Wellbeing

In “Physician Burnout Calls for Legal Intervention” (November-December 2019), Sharona Hoffman calls for a “requirement” in the form of a “mandate that health care employers measure physician wellness using the [Maslach Burnout Inventory] (or another reliable tool) and report outcomes to [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services]” (p. 9). Such a requirement would be unlawful under the Americans with Disabilities Act’s rules on prohibited medical examinations of employees.

Sharona Hoffman’s response to my letter states “employers may require periodic job-related medical examinations of all employees ‘in positions affecting public safety.’ As I argued in my commentary, doctors, to whom patients entrust their health every day, have safety-critical jobs.”

This comparison is inapt. As Ilene N. Moore, Screening Older Physicians for Cognitive Impairment: Justifiable or Discriminatory, 28 HEALTH MATRIX 95, 140 (2018) recently explained: “any interpretation suggesting that that physicians are in a position affecting public safety is not supported by the statutory language of the ADA, the EEOC Enforcement Guidance, or EEOC correspondence. Only one federal law defines some physicians as public safety officers: physicians who serve as part of a public rescue squad or ambulance as defined by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.” (internal citations omitted).

Since the introduction of neoclassical economic theory, material wealth and accumulation have been linked to hedonic wellbeing. In turn, Utilitarian notions have generated the belief that infinite growth is not only good but necessary for society to prosper. Unsurprisingly, this belief system has supported the considerable depletion of natural resources and has not always led to social equitability or environmental justice, two pillars of sustainable development. Given these limitations, this paper looks into eudaimonic wellbeing, as defined by Stoicism. The latter originating in Classical Greece and Ancient Rome, has been used throughout the centuries to discuss and support the flourishing of individuals, but has rarely been applied to collective wellbeing. Consequently, we explore whether, and to what extent, this virtue-based philosophy can answer questions regarding the value and the role of material acquisition in societal development, as directed by sustainable policy. We propose the idea that the Stoic emphasis on prudence, self-control, courage and justice, as the only means to achieve " happiness " , is intrinsically linked to sustainable wellbeing and that its principles can be used to demonstrate that society does not require limitless growth to flourish.

Scientific research links mindfulness with better physical and mental health and with better relationships at home and at work. One definition is: Mindfulness is a flexible state of mind that enables us to become actively engaged in the present (Langer, 1989). We can practice mindfulness anytime and anywhere by coming to our (five) senses: directing our attention to one of our five sensory perceptions, for example to consciously hearing the laughter of a child, or to fully appreciating the smell and taste of food. The goal of mindfulness practice is to develop an awareness fo what is actually happening in and around us, as opposed to imagining that we (already) know what is happening in the moment, and thus (perhaps) judging the situation prematurely.

Millions of people in Bangladesh suffer from hunger, unpredictable and unstable livelihoods, precarious living conditions, and social injustice. Yet they survive and become resilient. However, the resilience achieved by the poor is minimal and incremental and does not result in their well-being. Based on three years of qualitative research, this article attempts to understand the nature of and pathways to ‘resilience of the poor people'. The article argues that poor people's approach to ‘resilience’ is twofold. First, they perceive their poverty and associated problems as ‘Allah's will', with not much to be done about it. At the same time, they engage in continuous innovative practices to survive. These two worldviews together ('fatalism’ and ‘self-help') make the poor ‘resilient'. This also ‘partially’ explains the absence of strong activism, collective action and protests within a context of state failure (in terms of ensuring rights and entitlements to its citizens).

This article explores how dwelling—a mindful unfolding of
thinking and being within the cosmos as a whole—can offer
a useful lens to look at the deeper layer of mental health
service users’ lived experiences, specifically in regards to the
feeling of ‘being at home’. To do so, this article reflects on how
dwelling has shaped design of a multi-modal research method
—Story Houses—that combines poem writing, working with
materials and interviews in a workshop environment.
Methodological implications of the method are considered in
regards to dwelling in the moment, abstracting time and
space, unfolding memories and thinking through metaphors.
A study with 18 mental health and wellbeing service users, 10
of which were interviewed, looks into the constant unravelling
of seeming opposites like alone/together and explores the
fantastical metaphor ‘sea’. It does so by adapting thematic
analysis to mirror a dwelling lens. As a method, Story Houses
can help create, open up and invite us to dwell in the nonliteral, evocative and ephemeral landscapes of human
existence.

The Perth Charter for the Promotion of Mental Health and Wellbeing is an initiative of the organizing committee of the 7th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. An iterative feedback process was used to develop and revise the charter principles in consultation with health professionals. A final online survey showed strong support for each of the eight principles, which were rated ‘essential’ (as distinct from ‘desirable’ or ‘not relevant’) by 73–96% of respondents. The principles were supported most strongly by practitioners, of whom 85–100% classified each as ‘essential’. It is hoped that mental health professionals find the Charter useful for advocating for greater resource allocation in their jurisdictions to mental health, in general and to mental health promotion in particular.

The focus on wages, prices and the living standards has led the discussions around the great divergence, resulting in varied perspectives. This paper builds a new set of relationships between these variables. This chapter describes the welfare levels of construction workers and their way of managing living standards in the expansive economy during the 1860s. It contends that the existing thesis – that real wages and living standards grew in both Britain and India in the modernisation 19th-century- needs to be reassessed. Additionally, it juxtaposes workers’ gains in wage income and bargaining power with their painful struggles at coming to terms with the unfavourable living standards. Consequently, the paper qualifies the growth in real wages of construction workers in the Deccan by laying out the following: The subsistence ratio of manual workers, however, mostly remained below the unity of one: their earning fell short of the cost of family subsistence. The living standards of workers in India were lower in comparison with their counterparts in Britain. The labouring poor secured the essential family consumption by increasing the supply of family labour on the labour market and agitating for wage revision. Here, women and boy coolies were far from receiving a wage rise comparable to their male counterparts. The labouring poor adopted strategies to come to terms with the meagre ratio of family subsistence. They calibrated the budget of household, thus maintaining the low levels of comfort itself. To meet the pressure of depressed living and deprivation, they entered in the labour dependency grounded on the payment of advance and loan in return of the continuous supply of labour efforts to employers. This kind of economic transaction and attendant labour institution cast an adverse impact on mobility and welfare outcome available to working peoples. It is equally noticeable in this study that the working families who collectively earned more than their subsistence wage, kept themselves from the vicious cycle of attached labour, indebtedness and low welfare levels. Thus, wokers frequently took loans and advance; as soon as possible they sought to get rid of such dependencies that limited their mobility in the labour market and their liberty at large.

This book examines the factors affecting the health and wellbeing of young people as they transition to adulthood under the shadow of migration control. Drawing on unique longitudinal data, it illuminates how they conceptualize wellbeing for themselves and others in contexts of prolonged and politically induced uncertainty.

The authors offer an in-depth analysis of the experiences of over one hundred unaccompanied young migrants, primarily from Afghanistan, Albania and Eritrea. They show the lengths these young people will go to in pursuit of safety, security and the futures they aspire to.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the book champions a new political economy analysis of wellbeing in the context of migration and demonstrates the urgent need for policy reform.

“One of the most powerful and important books you will read. An essential text for anyone interested in migration and the human rights of young people.” Felicity Thomas, University of Exeter

“This book offers a profound analysis of the concept of wellbeing for migrant youths, especially how they are affected by politics-driven public policies. It makes their voices – about their hurdles, strengths, fears and hopes – loud and clear.” François Crépeau, McGill University

“A perceptive and nuanced study of the circumstances of unaccompanied child migrants in England and in Italy. The authors provide a powerful case for radical rethinking of current approaches to the protection of children.” Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard Law School

The Invictus Wellbeing Program (IWP) is a
mental fitness and resiliency course that uses
Dr Martin Seligman’s PERMA model to help
achieve the wellbeing mandate set out in the
2008 Melbourne Declaration. This landmark
document requires all Australian schools to
foster the “social, emotional, moral, spiritual
and aesthetic development and wellbeing
of young Australians” (Barr, et al., 2008, p.
4). Schools can easily rely on the hidden
curriculum or an assortment of miscellaneous
approaches to take care of the “socialisation
process” (Kentli, 2009, p. 83) without having a
targeted approach with which to achieve the
directive set out in the Melbourne Declaration.
Through the implementation of Invictus, school
leaders are able to tangibly demonstrate both
their awareness of and engagement with the
wellbeing responsibilities implicit within a
school community.

Art and craft practitioners have personal experience of the benefits of making: the handling of material can help to regulate our mental states through providing a means to reach flow states. The mirror neuron system helps in skill learning, and the plasticity of the brain ensures that skills may be learned at all stages of life. Arts and crafts play a role in controlling stress and enhancing relaxation. They also enable us to fail safely and handle our emotions. Furthermore, they facilitate social activity for many individuals who are at risk of social isolation. This article aims to integrate knowledge from both the field of neuroscience and the arts by focusing on the implications that flow experience and the mirror neuron system integral to making processes have on our psychophysical well-being.

L'objectiu de la tesi doctoral es estudiar la importancia del temps com a factor de benestar quotidia en el context de la societat contemporania. Mes concretament, es proposa analitzar la creixent vinculacio del temps amb el benestar a partir de les relacions socials que s'estableixen entorn del treball. Quina es l'aportacio dels diferents temps de treball al benestar o que es percep socialment com a benestar son dos dels interrogants de partida. La perspectiva teorica proposada per abordar aquest objecte d'estudi pivota sobre tres eixos. En primer lloc, es proposa un canvi d'enfocament en la concepcio del benestar: un canvi que suposa el pas del benestar material al benestar quotidia, el pas d'una aproximacio macro a una aproximacio micro vers aquest concepte. Aquest canvi es caracteritza per l'ampliacio de la perspectiva economica i productivista que sovint s'utilitza per definir i mesurar el benestar. En aquest sentit, la tesi defensa l'us d&#3...

Here I elaborate on the way that my research shows specifically now patient narratives can be a form of treatment when used in the right way. Using the example of depression, in this paper, I trace the growing recognition of the role patient narratives have in defining and shaping recovery from mental health problems. The rise of the user narrative presents specific challenges for professionals, and I will explore some key issues that users with depression are focusing on, including what they are asking of professionals. From the user perspective, some professionals are naturally good at detecting, eliciting, understanding and working with their stories, and I will discuss what engagement with narrative actually looks like for depression. A table summarises ways in which professionals can better engage with patient narratives. Finally, I will conclude with a short outline of how depression narratives have taken a specific social turn, incorporating discourses and strategies challenging the perceptions and attitudes of the public more widely as part of recovery.

There is increasing interest today in how the arts contribute to individual and community wellbeing. This scoping review identified and examined ways in which the arts have been used to address wellbeing in communities in the United States. The review examined 44 publications, with combined study populations representing a total of 5,080 research participants, including marginalized populations. It identified the types of artistic practices and interventions being conducted, research methods, and outcomes measured. It highlights positive associations found across a broad spectrum of psychological, physical, and social outcomes, including improvements in self-esteem and identity formation, cognition, physical balance, and physical conditioning. It also reports negative outcomes of arts interventions that may be underreported. The study identifies the need for core outcomes sets and reporting guidelines for advancing evidence synthesis in this area.

Delivering community-based benefits is oftentimes cited to justify the high costs associated with hosting large-scale events. The current research is embedded in positive psychology to examine how an event impacts host community members' PERMA domains, reflected through positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Adopting a longitudinal approach, the authors interviewed 15 host community members before and after a large-scale sport event to determine if and how the event impacted their well-being. The findings uncovered evidence that the event activated positive emotions, relationships, and meaning across both phases, and evidence of accomplishment within the postevent phase. The findings contribute to the knowledge by examining the links between large-scale sport events and well-being throughout the event lifecycle. This research forwards implications for event bidding committees, event organizers, and host community officials to maximize community well-being through hosting large-scale events and to help justify associated expenses from a social-psychological perspective.

Wellbeing is an organizing principle that ensures simultaneous flourishing of people and nature. It binds together an ethic of nature and ethics of people/community into a  practical  framework  for  creating  integrated  socio-ecological  wellbeing.  This  paper  discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this position and presents illus-trative cases of innovative wellbeing-oriented organizations, both business and social. The paper explains why we need wellbeing organizations anchored in the wellbeing economy  movement.  A  concept  of  resilient  wellbeing  organization  is  presented  and  illustrated with working models of existing organizations attempting to live up to the wellbeing values and practices. The paper ends with some thought on regulatory ena-bling  of  wellbeing  organizations  and  makes  practical  implications  for  policy  makers  and managers, and suggestions for further research

Background Although higher psychological well-being has been linked with a range of positive biological processes and health outcomes, the prospective association between psychological well-being and physical activity among older adults has been understudied. Purpose We tested whether higher baseline psychological well-being predicted higher levels of physical activity over time. Methods Prospective data were from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, a nationally representative sample of English adults over the age of 50. Our sample included 9986 adults who were assessed up to six times across an average of 11 years. Results After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, each standard deviation increase in baseline psychological well-being was associated with higher median physical activity in linear regression models that examined physical activity across all six waves (β = 0.20; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.18–0.21) and in linear mixed effect models that examined repeated measures of physical activity over the entire follow-up period (β = 0.20; 95% CI 0.19–0.21). Further, higher baseline psychological well-being was associated with a slower rate of decline in physical activity among people who were active at baseline (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.79, 95% CI 0.76–0.82) and increasing physical activity among people who were inactive at baseline (HR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.22–1.35). Findings were maintained after adjusting for baseline health status and depression. Conclusions Psychological well-being was independently associated with attaining and maintaining higher physical activity levels over 11 years, suggesting that it may be a valuable target for interventions aimed at helping older adults acquire more physical activity.

Using a dialogical narrative approach, this original research explored how combat veterans experiencing
post-traumatic stress disorder made sense of peer relationships with other veterans and what effects these
relationships had on their well-being. Interviews and participant observations were conducted with 15 male
combat veterans (aged 27–60 years) and one member of the civilian emergency services, the majority of
whom were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following traumatic exposure in a range of armed
conflicts. All participants were part of a surfing charity for veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress
disorder. Data were rigorously analysed using a dialogical narrative analysis (DNA). Findings revealed the
collective story that veterans used to make sense of peer relationships within the group. This collective
story worked for the veterans to shape their experiences of well-being by fostering camaraderie, stimulating
deeper connections and countering the negative effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Potential
therapeutic effects of the collective story were also identified. This article extends previous knowledge on
combat veterans and social relationships and advances the field of narrative health psychology through the
empirical application of a sophisticated dialogical narrative approach.
Keywords
combat veterans, narrative, post-traumatic stress disorder, social relationships, well-being

Prevalence studies show high levels of burnout, anxiety, fatigue and other symptoms of distress among medical doctors. However, there are very few randomized controlled trials testing interventions against these problems. This randomized controlled trial (NCT02838290; ClinicalTrials.gov, 2016) tested interventions teaching 227 doctors about the psychology of burnout, stress, coping with patient death, and managing distress, as well as giving them information about prevalence rates among doctors. Primary outcomes included burnout, anxiety, insomnia, grief, alcohol/drug use, binge eating, physical symptoms, and psychiatric morbidity. The outcomes were tested before and after the interventions with a 7-day time-lag. The intervention significantly decreased doctors’ levels of burnout (e.g. emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) and anxiety. Doctors in the control group had no significant changes in these signs of distress. The intervention did not significantly reduce other health and habit-related outcomes potentially because these need a longer time-lag than 7 days. Interventions teaching doctors about the psychology of work-related distress reduce burnout and anxiety by helping doctors realize that distress is a normal, human reaction to external stressors, common in medicine, and solvable by learning about psychological coping strategies.

Māori wellbeing is the foundation of Māori development, yet Indigenous peoples (including Māori) are often invisible in universal measures of wellbeing. In 2006 Mason Durie outlined Māori-specific measures of wellbeing, built upon Māori understandings of what constitutes a “good life”. Following Durie this paper describes developments in the culturally responsive measurement of Māori wellbeing. These have culminated in Te Kupenga, the 2013 survey of Māori wellbeing by New Zealand Statistics, and two Māori mental wellbeing assessment tools, Hua Oranga and the Meihana Model. Gaps remain in the measurement of collective Māori wellbeing, or whānau ora, with individual reporting on whānau wellbeing currently being used as a proxy. More information is also needed about Māori subjective wellbeing in order for this to be fully captured in measurement tools. The close involvement of Māori in the development of any wellbeing measure is essential for that measure to be culturally responsive and valid.

Policy is based on the principle of sustainable development with heritage-led regeneration projects having important roles in supporting sustainable growth. This aligns with policies to enable communities to consider how culture can be central to plans for wellbeing. As such, the positive outcomes for communities engaged in such projects can be broadly defined across four areas; economic, social, cultural and environmental.

Designing for women's healthcare remains an underexplored area of HCI, particularly outside informational systems for maternal health. Drawing on a case study of a body disruption-urinary incontinence in women-we illustrate the experience of women's health both from the perspective of the patient and the therapist. We show how knowledge, esteem and agency play crucial roles in remedial women's care practices, as well as preventative. In describing these challenges we deliberate on possible futures of women's health that take advantage of the many advances in design and technology from across the spectrum of HCI research. We show how with some care and courage HCI has the potential to transform women's experience within this setting.

Concern about high rates of mental health disorders amongst young people has underwritten a proliferation of social and educational policy aimed at improving youth wellbeing. This chapter examines educational concerns with mental health through a critical analysis of wellbeing as an object of educational policy and practice. It begins by considering the construction of mental health as an educational problem, in the past and in the present, and the policy solutions that have been developed in order to address this. It then explores how rising concern with the wellbeing of young people has fostered a shift from the historically narrow educational focus on targeted interventions – for students experiencing problems or identified as being at risk of mental health difficulties – to the more recent emphasis on universal approaches and preventative programs. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the seductive power of ideas of prevention and “psychological immunization” and considers the implications of this for contemporary educational policy and practice, and ultimately for understanding and promoting youth wellbeing.

In this seminar, we will present the UKRI TAS hub SafeSpacesNLP research project. The SafeSpacesNLP project is exploring how multi-disciplinary teams can use NLP-based behaviour classification algorithms to identify online harmful behaviours for children and young people. We will present our research from the viewpoint of Computer Science and the viewpoint of Applied Linguistics / Social Science, highlighting both the existing research challenges for each discipline and how SafeSpacesNLP is trying to address some of these. We will conclude with the longer-term challenges we see for this research area.

Evidence suggests that extraverted (i.e., bold, agentic) behavior increases positive affect (PA), and could be targeted in wellbeing interventions. However, this evidence is either causally ambiguous or has questionable ecological validity, and the potential costs of sustained extraverted behavior have received minimal attention. To address these limitations, we conducted a randomized controlled trial examining the wellbeing benefits and costs of an extraverted behavior intervention conducted in everyday life. Participants (n = 147) were randomly assigned to an “act-extraverted” intervention or a “sham” (active control) intervention for 1 week in everyday life. Additional data for a contact control condition were obtained from a previous study (n = 76). Wellbeing outcomes included PA and negative affect (NA), feelings of authenticity, and tiredness—assessed both in the moment and retrospectively. There was a positive overall effect of the acting extraverted intervention on PA and authenticity. However, wellbeing outcomes also depended on dispositional extraversion: more introverted participants had weaker PA increases, experienced increased NA and tiredness, and decreased feelings of authenticity. Implications for wellbeing interventions and personality theory are discussed.

The purpose of the present work is to provide a new taxonomy for cognitive
enhancement, the practical worth of which is demonstrated in the course of
an evaluation of four cognitively affecting activities, with reference to
wellbeing. As such, there are three main sections: Section II, wherein the
novel taxonomy is presented and justified in opposition primarily to the
prominent ‘therapeutic’ framework used in cognitive enhancement
literature; Section III, wherein, to clarify the conception of wellbeing which
is used in later evaluations, two prominent theories of wellbeing (Hedonism
and Desire-Fulfilment Theory (DFT)) are compared and a case is made for
using a version of DFT which I have augmented (DFT+); and finally
Section IV, wherein the new taxonomy is employed along with the DFT+ to
evaluate four cognitively affecting activities, two real (diet and education)
and two fictional interventions devised for this paper (a drug ‘Hythlosite’
and an implant ‘Cognito’). It is concluded that, by using the taxonomy and DFT+, rudimentary methods of enhancing cognition are preferable to more sophisticated ones.

Purpose-The ongoing pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus has severely influenced lives and livelihoods. As service organizations either face hibernation or continuity of their business operations, the impact of social distancing measures raises major concerns for the wellbeing of service employees. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework to examine how different social distancing practices impact an organization's service continuity or service hibernation, which in turn affects different dimensions of their employees' subjective wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach-We draw on macroeconomic data and industry reports, linking them to theoretical concepts to develop a conceptual framework and a research agenda to serve as a starting point to fully understand the impact of this pandemic on employee wellbeing. Findings-This article develops an overarching framework and research agenda to investigate the impact of social distancing practices on employee wellbeing. 2 Originality/value-We propose two opposing business concepts-service continuity and service hibernation-as possible responses to social distancing measures. By bridging different theoretical domains, we suggest there is a need to holistically examine macro, meso, and micro factors to fully understand the impact of social-distancing-related measures on employee wellbeing.

Although Health Chaplaincy services are well-established in hospitals in the United Kingdom and across the world, Primary Care Chaplaincy is still in its infancy and much less extensively developed. This study explored the impact the introduction of a Primary Care “Chaplains for Wellbeing” service had upon patients’ experience and perceived health and well-being. Sixteen patients participated in one-one interviews. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Patients reported circumstances that had eroded perceived self- efficacy, self-identity, and security manifesting as existential displacement; summarized under the superordinate theme of “loss.” “Loss” originated from a number of sources and was expressed as the loss of hope, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and sense of purpose and meaning. Chaplains used a wide range of strategies enabling patients to rebuild self-confidence and self- esteem. Person-centered, dignified, and responsive care of...

In this book I offer a critical, comparative and empirically-informed defense of Islamic schools in the West. To do so I elaborate an idealized philosophy of Islamic education, against which I evaluate the very different empirical situation in the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States. I examine in detail notions of cultural identity and cultural coherence, the scope of parental authority v. a child's interests, as well as the state's hypothetical role in regulating religious schools.