Simon Dunne

Dublin City University | DCU · School of Psychology

Objective: Informal caregivers of people with lung cancer often experience a substantial care burden and associated negative consequences due to the often-contracted course of the disease. The objective of this review was to systematically examine the evidence on the factors associated with lung cancer caregiver distress. Methods: Five databases (...

Purpose Lung cancer caregivers often face considerable duties and responsibilities yet frequently feel unprepared for this role. The current study is the first to purposefully explore the information needs of family caregivers throughout the lung cancer trajectory. Methods Semi structured interviews were conducted with nine lung cancer caregivers...

Purpose Disease- and treatment-related consequences in Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) can result in psychological issues for which specialist psychological support, dubbed psycho-oncology, is recommended. Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCPs) function as a crucial link between survivors and these services, through onward referral pathways. Howev...

This review aimed to examine and synthesise literature on spirituality as experienced by individuals living with terminal cancer. Six databases were systematically searched for studies with qualitative findings relevant to spirituality and terminal cancer. Thirty-seven studies were included and thematic synthesis was used to identify themes. Analyt...

Emerging research has raised concerns about the growing prevalence of photo-editing behaviour and how this may negatively interact with body-related concerns among females. This review aimed to systematically examine the current evidence relating to the associations between photo-editing behaviour and female body concerns, including body image, bod...

Purpose Health literacy skills are vital for cancer caregivers in helping cancer survivors to navigate their diagnosis, treatment, and recovery but little is known. This study explored health literacy and eHealth literacy among cancer caregivers and the relationship between health literacy/eHealth literacy and potential associated factors. Methods...

Objectives The Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences (CHIME) comprises 37 items over eight domains and was validated in German and English languages using Rasch methodology. However, the length of the scale might limit its application due to the response burden it places on participants, especially in studies that examine additional co...

Objective: Cancer-related lymphoedema is a common side effect of cancer, affecting 24%-49% of people with cancer. Body image contributes to the well-being of individuals with this condition. This systematic review aimed to explore, for the first time, the state of the science concerning body image in cancer-related lymphoedema, including how body...

Burnout, characterized by exhaustion, reduced accomplishment, and devaluation, can have substantial negative implications for athletes. Notably, researchers continue to examine burnout from multiple perspectives, commonly focusing on stress-, motivation-, or commitment-related factors, with limited efforts to consider these perspectives together. I...

Objective: Research has indicated that social support may play a protective role in the face of stress and help children and adolescents cope with the demands and challenges they face on a daily basis during their cancer journey. However, social support tends to reduce over time as survivors overcome their illness despite its ongoing importance ev...

Athlete burnout is a psychological syndrome with substantial negative consequences, including depression and sport dropout. It has been linked to a range of factors, some of which may vary across different sport-types. This review is the first to synthesise variables examined in relation to burnout in team-sports specifically. An online search of s...

Purpose Family members of cancer patients experience a range of challenges and are impacted in various ways by cancer. To our knowledge, the impact of cancer on adult siblings has yet to be explored. Sibling relationships are one of the longest relationships individuals have across the lifespan. Thus, the current study sought to investigate the per...

Significant medical advances in screening, prevention, and successful treatment in recent decades have increased the number of people living with and beyond cancer worldwide every year (Hulvat, 2020). Many of these people are recommended to receive aggressive treatments in order to prevent metastasis and improve survival (Shrestha et al., 2019). Th...

Purpose Family members of cancer patients experience a range of challenges and are impacted in various ways by the cancer. To our knowledge, the impact of cancer on adult siblings has yet to be explored. Sibling relationships are one of the longest relationships individuals have across the lifespan. Thus, the current study sought to investigate the...

This study investigated the stress‐buffering effect of social support on psychological well‐being and impact of demographic factors on stress in a sample of farmers. One‐hundred and ninety‐six farmers completed an online questionnaire including measures of social support, stress, psychological well‐being, and demographics. Overall, after controllin...

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in social-distancing measures and the suspension of organised sport globally, and has been shown to have negatively impacted mental health. However, athletes may have experienced reprieve from sport demands, which have previously been linked with maladaptive responses such as burnout and stress. The aims of this study...

Community-based participatory approaches are widely recognized as valuable methods for improving mental health and well-being by enabling a greater sense of liberty among participants, through the development of equitable policies and practices, which accommodate a range of diverse perspectives. One such approach, “Trialogue Meetings,” has been fou...

Purpose: Cancer caregivers play a vital role in the care and health decision-making of cancer survivors. Consequently, their health literacy levels may be particularly important, as low levels may impede adequate care provision. As such, the current review aimed to systematically examine the literature on health literacy amongst cancer caregivers....

Purpose Little is known about whether health literacy is associated with affects certain key outcomes in head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. We investigated (i) the socio-demographic and clinical profile of health literacy and (ii) associations among between health literacy and self-management behaviours, health-related quality of life (HRQL) and...

Introduction The aim of this review was to systematically examine the evidence on the relationship between quality of life (QoL) and unmet supportive care needs in patients with lung cancer. Methods Six databases were searched for studies published since 2007. Studies were included if they measured QoL using a standardised tool and examined its as...

Child sexual abuse (CSA) may have significant consequences for siblings; however, limited research has been conducted on the impact of the abuse on sibling and family relationships following the disclosure of CSA. This study sought to investigate sibling responses to disclosures of CSA among a group of adult siblings in Ireland, and the impact on s...

Es Un Viaje Infernal: Puntos de Vista de Estudiantes, Graduados, y Entrenadores en el Proceso Integrado en el Entrenamiento de la Psicoterapia Este estudio cualitativo exploro como el proceso de convertirse en un psicoterapeuta integrado es experimentado, entendido y facilitado durante el entrenamiento de psicoterapia. Entrevistas individuales semi...

This study aimed to examine family members' attitudes and perceptions regarding their choice of care in the event of terminal illness, based on their experience in a caregiver's role, while a loved one was terminally ill. All participants (N ¼ 10) had cared for an immediate family member with terminal cancer. Snowball sampling was used. Qualitative...

Background Self-management may help cancer survivors to better deal with challenges to their physical, functional, social and psychological well-being presented by cancer and its treatment. Nonetheless, little is known about how people integrate cancer self-management practices into their daily lives. The aim of this study was to describe and chara...

The cover image, by Simon Dunne et al., is based on the Paper Barriers to active self‐management following treatment for head and neck cancer: Survivors' perspectives, https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.4835.

Objective Active self‐management practices may help head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors to deal with challenges to their physical, functional, social, and psychological wellbeing presented by HNC and its treatment. This study investigates the factors perceived by HNC survivors to act as barriers to their active self‐management following primary tr...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of the first Trialogue Meetings throughout Ireland for individuals from mental health communities by using a participatory action research (PAR) framework. Design/methodology/approach – Seven communities participated in monthly Trialogue Meetings as a community-based PAR project. A m...

Introduction: Community-based participatory approaches are valuable methods for improving outcomes and effectively integrating care among mental health communities. Trialogue is one such approach which uses Open Dialogue methods with groups of three or more people from different backgrounds who deal with mental health systems. Theory and Method: T...

Mental health stigma and discrimination is a major societal issue. Participatory approaches such as Open Dialogue may be effective in bringing about changes in such stigma and discrimination. Trialogue is an extension of such approaches to three or more sets of stakeholders in mental health systems. The current study explores stakeholders' evolving...

Objective: Head & Neck Cancer (HNC) survivors encounter unique challenges following treatment. This study aimed to identify self-management strategies that HNC survivors use to overcome these post-treatment challenges. Methods: Twenty-seven individuals from four designated cancer centres in Ireland were interviewed about self-management strategi...

PurposeSelf-management interventions improve patient outcomes across a range of long-term conditions but are often limited by low uptake and completion rates. The aim of this paper was to conduct a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies exploring cancer survivors’ views and experiences of engaging with adjustment-focused self-management intervention...

Objective: There has been a recent proliferation of research on quality of life (QoL) in head and neck cancer (HNC). The objective of this review was to systematically examine the evidence on psychological factors associated with QoL outcomes for HNC survivors in the post-treatment period published during 2004-2015. Methods: Five databases were...

To explore how individuals experience and perceive the use of assistive technologies following lower limb loss. Cross-sectional qualitative interview design. Thirty individuals with lower limb amputation were recruited from a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation programme (26 males and 4 females); comprising individuals with above-knee (n = 16), below...

Leadership development training and education for nurses is a priority in modern healthcare systems. Consequently, effective evaluation of nurse leadership development programs is essential for managers and educators in healthcare organizations to determine the impact of such programs on staff behaviors and patient outcomes. Our team has identified...

Using a Terror Management Theory framework, this study investigated if providing mortality reminders or self-esteem threats would lead participants to exhibit avoidant responses towards a point-of-care testing device for Cardiovascular Disease risk and if the nature of the device served to diminish the existential threat of Cardiovascular Disease....

Purpose: To explore the goal-related strategies employed by people following lower limb amputation using a framework based on the dual-process model of adaptive self-regulation. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 individuals with a lower limb amputation. Results: Theoretical thematic analysis identified four broad assim...

Two studies (N = 136) investigated whether or not gender or mortality reminders would impact middle-aged and older adults' appraisal of a novel point-of-care testing device for cardiovascular disease risk. Middle-aged females were significantly more likely to positively appraise and commit to using the device compared to middle-aged males, but ther...

There is a lack of knowledge of the psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of Paralympic athletes. Such knowledge may reveal what contributes to exceptional performance. To systematically review the literature on psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of the Paralympic athlete. Systematic literature review. Five key databases that index psychosocial...

We present an algorithm for automatically disambiguating noun-noun compounds by deducing the correct semantic relation be- tween their constituent words. This algo- rithm uses a corpus of 2,500 compounds annotated with WordNet senses and cov- ering 139 different semantic relations (we make this corpus available online for re- searchers interested i...