Association
2008               Co-Director of the 1st Australian Positive Psychology and Well-Being Conference held at University of Sydney, Australia.
2008-09         Founder and Director of the Positive Psychology Network (Monash)
2003-Current      Australian Psychological Society Ethical Guidelines Advisory Group
1999-2003     Australian Psychological Society Victorian Branch Education and Training Convenor, April 5-6, 2008.

Recent Awards and Nominations

2008 “Outstanding Contribution to Postgraduate Teaching” Award - School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Monash University.
2007 & 2008 Nominated for Monash Postgraduate Association Supervisor of the Year.

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 feel happy, fulfilled and healthy in a wide range of life domains.

Positive Psychology
I am interested in the development and evaluation of interventions for enhancing positive affect, engagement and meaning, and exploring how individual difference factors such as motivation, interest, strengths, and life stage can influence the efficacy of such interventions. Particular interventions of interest to me include savouring, hope and gratitude exercises, meaning making and awareness and utilisation of strengths.
Measurement of Well-Being
I have developed 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. I am also interested in measurement issues related to state versus trait, short-term versus long-term, subjective versus objective, current versus retrospective and self-rating versus other rater/s methods.
Workplace Well-Being
Factors associated with organisational culture and climate such as perceived organisational support and family friendly workplaces are examined to determine their influence on employee well-being (e.g., engagement, positive affect and meaning) and positive work-related outcomes such as organisational citizenship behaviour and organisational commitment.
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

I supervise approximately 16 postgraduate students on research topics relating to subjective well-being and positive psychology. Such areas include:

The effects of Counting Blessings and Best Possible Self interventions on subjective well-being: An exploration of person-strategy-fit.
Development and evaluation of well-being internet interventions.
Savouring and mindfulness as predictors of subjective well-being.
Adolescent well being: Insights from qualitative and quantitative data.
Development and evaluation of the Workplace Wellness program.
Savouring and flow as predictors of the exercise experience.
Development and evaluation of a meaning-focused intervention.
Implementation of positive education.
Integrating positive psychology into mental health programs for the Australian military.

Teaching

I have been lecturing at Monash University, in the Department of Psychology since 1995. My main areas of teaching are in positive psychology, professional practice and ethics. I teach predominantly in the Masters of Health Psychology and the DPsych/Masters in Organisational Psychology programs. I run a third elective in positive psychology as well as a research project investigating “what makes people happy?”

Grant Support

ARC - Linkage - 2006-2009
Prof GV Currie; Prof T Richardson; Prof PG Smyth, Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick. Awarded over $600,000. Investigating Transport Disadvantage, Social Exclusion and Well Being in Metropolitan, Regional and Rural Victoria.

Strategic Grant Scheme – 2006
Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick (Chief Investigator), Professor Fiona Judd. Awarded $35,000. An investigation into the constituents and determinants of Sense of Community using qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Monash Small Grant - 2003/2004
Dr Dianne Vella-Brodrick (Chief Investigator), Professor Fiona Judd, Dr Sue Burney. Awarded $20,000. Relative Contributions of Rurality and Sense of Community to Subjective Well-being.

Publications

Peer reviewed journal papers:

Norrish, J. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (in press). Positive psychology and adolescents: Where are we now? Where to from here? Australian Psychologist.

Stanley, J. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (in press). The usefulness of social exclusion to inform social policy in transport. Transport Policy.

Mitchell, J., Stanimirovic, R., Klein, B. & Vella-Brodrick, D. (in press). A randomised controlled trial of a self-guided internet intervention promoting well-being. Computers in Human Behavior.

Currie,G., Richardson, T., Smyth, P., Vella-Brodrick, D., Hine, J., Lucas, K., Stanley, J., Morris, J., Kinnear, R., & Stanley, J., (2009) Investigating links between transport disadvantage, social exclusion and well-being in Melbourne — Preliminary results. Transport Policy, published on line March 2009 doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2009.02.002

Vella-Brodrick, D. A., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2009). Three ways to be happy: Pleasure, engagement, and meaning: Findings from Australian and US samples. Social Indicators Research. 90, 165-179.

Page, K. M. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2009). The ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of employee well-being: A new model. Social Indicators Research. 90, 441-458.

Gallagher, E. N. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2008). Social support and emotional intelligence as predictors of subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1551-1561.

Norrish, J. & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2008). Is the study of happiness a worthy scientific pursuit? Social Indicators Research, 87, 393-407.

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.