Limerick Institute of Technology

The present research focuses on the influence of both screen time and various screen activities (television, video or educational games) on the socio-emotional development of 9001 Irish 5-year-old children using a nationally representative birth cohort study. Parents were asked about their children’s screen use and various family factors, while socio-emotional development was measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression models examined the influence of screen use factors on externalised, internalised, and prosocial behaviour, while controlling for environment and family factors. Engaging in two or more hours of screen time per day had a small negative influence on all three of the socio-emotional scales. Mostly playing video games also related to increased internalised and externalised behaviour for this cohort. While the screen use variables made a significant contribution to the regression model, even after family factors were accounted for, the effect sizes were small in comparison. The results of this study suggest that screen time, activities, and wider ecological factors are all important to consider in future screen use research to provide a more nuanced understanding of screen time’s unique role in early development. The findings provide evidence-based guidelines for researchers, caregivers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers.

Background:This study aimed to develop consensus on the core elements of the Community Specialist Teams for Older People (CST OP) service model.Methods:This study utilised a modified Delphi approach. World Café Focus Groups (n = 97) were facilitated to develop and refine statements which were included in a Real-Time Delphi survey.Results:Four key themes were produced from the World Café Focus Groups data: Fundamentals of service design, Access and transitions of care, Team Functions and Quality improvement. Themes produced informed the CST OP Real-Time Delphi survey, which was completed by 77 participants, representing a response rate of 78%.Conclusion:The modified Delphi approach has resulted in the refinement and agreement of a set of core CST OP statements that outline the key components of the CST OP service model which will guide future implementation and delivery of the CST OP model of care, ensuring consistency in the design and implementation of the CST OP model.

Wilson, PJ, Roe, G, and Kiely, J. How do they decide? Performance support staff perceptions of decision-making in elite-sport environments. J Strength Cond Res 39(2): 192-199, 2025-Decision-making is a critical component of performance support staff responsibilities, yet research exploring staff perceptions relating to key facets of decision-making is lacking. This study aimed to explore perceptions of performance support staff relating to; the importance of decision-making in their role, the value of team decision-making, strategies to enhance decision-making skills, monitoring the process and outcome of decisions, and the obstacles to good decision-making within their professional contexts. A mixed-methods approached was used to explore perceptions of decision-making in 191 performance support staff (male staff = 179, female staff = 12) working in professional ( n = 147) or international ( n = 44) sport. Performance support staff reported decision-making as extremely important to their role; however, only 31% had received formal decision-making education and revealed underdeveloped decision-making capabilities within their organizations as a barrier to good decision-making. Most performance support staff conveyed that team decision-making is a valuable endeavor and augments decision outcomes; yet articulated dysfunctional team dynamics as an obstacle to good decision-making in their environments. Largely, performance support staff reported an absence of organizational strategy and workflow systems and processes for tracking and making decisions, respectively, whereas only 22% had a consistent reviewing and updating process. When making decisions, performance support staff faced several different cognitive biases and were challenged by the environmental pressures . The perspectives documented here suggest that performance support staff would likely benefit from undertaking evidence-based training and implementing scientifically informed strategies to enhance decision-making processes within their organizations.

Once I walked as an accidental autoethnographer through the entrance door of a repurposed children’s orphanage. There on the doorstep, I witnessed a former resident in the final moments of a secular pilgrimage of unforgetting and cradling. Unforgetting is understood, in this article, as a metaphor for the thousands of women and children robbed of their truth, agency, and sometimes their future in state and religious-run orphanages. Cradling is understood as a metaphor for a desiring, sensual, performative, and singular/universal reparation. Influenced by phenomenological writings on the buildings we inhabit and those that inhabit us, and embodied, rhythmic, sensory, and experimental qualitative inquiry writing, I challenge the erasure of violence-toleration in official discourses of church and state-run institutions through a performative aesthetic of witnessing, evoking, and inscribing the lost sensations of a denied, difficult, and violent past into the grand narratives of mothers, children, and childhood.

ABSTRACT The Mental Health of Youth Story (MYSTORY) study is a community-university partnership study which involved photovoice and consultation with young people. The MYSTORY study aimed to: (1) better understand adolescents’ perspectives on youth and school mental health and suicide prevention, and (2) communicate insights to schools and the wider community. In this article, we explored adolescents’ experiences of engaging with the MYSTORY study. Reflexive thematic analysis supports the MYSTORY study as a youth-centered study, which involved reflection, discussion and sharing of mental health perspectives and experiences within the study and community contexts. Study engagement was associated with feelings of pride, accomplishment, and connection. This study makes a novel contribution to understanding adolescents’ engagement in photovoice research exploring youth and school mental health, from the perspective of adolescents. Findings are relevant to researchers in wider mental health fields and practitioners interested in mental health promotion and suicide prevention in applied settings.