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The physical health benefits of exercise are well established but there is also growing research evidence of links between physical activity and mental health benefits, including mood elevation, better cognitive functioning and improved self‐perception, self‐esteem and selfefficacy. Physical activity has also been shown to enhance the effectiveness of psychological therapies and to have a role in improving quality of life and symptom management for people with a wide range of mental health problems. Physical activity has a double benefit, since people with mental health problems are also at increased risk of a range of physical health problems, including cardiovascular disease, endocrine disorders and obesity. However referral to a physical activity specialist is rarely available in psychiatric settings. This paper gives two examples of how provision of physical activity facilities and programmes staffed by qualified specialists can contribute towards improving mental health and quality of life for people with mental health problems.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different measures of working conditions affect the health at work of female and male workers of 15 European countries. Particular attention is paid to the gender dimension of this relationship.

Using the European Working Conditions Survey from 2005 the author describes differences in health at work by gender accounting for both psychosocial and physical hazards at work. A Probit OLS estimator is used to obtain the relevant estimates and endogeneity problems have been properly addressed.

Results show that controlling for a broad selection of personal and work attributes, working conditions are associated with more work related health problems – both physical and mental. Importantly, some evidence is found in support of a different pattern by gender. With respect to mental health at work, males suffer more from high work demands/low job autonomy compared to females. Task segregation may play a role in explaining these differences. A less clear pattern across gender is found with respect to physical health problems at work. When the endogeneity of working conditions is taken into account, results are confirmed and show that the effect of working conditions on health at work is under‐estimated when endogeneity is not accounted for.

The paper's findings contribute to shed more light on the controversial analysis between working conditions and health according to gender.

There is a growing evidence of considering human trafficking as a severe form of violence which usually results in various health outcomes including symptoms of physical health problems. This study aims to examine the magnitude of physical health symptoms during the trafficking period and compare it with that of the period prior to it.

A total of 1,387 trafficking returnees from abroad via three trafficking corridors of Ethiopia were recruited consecutively. Among socio-demographic and other characteristics, data on various physical health symptoms that were experienced during the trafficking period and in the two years prior to trafficking were collected. The proportions of physical health symptoms experienced during the two periods were determined and compared using chi-square test.

Among all participants, 598 (46.79%) of them experienced weight loss during the trafficking period and 106 (8.28%) before the trafficking period. The extra 38.50% which was experienced during the trafficking period was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Similar significant differences were observed for symptoms such as forgetfulness (p < 0.0001), stomachache (p = 0.0039), gynecological problems (p = 0.041), bone fracture (p < 0.0001), back pain (p < 0.0001), and wound (p < 0.0001); but not significantly different for symptoms such as skin disease (p-value = 0.1944), tooth pain (p-value =0.6587) and sight problem (p-value = 0.1306).

Comparing the frequencies of physical health symptoms before and during the trafficking period among victims of trafficking is relatively a new approach to measure the nexus between Human trafficking and health problems.

Doctors are more likely to suffer from mental illness in comparison to the wider population. This is particularly true for junior doctors, who are at increased risk in comparison to their senior colleagues. This study aims to identify whether junior doctors in North London are comfortable discussing mental health problems with their peers and supervisors and to compare how comfortable they are discussing mental and physical health problems.

An anonymous online questionnaire was designed with demographic data, multiple-choice questions and free-text boxes. This was distributed via email to core psychiatry trainees and foundation doctors in North London. Drug- and alcohol-related disorders were excluded from our definition of mental illness in this survey, as these are reportable to the General Medical Council.

A total of 51 junior doctors responded to the survey. The respondents were significantly more likely to discuss mental health problems with their peers in comparison to their supervisors. They were also less likely to discuss mental health problems in comparison to physical health problems with their peers, supervisors or general practitioner. Qualitative analysis of the free-text comments elucidated several themes including the stigmatisation of mental health.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no prior research in the UK comparing the attitudes of junior doctors towards physical and mental ill-health. The questionnaire highlights the continued stigma towards mental health within the medical profession. The difference in attitudes towards physical and mental ill-health has important implications for the training and well-being of junior doctors.

Studies on the relationship between migration and health status of individuals most often concentrate on international migrants. In contrast, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between health and internal migration using the first 18 waves of the British Household Survey.

The authors use the 12-version of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), an indicator of mental health, and physical health indicators as the health variables. This study uses different econometrics estimation methods in modelling the relationship in order to address omitted variable bias as well as unobserved heterogeneity. The econometric estimation methods include Pooled OLS, random effects (RE), fixed effects (FE) and then probit RE. The authors explore the relationship by comparing the health status of movers and non-movers and different types of internal migration such as between local authority districts and between regions.

The results of this research suggest that there is healthy migrant effect on migration within UK on some indicators of physical health like arm/leg, heart and migraine/headache problems, but not on mental health indicator. And the effects are similar for both males and females. It is advised therefore that the department of health should improve the health of those affected by these ailments so that they can have a chance to move perhaps to better their lots.

This study uses different econometrics estimation methods in modelling the relationship in order to address omitted variable bias as well as unobserved heterogeneity. The econometric estimation methods include Pooled OLS, RE, FE and then probit RE.

Previous studies in the field have highlighted a bidirectional link between mental health and physical health. Students may be at a higher risk of both mental and physical health problems because of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours and the commencement of university occurring at the same mean age of onset for many psychiatric disorders. This study aims to examine how physical health variables influence changes in mental health symptoms, and vice versa, over time, in a sample of British undergraduate students.

A longitudinal design over a one-year time period. A national sample of 430 British undergraduate students completed measures of mental health and physical health online at up to four time-points across their first two years of university.

General physical health and energy and fatigue predicted more severe depression, anxiety, stress and poorer general mental health over time. Depression and stress predicted poorer physical functioning over time. Greater anxiety predicted poorer general health and more severe pain over time. General mental health was not predictive of general physical health. Overall, poor general physical health appears to exacerbate mental health symptoms in students to a greater extent than mental health problems lead to a deterioration in physical health.

This study adds a longitudinal design to a field that is usually cross-sectional, as well as a lack of consideration of how this relationship may differ within student samples. Early interventions should integrate physical and mental well-being rather than focus on any single health-related behaviour.

Football exercise as an intervention for people with severe mental health problems has seen an increasing interest in the past years. To date, there is, however, no comprehensive review of the empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions. In this review, the authors have comprised the research findings from the peer-review literature as well as the theoretical approaches to football exercise as an adjunct treatment. This overview will be informative to everybody who is planning to develop a football intervention for this population as well as to the people who are preparing evaluation studies that measure the effectiveness of such interventions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors identified research papers in the peer-review literature that feature empirical findings on “football interventions” that aim at improving mental and/or physical well-being in participants with mental health problems. The authors are using the term “football intervention” here in the sense that the participants actively took part in football exercise, so the authors excluded studies in which the participants only watched football or used football as a metaphor to discuss mental health problems. In a table, the authors indicate the definition of the target group, targeted outcomes, measured outcomes, form and frequency of the intervention as well as the research method(s).

The authors identified 16 studies on 15 projects. The majority of studies were qualitative and had positive findings in which the participants reported increased well-being and connectedness, elevation of symptoms and improved physical well-being. The outcomes of the quantitative studies, however, were mixed with some results suggesting that not all intended goals were achieved. There seems to be a need for more quantitative studies to triangulate the qualitative findings. Interestingly, most interventions take place in the UK. Many studies fail to give detailed methodological information and often the aims of the interventions are vague or not stated at all.

Due to the heterogeneity of the studies and relative scarcity of evaluation projects on football interventions for people with mental health problems, the authors could not conduct an in-depth systematic review. Furthermore, the information on methods was often unsatisfying and despite efforts to get more detailed input from the authors of cited papers, those gaps could not always be filled. Instead of coming up with a crystal-clear summary of whether and how football interventions work for everybody, topics were identified that need to be addressed in the planning of interventions, in evaluation studies, in implementation efforts and in the theoretical discourse.

This paper constitutes a helpful overview for everybody who is interested in the theoretical background of football interventions for people with mental health problems, for people who are planning to develop respective interventions, for researchers who engage in evaluation projects that look into the effectiveness of football interventions (or similar exercise interventions) as well as for the people who are interested in how football interventions can be implemented. This paper is likely to make a contribution to the advancement of alternative exercise interventions that aim at improving mental, physical and social health in people with mental health problems.

This paper will help putting the topic of football interventions (and similar, alternative exercise interventions) further up on the public health agenda by providing an overview of the empirical evidence at hand and by specifying advantages of the approach as well as pointing out actions that need to be taken to make football a recognised, evidence based and viable option for adjunct mental health treatment that is attractive to potential participants as well as funders as well as to the potential participants.

There is no comprehensive summary to date that provides a (reasonably) systematic overview of empirical findings for football interventions for people with MH problems. Furthermore, the literature on the theoretical background of these interventions has been somewhat patchy and heterogonous. This paper aims at filling both these gaps and identifies the issues that need to be covered in the planning of respective interventions and evaluations. This paper will be useful to everybody who is developing football interventions (or similar alternative adjunct exercise interventions), who is conducting evaluation research in this area and who is interested in the implementation of football interventions.