New Online Book Helps Students and Staff to Manage Fatigue

Posted on: 22 April 2014

Balancing the Books: Managing Fatigue in College, an interactive online book to support both university staff and students to develop practical strategies to help manage their fatigue, was recently launched by Professor Mary McCarron, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Trinity College Dublin.

College life for both staff and students can be fast-paced, demanding and stressful, especially now as the exam period approaches. This can, in turn, lead to individuals experiencing extreme fatigue. Fatigue is a common, almost universal feature of modern life and is therefore important that skills and strategies are identified to help manage fatigue.

Balancing the Books is a fully interactive fatigue book for Trinity College students and staff. The book aims to raise awareness and understanding about fatigue and to support both staff and students to manage their fatigue.

Professor Mary McCarron and Dr Clodagh Nolan at the book launch

This resource has been developed by the Discipline of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, in collaboration with Trinity’s Disability Service. Fatigue is one of the most common reasons why people consult health care providers and yet everyone experiences fatigue differently. According to researchers, an increased workload or the perception of such has been significantly linked to higher incidences of fatigue amongst the working population. Research shows that students with disabilities such as physical or sensory disabilities, medical conditions or illnesses, and mental health difficulties experienced higher levels of fatigue compared to the general student population.

The management of fatigue needs to be personalised, and therefore this book allows staff and students to develop strategies to suit their own needs. The format of this book is interactive and ‘Thinking Activities’ and exercises have been incorporated throughout the book to enable individuals to apply the information to their own life.

The book is divided into three sections: Section 1 focuses upon understanding fatigue, Section 2 focuses upon exploring routines and fatigue levels, and Section 3 focuses upon pacing and maximising energy so that both staff and students at Trinity can achieve realistic goals and engage in the activities of daily life to manage health and well-being.

‘Balancing the Books: Managing Fatigue in College’ can be downloaded here. Authors: Dr Clodagh Nolan, Orla Sullivan, Claire Gleeson and Kieron Lewis. Its development was supported by Trinity’s  Equality Fund.