scholarly journals Garden Smellscape–Experiences of Plant Scents in a Nature-Based Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna María Pálsdóttir ◽  
Sara Spendrup ◽  
Lennart Mårtensson ◽  
Karin Wendin

This study explores how participants suffering from stress-related mental disorders describe their perception, interaction, and lived experience of garden smellscape during their nature-based rehabilitation. Natural elements, and especially nature smells, have been found to have a profound effect on stress reduction, suggesting an interesting link between odor in nature and stress reduction. The study was conducted as a longitudinal case-study, running over a period of 5 years, investigating participants’ perceptions of a garden smellscape, after completing a 12-weeks nature-based rehabilitation in Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden, Sweden. All participants were treated for stress-related mental disorders. Data were collected through retrospective semi-structured individual interviews and analyzed according to interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results revealed in what way nature odor (odor in nature) evoked associations, emotions, and physical reactions and provide examples of how nature scents function as a catalyst for sensory awareness and memories. Findings supported the understanding that experiencing the smell of plants, especially pelargonium, may facilitate stress reduction and support mental recovery in a real-life context. The results of the study can be used for several purposes; thus, they are relevant for actors within the development of nature-based therapy, as well as stakeholders within the horticultural industry.

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Eduardo Castro

Researchers have increasingly been interested in the complex and dynamic character of motivation. Recent studies point out the complex fluctuation of motivation in a situated perspective, as in a language classroom. However, little is known on how motivation evolves in out-of-class contexts, as in advising in language learning context. The present paper aims to explore the dynamics of motivation to learn English of an advisee. Data of this longitudinal case study were collected through a motivational grid combined with advisor’s diaries and an in-depth interview, which were analyzed following the interpretative phenomenological analysis procedures. Results revealed that task complexity, tiredness, sense of competence, teachers and peers contributed to the fluctuation of the participant’s motivation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Susan Hayles

Purpose This paper aims to explore the outputs of an internship programme, one of a number of campus-based sustainability activities that have been introduced at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, to encourage student-led campus-based greening initiatives. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach was undertaken, allowing the researcher to investigate the programme in its real-life context. The researcher used multiple sources of evidence to gain as holistic a picture as possible. Findings Interns report positive changes in their behaviours towards sustainability, s well as encouraging feedback on their experiential learning, the development of their soft skills and the creation of new knowledge. Moreover, students communicated perceived benefits for their future careers. The reported outcomes reflect mutually beneficial relationships for student and institution, for example, raising the profile of campus greening activities and supporting the University’s aim to embed sustainability throughout its campus, community and culture. Research limitations/implications The researcher recognises the limitations of the research, in particular, the small sample size, which has resulted primarily in qualitative results being presented. Practical implications Feedback from previous interns will be used to shape future internships. In particular, Institute of Sustainable Practice, Innovation and Resource Effectiveness (INSPIRE) will look for opportunities to work more closely with University operations, departments, faculties and alongside University staff, both academic and support staff. Social implications Following student feedback, INSPIRE will give students opportunities for wider involvement, including an opportunity to propose their own projects to shape future internships that meet the needs of student body on campus. Originality/value Despite being one case study from one institution, the research highlights the value of such programmes for other institutions.


Author(s):  
Paradee Thoresen ◽  
Sue Gillieatt ◽  
Angela Fielding

Abstract This article reports on a longitudinal case study, which included site visits in Thailand from 2014 to 2015, and participant follow-up to mid-2018. It documents the lived experience of children from Syria, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Myanmar in two different locations in Thailand: Bangkok and Mae Sot (a district close to Thailand-Myanmar border with a long history of economic migrants and refugees from Myanmar). It documents perspectives of children and the adults in their lives while in exile. It presents an analysis of the children’s perspectives on needs and how unmet needs for safety, basic materials, health care, and education put them at risk of arrest, detention, abuse, and exploitation, and impact their psychological development. Contextual factors such as available services, existing policies and laws are also discussed in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Frances Costello

PurposeResearch was undertaken to understand whether taught resilience programmes which highlight the protective factors of resilience would impact individual resilience outcomes. The research focussed on specific resilience dimensions, change agility, physical, emotional and mental resilience, purpose in life and recovery; in an attempt to bridge the gap in understanding whether it is possible through taught programmes to improve resilience through the creation of new habits.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis methods and used semi-structured interviews with 12 participants to understand participants lived experience of a one-day personal resilience programme, conducted within a private global manufacturing organisation.FindingsThe research found that all 12 participants interviewed 12–18 months post-programme made sustainable habits changes increasing personal resilience levels. Participants built new habits into their everyday lives, in the physical dimension exercising more regularly, taking breaks, changes in nutrition and creating better sleep patterns. Through increased understanding of emotional intelligence participants were able to react more favourably to adverse situations and through mental increased resilience focus achieve work and home priorities. In understanding the change journey participants found that they were able to move more quickly through the change cycle. Almost all participants found understanding their life purpose difficult and were not able to give a conclusive answer to what this might be, they found that attending the programme helped reflection in this dimension.Originality/valueThe paper includes an overview of previous resilience research but differs in its examination of the impact of a specific taught resilience programme in a large private sector organisation using IPA methodology.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. e033370
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Barker ◽  
Pam Moule ◽  
David Evans ◽  
Wendy Phillips ◽  
Nick Leggett

ObjectiveTo identify how public contributors established their legitimacy in the functioning of a patient and public involvement programme at a health network.DesignA longitudinal case study with three embedded units (projects) involving public contributors. Interviews (n=24), observations (n=27) and documentary data collection occurred over 16 months.SettingThe West of England Academic Health Science Network (WEAHSN), 1 of 15 regional AHSNs in England.ParticipantsInterviews were conducted with public contributors (n=5) and professionals (n=19) who were staff from the WEAHSN, its member organisations and its partners.ResultsPublic contributors established their legitimacy by using nine distinct roles: (1) lived experience, as a patient or carer; (2) occupational knowledge, offering job-related expertise; (3) occupational skills, offering aptitude developed through employment; (4) patient advocate, promoting the interests of patients; (5) keeper of the public purse, encouraging wise spending; (6) intuitive public, piloting materials suitable for the general public; (7) fresh-eyed reviewer, critiquing materials; (8) critical friend, critiquing progress and proposing new initiatives and (9) boundary spanner, urging professionals to work across organisations. Individual public contributors occupied many, but not all, of the roles.ConclusionsLived experience is only one of nine distinct public contributor roles. The WEAHSN provided a benign context for the study because in a health network public contributors are one of many parties seeking to establish legitimacy through finding valuable roles. The nine roles can be organised into a typology according to whether the basis for legitimacy lies in: the public contributor’s knowledge, skills and experience; citizenship through the aspiration to achieve a broad public good; or being an outsider. The typology shows how public contributors can be involved in work where lived experience appears to lack relevance: strategic decision making; research unconnected to particular conditions; or acute service delivery.


Author(s):  
Terje Andersen

AbstractWe are facing the challenge of rapid growth in waste from electrical products (e-waste). In Europe, handling e-waste is regulated by the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which is based on the extended producer responsibility (EPR) model as a regulatory tool forcing manufacturers and importers to take responsibility for their products throughout their lifecycles. However, the directive allows for great variations in implementations in each country, causing e-manufacturers and e-waste handling operators to face challenges in their transition to more sustainable operations. To identify the challenges involved, this study investigates the effect of the WEEE directive from a manufacturer’s perspective. A case study of an e-manufacturer operating subsidiaries in several European countries and the associated producer responsibility organizations (PROs) is presented. The case study includes interviews from 17 stakeholders in 12 organizations in eight European countries. Key findings are as follows. First, the WEEE data reported are not harmonized. Second, the calculations of the environmental fee differ across countries. Third, following up on different national WEEE obligations sometimes leads to over-reporting to avoid negative effects on environmental corporate social responsibility, brand reputation, and profitability. Fourth, outsourcing end-of-life (EoL) treatment responsibility to PROs is seen as positive by the manufacturer but results in a decoupling of the EPR and the operational EoL treatment, which may reduce efforts to transfer to a higher circularity level of its EEE products. Fifth, WEEE is considered a way for e-manufacturers to handle waste not to adopt a circular focus. This paper contributes to both practitioners and researchers within reverse logistics and sustainability by adding knowledge from real-life context of how EPR is implemented in WEEE.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Adu-Gyamfi ◽  
Joseph Ghartey Ampiah

The study explored chemistry students’ alternative conceptions associated with application of the processes of oxidation and reduction in real life context. As part of a design-based research approach, a case-study design was followed. Purposive and convenient sampling procedures were employed to select 213 senior high school students to respond to a diagnostic test. Data obtained were analysed using item difficult index, percentages, and themes. The results showed that alternative conceptions existed as preconceived notions, conceptual misunderstanding, and factual misconceptions. It is recommended that chemistry educators should select most appropriate instructional strategies to unearth and address alternative conceptions students may bring to the classroom.


Author(s):  
Tina Overton ◽  
Simon Hodgson ◽  
Alan Heaton ◽  
Richard Powell

Chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, were developed in the late 1920s for use as safe refrigerant alternatives to sulphur dioxide and ammonia. They were welcomed by industry because of their low toxicity, chemical stability, low flammability, low cost and ease of synthesis. They found wide application as refrigerants, blowing agents, propellants and cleaning agents. Over more than 40 years, applications of CFCs expanded into a wide variety of areas, and grew into a multibillion-dollar industry. Unfortunately, CFCs are not ecologically benign. It became increasingly clear that CFCs were responsible for ozone depletion. In the early 1970s the leading manufacturers of CFCs met to discuss the possible environmental impact of their products.This case study uses a problem based learning approach to take students through the development of replacements for CFCs from the 1970s to today. They investigate the background to the CFC problem and consider data that leads to the decision to investigate possible replacements. They must select and design replacement molecules (HFCs), devise syntheses and then consider the challenge to develop the replacements in a socio-economic and political framework. They also consider the problems posed by existing CFCs, the ‘fridge mountain’ and possible disposal and containment alternatives.The case study brings the story up to date with an investigation of the problems now being associated with HFCs and the search for new alternatives. This activity successfully teaches applied and ‘green’ chemistry via a real life context. The chemistry encountered is of an applied/industrial nature and is set in a socioeconomic context. The influence of political pressures is also brought in when appropriate. Because the activity adopts a problem based approach it is also successful in developing a range of transferable skills, particularly problem solving, teamwork plus verbal and written communication.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Mónica Santos

Introduction / background / objectives Among Occupational Health professionals (especially doctors), there may be a confusion of concepts between the Clinical Case (generally used for educational purposes) and the Case Study methodology. The aim of this informal review was to understand the basic principles of this form of investigation and whether it can be adapted to assess some issues encompassed in Occupational Health. Methodology This is a Bibliographic Review, initiated through a research carried out in October 2020, in the RCAAP database. Content All phenomena contain qualitative and quantitative details. When analyzing reality, it can be considered as a totality or as being made up of a series of units and each one may have a different strategy for data collection. Case study can be defined as an empirical investigation that analyzes a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are not clearly defined. It is a comprehensive research strategy. It is the preferred methodology when asking “how” and “why” questions, when the researcher has little control over events and/ or cannot associate relevant behaviors. Case Studies can clarify a decision, how it was implemented and/ or its results. It is a mean of organizing data, preserving the object studied and its unitary character; it can be a detailed description of a situation- the goal is not to represent the world, but the case. It usually leads to a more accurate understanding of the conditions under which the phenomenon occurred. Conclusions The Case Study may have applicability in some situations of Occupational Health, so it should be an option to consider during some investigations.


Author(s):  
Jon Iden

This chapter presents and analyzes a real life ITIL project, and it is based on a longitudinal case study. The purpose is to illustrate how the ITIL process reference model for some processes may be used almost as a blueprint, while ITIL for other processes may be profoundly adapted to suit the context and the needs of the implementer. Furthermore, the success factors and the impediments for successful implementation are discussed. As this case shows, although processes are being well defined and the ITIL project is being regarded by management as a success, employees may after all decide not to follow the adapted processes. The study finds that ITIL implementation will not be effective unless the organizational and cultural aspects of process change are being taken care of. This chapter will especially inform practitioners about how ITIL may be utilized and how an implementation project might be organized.


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