By Kate Heaney
A survey launched this week by the University of Ulster is calling on people in Donegal and beyond to share their journey of despair, money worries, as well as resilience, as a result of their homes and businesses having defective building materials.
The survey is specifically designed to assess the mental health and familial impact of the defective building materials crisis and requires the thousands of people affected, to take part to ensure it gives a broad, vivid picture.
All home and business owners are encouraged to take part.
The extensive survey, with peer reviewed questions, seeks to portray the full gambit of emotions and experiences of those whose homes and businesses have been damaged and what aspects/elements added to their resilience through the journey so far.
Dr Karen Kirby, Senior Lecturer of Psychology at Ulster University who is the Chief Investigator for the survey.
Dr Karen Kirby, Senior Lecturer of Psychology at Ulster University who is the Chief Investigator and a Donegal resident, attended Monday night’s meeting in Burt to encourage everyone to take part in the survey.
Subject to a large cohort of home and business owners completing the survey, it will then be peer reviewed and published in a high impact scientific journal(s).
Speaking to the Donegal News yesterday Dr Kirby explained that while the crisis here has been compared to other natural disasters, it was not as bad, but still people are being displaced.
“There is a lot of despair, money worries and parents concerned for their children,” she said. “The survey will look at the anxiety, different moods, trauma, displacement and hopelessness felt but also at the social supports and resilience which helped.
“We would ask parents to speak to the survey on behalf of their children as it is only for those over 18.
“There is space in the survey where people can talk about their distress and what they believe made things worse – Government, Donegal County Council, barriers etc. – but also what helped them, their own experience. We don’t want to be inflaming people and there are links on the survey page for anyone feeling anxious.
“All we are here to do is be scientists and report the outcomes of this crisis,” Dr Kirby said.
The rationale for the survey came about back in November 2022 when Dr Kirby attended a conference here on defective building materials.
She had been asked to speak by Prof Paul Dunlop and Dr Eileen Doherty on the potential of what might be happening to people affected, from a psychological perspective. “I was approached by a lot of people at that conference and heard a lot,” she said.
“We then realised we needed to carry out a much more robust study and were granted funding.
“We have researchers from the Schools of Psychology, Geography and Environmental Sciences and the Ulster Business School along with PhD Researcher Oisin Keenan who will examine people’s different defective concrete-related journeys and the impact it has had and is having in their lives.”
The co-investigators are: Professor Paul Dunlop, PhD, Research Director in the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University: Dr Eileen Doherty, PhD, Lecturer in the Department of Management, Leadership, and Marketing, Business School, Ulster University: Professor Jamie Murphy, PhD, Professor in the School of Psychology, Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University and Dr Rachel McHugh, PhD, Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University.
Multiple people from the same household are asked to complete the survey. Dr Kirby added: “It is important to point out that this study is strictly confidential and participants can be assured that their data will not be shared with anyone outside of this research project.
“We hope to get thousands of participants to engage with this very important study so as we can analyse and quantify the true impact.
“We aim to publish the outcomes in an open access, peer reviewed, scientific journal(s) when complete, and we predict this may be from October 2024”.
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