Associate Professor Mary-Ann O’Donovan

Associate Professor Mary-Ann O’Donovan is CEO of ACDCS. She has also recently been appointed as the new Executive Director of Centre for Disability Studies. She comes from the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin. She has a breadth of research experience - management of national disability databases, analysis of large datasets, qualitative research, policy content analysis. She has a particular interest in inclusive practice and policy that informs people with disability to engage in further education and employment. She has been in involved in large research projects that have studied the health and wellbeing of people with intellectual disability.

As Assistant Professor in Intellectual Disability and Inclusion within the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Mary-Ann was the course coordinator for the Fetac Level 5 Certificate in Arts, Science and Applied Inclusive Practice for People with Intellectual Disabilities within the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID).

Mary-Ann was an Alumnus of the HRB SPHERE program, completing her PHD in Health Services Research and Population Health Sciences in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland 2015. The PhD focused on the health and housing needs and later life transitions of older people with an intellectual disability. Previous work experience includes Project Manager of the IDS-TILDA study, management of the Department of Health's National Physical and Sensory Disability Database (NPSDD) in the Health Research Board, research officer in the National Disability Authority and the Rehab Group.

There are a number of strands to Mary-Ann's research interests including:

• Key life transitions, housing mobility, health service utilisation and access, non-medical determinants of health, choice and self-determination for people with an intellectual disability.
• Policy analysis through a human rights framework, particularly in the context of health inequalities for people with intellectual disabilities.
• Analysis of large datasets, survey, census and administrative data and comparability of disability statistics.
• An emerging research area of interest includes educational transitions, pathways into and out of third level education, and the relationship between educational and other life transitions over the life course.

Publications:

McCarron M, Lombard-Vance R, Murphy E, May P, Webb N, Sheaf G, McCallion P, Stancliffe R, Normand C, Smith V, O'Donovan MA, Effect of deinstitutionalisation on quality of life for adults with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review, BMJ Open, 2019. Journal Article, 2019 DOI TARA

O’Donovan, M-A; McCallion, P; McCarron, M; Mannan, H; Byrne, E. (2019) A narrative synthesis scoping review of life course domains within health service utilisation frameworks, Health Research Board Open Access, (https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.12900.1)

Choice as people age with intellectual disability - an Irish perspective in, editor(s)Roger J. Stancliffe, Michael L. Wehmeyer, Karrie A. Shogren, Brian H. Abery, , CHOICE, PREFERENCE, AND DISABILITY: PROMOTING SELF-DETERMINATION ACROSS THE LIFESPAN, Springer Books, 2018, [O'Donovan, M-A., McCausland, D., McCallion, P., McCarron, M]. Book Chapter, 2018

O’Donovan, M-A; Mannan, H; McVeigh, J; McCallion, P; McCarron, M; Byrne, E. (2018) ‘Core human rights concepts in Irish health and housing policy documents: in search of equity for people with intellectual disabilities (ID)’, Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disability, 15 (4), 307-313

De Moraes, A., O'Donovan, M., Gormley, J., McCallion, P., Burke, E. & McCarron, M. (2017). Physical activity in an older population of persons with an intellectual disability: Results from Wave 2 of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish longitudinal study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA), British Journal of Sports Medicine. Journal Article, 2017

O'Donovan, M-A., Byrne, E., McCallion, P. & McCarron, M. (2017). Measuring choice for adults with an intellectual disability - a factor analysis of the adapted daily choice inventory scale, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 65(5): 471.

King E., O'Donovan M., Brangan, A., McCallion, P., McCarron, M, An Occupational Therapy Perspective on the Environment and Supporting Engagement for People Ageing with Intellectual Disabilities, IASSIDD Health Sirg, Belfast, 19th - 21st June, 2017. Poster, 2017

O'Donovan, M., O'Dwyer, M., McCarron, M., McCallion P, An exploration of medication use patterns for adults with intellectual disability who transition to new living arrangements, Health SIRG 2017 , Belfast, 19th June, 2017. Poster, 2017

O'Donovan, M-A., Byrne, E., McCallion, P., McCarron, M, Measuring choice for adults with an intellectual disability - a factor analysis of the adapted daily choice inventory scale, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 65, (5), 2017, p471 – 487. Journal Article, 2017 URL

O'Donovan, M., McCarron, M, Transitions and choice for older people with ID, 2017 International Summit on Ageing with an Intellectual Disability, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin, 20th September, 2017. Oral Presentation, 2017

O'Donovan, M-A., Mannian, H., McCallion, P., McCarron, M., Byrne, E, Health for all (except if you have ID?) Examining extent to which national health policy is equitable, IASSIDD Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 15th - 19th August, 2016. Oral Presentation, 2016

King, E., Okodogbe, T., Burke, E., McCarron, M., McCallion, P., O'Donovan, MA, Activities of daily living and transition to community living for adults with intellectual disabilities, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 24, (5), 2016, p357 – 365. Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Sexton, E; O'Donovan, M-A; McCallion, P; McCarron M, Whose quality of life? Measures of emotional wellbeing and self-determination in research with older adults with and without intellectual disabilities, Special Issue of the Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability on Quality of Life, Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 13, (4), 2016, p261 – 268. Journal Article, 2016 DOI

Sexton, E., O'Donovan, M.A., McCallion, P., McCarron, M, A comparison of measures of self-determination and emotional wellbeing in research with older adults with and without intellectual disabilities, Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, 41, (4), 2016, p324 – 337. Journal Article, 2016 DOI

O'Donovan, M-A., McCarron, M, Moving in later life: What is the impact on older people with Intellectual Disability, IAGG-ER 8th Conference, Dublin, 23rd April, 2015. Poster, 2015

O'Donovan, M-A., McCarron, M, Moving in later life: What is the impact on older people with intellectual disability?, Sphere Network Conference, Dublin, 2015. Poster, 2015

O'Donovan, M-A., McCarron, M, Participants who had moved residence since wave 1 and the process involved in moving: A profile of the population and the types of challenges and supports relevant to them., Health Research Board (Housing Committee), Dublin, 2015. Oral Presentation, 2015

O'Donovan, M-A., McCarron, M, Social Issues - Living transitions, NDA, Dublin, November, 2014. Oral Presentation, 2014

O'Donovan, M. A., McCallion, P., & McCarron, M. , Residence and health service utilization of older people with an intellectual disability, Special Interest Group on Aging with an Intellectual Disability, International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Boston, MA, 2013. Poster, 2013

Gallagher, P; O’Donovan, M-A; Doyle, A; Desmond, D (2011) ‘Environmental Barriers, Activity Limitation and Participation Restrictions experienced by people with major limb amputation’, Prosthetics & Orthotics International, 35 (3), 278-84

O’Donovan, M-A; Good, A (2010) ‘Towards comparability of data: using the ICF to map the contrasting definitions of disability in Irish surveys and census, 2000–2006’, Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-8

O’Donovan, M-A; Doyle, A; Gallagher, P (2009) ‘Barriers, Activities and Participation: Incorporating ICF into service planning datasets’, Disability and Rehabilitation, May, 1-8

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