Background Anxiety and challenging behaviour (CB) often occur simultaneously in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Understanding the associations between anxiety and CB may contribute to more accurate diagnoses and management of both anxiety and CB in this population. Aims To examine the relationship between anxiety and CB. Methods A literature review covering the period from January 2000 to January 2012. Results Seven studies about the relationship between psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, and CB were identified. These studies confirm the relationship between anxiety and CB in people with ID, although the precise nature of this relationship remains unclear. Conclusions The study points toward the existence of a moderate association between anxiety and CB. Further research is needed to clarify the complex nature of the association between anxiety and CB.
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Quality of life serves a reference against which you can measure the various domains of your own life or that of other individuals, and that can change over time. This definition of the World Health Organization encompasses many elements of daily living, including features of the individual and the environment around us, which can either be the social environment, the built environment, or other environmental aspects. This is one of the rationales for the special issue on “Quality of Life: The Interplay between Human Behaviour, Technology and the Environment”. This special issue is a joint project by the Centre of Expertise Health Innovation of the Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. The main focus of this Special Issue is how optimising the interplay between people, the environment, and technology can enhance people’s quality of life. The focus of the contributions in this special issue is on the person or end‐user and his or her environment, both the physical, social, and digital environment, and on the interaction between (1) people, (2) health, care, and systems, and (3) technology. Recent advances in technology offer a wide range of solutions that support a healthy lifestyle, good quality of life, and effective and efficient healthcare processes, for a large number of end‐users, both patients/clients from minus 9 months until 100+ years of age, as well as practitioners/physicians. The design of new services and products is at the roots of serving the quality of life of people. Original article at MDPI; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245106 (Editorial of Special Issue with the same title: "Quality of Life: The Interplay between Human Behaviour, Technology and the Environment")
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There are currently about 6 million – mainly older – people with dementia in the European Union. With ageing, a number of sensory changes occur. Dementia syndrome exacerbates the effects of these sensory changes and alters perception of stimuli. People with dementia have an altered sensitivity for indoor environmental conditions, which can induce problematic behaviour with burdensome symptoms to both the person with dementia and the family carer. This paper, based on literature review, provides an overview of the indoor environmental parameters, as well as the integrated design and implementation of relevant building systems. The overview is presented in relation to the intrinsic ageing of senses, the responses of older people with dementia and the impact on other relevant stakeholders through the combined use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and the Model of Integrated Building Design. Results are presented as indicators of the basic value, functional value and economic value, as well as a synthesis of building-related solutions. Results can help designers and building services engineers to create optimal environmental conditions inside the living environments for people with dementia, and can be used to raise awareness among health care professionals about of the influence of the indoor environment on behaviour of the person with dementia.
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The Internet and computers increasingly determine our daily lives. This goes for almost everyone in the Netherlands. Still, it is mostly teenagers who are well informed on how to use all the possibilities of new technologies. They are building a digital world of their own that parents usually know very little about. This booklet intends to inform teachers, parents and other interested parties on what teenagers are actually doing online and how important it is to keep abreast of the new developments that the Internet and computers bring into their world. On the basis of research into these issues in the Netherlands and abroad we attempt to indicate what the digital world of teenagers looks like and how it differs from that of grown-ups. What do they do, exactly, and why? We also look into teenagers’ ICT behaviour and into dangers and abuse of the Internet. Moreover we provide tips for parents and teachers on how to handle certain phenomena. This book does not pretend to provide an exhaustive overview of the digital world of teenagers. It is focused on some important characteristics and parts of that world. It reports on research of the INHOLLAND Centre for eLearning into various aspects of ICT behaviour among teenagers. The research was undertaken in the spring of 2006, focusing mainly on texting, networking, gaming, dangers and abuse on the Internet and the digital relation between school and the home. Ultimately we are especially concerned with the question of what teenagers really learn in their digital world, and how education can profit. This book also addresses that issue.
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The influence of the built environment on travel behaviour and the role of intervening variables such as socio-demographics and travel-related attitudes have long been debated in the literature. To date, most empirical studies have applied cross-sectional designs to investigate their bidirectional relationships. However, these designs provide limited evidence for causality. This study represents one of the first attempts to employ a longitudinal design on these relationships. We applied cross lagged panel structural equation models to a two-wave longitudinal dataset to assess the directions and strengths of the relationships between the built environment, travel behaviour and travel-related attitudes. Results show that the residential built environment has a small but significant influence on car use and travel attitudes. In addition, the built environment influenced travel-related attitudes indicating that people tend to adjust their attitudes to their built environment. This provides some support for land use policies that aim to influence travel behaviour.
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(‘Co’-)Designing for healthy behaviour greatly benefits from integrating insights about individual behaviour and systemic influences. This study reports our experiences in using insights about individual and systemic determinants of behaviour to inform a large co-design project. To do so, we used two design tools that encourage focusing on individual determinants (Behavioural Lenses Approach) and social / systemic aspects of behaviour (Socionas). We performed a qualitative analysis to identify 1) when and how the team applied the design tools, and 2) how the tools supported or obstructed the design process. The results show that both tools had their distinctive uses during the process. Both tools improved the co-design process by deepening the conversations and underpinnings of the prototypes. Using the Behavioural Lenses under the guidance of a behavioural expert proved most beneficial. Furthermore, the Socionas showed the most potential when interacting with stakeholders, i.c. parents and PPTs.
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To date, most empirical studies have applied cross-sectional designs to investigate the relationship between the built environment (BE) and travel behaviour (TB). Since these studies cannot identify causal influence, the use of designs that provide data on multiple moments in time seems necessary. This article classifies these designs and describes how they can be applied to identify causality in this relationship. We recommend the use of natural experiments to assess the impact of changes in land use/infrastructure and prospective longitudinal designs to assess the impact of residential or job moves. In addition, the role of the BE can be explored by assessing the impact of (1) deliberate TB change experiments and (2) changes in household circumstances across different spatial contexts over time. The use of randomised experimental designs is recommended for the former and prospective longitudinal designs for the latter. The article concludes with an outlook on future research.
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Chronic diseases represent a significant burden for the society and health systems; addressing this burden is a key goal of the European Union policy. Health and other professionals are expected to deliver behaviour change support to persons with chronic disease. A skill gap in behaviour change support has been identified, and there is room for improvement. Train4Health is a strategic partnership involving seven European Institutions in five countries, which seeks to improve behaviour change support competencies for the self-management of chronic disease. The project envisages a continuum in behaviour change support education, in which an interprofessional competency framework, relevant for those currently practising, guides the development of a learning outcomes-based curriculum and an educational package for future professionals (today’s undergraduate students).
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BACKGROUND: The care sector for persons with disabilities considers the physical environment relevant for the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. However, scientific evidence is limited. OBJECTIVE: To obtain evidence regarding comforting and encouraging environments and to develop an overview of studies addressing the effect of the physical environment on people with intellectual disabilities. METHODS: A scoping review, accompanied by expert panels and case findings combining scientific evidence and knowledge from practice, was performed to investigate the interaction between challenging behaviour and the physical environment. Between January and March 2020, several scientific databases were searched in the English, Dutch, and German language for relevant studies. Social media, care professionals, and experts in building physics were consulted. RESULTS: Studies on building-related factors as passive interventions and care- or therapy-related interventions could be distinguished. The majority of the studies report on building-related factors such as sound, acoustics, light, and colours and their influence on behaviour. Specific guidelines are lacking on how to adjust the indoor environment to an environment that is safe, comforting and encouraging for people displaying challenging behaviour. Proposed solutions are case-based. CONCLUSION: In future studies individual cases could be studied in a more in-depth manner, aligned and categorised to the building-related factors and to the expressions of challenging behaviour.
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When it comes to hard to solve problems, the significance of situational knowledge construction and network coordination must not be underrated. Professional deliberation is directed toward understanding, acting and analysis. We need smart and flexible ways to direct systems information from practice to network reflection, and to guide results from network consultation to practice. This article presents a case study proposal, as follow-up to a recent dissertation about online simulation gaming for youth care network exchange (Van Haaster, 2014).
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