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1 – 10 of over 38000Ingeborg Nordbø and Nina K. Prebensen
The present work studies hiking as tourist activity and its physical and mental benefits for the tourist. In particular, the study explores the relative importance of these…
Abstract
The present work studies hiking as tourist activity and its physical and mental benefits for the tourist. In particular, the study explores the relative importance of these benefits among the hikers and compare the importance with the tourists’ perceived experience, that is evaluation of the benefits. Building on the perception, performance and perceived quality and benefit literature a survey is carried out at different hiking sites in the southern part of Norway. The study results show that hiking tours in Norway perform rather well on factors such as physical benefits, mental benefits, facilitation of trail and slightly lower on information. Physical benefits are of higher importance than information and are also perceived to provide benefits in line with the importance given. Facilitation of trail is perceived to be of relatively high importance and the actual experience is rated higher than importance. Mental benefits is rated to be of most importance among the attributes. The tourists evaluate mental benefits to be somewhat lower than importance given. Subsequently, practice should focus on how to ensure mental benefits among hikers and research should seek to understand what this actually means in terms of new logics in tourism, that is experience value and the tourist own role in creating such value.
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Gulnar Nussipova, Fredrik Nordin and David Sörhammar
The purpose of this paper is to contribute a framework that explains how value is formed during the usage of immersive technologies in industrial contexts.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute a framework that explains how value is formed during the usage of immersive technologies in industrial contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on activity theory and a customer-dominant logic, the authors tentatively develop an activity-centric framework for value formation enabled by physical and mental activities conducted by users of immersive technologies. The authors evaluate the framework through a case study focusing on the use of virtual reality (VR) in an industrial setting.
Findings
The findings from the case study illustrate the tentative framework and specify how it is enacted by users in the studied context through three physical activities constituted by a set of actions and reflected in five emotional responses.
Research limitations/implications
Both researchers and practitioners may use the framework presented in this paper as a guide for further academic and practical developments concerning the value of immersive technologies such as VR and augmented reality.
Originality/value
The activity-centric framework contributes a novel perspective to the literature on value formation enabled by immersive technologies.
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Clio Berry, Jeremy E. Niven, Laura A. Chapman, Sophie Valeix, Paul E. Roberts and Cassie Marie Hazell
Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) appear to be particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. Mental health-related stigma and discrimination may be endemic within universities…
Abstract
Purpose
Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) appear to be particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. Mental health-related stigma and discrimination may be endemic within universities, creating a threatening environment that undermines PGRs’ health and well-being. These environmental characteristics may increase PGRs’ absenteeism and presenteeism, attendance behaviours that have great personal and institutional consequences. The study of this issue, however, has been limited to date.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a mixed methods psychological study using cross-sectional data provided by 3,352 UK-based PGRs. Data were collected in a new national survey (U-DOC) led by a British University in 2018–2019. We used structural equation modelling techniques to test associations between workplace mental health-related stigma and discrimination, presenteeism, absenteeism and demographic characteristics. The authors analysed qualitative survey data with framework analysis to deductively and inductively explore associations between workplace culture, stigma and discrimination, and attendance behaviours.
Findings
The authors found that some PGRs report positive perceptions and experiences of the academic mental health-related workplace culture. However, experiences of mental health stigma and discrimination appear widespread. Both quantitative and qualitative results show that experiences of mental health-related stigma are associated with greater absenteeism and presenteeism. People with mental health problems appear especially vulnerable to experiencing stigma and its impacts.
Practical implications
Key implications include recommendations for universities to improve support for PGR mental health, and to encourage taking annual leave and necessary sickness absences, by providing a more inclusive environment with enhanced mental health service provision and training for faculty and administrative staff.
Originality/value
This study presents the first large-scale survey of PGR experiences of mental health-related stigma and discrimination, and their associations with absenteeism and presenteeism.
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Yiping Jiang, Yanhua Chen and Xiaobo Chi
The practice of renovation and construction of university libraries is flourishing, but how to attract readers to use the library is an issue that urgently needs to be explored…
Abstract
Purpose
The practice of renovation and construction of university libraries is flourishing, but how to attract readers to use the library is an issue that urgently needs to be explored. Spatial cognition is a subjective judgment of a person's tendency to take action in the future and implies behavioral intention. Based on the sensory–image–cognition relationship, a theoretical model of university library readers' spatial cognition is conducted, and the influencing factors and mechanisms of spatial cognition are explored based on empirical data to provide theoretical references for spatial practices in university libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
A visual and art-based mental map approach is introduced based on a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire is mainly used for the specific evaluation of spatial use and the breakdown of the detailed elements, while the mental map method is mainly used for the evaluation of readers' spatial cognition. Relevant empirical data are collected from the library of the Zhejiang University of Technology.
Findings
The results indicate that readers' spatial sensory experience and mental imagery have positive effects on readers' behavior via the mediator spatial cognition, readers' spatial sensory experience and mental imagery have a positive effect on readers' spatial cognition and spatial cognition has a significant effect on readers' behavior.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study is to construct a theoretical model of readers' spatial cognition and to explore the factors that have an impact on spatial cognition and the influence of cognition on behavior. This provides a more rational and in-depth thinking paradigm for the study of university library space and provides theoretical references for library practice.
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Jessica Cartwright, Daniel Lawrence and Christopher Hartwright
This study aimed to explore how forensic mental health service users make sense of their past adverse experiences. Secondly, it aimed to explore whether service users considered…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to explore how forensic mental health service users make sense of their past adverse experiences. Secondly, it aimed to explore whether service users considered their adverse experiences to be related to their current stay in a forensic mental health setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse interviews with eight service users in low and medium secure care. Six of the participants were male and two were female.
Findings
Four super-ordinate themes emerged from the data: “Living amongst adversity”; “Managing adverse experiences”; “Making sense of going into secure care”; and “Coping with the past in the present”. All participants referred to multiple adverse experiences throughout their lives and used harmful coping strategies to manage these. Individual differences in how they related their past experiences to their detention in secure care were evident.
Practical implications
Author guidelines state that this section is optional. Implications for clinical practice are discussed at length in the discussion section.
Originality/value
This study offers an insight into the way in which forensic mental health service users make sense of their past traumas in relation to their current admission to secure services. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has previously addressed this from the perspective of service users.
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Constance Gunhidzirai, Shingirayi Florence Chamisa and Vongai Sarah Ruzungunde
COVID-19 has affected the lives and well-being of frontline workers including Social Workers and Social Auxiliary Workers. The purpose of this chapter was to explore the…
Abstract
COVID-19 has affected the lives and well-being of frontline workers including Social Workers and Social Auxiliary Workers. The purpose of this chapter was to explore the experiences of social workers and social auxiliary workers in the COVID-19 working environment. This chapter adopted a critical discourse analysis whereby articles were purposively selected to explore the challenges faced by the selected group of workers in executing their duties in the COVID-19 environment. The findings of this chapter revealed that Social Workers and Social Auxiliary Workers in South Africa are experiencing critical shortages of personal protective clothing and this has affected their capacity to effectively render services to individuals, groups and families. The findings indicated further that, Social and Auxiliary Workers experienced mental health issues that include stress, anxiety, fear, role conflict and work overload which was detrimental to quality service provision to their clients. The chapter calls for the National Department of Health to increase access to personal protective clothing to enable frontline workers to execute their mandates in a safe environment. The chapter also recommends for the government of South Africa to enhance its social welfare role through the access of the COVID-19 Relief Packages via the Department of Social Development to support struggling communities during COVID-19.
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Gail Gilchrist, Alicia Blázquez and Marta Torrens
This paper's aim is to examine the relationship between intimate partner violence, childhood abuse and psychiatric disorders among 118 female drug users in treatment in Barcelona…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper's aim is to examine the relationship between intimate partner violence, childhood abuse and psychiatric disorders among 118 female drug users in treatment in Barcelona, Spain.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary analysis of a cross‐sectional study of the psychiatric, behavioural and social risk factors for HIV. DSM‐IV disorders were assessed using the Spanish Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders; the Composite Abuse Scale assessed intimate partner violence and the Child Maltreatment History Self‐Report assessed childhood physical and sexual abuse.
Findings
The odds of experiencing intimate partner violence were 2.42 times greater among those with any depressive disorder (95 per cent CI 1.13, 5.20), over three times greater for those who reported ever attempting suicide (OR 3.20; 95 per cent CI 1.29, 7.94), met criteria for borderline personality disorder (OR 3.05; 95 per cent CI 1.31, 7.11), had been abused in childhood (OR 3.38; 95 per cent CI 1.45, 7.85) or currently lived with a substance user (OR 3.74; 95 per cent CI 1.29, 10.84). In multiple logistic regression, only living with a substance user (OR 3.42; 95 per cent CI 1.08, 10.86) and a history of childhood abuse (OR 2.87; 95 per cent CI 1.05, 7.86) remained significant in the model examining intimate partner violence victimisation.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size, together with the fact that the study was not originally powered to examine differences in intimate partner violence may have increased the possibility of type II errors.
Originality/value
Histories of psychiatric disorders, intimate partner violence and childhood abuse are common in female substance users in treatment. Research suggests that such histories result in poorer treatment outcomes. Histories of intimate partner violence and childhood abuse should be identified and addressed in substance abuse treatment to enhance treatment outcomes.
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Amy Wagenfeld, Connie Roy‐Fisher and Carolyn Mitchell
Providing veterans diagnosed with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), their families, and staff opportunities to experience physical and mental restoration in outdoor…
Abstract
Purpose
Providing veterans diagnosed with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), their families, and staff opportunities to experience physical and mental restoration in outdoor environments designed based on evidence is important. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between evidence‐based collaborative design of outdoor environments and their potential capacity to contribute to a veteran's journey to wellness.
Design/methodology/approach
There is no existing precedent in the peer‐reviewed literature linking positive health outcomes associated with outdoor environments to veterans with PTSD. This review of the literature is conceptualized as a means to extrapolate these benefits to this unique population.
Findings
Access to nature improves physiological and psychological health outcomes. A collaborative design approach ensures that design outcomes meet specific populations' needs.
Practical implications
Many service‐members are reluctant to seek traditional treatments for PTSD, fearing threat to future military service and limited available resources. Alternative treatments, access to sensitively designed outdoor environments and/or a re‐examination of traditional treatments and the environments in which they are provided supports best practice approaches to ameliorating the debilitating effects of this disorder.
Social implications
An integrated design approach blending the skills of landscape architecture and occupational therapy is key to achieve design outcomes that support the healing process to meet the needs of this vulnerable population.
Originality/value
An inter and/or trans‐disciplinary team approach to design and programming of outdoor environments for veterans with PTSD blends landscape architecture with occupational therapy to ensure both form and function are achieved, thus positing positive health outcomes.
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Restorative experiences relieve fatigue or stress, leading people to feel more energetic. Activation theory and the nature–dose framework hold travel duration as a crucial…
Abstract
Purpose
Restorative experiences relieve fatigue or stress, leading people to feel more energetic. Activation theory and the nature–dose framework hold travel duration as a crucial influence on restorative effects, yet these factors may not demonstrate a simple linear relationship. This paper, thus, aims to explore the relationship between travel duration and restoration based on a survey conducted during a seven-day holiday (the longitudinal data spanned two months); and explore the reasons for this relationship and the mechanisms for lasting restorative effects based on diary analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
Mixed methods were used in this study. Questionnaires regarding restorative effects were administered to 232 people at six time points before, during and after a holiday. Participants were also asked to keep a diary during their trips. Data were first tested for common method bias and were then processed via independent sample t-tests, analysis of variance and time-series analysis.
Findings
Restorative effects were consistently higher in the travel group than in the non-travel group. Additionally, an inverted U-shaped relationship emerged between travel duration and the restorative effects of a holiday; a moderate duration had stronger restorative effects than a duration that was too long or too short. More importantly, the study found that participants who traveled for a moderate duration (longer or shorter) engaged in non-judgmental challenging (relaxing) activities at least once. They also demonstrated greater eudaimonism (hedonism) and stronger, more sustained restoration versus the original set point. In addition, results revealed how travel activities, emotions, moderators and restorative effects were constructed.
Originality/value
Longitudinal data indicated an inverted U-shaped relationship between travel duration and restoration. Achieving lasting restorative effects requires effort and non-judgmental challenging activities for a moderate travel duration and frequency. The study uncovered mechanisms influencing the relationship between travel experiences and restorative effects. The results offer guidance for research on “travel prescriptions” and for the health and stress relief market.
Visual abstract
Inverted U-shaped curve for different travel durations and restorative effects at T3.
The non-judgmental challenging group showed lasting and stronger restorative effects over the next two months.
研究目的
恢复性体验是指从疲劳或压力状态恢复到感觉更好或更有活力的状态。基于激活理论和自然剂量框架, 旅行停留时长是恢复效果的一个关键变量, 但两者之间可能并不是简单的线性关系。本文旨在(1)基于两个月的纵向数据, 探讨固定假期旅行停留时长与恢复效果之间的关系; (2)根据假期日记内容进一步分析以上关系产生的可能原因及达到持久恢复效果的作用关系。
设计/方法/途径
该研究采用了混合方法。在度假前、度假中和度假后的六个纵向时间点, 对232人进行了与恢复效果有关的问卷调查。且参与者在整个假期中每天记日记。对数据进行了常见方法偏倚、独立样本t检验、方差分析和时间序列分析。
研究结果
(1)在整个调查期间, 旅行组的恢复效果始终高于非旅行组; (2)旅行停留时长与恢复效果之间的关系呈倒U型, 适度的旅行停留时长可以得到更好的恢复效果; (3)适度(太长或太短)旅行停留时长的参与者更多地参与非评判的挑战性(享乐性)的活动, 表现出更大的实现主义(享乐主义)倾向, 并获得了更强、更持久的恢复效果。进一步地, 研究结果揭示了旅游活动类型、情绪、调节变量和恢复性效果之间的作用关系。
原创性/价值
纵向数据分析表明旅行停留时长和恢复效果之间呈现倒U型, 要实现持久的恢复效果需要努力参与非评判的挑战性活动。这项研究揭示了旅行体验和恢复效果之间的关系, 研究结果为促进旅游成为健康和压力缓解市场的处方提供了理论基础和实践指导。
Objetivo
Las experiencias reparadoras alivian la fatiga o el estrés, haciendo que las personas se sientan con más energía. La teoría de la activación y el marco naturaleza-dosis sostienen que la duración del viaje es una influencia crucial en los efectos reconstituyentes que provocan en las personas, aunque estos factores pueden no demostrar una relación lineal simple. Así pues, este artículo pretende 1) explorar la relación entre la duración del viaje y la recuperación de las personas, a partir de una encuesta realizada durante unas vacaciones de 7 días (los datos longitudinales abarcaron dos meses); y 2) explorar las razones de esta relación y los mecanismos de los efectos reparadores duraderos a partir del análisis de diarios.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque (límite 100 palabras)
En este estudio se utilizaron métodos mixtos. Se administraron cuestionarios sobre los efectos reconstituyentes a 232 personas en seis momentos antes, durante y después de unas vacaciones. También se pidió a los participantes que llevaran un diario durante sus viajes. En primer lugar, se comprobó que los datos no presentaran sesgos por métodos comunes y, a continuación, se procesaron mediante pruebas t de muestras independientes, análisis de la varianza y análisis de series temporales.
Resultados (límite 100 palabras)
Los efectos reparadores fueron sistemáticamente mayores en el grupo que viajó que en el que no viajó. Además, surgió una relación en forma de U invertida entre la duración del viaje y los efectos reconstituyentes de las vacaciones; una duración moderada tuvo efectos reparadores más fuertes que una duración demasiado larga o corta. Por último, los participantes que viajaron durante una duración moderada (más larga o más corta) realizaron más actividades estimulantes no perjudiciales (relajantes). También demostraron un mayor eudaimonismo (hedonismo) y una recuperación más fuerte y sostenida en comparación con el punto de partida inicial. Los resultados revelaron cómo se relacionaban las actividades de viaje, las emociones, los moderadores y los efectos reparadores.
Originalidad/valor (límite 100 palabras)
Los datos longitudinales indicaron una relación en forma de U invertida entre la duración del viaje y la recuperación de las personas. Lograr efectos reparadores duraderos requiere esfuerzo y actividades para una duración moderada del viaje. El estudio descubrió mecanismos que influyen en la relación entre las experiencias de viaje y los efectos reconstituyentes. Los resultados ofrecen orientaciones para la investigación sobre las “recetas de viaje” y para el mercado de la salud y el alivio del estrés.
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The purpose of this essay is to reflect on my personal experience on my teaching performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and to share my investigation into the nature of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this essay is to reflect on my personal experience on my teaching performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and to share my investigation into the nature of performance phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
I reflected on my personal experience and thoughts about the phenomenon of performance.
Findings
My reflection points to an understanding that performance is a social-natural phenomenon, which can only be enabled and directed but cannot be controlled.
Originality/value
I shared some implications for understanding the nature of performance and performance management from an integrated worldview of physics, biology, psychology and neuroscience.
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