Ethical Considerations of Using VR in Mental Health Training

Mental health students, who are still undergoing training, might find it challenging to visualise and fully understand what their patients experience. For this reason, the authors created a virtual reality simulator which mimics the symptoms of a person suffering from schizophrenia at a virtual workplace. The simulation is managed by an artificial intelligence system which asks the user to attempt simple tasks, while simultaneously facing both visual and auditory hallucinations. The AI also adapts the storyline and character behaviour dynamically to increase the immersiveness of the experience. A pilot study was carried out, and the initial results were very encouraging. In fact, the absolute majority of the users stated that the simulation has helped increase their understanding of schizophrenia. In this chapter, the authors evaluate this experiment but from a different perspective. They focus mainly on the use of emerging technologies such as AI and VR and discuss the ethical considerations of their use within the field of mental health.

Challenges for Workplace Risk Assessment in Home Offices—Results from a Qualitative Descriptive Study on Working Life during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latvia

Epidemiological restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have raised legal and practical questions related to the provision of workplace risk assessment in home offices of teleworkers. The objective of this qualitative study was to analyze practical experience of employers and occupational safety and health experts performing workplace risk assessment in Latvia during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that employers have not sufficiently implemented their legal obligations related to workplace risk assessment which can result in an increased number of physical and mental health problems of teleworkers in the short term and in the future. Work from home has shown how different working conditions can be for the same type of work (office work); therefore, the promotion of personalized workplace risk assessment should be encouraged. Even if virtual workplace visits using photos and videos are not the traditional way the workplace risk assessment should be done, it is effective; workers who report that their employers assessed their working conditions report fewer health effects. The experience of workers in participation in workplace risk assessment for telework might change the level and role of worker participation in the management of health and safety hazards at work in general.

Digitisation or Digitalisation: Diverse Practices of the Distance Education Period in Finland

This case study explores how Finnish primary school teachers orchestrated school days and how teachers and headmasters organised virtual workplace collaboration and collaborated with parents during a period of distance education forced by the Covid-19 crisis in Spring 2020. The data was collected by interviewing primary and secondary school teachers (n = 15) from eight schools in various parts of Finland. Teachers’ experiences were analysed with qualitative content analysis. In this study, the school is seen as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) and the Covid-19 crisis as a disorder forcing teachers to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Teachers are viewed here as innovators who address both pedagogical and digital challenges under abnormal circumstances. We identify diverse practices at different stages of digitalisation during the distance education period within four domains: 1) structures of school days, 2) forms of teaching, 3) collaborative activities of teachers and headmaster, and 4) forms of home and school collaboration. We also identify three groups of enablers of distance education practices: 1) the use of digital technology, 2) digipedagogical competence of the teachers, and 3) the ability of teachers to act as adaptive innovators. We find that teachers’ ability to innovate and to adapt pedagogical and digipedagogical expertise become critical success factors when change is forced upon the educational field. We suggest that the results of this study, portrayed as the enablers and domains of distance education, be utilised in planning post-Covid education. All stakeholders influencing schools at different levels should be included in envisioning and implementing future classroom practices of innovative post-Covid schools.

The Role of Higher Education in the 21 Century

When the economy is in such bad shape, any of us who has a job is fortunate. Human resource managers and practitioners are concerned with whether employees are contributing to the organization’s Strategy, goals, and priorities or not, as well as how to proceed with the recruiting and selection process, employee engagement, and training and development programs, as a consequence of the pandemic of Covid-19. Organizations all over the world are in a difficult situation; for the first time in history, the value of a barrel of oil dropped to less than zero on April 20, 2020; the only explanation for this is the ongoing global lockdown. The actual workplace has been transformed into a virtual workplace, and HR managers are now pondering how to effectively involve workers. The aim of this paper was to clarify how employee engagement affects organizational efficiency within Covid-19 pandemic and shed the light on all the factors and provide a set of managerial implications to the professionals.

The Impact of Covid-19 on Employees Engagement

When the economy is in such bad shape, any of us who has a job is fortunate. Human resource managers and practitioners are concerned with whether employees are contributing to the organization’s Strategy, goals, and priorities or not, as well as how to proceed with the recruiting and selection process, employee engagement, and training and development programs, as a consequence of the pandemic of Covid-19. Organizations all over the world are in a difficult situation; for the first time in history, the value of a barrel of oil dropped to less than zero on April 20, 2020; the only explanation for this is the ongoing global lockdown. The actual workplace has been transformed into a virtual workplace, and HR managers are now pondering how to effectively involve workers. The aim of this paper was to clarify how employee engagement affects organizational efficiency within Covid-19 pandemic and shed the light on all the factors and provide a set of managerial implications to the professionals.

Visual Impairment in the Virtual Workplace: Exploration, Experience, and Interpretation

Introduction: This study utilizes interpretive phenomenology to understand the experiences of people with visual impairments in the virtual workplace. As virtual work is becoming increasingly common, this investigation is timely for employment research that is especially relevant to people who are visually impaired. Methods: Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, individuals who have experienced working in the virtual workplace filled out an in-depth online questionnaire. The resulting qualitative data were analyzed and interpreted via Applied Thematic Data Analysis (ATDA). ATDA was used to transform the raw qualitative data into themes regarding the essence of the experience of being a visually impaired employee in the virtual workplace. Results: Based on the phenomenological data, three primary themes emerged: defined by blindness, technology as the catalyst of inequality, and ingenuity as efficacy.Discussion: Using co-cultural theory, in-depth interpretations of the data were conducted. Key to these interpretations were the technological and communicative structures that mute the voice of the virtual worker with visual impairment and the experiential factors, with special attention to inaccessible technology, that shape the unique standpoint of the virtual worker who has visual impairment. Implications for practitioners: Both theoretical and applied implications are presented. This study takes note of the social factors that surround the navigation of the workplace with a focus on how communicating about access, advocating for accessibility, and requesting assistive technology are embedded in a larger conversation of culture and societal norms of employment. Accessibility is discussed as both a technical and social challenge. This consideration of accessibility is crucial in current and future workplaces where even the simplest task is to be completed via a technological tool.

Exploring the Significance of Remote Leadership Competencies in the Virtual Workplace: A Systematic Literature Review

<p>Remote working practices which involve performing professional work activities outside of the central workplace have gained considerable popularity over the years. However, leading remotely located employees is seemingly difficult. Therefore, this systematic literature review provides an in-depth understanding of the association between remote work and leadership competencies by collating data from twenty-one research studies between 2001 and 2019. A combination of quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods designs revealed that trust and relationship-building skills, communication skills and technology skills are fundamental for effective remote leadership practice. Problem-solving skills and creating and maintaining awareness were also observed; however, with less significance. This review may be of considerable importance for academics to continue the theoretical advancement of research into remote working and practitioners to implement and manage remote leadership behaviours more effectively. Limitations and future directions are discussed.<br></p>