In recent years, both scientists and the general population gained awareness of the deep entanglement between finances, health, and well-being. People cannot be reduced to a set of problems to be tackled independently, thinking that somehow these solutions add up to solve the problem as a whole.4 Researchers pay increasing attention to how problems are related, and many lessons have been learned over time. Policy-makers and practitioners who understand the complex relationship between financial, physical, and mental well-being find themselves in the unique position to use these insights in how they design their programs. This paper provides an overview of academic and grey literature and the lessons we can learn from these studies.
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Physical and social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to jeopardize health and well-being of older adults. Especially older adults who lived alone faced challenges due to restrictive COVID-19 measures. In this study, we explored views and support needs to maintain health and well-being of older adults living in a single household during the COVID-19 pandemic.We employed an interpretative phenomenological analysis, including twenty semi-structured interviews with older adults (≥65 years old) living in single households during the pandemic. Interviews were conducted between June and September 2021, audio-recorded and lasted approximately one hour. Data analysis was guided by the heuristic framework of Smith et al. Trustworthiness of the study was enhanced through bracketing and multiple interdisciplinary moments of revision of the data analysis.The views and support needs of participants to maintain health and well-being during the pandemic were captured in three overarching themes: ‘A lingering search for connectedness’, ‘Dealing with a discouraging situation to stay well’, and ‘Leaning on lessons learned during life’. Important resources that enabled participants to maintain health and well-being were: experiences of social connectedness, acceptance of the situation, and (re)gaining a sense of control. Participants described how they leaned on lessons learned from life-experiences when facing situations that challenged their health and well-being.Our study points out that views and support needs of older adults to maintain health and well-being during the pandemic were diverse and rooted in various coping mechanisms. During future situations similar to the pandemic, public health policies should include strategies to promote social connectedness among older adults who live alone, to prevent adverse health outcomes.• Experiences of social connectedness, acceptance, and (re)gaining a sense of control were coping mechanisms that enabled older adults to maintain health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. • Public health policies should include strategies to promote social connectedness among older adults who live alone, to prevent adverse health outcomes during future pandemics.
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Objectives: To assess whether social capital benefits older adults’ self-rated health and well-being and whether physical activity mediates this relation. Methods: A survey study was conducted among members of a sociocultural organization (age ≥55 years), both cross-sectionally (baseline Time 1; N = 959) and longitudinally (3-year follow-up Time 2; N = 409). Results: Specific indicators of social capital were positively, though modestly, related to health and well-being at Time 1 and Time 2. Experienced connectedness with age peers emerged as the strongest predictor. Physical activity only mediated the relation with experienced safety in society. Discussion: The relative importance of older adults’ experienced connectedness with their age peers underlines the importance of internalized group membership as a determinant of their health and well-being. Physical activity seems to play only a minor mediating role.
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Ballet en moderne dans zijn een vorm van topsport. De druk op dansers is enorm. Lange en intensieve werkdagen, veel reizen en verschillende werkplekken maken het lastig om lichaam en geest goed te verzorgen. Hierdoor liggen blessures en mentale klachten op de loer. Nederlandse dansgezelschappen willen meer aandacht gaan besteden aan preventieve maatregelen om fysieke en mentale problemen bij hun dansers te voorkomen. Het ontbreekt hen echter aan kennis en kunde om dit innovatieve vraagstuk op te kunnen pakken. Het Nationale Ballet en het Scapino Ballet hebben het lectoraat Performing Arts Medicine van Codarts (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Rotterdam) benaderd om antwoord te krijgen op de vraag hoe dansers op de hoogste podia, op gezonde wijze, hun beste performance kunnen laten zien. Gezamenlijk is deze praktijkvraag omgevormd naar drie onderzoeksdoelstellingen: 1. Opstellen van meetinstrumenten om de fysieke en mentale gezondheid van dansers te screenen en te monitoren; 2. Ontwerpen van een web-based systeem dat automatisch en real-time informatie uit de ontwikkelde meetinstrumenten kan inlezen, analyseren en interpreteren; 3. Ontwikkelen van een Fit to Perform protocol dat aanbevelingen geeft ten aanzien van het verbeteren van de fysieke en mentale gesteldheid van de danser. Het consortium bestaat uit de volgende organisaties: - Praktijkgerichte onderzoeksinstellingen: Codarts Rotterdam en Hogeschool van Amsterdam; - Universiteiten: ErasmusMC, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven en Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; - Praktijkinstellingen: Het Nationale Ballet en het Scapino Ballet; - Overige instellingen: het Nederlands Paramedisch Instituut (NPi) en het Nationale Centrum Performing Arts (NCPA). Bij de samenstelling van het consortium is gekozen voor een goede mix tussen praktijkorganisaties, onderzoeksinstituten en onderwijsinstellingen. Daarnaast is er sprake van cross-sectorale samenwerking doordat kennis vanuit de podiumkunsten, sport, gezondheidszorg, onderwijs en technologie met elkaar verbonden wordt.
In the last decade, the concept on interactions between humans, animals and their environment has drastically changed, endorsed by the One Health approach that recognizes that health of humans and animals are inextricably linked. Consideration of welfare of livestock has increased accordingly and with it, attention into the possibilities to improve livestock health via natural, more balanced nutrition is expanding. Central to effects of healthy nutrition is an optimal gastrointestinal condition which entails a well-balanced functional local immune system leading to a resilient state of well-being. This project proposal, GITools, aims to establish a toolbox of in vitro assays to screen new feed ingredients for beneficial effects on gastrointestinal health and animal well-being. GITools will focus on pig and chicken as important livestock species present in high quantities and living in close proximity to humans. GITools builds on intestinal models (intestinal cell lines and stem cell-derived organoids), biomarker analysis, and in vitro enzymatic and microbial digestion models of feed constituents. The concept of GITools originated from various individual contacts and projects with industry partners that produce animal feed (additives) or veterinary medicines. Within these companies, an urgent need exists for straightforward, well-characterized and standardized in vitro methods that provide results translatable to the in vivo situation. This to replace testing of new feed concepts in live animal. We will examine in vitro methods for their applicability with feed ingredients selected based on the availability of data from (previous) in vivo studies. These model compounds will include long and short chain fatty acids, oligosaccharides and herbal-derived components. GITools will deliver insights on the role of intestinal processes (e.g. dietary hormone production, growth of epithelial cells, barrier function and innate immune responses) in health and well-being of livestock animals and improve the efficiency of testing new feed products.
The Healthy Workplace monitor is being developed to monitor the health and well-being of knowledge workers in relation to the office space and their home workplace. Since the corona period, a lot has changed in the way knowledge workers work. Both offices and employees require more flexibility to carry out work in an efficient but also healthy and enjoyable way. It is important to identify office workers needs with regard to workspaces at the office and at home from a holistic view, in which mental , physical and social aspects play a role. A vital, happy employee is a productive employee.
