Wellbeing-responsive community: a growth target for intentional mental health promotion.

With mental illness remaining a significant burden of disease, there is an ongoing need for community-based health promotion, prevention, and responses (or "mental health promotion activities"). The health promotion, community development, and positive psychology literature identifies significant heterogeneity in the design and delivery of these activities. This variability spans: (1) individual vs. group outcomes, (2) psychological vs. sociological determinants of change, (3) promoting wellbeing vs. reducing mental health symptoms, and (4) the degree activities are contextualized vs. standardized in design and delivery. Mental health promotion activities do not easily accomplish this level of complexity within design and implementation. This has led to the emergence of the complexity-informed health promotion literature and the need for innovative tools, methods, and theories to drive this endeavor. This article directly responds to this call. It introduces "wellbeing-responsive community": a vision and outcome hierarchy (or growth target) for intentionally delivered mental health promotion. The construct enables the design and implementation of interventions that intentionally respond to complexity and contextualization through the drivers of co-creation, intentionality, and local empowerment. It represents a community (support team, programme, agency, network, school, or region) that has the shared language, knowledge, methods, and skills to work together in shared intent. In other words, to integrate best-practice science with their local knowledge systems and existing strengths, and intentionally co-create and deliver contextualized wellbeing solutions at both the individual and community levels that span the "system" (e.g., whole-of-community) to the "moment" (e.g., intentional support and care). Co-creation, as applied through a transdisciplinary lens, is emerging as an evidence-based method to respond to complexity. This article describes the rationale and evidence underpinning the conceptualization of a wellbeing-responsive community through the integration of three key disciplines: (1) positive psychology, (2) ecological or systems approaches, and (3) intentional practice (implementation science). A definitional, contextual, and applied overview of the wellbeing-responsive community is provided, including a hierarchy of outcomes and associated definitions. Its purported application across education, mental health, community service, and organizational settings is discussed, including its potential role in making complexity-informed health promotion practical for all knowledge users.

Epidemiology of COVID-19 and public health restrictions during the first wave of the pandemic in Ireland in 2020.

BACKGROUND: We describe the epidemiological trends and report and review the public health restrictions implemented during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. METHODS: The study reviewed confirmed cases of COVID-19 notified from 1 March to 18 July 2020. Data were obtained from the national COVID-19 Data Hub, the National Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the National Contact Management Programme and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. RESULTS: A total of 25 617 cases were notified during the study period. Weekly cases and deaths peaked in mid-April 2020 at 5701 and 316, respectively. Mean number of close contacts per case was lowest at 0.7 in April, rising to 6.6 by July. Outbreak settings shifted from travel and workplace in March, to healthcare in April. Restrictions implemented on 12 March extended to full lockdown on 27 March. Phased relaxation of restrictions commenced 18 May. Effective suppression of community transmission of COVID-19 was achieved by June 2020. CONCLUSION: Lockdown is a crude population-level restriction effective in controlling COVID-19. Phased relaxation of restrictions in Ireland, however, led to an immediate increase in mean number of contacts per case, which facilitates viral transmission unless individual-level restrictions are adhered to. This demonstrates a limitation of lockdown as a long-term mechanism of pandemic control.

The within-participant correlation between perception of effort and heart rate-based estimations of training load in elite soccer players.

The measurement of relative physiological stress during training is important because this is the stimulus for the long-term adaptive response. Measurements of perceived exertion (RPE) have been reported to correlate with the heart rate during field-based training sessions. Nevertheless, there are few studies on how well RPE tracks with the heart rate over repeated training sessions in elite soccer players. Therefore, we aimed to quantify the within-participant correlations between variability in session-RPE (sRPE) and the heart rate in elite male soccer players, and to determine whether the playing position moderated these correlations. The field-based training of four central defenders, four wide defenders, six central midfielders, two wide midfielders and three attackers from an elite English Premier League squad were monitored over an entire in-season competitive period, giving a total of 1010 individual training sessions for study. Correlations between session-RPE and heart rates were quantified using a within-participant model. The correlation between changes in sRPE and heart rates was r = 0.75 (95% CI: 0.71-0.78). This correlation remained high across the various player positions (wide-defender, r = 0.81; central-defender, r = 0.74; wide midfielder, r = 0.70; central midfielder, r = 0.70; attacker, r = 0.84; P < 0.001). The correlation between changes in RPE and heart rates, measured during a season-long period of field-based training, is high in a sample of elite soccer players.

Service priorities and unmet service needs among people living with HIV/AIDS: results from a nationwide interview of HIV/AIDS housing organizations.

Housing for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has been linked to a number of positive physical and mental health outcomes, in addition to decreased sexual and drug-related risk behavior. The current study identified service priorities for PLWHA, services provided by HIV/AIDS housing agencies, and unmet service needs for PLWHA through a nationwide telephone survey of HIV/AIDS housing agencies in the USA. Housing, alcohol/drug treatment, and mental health services were identified as the three highest priorities for PLWHA and assistance finding employment, dental care, vocational assistance, and mental health services were the top needs not being met. Differences by geographical region were also examined. Findings indicate that while housing affords PLWHA access to services, there are still areas (e.g., mental health services) where gaps in linkages to care exist.

The development of a soccer-specific training drill for elite-level players.

The use of sports-specific technical practices as a physical training stimulus has increased in recent years in soccer. Such approaches, although effective, can produce different levels of physiological strain in the individual players within the session, thereby limiting the usefulness of the training session for all players. The aim of this study was to develop a high-intensity soccer-specific training (SST) drill that was not only based on the demands of match-play but also would reduce the variability in the physiological response to training compared with other specific drills. To evaluate this approach to training, the SST drill was compared with a "traditional" aerobic interval training (AIT) protocol and a small-sided games (SSG) drill. Each training protocol was carried out across 4 × 4-minute exercise bouts, interspersed by 4 × 3 minutes of active recovery. Mean ± SD heart rates (HRs) for the 4-minute exercise bouts during SST (175 ± 5 b·min) and AIT (174 ± 6 b·min) were significantly higher than that observed during the SSG protocol (170 ± 6 b·min; p < 0.05). Heart rate during the SST drill showed less interparticipant variability (mean ± SD HR ranged from 169 ± 6 to 180 ± 5 b·min) when compared with those during AIT (157 ± 8 to 186 ± 8 b·min) and SSG (143 ± 10 to 179 ± 78 b·min) training conditions. Ratings of perceived exertion (SST, 6 ± 2; AIT, 7 ± 1; SSG, 5 ± 1) across the entire exercise period were similar between the 3 training conditions (p > 0.05). These results indicate that the SST stimulates a more uniform physiological response than other currently adopted specific endurance training protocols used in soccer. This would suggest that it provides a valid alternative to the current approaches used for the aerobic training of players.

The effect of pitch dimensions on heart rate responses and technical demands of small-sided soccer games in elite players.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of changes in pitch size on heart rate responses and technical requirements of small-sided soccer games. Eight male soccer players participated in the study (mean+/-S.D.; age 18+/-1 years, height 1.80+/-0.1 m, weight 73.3+/-6.2 kg, estimated VO2peak 50.0+/-3.2 ml kg(-1) min(-1)). All players participated in small-sided games on three different pitch sizes (SSG1, 30 m x 20 m; SSG2, 40 m x 30 m; SSG3, 50 m x 40 m). Games consisted of 4 x 4 min of game play, interspersed by 2 min of active recovery. Heart rate measurements were made using a team-based monitoring system. Each game was also filmed to evaluate the technical actions. These tapes were analysed using a hand notation system. Mean+/-S.D. heart rates for the three games were not significantly different between conditions (SSG1, 175+/-9; SSG2, 173+/-11; SSG3, 169+/-6). The technical actions that changed as a result of changes in pitch size were the number of tackles (SSG1, 45+/-10; SSG2, 15+/-4; P<0.05) and shots (SSG1, 85+/-15; SSG 2, 60+/-18; SSG3, 44+/-9; P<0.05). Comparisons between the four 4 min intervals of game play indicated significant differences for both heart rate responses and the technical demands. These results demonstrate that changes in pitch size do not alter heart rate or the majority of technical requirements observed within small-sided games.