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Training update Our next HBCRG training webinar will take place on Tuesday 17th November 2020 from 2-3.30pm. Dr Andrea Patey of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute will present on “Barriers and enablers to behaviour using the Theoretical Domains Framework: An introduction to the practical applications of the TDF, with Dr Andrea Patey. All welcome to attend this free training event. More details are here (TRAINING DETAILS). Funding successes Dr Elaine Toomey was awarded a Health Research Board Applying Research into Policy and Practice Postdoctoral Fellowship. Elaine’s work will focus on Using Knowledge Translation to Enhance the Use of Evidence in Public Health Decision-making by Policymakers and Healthcare Managers in Ireland. Elaine will continue to work with Professor Molly Byrne in her role as co-applicant and mentor on the project. Dr Alice le Bonniec is the recipient of the Irish Cancer Society 2020 Social, Nursing, and Allied Health Sciences Post-Doctoral Fellowship and will complete her project with the HBCRG developing an intervention to increase bowel screening uptake under the mentorship of Dr Jenny McSharry. More information is available here Dr Eimear Morrissey was co-applicant on a grant application to Emerging Minds (UK Research and Innovation), led by Dr Emma Berry in Queens. The team obtained £15,000 to conduct a stakeholder engagement study on 'Social media and psychological wellbeing in young people with type 1 diabetes'. Selected Recent publications Byrne M. (2020) Gaps and priorities in advancing methods for health behaviour change research. Health Psychology Review, 14(1):165-75. Byrne M, McSharry J, Meade O, Lavoie KL, Bacon SL. (2020). An international, Delphi consensus study to identify priorities for methodological research in behavioral trials in health research. Trials. 21:1-13. Casey, B., Byrne, M., Casey, D., Gillespie, P., Hobbins, A., Newell, J., Morrissey, E.C. & Dinneen, S.F. (2020).  Improving outcomes among young adults with type 1 diabetes: The D1 Now randomised pilot study protocol. Diabetic Medicine, 37, 1590– 1604.  Durand H, Bacon SL, Byrne M et al. Identifying and addressing psychosocial determinants of adherence to physical distancing guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic – project protocol [version 1; peer review: 2 approved with reservations]. HRB Open Res 2020, 3:58 Kenny E, McNamara Á, Noone C, Byrne M. (2020) Barriers to seasonal influenza vaccine uptake among health care workers in long‐term care facilities: A cross‐sectional analysis. British Journal of Health Psychology. Noone C, Warner N, Byrne M et al. Investigating and evaluating evidence of the behavioural determinants of adherence to social distancing measures – A protocol for a scoping review of COVID-19 research [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] HRB Open Research 2020, 3:46 McBride, C., Morrissey, E.C. & Molloy, G.J. (2020). Patients’ experiences of using smartphone apps to support self-management and improve medication adherence in hypertension: A qualitative study. JMIR mHealth and  uHealth. McSharry J, Byrne M, Casey B, Dinneen S, Fredrix M, Hynes L, et al. (2020). Behaviour change in diabetes: behavioural science advancements to support the use of theory. Diabetic Medicine, 37(3):455-63. Meade, O., Byrne, M., Carvalho, M., Hynes, L., McSharry, J., Molloy, G.J., Morrissey, E., Noone, C., Toomey, E. The Health Behaviour Change Research Group’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Health Psychology Update, 29 (Special Issue), p. 35-36. Norris, E. & Toomey, E. (2020). Open Science in Health Psychology: launching the EHPS Open Science SIG. The European Health Psychologist, 21(5), 679-682. Van Rhoon L, Byrne M, Morrissey E, Murphy J, McSharry J. (2020). A systematic review of the behaviour change techniques and digital features in technology-driven type 2 diabetes prevention interventions. Digital health. 2020;6:2055207620914427. New Roles Dr Lisa Hynes has recently become the Chair of the Division of Health Psychology within the Psychological Society of Ireland. We wish Lisa well with her new role! For updates from the division, please follow @PSI_DHP. Dr Elaine Toomey has taken up a new role at School of Allied Health at the University of Limerick as a Lecturer in Physiotherapy. We wish Elaine well and look forward to continuing to collaborate. Prof Molly Byrne has recently joined the Board of Trustees of the Ireland Canada University Foundation (ICUF). The ICUF aims to make a positive contribution to society, through organisation of scholarly exchanges and related events, and the support of academic and research networks linking Canada and Ireland. Prof Molly Byrne is contributing to the national response to COVID-19 as a member of the Department of Health’s Covid-19 Communications and Behavioural Advisory Group which advises the National Public Health Emergency Team. She is also a member of the NUI Galway Behaviour Change Advisory Group to inform the university’s response to COVID. HBCRG in the media Prof Molly Byrne wrote an opinion piece of the Irish Times, 26th Oct 202, on the contribution of behavioural science to the Public Health response to Covid-19. On behalf of the Psychological Society of Ireland Division of Health Psychology and in collaboration with the British Psychological Society Division of Health Psychology, Lisa Hynes (Chair) and Jenny Mc Sharry (Past Chair) wrote a piece for the Irish Psychologist on the "Impact of Health Psychology in Ireland and support needed for future growth" Take part in Research HBCRG Group members are also collaborating on the ‘International Assessment of Covid-19-related Attitudes, Concerns, Responses and Impacts in Relation to Public Health Policies’ (iCARE) study. The results of this study will be used to enhance the uptake and effectiveness of prevention behaviours around the world. To look at the results so far or take part in the study, please click here. The Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes (PRE-T2D) study is seeking adults living in Ireland to complete a 15-minute online survey on your health behaviours, technology experiences, and perceptions of Type 2 Diabetes. All participants will enter the draw to win one of two €100 One4All gift cards. To complete the survey, please go to http://www.pret2d.com/survey. Keep updated Follow us on Twitter @hbcrg!

The Health Behaviour Change Research Group would like to share the HBCRG June 2020 - COVID Research Inforgraphic summarising our contributions to COVID-19 research and policy. To keep up-to-date with our activities, please keep an eye on our Twitter page. We would also like to announce an upcoming free webinar, entitled “An introduction to Pragmatic Evaluation”. This seminar will be led by Dr Paul Kelly (University of Edinburgh) and will take place on the 30th of June 2020 from 11am-12pm. Please see HBCRG Pragmatic Evaluation webinar for more details. We will follow-up with a registration link next week and hope you will be able to join us for this informative session. You may also be interested in taking part in an international study we are collaborating on, led by Professors Kim Lavoie and Simon Bacon, which is examining how people cope with living under COVID-19 public health restrictions. Please click here for more information or to take part in this online survey https://mbmc-cmcm.ca/covid19/ If you have any queries in relation to any of the above items, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  Kind regards,Oonagh  Dr Oonagh MeadePostdoctoral ResearcherHealth Behaviour Change Research GroupE-mail: oonagh.meade@nuigalway.ieTwitter: @oonaghmeade

Training people to apply research in clinical practice For details on the awards and on how to apply, please see the SPHeRE website HERE The HRB is investing €4.5 million to train health practitioners and academics to PhD level doing research that will improve care for stroke patients, target chronic disease and tackle diabetic foot disease. Through the HRB Collaborative Doctoral Programme in patient-focused research three teams of experts will each receive €1.5 million. In addition to providing structured training for up to five PhD trainees in each cohort, they are also developing research programmes in highly relevant areas that address specific patient needs. According to Dr Darrin Morrissey, Chief Executive at the Health Research Board (HRB), ‘This HRB funding initiative will develop research techniques and ability among trainees, but it will also teach them about designing research programmes that target defined needs in clinical practice. The aim is to close the gap between research that is done and how it is applied in practice to improve patients’ health and care’. Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Chronic Disease Prevention (CDP-CDP) Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke, cause significant illness, are the leading cause of disability and are the most common reason for premature death. If we can improve prevention and self-management of these conditions, we can significantly reduce people’s suffering and reduce costs to health services. This HRB Collaborative Doctoral Award 2019 aims to improve patient care by developing and delivering a doctoral training programme in evidence-based chronic disease prevention. It is developed by a consortium of senior research and clinical leaders in diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular prevention. The individual PhD patient-focused research projects will focus on diabetes prevention; digitally delivered cardiac rehabilitation; prevention for women with previous gestational diabetes; enhancing the role of Clinical Nurse Specialists to prevent stroke; and development of peer-support for cardiovascular prevention. It is a collaboration between NUI Galway, UCC, UCD and the Health Service Executive and will recruit five PhD trainees who will start training in September 2020. Professor Molly Byrne, Professor of Health Psychology and HRB Research Leader; Director, Health Behaviour Change Research Group, NUI Galway says: ‘This is a unique opportunity to promote collaborative leadership between health psychology and public health to develop capacity in interdisciplinary research and service delivery in chronic disease prevention, focusing on preventing and managing common chronic diseases which have a major impact in people’s lives.’ According to Professor Patricia Kearney, Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, UCC and Director of ESPRIT Research Group, ‘This collaborative transdisciplinary approach will increase capacity in patient-focused research on chronic disease prevention in Ireland and enhance understanding among patients and health service providers.’ READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE For details on the awards and on how to apply, please see the SPHeRE website HERE

Press Release The NUI Galway Health Behaviour Change Research Group (HBCRG) is delighted to introduce Dr Lisa Hynes as the new HBCRG Training Officer. In this new role, Lisa will lead on developing the training portfolio of the HBCRG and delivery of a range of workshops on Health Behaviour Change. The HBCRG is a nationally and internationally recognised leader in behavioural science and evidence-based behaviour change. Behaviour change is central to promoting better population health in Ireland, as it is internationally. The current priorities of the Health Services Executive and Department of Health, such as the Healthy Ireland Framework and the Making Every Contact Count initiative, have behaviour change at their core. The current national health focus is on preventing the development of long-term chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As a result, the HBCRG has experienced a sustained demand for introductory and intensive workshops in developing programmes or interventions to address complex health problems. According to the HBCRG founder and Director, Professor Molly Byrne, ‘Dr Lisa Hynes is a qualified Health Psychologist with extensive experience as a Health Behaviour Change trainer and senior researcher. We are delighted that she has taken up this important leadership role within the HBCRG. There is enormous interest in health behaviour change, as it is recognised to be a core skill and task for many health promoting organisations and services. Lisa brings her rich experience to the HBCRG at this time, to develop existing training and expand our training capacity to increase the reach and impact of the HBCRG’. The HBCRG, has delivered training to over 1,500 people in the last 5 years. Our training participants have been from diverse backgrounds, including a range of national organisations, health service providers, researchers, students, policy makers and staff from the charity sector. Our training has been well received by diverse audiences, as one participant said following training: “Very interesting and engaging workshop. It was a nice balance of listening and doing tasks. The tasks were comprehensive, clear and relevant. I really enjoyed the whole day." By investing in the Group’s capacity with the introduction of a Training Officer, the HBCRG is now in a position to expand the portfolio of training and partner with organisations to develop bespoke training packages to meet their behaviour change needs. In addition, the HBCRG will seek to develop long-term relationships that support the implementation and evaluation of behaviour change initiatives The HBCRG invites interested individuals to contact Lisa (Email: lisa.hynes@nuigalway.ie) to discuss training priorities and make suggestions for future workshops. Follow updates on Twitter: @LisaHynes19 @HBCRG and on the HBCRG website: https://www.nuigalway.ie/hbcrg/. To join the HBCRG mailing list, please email Valerie Parker, Valerie.parker@nuigalway.ie.

A new Health Research Board funded research project will provide evidence that will help to guide and shape the roll out of the Health Service Executive's Make Every Contact Count programme. Prof Molly Byrne (Principal Investigator) and Dr Oonagh Meade (Lead Researcher) of the HBCRG will work with the Making Every Contact Count programme team on this 2-year project, supported by the HRB's Applied Partnership award. Read the full press release HERE.

Ireland’s first ever Open Science Week took place in NUI Galway in April 2019. A campus-wide initiative, this event brought together researchers, academics, educators, policymakers and members of the public to highlight and showcase what open science is and how it can be achieved, and to work together towards creating knowledge that is open and accessible to everyone. Open Science is a global movement towards research and educational practices that are collaborative and transparent, relevant across all disciplines including the sciences and the humanities. The aim of open science is to make research and educational resources and outputs publicly available as early as possible, as well as actively encouraging co-creation of knowledge and participation in the research process by the general public. Launched on Monday by the VP for Research Prof Lokesh Joshi, approximately 400 people took part in seven different events across five days targeting different aspects of Open Science. These included a Wikipedia Editathon on Women In Science (organised by Dr Sharon Flynn, CELT and Dr Jessamyn Fairfield, Physics), a screening of the movie Paywall (hosted by Peter Corrigan and the Hardiman Library), a two-day workshop on open science in health research (organised by Dr Elaine Toomey, Health Behaviour Change Research Group) and the 10th Annual Open Educational Resources Conference 2019 (organised by Dr Catherine Cronin, National Teaching and Learning Forum). The event had a social media reach of 55,878 on Twitter with 1,371 likes and 1,858 interactions and was covered in the national online media and local radio. Building on the success of its inaugural year, it’s intended that the event will be even bigger and better next year!

Lecture by Prof Molly Byrne Prof Molly Byrne delivered the New Professors' Inaugural Lecture on 8th November in the Hardiman Research Building. Her excellent talk was entitled It's behaviour, stupid! A decade of lessons in Health Behaviour Change Research. A very engaged audience was present including colleagues from the Helath Behaviour Change Research Group, School of Psychology, College of Arts and across the University. The lecture was live streamed on the night, and is now availabe online HERE.

HBCRG Goes Global in 2018! Members of the HBCRG travelled far and wide in 2018! Some highlights include Prof Molly Byrne and Drs Jenny Mc Sharry, Oonagh Meade, Chris Noone and Elaine Toomey visiting Canada in May to attend the International Behavioural Trials Network (IBTN) Summer School and Conference. Elaine also visited Western University to explore the Canadian ‘Hockey Fit’ intervention, and also visited the Centre for Implementation Research in the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, with support from the Irish Canadian University Foundation James M Flaherty Early Career Researcher Award.  PhD scholars Marita Hennessy and Caragh Flannery travelled to Hong Kong in June to attend the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) conference; while in July, Dr Jenny Mc Sharry and PhD scholar Milou Fredrix headed to Lyon, France as part of their IRC Ulysses award. Drs Chris Noone and Eimear Morrissey, and PhD scholar Marita Hennessy travelled to Chile in Novmber to attend the International Congress of Behavioural Medicine 2018. 

INTeRACT for Health: Integrated Knowledge Translation for Impact The H‌BCRG hosted a series of workshops in 2018 to provide training in integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) to members of the Health Behaviour Change Research Group, our partners within Strategic Planning and Transformation in the HSE (formerly the Health and Well-being division), and other interested stakeholders. Workshops in June focussed on building capacity, and a follow up workshop in November looked specifically at applying for the HRB Applied Partnership Award.  Prof Maureen Dobbins from McMaster University in Canada facilitated the workshops in June, and worked with the HBCRG to develop an online resource for iKT. 

HBCRG at EHPS 2018 Members of the HBCRG had a very busy time at this year's EHPS conference, hosted on home ground at NUI Galway in August. Several member of the HBCRG presented at the conference (details here), including Prof Molly Byrne delivered the opening Keynote Address on the topic of Increasing the impact of behaviour change intervention research: Is there a role for patient and public involvement? Congratulations to Dr Gerry Molloy who did a fantastic job as local committee chair, and all those involved on hosting an excellent event!

EHPS at NUI Galway! The School of Psychology hosted the 32nd European Health Psychology Conference at NUI Galway in August 2018. Over 750 delegates from all over the world attended this fantastic event, which focussed on the theme of Health Psychology Across the Lifespan: Uniting Research, Practice and Policy. Several member of the HBCRG presented at the conference (details here), including our own Prof Molly Byrne, who delivered an excellent keynote address on the very relevant topic of stakeholder involvement in health research.

Bon Jour France! Researchers win IRC Ulysses award

Blathin Casey repersents Ireland at Canada conference

Most Cited Paper for Dr Oonagh Meade Grundy, A. C., Bee, P., Meade, O., Callaghan, P., Beatty, S., Olleveant, N., & Lovell, K. (2016). Bringing meaning to user involvement in mental health care planning: a qualitative exploration of service user perspectives. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 23(1), 12-21.

Dr Elaine Toomey and Dr David Mothersill from the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, have both received prestigious awards for their specific areas of research from the Irish Canadian University Foundation and the Royal Irish Academy. Elaine received the ‘Irish Canadian University Foundation James M Flaherty Early Career Researcher Award’ to conduct further research on the adaptation of ‘Football Fans in Training’ (FFIT), an effective health behaviour change intervention that used Scottish professional football clubs to engage with overweight and obese men. The ‘Hockey Fit’ intervention was recently developed by Dr Rob Petrella and Dr Dawn Gill in Western University, Ontario to adapt the FFIT project to ice-hockey, within a Canadian context. Elaine's award will enable her to visit Western University and explore the Canadian ‘Hockey Fit’ intervention with a specific focus on how FFIT components were adapted to suit a different sporting and cultural context, and inform how this might be used in an Irish context. Elaine will also spend time in the Centre for Implementation Research in the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute to maximise how knowledge from her visit to Western University can be used to inform adaptation and translation into an Irish setting, using a structured and theory-based approach. Well done Elaine, have a great trip! Read the FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Dr Elaine Toomey delivers keynote address at 'Ones to Watch' conference

 Well done to HRB TMRN Summer Scholar Daragh McGee and supervisor Dr Elaine Toomey on Daragh's first place poster prize at the annual HRB TMRN Symposium 2017. Elaine and Daragh received the Trials Methodology Research Network Summer Student Scholarship grant (€2,000) for the project ‘Surveying knowledge, current practice and attitudes toward intervention fidelity practices within randomised trials in healthcare’.

The HBCRG was well represented at EHPS 2017, with members of the Group presenting oral and poster presentations, as well are organising and participating in several symposiums. Drs Jenny Mc Sharry and Elaine Toomey hosted a successful symposium on 'Maximising the value of qualitative methods in the development and evaluation of behaviour change interventions', which highlighted the value of qualitative methods at all stages of intervention development, and promoted awareness of supports for qualitative intervention research. Read more on the QUESTS website. SPHeRE PhD scholar Caragh Flannery persented her PhD work at the 'Developing and evaluating interventions to promote physical activity issues in special settings and populations' symposium, and Milou Fredrix, PhD scholar presented on 'Implementation of goal-setting techniques in DAFNE'. Milou was also voted as the incoming Secretary for EHPS CREATE: Collaborative REsearch and Training. Congratulations Milou! And we are very much looking forward to EHPS 2018 at NUI Galway!