Joan Hanafin

• PhD
• Director of Social Research at Technological University Dublin

Among 15–24 year olds in Ireland, completed suicide was responsible for 4.1 times more male deaths than female deaths in 2014 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017). Few international research studies have investigated the relationship between masculinity [as assessed by a measure of gender role conflict (GRC)] and suicide ideation, and none have...

Background Tobacco use is closely linked to social and health inequalities, including economic vulnerability, morbidity, and premature death. Young adults with disabilities experience significant social and material hardships, which may be exacerbated by tobacco use. Limited research exists on smoking and e-cigarette use in this population. This st...

Background: Ireland’s Smoking Ban reduced health inequalities known to be associated with smoking but some groups may not have benefitted. Mental ill-health and smoking are known to be associated with health inequalities. Whether similar patterns exist for e-cigarette use is less clear, as few data exist. Objectives: To examine: (1) self-reported d...

Background: Tobacco use is strongly associated with social and health inequalities, being linked with economic vulnerability, morbidity and premature death. Young adults with disabilities face pervasive social and material hardship, inequalities that are potentially exacerbated by tobacco use. Relatively little is known about smoking and even less...

We analyse parental smoking and cessation (quitting) associations with teenager e-cigarette, alcohol, tobacco smoking and other drug use, and explore parental smoking as a mechanism for social reproduction. We use data from Waves 1–3 of Growing Up in Ireland (Cohort ’98). Our analytic sample consisted of n = 6,039 participants reporting in all 3 Wa...

This report presents evidence on gambling activities of children aged 16 years in Ireland. The evidence was developed to inform the development of regulation, policy, programmes and services seeking to protect children from gambling harms. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) classifies gambling and gaming disorders as addictive b...

Smokefree laws are intended to protect against second-hand smoke (SHS) in outdoor areas. We examined if exposure to PM2.5 particles in outdoor smoking areas changed breathing rates in 60 patients with asthma (n = 30) or with COPD (n = 30), in an open, non-randomised, interventional study model in Czechia, Ireland and Spain. The patients wore a PM2....

ABSTRACT The concept ‘cultural flashpoint’ (CF) has not been fully defined or described. The authors test this concept through the prism of a controversial gender-focused Irish school programme, Exploring Masculinities (EM). Adopting an instrumental case study methodology, they use media content analysis to develop a temporal trajectory of the CF,...

Objective To measure, exposure to PM2.5 particles in outdoor smoking areas and changes in breathing rates in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Setting Sixty venues in Czechia, Ireland and Spain, in an open, non-randomised, clinical trial. Participants We studied 60 patients-30 asthma patients (Female 63.3%), with...

Background School staff members’ consistent enforcement of school tobacco policies (STPs) is needed to decrease adolescent smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke. Staff’s confidence, indicating their perceived ability to cope with students’ negative responses, explains variations in staff’s STPs enforcement, yet understanding of the determinants for...

2022 ENSP-ECTC International Conference on Tobacco Control Crete, Greece | 6 – 8 July 2022 Title: Teenagers’ perceptions of risk from cigarettes and e-cigarettes Authors: Joan Hanafin, Salome Sunday, Luke Clancy Background Perception of risk deters teenage smoking but less is known about e-cigarettes and risk perception. Objectives To examine the d...

INTRODUCTION E-cigarette ever use has risen significantly in recent years in Ireland, similar to trends elsewhere in Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific region.Results from ESPAD Ireland (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs) show teenage e-cigarette ever use increased from 18% (2015) to37% (2019). Given this increase,...

No government policy on homework exists in Ireland, despite being a topical issue. This paper focuses on homework from the perspectives of parents, teachers, and children. It provides a synthesis of recent international research about homework and suggests proposals for Irish educational policy makers. From a systematic literature review of scholar...

Background E-cigarette ever-use and current-use among teenagers has increased worldwide, including in Ireland. Methods We use data from two Irish waves (2015, 2019) of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) to investigate gender and teenage e-cigarette use (n = 3421 16-year-olds). Using chi-square analyses, we report...

Significance E-cigarette use is higher for adolescent males, current smokers, those who are polysubstance users, and whose friends are. Introduction Electronic cigarette use among Irish teenagers has risen significantly. In 2019, prevalence of current use (last 30 days) among 15-17-year-olds was 17.3%. Use of e-cigarettes among young people who ha...

Smoking prevalence decreased in Irish teenagers in all ESPAD survey waves from 1995 until 2015. However, in ESPAD 2019, current teen smoking and e-cigarette use increased, threatening Ireland's 5% prevalence tobacco endgame strategy. https://bit.ly/3yXVAyN.

Aim Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among Irish teenagers has risen significantly. In 2019, prevalence of current use (last 30 days) among 15–17-year-olds was 17.3%. We examine social determinants of adolescent e-cigarette current use. Subject and methods A stratified random sample of 50 schools in Ireland was surveyed in 2019, part of the...

E-cigarette ever-use and current-use among teenagers has been increasing worldwide, including in Ireland. Boys are widely observed to have increased prevalence compared with girls. We use data from two waves of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) in Ireland and focus on gender and teenage e-cigarette use. We examin...

Aim: Electronic cigarette use among Irish teenagers has risen significantly. In 2019, prevalence of current use (last 30 days) among 15-17-year olds was 17.3%. We examine social determinants of adolescent e-cigarette current use. Subject and Methods: A stratified random sample of 50 schools in Ireland was surveyed in 2019, part of the European Scho...

Significance Adolescent smoking has decreased in Europe in recent decades, although not homogenously. We compare trends in current (last 30-day use) smoking among adolescents in Ireland and Europe from 1995 to 2019. Methods ESPAD (European Schools Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) is a cross-sectional survey carried out every four years between...

E-cigarette prevalence, motivations for use, and relationship with tobacco – the changing situation in Ireland Authors: J Hanafin, S Sunday, S Keogan, L Clancy Significance Adolescent e-cigarette use is increasing worldwide amid concerns about: identified and as yet unknown harms; nicotine addiction; being a “gateway” drug; and renormalisation of...

Introduction: Smoking remains a notable issue for young people. The health effects of long-term use are well known and very serious, causing 8 million deaths worldwide annually from Cancer, Heart attacks, COPD and many other diseases In Ireland there is a national determination to become tobacco free by 2025 by which is meant a prevalence of smokin...

Introduction: E-cigarette use has increased rapidly worldwide since 2013 and there have been worryingincreases in the use of e-cigarettes by adolescents and young people. In Ireland, smoking prevalence hasdeclined significantly in recent decades but the availability of e-cigarettes in Ireland in recent years has led toconcerns about the Tobacco End...

We examine trends in 30-day smoking among adolescents in Ireland and Europe, 1995-2020. Ireland has participated in seven data collection waves of ESPAD (European Schools Project for Alcohol and Other Drugs) between 1995 and 2019, during which time more than 500,000 students have completed questionnaires on substance use, including cigarettes. In...

E-cigarette use is increasing worldwide. Concerns about adolescent use include harms (known and unknown), nicotine addiction, and as a “gateway” drug. Secondary analysis was carried out on five Irish health datasets, with questions on adolescent e-cigarette, all stratified random samples in school-based settings: ECIGS-TFRI 2014 (N=817), ESPAD-TFR...

Background Smoking prevalence in Ireland is falling in all age groups, but e-cigarette use is rising among young people. This qualitative study explores young people’s accounts of e-cigarette use in Ireland. Methods Semi-structured individual (22) and focus group (8) interviews were conducted with 62 young people aged 18–22 years, recruited from a...

E-cigarettes and Novel Tobacco Products: what do we know so far?

Ireland has participated in seven data collection waves of ESPAD (European Schools Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) between 1995 and 2019. In 2019, some 100,000 students in 35 European countries participated in ESPAD. In Ireland, 1,949 students, born in 2003, were surveyed from a stratified random sample of 50 Irish schools. We compared preval...

Worrying changes in adolescent e-cigarette use 2014-2019: A secondary analysis of five Irish health datasets Authors: J Hanafin, S Sunday, S Keogan, L Clancy Address: TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland (TFRI), TU Dublin, Dublin 8 E-cigarette use is increasing worldwide and e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among adolescen...

ABSTRACT Background: Schools have been key settings for health education for over a century1. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Europe and smoking typically begins during adolescence. Therefore, the school setting is frequently used to provide tobacco-related health education, to educate about risks and to implement tobacco p...

Background Smoking prevalence in Ireland is falling in all age groups, but e-cigarette use is rising among young people. This qualitative study explores young people’s accounts of e-cigarette use in Ireland. Methods Semi-structured individual (22) and focus group (8) interviews were conducted with 62 young people aged 18–22 years, recruited from a...

Homework is a pervasive pedagogical practice worldwide, and somewhat neglected as a research topic. This study aims to provide a comprehensive account of teachers' homework practices, an aspect of teachers' work about which relatively little is known. We seek to explore what constitutes teachers' homework practices, illuminate their complexity, and...

Research on homework, particularly using qualitative approaches, is neglected in sociological literature. This qualitative study uses a Bourdieusian interpretive lens to explore parental homework practices in a middle-class, urban setting in Ireland. In-depth semi-structured interviews were held with six parents and six teachers of pupils aged 10–1...

This paper presents findings about teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of homework in a middle-class, primary school setting in Ireland, from a qualitative study that aimed to provide an insight into the neglected area of homework from the perspectives of two of the main stakeholders in the process. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted...

This paper explores Traveller parents’ involvement in Traveller preschools in Ireland. Travellers are a distinct cultural group who have experienced educational disadvantage. Against a backdrop of changing policy paradigms, Traveller preschools were established in the 1970s as a compensatory educational intervention. The methodology was mainly qual...

The decrease in smoking during pregnancy is a positive development for public health policy in Ireland but further efforts are needed, especially among disadvantaged populations, if smoking-related risk to pregnant mothers, their infants and children is to be further reduced.

Changing policy discourses and enrolment patterns of minority disadvantaged groups have led increasingly to educational leaders being charged with inclusion, called the major challenge facing educational systems worldwide. This largely qualitative study of Irish Traveller parents and Traveller preschools in Ireland explores inclusion, defined here...

A target date of 2025 has been set for Ireland to become tobacco free, i.e., less than 5% of the population smoking (Department of Health, 2013). This target requires reducing prevalence of adult and child smoking, and preventing children from starting to smoke. A key recommendation of Tobacco Free Ireland is “to further develop the tobacco free pl...

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of Irish Traveller parents’ experiences of their own schooling, and their views on education. An indigenous minority ethnic group, Irish Travellers, historically and contemporaneously, have experienced disadvantage and exclusion in many domains, including education, health, housing, and employme...

Background: Smoking prevalence in Ireland is falling in all age groups, but the prevalence of roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco use is rising among young people. This qualitative study aims to explore and understand the factors associated with young people's use of RYO products. Methods: Semi-structured individual and focus group interviews were condu...

Background The current smoking prevalence rate in Ireland is 18.6% (HSE, 2016). Ireland aims to be tobacco free by 2025 (prevalence rate of less than 5%). Previously the TFRI found high prevalence rates of RYO use among young smokers (16-17 years) with this group being more likely to exclusively smoke RYO (32%) compared to factory manufactured (FM)...

Travellers are a distinct cultural group in Ireland and account for less than 1 per cent of the population. They have experienced disadvantage in relation to health, housing, employment and education. In this chapter, a range of Irish State documents are analysed in order to provide an account of the evolution of official views and policies concern...

Tobacco has been in use for over 10,000 years and worldwide for over 500 years, but its use was limited by the intensity of time and labour involved in producing, preparing and using it. From the late 1800s, developments in mechanisation, transport and technology led to greater ease of production and use. Marketing, advertising and promotion by tob...

This paper presents findings from an action research project that investigated the application of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory in classrooms and schools. It shows how MI theory was used in the project as a basis for suggestions to generate classroom practices; how participating teachers evaluated the project; and how teachers responded to the...

Privacy has been defined as “the protective buffer within which people can avoid another party’s taking something from them, keeping watch over them, or entering into their lives in a way that is both unwelcome and undesirable”. It is a premise of this paper that such a position needs to be taken very seriously in contemporary society, and particul...

Within a European context, facilitating the increased participation of marginalized groups within society has become a cornerstone of social policy. In higher education in Ireland this has generally involved the targeting for support of individuals representing groups traditionally excluded on the grounds of socio-economic status. More recently, pe...

In this article, we consider the contribution of special education approaches to MI (multiple intelligences) schooling. We argue that mainstream education is constructed on a flawed notion of intelligence and consequently disables many learners, perhaps even the majority of them. In this context, we suggest that approaches common in special educati...

This paper presents the views of working-class parents on home-school links. Group interviews with parents of pupils in a primary school in the disadvantaged areas scheme in the Republic of Ireland suggest that parental involvement in school is limited to the giving and receiving of information, restricted consultation, and engagement in some suppl...