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Background: Parents of children with intellectual or developmental disabilities have unique challenges in navigating the developmental period of adolescence. The present study explored the experiences of parents connected with disability services throughout the island of Ireland of parenting their child during adolescence. Method: Five focus groups were conducted with twenty-five parents of adolescents and young adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Parents were asked open-ended questions about their experiences of raising their adolescent child. Transcripts of the focus groups were coded using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: On the journey from childhood to adolescence parents have to manage a number of different stressors with and for their child. These occur at societal, service provision, familial, and personal levels, with each stressor interacting with others to create vicious circles of struggle. Conclusions: Parents' struggles are multi-fold, and are not discreet entities that can be separated. The struggle is dynamic and continuous.

With the increasing strategic importance of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) in higher education, this paper offers an innovative approach to advancing discussions and practice around MOOC learning design, in the context of staff development. The study provides a deeper understanding of staff (academic and learning technologists') experience when designing MOOCs, through the evaluation of a novel MOOC design mapping framework (MDMF) at one higher education institution. The MDMF was developed to enhance the MOOC design process for staff involved, providing dedicated, tailored support in this area. This study considers and contributes to the literature on learning design, differences between face-to-face and online learning and the role played by academic staff and learning technologists in the design of MOOCs. The study is based on rich qualitative data drawn from 12 semi-structured interviews with nine academics and three learning technologists who used the framework for constructing MOOCs. This study evaluates: (1) how the framework was used and supported; (2) benefits of the framework to support good practice in learning design and the design process; and (3) limitations of the framework. We also considered suggested enhancements to the framework. The study highlighted new areas that could influence the design process, such as the importance of the learning technologist as a facilitator of the MDMF, the benefits of the visual aspects of the framework, technological challenges, and users' level of digital literacy.

This oral history research explores the experience of ten retired elite Australian football players during their careers in the period from 1970 to 1995. The ex-players were interviewed about their careers by sports journalist, Mike Sheahan, in the long-running Australia Fox Sports Open Mike television series. The particular focus of this historical research is ex-players' experience of on-field violence. Findings indicated that ex-players were willing to break the Australian football rules and engage in on-field violence either as intimidation or retaliation against opponents. When ex-players did engage in violent intimidatory behavior, they were cool and callous, and anger rarely played a role. Violent retaliation to opposition player transgressions was either immediate or delayed until a future opportunity presented itself. For one Indigenous ex-player, violent responses during games were often sparked by opponents' verbal racial abuse. In retrospect, he considered this a form of intimidation aimed at putting him off his game that was just part of Australian football at the time. Some ex-players did feel remorse about their violent acts, but others were adamant that they had no regrets about their behavior. Violence was almost expected as an everyday aspect of their football experience and was accepted as an occupational hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the motivational and emotional experience of an experienced outdoor activity participant during a three-day guided adventure trek in Colca Canyon, Peru. The research adopted a qualitative autoethnographic approach which provided unique data in the form of diary entries, experiential diagrams, field notes and email content. An established theoretical model (reversal theory) was used to analyse dynamic psychological states and emotions that occurred in relation to changing circumstances during the trek. Overall, the data indicated increased positive motivational experience over the course of the adventure trek. Achieving trekking goals, experiencing scenery, views and the natural environment, and social interaction with other trekkers, guides and local people were key aspects found to positively influence the subjective outdoor leisure experience. The present autoethnographic study provided an in-depth prospective account of the participant's increasingly pleasant positive experience as the trek advanced.