‘Look, I have my ears open’: Resilience and early school experiences among children in an economically deprived suburban area in Ireland

Children from economically disadvantaged communities frequently lack the socio- emotional, cognitive and behavioural skills needed for successful early school adjustment. Assessments of early school experience often rely on parent and teacher perspectives, yet children’s views are essential to design effective, resilience-promoting school ecologies. This mixed methods study explored children’s appraisals of potential stressors in the first school year with 25 children from a disadvantaged suburban community in Ireland. School scenarios were presented pictorially (Pictorial Measure of School Stress and Wellbeing, or PMSSW), to elicit children’s perspectives on social ecological factors that enable or constrain resilience. Salient positive factors included resource provision, such as food, toys and books; school activities and routines, including play; and relationships with teachers. Negative factors included bullying; difficulties engaging with peers; and using the toilet. Drawing on these factors, we indicate how school psychologists can develop resilience-fostering educational environments for children in vulnerable communitie

Youth alcohol and drug good practice guide 1: A framework for youth alcohol and other drug practice

This Guide outlines a framework for working with young people whose AOD use creates significant vulnerability to current or future harm. The target audience is practitioners who work with young people who have problematic AOD use and the managers of these practitioners. Areas of content include the elements of a framework for AOD practice, an appreciation of the developmental, social and institutional location of young people, key concepts and understandings regarding good youth centered context responsive practice, and key policy constructs and directions

Size Acceptance: A Discursive Analysis of Online Blogs

This document is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Fat Studies on 25 May 2018, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2018.1473704. Under embargo until 25 May 2019.Dominant discourses of “fatness” and “fat people” have implications for physical and mental health. Although alternative discourses such as “size acceptance” exist, there has been little consideration of the ways in which these alternative arguments (and speakers) may be positioned to be heard. Using a discursive thematic analysis, the authors demonstrate that size acceptance online bloggers have created a community online that enables them to persuasively provide alternative claims to “expertise,” which positions their views as credible and legitimate alternatives to those of more established authority figures—such as health professionals. This has implications not only for the lived experience of fat people, but also for researchers by emphasizing the importance of exploring not just what is said, but how, if we are to understand how different articulated positions are to be persuasive.Peer reviewe

The Contemporary Porn Debate - Perceptions of Sexual Health of Porn Actors, The 2013 HIV crisis, and Recognizing the Complexities of the Porn Industry

Between August 2012 and January 2013, four adult film performers based in California tested positive for HIV which triggered a moratorium on production, and led the state of California to mandate condom usage in the industry under the Safer Sex in the Adult Industry Act – otherwise referred to as Measure B. The goal of this research is to explore how the discourse surrounding health in the adult film industry, specifically sexual health in relation to the adult film performers during this event, is reflective of contemporary anti-pornography sentiments. These sentiments and biases ultimately lead to regulations of the industry that were not reflective of the adult film performers’ perceptions/concerns in regards to their own occupational safety and health. Therefore these contemporary debates surrounding mandating condom usage in the porn industry demonstrate a disconnect between the opinions expressed in media and in academia versus those expressed by the industry and in its own actors’ testimonies. This discourse also in turn eschews the real complexities of the pornography industry, excluding certain narratives including those of queer porn actors. Listening to these narratives and making an effort to understand these complexities surrounding the industry are important and necessary steps to properly work towards supporting the work, health, and empowerment of adult film actors

Knowing where you are walking: the benefits and hazards of using theoretical roadmaps and research to guide community consultation practice

This paper progresses the 2006 Trans-Tasman Conference theme by considering 'do you know where you are walking?' and more importantly 'do you know how to get there?'. The community psychologist’s aspirations for the 'common good' anticipate outcomes such as social justice, sense of community and empowerment, and prescribe congruent values-based praxis to accomplish it. Such concepts and visions compel us to act for social change; they also enlighten the challenging decisions and processes we encounter in our personal every day walk of life. This journey can be complex as the 'doing' of community psychology often involves an emotive personal as well as professional commitment, sometimes associated with a particular political agenda. This paper considers how mapping the psychological landscape of a community, along with its history and geography, can help guide the practitioner through difficult terrain. Some of the author’s experiences are considered from theoretical perspectives including sense of community, community consultation processes, social ecology, community readiness and capacity building. These narratives illustrate how such theoretical maps can help the community psychologist to avoid walking in circles, down dead-end streets and up one-way streets while 'walking the walk'

The numbers game : 80- 200m2 Pigs, Pokes and Horses

The Highland Housing Expo, Scottish architects and low carbon dwellings

Joining up policy discourses and fragmented practices: The precarious contribution of cultural projects to social inclusion?

This article outlines New Labour's policy discourse about social exclusion and the confusing challenge it poses to local cultural projects. Government now demands hard evidence to measure the impact of cultural projects on performance indicators such as education, employment, crime and health. However, community-based workers are hard pressed to collect valid and reliable data that evaluate projects against clear criteria for social inclusion. This article outlines possible criteria for social inclusion. Then, drawing on data collected from two 'Arts in Health' projects, we examine how contributions to social inclusion might have been effected. Considerable energy is required to form new alliances and health partnerships to resolve the dilemmas posed by a confused policy discourse and by fragile funding streams. © The Policy Press, 2006

"Defensive instrumentalism" and the legacy of New Labour's cultural policies

The paper identifies “defensive instrumentalism” as a main feature that has characterised New Labour's cultural policies, and which constitutes an important aspect of its legacy. Yet, resorting to instrumental arguments to defend the arts and to make a case for their usefulness is hardly an invention of New Labour. However, in the past, such defensive arguments were built into a more constructive and creative attempt to elaborate a coherent theory of art and an intellectually sophisticated view of the effects of the arts on individual and societies. What the paper argues, then, is that instrumentalism under New Labour has retained its longstanding defensive character, but was deprived of the attendant effort to elaborate a positive notion of cultural value

Narcissus to a Man: Lifelogging, Technology and the Normativity of Truth

The growth of the practice of lifelogging, exploiting the capabilities provided by the exponential increase in computer storage, and using technologies such as SenseCam as well as location-based services, Web 2.0, social networking and photo-sharing sites, has led to a growing sense of unease, articulated in books such as Mayer-Schönberger's Delete, that the semi-permanent storage of memories could lead to problematic social consequences. This talk examines the arguments against lifelogging and storage, and argues that they seem less worrying when placed in the context of a wider debate about the nature of mind and memory and their relationship to our environment and the technology we use