BACKGROUND: Knowledge about the beneficial role of physical activity (PA) for health and school performance is growing. Studies investigating the link between PA and school absenteeism due to illness are lacking. Therefore, we investigated associations between habitual PA and school absenteeism due to illness in adolescents and explored whether mental health and cardiovascular fitness mediated this association. METHODS: We studied 328 students in grades 7 and 9 (mean age 13.8 years; 49% boys). The PA was measured objectively by an ActivPAL3™ accelerometer attached on the thigh during 1 full week (24 hours/day). Depressive symptoms and self-esteem were self-reported by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, respectively, and included as a proxy for mental health in the analyses. Cardiovascular fitness was measured by the 20-m shuttle-run test. School absenteeism due to illness data was provided by the school administration. RESULTS: The PA was not significantly associated with school absenteeism, though there was an indirect association between PA and school absenteeism by cardiovascular fitness. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiovascular fitness mediates the association between PA and school absenteeism due to illness. Thus, cardiovascular fitness of students should be improved to reduce school absenteeism due to illness.
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Annual rhythms in humans have been described for a limited number of behavioral and physiological parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate time-of-year variations in late arrivals, sick leaves, dismissals from class (attendance), and grades (performance). Data were collected in Dutch high school students across 4 academic years (indicators of attendance in about 1700 students; grades in about 200 students). Absenteeism showed a seasonal variation, with a peak in winter, which was more strongly associated with photoperiod (number of hours of daylight) compared with other factors assessed (e.g., weather conditions). Grades also varied with time of year, albeit differently across the 4 years. The observed time-of-year variation in the number of sick leaves was in accordance with the literature on the seasonality of infectious diseases (e.g., influenza usually breaks out in winter). The winter peak in late arrivals was unexpected and requires more research. Our findings could be relevant for a seasonal adaptation of school schedules and working environments (e.g., later school and work hours in winter, especially at higher latitudes where seasonal differences in photoperiod are more pronounced).
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Success at school determines future career opportunities. We described a time-of-day specific disparity in school performance between early and late chronotypes. Several studies showed that students with a late chronotype and short sleep duration obtain lower grades, suggesting that early school starting times handicap their performance. How chronotype, sleep duration, and time of day impact school performance is not clear. At a Dutch high school, we collected 40,890 grades obtained in a variety of school subjects over an entire school year. We found that the strength of the effect of chronotype on grades was similar to that of absenteeism, and that late chronotypes were more often absent. The difference in grades between the earliest 20% and the latest 20% of chronotypes corresponds to a drop from the 55th to 43rd percentile of grades. In academic subjects using mainly fluid cognition (scientific subjects), the correlation with grades and chronotype was significant while subjects relying on crystallised intelligence (humanistic/linguistic) showed no correlation with chronotype. Based on these and previous results, we can expand our earlier findings concerning exam times: students with a late chronotype are at a disadvantage in exams on scientific subjects, and when they are examined early in the day.
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Change has become continuous, and innovation is a primary approach for hospitality, i.e., hotel companies, to become or remain economically viable and sustainable. An increasing number of management researchers are paying more attention to workplace rather than technological innovation. This study investigates workplace innovation in the Dutch hotel industry, in three- and four-star hotels in the Netherlands, by comparing them to other industries. Two samples were questioned using the Workplace Innovation survey created by the Dutch Network of Social Innovation (NSI). The first was conducted in the hospitality industry, and these data were compared with data collected in a sample of other industries. Results suggest that greater strategic orientation on workplace innovation and talent development has a positive influence on four factors of organizational performance. Greater internal rates of change, the ability to self-organize, and investment in knowledge also had positive influences on three of the factors—growth in revenue, sustainability, and absenteeism. Results also suggest that the hospitality industry has lower workplace innovation than other industries. However, no recent research has assessed to what degree the hospitality industry fosters workplace innovation, especially in the Netherlands. Next to that, only few studies have examined management in the Dutch hotel industry, how workplace innovation is used there, and whether it improves practices.
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This study aimed to evaluate outcomes and support use in 12- to 25-year-old visitors of the @ease mental health walk-in centres, a Dutch initiative offering free counselling by trained and supervised peers.
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Jongeren ervaren in toenemende mate schoolstress en prestatiedruk. Een deel van hen kan hierdoor (tijdelijk) niet naar school, zoals blijkt uit een groeiend aantal verzuimmeldingen en thuiszitters. In sommige gevallen lopen de problemen zo hoog op dat er jeugdhulp nodig is. Het onderzoeksproject Mentaal Kapitaal van de Regionale Kenniswerkplaats Jeugd en Gezin Centraal heeft als doel kennis te vergroten omtrent de oorzaken en oplossingsrichtingen voor deze schoolgerelateerde problematiek. In dit rapport worden de bevindingen van de eerste deelstudie beschreven, waarin werd onderzocht welke risico- en beschermende factoren een rol spelen bij ongezonde schoolstress, prestatiedruk, schoolverzuim/thuiszitten en schooluitval.
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Internationaal onderzoek laat zien dat ingrijpende jeugdervaringen, ook wel Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) genoemd, een sleutelrol spelen in de ontwikkeling van jeugdigen en hun (latere) psychische en fysieke gezondheid (o.a. Felitti et al., 1998; McLaughlin, 2016). Jeugdigen met verstandelijke beperkingen en hun ouders zijn helaas sterk ondervertegenwoordigd in internationaal onderzoek naar ACE’s, terwijl het belangrijk is dat de huidige inzichten ook kunnen bijdragen aan de verbetering van hun gezondheid en welzijn (o.a. Keesler, 2014; Northway, 2017). Uit verschillende studies blijkt namelijk dat mensen met een verstandelijke beperking vaker geestelijke en fysieke gezondheidsproblemen hebben (Northway, 2017). Daarnaast blijkt dat zij vaker worden blootgesteld aan een groter aantal ingrijpende levensgebeurtenissen (o.a. Emerson, 2015; Mason-Roberts et al., 2018) en dat deze blootstelling gerelateerd is aan een verhoogd risico op geestelijke gezondheidsproblemen (zie Vervoort-Schel et al., 2018 voor verwijzingen). De premisse van de ACE’s-studies is dat het voorkomen of verminderen van ingrijpende jeugdervaringen een positieve invloed heeft op gezondheid en welzijn in het leven (Northway, 2017). Het is veelbelovend om daar verder onderzoek naar te doen.
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This chapter will be part of a monograph on social inclusion, the interface between leisure and work in relation to people with intellectual disabilities.
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The Football Workshop Wageningen in The Netherlands originated from a care farm where people with mild intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour spent time for day activities. Passionate about football, two social workers and a growing number of service users left the care farm to set up sheltered employment at the local football club SKV. Interestingly, this endeavour is at the intersection of sheltered employment, leisure and community. This chapter will be part of a monograph on social inclusion, the interface between leisure and work in relation to people with intellectual disabilities. This current manuscript is yet unpublished. Modifications are reserved for official publication. Please reference this unofficial publication as follows: Knevel, J., Van Ewijk, H., Kolthek, W. (2021). The Football Workshop. Utrecht: Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. Unpublished manuscript.
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Mental health is important for business. In the 21st century the mental health and well-being of your employees is crucial to the success of your organisation. But, how should you as an employer start to address mental health issues in your workplace? And what activities and policies do you need to set in place? In a European campaign work. in tune with life. move europe, the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP) has taken the initiative to help promote mental health in workplaces. This mental health promotion campaign aims to raise awareness amongst both employers and employees
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