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Older people are vulnerable to fuel poverty on the island of Ireland. This paper seeks to explore the lived experiences of older people in cold weather with a view to informing fuel poverty policy and service responses.

A postal and online survey utilising an opportunistic sample of older people living in Ireland and linked with a range of services/community and voluntary groups was undertaken in January‐April 2011. Data on the experiences of 722 older people in the cold weather of winter 2010/2011 were analysed in the context of socio‐economic, health, and housing circumstances.

During the period of extreme cold weather half of the sample reported that they went without other household necessities due to the cost of home‐heating. In general, 62 per cent of those surveyed worried about the cost of home‐heating. Homes considered “too cold” were more likely to lack central heating and experience damp/draughts. Staying indoors, keeping the heating on, and eating hot food/drinks were common responses to cold weather but a diverse range of behaviours was observed. Associations were observed between living in a cold home and higher levels of chronic illness, falls and loneliness, and fewer social activities.

The sample cannot be considered nationally representative; single occupancy and social housing units were overrepresented.

This research found significant associations between living in a cold home/difficulty paying for heating, and aspects of ill‐health and social exclusion. While no causal association can be assumed, this phenomenon has implications for policies supporting healthy ageing.

This paper aims to explore, for the first time, community perceptions of the relationship between age and social exclusion in rural areas of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The paper builds on learning from a previous baseline cross‐border rural ageing study and draws its methodology from a broader ecological multi‐level approach. The research was conducted through focus groups with community stakeholders, which were undertaken in ten communities in different rural settings (village, near‐urban, island, dispersed, and remote) in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In total, four interconnecting thematic areas emerged as important in determining exclusion or inclusion for older people living in rural areas: place, economic circumstances, social provision, and social connectedness. Within these themes, various tipping points emerged as important for pathways into and out of exclusion, most notably local systems of social support and the mindset of older people themselves in relation to participation.

This research lays the foundations for understanding the lived experiences of older people on the island of Ireland and the pathways for their inclusion and exclusion in diverse rural areas, as seen through the lens of community stakeholders.

This study aims to contribute to improving quality of life for people with end stage dementia living in residential care settings by investigating the experiences of elderly spouses whose relatives died with end‐stage dementia in nursing homes in both Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI). A second aim is to develop guidelines for nursing home staff for the delivery of quality care to residents with end stage dementia in residential institutions.

This study had two phases. Phase one involved conducting in‐depth qualitative interviews with spouse caregivers whose relatives had died from dementia in long stay care environments. Phase two entailed incorporating the information gathered through the in‐depth interviews into draft guidelines and disseminating these to a multi‐disciplinary group of health service professionals for their critical appraisal and ratification.

Findings showed that the (EoL) care delivered was deemed by most elderly spouses to be of high quality, with person centred, individual, kind, professional care highly valued. Areas of dissatisfaction noted included poor communication, lack of involvement in key decision making, and poor symptoms control.

Based on the study's findings, guidelines for the delivery of quality care in long stay residential institutions were developed in consultation with eight health service professionals. The authors hope these guidelines will contribute to improvements in the care of people with dementia at end of life and will form the basis for the future development of policy, practices and procedures.

This paper attempts to assess the consequences of the existing and unfolding inequalities in older age in Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI).

The research involved both quantitative and qualitative methods including focus groups and analysis of existing data on social exclusion and poverty in NI and RoI.

The analysis on publicly available data in the north and south of Ireland revealed few comparable measures on poverty and social exclusion. The study was, however, able to establish key pre‐ and intra‐recession differences between older people in both jurisdictions. The qualitative analysis (focus groups with older people, online surveys with financial advisors) detailed the similarities and differences in the impact of the recession in north and south.

This paper reports on the first systematic, comparative study into the impact of the recession on older people in NI and RoI. The paper also makes recommendations for improving data collection on measures which would allow policy makers and researchers to examine the current and future impact of the recession on the living standards and wellbeing of older people.

This paper seeks to present findings from the first all‐Ireland study that consulted older people on their perceptions of interventions and services to support people experiencing abuse.

Utilising a grounded theory approach, 58 people aged 65 years and over took part in focus groups across Ireland. Four peer‐researchers were also trained to assist in recruitment, data collection, analysis, and dissemination.

Participants identified preventative community‐based approaches and peer supports as important mechanisms to support people experiencing, and being at risk of, elder abuse. Choices regarding care provision and housing, as well as opportunities for engagement in community activities where they can discuss issues with others, were identified as ways to prevent abuse.

The development of elder abuse services has traditionally been defined from the perspective of policy makers and professionals. This study looked at the perspective of the end‐users of such services for the first time. The research also gave an active role to older people in the research process. The policy implication of the findings from this research is that enhanced attention and resources should be directed to community activities that enable older people to share their concerns informally thereby gaining confidence to seek more formal interventions when necessary.

Some educators believe that if they do their jobs properly, all their students will learn, and school will be a happy, productive and comfortable place for everybody. The reality is that not everyone has the same preferences – for teaching and learning. Recounts research that shows what the differences are between educators and students who might be characterized at‐risk. Also included are administrative implications.

The front page of the Toronto Sun displayed an image of Karla Homolka bruised and battered and read, ‘Bernardo Did This to Karla: Crown’. In 1993, Karla Homolka entered into a plea deal in exchange for the testimony against her then-husband Paul Bernardo. Though Homolka pled guilty to two counts of manslaughter, Canadian media outlets painted Homolka as a subservient and battered woman fearful of the abusive Bernardo's reprisal. Then, during Bernardo's trial, rumoured videotapes finally surfaced that exposed Homolka's seemingly wilful role in the gruesome murders of the young girls Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy, and her sister Tammy Homolka. Although Tammy Homolka's death had been deemed accidental, her body was exhumed, and autopsy reports found lethal traces of sedative drugs in her system. While sedated, both Bernardo and Homolka raped her as she choked and died on her own vomit. After these videotapes surfaced, media representations shifted drastically – referring to Homolka's plea deal as ‘the deal with the devil’.

This chapter outlines the crimes committed by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka – also known as the Barbie and Ken Killers. Furthermore, it employs a qualitative literature review to document the evolution in the media representations of Homolka and exposes the media's role in the creation of this ‘monstrous’ woman in Canadian history. As this chapter outlines the representational shift of Homolka in the media, it deconstructs the hegemonic notions of proper femininity that often characterise women as deviant. Moreover, from a social constructivist lens, the brutality of Homolka's crimes are considered and examined in the context of the normative ideologies surrounding ideal womanhood and sexuality. I will argue that by dismantling these socially constructed ideologies, the significance of Homolka's whiteness also becomes apparent. As Homolka seems to deviate from her whiteness, media depictions illustrate an incitement of hysteria. Thus, this article questions the validity of the media representations that once depicted Homolka as ‘the girl next door’ – who was acting in accordance with her whiteness – but also inevitably paint her as the ‘devil’.

Rough sex - or what is referred to in this chapter as ‘consensual aggression and violence during sex’ (CAVS) - has been the focus, in the United Kingdom and internationally, of some attention and also concern. The latter derives especially from criminal justice proceedings relating to incidents where male suspects have seriously or fatally injured another individual, usually female, and then made claims - that are widely believed to be false - that the incident was a ‘sex game gone wrong’. Despite the importance of this subject, there is little or no understanding of the state of knowledge surrounding CAVS. This chapter outlines results from what is believed to be the first scoping (literature) review of CAVS in the general population. The review was based largely on a search, during June and July 2021, of 15 major databases using 18 search terms, which was conducted in accordance with the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. A total of 74 sources were identified. The research reviewed covered a quite large number and diverse range of areas in respect of CAVS, comprising: conceptualization; attitudes; extent; context, dynamics and nature; explanations; CAVS-related pornography; effects; alleged CAVS; policy and practice responses; methodological weaknesses; and future research needs. Overall, the review highlights two distinct perspectives on CAVS: in the first, individuals chose to take part in CAVS, which they like and enjoy; in the second, individuals, especially women and girls, have experiences of CAVS that are non-consensual or unwanted, and which they find upsetting, frightening or scary.

Rough sex appears to be experiencing a cultural ‘moment’. Depictions of rough sexual behaviours are common in contemporary movies, lifestyle magazines, and mainstream heterosexual pornography. Concerningly, rough sex has also been an aspect of numerous high-profile murder trials around the world where the accused has claimed that the woman’s death was the result of consensual rough sex, prompting this edited collection (see Introduction chapter).

Despite widespread acceptance of the term ‘rough sex’, it lacks definitional and conceptual clarity, which has implications for research, criminal justice, sexual violence prevention, and for understandings about consent between sexual partners. This chapter argues that mainstream heterosexual pornography is a critical site for understanding the development of collective meanings about rough sex. Through an analysis of the definitions of rough sex provided on three popular pornography websites in the MindGeek network – Pornhub, Youporn, and Redtube – this chapter signals how framings of rough sex in pornography provide a reference point for understanding what rough sex is and how it is performed. It argues that the framing of rough sex on pornography websites serves to reinforce wider normative ideas about heterosexual sex, presenting rough sex as something that is done by men, to women, in legitimate pursuit of sexual pleasure. Further, this chapter argues that these framings reinforce wider social messages that position rough sex as popular, common, and desirable. This chapter provides a starting point for developing more comprehensive understandings of what constitutes rough sex, as well as suggesting several avenues for future research agendas.