Search Results (14,252)

The healthcare industry continues to experience high rates of burnout, turnover, and staffing shortages that erode quality care. Interventions that are feasible, engaging, and impactful are needed to improve cultures of support and mitigate harm from exposure to morally injurious events. This quality improvement project encompassed the methodical building, implementation, and testing of RECONN (Reflection and Connection), an organizational intervention designed by an interdisciplinary team to mitigate the impact of moral injury and to increase social support among nurses. This quality improvement project was conducted in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) in a rural, academic medical center. We employed an Evidence-Based Quality Improvement (EBQI) approach to design and implement the RECONN intervention while assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness via surveys (n = 17). RECONN was found acceptable and appropriate by 70% of nurses who responded to surveys. Preliminary effectiveness data showed small to moderate effect sizes for improving social support, moral injury, loneliness, and emotional recovery. Further evaluation is warranted to establish the effectiveness and generalizability of RECONN to other healthcare settings. Full article

This cross-sectional study used secondary data from the USA 2020 National Health Interview Survey database. The goal of this study is to outline the impact physical activity has on cognition and mental ability. The reason we chose to pursue this research was a result of the exponentially growing weight of economic and emotional burden caused by cognitive impairments and diseases. The main outcome was whether individuals experienced dementia symptoms such as memory loss and difficulty concentrating. The main exposure was following physical activity guidelines (none, strength only, aerobic only, both). The confounders included age, sex, region, heart disease status, smoking status, drinking status, and depression status. The sample is composed of 30,119 USA adults aged 18 or older. Of those participants, 46% were male and 54% were female. By age, 96% were 18–84 years old, and approximately 4% were 85 and older. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). There was a statistically significant association between difficulty following physical activity guidelines and cognitive difficulties. Those who met aerobic only increased the odds of cognitive difficulty by 52% (OR 1.52; 95% CI: 1.34–1.74) compared with those who met both criteria. Those who met the strength criteria had 1.7 greater odds of cognitive difficulties (OR 1.70; 95% CI: 1.42–2.02) than those who met both criteria. Those who met neither of these guidelines had almost threefold greater odds of having cognitive difficulties (OR 2.64; 95% CI: 2.36–2.96) than those who met both guidelines. Researchers and healthcare providers should collaborate to encourage meeting these guidelines and addressing barriers preventing people from being physically active, such as physical limitations and access to safe recreational spaces. Future studies should address the health disparities regarding physical activity. Full article

Social media use is associated with poor sleep outcomes. We aimed to extend previous research by examining how measures of social media use would affect two sleep characteristics: sleep quality and insomnia symptoms. In addition, we tested a serial mediation model linking social media use to sleep through increases in negative social comparison and pre-sleep cognitive arousal. Participants were 830 emerging adults (ages 18–30) who were recruited for an online survey study in February 2024. The sample was 63.1% female, with an average age of 24. We examined three measures of social media use: duration (minutes of daily use), frequency (number of weekly visits to social media platforms), and emotional investment (attachment to and integration of social media into daily life). Consistent with our hypothesis, greater emotional investment in social media and more frequent social media use were associated with poorer sleep quality and greater insomnia severity. We also found evidence supporting our hypothesized serial mediation model: emotional investment in social media and more frequent social media use were associated with increased negative social comparison, which subsequently increased pre-sleep cognitive arousal, which then led to poorer sleep outcomes. Our findings suggest that negative social comparison and pre-sleep cognitive arousal are important mechanisms linking social media use to poor sleep outcomes. Future studies should aim to test this serial mediation model using longitudinal data and experimental methods. Full article

With increasing interest in the emotional responses to music, some studies are specifically looking into music’s regulatory function on emotion, known as “music emotion regulation (MER)”. The purpose of this study was to examine the concepts on the regulatory impact of music on emotion using a scoping review procedure. Through an electronic database and manual searches based on the guidelines suggested by the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis, a total of 47 studies were identified and included for analysis. The results showed that there were some definitional challenges in each component of music emotion regulation. Most studies treated music as a single variable without exploring the regulatory mechanism of the intra-musical elements that constitute music. When examining the regulatory impact of music on emotion, emotion was inclusive of other terms ranging from feeling to mood. Most of the MER studies employed the terms used in the emotion regulation strategies; however, there were some regulatory processes that pertained solely to music’s cathartic effect. Overall, the results showed that music emotion regulation (MER) was not clearly distinguished from music emotion (ME) studies. Future research should allocate more attention to the theoretical mechanism behind music’s intrinsic regulatory effect in emotion regulation (MER) studies. Full article

The dynamic expressions of emotion convey both the emotional and functional states of an individual’s interactions. Recognizing the emotional states helps us understand human feelings and thoughts. Systems and frameworks designed to recognize human emotional states automatically can use various affective signals as inputs, such as visual, vocal and physiological signals. However, emotion recognition via a single modality can be affected by various sources of noise that are specific to that modality and the fact that different emotion states may be indistinguishable. This review examines the current state of multimodal emotion recognition methods that integrate visual, vocal or physiological modalities for practical emotion computing. Recent empirical evidence on deep learning methods used for fine-grained recognition is reviewed, with discussions on the robustness issues of such methods. This review elaborates on the profound learning challenges and solutions required for a high-quality emotion recognition system, emphasizing the benefits of dynamic expression analysis, which aids in detecting subtle micro-expressions, and the importance of multimodal fusion for improving emotion recognition accuracy. The literature was comprehensively searched via databases with records covering the topic of affective computing, followed by rigorous screening and selection of relevant studies. The results show that the effectiveness of current multimodal emotion recognition methods is affected by the limited availability of training data, insufficient context awareness, and challenges posed by real-world cases of noisy or missing modalities. The findings suggest that improving emotion recognition requires better representation of input data, refined feature extraction, and optimized aggregation of modalities within a multimodal framework, along with incorporating state-of-the-art methods for recognizing dynamic expressions. Full article

Emergency and critical care services inevitably expose their staff to potential work stressors and traumatic events, which can cause emotional, behavioral, and physical reactions. The literature presents a wide range of evidence-based knowledge on the effectiveness of interventions to promote mental health after traumatic events. However, little is known about the effectiveness of prevention programs. In this study, we sought to improve the empirical understanding of the potential of a combination of psycho-educational-defusing training for trauma prevention. We employed a mixed methods approach using statistical modeling and content/focus group analysis to describe the sample of investigation and the effectiveness of the prevention training. A retrospective quantitative chart measured and evaluated the psychological state of physicians, nurses, and registered nurses (N = 222). A retrospective qualitative chart examined staff accounts of traumas and their coping strategies via autobiographies (n = 26). Prospective focus groups examined participants of the psycho-educational defusing intervention administered (n = 61). Findings revealed different forms of experiencing grief and trauma. Prospective analysis of the training effectiveness revealed favorable perceptions by participants. Results support the formal implementation of continuous prevention, building relational support, and coping strategies as keys to recovery and preventing traumas. Full article

The Sensory Classroom Teacher Questionnaire (SCTQ) is a psycho-educational tool designed to empower teachers in creating sensory-rich, inclusive environments that promote diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusivity through the application of sensory ergonomics. Unlike other tools that focus on isolated strategies, the SCTQ takes a holistic approach by optimizing the overall classroom environment to meet the sensory and ergonomic needs of learners, particularly those with ADHD and sensory integration/processing challenges. This makes the SCTQ especially vital in diverse and under-resourced quintile schools, where creating sensory-optimized, inclusive environments is essential for fostering equitable learning experiences. By addressing sensory needs through thoughtful classroom design, the SCTQ not only strengthens learners’ cognitive development and socio-emotional well-being but also improves behavior regulation, physical comfort, and overall functioning. This manuscript is part of a larger exploratory mixed-methods study that validated the SCTQ using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Here, the focus is on the qualitative aspect, utilizing thematic analysis to explore data from 23 focus group interviews with 88 Grade 1, 2, and 3 teachers from various Quintile 1–5 schools in Gauteng, South Africa. Guided by the enactivism paradigm, the study emphasizes the crucial role teachers play in creating and adapting sensory environments. Their insights were key to refining the SCTQ, ensuring it is practical, developmentally appropriate, culturally, linguistically, contextually, and socio-economically relevant. Developed through collaboration among researchers, specialists, and teachers, the SCTQ supports sensory ergonomic practices, raises awareness of ADHD and sensory integration/processing challenges, and supports both learners’ potential and teachers’ well-being, contributing to a more sustainable and positive educational experience. Full article

Climate change threatens environmental stability and human health, with limited research on younger children’s perceptions. This study examines Italian primary school children’s views on climate change to guide educational and policy strategies. Surveying 973 children (5–11 years) from different regions, findings showed high awareness (93%) and concern (63%) about climate change. Regional differences indicated greater concern in the south. Gender disparities revealed females were more concerned and experienced more sleep difficulties. Younger children had stronger emotional responses, while older ones showed increased pro-environmental behaviors. Despite moderate self-confidence in effecting change, a strong sense of responsibility and trust in adults was prevalent. These results highlight the need for early, continuous climate education tailored to regional, age, and gender-specific needs. Addressing children’s views on climate change can help educators and policymakers foster resilience and proactive attitudes, supporting the development of informed and engaged future stewards of the planet. Full article

After-school programs in Romania are not mandatory, and most of the time, they are funded by parents. In Romania, over 41.5% of students come from disadvantaged families that cannot afford to finance after-school activities. In recent years, there have been only a few free after-school programs for disadvantaged students. Our study aimed to measure the impact of such an after-school program, which mostly uses alternative teaching methods, on several aspects of learning improvement at the level of disadvantaged students in primary and secondary education. The research results revealed a significant improvement in the education of children after they participated in after-school programs for a large range of learning results. Among the intervention actions, mathematical competencies, basic competencies in science and technology, and digital competencies were identified as the main predictors of high learning performance. The results also revealed that a longer length of such programs had a positive effect on educational performance and the socio-emotional development of disadvantaged students. It was also shown that the impact of intervention is more pronounced in the case of young students and adults who followed the “Second Chance” programs. The results support the effectiveness and importance of such projects in promoting holistic and sustainable education and in providing valuable information to decision-makers regarding the impact of after-school programs on the education of disadvantaged people to improve social sustainability. Full article

People spend most of their time indoors, and the visual characteristics of indoor building materials affect not only the quality of the indoor environment, but also the well-being of individuals. Ceramic tiles are widely used in interior decoration of buildings due to their aesthetic appeal and ease of maintenance. However, there is currently a lack of a comprehensive framework for assessing the visual comfort of ceramic tile design. This study established an evaluation system using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Delphi method to collect perceptual words, extract evaluation indices, and calculate weights. A visual comfort scale for ceramic tiles, comprising three dimensions and twelve indices, was developed. A total of 342 questionnaires were analyzed using six types of tiles, and the multidimensional visual comfort scores of the various ceramic tile samples were statistically examined. An analysis of variance was conducted to investigate the effects of tile brightness, texture, and participant gender on visual comfort. The findings indicate that tile brightness and texture significantly affect the overall visual comfort score (p < 0.001; p < 0.001), with light-toned, non-textured tiles providing higher visual comfort (3.949). Although gender did not significantly affect the overall visual comfort scores, it did influence the evaluation scores in certain dimensions. Men rated the aesthetic comfort of tiles lower than women (p = 0.035), but they rated the emotional comfort of medium-toned and non-textured tiles higher (p = 0.003; p = 0.017). In terms of theoretical significance, the establishment of this evaluation model can expand the research content and methods of ceramic tiles, which are crucial architectural decoration materials. In terms of practical significance, this study provides an evaluation method and partial evaluation information for designers, enabling them to assess and enhance the visual experience of tiles based on the specific needs of interior spaces and the characteristics of the visual subject. Full article

Background: Emotional eating is associated with adverse health outcomes in children, including elevated weight status. Currently, there is not a well-validated parent-report measure of emotional eating for young children. This study assessed the reliability and validity of the 10-item parent version of the Emotional Eating Scale Adapted for Children and Adolescents (EES-C) Short-Form. Methods: The participants were 207 parents and 144 children from the southern United States. They completed the parent- and child-report EES-C Short-Form and responded to measures related to child eating behaviors, mood, and gratitude. Results: The parent-report EES-C Short-Form demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.94). Test–retest reliability was also supported, as evidenced by a medium correlation (ICC = 0.56, p < 0.001) between parent-rated emotional eating across two time points. Additionally, the measure demonstrated a significant correlation with a scale of emotional overeating (r = 0.25, p < 0.001)—a theoretically related construct. Supporting discriminant validity, the measure was not significantly related to a measure of parent-reported gratitude (r = 0.07, p = 0.30). A unidimensional model provided good fit for the data (CFI = 0.997, SRMR = 0.046). Conclusions: The results from the current study provide preliminary evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the parent version of the EES-C Short-Form. For the purpose of screening children in school or primary care settings, the EES-C Short-Form may be practical and helpful in identifying children who may be at risk of developing adverse health outcomes or more-severe eating disorder pathology. Full article

Background/Objectives: The current study compared Self-Figure drawings from Thai and Indian adolescents to assess the cross-cultural applicability of a child abuse assessment tool. The research aims to understand the extent to which distinctions or similarities arise in Self-Figure drawings among adolescents from two culturally similar yet distinct backgrounds characterized by differences in religious affiliations, socioeconomic contexts, and political environments. Methods: Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study utilized quantitative measures, including the Traumatic Events Checklist (TEQ-5) and Medical Somatic Dissociation Questionnaire (MSDQ), alongside a qualitative analysis of Self-Figure drawings. Ethical approval was obtained with waived informed consent, and a convenience sample of 386 adolescents aged 13–18 years (193 from Thailand [M = 14.8, SD = 1.73; 135 females (69.9%) and 58 males (30.1%)], and 193 from India [M = 15.2, SD = 1.64; 135 females (69.9%) and 58 males (30.1%)]), who reported experiencing child abuse, participated in the study by completing questionnaires and drawing themselves. Results: The analysis revealed that Thai adolescents had higher MSDQ scores, while Indian adolescents exhibited more prominent pictorial indicators. Indian participants reported experiencing a broader range of event types, whereas Thai adolescents predominantly depicted verbal or emotional abuse. Variations in pictorial indicators were found significant, except for hair, cheek or chin, omitted legs or feet, and omitted eyes. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the understanding of how cultural factors influence adolescents’ self-representations through drawing. The differences in pictorial indicators highlight the nuanced variations within similar cultures, emphasizing the cultural specificity of self-expression. Full article

Individuals with gaming disorder (GD) show emotional dysregulation and autonomic dysfunction in daily life. Although studies have shown that the relaxation method of breathing exercise (BE) improves cardiopulmonary synchrony, the physiological regularity and synchrony of GD remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the regularities of pulse wave (PW), thoracic wall movement (TWM), and abdominal wall movement (AWM) using sample entropy (SE) and assessed the vascular-respiratory and TWM-AWM synchrony using cross-sample entropy (CSE). Twenty individuals with GD and 26 healthy control (HC) individuals participated in baseline, gaming, and recovery stages, both before and after BEs. The results showed that both groups had significantly higher SE_TWM, SE_AWM, and CSE_TWM-AWM during gaming than baseline. Before BE, CSE_PW-TWM and CSE_PW-AWM during gaming were considerably higher in the GD group than in the HC group. Compared to before BE, both groups had decreased SE_TWM and CSE_TWM-AWM during gaming, particularly in the HC group. Online gaming may induce pulse wave and respiratory irregularities, as well as thoracic–abdominal wall movement asynchrony. Individuals with GD who engage in prolonged gaming periods may exhibit lower vascular–respiratory synchrony compared to the HC group. SE_TWM, SE_AWM, CSE_TWM-AWM, CSE_PW-TWM, and CSE_PW-AWM may serve as biomarkers for assessing the risk of GD. BE may improve TWM regularity and vascular–respiratory synchrony during gaming, potentially alleviating addictive behavior. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) drives new modes of learning and improves the workflow of instructors. Nevertheless, there are concerns about academic integrity, plagiarism, and the reduction of critical thinking in higher education. Therefore, it is important to record and analyze university social sciences students’ attitudes toward AI, which is a significant predictor of later use of AI technologies. A sample of 190 university students (82.45% female) from a Greek social sciences department was selected. Descriptive statistics revealed that students’ attitudes toward AI were mostly positive. A principal components analysis confirmed a three-component solution of attitudes toward AI, comprising cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions. Comparative analysis of the three components indicated that the emotional dimension was the highest ranked, followed by the cognitive and behavioral dimensions. Pairwise correlation analyses revealed that the strongest correlate of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components of attitudes toward AI was the future frequency of AI use, followed by general feelings of safety with technology. In conclusion, students display more emotional and cognitive favorable dispositions toward AI. The social background of the students and the prospective future use of AI play a key role in the formulation of attitudes toward AI. University educators need to provide more teaching and learning about AI to improve students’ attitudes toward AI and future AI use. Full article

With the growing emphasis on eco-friendly and sustainable development concepts, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have emerged as a popular alternative to traditional fuel vehicles (FVs). Due to the absence of an internal combustion engine, electric vehicles (EVs) do not require a front air intake grille, allowing for a more minimalist and flexible design. Consequently, aligning EV styling with users’ visual cognition and emotional perception is a critical objective for automakers and designers. In this study, we establish the mapping relationship between users’ emotional cognition and NEV styling design based on experimental data. We introduce Particle Swarm Optimization Support Vector Regression (PSO-SVR) into the perceptual engineering (KE) research process to predict user emotions using Support Vector Regression (SVR). To optimize the three hyperparameters (penalty coefficient C, RBF kernel function parameter γ, and insensitivity loss coefficient ε) of the SVR model, we utilize the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The results indicate that the proposed PSO-SVR model outperforms traditional SVR and BPNN models in predicting NEV user emotions. This model effectively captures the nonlinear relationship between battery electric vehicle (BEV) morphological features and users’ emotional cognition, providing a novel method for enhancing NEV design. The results of this research are expected to drive design innovation and technological advancement in the new energy vehicle industry, contributing to the achievement of the ambitious goal of global eco-friendliness and sustainable development. Full article