Ballymun Youth Action Project annual report 2014.

The Ballymun Youth Action Project (BYAP) is a community response to drug and alcohol misuse. It was founded in 1981 after three young people from Ballymun died from drugs-related causes. As a response that has come from within the community of Ballymun, we strive to reduce the negative impact of drug and alcohol use on the lives of individuals and families, and on this community

Third way urban policy and the new moral politics of community: a comparative analysis of Ballymun in Dublin and the Gorbals in Glasgow

Whilst Third Way Urban Policy (TWUP) often associates itself with a kind of anarchic vision of self-regulating and self-reproducing local communities, it can in fact be thought of as a thinly veiled moral crusade targeted towards vulnerable residents in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Sustainable communities are defined as those who can stand on their own two feet within the terms set down by neo-liberal market economics. When these morally charged crusades fail to connect locally, they have the potential to stir local conflict over who has the authority to judge forms of community life. As third way urban regeneration rolls out across capitalist cities, mapping and accounting for the uneven development of moral conflicts over community is a pressing concern. Focusing upon the ongoing regeneration of two of Europe's most famous social housing estates- Ballymun in north Dublin and the Gorbals in central Glasgow - this paper presents a comparative analysis of the different ways in which moral disputes over community have surfaced in these two neighbourhoods. On the bases of an analyses of both the localisation of TWUP and the prior biographies of both estates, the nature of conflict is shown to be contingent upon who has ownership of the local social capital agenda

BYAP strategic plan 2013-2015.

The role of the community and voluntary sector in developing effective responses to drug and alcohol misuse is now clearly recognised and appreciated1. The Ballymun Youth Action Project has been to the forefront of this response from the outset, through the development of prevention education, community based treatment responses, and research initiatives designed to identify community specific patterns. This strategic plan provides another tool in the ongoing development of this response. It is drawn up in a context marked by economic challenge and uncertainty, but at the same time in circumstances where there is evidence of greater openness toward interagency work, the integration of services, and a clear emphasis on client focused outcomes. It is hoped that this document will provide support for the enormous amount of ongoing services provided by the Ballymun Youth Action Project, and at the same time provide clear direction in relation to future developments within our work and the way in which we organise our work

The Evolution of University Access Programmes in Ireland

The aim of this report is to explore the historical development of third level access programmes in Ireland, that is, programmes aimed at improving access to third level education by the socio-economically disadvantaged. One key objective is to locate the UCD higher education access programme – New ERA – within the context of developments in national policy and access initiatives in Ireland. The report also presents a brief overview of previous evaluations of targeted initiatives in Ireland as well as barriers to Higher Education as outlined by Lynch & O Riordan’s 1996 study which provided the framework for the development of New ERA. Section 2 provides a definition of ‘access’ and ‘disadvantage’. Section 3 discusses the development of relevant policy on access to higher education. Section 4 examines previous evaluations of targeted initiatives. Section 5 describes the evolution of New ERA and section 6 places the New ERA programme in the context of tackling barriers to access as outlined by Lynch & O’Riordan. Section 7 focuses on current and possible future developments in the New ERA access programme and finally section 8 concludes.

Evaluation of the Ballyfermot Strengthening Families Programme.

The Strengthening Families Programme (SFP) is an internationally recognised parenting and family skills initiative for high-risk families. It was developed by Dr. Karol Kumpfer, a Professor of Health Promotion and Education in the University of Utah. Initially, it was designed as a prevention strategy for 6 – 12 year old high risk children of substance abusing parents. It has now developed as an evidence-based family skills training programme which has been found through research to significantly reduce problem behaviours, delinquency, alcohol and drug abuse in children. It has also been shown to improve the families’ social competencies and child’s school performance. It reduces the risk of child neglect as parents strengthen the bonds they have with their children and learn more effective parenting skills. The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) along with fifteen other independent studies have found positive results in thefollowing key areas: Improved parenting knowledge and skills, Improved family relationships, Improved children’s social skills and behaviour

A Multidisciplinary Primary Care Team Consultation In a Socio-economically Deprived Community: An Exploratory Randomised Controlled Trial

Background: Psychosocial problems in socioeconomically deprived communities are not always amenable to traditional medical approaches. Mothers living in these areas are a particularly vulnerable group. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a lengthened multi-disciplinary team consultation in primary care in reducing anxiety and depression in mothers.Methods: This was a prospective randomised controlled trial of a multidisciplinary team consultation against normal care. 94 mothers were recruited from three general practices from an area of extreme socio-economic deprivation. Mothers randomised into the intervention group attended a multidisciplinary consultation with up to four case-specific health care professionals. Consultations addressed medical, psychological and social problems and lasted up to one hour. Conventional primary care continued to be available to the intervention families. Control group families received normal primary care services. The outcomes measured were anxiety and depression as using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), health status using SF36v2, and quality of life using the abbreviated Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (SEIQoL-DW) at baseline, 6 months and 12 months.Results: Ordered logistic regression was used to analyse the data. There was no significant difference found between intervention and control groups after 6 months and 12 months in all of the measured outcomes.Conclusions: The new lengthened multi-disciplinary team consultation did not have any impact on the mental health, general health, and quality of life of mothers after 6 and 12 months. Other methods of primary health care delivery in socio-economically deprived communities need to be evaluated

Annotated bibliography of drug misuse in Ireland / Aoife O'Brien, Rosalyn Moran, Mary O'Brien

HRB / 200

Strengthening Families Programme 10 year outcomes in Ireland.

The Strengthening Families Programme (SFP) is a 14-session, evidence-based family skills programme developed in the US by Dr. Karol L. Kumpfer and associates at the University of Utah in 1982. The programme has been adapted to many age ranges including 3-5 years; 6-11 years; 10-14 years; 12-16 years; and is available in web format for 10-16 years and DVD for 8-16 years. The shorter version - 7 week 10-14 years programme is suitable for universal families and the longer versions such as the 14 week 6-11 years and 12-16 years programmes are targeted at families who require additional supports. SFP has been culturally adapted to suit many populations and has also been translated into different languages. Similar results have been found for culturally adapted SFP programmes but with the added advantage of making recruitment and retention of families much easier. The Strengthening Families Programme is now operating across 36 countries. This report details the journey of the Strengthening Families Programme in Ireland and the structures in place which have underpinned its implementation and development to date. In particular the report outlines the impact of the programme at a family, teen and parent level, presenting national data from an Irish sample of 573 families. The findings will convey how the programme delivered on an inter-agency basis in Ireland has had measurable effects in addressing and decreasing risk factors for families and promoting protective factors. Finally, the report will present an overview of policy and practice implications in relation to SFP and outline areas for prioritisation which will contribute towards ensuring the sustainability of the programme as an evidence based family prevention programme in Irelan