Laura Phelan has been awarded 2020’s Psychological Society of Ireland All-Ireland Student Congress award.
A Midlands teacher is being praised for her thesis on GAA injuries.
Laois woman Laura Phelan, a graduate from Mary Immaculate College, wins first place in 2020’s Psychological Society of Ireland All-Ireland Student Congress award for writing ‘I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again: Exploring Sports Injury-Related Growth in GAA Athletes’, which investigates the relationship between mental toughness and growth when recovering from a sports-related injury.
Speaking on her achievement, Laura says: “I’m delighted to have my research recognised at such a high level. The challenges of the past two years have brought a renewed focus to mental health challenges and the process of navigating difficulties and the findings of my undergraduate research indicates that being mentally tough can have a significant positive influence on your growth following injury. However, this is totally dependent on social supports network, so the absence of that support can lead to low levels of growth. Previous research on recovery had mainly focused on male, professional athletes, so to be able to draw focus to females and amateur athletes as well was really interesting to me. Thank you to my supervisor Dr Niamh Higgins for her support and sharing her expertise with me during my undergraduate research.”
Laura currently holds a Bachelor of Education in Education and Psychology and is teaching in Scoil Bhríde in Portlaoise.
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Source: https://www.midlands103.com/news/midlands-news/midlands-teacher-wins-psychology-student-award/