scholarly journals What Motivates Volunteers to Engage in Health-Related Citizen Science Initiatives? A Case Study of Our Outdoors

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 6950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Lehman ◽  
Ruth Jepson ◽  
John McAteer ◽  
Daryll Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health And Well Being

Citizen science is increasing in popularity but remains largely located in the disciplines of environmental and natural sciences. However, it has the potential to be a useful tool in other disciplines such as health. The aim of this study was to identify the factors for involvement (or non-involvement) in health-related citizen science projects using the Our Outdoors citizen science initiative as an example. Our Outdoors aims to understand how urban and rural shared outdoors spaces (e.g., parks, lakes, rivers, beaches) can affect human health and well-being (both positively and negatively). Understanding the motivations for involvement in such a program is likely to be useful for increasing participation rates and involvement. Qualitative research methods were used in this study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants from two community projects in Scotland, United Kingdom. A thematic analysis revealed five key themes pertaining to the factors that motivated engagement with health-related citizen science projects such as Our Outdoors. These include enhancing social connectedness; personal learning development; making a difference in the community; gaining health and well-being benefits; and finally, demotivating factors relating to time constraints and the term “citizen science”. This study concludes that emphasising motivating factors in the promotional material for health-related citizen science projects may increase recruitment and the active involvement of participants. Similarly, reducing the presence of demotivating factors and considering the use of the term “citizen science” is likely to encourage participation

scholarly journals The Health and Well-Being of African-American Older Adults With a History of Incarceration

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 506-506
Author(s):  
Rodlescia Sneed
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Older Prisoners ◽  
Health Related ◽  
History Of ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
African American Older Adults

Abstract African-Americans are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Longer prison stays and release programs for older prisoners may result in an increased number of community-dwelling older adults with a history of incarceration. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in research on health-related outcomes for currently incarcerated older adults; however, there has been little inquiry into outcomes for formerly incarcerated African-American older adults following community re-entry. In this study, we used secondary data from the Health and Retirement Study to describe employment, economic, and health-related outcomes in this population. Twelve percent of the 2238 African-Americans in our sample had been previously incarcerated. Those who had been previously incarcerated had higher rates of lung disease, arthritis, back problems, mobility problems, and mental health issues than their counterparts. They also had higher rates of hospitalization and lower use of dental health services. Further, while they did not experience lower employment rates than those with no criminal history, those who had been incarcerated had more physically demanding jobs and reported greater economic strain. Given the disproportionate incarceration rates among African-Americans, the aging of the prison population, and the increase in community re-entry for older prisoners, research that explores factors that impact the health and well-being of formerly incarcerated individuals has broad impact. Future work should focus on addressing the needs of this vulnerable population of African-American older adults.

scholarly journals Health-related quality of life among 13–14 year old adolescents with overweight - a mixed methods approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Turid Kristin Bigum Sundar ◽  
Kirsti Riiser ◽  
Milada Småstuen ◽  
Randi Opheim ◽  
Knut Løndal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Reference Population ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related

Abstract BackgroundOverweight and obesity are public concerns with risk of adverse health outcomes. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is lower in adolescents than children in general. An increase in body mass index (BMI) is associated with a decrease in HRQoL. The purpose of this study was to measure and explore the HRQoL among adolescents with overweight or obesity who had participated in an intervention study with the aim of increasing PA, reducing BMI and promoting HRQoL.Methods Mixed methods, with a convergent design, were used to investigate how different methodological approaches could expand our understanding of the adolescents’ HRQoL. Quantitative post-intervention data on HRQoL were collected among the 84 intervention participants, aged 13–14 years, using the KIDSCREEN 52 questionnaire. The data were compared with a Norwegian reference population of 244 individuals, and analysed using a non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 adolescents from the intervention. A directed approach to content analysis was adopted, using the ten sub-scales from KIDSCREEN 52.ResultsHRQoL in the intervention sample was significantly reduced on the sub-scale of physical well-being compared to the reference population. The reference population scored significantly lower than the intervention sample on the sub-scale of parent relation and home life. No significant differences were found on the other sub-scales. The qualitative data supported the quantitative findings on the sub-scale of physical well-being, but showed that perceptions of fitness, energy level or health could vary. Regarding parent relations, the interviewees extended this to include relationships to other family members as equally important. Most of the interviewees expressed a negative view of their bodies, but not their clothing or accessories. This may explain why no statistically significant differences were found on these aspects in the results from the KIDSCREEN questionnaire. ConclusionThe use of the KIDSCREEN 52 instrument gave important indications about the adolescents’ HRQoL. Combining methods enabled a comprehensive approach to research on HRQoL, indicating better ways of providing help. More research using the benefits of mixed methods approaches is needed to further elucidate these findings.

scholarly journals ‘It’s a real fine balancing act’: directly employed care workers’ experiences of engaging with health services

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Wilcock ◽  
Jill Manthorpe ◽  
Jo Moriarty ◽  
Steve Iliffe
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Little is known of the experiences of directly employed care workers communicating with healthcare providers about the situations of their employers. We report findings from 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with directly employed care workers in England undertaken in 2018–19. Findings relate to role content, communication with healthcare professionals and their own well-being. Directly employed care workers need to be flexible about the tasks they perform and the changing needs of those whom they support. Having to take on health liaison roles can be problematic, and the impact of care work on directly employed workers’ own health and well-being needs further investigation.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Sars Cov-2 Pandemic on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Seniors in Social Care Facilities

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 104-110
Author(s):  
Z. Budayova ◽  
L. Ludvigh Cintulova
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Open Coding ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

The research study analyses the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and identifies changes in the life satisfaction of seniors in social services facilities. The research sample consisted of 79 seniors in social services facilities, the sample consisted of ten participants, data collection took place in the period from November 2020 to April 2021, where the method of qualitative research was used in empirical research, through semi-structured interviews to determine the impact of Covid-19 on We collected the data collected by open coding and pointed to those dimensions of the lives of seniors that were most marked by pandemic measures against the spread of Covid-19.

Health and Well-Being

2021 ◽  
pp. 201-226
Author(s):  
Neal M. Krause
Keyword(s):  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Proactive Coping ◽  
Coping Responses ◽  
The Third ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Insight Into

The goal of this chapter is to show how a sense of meaning in life acts in concert with the dimensions of religion that have been discussed so far to affect health. The discussion that follows is divided into two sections. The extensive body of research that links meaning with health and well-being is examined first. Following this, three submodels are introduced that provide further insight into how meaning in life might affect health. The first submodel brings gratitude and prayer to the foreground. The second submodel focuses on the relationships among meaning in life, proactive coping responses, and health behavior. The third submodel brings issues involving the interface between meaning in life, negative aspects of religious life (e.g., religious doubt), and health-related outcomes.

scholarly journals Crucial Contributions

Human Nature ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke A. Scelza ◽  
Katie Hinde
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Perinatal Period ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Breastfeeding Support ◽  
Critical Window ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Clinical Literature ◽  
Health And Well Being

AbstractMaternal grandmothers play a key role in allomaternal care, directly caring for and provisioning their grandchildren as well as helping their daughters with household chores and productive labor. Previous studies have investigated these contributions across a broad time period, from infancy through toddlerhood. Here, we extend and refine the grandmothering literature to investigate the perinatal period as a critical window for grandmaternal contributions. We propose that mother-daughter co-residence during this period affords targeted grandmaternal effort during a period of heightened vulnerability and appreciable impact. We conducted two focus groups and 37 semi-structured interviews with Himba women. Interviews focused on experiences from their first and, if applicable, their most recent birth and included information on social support, domains of teaching and learning, and infant feeding practices. Our qualitative findings reveal three domains in which grandmothers contribute: learning to mother, breastfeeding support, and postnatal health and well-being. We show that informational, emotional, and instrumental support provided to new mothers and their neonates during the perinatal period can aid in the establishment of the mother-infant bond, buffer maternal energy balance, and improve nutritional outcomes for infants. These findings demonstrate that the role of grandmother can be crucial, even when alloparenting is common and breastfeeding is frequent and highly visible. Situated within the broader anthropological and clinical literature, these findings substantiate the claim that humans have evolved in an adaptive sociocultural perinatal complex in which grandmothers provide significant contributions to the health and well-being of their reproductive-age daughters and grandchildren.

scholarly journals Workshop: Tools and opportunities for health promotion

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Health Related ◽  
European Health ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Benchmarking System ◽  
Specific Health ◽  
Improve Health

Abstract Health promotion acknowledges the reciprocal relationship between health-related behaviours and the environments in which people live, considers that the environment is made up of different subsystems and emphasises the relationships and dependencies between these subsystems. Our workshop acknowledges the multi-faceted nature of health promotion and intends to provoke thinking, ideas and tools for health promotion to help to expand skills and knowledge to develop health promotion strategies, policies and interventions. This workshop will offer examples and provoke discussions on how to develop, evolve and improve health promotion practices. First, an overview of the European health promotion landscape is presented. This information is based on data collection conducted in 2018 in the European Joint Action Chrodis Plus. Next, we have two interlinked presentations to describe how to institutionalize health promotion thorough legislation, assess health promotion actions nationwide, and foster development in municipalities enforced by legislation. These presentations illustrate the developments in Finland, offer examples and highlight the importance of ministerial level actions for health promotion. The nationwide benchmarking system for assessment has existed for over ten years and offers an example for other countries. The two last presentations address specific health and well-being issues: (1) tobacco control in Portugal and Israel and (2) the promotion of older people’s health and well-being in Iceland. The presentation on tobacco control is an example of inter-dependencies of different stake-holders. The presentation from Iceland will stimulate a discussion on how to start and conduct the nationwide implementation of an evidence based health promotion intervention and what the role governments, municipalities, and NGOs should be. The workshop is a regular workshop. Time for discussion is offered in four spots, (1st) after the first presentation, (2nd) after the second and third presentations, (3rd) after the fourth and (4th) final discussion after the fifth presentation. Key messages Promising methods for health promotion exist. The challenge is how to implement effectively. Legislation is a powerful tool to enhance health promotion practices.

Place and Well-Being

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey M. Lindberg ◽  
Meredith A. Banasiak ◽  
Ryan M. Shindler ◽  
Esther M. Sternberg
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Behavioral Effects ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Environmental Characteristics ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Health And Well Being

Various fields of research have developed to better understand the health and behavioral effects of environmental characteristics such as air quality and the way our homes and neighborhoods are organized. A synergy of many previously disparate fields of research is underway, aided in part by recent advances in technology. Better sensors, including wearable physiological and environmental monitors, are enabling researchers to more readily study the interactions between environment characteristics and both mental and physical well-being. This new evidence-based research direction adds a much-needed layer of quantitative data to previous, largely qualitative, findings. Moreover, an increased understanding of the environment’s effects on humans can result in not just the alleviation of negative environmental characteristics but also the promotion of positive environmental characteristics. This chapter offers samples of environmental effects on human health and well-being in the following categories: environmental quality, natural systems, sensory environments, physical activity, safety, and social connectedness.

scholarly journals AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES: ENHANCING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S254-S254
Author(s):  
Patricia A Oh
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Outdoor Spaces ◽  
Community Volunteers ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Age-friendly communities promote active, healthy, socially connected aging. Opportunities for social connections are key for older residents to enjoy the best possible health and well-being. Communities that join the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities (AARP NAFSC) include an aging lens in eight areas of community life—social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, housing, transportation, community support and health services, and outdoor spaces and buildings. By addressing factors in these eight areas, communities encourage residents to enjoy formal participation in activities and groups and informal contacts with friends, neighbors and other residents. The purpose of this exploratory study was to find out if communities that join the AARP NAFSC plan and implement changes to enhance social connectedness. A review of 62 AARP-approved action plans nationwide, showed that social connectedness was included in 74% of the mission statements and was a goal in 92% of the plans. The lack of resources in rural communities creates special challenges; many age-friendly initiatives depend on community volunteers to implement changes on a shoe-string budget. To learn how rural age-friendly communities promote social connections, an email survey was distributed to 46 AARP NAFSC communities in rural Maine. All the communities responded. Fostering social connectedness was an explicit goal for 88% of the communities. Areas of implementation included services and activities (83%), communication (61%), transportation (30%), programming to include isolated residents (26%), accessible public spaces (22%), and intergenerational volunteering (17%). Implications will be discussed.

Thrive, not just survive: the experience of a fellow in the SBM Leadership Institute to enhance opportunities for success of mid-career nurse scientists

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 912-914
Author(s):  
Patricia A Kinser
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Faculty Shortage ◽  
Administrative Roles ◽  
Related Discipline ◽  
Leadership Institute ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Funding Environment ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Mid-career nurse scientists are at risk of burnout and departure from research-focused roles due to a myriad of reasons, including a nationwide faculty shortage, vacant administrative roles, and the challenging extramural funding environment. Retention and success of mid-career scientists in any health-related discipline is essential to maintain educational and research endeavors that are important for public health and well-being. This commentary provides an account of recent efforts to address these issues, from the perspective of a former fellow in the Society of Behavioral Medicine Leadership Institute. Although these efforts are focused specifically on the needs of nurse scientists, the topic is relevant to researchers in any discipline. The intent of this commentary is for others to benefit from the lessons learned and to build upon our current efforts to help mid-career scientists thrive, not just survive.

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