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Objective: The objectives of this review are twofold- 1) to examine the extent, range, and nature of infertility research activity to-date in the Republic of Ireland, and; (2) make recommendations for future research in the area. Introduction: Infertility affects approximately 25 million citizens in the European Union and its prevalence is increasing year-on-year. Ireland is the only country in the European Union that offers no public access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART; e.g., IVF, IUI) and it also lacks ART legislation. As a result, the impact of infertility on persons in Ireland and the provision of ART-related care may differ from elsewhere. Accordingly, this scoping review will explore research conducted on infertility in the Republic of Ireland to-date. Inclusion criteria: This scoping review will consider research conducted with persons resident in the Republic of Ireland who are experiencing any form of infertility and/or accessing infertility-related care. Research that engages health professionals, or healthcare institutions, regarding their support or provision of treatment to persons experiencing infertility will be included. Studies which are laboratory-based only or involving animals will be excluded. Methods: The scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and reported in accordance with the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Electronic searches will be conducted across Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection. Grey literature searches will be undertaken. Study selection and data extraction will be completed in duplicate. Narrative synthesis will be used to summarise the data.

This document: (1) provides a comprehensive overview of human factors; (2) supports healthcare workers to identify the human factors issues in their workplace; (3) supports the identification of the human factors contributors to incidents; and (4) provides examples of human factors interventions that have been used in healthcare settings. non-peer-reviewed

Article Previous gestational diabetes (GDM) is associated with a significant lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes. We assessed the performance of HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) against 75g oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT) for follow-up screening of these women. peer-reviewed

Journal article The risks associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are well recognized, and there is increasing evidence to support treatment of the condition. However, clear guidance on the ideal approach to screening for GDM is lacking. Professional groups continue to debate whether selective screening (based on risk factors) or universal screening is the most appropriate approach. Additionally, there is ongoing debate about what levels of glucose abnormalities during pregnancy respond best to treatment and which maternal and neonatal outcomes benefit most from treatment. Furthermore, the implications of possible screening options on health care costs are not well established. In response to this uncertainty there have been repeated calls for well-designed, randomised trials to determine the efficacy of screening, diagnosis, and management plans for GDM. We describe a randomised controlled trial to investigate screening uptake rates and the clinical and cost effectiveness of screening in primary versus secondary care settings. HRB Ireland peer-reviewed

Journal article Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle intervention can prevent progression to type 2 diabetes in high risk populations. We designed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of an established lifestyle intervention compared to standard care for delaying diabetes onset in European women with recent GDM. Recruitment into the RCT was more challenging than anticipated with only 89 of 410 (22%) women agreeing to participate. This paper identifies factors that could enhance participation of the target population in future interventions.Methods: We hypothesised that women who agreed to participate would have higher diabetes risk profiles than those who declined, and secondly that it would be possible to predict participation on the bases of those risk factors. To test our hypothesis, we identified the subset of women for whom we had comprehensive data on diabetes risks factors 3-5 years following GDM, reducing the sample to 43 participants and 73 decliners. We considered established diabetes risk factors: smoking, daily fruit and vegetable intake, participation in exercise, family history of diabetes, glucose values and BMI scores on post-partum re-screens, use of insulin during pregnancy, and age at delivery. We also analysed narrative data from 156 decliners to further understand barriers to and facilitators of participation.Results: Two factors differentiated participants and decliners: age at delivery (with women older than 34 years being more likely to participate) and insulin use during pregnancy (with women requiring the use of insulin in pregnancy less likely to participate). Binary logistic regression confirmed that insulin use negatively affected the odds of participation. The most significant barriers to participation included the accessibility, affordability and practicality of the intervention.Conclusions: Women with recent GDM face multiple barriers to lifestyle change. Intervention designers should consider: (i) the practicalities of participation for this population, (ii) research designs that capitalise on motivational differences between participants, (iii) alleviating concerns about long-term diabetes management. We hope this work will support future researchers in developing interventions that are more relevant, effective and successful in recruiting the desired population. HRB Ireland peer-reviewed

Journal article Universal screening using the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria has identified a prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) of 12.4% in women living in Ireland. Women with prior GDM are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. A number of risk factors linked to the development of type 2 diabetes are potentially modifiable through lifestyle and behaviour changes, and medical management. No previous Irish studies have adequately investigated the efficacy of lifestyle intervention programmes in reducing these risk factors in women with prior GDM. Through a two-group, parallel randomised controlled trial (RCT), this study aims to assess the clinical impact, cost-effectiveness and psychological experience of the Croí MyAction intensive lifestyle modification programme for women with prior GDM. HRB Ireland (Health Research Board) peer-reviewed

This study used a prospective design to assess whether 12 items from the Command Safety Assessment Survey (CSAS) can be used to differentiate between U.S. Naval aviation squadrons who have had a mishap within a recent period of time, and those that have not. Logistic regression modeling was carried out using the survey responses of U.S. Naval aircrew (n = 23,442) and mishap data. The models that were used to attempt to predict severe and moderately severe mishaps together, performed better than the models that used subsets of the mishaps data. It was found that three of the CSAS items had some limited value in predicting mishap risk. Personnel in squadrons with a low probability of mishap more strongly agree with the need to monitor personnel and integrate safety and operations, than aircrew in squadrons with a higher probability of mishap. However, the aircrew in squadrons with a higher probability of mishap also more strongly agrees that persistent rule violators will jeopardize their career, compared to personnel in squadrons with a low probability of mishaps. This finding suggests that blame and punishment are not constructive in efforts to promote safety at work. This study would seem to support the premise that safety climate and safety performance are weakly related. It is recommended that researchers would be better advised to attempt to establish the discriminate validity of their questionnaire through self-reported safety attitudes and behaviors, rather than mishap data. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 55th Annual Meeting 2011. The purpose of this paper was to carry out a factor analysis of 23,968 responses by U.S Naval aviators to 12 items from the Command Safety Assessment Survey (CSAS), and identify whether there were differences in safety climate based upon rank or aviation community. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis techniques it was possible to establish a stable two factor solution. For factor one (personnel leadership) no significant effects of rank or aviation community were found. For factor two (availability of resources) although there was not a significant main effect of rank, there was a significant main effect of aviation community, and a significant interaction. These significant findings were attributed to the unique mission of training squadrons and the junior officers in them.