scholarly journals Impact of Telework On the Perceived Work Environment of Older Workers

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
René Arvola ◽  
Piia Tint ◽  
Ülo Kristjuhan ◽  
Virve Siirak

Abstract Telework has become a natural part of regular work life of employees who use the information communication technology (ICT). Telework has a potential to support postponing retirement for mental workers. The objective of this research was to find out interaction between senior employees′ teleworking and well-being. The main research question was - can telework improve elderly employees′ well-being? Over 100 respondents from different areas in mental work were involved in a quantitative survey. The results of a conducted survey showed that telework is exaggerated to some extent as teleworkers’ well-being (M = 7.79; SD = 1.28) does not diverge from non-teleworkers′ wellbeing (M = 7.75; SD = 1.40). However, telework can be neither underestimated nor taken as interchangeable with traditional work. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to telework as a different way of working with its specialties. Systematic approach to telework enables companies to employ elderly by providing diversity of work forms.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariba Mostajeran ◽  
Jessica Krzikawski ◽  
Frank Steinicke ◽  
Simone Kühn

AbstractA large number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of natural environments on people’s health and well-being. For people who have limited access to nature (e.g., elderly in nursing homes, hospital patients, or jail inmates), virtual representations may provide an alternative to benefit from the illusion of a natural environment. For this purpose and in most previous studies, conventional photos of nature have been used. Immersive virtual reality (VR) environments, however, can induce a higher sense of presence compared to conventional photos. Whether this higher sense of presence leads to increased positive impacts of virtual nature exposure is the main research question of this study. Therefore, we compared exposure to a forest and an urban virtual environment in terms of their respective impact on mood, stress, physiological reactions, and cognition. The environments were presented via a head-mounted display as (1) conventional photo slideshows or (2) 360$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ videos. The results show that the forest environment had a positive effect on cognition and the urban environment disturbed mood regardless of the mode of presentation. In addition, photos of either urban or forest environment were both more effective in reducing physiological arousal compared to immersive 360$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ videos.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Robyn Browne

<p>The New Zealand government faces substantive challenges in meeting both the health and education needs of a significant number of our children who are vulnerable to alienation and inform the statistics of mental health distress and academic underachievement. The New Zealand Ministry of Education acknowledges that the education system is not meeting the needs of its most disadvantaged young people. This research explored whether a programme of meditative breathing might contribute to the alleviation of this situation by supporting the development of self-regulation and well-being in students. It also sought to enable student agency by adding nuanced student voice to the literature in this field. While there is an increasing number of peer-reviewed studies in this field, there are few studies that encourage the participants to describe their experiences directly in their own words or images. The main research question was ‘What are student’s experience of guided meditative breathing?’ The sub-questions were ‘Does it contribute to their wellbeing?’ and ‘Does it contribute to their learning?’. Students participated in a ten-week programme of daily meditative breathing. Data was collected from the weekly cogenerative dialogue, journals, from a heuristic and teacher recorded reflections with a three-month follow-up. The meditative breathing intervention intervention was described by students and the classroom teacher as leading to a calmer and more peaceful classroom climate. They indicated reduced anxiety, increased clarity of thinking, improved self-regulation and engagement. A number of students described taking the skills that they had learned in the programme and regularly applying them in other contexts. Implications for teachers and teacher training are discussed.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Tuuli Turja ◽  
Oxana Krutova ◽  
Harri Melin

During COVID-19, telework has become a new form of work for broader groups of workers who were not teleworking prior to the pandemic. In this study, we ask what we will be returning to after COVID-19, if teleworking will become a new norm or if most workplaces will merely return to the old forms of work. The main research question of this study was to estimate the role of telework in perception of workload. More specifically, to gain an understanding of the stakes involved when reorganizing work after the pandemic, we analysed the relationship between perceived workload and opportunities to telework. Multilevel analysis utilized representative national data of wage earners in Finland (N = 4091). The findings showed that the opportunity to telework is associated with lower perceived workload in the capital area but not in the rural areas. More specifically, increasing telework opportunities among different-level workers, particularly in educational and social work in the capital area, would be beneficial in terms of increasing well-being at work. There could be good reasons for organizations to reject returning to the status quo ex ante after COVID-19 and to consider the new norm, where opportunities to telework are offered to wider worker groups.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Robyn Browne

<p>The New Zealand government faces substantive challenges in meeting both the health and education needs of a significant number of our children who are vulnerable to alienation and inform the statistics of mental health distress and academic underachievement. The New Zealand Ministry of Education acknowledges that the education system is not meeting the needs of its most disadvantaged young people. This research explored whether a programme of meditative breathing might contribute to the alleviation of this situation by supporting the development of self-regulation and well-being in students. It also sought to enable student agency by adding nuanced student voice to the literature in this field. While there is an increasing number of peer-reviewed studies in this field, there are few studies that encourage the participants to describe their experiences directly in their own words or images. The main research question was ‘What are student’s experience of guided meditative breathing?’ The sub-questions were ‘Does it contribute to their wellbeing?’ and ‘Does it contribute to their learning?’. Students participated in a ten-week programme of daily meditative breathing. Data was collected from the weekly cogenerative dialogue, journals, from a heuristic and teacher recorded reflections with a three-month follow-up. The meditative breathing intervention intervention was described by students and the classroom teacher as leading to a calmer and more peaceful classroom climate. They indicated reduced anxiety, increased clarity of thinking, improved self-regulation and engagement. A number of students described taking the skills that they had learned in the programme and regularly applying them in other contexts. Implications for teachers and teacher training are discussed.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo Indjov ◽  
◽  
◽  

The study seeks an answer to the current problem of the deepening global crisis of classic media business models in the digital age and the need to seek sustainable new forms of financing. This state of the journalistic media, resp. of quality journalism is the result of competition from the Internet and major online platforms, but also from acute financial crises, the most recent one caused by Covid-19. They hit the two market foundations of the media company the hardest – advertising and sales. Financially afflicted media repel citizens and are a direct threat to democracy. Weakened, they fall under external dependence, and cannot control the politicians and those in power; neither can they oppose the viral spread of misinformation and fake news on social media. The main research question is “Is it possible – and in what way – to save the media financially in the digital age?” 13 current media-financing models with an emphasis on digital media have been studied - beyond advertising, classified ads etc., which until recently ensured the well-being of the press and television. Two different media business models were also considered: taz – a successful German left-wing alternative newspaper based on cooperative ownership and a solidary model of attracting readers, and “Capital” – a Bulgarian business-oriented medium that successfully applies new forms of financing. Both editions focus on digital transition. The elements of comparison show that for several reasons the “taz model”, which provides a much more direct and emotional connection with the readership, is not applicable to Bulgaria in the medium term. The main conclusion of the study is that in order to survive in the digital age, journalistic media must have a flexible pluralistic funding model. Depending on the nature of the media, its target groups and the specifics of society, it may contain only part or a wider range of the following main sources of funding: market; state / public funding; structures of civil society and citizens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Musavengana WT Chibwana

SUMMARY It has been 30 years since the adoption of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. This article takes the opportunity to reflect on where the child rights discourse is going to allow for proactivity in addressing emerging challenges and changing child rights context on the African continent. Using positional reflexivity as the methodology, I identify what I call six transformative promptings which are engendering a shift to the child rights discourse. I argue that for the discourse to be more erudite in ensuring the protection as well as well-being for children on the African continent, these six issues must be seriously considered. The first issue is a shift from child rights alterity to trans-disciplinarity. The second issue involves the evolution of the child rights promotional obligation. The third issue is on the nexus between exponential urbanisation on the African continent and fulfilment of children 's rights. The fourth issue is on the rise of the nebulous information communication technology. The fifth issue is on addressing cross border child rights violations and lastly the small matter of financing child rights using domestic resource mobilisation. Key words: positional reflexivity; children's rights; African Children's Charter


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 250-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara A. Palmer ◽  
Meagan A. Ramsey ◽  
Jennifer N. Morey ◽  
Amy L. Gentzler

Abstract. Research suggests that sharing positive events with others is beneficial for well-being, yet little is known about how positive events are shared with others and who is most likely to share their positive events. The current study expanded on previous research by investigating how positive events are shared and individual differences in how people share these events. Participants (N = 251) reported on their likelihood to share positive events in three ways: capitalizing (sharing with close others), bragging (sharing with someone who may become jealous or upset), and mass-sharing (sharing with many people at once using communication technology) across a range of positive scenarios. Using cluster analysis, five meaningful profiles of sharing patterns emerged. These profiles were associated with gender, Big Five personality traits, narcissism, and empathy. Individuals who tended to brag when they shared their positive events were more likely to be men, reported less agreeableness, less conscientiousness, and less empathy, whereas those who tended to brag and mass-share reported the highest levels of narcissism. These results have important theoretical and practical implications for the growing body of research on sharing positive events.


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