Although homelessness is inherently associated with social exclusion, homeless individuals are rarely included in conventional studies on social exclusion. Use of longitudinal survey data from a cohort study on homeless people in four major Dutch cities (n = 378) allowed to examine: changes in indicators of social exclusion among homeless people over a 2.5-year period after reporting to the social relief system, and associations between changes in indicators of social exclusion and changes in psychological distress. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate the associations between changes in indicators of social exclusion and changes in psychological distress. Improvements were found in various indicators of social exclusion, whereas financial debts showed no significant improvement. Changes in unmet care needs, health insurance, social support from family and relatedness to others were related to changes in psychological distress. This study demonstrated improvements in various indicators of social exclusion among homeless people over a period of 2.5 years, and sheds light on the concept of social exclusion in relation to homelessness.
This paper presents a report of some of the activities of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Wind TCP Task 39. By identifying best practices in an international collaboration, Task 39 hopes to provide the scientific evidence to inform improved regulations and standards, increasing the effectiveness of quiet wind turbine technology. Task 39 is divided into five separate work packages, which address the broad wind turbine noise topic in successive steps; from wind turbine noise generation (WP2), to airborne noise propagation over large distances (WP3). The assessment of wind turbine noise and its impact on humans is addressed in WP4, while WP5 is dealing with other aspects of perception and acceptance, which may be related to noise. All WPs contribute to a dedicated Work Package on dissemination (WP1). This paper provides an update of activities primarily associated with the socio-psychological aspects of wind turbine noise (WP4 and WP5). Through the consideration of a wide variety of factors, including measurement technologies, auralisation and psychology, the effects on noise perception, annoyance and its impact on wellbeing and health is being further investigated. This paper presents a discussion of the activities of each member country and highlights some of the key research questions that need to be further considered.
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ObjectivesThe existing studies among workers with a past cancer diagnosis have rarely focused on workers confronted with cancer recurrence or metastases specifically, so knowledge is lacking. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the work functioning (work ability, burnout complaints, and work engagement) of workers with recurrent or metastasized cancer. Furthermore, the association of psychological capital (hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy) with work functioning was studied.MethodsData from a survey study among workers 2–10 years past cancer diagnosis were used (N = 750); 73% reported a diagnosis of breast cancer and 27% a diagnosis of cancer other than breast cancer. Analysis of variance was used to compare participants with and without cancer recurrence or metastases regarding work functioning (work ability, burnout complaints, and work engagement) and psychological capital (hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy). Multivariate regression analyses were used to analyze the association of type of cancer and psychological capital with work functioning among workers with cancer recurrence or metastatic cancer (n = 54), controlling for age.ResultsWork ability is significantly lower among workers with cancer recurrence or metastases (controlling for age); however, burnout complaints and work engagement are at comparable levels. Among workers with cancer recurrence or metastases, a higher level of hope is positively associated with work ability and work engagement, and a higher level of hope or resilience is negatively associated with burnout complaints.Significance of resultsAmong workers with cancer recurrence or metastases, work ability needs attention. Furthermore, especially the element hope of psychological capital is important to focus on because of the association with more favorable work functioning in general. The clinical psycho-oncological practice may benefit from these insights in guiding this vulnerable group of workers who are living with active cancer and many uncertainties.
