Welcome to SPIRE, St Patrick’s Institutional Repository.
SPIRE is a digital space for research, academic and organisational information generated by staff across our services.
Established by Jonathan Swift in 1746, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS) is Ireland’s largest, independent, not-for-profit mental health service. In conjunction with our newly establish Academic Institute, SPIRE has been designed to store, catalogue, index, preserve, and share our academic outputs and aims to make published and unpublished work of our staff as widely available as possible. It includes the full text of journal articles, conference presentations, books and book chapters, technical reports, working papers, reviews and other scholarly contributions. Where material has already been published by external sources, it is made available subject to the open-access policies of the original publishers.
SPIRE aims to support and increase the impact of mental health research and ensure the voices of people who experience mental health difficulties, who participate in research, are heard and listened to. It is managed by the Academic Institute here in SPMHS.
You can learn more about our Academic Institute and our research activity here.
Recent Submissions
Item It's impacted on everything. It's impacted on my work, it's impacted on relationships, it's impacted on everything I have done” said a significant other: A qualitative exploration of the experience of significant others who provide support to individuals attending intervention for complex trauma(2025-06)Background The support of family and friends is known to be an influential factor in managing the impact of trauma. However, research examining the experience of providing this support and the potential impact this role may have on the relationship between supporters and the supported is limited. Objective This study aimed to qualitatively explore the experience of adult significant others as they support their adult loved ones before and during intervention for complex trauma. Method Eleven attendees of an established triphasic complex trauma intervention and nine nominated significant others completed semi-structured interviews post-intervention (N = 20). The 3 phases of the intervention were: (1) safety, stabilisation, and connection; (2) remembering and telling your story; and (3) looking forward, reclaiming your life, and reconnecting in relationships. CFT informed the group sessions across all 3 phases, with individual sessions of EMDR or Prolonged Exposure offered during phase 2. Significant others were not included in the intervention. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse data and develop themes summarising key experiences preceding, during and on the conclusion of treatment. Individual interviews were conducted and analysed separately. Four key themes were developed and mapped, capturing independent and overlapping experiences from the perspective of intervention attendees and their significant others: (1) support as multifaceted and integral, (2) the emotional impact and systemic strain of supporting, (3) intervention-associated shifts, and (4) the need for systemic support from services. Results The data indicated that significant others experience distress and exert considerable effort to support those managing trauma symptoms. The intervention was suggested to facilitate behavioural, emotional, and relational changes. Participants reported that a lack of available information for supporters unintentionally placed those attending intervention in an educator role. The inclusion of significant others in the intervention was proposed as a means of alleviating strain on both the individual and the support system. Conclusion Significant others who provide support to adults experiencing symptoms associated with complex trauma hold an important but challenging role that lacks support from services and is often underacknowledged. Greater but case-specific inclusion of supporters in intervention for complex trauma should be considered.Item From Idealist to Realist-Designing and Implementing Shared Decision-Making Interventions in the Choice of Antipsychotic Prescription in People Living With Psychosis (SHAPE): A Realist Review (Part 2-Designing SDM Interventions: Optimizing Design and Local Implementation).(2025-05-21)Shared decision-making (SDM) implementation remains limited in psychosis management, particularly within antipsychotic prescribing. When and why prescribers engage in SDM within these contexts is largely unknown. Part 2 of this 2-part realist review aimed to understand what SDM intervention strategies and local implementation contexts are responsible for successful prescriber engagement and why.Item From Idealist to Realist-Designing and Implementing Shared Decision-Making Interventions in the Choice of Antipsychotic Prescription in People Living with Psychosis (SHAPE): A Realist Review.(2025-05-21)Shared decision-making (SDM) implementation remains limited in psychosis management, particularly within antipsychotic prescribing. When and why prescribers engage in SDM within these contexts is largely unknown. Part 1 of this two-part realist review aimed to understand the impact of structural and contextual factors on prescriber engagement in SDM within antipsychotic prescribing.Item Predictors and Outcomes of Detention Under Psychiatric Holding Powers.(2025-05-21)This study aimed to characterize the use of emergency psychiatric holding powers in Ireland, investigate predictors of their initiation, and describe clinical outcomes among patients subject to holds.
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