Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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Health Literacy of COVID-19 and Compliance with Precautionary Measures: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adolescents and Young Adults in Ireland

2022-05-11, Nearchou, Finiki, Flinn, Clodagh, French, Aine, Hennessy, Eilis, Kerin, Lorna, Linehan, Christine

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with an ‘infodemic’, and young people have reported difficulties dealing with COVID-19-related information. The present cross-sectional study aimed to explore health knowledge related to COVID-19 and accessing relevant information as aspects of health literacy in a cohort of adolescents and young adults residing in Ireland. It also aimed to explore COVID-19-related concerns and levels of compliance with precautionary measures. Data were collected from young people (n = 1009) aged 12–25 years old through an online anonymous survey. Our findings highlight that young people possessed sufficient knowledge about COVID-19 transmission routes and adhered to most precautionary measures. Young people believed that they were moderately likely to contract COVID-19 and highly likely to survive COVID-19 should they get infected. However, these patterns seemed to differ between adolescents and young adults as well as between participants living with and without a chronic health condition (CHC). These findings have implications that can inform knowledge on youth health literacy and health-related attitudes that go beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Contextual factors such as country context, age group, gender, and the absence or presence of a CHC are important characteristics to consider when designing public health awareness campaigns targeting a global health crisis.

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Chronic Illness Stigma and Well-Being in Youth: The Mediating Role of Support

2017-09, Nearchou, Finiki, Campbel, Amelia, Duffy, Katie, Fehily, Miriam, Ryan, Holly, Hennessy, Eilis

A considerable amount of stigma-related health research has been conducted in school-aged and university students, yet few studies involved young people enrolled at further education colleges. The present study aims to investigate the role of social support on the consequences of stigma on general health and social functioning in students in Colleges of Further Education (CFE) living with chronic illness. Participants of this study (n = 55) were students in CFE in Ireland aged 18-25 years diagnosed with a chronic illness. Self-report measures were used to assess stigma, social support, social functioning and general health. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with 2000 bootstrapped samples a model was constructed and tested to answer the research questions of the study. SEM revealed a good model fit to data (χ2 = 2.12, df = 2, p = .33). Stigma negatively predicted general health and social functioning in youth living with chronic illness. The bootstrapped mediational model showed that social support from family, friends and a significant other partially mediated the influence of stigma on social functioning but not on general health. Stigma is an important element that negatively influences aspects of well-being in young adults living with chronic illnesses. Youth that perceive their environment more supportive tend to have less self-stigma attitudes and better functioning. Understanding how stigma operates in students in CFE can be used to design effective interventions.

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A blueprint for providing resources to parents of adolescents who self-harm

2022-07-07, Hennessy, Eilis, Gaynor, Keith, Nearchou, Finiki, French, Aine, Raftery, Sinead, Dolan, Emma, O'Dwyer, Brid

This report presents the findings of a research project funded by the Irish National Office for Suicide Prevention and was a collaboration between UCD School of Psychology and Pieta. The report details the findings of a scoping review, parent survey and Delphi study with professionals that sought to identify the information needs of parents of adolescents who self-harm. The report presents the findings of all elements of the research and provides recommendations on the information that should be provided to parents to support them at all stages of their journey from discovery of self-harm, through treatment and into recovery.

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Your Youth Health Project: Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and well-being of young people in Ireland. A report of findings for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown region

2022-03-29, Nearchou, Finiki, Flinn, Clodagh, French, Aine, Hennessy, Eilis, Kerin, Lorna, Linehan, Christine

Your Youth Health project is a nationwide survey developed by UCD School of Psychology with the support of Healthy Ireland Fund and Pobal. We aimed to gain insight into the psychological well-being and the mental health needs of young people aged 12-25 years old during this unprecedented public health crisis. The Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown report presents findings from young people living in the area at the time of the pandemic.

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Le Chéile: Well-being of Students in Colleges of Further Education in Ireland

2019-03, Nearchou, Finiki, Campbel, Amelia, Duffy, Katie, Fehily, Miriam, Neo, Wei Lin, Petroli, Margareth, Ryan, Holly, Simcox, James, Softas-Nall, Sofia, Hennessy, Eilis

The main aims of this research were to explore the well being of young adults attending colleges of further education in Ireland, in particular the relationship between chronic health conditions, stigma and well-being. Participants were 288 students from Colleges of Further Education in Ireland. Of these 123 (43%) reported living with a chronic physical and/or a mental health condition. Students with chronic health conditions had lower levels of social functioning than their healthy peers. Participants with high levels of stigma for help-seeking reported lower levels of well being and lower general health. Students with chronic health conditions reported significantly lower levels of self esteem than their peers. These findings highlight the importance of providing support to young people with chronic health conditions as they cope with the demands of early adulthood and college life.

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An exploration of mental health literacy in relation to depression in secondary school pupils

2017-07, Doyle, Ericka, O'Sullivan, Shaunagh, Nearchou, Finiki, Hennessy, Eilis

Mental Health Literacy (MHL) refers to knowledge and beliefs about mental health problems. Although mostly studied in adult samples, it has been associated with help-seeking intentions and health service use in adolescents. The aim of the present study was to explore depression MHL and its association with help seeking intentions in a sample of adolescent participants (n = 235, 135 males) from the final three years of secondary school (mean = 16.6 years, SD = .65) in Ireland. Knowledge of depression and help-seeking intentions were measured using vignettes and self-report instruments. Findings show that the majority of adolescents recognised that a combination of depression symptoms constituted a serious mental health problem. However, they demonstrated very low MHL levels on specific symptoms such as somatic pains.The finding of restricted knowledge of depression symptoms, indicates a need for targeted interventions to improve MHL, and specifically of symptoms of depression.

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Adaption and Psychometric Evaluation of a Resilinece Measure in Greek Elementary School Students

2014-01, Nearchou, Finiki, Stogiannidou, Ariadni, Kiosseoglou, Grigoris

This study aimed to adapt the Resilience Youth Development Module (RYDM) and assess its psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency and convergent validity in Greek elementary students. Participants (N = 346) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including the RYDM, School Connectedness Scale, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficients indicated that the reliability of the RYDM is satisfactory. The confirmatory factor analysis results demonstrated that the proposed structure, which derived from the explorative principal component analyses of the RYDM's internal and external assets, adequately fit the current data. Moreover, the canonical functions derived from the canonical correlation analysis provided evidence for the convergent validity of the RYDM. In conclusion, the RYDM is a psychometrically sound measure, and it can be applied to assess internal and external resilience assets in Greek school-aged children.