Loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognized as important challenges of our times. Inspired by research hinting at beneficial effects of interacting with nature on social connectedness and opportunities provided by ambient technology to simulate nature in a rich and engaging manner, this study explored to what extent digital nature projections can stimulate social aspirations and related emotions. To this end, participants (N = 96) were asked to watch, individually or in pairs, digital nature projections consisting of animated scenes which were either dense or spacious and depicting either wild or tended nature. Subsequently, they filled out a questionnaire comprising measures for social aspirations, awe and fascination. Results show that spacious scenes elicited significantly higher social aspiration and awe scores, especially when watching alone. Design implications are discussed for making digital nature accessible for people with limited access to real nature.
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This essay focuses on the aspirations of young people, which we take to be a critical drive to their political and social commitments. As reflected in a wealth of social scientific research on educational and occupational aspirations of young people, the formulation of a desirable future is an important step in formal education and one’s preparation to enter the labour market. Yet, aspirations also matter in other spheres of social life. For example, young people may have aspirations that relate to the consumption of goods. The prospect of having a high purchasing power happens to impact school motivation. Additionally, active political participation may reflect the aspirations of some citizens with regards to a desirable future. Nowadays, aiming at achieving happiness is largely regarded as a universal, if not a basic right, applying to anyone, regardless of culture, ethnicity, social class, gender, age or sexual preference. However, young people obviously don’t all have the same aspirations. How do aspirations arise? What do we know about what shapes the aspirations of young Europeans? What makes young people capable of aspiration/what enables the aspiration of young people?
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This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of strategic collaborations between work-integration social enterprises (WISEs) and for-profit enterprises (FPEs) with the joint objective to improve labour market opportunities for vulnerable groups. We find that most collaborations strive towards integration or transformation in order to make more social impact.
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Vergelijkende Europese studie in opdracht van Kees van Aken, toenmalig directeur van de opleiding Social Work i.o. van de Hogeschool Zuyd, naar welke verschillende varianten er mogelijk zijn als er gesproken wordt over een Internationale Bachelor Social Work - Maastricht. Op welke manieren zijn er in Europa reeds internationale bachelors zijn ontwikkeld. Het onderzoek moet een overzicht van enkele blauwdrukken van een Internationale Bachelor Social Work opleveren, om mede op basis daarvan een keuze te maken voor een (eventueel meerdere) voor Hogeschool Zuyd wenselijke variant(en) daarvan in Maastricht. Er is vergelijkend Europees onderzoek gedaan naar de verschillende filosofieën en organisatievormen van curricula International Social Work zoals die op verschillende Hogescholen en Universiteiten in Europa functioneren. Met name zijn “good practice” ervaringen onderzocht en met elkaar vergeleken, om op basis daarvan een aantal varianten helder te krijgen voor de opdrachtgever.
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full text via link. Wat zijn de ontwikkelingen in social media research, naar wie luisteren we nu eigenlijk in social media, wie is de werkelijke innovator en wie is de werkelijke deler, en wat kunnen merken met klantervaringen? Anita Cox (Insights Director) trapt af met de vraag: Waarom zagen we social media 5 jaar geleden niet aankomen? -
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This article presents the results of a survey on the internationalization of Bachelor’s education in social work, which was carried out at 33 schools of social work across Europe. Many universities are seeking to “internationalize” their social work curriculum. However, although many social work educators are convinced of the importance of cross-border exchange, others are sceptical about the added value of internationalization for a professional career in social work. The aim of this study is to contribute to the discussion about the significance of internationalizing the curriculum of Bachelor’s programmes in social work. Since internationalization in itself is an ideological endeavour, educators must reflect on and formulate their own ideological motives and aspirations. To this end, representatives of schools of social work completed a questionnaire concerning the aim of internationalization, the structure of the curriculum, student and staff mobility, international policies and challenges. This study demonstrates that all universities have added an international dimension to their curricula. Many educators believe that internationalizing the social work curriculum contributes to qualitatively better future professionals “at home”. However, most of the respondents are dissatisfied with what has actually been achieved in terms of their universities’ international ambitions. This is due to a lack of language skills and facilities. Above all, we think, that this dissatisfaction is related to the underlying debate on universalism and indigenization in social work practice and education.
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Feelings of disconnectedness and social isolation among older adults are increasingly recognised as important challenges of our times. Interestingly, nature interaction can stimulate social connectedness and enhance perceived social support, indicating that nature can contribute to social wellbeing. However, nature may not always be around or accessible for older adults. In such cases, digital nature could provide an alternative means for enjoying nature's benefits. To identify limitations and restrictions that older adults experience with respect to nature interaction, and to explore preferences with respect to digital nature and their potential for influencing social wellbeing, two studies are reported: a qualitative study comprising focus groups with Dutch care centre residents (N = 26) and a subsequent quantitative study (N = 200) testing effects of digital landscapes on social wellbeing measures. Findings from the focus groups indicate that opportunities for nature interaction and preferences for digital nature vary with mobility restrictions, whereas findings from the quantitative study testify to the potential of digital nature for enhancing social wellbeing and related emotions. These findings extend research on how (digital) nature interventions can contribute to the social wellbeing of older adults and pinpoint essential nature characteristics important for doing so.
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Due to the increase in the number of elderly and people seeking medical care, the hotel market with a blend of care and leisure experiences is expected to grow in the future (Han, 2013; Karuppan & Karuppan, 2010; Laesser, 2011). The role of care hotels as an intersection between the care and the tourism sectors makes a vacation in a care hotel an interesting social practice to study. In this contribution a social practices approach (Spaargaren, 1997) is applied to investigate how demand and supply interact during a care hotel vacation. Semi-structured interviews are used to identify successful and less successful interactions or practices between senior guests and personnel in five Dutch care hotels. These interactions are related to materials (care and leisure facilities), competences (skills and empathy of the personnel) and meanings (motivations and aspirations of guests) in the care hotel practice (see Shove et al., 2012). The results show that a social practice approach combined with a qualitative research method may be more suited to analysing the complex encounters between guests and personnel during care hotel vacations than more traditional theories from service or experience quality studies. Simultaneously, this study makes clear that we need to develop alternative qualitative (and/or quantitative) research methods to study more privacy-related or intimate practices or rituals as in the case of care hotels.
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In this article we focus upon a division between generalized schools of philosophical and ethical thought about culture and conservation. There is an ongoing debate playing out over conservation between those who believe conservation threatens community livelihoods and traditional practices, and those who believe conservation is essential to protect nonhuman species from the impact of human development and population growth. We argue for reconciliation between these schools of thought and a cooperative push toward the cultivation of an environmentally-focused perspective that embraces not only social and economic justice but also concern for non-human species. Our goal is to underline the ethics and tangible benefits that may result from combining the cultural data and knowledge of the social sciences with understanding of environmental science and conservation. We highlight instances in which social scientists overlook their own anthropocentric bias in relationship to ecological justice, or justice for all species, in favor of exclusive social justice among people. We focus on the polemical stances of this debate in order to emphasize the importance of a middle road of cooperation that acknowledges the rights of human and nonhuman species, alike. In conclusion, we present an alternative set of ethics and research activities for social scientists concerned with conservation and offer ideas on how to reconcile the conflicting interests of people and the environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.01.030 https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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full text via link. Social media stellen mensen, merken en bedrijven in staat om zichzelf te versterken. Soms wordt optimaal gebruik gemaakt van Social Media Empowerment, maar soms ook wat minder. Effectief inzetten van social media. Regel 1: Start met context en motivatie
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