2025
Celebrating Health and Social Care Professions
HAPPY HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PROFESSIONS DAY!
Nicole Müller
Head of School of Clinical Therapies at UCC (2019-2025)
he School of Clinical Therapies at University College Cork educates Health and Social Care Professionals in Audiology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech and Language Therapy. The School’s first two programmes started in September 2003, and as of the end of 2024, we have graduated 87 Audiologists, 467 Occupational Therapists, 150 Physiotherapists, and 465 Speech and Language Therapists
We would not be able to do what we do without the collaboration of many, many people. Our sincere thanks to all our clinical partners who provide our students with quality placements; all those who contribute to the delivery of our programmes, including many service users and members of the public who engage with us and our students; all our research partners who work with us to increase the evidence base to advance the clinical work in our disciplines.
To mark the occasion of HSCP Day 2025, I have asked colleagues in the School of Clinical Therapies to contribute brief snapshots of current work that speaks to this year’s motto: “Innovating Health and Social Care, Embracing Technology, Research and Evidence”
Enjoy!
This project would not have been possible without the help of Yong Hong Chen, who is completing the MA in Digital Arts and Humanities at UCC, and who has generously donated her time, effort and talent to complete this digital flip book.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/clinical-therapies/
Eithne Hunt
Aaron Cole
Ciara Moloney
Joe McVeigh
Aidan O Shea
Declan O Sullivan
Helen Kelly
Joe McVeigh
Joe McVeigh
Jean Harrington
Ciara O Toole
Ciara O Toole
Emma Gleeson
Ciara Hanrahan
Alice Lee
Helen Kelly
Trish O Sullivan
Helping college students to live and learn well in 2025 – the Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life® digital badge
Implementation of a virtual reality pacing game with patients living with the condition of Long-COVID: A feasibility trial.
MSc Hearing, Balance and Communication at UCC in collaboration with Interacoustics Academy
ScaleUp4Rehab: Scaling-up Virtual Rehabilitation in North-West Europe
Self-management of shoulder pain
Social prescribing in the management of long-term conditions
Socialising from Home: Peer support and communication practice at the Aphasia Home Café
Technology in Undergraduate Physiotherapy Education: The VR-Pain Project
The NET-RMDs study: Networks of Fatigue and Pain in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases, an International Study
Year 3 Occupational Therapy Practice Education - Exemplary Feedback
Ag Spreagadh Forbairt Teanga i Suíomhanna luath-óige lán Ghaeilge: Encouraging language development in early year’s Irish immersion.
Assessing vocabulary proficiency in Irish-English bilingual children: The Irish Crosslinguistic Lexical Tasks APP
Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Perspectives from people with young onset Parkinson’s Disease and from SLTs
Behaviour change for physical activity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Building a dataset of typical and disordered speech for teaching and assessing phonetic transcription in Speech and Language Therapy students in Ireland
Co-designing a website to raise awareness of aphasia
Exploring the role of the patient in enhancing education of healthcare professional students in an interprofessional setting
Niamh
Exploring the role of virtual reality in musculoskeletal shoulder pain. Falls Management Exercise Programme: Improving reach, effectiveness, value and sustainability in Ireland. Case Studies for Learning (acronym: FaME Ireland)
Helping college students to live and learn well in 2025 – the Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life® digital badge
illions of people around the world are experiencing ill-health and disease that can be attributed, in part, to patterns of daily living and living conditions that do not support wellbeing. In fact, it’s forecast that ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and diabetes will be the top three causes of disease burden worldwide in 2050. Occupational Therapists are experts in how everyday activities influence health, and vice versa. We also always look at how living conditions shape our activities and health. Living conditions include environments such as families, communities, neighbourhoods, buildings, playgrounds, schools, shops, workplaces and factors such as food, housing, education, employment and access to healthcare.
Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life
Digital Badge | University College Cork
I want to reduce and/or prevent mental distress and promote wellbeing and academic success amongst UCC students. Building on my clinical background in adolescent mental health, my doctoral research on adolescent time use and wellbeing and my university teaching, I devised and launched Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life®, an innovative time use and wellbeing digital badge for UCC students. Over eight sessions, students are guided to reflect on their time use across the day and how their time use influences their health and wellbeing, for good or ill. Habits of mind are also explored, as their presence or absence can enrich or undermine daily experiences. An evaluation of Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life® showed statistically significant improvements across all standardised wellbeing measures and 91% of participants ‘would definitely recommend’ Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life®.
My research is on adolescent [age 10 to 24 years] and college student mental wellbeing. This is a priority area of research and service delivery in Ireland and internationally. The average age of all students in higher education in Ireland is 23 and undergraduate students is 20 years. This life stage is one of opportunity and vulnerability. About half of all life-time mental disorders start by the mid-teens and three quarters by the mid-20s with median age at onset 18 years. In Ireland, half of 18 to 29-year-olds have low mental well-being. The world in which students are living and learning is full of uncertainty. Unprecedented technological advances and shifting cultural norms around hybrid work post COVID19 are changing the way we work and study, while economic insecurity and geopolitical instability make for deeply troubling times. In 2023, nearly half of 16-25 year olds surveyed across 10 countries said their feelings about climate change negatively impacted their daily life and functioning.
Eithne Hunt
https://www.ucc.ie/en/skillscentre/news-and-workshops/everyday-matters/
Implementation of a virtual reality pacing game with patients living with the condition of Long-COVID: A feasibility trial.
Background/Need
he National Academies (2024) define the condition of Long COVID as an infection associated chronic condition that occurs after the SARS-Cov-2 infection and is present for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state affecting one or more organ systems. It is estimated that up to 10-35% of patients can develop Long COVID following an acute COVID 19 illness. This equates to an estimated 65 million people worldwide with increasing numbers each year. With over 200 symptoms now acknowledged in the condition of Long COVID, fatigue is the most reported symptom, impacting the ability to perform activities of daily living, work and quality of life. Pacing, planning and prioritizing tasks has been shown to be an essential component in promoting the self-management of individuals with long term conditions. With the current advances in health technology in particular virtual reality providing patient education in an immersive environment to learn and implement self-management strategies will be transferable to incorporating self-management strategies in individuals’ day to day lives.
Aim
The primary aim of the study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing a virtual reality pacing game to teach patients with the condition of Long COVID effective self-management strategies and pacing activities. The secondary aim of this study is to investigate whether this intervention will impact patient reported outcome measures of reported quality of life and fatigue.
This project is a collaboration between multiple Universities, Health Innovation Ireland, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, The Pain Tool Kit and Mavric. This project is supported and funded by Interreg forming part of the Scale-Up4Rehab initiative.
Aaron Cole
Potential Impact
We envisage this intervention will have a significant role in educating individual patients on their condition, informing them of the available self-management strategies to manage fatigue and to be able to transfer implementation of pacing strategies into their day to day lives. This tool could be utilized as part of clinical therapeutic education for
Acknowledgements
Professor Denis Martin (Teesside University), Dr Deepak Ravindran (Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust), Mr. Billy O’ Mahony (UCC), Mr. David Murphy (UCC), Dr Mohamad Saab (UCC), Mr. Pete Moore (The Pain Toolkit), Professor Cormac Ryan (Teesside University), Dr Joseph McVeigh (UCC), Ms. Ciara Hanrahan (UCC), Professor Brona Fullen (UCD), Dr Michael Twomey (UCC), Dr Andrew Graham (Teesside University), Mr. Eoghan O’ Riain (UCC), Mr. Aaron Cole (UCC), Patient Partners.
MSc Hearing, Balance and Communication at UCC in collaboration with Interacoustics Academy
e are proud to announce the formation of a partnership between Interacoustics Academy and the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Discipline of Audiology. This partnership is aimed at developing clinical courses and training pathways for Audiologists in Ireland and globally. As a world-leading supplier of diagnostic hearing and balance equipment and training solutions, this partnership will help students to bridge the gap between the theoretical knowledge and the clinical content, as well as gain credits and clinical skills in the process.
Newborn
Our first collaboration launched in November 2024 by developing the first iteration of a newborn hearing assessment training course in Ireland: “Newborn Hearing Screening: Objective Assessment of Paediatric Hearing in Neonates”.
Leigh Martin, Director of Interacoustics Academy and Clinical Adjunct Lecturer, UCC, led a practical session using the “Eclipse Evoked Potentials” System, which is used in the diagnostic assessment of newborns, referred on from the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme.
Hearing Screening: Objective Assessment of Paediatric Hearing in Neonates “
Our Microcreds students and Postgraduate students also had access to Interacoustics Academy’s online course “Clinical Diploma in Newborn Hearing Assessment” at a significantly reduced rate. The diploma enabled attendees to build on the extensive theoretical knowledge gained onsite in UCC.
The launch was a huge success and attracted audiologists from Ireland, the UK and Internationally. We were also delighted to once again welcome audiologists attending this course as part of the BAA Higher Training Scheme. UCC is proud to be the only provider in Ireland of courses as part of this specialist framework of advanced practice.
A huge thank you to our new partner, Interacoustics Academy, and our guest speakers
for their support, in particular Gary Norman, National Clinical Lead in Audiology HSE. We look forward to continuing to develop and work on our partnership with Interacoustics Academy in the future.
Be part of the movement, join a community of forward-thinking professionals who are the shaping the future of health and social care. All allied health professionals are welcome to attend our CPD and credit bearing courses in Hearing, Balance and Communication. Visit our website or email us on info.hbc@ucc.ie to be added to our mailing list.
Ciara Moloney
https://www.ucc.ie/en/speech/postgraduatestudy/audiology/mschearingbalanceandcommunication/
ScaleUp4Rehab: Scaling-up Virtual Rehabilitation in North-West Europe
ccess to rehabilitation services is hampered by long waiting lists and poor access, particularly in rural areas. However, the response of healthcare services to the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated some of the opportunities digital solutions offer in terms of access, efficiency and effectiveness. In recent years, different forms of digital rehabilitation therapy have been developed and tested with patients. Only recently the FDA in the USA approved a home-use virtual reality (VR) intervention to help those with chronic low back pain. Digital rehabilitation, harnessing the latest virtual and augmented reality technology offers access to dedicated rehabilitation care regardless of the location of a patient.
The overall aim of the project is to develop a digital virtual rehabilitation clinic hosting a range of VR/XR rehabilitation tools.
This project is a Europe-wide consortium consisting of 13 European partners across clinical, research and development sectors. Dr Joseph McVeigh, Head of Discipline of Physiotherapy and Mr David Murphy from School of Computer Science & Information Technology at UCC were partners in a successful Interreg North-West Europe (NWE) grant with a total budget of €10.8 million.
Joe McVeigh
The project consists of a number of work packages which include, development of a virtual clinic and virtual coaching centre, five studies will be conducted across Ireland, the Netherland, Belgium, Germany and France to pilot the feasibility of the interventions and the virtual clinic, capacity building training workshops will be conducted with health care clinicians across Europe. People with a range of long-term musculoskeletal and neurological conditions will get the opportunity to use VR interventions in their home without the burden of having to travel to clinics.
In order to build capacity in VR among health care professionals the use of VR technologies within the physiotherapy curriculum with be explored and evaluated.
(pics – students at a workshop on VR and the physiotherapy purriculum)
HomeScale-Up4Rehab: Important step forward in digitalization rehabilitation sector | SCALE-UP4REHAB https://scale-up4rehab. nweurope.eu/vvv
Research Outputs
O’Riain E, McVeigh JG, Fullen B, Martin D, Murphy D. Design of a Physiologically Based Feedback Loop using Biosensors for Interactive XR and Spatial Computing Environments IEEE 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Reality (ICIR2024) Coimbra, Portugal Dec 2024.
Ó’Riain E, Murphy D, Fullen B, Cole A, O’Mahony B, Moore P, Hanrahan C, Twomey M, Graham A, Saab M, Ravindran D, Ryan C, Martin D, McVeigh JG. Co-Design and Development of a Virtual Reality
Pacing Experience for Long Covid. Scale-Up4Rehab Project. World Congress on Virtual Rehabilitation - 26-28 June 2024 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Deegan O, O'Riain E, Yoshitani M, Smart K, McMahon S, O’Sullivan T, O’Sullivan D, Cole A, Hanrahan C, Ligero MM, Martin D, Murphy D, Fullen BM, McVeigh JG. A Scoping Review of Frameworks Evaluating Digital Health Applications: Scale-Up4Rehab Project. World Congress on Virtual Rehabilitation - 26-28 June 2024 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Self-management of shoulder pain
y name is Aidan O’Shea. I am a physiotherapist in the Discipline of Physiotherapy at University College Cork. I am also completing my PhD titled “Self-management of Shoulder Pain.” I have always had a keen interest in shoulder pain. The complexity of shoulder disorders has stimulated my curiosity and motivated me to learn more about them. Through my clinical experience and research, I have come to appreciate the significant challenges that both patients and healthcare professionals face in effectively managing shoulder pain.
O Shea
Shoulder pain is a prevalent condition that causes substantial disability and morbidity in the general population. It affects people of all ages and can significantly impact daily activities, work productivity, and overall quality of life. Despite its widespread occurrence, diagnosing and managing shoulder pain remains challenging due to the complex nature of shoulder disorders. These complexities often lead to delayed diagnosis, inconsistent treatment approaches, and suboptimal outcomes. Additionally, many individuals with shoulder pain experience frustration when their condition persists despite multiple interventions. This frustration can further hinder their ability to engage in self-management strategies, ultimately affecting their recovery and well-being.
Given these challenges, my research aims to develop recommendations for a self-management programme for individuals with shoulder pain. Self-management involves equipping people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to take an active role in managing their condition. A well-structured self-management programme has the potential to improve patient outcomes by fostering self-efficacy, encouraging adherence to evidence-based strategies, and reducing dependence on passive treatments such as medication, injections, or surgery. By promoting self-management, individuals can better control their symptoms, maintain function, and improve their overall health-related quality of life.
The impact of this research extends beyond individuals with shoulder pain. Healthcare professionals will benefit from evidence-based guidance on supporting patients in self-management, which may enhance treatment effectiveness and patient engagement. Additionally, policymakers and healthcare systems at both local and national levels can use these findings to implement cost-effective strategies that reduce the burden of shoulder pain on health services.
Ultimately, my research has the potential to empower individuals with shoulder pain to take a proactive role in managing their condition. By improving pain control, function, and psychological well-being, self-management strategies can enhance long-term outcomes while alleviating the strain on healthcare systems. This work represents a crucial step toward a more patient-centred and sustainable approach to shoulder pain management.
More information can be found at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35733369/
Aidan
DO YOU TREAT PATIENTS WITH SHOULDER PAIN?
Clinicians invited to participate in a focus group study.
Who:
To be included in this study you need to treat patients with musculoskeletal shoulder conditions such as osteoarthritis, rotator cuff related shoulder pain, and adhesive capsulitis.
Clinicians need to be based in the Republic of Ireland.
What:
This study is an online group discussion and will last approximately 60 minutes. It will consist of an easy-going conversation among four to five clinicians. The aim is to get your views on factors influencing a physiotherapist's approach to the management of a person with shoulder pain.
When:
The focus group will take place at a time that is convenient for you.
Where:
The focus group will take place via Microsoft Teams.
If interested in finding out more about this study, please contact Aidan O'Shea on 0857074914 or aidan.oshea@ucc.ie
Many thanks, Aidan O'Shea, Physiotherapis
Social prescribing in the management of long-term conditions
Declan O’Sullivan School of Clinical Therapies, UCC
Dr Janas Harrington School of Public Health, UCC
eople are living longer with complex long-term multimorbidity accentuated by social and physical factors resulting in many unmet non-clinical health needs.
Social prescribing is an emerging patient-centred care pathway that links people with long-term conditions to existing community-based services to address these individuals’ unmet health needs and improve quality of life and well-being.
This research aims to determine the effectiveness of social prescribing in the management of long-term conditions.
Social prescribing may help improve the quality of life and well-being of those living with long-term conditions and reduce the pressure on primary healthcare services through reduced GP visits and hospitalisations.
Prof Lindsay Bearne Population Health Research Institute, St. George’s, UK
Dr Joseph McVeigh School of Clinical Therapies, UCC
Socialising from Home: Peer support and communication practice at the Aphasia Home Café
t least 1/3 of people who have a stroke experience aphasia. Aphasia is a communication difficulty that affects a person’s ability to understand what they read and hear and to express themselves when speaking and writing: it does not affect intelligence.
Almost everything we do in our daily lives involves communication so there are daily challenges for people living with post-stroke aphasia. For example, traffic road signs, watching the TV, listening to the radio, reading newspapers, searching for information on the Internet all require communication skills.
Communication also has a central role in building and developing relationships and needed for many of our hobbies and interests. Aphasia often results in social isolation and loneliness. In fact, the rate of depression is higher for people with post-stroke aphasia when compared with people who had a stroke but don’t have aphasia.
There is generally a lack of opportunities for people with aphasia to meet to provide peer support or to practice conversation skills in a space where others understand.
In response to the social restrictions during Covid-19, Dr Helen Kelly established the Aphasia Home Café in May 2020 with her Speech and Language Therapy students. This continues to run every fortnight on Zoom which discussions about anything and everything from pets to politics!
The Aphasia Home Café currently has a membership of over >140 people from diverse geographical locations – urban, rural, across the island of Ireland, UK, Europe and even USA.
We also meet 3 times a year with our friends from the Stroke Association NI. Members report increased confidence and competence in communication and that the Aphasia Home Café is a ‘safe place’ to practice communication and get peer support from people who live with aphasia.
Contact Dr Helen Kelly helen.kelly@ucc.ie or visit https://www.ucc.ie/en/aphasiacafe/ for more information about this technological initiative.
Helen Kelly
Technology in Undergraduate Physiotherapy
Education: The VR-Pain Project
n estimated 20-30% of adults across Europe experience chronic pain, that is pain lasting 3 months or longer. Not surprisingly pain is a primary reason patients seek physiotherapy, and as physiotherapists increasingly serve as first-contact practitioners, especially in Europe, strong clinical reasoning skills are essential. Pain science is a core field in the physiotherapy curriculum and physiotherapists are essential members of healthcare teams managing people with pain. However, There is a need to provide a structured approach to enhance physiotherapy students' development of clinical reasoning skills in pain assessment and management - virtual reality (VR) technology can offer this.
In undergraduate and pre-registration physiotherapy programmes clinical practice placements provide the experiential work-based learning opportunities. Students spend approximately 40% of their time on clinical placements. Placements provide the opportunity to develop and enhance students' clinical reasoning skills dealing with ‘real’ patients. Clinical reasoning is described as analytical and non-analytical processes and skills carried out when assessing patients, which are the processes of either developing hypotheses or an automatic retrieval process described as pattern recognition (Weiss, 2011). It is a skill integral to practise, influencing decision making processes that determines patients’ treatment.
The project aims to promote inter-connected higher education systems, collaborating to standardise and enhance clinical reasoning skills in pain science education in Physiotherapy programmes through sharing knowledge and skills across boundaries.
Joe McVeigh
The research involves a number of studies.
• A curriculum mapping exercise was conducted across physiotherapy programmes in Ireland and the Netherlands to reflect where, when, how clinical reasoning skills, pain management and clinical placement occur in physiotherapy programmes and determine parts of the curriculum that can be VR-based.
The project mapped clinical reasoning and pain management in physiotherapy curricula across partner institutions. This identified opportunities for learning enhancement through VR-based learning. Integrated stakeholder involvement (UCD, UCC students and people with lived experience). The mapping exercise and focus groups formed the foundation of the three VR cases which will be accessible to educators across Europe.
• The second study explored students´ knowledge and experiences of VR technology and obtained feedback on co-design a VR component for the physiotherapy curriculum.
• The final stage of the project involved the co-development of three VR clinical cases to support the development of clinical reasoning skills in pain.
Three interactive VR clinical cases and supporting manuals were developed allowing students to engage with real-time scenarios on acute & chronic pain.
The cases take between 20-30 minutes. The cases are based on real-world scenarios & user experience (UX) principles, involved an in-person stakeholder workshop held in UCC in their development (students from UCD, UCC & people with lived experience of pain). These risk-free, simulated environments enhanced students' knowledge & decision-making abilities based on the qualitative & quantitative feedback.
This project is funded by Erasmus + (€250,000) with project partners: Dr Joseph McVeigh (University College Cork, Ireland), Dr Brona Fullen (PI), Prof. E. Mangina, Dr Siobhan McMahon (University College Dublin, Ireland), Prof. Harriet Wittink (Stichting Hogeschool Utrecht, The Netherlands), V. Ouranis, G Agriopoulos QUANTA & QUALIA, Greece.
The NET-RMDs study: Networks of Fatigue and Pain in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases, an International Study
usculoskeletal and rheumatic diseases affect approximately 1.71 billion people globally and are a leading cause of disability. Rheumatic diseases encompass a wide range of conditions that primarily affect the joints, muscles, and connective tissues. These diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, and Sjogren's syndrome, among others. Fatigue and pain are the predominant symptoms for patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).
Pain and fatigue are influenced by a complex network of mutually interacting factors that include physical (dis)ability, psychological resilience and vulnerability, social factors, sleep quality, obesity, and disease activity. The importance of these distinct factors is assumed to differ between different RMDs as well as between individual patients. The strength with which each factor influences pain and fatigue also differs between RMDs and patients.
This study aimed to describe the existing network models with influencing factors of pain and fatigue in (i) specific RMDs and in (ii) subgroups of patients (across all RMDs) with high scores on specific maintaining factors (e.g., physical inactivity, obesity, sleep problems, inflammatory activity, psychological distress factors).
An online survey was conducted across Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK with almost three thousand (n=2930) people with a broad spectrum of RMD’s (Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Spondyloarthritis/Bechterew’s disease, Sjögren’s syndrome, Psoriatic Arthritis and Scleroderma / Systemic Sclerosis) completing the survey. Analysis of the data is ongoing, but the network model confirms the multifactorial nature of fatigue and pain in multiple RMD’s.
This work is supported by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) health professionals research grant (HPR045).
Project Partners:
For more information about the study see:
Gavilán-Carrera B, Geenen R, Hughes C, Barbosa L, Visser M, McVeigh J, Ferreira RJO, Boschloo L, Estévez-López F. NET-RMDs study: networks of fatigue and pain in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases - protocol for an international cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2022 Nov 15;12(11):e061099. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061099. PMID: 36379658; PMCID: PMC9668028.
Geenen R, Gavilán-Carrera B, Estevez-Lopez F, Boschloo L, Visser M, McVeigh J, Hughes C, Ferreira RJO, Barbosa L. Networks of Fatigue, Pain, and Biopsychosocial Factors in
People with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The Net-RMD’s Study. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Volume 83, Supplement 1, 2024, Pages 195-196, ISSN 0003-4967, https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2024-eular.2497.
Visser M, Estevez-Lopez F, Gavilán-Carrera B, Boschloo L, Barbosa L, Ferreira JO, Hughes CM, McVeigh JG, Geenen R Networks of fatigue, pain, and biopsychosocial factors in people with Sjögren’s disease. 16th International Symposium Sjögren’s Disease, the Netherlands 22-25th April 2024.
Joe McVeigh
Year 3 Occupational Therapy Practice Education - Exemplary Feedback
"Absolutely fantastic resources created by year 3 Occupational Therapy student on placement –accessible, evidence-based information and visually appealing."
"The students are a credit to UCC. It’s been such a positive and enjoyable experience to have such passionate young students. The progress has been so amazing to watch."
"This student has supreme ability to relate to patients and adapt to their needs in relation to patient education. Patients provided feedback'she has really helped them' and 'she has an excellent way of explaining things.'”
"Student has an excellent ability to discuss her clinical reasoning with her colleagues. She gave an excellent presentation on the joint protection group she ran independently, receiving outstanding feedback."
"In the hospital setting, the student provided daily rehab focusing on upper limb and functional rehabilitation, which wouldn’t have happened without her presence."
"In an Early Supported Discharge setting, the student did lovely client-centred work. She tailored rehab sessions to the patient’s goal of walking his greyhounds across fields, even donning her wellies to make it happen."
The feedback reflects the dedication, innovation, and positive impact of our third-year students on clinical placement - well done!
For further information:
Website: Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy | University College Cork
https://www.ucc.ie/en/ot/
Jean Harrington
Ag Spreagadh Forbairt Teanga i Suíomhanna luath-óige lán Ghaeilge: Encouraging language development in early year’s Irish immersion.
Jennifer Uí Dhuibhir PhD Candidate
n Ireland, An Naíonra provides early childhood education through Irish, which is an important part of maintaining and transmitting the language. However, it also presents unique challenges for educators to cater not only for children who speak Irish as a first language and require mother-tongue support and enrichment but also for children who are learning Irish as a second language. This PhD project is sponsored by an Coiste Um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus
Gaelscolaíochta (COGG) aimed to develop a training programme for educators in a minority immersion setting. The first phase established the views and needs of educators, parents and children in naíonra across Ireland. We then took these views and developed a pilot training programme based on Teacher Talk (Greenberg & Weitzman, 2002) from the Hanen centre in Canada and drawing on the literature relating to developing a heritage language. As the educators were based all around the island of Ireland, we harnessed the benefits of technology to develop an online programme and help educators across the island, both inside and outside Gaeltacht areas, to connect and develop links. We also used this technology to record and share videos of educators interacting with children in their own setting to provide coaching and monitor change. We will use the results to further refine the programme and increase the training for early year’s educators in Irish immersion language contexts.
Ciara O Toole Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences.
Assessing vocabulary proficiency in Irish-English bilingual children: The Irish Crosslinguistic Lexical Tasks APP
hen diagnosing language difficulties in bi- and multilingual children, it is essential to test their language development in all of their languages. In addition, in Ireland, Irish speakers have statutory rights to access all public services, including speech and language therapy through Irish. However, clinicians have few or no tools to assess, diagnose and treat Irish-speakers.
This project is developing an APP to test bi/multilingual children’s understanding and production of nouns and verbs in Irish. It is part of an international project that uses similar procedures to test vocabulary development in children, known as the Crosslinguistic Lexical Tasks (CLTs).
For more see https://multilada.pl/en/projects/clt/
By using similar procedures, we can be sure that we are testing comparable skills across all of a bi/multilingual child’s language. The APP has been piloted using the Munster dialect and is fully automatised so that children can move through the test using touch-screen technology and pre-recorded instructions. The technology also allows us to measure ‘reaction times’ or how quickly a child can process and understand a word. Our results show that typically developing children living in the Gaeltacht who speak only Irish at home perform equally well on both the Irish and English versions of the task. However, children exposed to both languages at home or only English have significantly higher English vocabulary scores, showing the vulnerability of the minority Irish language. The test has subsequently been recorded in the Connemara dialect so that more children can be tested and more developmental milestones can be collected. This will then allow us to determine whether a bi/multilingual child has a language disorder. This test is part of ongoing projects that aim to develop tools to provide an equitable service for Irish-English bi/multilingual children with speech and language difficulties.
Pictures of the Irish comprehension task for the target ag éisteacht ‘listening’; Child being assessed with the CLTs.
Ciara O Toole Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Perspectives from people with young onset Parkinson’s Disease, and from SLTs
Emma Gleeson, Ellen O’Neill, Anna Whyte, Kirsty Lohan, Sophie Morley, Emma Screene, Aoife
Queally, Nicole Müller
ommunication is recognised as a fundamental human right for all people per Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We communicate in many ways every day, and many of us think of sounds, words and sentences when we think of how we communicate with others. However, not all people can use verbal means of communication, and so, speech and language therapists (SLTs) have a key role in collaborating and supporting people to communicate to their full potential using different means.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is an aspect of SLT practice which seeks to optimise and utilise all the ways a person can communicate besides using spoken language. It can include facial expression, gesture, photographs, pictures, word or letter boards, communication passports with key information about the person (low tech communication devices), right up to high tech communication devices, for example tablets or computers with apps, customised to the person’s communicative needs, and often with a ‘voice’ which says a message when a particular word, phrase or image is selected. Low- and high-tech communication devices can range from simple to difficult in complexity, and the speech and language therapist who is collaborating with the person in optimising their communication skills can tailor the AAC to the person’s needs, preferences and abilities.
Both children and adults can be AAC users, with children with cerebral palsy, autism or speech sound difficulties potentially experiencing communicative success with these devices. For adults, people with acquired brain injury, stroke, or progressive neurological disorder can utilise low-or high-tech devices to optimise their communicative effectiveness.
Emma Gleeson
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
Since the fast-paced development of technology in the last decade, AAC options have become far more wide ranging, and access to high tech devices has become easier. Additionally, technology has become a part of every life, making its use more acceptable for people who may want to use it to optimise their communication abilities. At present, SLT students in the School of Clinical therapies, University College Cork are conducting research in this area: One project investigates how persons living with young onset Parkinson’s Disease are using technology to facilitate communication, and how they evaluate the technologies available to them. Two further projects relate to how SLTs are working with AAC, and how they evaluate their own expertise and education needs.
We all have a right to communicate, and technology adds another facet to the possibilities for optimising communication for all!
Further information on AAC can be found here:
https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/aac/?srsltid=AfmBO oqY2qedrF-es7-
ZGHXlPFl8QCavz6NqizLVHJlsg9BjZgAW7nh4
https://www.rcslt.org/speech-and-language-therapy/clinical-information/augmentative-and-alternative-communication/
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Behaviour change for physical activity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
hronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a significant global health concern, with estimates of almost 400 million people living with COPD across the world. Symptoms of COPD include breathlessness, cough, wheeze and fatigue. The course of the disease is punctuated by exacerbations, significantly impacting quality of life and healthcare usage. Pharmacological interventions and pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) are the gold standard of care for people with COPD, however, barriers to availing of PR are well-evidenced in the literature. Despite the importance of engaging in a physically active lifestyle to help manage their condition, we know that those living with COPD are less physically active than recommended. Behaviour change interventions may help to influence physical activity behaviour in COPD, but the most effective interventions are not yet clear. The aim of this research is to design a community-based physical activity intervention, incorporating principles of behaviour change, for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
This work is being carried out by PhD candidate Ciara Hanrahan (Lecturer in Respiratory Physiotherapy, University College Cork), with supervision by Dr Joseph McVeigh (University College Cork), Asst Professor Dr Julie Broderick (Trinity College Dublin), Prof Terry O’Connor (Mercy University Hospital & University College Cork) and Prof Thierry Troosters (Leuven University, Belgium). The project stems from Ciara’s twenty years’ experience of working with people with chronic respiratory disease, with the expertise of her supervisory team.
We hope that the findings of this project will help to inform clinical practice and improve the quality of life of people living with COPD by identifying effective behaviour change interventions to influence their physical activity behaviour.
The benefits of adopting physical activity behaviours for those living with COPD may help people living with the condition to manage it more effectively. Education and knowledge of behaviour change theory and the use of effective interventions by clinicians may support a more physically active lifestyle in those with COPD.
Publications to date:
1. Hanrahan C, Broderick J, O'Connor TM, McVeigh JG. Behaviour change interventions for physical activity in adults with chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease; A systematic review and meta-analysis. Respiratory Medicine and Research. 2024;85:101068.
2. Hanrahan C, Broderick J, O’Connor T, McVeigh J. Behaviour change and physical activity interventions for physical activity engagement in community dwelling adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: protocol for a systematic review. HRB Open Research. 2022;4(110).
Publication under review:
1. Hanrahan, C, McVeigh, J. G., O’Connor, T. M., Troosters, T., Broderick, J. Perceptions and use of behaviour change interventions for physical activity in chronic respiratory disease in The Republic of Ireland. Physiotherapy.
Ciara Hanrahan
Building a dataset of typical and disordered speech for teaching and assessing phonetic transcription in Speech and Language Therapy students in Ireland
honetic transcription is the use of phonetic symbols to document in written form the speech sounds produced by speakers. Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) are expected to transcribe in order to assess speech disorders, select intervention approaches and targets, and evaluate the outcomes of treatment. However, the materials for teaching and assessing transcription skills vary between SLT academic programmes, and speech recordings of Irish English speakers are scarce. Because of this we are developing a large-scale shared online resource for direct teaching, self-learning (e.g., via virtual learning environment / VLE), and assessment for the Irish SLT programmes.
Groundwork has been carried out, including a national seminar held in 2018 where teaching staff of the 5 Irish SLT programmes (UCC, Trinity College Dublin, University of Galway, University of Limerick, and Ulster University) discussed the current practice of teaching and assessment of speech disorders and phonetics. A dataset of typical speech and simulated speech disorders was produced in 2020 by the same team as a teaching resource for the SLT programmes. The next step towards our goal is to build a clinical speech dataset for teaching and assessment.
The current research team includes Dr. Alice Lee (Senior Lecturer, SLT), Dr. Nicola Bessell (Lecturer, Linguist), Ms. Maeve Sharkey (Practice Education Coordinator, SLT), Emma Screene (Year 4 SLT student) in UCC, Ms. Claire Mansfield (Specialist SLT) in Cork University Hospital, and Dr. Jill Titterington (external collaborator, SLT), The Speech Doctor, UK. The target group is the users of phonetic transcription for clinical speech assessments, which include both SLT students as well as SLT educators.
This project will build a resource that can be used immediately in teaching and assessment, with appropriate ethics approval for resource sharing for the Irish SLT programmes. This resource represents a significant step forward in access to teaching resources for the discipline. This project is also important for ensuring sufficient phonetic transcription training to support effective practice of newly qualified SLTs as well as continuing professional development opportunities for practising clinicians.
To find out more about the project, you can contact the key research team members, Dr. Alice Lee (A.Lee@ucc.ie) and Dr. Nicola Bessell (N.Bessell@ucc.ie).
Groundwork has been carried out
Dr. Alice Lee
Senior Lecturer
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences University College Cork
The Speech DoctorCork University Hospital
https://delad.ruhosting.nl/wordpress/
Dr. Nicola Bessell
DELAD Workshops
Co-designing a website to raise awareness of aphasia
pproximately 10k people have a stroke every year in Ireland, with ~64% experiencing communication disability. At least 1/3 of people who have a stroke experience aphasia, a communication difficulty affecting language. It can affect a person’s ability to understand what they read and hear, and to express themselves when speaking and writing. It affects everyone differently, so every person with aphasia can have different communication problems. It is important to note that aphasia DOES NOT affect intelligence.
Despite so many people living with aphasia there is very poor awareness of aphasia in the general population, and, across health, utilities, public and commercial services in Ireland. Stroke survivors and their families also report a need for more understanding about aphasia and how to access relevant supports. Dr Helen Kelly invited Stroke Survivors with aphasia from her Aphasia Awareness & Advocacy (AAA) group to co-design a website to raise awareness of aphasia. Four Stroke Survivors with aphasia and a UCC student from Digital Humanities were involved in the creation of the website supported by UCC DE Comms. Iterative discussions over a period of 18 months shaped the content and format of the website.
Website Format: to make the website accessible for Stroke Survivors we:
• Include short videoclips from Stroke Survivors around the world.
• Use minimal text where possible.
• Include links to resources to find more detailed information about stroke and aphasia.
• Include information that Stroke Survivors with aphasia need to know from the perspectives of our AAA group.
• Provide links to resources that would be useful for stroke survivors and their families.
• Highlight the importance of including Stroke Survivors with aphasia in Research.
• Show the impact of aphasia on people’s lives.
• Make people aware of UCC Aphasia Home Café.
• Bring hope by showcasing examples of Stroke Survivors living successfully with aphasia
Scan the QR code or click on https://www.ucc.ie/en/aphasiacafe/ to visit our website. Contact Dr Helen Kelly helen.kelly@ucc.ie for more information.
Website Content: to make the website informative we: Image from
Helen Kelly
Exploring the role of the patient in enhancing education of healthcare professional students in an interprofessional setting
We
are all dealt a pack of cards, but it’s how we play those cards is what matters most “
An exploration of the role of the patient in enhancing education of healthcare professional students in an interprofessional setting
Background/Need
While the involvement of patients in education is increasing, it is still not well established in mainstream education practices. Interprofessional education (IPE) represents an ideal area for active patient involvement. In line with the HRB strategy 2021-2025 and the HRCI to place the patient voice at the core, this study on interprofessional education seeks to develop and establish innovative, meaningful and sustainable patient and public involvement (PPI) partnerships in the advancing field of interprofessional education.
Aim
The primary aim of the study is to develop a greater understanding of the role of the patient in enhancing education of students in an interprofessional setting. The secondary aim of this study is to develop a greater understanding of the attitudes and perceptions of healthcare students and facilitators towards the IPE sessions, with patients playing a central role in IPE.
This project is a collaboration between on-site clinical educators across multiple disciplines in Cork, as well as practice tutors attached to the discipline of physiotherapy at UCC. To date, five PPI IPE workshops have taken place in the Mercy University Hospital, with students from occupational therapy, nursing, physiotherapy, medicine, pharmacy and radiography who are currently on clinical placement participating.
PPI member Lucy Martin (centre of picture) with members of the PPI IPE steering committee
Trish O’Sullivan
Potential Impact
This PPI IPE initiative is a powerful platform for fostering critical thinking, professional growth and collaboration amongst our multidisciplinary students. By engaging students in hands-on, real-world scenarios, facilitated by PPI members, our workshops have inspired and challenged students to work together, learn about each other’s roles while thinking critically about the clinical case scenario. The involvement of PPI has further deepened and enriched learning. Our students have been closely involved as co-creators of their learning experience. Their valuable feedback and contributions to these workshops have promoted deeper IPE engagement and collaboration. This year, two MSc physiotherapy students will evaluate the data collected in focus groups of PPI, students and facilitators as part of their final year thesis.
Multi-disciplinary small group work centered around a case study
Acknowledgements
PPI representatives: Liz Deane, Lucy Martin, Tom Cassidy, Mary Boyle IPE steering group members and facilitators of workshops: John Healy (Physiotherapy), Caoimhe Harrington (Physiotherapy), Miriam O Tuathaigh (OT), Olivia Wall (OT), Trish O’Sullivan (Physiotherapy), Aaron Cole (Physiotherapy), Nora McCarthy (Medicine), Rena Young (Radiography), Roy Hanlon (Physiotherapy), Aoife Fleming (Pharmacy), David Fitzgerald (Nursing), Alison Mullens (Pharmacy), Shila Salleh (Medicine).
Exploring the role of virtual reality in musculoskeletal shoulder pain.
houlder pain is a common and disabling musculoskeletal condition that places significant burden on individuals, their families, and healthcare systems. In the most recent Global Burden of Disease study, musculoskeletal conditions including shoulder pain were named the fifth most common cause of Years lived with Disability. Shoulder pain detrimentally impacts on work, sleep, social interaction, and quality of life. Virtual Reality (VR) is a novel intervention that may be able to reduce pain while making rehabilitation exercise more enjoyable and engaging, thereby supporting optimum management. VR has been shown to be effective in other aspects of healthcare, such as pain management, mental health, neurological rehabilitation and improving health literacy. Research is needed to investigate if VR is indeed an effective tool for managing musculoskeletal shoulder pain and if so, how best to maximize its potential in a clinical setting.
This research project, which involves a series of mixed-methods studies is being carried out by Niamh Brady (PhD candidate and lecturer in Anatomy at University College Cork), Dr. Joseph McVeigh (primary supervisor; Head of Physiotherapy, UCC), Prof. Karen McCreesh (external supervisor at University of Limerick) and Prof. Jeremy Lewis (external supervisor at University of Limerick and NHS). Niamh became interested in the clinical application of VR when working in Neurology and Respiratory care. When she later specialized in upper limb rehabilitation in her clinical practice, she saw an opportunity to use VR to help people with musculoskeletal shoulder pain. She became fascinated by the advancements in technology and potential for helping people with persistent pain and kinesiophobia.
The research involves input from clinicians and patient end-users, specifically people with rotator cuff related shoulder pain, frozen shoulder, instability, osteoarthritis and those who have had shoulder surgery. This research will inform the development of a VR intervention to support the rehabilitation of shoulder pain. If people are interested to hear more about the research project, they can contact Niamh directly at niamh.brady@ucc.ie.
Sportskongress Podcast 2024
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1oWHd9dvOJKzP2OLGB2RO1 1:20 minutes to 1:39 minutes
Niamh Brady
Falls Management Exercise Programme: Improving reach, effectiveness, value and sustainability in Ireland. Case Studies for Learning (acronym: FaME Ireland)
nternational and Irish data show that nearly 60% of those who sustain a hip fracture report experiencing a fall or unsteadiness in the preceding two years. Prior unexplained falls increase the risk of hip fractures by 3.5 times. Over 10% of ambulance call-outs involve people who have fallen and cannot get up, with a prolonged floor-lie leading to poor outcomes. This highlights the urgent need for falls prevention to reduce falls and prevent serious injuries.
Research confirms that strength and balance training is essential for falls prevention, but not all programmes are effective.
The 26-week Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme, led by specialist-trained physiotherapists and exercise instructors, has consistently reduced falls by 26–54% and increased weekly physical activity by up to 167 minutes.
FaME also teaches people how to cope with, and safely get up after a fall. While over 100 instructors in Ireland are trained to deliver FaME, UK studies highlight challenges in programme setup, sustainability, and participant engagement.
FaME Ireland, funded by the Health Research Board and the HSE, aims to expand access to FaME across Ireland. This two-year study, led by Dr. Ruth McCullagh (UCC) with co-investigators from the Royal College of Surgeons and Glasgow Caledonian University, follows the HSE Guide for Change: Define, Design, Deliver
Ruth McCullagh
Observations and interviews at early-adopter sites in Kerry, Leitrim, and Dublin have identified key themes:
1. Access – How to ensure the right people can join and manage referrals.
2. Programme Delivery –
Maintaining key components and participant engagement.
3. Sustained Activity –
Encouraging ongoing physical activity and social connection post-programme.
4. Long-Term Viability –
Securing funding and building a sustainable workforce.
Currently, co-design workshops with stakeholders are identifying strategies to expand FaME, including referral pathways, post-programme activities, and workforce support. In the final Deliver phase, we will evaluate the impact of these changes, adapting the UK FaME Implementation Toolkit for Ireland.
This study will guide the expansion of FaME, informing healthcare and community exercise programmes. We aim to reach everyone at risk of falling to get up, stay up, and live their best lives. Without such programmes, opportunities to keep people active and socially engaged are being missed.
Find out more here at the UCC FaME Ireland website: https://www.ucc.ie/en/fameireland/fallsmanagement/
Watch a short video about FaME : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfeTlxYNFFg
Read an RTE Brainstorm article about FaME Ireland UCC, November 2024: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/1121/1481948-falls-management-exercise-programme-ucc/
Harnessing Technology to Support Self-Management for People with Musculoskeletal Disorders: Introducing ePhysioSupport
usculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as arthritis and chronic back pain, affect millions of people worldwide. These conditions can make everyday activities difficult, and while physiotherapy helps, many people struggle to access care due to long waiting lists. That’s where ePhysioSupport (formerly eHealth: It’s TIME) comes in—a digital support tool designed to help people manage their condition from home, providing extra support between physiotherapy appointments or as they transition towards the end of their episode of care.
ePhysioSupport is a prototype digital support tool designed for adults with MSDs who need extra support managing their condition. It includes simple and practical features:
• An information library with tips on pain management and stress management,
• A goal-tracking tool to help users set and stick to personal health goals,
• A support forum where people can connect with others facing similar challenges,
• A feature that allows users to contact their physiotherapist.
These features aim to boost confidence, encourage self-care, and make it easier to stay on track with recovery.
The image below shows the ePhysioSupport prototype, showcasing its key features, including the home screen, information library, goal-tracking tool, and support forum. As development continues, the design and functionality will evolve based on user feedback and testing
Lead researcher Marie Kelly (pictured), a senior musculoskeletal physiotherapist at the Mercy University Hospital and PhD student at the Discipline of Physiotherapy, UCC, was inspired to develop this tool after seeing how many people struggle to get the ongoing help they need. Marie was supported by her PhD supervisors Dr Joseph McVeigh (UCC), Dr Brona Fullen (UCD), Prof Colin Bradley (UCC) and Prof. Denis Martin (Teesside University, UK). She and her team have worked closely with people living with MSDs to make sure the tool is easy to use and meets real-life needs.
By making expert advice and support available online, this tool has the potential to improve the quality of life for people with MSDs. It could also help reduce pressure on healthcare services by providing reliable, self-guided support, along with a remote monitoring feature that allows the physiotherapist to track progress and provide guidance when needed. Early testing has shown that users find it helpful and easy to navigate. The next step is to test it in real-world settings to see how it fits into everyday life and healthcare services.
For more details, check out the latest open access research on eHealth: It’s TIME:
• Design and Development Study
• Design and Development Protocol
• Qualitative Study
• Scoping Review
Marie Kelly
ePhysioSupport Prototype
https://www.ucc.ie/en/clinical-therapies/