Portuguese working group advocacy for intergenerational policies: challenges and results

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Gonçalves ◽  
Alan Hattton-Yeo ◽  
Carla Branco
Keyword(s):  
Social Situation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Advocacy Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Meetings ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the benefits and challenges of the advocacy group for intergenerational policies that was created in Portugal in 2012, the European Year of Active Ageing and solidarity between generations. Design/methodology/approach – The group conducted nine closed group meetings scheduled every three months with an average attendance of five members and six public events bringing together researchers, policy makers, practitioners and civil society. Findings – The group was established as a response to the various social changes happening in Portugal as a consequence of the ageing population, low-birth rate and migration, leading to the need to explore new responses which are based both on the need to promote active ageing and intergenerational solidarity and also the importance of family and state support to multigenerational families as a building block to strengthen communities. Research limitations/implications – The paper sets the context of the changing social situation in Portugal, describes the process used through both closed and public meetings to discuss this and then describes the perspectives of four core groups. Practical implications – Only by pooling resources and thinking intergenerationally will we be able to deliver the opportunities and support that the citizens will need to enable them to age well across the life course. Social implications – Drawing on this and the strong tradition of the family in Portugal it seeks to make the case that an i ntergenerational approach is essential to the countries future social well-being. Originality/value – The creation of the advocacy group created a private space for professionals to explore and strengthen their understanding of the impact of these issues and the potential of approaching policy as an intergenerational issue as one solution.

When I am old I shall wear purple: a qualitative study of the effect of group poetry sessions on the well-being of older adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Seymour ◽  
Michael Murray
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Poetry Reading ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose There is increasing evidence that participation in various art forms can be beneficial for health and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of participating in a poetry reading group on a group of older residents of an assisted living facility. Design/methodology/approach Six poetry sessions, each on a different theme, were conducted with a group of volunteer participants. These sessions, those of pre- and post-study focus groups and interviews with the group facilitator and staff contact were audio-recorded. The transcripts of the recordings were then subjected to a thematic analysis. Findings Overall the participants were enthused by the opportunity to participate in the project and the benefits were confirmed by the support staff. In addition, reading poetry on particular themes promoted different types of discussion. Research limitations/implications The number of participants in this study was small and the study was conducted over a short period of time. Practical implications This paper confirms the impact of poetry reading for older people. The challenge is to explore this impact in more detail and over community as well as residential settings. Originality/value This paper is the first empirical report on the value of poetry reading for older people.

Enhancing social indicators research in a forest-dependent community

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 771-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Parkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Statistical Information ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Measure Change ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Northern Alberta

Forest industry host communities are receiving increased attention from policy makers, academics, and municipal leaders. Recently, this attention is trained on measuring social and economic change at the community level and on identifying and developing avenues to greater community well-being. This paper examines aspects of two common social indicators, employment and migration, in the context of a forest-dependent community in Northern Alberta. By using statistical information along with two other major data sources that include interviews with local residents and a variety of reports from local institutions, specific social changes taking place within the community are described. Readers are cautioned against relying solely on statistical information to measure change and are encouraged to triangulate data with local sources. Such efforts may be more time consuming but the results are likely to provide more important insights into how and why certain communities are prospering while others are struggling. The paper concludes with a discussion of social capital as a crucial dimension of community well-being. Key words: forest-dependent communities, social indicators, employment, migration, mobility, community well-being, social capital

The impact of a refurbishment programme on older people living in sheltered housing

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-64
Author(s):  
Zeibeda (Zeb) Sattar ◽  
Stephanie Wilkie ◽  
Jonathan Ling
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Realist Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Sheltered Housing ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Communal Areas ◽  
Physical Changes ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to explore residents' perceptions of a refurbishment programme to sheltered housing schemes and its impact on their well-being. Design/methodology/approach The methodology draws upon a realist evaluation framework. Four participatory appraisals (PAs) and 19 interviews with residents were conducted in the sheltered housing schemes. Ages of participants ranged from 50 to 99 years. Findings Two categories of residents were identified: healthy active older adults and older frail adults (or over 85+). Residents said their social and emotional well-being improved from the provision of indoor and outdoor communal areas. Older frail residents only accessed the new communal spaces when staff took them in their wheelchairs. The physical changes increased opportunities for social connections for residents. Conservatories and sensory gardens were most popular. Residents felt that structured activities in the new spaces and digital training would improve their social activities. Research limitations/implications The participatory methods spanned over an hour, and some residents felt too tired to complete the full session. Practical implications A practical limitation was that some sensory rooms were not fully completed at the time of the evaluation. Originality/value This paper adds the following: Perceptions of residents of a refurbishment programme in sheltered housing and the impact on their well-being. Perceptions of residents about social activities after a refurbishment programme. Perceptions of residents about the impact of physical changes to their sheltered housing schemes and impact on their internal accessibility to the improvements.

Perceived stress and psychological well-being of working mothers during COVID-19: a mediated moderated roles of teleworking and resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vartika Kapoor ◽  
Jaya Yadav ◽  
Lata Bajpai ◽  
Shalini Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Working Mothers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Inverse Association ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe present study examines the mediating role of teleworking and the moderating role of resilience in explaining the relationship between perceived stress and psychological well-being of working mothers in India. Conservation of resource theory (COR) is taken to support the present study.Design/methodology/approachThe data of 326 respondents has been collected from working mothers in various sectors of Delhi NCR region of India. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for construct validity, and SPSS Macro Process (Hayes) was used for testing the hypotheses.FindingsThe results of the study found an inverse association between perceived stress and psychological well-being. Teleworking acted as a partial mediator and resilience proved to be a significant moderator for teleworking-well-being relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based at Delhi NCR of India, and future studies may be based on a diverse population within the country to generalize the findings in different cultural and industrial contexts. The present work is based only on the psychological well-being of the working mothers, it can be extended to study the organizational stress for both the genders and other demographic variables.Practical implicationsThe study extends the research on perceived stress and teleworking by empirically testing the association between perceived stress and psychological well-being in the presence of teleworking as a mediating variable. The findings suggest some practical implications for HR managers and OD Practitioners. The organizations must develop a plan to support working mothers by providing flexible working hours and arranging online stress management programs for them.Originality/valueAlthough teleworking is studied previously, there is a scarcity of research examining the impact of teleworking on psychological well-being of working mothers in Asian context. It would help in understanding the process that how teleworking has been stressful for working mothers and also deliberate the role of resilience in the relationship between teleworking and psychological well-being due to perceived stress, as it seems a ray of hope in new normal work situations.

Supporting creative ageing through the arts: the impacts and implementation of a creative arts programme for older people

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Chester Evans ◽  
Jennifer Bray ◽  
Claire Garabedian
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Older People ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Standard Format ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on an independent evaluation of a three-year “Creative Ageing” programme, focussing on the impacts for participants and factors promoting successful delivery of sessions. Design/methodology/approach Artists provided feedback through reflective journals and questionnaires, while the views of care staff and participants were also captured in a standard format at the end of each arts session. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified common themes. Findings Twenty-three arts projects were delivered across a range of settings and through diverse art forms including dance, drama, music, visual arts and poetry. They reached nearly 2,200 participants who recorded over 8,100 session attendances in total. Participation in high quality creative experiences improved well-being for older people, as well as increasing social interaction and reducing isolation. Several factors facilitated successful implementation and delivery of the activities, particularly the need to hold planning meetings with staff to provide guidance around participant numbers and suitability, minimising disruption of the sessions and the supportive role of staff during the sessions. Opportunities for reflection enabled artists to address potential challenges and adapt their practice to meet the needs and preferences of participants and to the complexities of diverse settings. Originality/value Previous research has largely focussed on the impact of activities in a single setting. This study supports the role of creative arts in increasing social interaction as an attempt to tackle isolation and loneliness, both for older people living in the community and for those living in a communal setting such as care homes and supported living schemes.

Positive and proactive leadership: disentangling the relationships between stress, resilience, leadership style and leader satisfaction/well-being

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte D. Shelton ◽  
Sascha D. Hein ◽  
Kelly A. Phipps
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Style ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Leadership Behaviors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Process Skills ◽  
Work Process ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Leadership ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to analyze the relationships between leader resilience, leadership style, stress and life satisfaction. It reflects an emerging theoretical framework that positions resilience as a capacity that can be developed vs a response mechanism driven by innate traits. Design/methodology/approach To test three research hypotheses, online survey data were collected from 101 E.M.B.A. alumni of a US-based university using a cross-sectional, correlational research design. The results were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The authors assessed resilience, leadership style, stress and satisfaction/well-being using standardized inventories. Findings The results support previous research that has identified a significant relationship between resilience and positive leadership. Unique to this study, however, is the finding that work process behaviors (e.g. time management, cooperation, receptiveness) rather than traits (e.g. optimism, self-esteem, locus of control) are the resilience factors most associated with a positive leadership style. Work process skills significantly interacted with stress level to moderate leadership style. Additionally, a positive leadership style moderated the impact of stressful life events on leader satisfaction/well-being. Research limitations/implications Key limitations are sample size and the risk of common method variance. Though numerous procedural steps were taken to control for these issues, future research with a larger and more diverse sample is needed. Practical implications Organizational stress is pervasive, and resilience is increasingly recognized as a foundational leadership skill. This study provides empirical data documenting positive relationships between resilience, constructive leadership and leader satisfaction/well-being. This research also identifies work process behaviors (e.g. time management, cooperation and receptiveness) as the primary resiliency factors associated with sustaining positive leadership behaviors in times of stress. These results support previous research findings that have positioned resiliency as a capacity that can be developed, providing further support for investing in resiliency training for leaders. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by analyzing resilience more comprehensively than previous studies. It extends the theoretical understanding of resilience beyond traits using an 160-item inventory that assesses four discrete domains of resilience. The results provide support for the importance of developing process skills in leaders to increase resiliency; thus, increasing the probability, they will model constructive leadership behaviors in times of significant stress.

scholarly journals Examining the spatial relationship between environmental health factors and house prices

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. McCord ◽  
Sean MacIntyre ◽  
Paul Bidanset ◽  
Daniel Lo ◽  
Peadar Davis
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
House Prices ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Purpose Air quality, noise and proximity to urban infrastructure can arguably have an important impact on the quality of life. Environmental quality (the price of good health) has become a central tenet for consumer choice in urban locales when deciding on a residential neighbourhood. Unlike the market for most tangible goods, the market for environmental quality does not yield an observable per unit price effect. As no explicit price exists for a unit of environmental quality, this paper aims to use the housing market to derive its implicit price and test whether these constituent elements of health and well-being are indeed capitalised into property prices and thus implicitly priced in the market place. Design/methodology/approach A considerable number of studies have used hedonic pricing models by incorporating spatial effects to assess the impact of air quality, noise and proximity to noise pollutants on property market pricing. This study presents a spatial analysis of air quality and noise pollution and their association with house prices, using 2,501 sale transactions for the period 2013. To assess the impact of the pollutants, three different spatial modelling approaches are used, namely, ordinary least squares using spatial dummies, a geographically weighted regression (GWR) and a spatial lag model (SLM). Findings The findings suggest that air quality pollutants have an adverse impact on house prices, which fluctuate across the urban area. The analysis suggests that the noise level does matter, although this varies significantly over the urban setting and varies by source. Originality/value Air quality and environmental noise pollution are important concerns for health and well-being. Noise impact seems to depend not only on the noise intensity to which dwellings are exposed but also on the nature of the noise source. This may suggest the presence of other externalities that arouse social aversion. This research presents an original study utilising advanced spatial modelling approaches. The research has value in further understanding the market impact of environmental factors and in providing findings to support local air zone management strategies, noise abatement and management strategies and is of value to the wider urban planning and public health disciplines.

A systematic review of Karen refugee health

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Hoffman ◽  
Cheryl L. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Karen Refugees ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive perspective of the documented physical and mental health issues Karen refugees from Burma face as a result of war and refugee trauma, and migration. The review will address the question: What is the impact of trauma and migration on the physical and mental health of Karen refugees? Design/methodology/approach – A total of 18 articles were systematically selected for inclusion in the final review. The focal content for included articles includes qualitative and quantitative research representative of the health and migration experiences of Karen refugees. Findings – The findings of this review demonstrate significance for health providers from a public health standpoint as programs and services are targeted to meet the specific health needs of the Karen community. It also highlights the contribution of the Karen forced migration experience to the complexity of individual and community health needs, particularly as a result of the protracted conflict. Originality/value – This critical appraisal of the body of literature describing the health experiences of Karen refugees from Burma, with a particular focus on outcomes relevant to resettlement, demonstrates value as programs are developed with an integrated refugee perspective.

Supply chain integration and firm performance: an empirical study of Swedish manufacturing firms

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hooshang M. Beheshti ◽  
Pejvak Oghazi ◽  
Rana Mostaghel ◽  
Magnus Hultman
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Survey Instrument ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Supply Chain Integration ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This article aims to explore the impact of supply chain integration on the financial performance of Swedish manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review provided the foundation for the development of the survey instrument and hypotheses for the study. In addition, the survey instrument was tested by the experts in the field and modified before it was sent to the managers in the survey group. Findings – The findings show that supply chain integration at any level is beneficial to the financial well being of the firm. Companies with total supply chain integration reported the highest level of financial performance. Research limitations/implications – Data were collected from Swedish manufacturing firms without regard to the size of the firm. The results show that supply chain integration is beneficial at any level. Practical implications – The findings will assist managers with decisions regarding supply chain integration and its role as a critical factor in improving the financial performance of manufacturing companies. Originality/value – Limited empirical studies have been conducted in this area, especially in Sweden. This study provides insight for manufacturing managers with regard to the importance of supply chain management and the competitive nature of business in the global market.

scholarly journals Exploring collaboration within social housing retrofit practice for an ageing population: a single case study in the West of Scotland

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayna Rodger ◽  
Nicola Callaghan ◽  
Craig Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Social Housing ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Infrastructure ◽  
The Social

Purpose Sustainably addressing the social and economic demands from an ageing population is a major global challenge, with significant implications for policy and practice. This is resultant of the increasing demand for housing adaptations to prevent increased pressure upon acute health services. Through the lens of institutional theory, this paper aims to explore the levels of joined-up retrofit practice within a Scottish social housing provider, under a constructivist approach. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory single case study of a Scottish local authority was undertaken. Within this, nine key stakeholders were interviewed, taking a hierarchical approach, from director to repair and maintenance staff. Results were analysed by using Braun and Clarke’s six stages of thematic analysis. Findings There is a need for greater levels of integration within retrofit practice to not only improve the health and well-being of the older population but also increase efficiency and economic savings within public services. Currently, there are key issues surrounding silo-based decision-making, poor data infrastructure, power struggles and a dereliction of built environment knowledge and expertise, preventing both internal and external collaboration. However, housing, energy and health have interlinking agendas which are integral to achieving ageing in place. Therefore, there must be system-wide recognition of the potential benefits of improved cross-sector collaboration, preventing unintended consequences whilst providing socioeconomic outcomes. Originality/value This research provides a new perspective surrounding retrofit practice within the context of an ageing population. It highlights the requirement for improved cross sector collaboration and the social and economic cost of poor quality practice.

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