Document is current

Article History

Received: 20 February 2021

Accepted: 7 June 2021

First Online: 6 July 2021

Declarations

:

: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

: Ethical approval for this study was granted by the appropriate ethics committee at the University of Limerick (Code: 2015_09_01_S&E). The parents, students, teachers and individuals involved in the study were informed of the purpose of the research in advance of data collection and they had the opportunity to withdraw from the study throughout the process. Approval was granted by the parents, school principals and the University of Limerick. Parental consent was secured for all participating students. In addition, school principals from both primary and post-primary schools were asked to consent to the research on behalf of their staff and students. Once overall consent was agreed, individual staff and students were sent a letter of consent. As part of the process of gaining their informed voluntary consent, the purpose and methodology of the study was explained to all participants. Each student was allocated a number to guarantee confidentiality. In June 2015, a letter of consent was sent to all parents, teachers and principals involved explaining their role and that of the students involved in the study. Leaflets containing relevant information explaining the research purposes and procedures were also provided to students and their parents/guardians to inform their decision regarding whether to agree to participate.