Considering recent calls for change towards a more liveable tourism academia, critical participatory action research is combined with duoethnography to develop The Academic Line—a humorous comic project about academic life. Traditional theories of humour are used to leverage the effectiveness of comics as communicative devices and explored how and to what extent the project promoted solidarity, reflexivity, well-being, and change. This study reveals the concrete commitment to fostering change within and potentially improving academia, and to experiment with a form of communication, which is still underexplored in the scholarly sphere but fruitfully applied in other contexts to raise awareness of and prompt discussion about crucially important issues.
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ABSTRACT Objectives To examine the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and well-being of mental health professionals (MHPs) in the Netherlands and understand their needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design and setting A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted with MHPs from the Netherlands from June 2020 to October 2020, consisting of an online survey and three online focus group discussions. Participants Participants were MHPs from various occupational groups (psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, developmental education workers, etc). Primary and secondary outcome measures The online survey included questions about work-related changes due to COVID-19 perceived resilience to stress, changes in lifestyle behaviours and mental health symptoms. The focus group discussions focused mostly on work experiences during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results MHP’s reported an increase in experience workload during the pandemic (mean score 8.04 based on a scale of 1-10) compared to before the pandemic (mean score of 7). During the first wave of the pandemic, 50% of respondents reported increased stress, 32% increased sleeping problems and 24% increased mental health problems. Adverse occupational (eg, increased workload OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.28–2.32), psychological (eg, life satisfaction OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.52–0.75), lifestyle (eg, increased sleep problems OR 2.80, 95% CI 2.07–3.80) and physical factors (decline in physical health OR 3.56, 95% CI 2.61–4.85) were associated with a decline in mental health. Participants expressed significant concern in the focus group discussions about the duration of the pandemic, the high workload, less work-life balance and lack of contact with colleagues. Suggestions to improve working conditions included ensuring clear communication about guidelines and facilitating worker contact and support via peer-to- peer coaching where experiences can be shared. Conclusions The current study indicates that MHP experienced a decline in mental health status during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which should be taken into consideration by employers, policymakers and researchers.
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Background: Up to one third of all stroke patients suffer fromone or more psychosocial impairments. Recognition and treatment of these impairments are essential in improving psychosocial well-being after stroke. Although nurses are ideally positioned to address psychosocial well-being, they often feel insecure about providing the needed psychosocial care. Therefore, we expect that providing nurses with better knowledge to deliver this care could lead to an improvement in psychosocialwell-being after stroke. Currently it is not knownwhich interventions are effective and what aspects of these interventions are most effective to improve psychosocial wellbeing after stroke. Objective: To identify potentially effective interventions – and intervention components – which can be delivered by nurses to improve patients' psychosocial well-being after stroke. Methods: A systematic review and data synthesis of randomized controlled trials and quasi experimental studies was conducted. Papers were included according to the following criteria: 1) before-after design, 2) all types of stroke patients, 3) interventions that can be delivered by nurses, 4) the primary outcome(s) were psychosocial. PubMed, Embase, PsychInfo, CINAHL and Cochrane library were searched (August 2019–April 2022). Articles were selected based on title, abstract, full text and quality. Quality was assessed by using Joanna Briggs Institute checklists and a standardized data extraction form developed by Joanna Brigss Institute was used to extract the data. Results: In total 60 studies were included, of which 52 randomized controlled trials, three non-randomized controlled trials, four quasi-experimental studies, and one randomized cross-over study. Nineteen studies had a clear psychosocial content, twenty-nine a partly psychosocial content, and twelve no psychosocial content. Thirty-nine interventions that showed positive effects on psychosocial well-being after stroke were identified. Effective intervention topics were found to be mood, recovery, coping, emotions, consequences/problems after stroke, values and needs, risk factors and secondary prevention, self-management, andmedicationmanagement. Active information and physical exercise were identified as effective methods of delivery. Discussion: The results suggest that interventions to improve psychosocial well-being should include the intervention topics and methods of delivery that were identified as effective. Since effectiveness of the intervention can depend on the interaction of intervention components, these interactions should be studied. Nurses and patients should be involved in the development of such interventions to ensure it can be used by nurses and will help improve patients' psychosocial well-being.
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How well-being changes over the course of a vacation is unclear. Particular understudied areas include the eudaimonic dimension of well-being, the comparison between eudaimonia and hedonia, and the role of activity type. Using an integrated model, two studies which combined survey and experiment were conducted to examine the change patterns of eudaimonia and hedonia, the difference of change patterns between eudaimonia and hedonia, and the moderating role of activity type. Hedonia and eudaimonia both significantly changed via a ‘first rise then fall’ change tendency over the course of a vacation. Compared to hedonia, eudaimonia has lower change intensity over the course of a vacation; eudaimonia achieved in a challenging (vs. relaxing) activity is more. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
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At a time when the population is ageing and most people choose to live in their own home for as long as possible, it is important to consider various aspects of supportive and comfortable environments for housing. This study, conducted in South Australia, aims to provide information about the links between the type of housing in which older people live, the weather and occupants’ heating and cooling behaviours as well as their health and well-being. The study used a Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system to survey 250 people aged 65 years and over who lived in their own home. The respondents were recruited from three regions representing the three climate zones in South Australia: semi-arid, warm temperate and temperate. The results show that while the majority of respondents reported being in good health, many lived in dwellings with minimal shading and no wall insulation and appeared to rely on the use of heaters and coolers to achieve thermally comfortable conditions. Concerns over the cost of heating and cooling were shared among the majority of respondents and particularly among people with low incomes. Findings from this study highlight the importance of providing information to older people, carers, designers and policy makers about the interrelationships between weather, housing design, heating and cooling behaviours, thermal comfort, energy use and health and well-being, in order to support older people to age in place independently and healthily. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.03.023 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jvhoof1980/
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Hospitalisation is stressful for children. Play material is often offered for distraction and comfort. Weexplored how contact with social robot PLEO could positively affect a child’s well-being. To this end, we performed a multiple case study on the paediatric ward of two hospitals. Child life specialists offered PLEO as a therapeutic activity to children in a personalised way for a well-being related purpose in three to five play like activity sessions during hospital visits/stay. Robot–child interaction was observed; care professionals, children and parents were interviewed. Applying direct content analysis revealed six categories of interest: interaction with PLEO, role of the adults, preferences for PLEO, PLEO as buddy, attainment of predetermined goal(s) and deployment of PLEO. Four girls and five boys, aged 4–13, had PLEO offered as a relief from stress or boredom or for physical stimulation. All but one started interacting with PLEO and showed behaviours like hugging, caring or technical exploration, promoting relaxation, activation and/or making contact. Interaction with PLEO contributed to achieving the well-being related purpose for six of them. PLEO was perceived as attractive to elicit play. Although data are limited, promising results emerge that the well-being of hospitalised children might be fostered by a personalised PLEO offer.
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Sensors in offices mainly measure environmental data, missing qualitative insights into office workers’ perceptions. This opens the opportunity for active individual participation in data collection. To promote reflection on office well-being while overcoming experience sampling challenges in terms of privacy, notification, and display overload, and in-the-moment data collection, we developed Click-IO. Click-IO is a tangible, privacy-sensitive, mobile experience sampling tool that collects contextual information. We evaluated Click-IO for 20-days. The system enabled real-time reflections for office workers, promoting self-awareness of their environment and well-being. Its non-digital design ensured privacy-sensitive feedback collection, while its mobility facilitated in-the-moment feedback. Based on our findings, we identify design recommendations for the evelopment of mobile experience sampling tools. Moreover, the integration of contextual data with environmental sensor data presented a more comprehensive understanding of individuals’ experiences. This research contributes to the development of experience sampling tools and sensor integration for understanding office well-being.
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Office well-being aims to explore and support a healthy, balanced and active work style in office environments. Recent work on tangible user interfaces has started to explore the role of physical, tangible interfaces as active interventions to explore how to tackle problems such as inactive work and lifestyles, and increasingly sedentary behaviours. We identify a fragmented research landscape on tangible Office well-being interventions, missing the relationship between interventions, data, design strategies, and outcomes, and behaviour change techniques. Based on the analysis of 40 papers, we identify 7 classifications in tangible Office well-being interventions and analyse the intervention based on their role and foundation in behaviour change. Based on the analysis, we present design considerations for the development of future tangible Office well-being design interventions and present an overview of the current field and future research into tangible Office well-being interventions to design for a healthier and active office environment.
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Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the occupational well-being among employees with chronic diseases, and the buffering effect of four job resources, possibly offering targets to enhance occupational well-being.Method: This cross-sectional study (N = 1951) was carried out among employees in educational and (semi-)governmental organizations in the Netherlands. The dimensions of the survey were chronic diseases (i.e., physical, mental, or both physical and mental), occupational well-being (i.e., work ability, burnout complaints, and work engagement), and job resources (i.e., autonomy, social support by colleagues, supportive leadership style, and open and communicative culture). First, it was analyzed if chronic diseases were associated with occupational well-being. Second, it was analyzed if each of the four job resources would predict better occupational well-being. Third, possible moderation effects between the chronic disease groups and each job resource on occupational well-being were examined. Regression analyses were used, controlling for age.Results: Each chronic disease group was associated with a lower work ability. However, higher burnout complaints and a lower work engagement were only predicted by the group with mental chronic diseases and by the group with both physical and mental chronic disease(s). Furthermore, all four job resources predicted lower burnout complaints and higher work engagement, while higher work ability was only predicted by autonomy and a supportive leadership style. Some moderation effects were observed. Autonomy buffered the negative relationship between the chronic disease groups with mental conditions (with or without physical conditions) and work ability, and the positive relationship between the group with both physical and mental chronic disease(s) and burnout complaints. Furthermore, a supportive leadership style is of less benefit for occupational well-being among the employees with mental chronic diseases (with or without physical chronic diseases) compared to the group employees without chronic diseases. No buffering was demonstrated for social support of colleagues and an open and communicative organizational culture.Conclusion: Autonomy offers opportunities to reinforce occupational well-being among employees with mental chronic diseases. A supportive leadership style needs more investigation to clarify why this job resource is less beneficial for employees with mental chronic diseases than for the employees without chronic diseases.
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Despite growing popular interest for the mental health of electronic music artists, scientific research addressing this topic has remained largely absent. As such, the aim of the current study was to examine the mental health of electronic music artists, as well as a number of determinants. Using a cross-sectional quantitative design, a total of 163 electronic music artists participated in this study. In line with the two-continua model of mental health, both symptoms of depression/anxiety and well-being were adopted as indicators for mental health. Furthermore, standardized measures were used to assess potential determinants of mental health, including sleep disturbance, music performance anxiety, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, occupational stress, resilience, and social support. Results highlighted that around 30% of participants experienced symptoms of depression/anxiety. Nevertheless, the majority of these participants still demonstrated at least moderate levels of functioning and well-being. Sleep disturbance formed a significant predictor for both symptoms of depression/anxiety and well-being. Furthermore, resilience and social support were significant predictors for well-being. The results provide a first glimpse into the mental health challenges experienced by electronic music artists and support the need for increased research as well as applied initiatives directed at safeguarding their mental health.
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