Ella Anderson and Jack Gaffey, UCFRC Youth as Researchers, with actor Cillian Murphy and UNESCO Chair Professor Pat Dolan, Child and Family Research Centre NUI Galway. Photo credit: Jason Clarke.
Actor Cillian Murphy and NUI Galway launch empathy education initiative Activating Social Empathy is a new initiative to introduce Empathy Education for secondary school students in Ireland. Researchers in the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre (UCFRC) at NUI Galway, looked at the role of empathy in the development of social understanding and its potential to enable young people to foster better social responsibility, civic behaviour, and critically, action. They identified a need for focus on the promotion of empathy related skills and social values in Irish secondary schools. In response, researchers have developed an interactive, social and emotional learning programme to teach empathy skills and foster positive peer relations among secondary students. Cillian Murphy, actor and Centre Patron, said: “In supporting this education programme, my hope is that it will help young people see that everyone has a different story and everyone’s story is valuable.”
How psychological services and obesity treatment should go hand in hand A study led by NUI Galway, has found that on average, patients with severe and complicated obesity who were attending a weight management programme were more enthusiastic about participating in a programme to help improve their lifestyle than they were about having surgery, if the methods of treatment had equivalent results and costs. Lifestyle modification and drug therapies were the preferred treatment of choice over surgical intervention; however, patients undergoing treatment felt that psychological services should be part of a multifaceted approach to their recovery. The study has provided vital information at a time when Ireland is dealing with some of the highest rates of obesity in Europe, with one in four adults now classed as obese and one in four children overweight. To view the full findings, visit https://bit.ly/3988kG4 .
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