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This study aims to examine the existing literature on sleep-related interventions and confirm the intervention methods and their effectiveness led by occupational therapists.

All the relevant literature published from 2010 to June 31, 2022, in five prominent databases were searched using the five-stage review framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley.

In this review, four types of sleep-related interventions were led by occupational therapists (tool use, exercise program, sleep education and occupational-based program). When the intervention was analyzed based on its content, occupational therapists demonstrated excellent ability in interventions based on sensory intervention and lifestyle redesign.

Various factors cause sleep problems; hence, the development of individualized and extensive occupational therapy intervention methods is required.

Sleep disturbance is a common difficulty in the general population. It has become particularly prevalent in the context of disruption to routine brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to trial a patient-guided “sleep workbook” intervention, which was developed by multidisciplinary team members, combining principles of sleep hygiene education and cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia behavioural strategies, and to evaluate its efficacy in a mixed-methods study.

Service users of the community mental health service were invited to participate. A total of 30 service users agreed to participate. A total of 15 participants completed both the intervention and the mixed-methods survey. Four participated in the focus group. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed on the collected quantitative data. A thematic analysis was carried out of qualitative survey responses and focus group discourse.

There was a statistically and clinically significant improvement in quantity and quality of sleep following intervention. Mean hours of sleep prior to the intervention was 4.4 hours [standard deviation (SD) = 2.2], compared to 6.1 hours (SD = 2.2) afterwards (p = 0.003). Quality of sleep improved from a mean of 2.5 (SD = 2.1) to 6.1 (SD = 2.3) following the intervention (p = <0.001). Four themes were developed using the qualitative data: “under-recognition of sleep difficulties”, “ruminations”, “practical utility” and “therapeutic autonomy”.

There is a growing need for occupational therapists and clinicians to provide interventions for patients with sleep difficulties and to develop sleep management practice. This patient-guided sleep workbook may be an effective intervention for these patients.

This paper aims to investigate if a sensory intervention of moderate pressure touch of children with sensory processing disorder (SPD) affects sleep behaviours and sensory processing behaviours.

A total of 50 children, aged 5–11 years with both SPD and sleep difficulties in Israel, were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group, nonblinded. Participants in the experimental group received three weeks of nightly massage by their parents, with a baseline week on both ends. Parents filled out questionnaires reporting on sensory and sleep behaviours and filled out a nightly sleep log. Parents determined outcome goals using goal attainment scoring. The assessment tools used were the short sensory profile and the child sleep habits questionnaire (Dunn, 1999; Owens et al., 2000).

Significant improvement was found in the total and subgroup scores of sleep participation measures including sleep onset, sleep anxiety, parasomnias, sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, as well as the total sleep score (F (1,48) = 24.71, p < 0.001).

Results of this study suggest that consistent application of moderate pressure touch as advised or trained by an occupational therapist may be used in clinical practice to improve sleep participation in children with SPD.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a Qigong program on older adults in the Thai community suffering from mild to moderate depression.

A randomized controlled trial study was conducted in a public health service (PHS) center setting. Sixty-six older adults aged 60–90 years with mild to moderate depressive symptoms measured by the Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS: scores 13–24) were recruited and randomly allocated into two groups. The subjective sleep quality was assessed using the Thai version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (TPSQI). The Qigong program group was given 12 weeks of Qigong training including three sessions per week, while the control group followed normal PHS activities (singing and praying). The outcome measure was the change in the TGDS from baseline to 12 weeks.

Participants in the Qigong program group had a significantly improved TPSQI global score (p < 0.001), subjective sleep quality (p < 0.001), and sleep latency (p < 0.05) after 12 weeks of intervention, while those in the control group showed no significant difference in sleep quality. Compared with the control group, the Qigong program group reported significantly better sleep quality throughout the 12-week period. The prevalence of poor sleep quality in this population was 82 percent.

This study confirmed that the Qigong program could improve sleep quality in older adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms as the Qigong program conferred more significant improvements than the usual program.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has caused stress for everyone and impacted the lives of people globally. Such stress increases troubles for the employees. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to identify symptoms of health problems that employees face during the COVID-19 epidemic. Also, the aim of the paper is to examine if there are statistically significant differences in the physical, emotional and behavioral symptoms of health problems among employees before the COVID-19 epidemic and employees during the COVID-19 epidemic.

The research is based on a survey of 950 employees in Slovenian companies. The factor analysis and the t-test for two independent samples were used to test the hypotheses of the research.

The results show that physical, emotional and behavioral symptoms of health problems of employees during the COVID-19 epidemic are intensified as compared to the before COVID-19 epidemic era.

The results highlight the measures with which companies can reduce the problem of different symptoms of employees during the COVID-19 epidemic. The results can be useful for employers and for managers who want to create an adequate working environment for employees during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Because of the sort of working environment and the nature of construction jobs, a high rate of poor mental health has been recorded in the construction industry. The aim of this study is to compare construction workers' mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

A survey questionnaire was developed and administered online to building environment professionals working on construction sites. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. An independent sample t-test was also conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference in the mean before and during the COVID-19 infection.

The results show that mental health challenges were more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic. The result of the independent sample t-test revealed that there exists a significant difference in all the mean before and during COVID-19 except sleeping too much or too little; having low or no energy and lack of emotion that shows no significant difference.

This study is the first to compare the mental health of construction workers before and during COVID-19 in Nigeria. The significance of this study was that it would provide an insight for construction managers and other decision-makers on the most critical mental health challenges on construction sites, which will help in an attempt to improve the mental well-being of construction workers.

Due to the “European Union Framework Directive on Safety and Health at work” (Directive 89/391/EEC, 1989), every employer is obliged to avoid psychosocial hazards when designing work. Little is known empirically about the barriers that workplace actors experience while developing and implementing OSH measures that prevent psychosocial hazards. The purpose of this paper is to explore barriers, causes and attempts to overcome them and discusses them with reference to relevant theoretical concepts and models that help to explain how these barriers hinder the development and implementation of OSH measures.

Semi-structured interviews with workplace actors in charge of psychosocial risk assessment (PRA) were conducted in 41 business cases, and transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Barriers, causes and attempts to overcome them were extracted inductively and discussed with reference to relevant theories and explanatory models.

The complex nature of psychosocial risks, hindering general beliefs, lack of a perceived scope for risk avoidance, lack of assumptions of responsibility among players on all hierarchical levels, discrepancies between formal responsibility and decision authority, and low reflexivity on processes of development and implementation of interventions were described as barriers. Causes and attempts to overcome these barriers were reflected upon by workplace actors.

Recommendations on the organisation of PRA will be given with respect to the reported results and relevant research in this field.

This qualitative study explores the barriers to developing and implementing OSH measures to eliminate psychosocial hazards, from the perspective of actors in charge of PRA, and why they might fail.

The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of absenteeism and presenteeism and explore their association with work performance among support workers in a medical school hospital in Thailand.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,102 support workers in the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, in June–August 2020. The World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ) was used to assess absenteeism, presenteeism, work performance and related factors. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine the association between current work performance and absenteeism and presenteeism in the past year.

A total of 505 (45.8%) support workers completed the self-report questionnaire. Prevalence of sickness absence, non-sickness absence and presenteeism in the past year was 54.2%, 81.4% and 48.1%, respectively. Sickness absence and presenteeism in the past year were significantly associated with increased odds of poor work performance: (OR 3.05, 95% CI: 1.24–7.49) and (OR 5.12, 95% CI: 2.25–11.64), respectively. Support workers with high levels of stress and burnout were 3.89 (95% CI: 1.56–9.68) and 2.66 (95% CI: 1.50–4.72) times more likely to report poor work performance.

Sickness absence and presenteeism are associated with poor work performance in hospital support workers. Other factors such as stress and burnout also contribute to poor work performance, and interaction among these factors needs further research. To improve productivity, hospital administrators might consider intervention programs to enhance work performance among workers with sickness absence and presenteeism.

Social networking sites (SNS) are heavily used by university students for personal and academic purposes. Despite their benefits, using SNS can generate stress for many people. SNS stressors have been associated with numerous maladaptive outcomes. The objective in this study is to investigate when and how SNS use damages student achievement and psychological wellbeing.

Combining the theoretical perspectives from technostress and the strength model of self-control, this study theoretically develops and empirically tests the pathways which explain how and when SNS stressors harm student achievement and psychological wellbeing. The authors test the research model through a two-wave survey of 220 SNS using university students.

The study extends existing research by showing that it is through the process of diminishing self-control over SNS use that SNS stressors inhibit achievement and wellbeing outcomes. The study also finds that the high use of SNS for academic purposes enhances the effect of SNS stressors on deficient SNS self-control.

This study further opens up the black box of the social media technostress phenomenon by documenting and validating novel processes (i.e. deficient self-control) and conditions (i.e. enhanced academic use) on which the negative impacts of SNS stressors depend.

Over the past century, office designers have adapted to changing work conditions across various industries by creating workspaces that cater to the needs of modern workers. As a result, a range of office layouts have been developed, from traditional private offices to open-plan setups. The choice of layout can significantly impact communication, social interaction and overall performance. This study aims to explore the social and mental well-being of employees working in open-plan offices in the public sector in South Africa.

The research was conducted in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa, focusing on five governmental departments. Using purposive sampling, employees working in open-plan offices were identified. A structured online interview form with open-ended questions was distributed to all selected employees between May and September 2021, resulting in 54 responses. Thematic content analysis using ATLAS.ti was used to analyze the data.

The findings suggest that while open-plan offices can enhance teamwork, communication, accessibility and inclusivity, their design can negatively affect employees’ perceptions of social and mental health in the workplace. Specifically, open-plan designs are perceived to compromise privacy, shorten attention spans, lower productivity and increase stress levels. Interestingly, absenteeism was not reported by employees in this study, which contradicts previous research and requires further investigation.

These findings can be valuable for human resource managers, facilities managers and office space designers.

This research contributes to the ongoing conversation surrounding the impact of open-plan offices on the mental and social well-being of employees in the public sector within the South African context. The contribution of this paper thus lies in the South-African context and the public sector angle plus a more in-depth insight on well-being through an extensive set of 54 interviews.