scholarly journals Playwork in prison as a mechanism to support family health and well-being

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (7) ◽  
pp. 842-852
Author(s):  
James Woodall ◽  
Karina Kinsella
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Health ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Family Outcomes ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Objective: The health of the prison population is of increasing concern, given the disproportionate rates of ill health in this population. Moreover, the challenges faced by prisoners’ families and their children are also becoming more apparent, with prisoners’ children being more likely than other children to experience mental and emotional health problems and more likely to go to prison themselves. Prison visits are an integral part of institutional structures and are a key way by which families stay in contact and mitigate against the negative effects of family separation. This paper focuses particularly on the impact of prison play visits as an alternative to ‘standard’ visiting procedures. Design: Cross-sectional qualitative study. Setting: A male prison in Northern England. Method: Telephone interviews with six prison visitors who had regularly participated in a play visit, plus a focus group with five prisoners. Results: The paper identifies play visits as a useful way to maintain family well-being as they ‘mimic’, albeit temporarily, domestic life. This is reported to be beneficial for future family outcomes and in enabling children to adjust to parental incarceration. Play visits improve levels of intimacy, which is beneficial for the mental and emotional health of both prisoners and their children. Conclusion: The paper argues for a more holistic notion of prisoner health that sees family connections as a key part of supporting health and well-being.

scholarly journals Veteran Status Matters! Life Course Perspectives on the Health and Well-Being of Aging Veterans

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 636-636
Author(s):  
Avron Spiro
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Vietnam Veterans ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Combat Veterans ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Veteran Status ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Military service during early life can result in exposure to traumatic events that can reverberate throughout life. Although much attention is focused on the negative effects of military service, many veterans report positive effects. These papers explore life course effects of military service on veterans’ health and well-being. Three used national US longitudinal cohorts (HRS, MIDUS); two sampled veterans from Oregon or from Korea. Three compared veterans to non-veterans; two examined veterans only. Cheng and colleagues found that veterans in HRS are more likely to be risk-averse than non-veterans. Risk aversion matters because it determines how people make decisions and predicts a wide array of health and economic outcomes. Kurth and colleagues examined Oregon veterans from several wars, finding PTSD symptoms were highest among Vietnam combat veterans, the oldest cohort; there were no differences among non-combat veterans. Piazza and colleagues examined in MIDUS the impact of veteran status on cortisol, a stress biomarker, finding older veterans more likely had non-normative patterns than did younger or non-veterans. Lee and colleagues studied patterns of mental health among Korean Vietnam veterans, identifying two patterns as ‘normal’ and ‘resilient’ encompassing half the sample; these veterans demonstrated positive outcomes of military service. Frochen and colleagues compared depression trajectories between veterans and non-veterans in HRS, finding veterans had less depression than non-veterans, but among veterans, trajectories varied based on extent of service. in sum, these papers demonstrate that military service can have positive as well as negative effects on veterans’ health and well-being in later life. Aging Veterans: Effects of Military Service across the Life Course Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

The Role of the Supervisor in Creating and Maintaining an Emotionally Healthy Workplace

2022 ◽  
pp. 1715-1730
Author(s):  
Amy Tureen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Organizational Cultures ◽  
Educational Model ◽  
Positional Power ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Supervisors, be they employed in higher education or in other industries, operate in capacities that allow them to shape organizational cultures within their departments, divisions, colleges, or broader units. Within the higher educational model, this means that supervisors are uniquely placed to counteract negative elements within the culture of academia, which historically has tended to prioritize individual competitive output, with alternative models that may offer improvements to the emotional health and well-being of higher education employees. This chapter seeks to describe the impact of stress on the health of workers, the employment stressors that are unique to higher education, and the processes by which supervisors in higher education can use their positional power to counteract said stressors and improve academic organizational cultures. The chapter includes practical suggestions for supervisors to enhance wellness and decrease emotional harm in scenarios common to the higher education workplace as identified via social media crowdsourcing.

scholarly journals Spirituality and Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior among Latino Men and Women in Massachusetts

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie J. Silfee ◽  
Christina F. Haughton ◽  
Stephenie C. Lemon ◽  
Vilma Lora ◽  
Milagros C. Rosal
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Latino Men ◽  
Hispanic Adults ◽  
Sectional Analysis ◽  
The Impact

<p class="Pa7"><strong>Objective: </strong>To examine the relationships be­tween spirituality and physical activity and sedentary behavior in a sample of Latino adults in Massachusetts.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Design: </strong>This is a cross-sectional analysis of the Lawrence Health and Well Being Study; a study that was conducted among patients at the Greater Lawrence Family Health Cen­ter (GLFHC) in Lawrence, Massachusetts.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Participants: </strong>602 Latino or Hispanic adults aged 21 to 85 years completed the study.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Results: </strong>There was a significant nega­tive relationship between spirituality and sedentary behavior (β= -.12, p = .004). Although not statistically significant, higher spirituality was associated with increased odds of engaging in physical activity. There were no significant associations between spirituality and physical activity among men or women. Men with greater spirituality were significantly less sedentary (β = -.17, P = .005). There was no relationship between sedentary behavior and spirituality among women.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study found that indi­viduals who are more spiritual are also less sedentary, and this association was stronger in men than women. Findings provide insight for developing future interventions to promote activity in this high-risk popula­tion, which has been greatly understudied. Future research endeavors should consider investigating the impact of spirituality-based messages to reduce sedentary behavior among Latinos.</p><p><em>Ethn Dis. </em>2017;27(1):3-10; doi:10.18865/ed.27.1.3.</p>

scholarly journals Health and Well-Being of Athletes During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raven Haan ◽  
Mariyam Essa Ali Alblooshi ◽  
Dawood Hasan Syed ◽  
Khaled Khalifa Dougman ◽  
Hashel Al Tunaiji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Stress ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Professional Athletes ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Longitudinal Outcome ◽  
Stress Dependent ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Background: The ongoing global pandemic has become the world's leading health problem, causing massive public fear and concern. Reports suggest that athletes are seeking mental health support, showing the pressures of boredom, and tension associated with their anticipated social isolation. The current study seeks to evaluate the evidence regarding the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on occupational stress in professional athletes.Method: A scoping review was conducted. A comprehensive search involving Embase and PubMed databases was conducted using a combination of the following key words: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, and athletes. In this study, articles were retained if they were original studies reporting on the impact of the pandemic on professional athletes.Results: Nine studies were identified as they investigated the impact of the pandemic on athletes. Most were observational and cross-sectional, and one was longitudinal. Outcome measures mainly investigated were level of depression, anxiety, and stress. Dependent variables were physical activity, nutrition, mental state, sleep quality, individual well-being, social identity, exclusivity, negative affectivity, alcohol consumption, psychological distress, and gambling habits.Conclusions: This review highlights the need for proactive engagement with professional athletes, coaches, trainers, and sports councils to facilitate understanding and awareness-raising, process optimization, and delivery of consistent training and psychosocial aid and occupational therapy programs that maintain the health and well-being of athletes while minimizing occupational stress during a pandemic.

scholarly journals Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and initial period of lockdown on the mental health and well-being of adults in the UK

BJPsych Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross G. White ◽  
Catharina Van Der Boor
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Summary The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being were assessed in a convenience sample of 600 UK adults, using a cross-sectional design. Recruited over 2 weeks during the initial phase of lockdown, participants completed an online survey that included COVID-19-related questions, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the World Health Organization (Five) Well-Being Index and the Oxford Capabilities Questionnaire for Mental Health. Self-isolating before lockdown, increased feelings of isolation since lockdown and having COVID-19-related livelihood concerns were associated with poorer mental health, well-being and quality of life. Perceiving increased kindness, community connectedness and being an essential worker were associated with better mental health and well-being outcomes.

scholarly journals A longitudinal study of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on students’ health behavior, mental health and emotional well-being

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12528
Author(s):  
Peter R. Reuter ◽  
Bridget L. Forster ◽  
Bethany J. Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Health Behavior ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Impact

Background COVID-related restrictions impacted the lives of students on and off campus during Academic Year 2020/2021. Methods Our study collected data on student health behavior and habits as well as their mental and emotional health using anonymous surveys. We compared these data with data collected prior to COVID in the longitudinal part of our study (n = 721) and analyzed them for the cross-sectional part of the study (n = 506). Results The longitudinal data show a significant difference for some student behaviors and habits, such as sleeping habits, physical activity, breakfast consumption, time spent online or playing video games, vaping, and marijuana use, during the COVID pandemic compared with pre-COVID data. Respondents also reported a significant increase in difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions, as well as being impacted by feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Yet, there was no increase in the proportion of respondents considering, planning or attempting suicide during COVID. The cross-sectional data illuminate the negative effect of the overall situation and the restrictions on students’ mental and emotional well-being. Three-quarters of respondents reported having craved human interaction during the past six months, more than half felt that their mental/emotional health had been impacted by the lack of social events or the switch to virtual (online) teaching. Two-thirds or more of respondents also expressed that they felt less connected to their peers and less motivated in their studies than in previous semesters. Fifty percent or more of respondents selected anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, disconnected, tired, and fatigued as words that best described their emotional state during the pandemic. Conclusions The impact of COVID-related restrictions on students’ behaviors and habits as well as their mental and emotional health was less severe than one would have expected based on studies during the early stage of the pandemic. While some behaviors and habits changed during the COVID pandemic compared with the pre-COVID period, the changes were not substantial overall. Our study did not find an increase in the proportion of respondents considering, planning or attempting suicide during COVID, although the cross-sectional data from our survey make the negative effect of the overall situation and the restrictions on students’ mental and emotional well-being evident. The impact of the pandemic will unquestionably be long-lasting and will necessitate further and future investigations.

scholarly journals Can a collective-impact initiative improve well-being in three US communities? Findings from a prospective repeated cross-sectional study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e048378
Author(s):  
Carley Riley ◽  
Brita Roy ◽  
Veronica Lam ◽  
Kerianne Lawson ◽  
Lauren Nakano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Collective Impact ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Perceived Impacts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Improve Health

IntroductionCommunities are seeking to learn if and how they can improve the well-being of their residents. We therefore examined the impact of a community-led, collective-impact initiative, deployed through Blue Zones Project by Sharecare, aimed at improving health and well-being in one set of US communities.MethodsWe used data from cross-sectional surveys of the Well-Being Index (2010–2017) to assess how the Life Evaluation Index (LEI) in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach in California (Beach Cities) changed over time and how this change compares with change for similar cities (Beach Cities-like) and for the USA as a whole. We examined types of interventions, perceived impacts, and relationships between intervention type and change in LEI.ResultsThe Beach Cities experienced greater increases in LEI than Beach Cities-like communities and the nation. The entire portfolio of interventions was positively associated with change in LEI in the Beach Cities (+1.12, p=0.012), with process-oriented interventions most closely associated with improvement.ConclusionsCommunity-led collective action that leverages community engagement and activation, strategic use of programming and large-scale built-environment and policy change can improve health and well-being at scale.

The Role of the Supervisor in Creating and Maintaining an Emotionally Healthy Workplace

2021 ◽  
pp. 246-261
Author(s):  
Amy Tureen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Organizational Cultures ◽  
Educational Model ◽  
Positional Power ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Supervisors, be they employed in higher education or in other industries, operate in capacities that allow them to shape organizational cultures within their departments, divisions, colleges, or broader units. Within the higher educational model, this means that supervisors are uniquely placed to counteract negative elements within the culture of academia, which historically has tended to prioritize individual competitive output, with alternative models that may offer improvements to the emotional health and well-being of higher education employees. This chapter seeks to describe the impact of stress on the health of workers, the employment stressors that are unique to higher education, and the processes by which supervisors in higher education can use their positional power to counteract said stressors and improve academic organizational cultures. The chapter includes practical suggestions for supervisors to enhance wellness and decrease emotional harm in scenarios common to the higher education workplace as identified via social media crowdsourcing.

Criminal Orders of Protection for Domestic Violence: Associated Revictimization, Mental Health, and Well-being Among Victims

2019 ◽  
pp. 088626051988386
Author(s):  
Tami P. Sullivan ◽  
Nicole H. Weiss ◽  
Jacqueline Woerner ◽  
Janan Wyatt ◽  
Camille Carey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Depression Symptom ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Criminal Protection ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

All states issue criminal protection orders (POs) with the intention of improving the lives of victims of domestic violence (DV); however, there is a dearth of research examining their impact. This study aims to examine the impact of criminal POs with different levels of restrictions on victims’ revictimization, mental health, and well-being. A cross-sectional design was used to collect data regarding two time points during one interview among a sample of 298 victims in a criminal DV case. Across the three levels of PO restrictions (limited, residential stay-away, and full no-contact), participants reported significantly reduced physical, sexual, and psychological DV; unwanted pursuit behavior; post-traumatic stress and depression symptom severity; and perceived stress and fear of revictimization. The amount of change varied between groups for revictimization variables. Full no-contact restrictions were associated with the greatest decreases in revictimization. However, findings must be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity in victims’ experiences; some victims experienced an increase in revictimization and mental health problems and a decrease in well-being. Findings suggest that the court, through criminal POs, may be a system through which to reach victims who might not otherwise connect with services to promote safety and resilience.

scholarly journals A Cross-Sectional Survey on the Impact of Irrelevant Speech Noise on Annoyance, Mental Health and Well-being, Performance and Occupants’ Behavior in Shared and Open-Plan Offices

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Di Blasio ◽  
Louena Shtrepi ◽  
Giuseppina Puglisi ◽  
Arianna Astolfi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Irrelevant Speech ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

This cross-sectional survey has compared subjective outcomes obtained from workers in shared (2–5 occupants) and open-plan (+5 occupants) offices, related to irrelevant speech, which is the noise that is generated from conversations between colleagues, telephone calls and laughter. Answers from 1078 subjects (55% in shared offices and 45% in open-plan offices) have shown that irrelevant speech increases noise annoyance, decreases work performance, and increases symptoms related to mental health and well-being more in open-plan than in shared offices. Workers often use headphones with music to contrast irrelevant speech in open-plan offices, while they take a break, change their working space, close the door or work from home in shared offices. Being female, when there are more than 20 occupants, and working in southern cities without acoustic treatments in the office, make it more likely for the occupants to be annoyed by irrelevant speech noise in open-plan offices. While, working in southern cities and with acoustic treatments in the office makes it more likely that noise annoyance will be reported in shared offices. Finally, more than 70% of the interviewed in open-plan offices were willing to reduce their voice volumes when advised by a noise monitoring system with a lighting feedback.

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