Wellbeing Space and Society最新文献

In line with the Healthy Campus framework, this study explored the health, health literacy, and wellbeing landscape for students at an Irish third level institution using a participatory action research approach with the aim to identify potential need, and inform future health promotion action(s). Methods. This mixed-method study involved three phases; (1) a scoping review to audit what activities are currently available to support student health and wellbeing on campus, (2) assessment of students’ current health literacy using the Health Literacy Questionnaire, analysed using Cohen's d to investigate the magnitude of differences between student groups, (3) qualitative discussions with university stakeholders, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, to provide greater understanding and context to the results of the previous phases. Results. The scoping review identified 151 activities on campus to support students’ holistic health, with the majority focused on individual support. Students’ health literacy scores were in line with the broader literature. A number of themes were identified within the qualitative data; i) the need for an ‘opt-in’ approach to support a health-integrated culture, ii) barriers and facilitators to health information, iii) the importance of ‘walking the walk’, iv) the specific university experience of 2022 as society emerged from Covid-19, and v) factors that influence student engagement. Conclusion. Insight into the participatory action approach undertaken in this study may be useful to inform other higher education institutions (HEIs) interested in undertaking similar work. Thorough description of the findings may also allow these to be transferred to other contexts. The findings of this study can help inform and direct the current university's, and potentially other HEIs, future actions in regards to enhancing the health and wellbeing of its stakeholders. To foster an authentic ‘Healthy Campus’, a whole-university approach is needed HEIs, supported by open dialogue between stakeholders and senior leadership commitment.

Population aging calls for a thorough understanding of how age impacts subjective wellbeing. Resource theories posit that people need resources, such as health and social relations, to produce subjective wellbeing. Since losing resources is more likely at older age, we examined whether the availability of resources indeed changes with age, and how this affects subjective wellbeing.

We analysed data from 75,895 individuals aged 50 and older participating in two or more waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. We analysed, separately for women and men, fixed effect regression models, estimating main and interaction effects of age and indicators of health, financial and social resources on two indicators of subjective wellbeing, i.e., life satisfaction and quality of life.

We found that the contribution of health to subjective wellbeing does not diminish in later life, and is not different for women and men. Also, having some close others is important for both women and men to maintain subjective wellbeing at every age. However, having a wider social network contributes more to the subjective wellbeing of women than of men at older age. Furthermore, having limited financial means and being widowed might get a bit easier to endure with advanced age, though there is no threshold of age after which any of these resources becomes irrelevant.

Health and social policies are needed to strengthen older people's resources, to help maintain subjective wellbeing up to very old age. Gender differences should be taken into account when developing these policies.

Perceived age-based discrimination has negative effects on health and wellbeing. Although its consequences are well acknowledged, less is known about the environmental context in which perceived age-based discrimination occurs and whether it affects people's perceptions of their nearby environment. This study aimed to disentangle the bi-directional temporal associations between perceived age-based discrimination and perceived neighborhood characteristics. The Health and Retirement Study is a representative panel study of US residents over the age of 50. The present study relied on three waves of the leave behind psychosocial questionnaire administered in 2010 (N = 8332), 2014 (N = 7.541), and 2018 (N = 5738). A cross-lagged analysis was conducted using Mplus. The study found a temporal bi-directional association between perceived neighborhood positive characteristics and perceived age discrimination, so that those who hold more positive perceptions of their own environment also are less likely to report perceived age-based discrimination four years later. The opposite direction of effects also was supported. There were no differences between the younger age group (50–65 years old) and the older age group (65+years) in these cross-lagged associations. The findings highlight the subjective nature of both perceived age-based discrimination and perceived neighborhood characteristics by possibly pointing to a shared worldview, which contributes to both.

Place-based interventions are a widely used approach to redressing the consequences of concentrated neighbourhood poverty and urban segregation, but relatively few studies have examined the impact of such policies on an important social resource: social cohesion. Social cohesion is pivotal in providing a sense of community, fostering positive relationships among neighbours, and promoting collective well-being. This study examined the impact of a place-based intervention at the neighbourhood-level on social cohesion in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada using a quasi-experimental study with 881 intervention participants across six targeted neighbourhoods and 173 control participants. The findings suggest social cohesion increased in some of the intervention neighbourhoods compared to a control group of Hamilton residents untouched by the intervention. If confirmed by future investigations, these results could inform a re-focusing of place-based initiatives and a shift in their evaluation beyond health and economic impacts to provide greater focus on building durable community social assets like social cohesion.

Promoting urban well-being is a significant societal task in the context of rapid urbanization. Past research has highlighted that interaction with urban green spaces, such as parks and forests, is key in promoting urban well-being. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the potential in promoting well-being from non-nature elements. In the present study, we explored whether interacting with art could enhance well-being in urban street contexts. In our field experiment, we built two interventions on urban streets, decorating them with either laminated art prints or green elements. We measured subjective and physiological well-being before and after the interaction with the interventions. With this paradigm, we assessed if, not only green, but also artistic interventions can improve well-being. Our results showed that, after interacting with the artistic intervention in an urban environment, the participants reported reduced feelings of anxiety, stress, and negative mood as they did with the green intervention. Further, our results indicate that improvements in well-being were linked to participants’ evaluations of the testing location (restorativeness), of aesthetic quality of the intervention (e.g., beauty, meaningfulness), and of their overall experience (e.g., enjoyment). These findings have significant implications in promoting urban well-being and city planning, as they highlight the potential of art as a novel tool for enhancing urban well-being.

This article explores the spatiality of political graffiti and urban murals and the role they play in placemaking, territoriality and identity building amongst Karachi's migrant communities. From Independence in 1947 to the present day, the city has been the site of several waves of in-migration, both domestic and international, resulting in a migrant megacity. Through shared migration experiences and cultural heritage, political patronage and spatial clustering, communities have consolidated and reimagined ethnic identities into political ones. These ethno-political entities demarcate territories of dominance and spaces of tension using political graffiti. This tool for placemaking and territory marking is an urban declaration of power on the walls of the city. More recently, political graffiti has been deliberately replaced by civil society actors in the form of murals changing the provocative ethno-political sloganeering to a nationalistic counter narrative. With multiple actors – political and apolitical - sentiments and stories now vying for space through their occupation of the city's walls, these surfaces become spaces of declaration, dialogue and at times, erasure. Through a process of diachronic documentation, this article shows that the walls of the city are a palimpsest of political opinion and identity; each subsequent layer in dialogue with the layer that precedes it. The authors of each layer through a process of placemaking, construct, deconstruct and reconstruct narratives of identity, ownership and belonging.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitalization in various work environments, including the education sector, leading to increased teacher stress levels and negative impacts on well-being. Despite the importance of teachers' well-being, there is a lack of understanding of the factors contributing to their motivation and performance. This study aimed to investigate the impact of meaning in life on teachers' work performance by examining the mediating role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. To evaluate the hypothesis, a sample of 1114 teachers from Ecuador participated in this study, they completed self-reported questionnaires, and provided data for the structural equation model (SEM) analysis. The results indicate that teachers with presence´s high levels in the meaning of life show greater intrinsic motivation, which positively influences the effort and quality of their work. Additionally, teachers with search´s high levels in the meaning in life show higher extrinsic motivation, which also positively influences the effort and quality of their work. These findings offer insights for improving compensation policies in the education sector, highlighting the importance of fostering meaning in life among teachers to enhance their workplace performance.

Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) makes visiting outdoor spaces difficult. This proof-of-concept study tapped into personally meaningful outdoor memories to co-create and deliver personalized nature-based VR experiences with four adults living in upstate South Carolina, U.S. Our study objective was to evaluate participant responses to the co-creation process and VR experience. We identified familiar landscapes with each participant, captured 360-degree videos of these locations, and worked with them to select the videos, audio, and sequences to use. Each participant co-created and then experienced their own unique 5–7 min 360-degree video in a VR headset. Participant responses were measured with questionnaires on psychological well-being, perceived restoration, cybersickness, and presence, along with physiological data on heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen levels. Our findings generally supported that the co-creation process and personalized, nature-based VR experience was safe for our participants and could support their psychological well-being. More broadly, this study supports additional research with these activities to promote well-being among people living with chronic disease.

Growing evidence suggests that visiting heritage, such as historic buildings, or landscapes, may enhance mental health. However, adults and children from deprived areas are less likely to visit heritage, perhaps partly due to unequal geographical availability. Few studies investigate socio-spatial inequity of heritage access nationally, and there is an absence of research exploring individual-based contact with heritage. We study both and ours is the first to use Global Positioning System (GPS) data to examine the latter. For Scotland we quantify area-level ‘opportunities’ for heritage contact (i.e., data zone-level counts of sites), and SPACES Study children's (n = 688) individual-level heritage ‘encounters’ (i.e., GPS buffer-level counts of sites), by income deprivation. Heritage exposure varied by deprivation at area- (ANOVA p < 0.001) and individual-level (p = 0.003); in poorer areas there were fewer ‘opportunities’ to visit heritage (mean numbers in most deprived: 2.8 (CI:2.2–3.5), and least deprived: 11.7 (CI:10.3–13.1)) and children had fewer ‘encounters’ with heritage (most deprived: 32.6 (CI:25.3–40.2), and least deprived: 58.0 (CI:47.9–69.3)). Inequalities at individual-level were smaller than at area-level; children in poorer areas appeared to compensate for fewer sites near home during their daily movements. Nonetheless, inequalities in exposure did persist, and opportunities to access heritage remained unequal to the detriment of those in poorer areas. Our evidence is policy relevant, highlighting a need for place-based schemes to address geographic inequalities in access. For example, targeted investment in heritage in/near deprived areas; free site entry for those on lower incomes; and educational outreach activities to improve awareness of local heritage.

Objectives: To explore inactive older adults experiences within a group based hiking program held twice weekly for 8 weeks. Methods: As part of a larger study exploring a hiking program among older adults, a purposeful sample of participants (n = 10; age = 66.9+/-8.0), who self-reported not meeting physical activity (PA) guidelines of 150 min per week were recruited. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of the hiking program. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded following guidelines for reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Participants shared that, (1) their experience with the hiking program was overwhelmingly positive and satisfying; (2) hiking helped them get in better shape; (3) being outdoors made them feel better, and (4) being with others in the hiking group was important to them. Discussion: Inactive older adults were satisfied with and benefited from a hiking program. Positive benefits may be due to the group and nature-based experience of the program and their benefit on accountability and enjoyment. Given the low rates of PA participation among older adults, hiking programs may be a way of increasing PA uptake in this population.