Search Results (78)

Working remotely during the pandemic changed workplace culture for millions of employees and managers, fueling a desire for more flexible work arrangements. About 75 percent of companies now support hybrid work, meaning managers often oversee workers both in and out of the office. Two large-sample surveys on these new work models reveal three management challenges: creating a consistent culture that includes both hybrid and in-office employees, strengthening connections among staff regardless of their location, and implementing effective performance management for both groups. In the management literature, existing research on each of these topics is limited. This article recommends solutions to each of these challenges based on available evidence, while exploring related topics such as new-hire and virtual onboarding, strategies to combat loneliness at work, proximity bias, and employee monitoring. The article concludes with a set of research questions that emerge from the topics reviewed. Full article

According to the Australasian Society for Developmental Paediatrics, experiential learning and outdoor play contain elements of risk, bravery, uncertainty, exploration, personal challenge, and adventure. These attributes are fundamental to a child’s growth, development, and wellbeing, and yet, in contemporary society, outdoor experiences have significantly declined. This scoping review explores the benefits and affordances of nature-based risky play and adventure education across early childhood and adolescence, asking what developmental opportunities emerge when children and adolescents engage in meaningful outdoor challenges. Adopting a benefit–risk approach where safety is “as safe as necessary” rather than “as safe as possible,” the review identifies common elements across developmental stages. A scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines synthesised empirical studies (2015–2025). Our review included 40 empirical studies from a total of 5218 references, using diverse methodologies conducted predominantly in Western nations. All 40 studies reported positive associations across multiple developmental domains. Eight key themes developed: resilience and confidence, wellbeing, physical skills, autonomy and agency, nature connectedness, quality play provision, and educator influence. Authentic child agency and autonomy functioned as critical mechanisms through which benefits are realised across early childhood and school-aged populations. Key benefits included enhanced mental health, social competence, and anxiety prevention. Implementation barriers persist, including parental anxiety, institutional liability concerns, and cultural risk aversion. Evidence overwhelmingly supports nature-based risky play and outdoor adventure education as beneficial for child and adolescent development. Translation into practice remains limited by stakeholder attitudes and systemic barriers. Future research should prioritise longitudinal studies, cross-cultural investigation, and equity-focused approaches addressing disparities in access to positive risk-taking. Full article

Refugees often face significant barriers to healthcare access and integration, contributing to poor health outcomes. Although perceptions of health are known predictors of self-reported health status, little is known about how refugees themselves conceptualize health. This study employed a community-engaged, transformative mixed-methods design to explore refugee health perceptions in the Denver-metro area. Data collection included 149 surveys and 27 interviews with refugees and asylum seekers conducted between November 2018 and March 2019. Hierarchical linear regression was used to assess associations between social determinants of health (SDoH) and self-reported health, while qualitative data were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. The final regression model explained 75.8% of the variance in self-reported health (R² = 0.758, p < 0.001). Significant predictors included country of origin (Burma: −3.419, p = 0.030; Somalia: −9.155, p < 0.001), age (1.901, p < 0.001), sex (male: −3.252, p < 0.001), and education level (−0.999, p < 0.001). Qualitative findings revealed themes such as health as the ability to live life and health as happiness, each shaped by cultural context, community connectedness, and perceptions of safety. Integrating these findings highlights how structural conditions and culturally rooted understandings of well-being intersect to shape refugee health after resettlement. This study underscores the need for public health and clinical interventions that center refugee-defined priorities and suggests future research should incorporate constructs, such as happiness and culturally grounded notions of safety, that emerged as central to health in this study. Full article

One of the challenges of settling on a universal definition of wellbeing is the significant cultural differences that influence one’s judgement about what it means to be well. This qualitative study investigated how adults conceptualise and experience wellbeing across four cultures, distinguished by differing social, political, and religious norms. We conducted interviews with 41 English speaking participants from Australia, India, Chile, and Russia, discussing the distinct dimensions that make up their wellbeing, including the psychological (e.g., perception), social (e.g., relational connections), emotional (e.g., how people perceive their emotional states in relation to wellbeing), spiritual (e.g., sense of meaning and worldviews), and expectation (e.g., resources required for optimal wellbeing) dimensions. Findings indicated the universal importance of social connectedness with others, happiness, and practices that nurture one’s physical and psychological health. There were cultural differences in how participants defined happiness and in the perceived importance of spiritual practices. The findings provide further insights into how wellbeing is understood and practiced across different cultures. Full article

By combining social, ecological, and communal elements, urban parks significantly improve the quality of urban life. This paper explores the revitalization proposal for Areos Park in Tripoli, Greece, viewing it as an urban palimpsest reflecting layers of history, culture, and nature. While historically evolving from exclusive enclaves to vital public spaces fostering social equity and well-being, many urban parks, including those in Greece, suffer from neglect and underfunding, diminishing their landscape value and necessitating revitalization. Areos Park exemplifies these challenges, making it an ideal case study for exploring effective urban park revitalization strategies and demonstrating how urban areas can host critical landscape functions. Utilizing a design-based research (DBR) methodology, a design plan is proposed. The architectural concept focuses on revamping key areas, restoring historical features, adding small constructions, and repurposing existing buildings for community and educational uses. Concurrently, the landscape concept emphasizes biodiversity enrichment and ecological restoration through permeable surfaces and native Mediterranean vegetation, contributing to urban resilience to climate change. The overall design prioritizes accessibility and spatial connectedness to create an inclusive, resilient, and adaptable urban park addressing contemporary sustainability challenges and biodiversity loss. The project aims to establish Areos Park as a model for sustainable urban park regeneration in small cities, blending ecological enhancement with historical preservation. Full article

The Method for the Empowerment of Trauma Survivors (METS) is a recovery-oriented group intervention tailored to refugees and asylum seekers who experienced traumatic events. This study explores how undocumented migrants in the Netherlands experience participation in METS, how these experiences relate to changes in their mental well-being, and which aspects of the intervention participants find most valuable. A qualitative case study was conducted involving in-depth, individual interviews with undocumented migrants who participated in METS. Interviews focused on participants’ experiences with the intervention and perceived changes in mental well-being. Five main themes emerged: connectedness, group dynamics, personal development, emotional well-being, and practical aspects. Changes in mental well-being were often subtle, difficult to articulate, and in some cases temporary. While some participants reported positive developments, many continued to face significant challenges and did not experience notable improvement. No participants reported negative outcomes as a result of participation. METS appears suitable for a heterogeneous population with diverse cultural, religious, and educational backgrounds. Reported benefits often related to group participation rather than METS-specific characteristics. Future research is warranted to further explore whether METS is a valuable addition to existing transdiagnostic psychosocial group interventions. Full article

Background: Sexually expansive (sexual identities beyond traditional monosexual categories) Latina/e/x women navigate intersecting systems of oppression shaped by cultural expectations, gender norms, and heterosexism. Despite their resilience, they remain underrepresented in minority stress research. This study examines how individual (sexual and ethnic identity centrality), relational (social support from family, partners, and friends), and communal (community connectedness) protective factors relate to internalized heterosexism and improved or diminished mental health factors (life satisfaction and psychological distress). Methods: Grounded in an intersectional ecological systems and minority stress framework, this study uses secondary data from the Generations Study, a national longitudinal investigation of sexually expansive adults in the U.S. from 2016 to 2019. A subsample of sexually expansive Latina/e/x women (n = 120) was analyzed using one-way ANOVA, multiple regression, and moderation analyses. Results: Sexual and ethnic identity centrality was independently associated with lower internalized heterosexism. Family, friend, and significant other social support were significantly associated with improved and diminished mental health factors, as was community connectedness with sexual identity centrality. ANOVAs and moderation results were non-significant. Conclusions: These findings highlight the protective impact of identity affirmation and social support on mental health, offering valuable insights for clinicians, researchers, and community leaders supporting a strong yet underrepresented group. Full article

This paper explores the complexities of measuring impact from placemaking in the context of public and community housing (sometimes known as social or subsidised housing) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Placemaking refers to a range of practices and interventions—including the provision or facilitation of access to community infrastructure—that seek to cultivate a positive sense of place through everyday experiences, spaces, relationships, and rituals. Drawing on interviews with four community housing providers (CHPs), analysis of their documentation, and tenant survey and interview data from two of those CHPs, this research examines providers’ change theories about placemaking in relation to tenants’ experiences of safety, belonging and connectedness, including access to local amenities, ease of getting around, and a sense of neighbourhood and community affiliation. Based on the importance of these variables to wellbeing outcomes, the study highlights the potential of placemaking to support tenant wellbeing, while also recognising that providers must navigate trade-offs and co-benefits, limited resources, and varying levels of tenant engagement. While placemaking can help to foster feelings of connection, belonging and safety, its impact depends on providers’ capacity to initiate and sustain such efforts amidst competing demands and constraints. The study offers indicative findings and recommendations for future research. Although the impacts of placemaking and community infrastructure provision are difficult to quantify, research findings are synthesised into a prototype framework to support housing providers in their decision-making and housing development processes. The framework, which should be adapted and evaluated in situ, potentially also informs other actors in the built environment—including architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, developers and government agencies. In Aotearoa New Zealand, where housing provision occurs within a colonial context, government agencies have obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to actively protect Māori rights and to work in partnership with Māori in housing policy and delivery. This underscores the importance of placemaking practices and interventions that are culturally and contextually responsive. Full article

Despite the growing number of older adults engaging in voluntary migration, there is a lack of knowledge about their psychological well-being in cross-cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study investigated factors associated with psychological well-being among older Chinese migrants residing in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Between December 2024 and February 2025, 204 Chinese migrants aged 60 and above who had resided in Chiang Mai for at least six months participated in a survey in Chinese. The survey measured sociodemographic and psychosocial factors including perceived health, income, marital status, number of co-residing family members, social support, acculturative stress, sense of mastery, and loneliness. Multiple regression analysis showed that gender (female) (p = 0.006), better perceived health status (p = 0.021), higher income (p = 0.007), more co-residing family members (p = 0.037), a greater sense of mastery (p = 0.009), and lower levels of loneliness (p < 0.001) were each independently associated with better psychological well-being. In contrast, neither general family support nor acculturative stress was a statistically significant predictor. These findings highlight the significant roles of financial security, family co-residence, personal empowerment, and social connectedness in shaping overall well-being. Strategies to improve psychological well-being in this population should focus on strengthening emotional connectedness, supporting the development of meaningful family and social relationships, and supporting economic stability. Full article

Background and Objectives: Thailand’s demographic shift toward an aging population increases vulnerability among older adults to the long-term mental health effects of childhood trauma. While childhood adversity is linked to heightened risks of late-life depression and PTSD, the moderating role of resilience remains underexplored in Thai older adults. This study investigated whether resilience moderates the association between childhood trauma and depressive or PTSD symptoms in this population. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 201 older patients (mean age 68.6 years) from the Family Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatry Clinics at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital. Participants completed validated measures on trauma history, resilience, depression, and PTSD symptoms. A moderation analysis was performed, adjusting for covariates including education, family support, and psychiatric history. Results: The findings revealed that resilience significantly buffered the impact of childhood trauma on depression but did not mitigate PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: These results underscore the protective role of resilience against depression following childhood trauma in older adults, yet also point to its limitations in alleviating trauma-specific responses such as PTSD. This study highlights the need for trauma-informed geriatric mental health strategies and calls for further research on resilience, focusing on cultural context and adaptive mechanisms, including emotion regulation and social connectedness, in older populations. Full article

Amid global environmental changes, urbanisation erodes nature connectedness, an important driver of pro-environmental behaviours and human well-being, exacerbating human-made risks like biodiversity loss and climate change. This study introduces a novel hybrid agent-based model (ABM), calibrated with historical urbanisation data, to explore how urbanisation, opportunity and orientation to engage with nature, and intergenerational transmission have shaped nature connectedness over time. The model simulates historical trends (1800–2020) against target data, with projections extending to 2125. The ABM revealed a significant nature connectedness decline with excellent fit to the target data, derived from nature word use in cultural products. Although a lifetime ‘extinction of experience’ mechanism refined the fit, intergenerational transmission emerged as the dominant driver—supporting a socio-ecological tipping point in human–nature disconnection. Even with transformative interventions like dramatic urban greening and enhanced nature engagement, projections suggest a persistent disconnection from nature through to 2050, highlighting locked-in risks to environmental stewardship. After 2050, the most transformative interventions trigger a self-sustaining recovery, highlighting the need for sustained, systemic policies that embed nature connectedness into urban planning and education. Full article

Green perception underlies pro-greenspace behavior, but external stimuli and behavior are not always aligned. Understanding how residents’ perceived external green stimuli influence pro-greenspace behavior, and how the “good citizen” image (face) shapes this relationship, is essential. The study aims to deepen the understanding of the complex mechanisms driving urban residents’ pro-greenspace behavior by constructing an extended Stimulus-Organism-Response theoretical framework (C-SOR) that includes contextual factors. Using data from a 2024 field survey of 959 residents from Shanghai, China, this study employs Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to examine the main effect of green perception on pro-greenspace behavior. A mediation model is employed to analyze the mediating role of nature connectedness, while a moderation model tests the moderating effect of “good citizen” image (face) on the stimulus–behavior relationship. The results show that green perception significantly promotes pro-greenspace behavior, positively influencing it through nature connectedness. However, the “good citizen” image (face) exerts a motivational crowding-out effect on green perception. Further analysis reveals individual heterogeneity in the expression of these effects across different types of pro-greenspace behavior. The findings highlight the importance of green space experience and the activation of environmental wisdom in traditional culture, offering new perspectives for developing strategies to guide pro-greenspace behavior. Full article

Australia’s aging migrant population experiences higher rates of chronic disease and social isolation, highlighting the need for culturally appropriate health promotion programs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of “Move Together”, a culturally adapted community-based group exercise and education intervention for Mandarin-speaking Chinese Australians aged 65+ years. The Model for Adaptation, Design, and Impact framework guided the adaptation of this program. This single-arm pre–post-intervention was delivered bilingually by accredited exercise physiologists over nine weeks to 101 adults (mean age: 72.3 ± 5.3 years; 38% male). The physical health assessments measured waist circumference, aerobic capacity, strength, flexibility, and balance, while the questionnaires evaluated quality of life and social connectedness. The results showed significant improvements in all physical health measures (p < 0.001), with more participants meeting fitness standards for healthy independent living. Participants also reported significant improvements in self-perceived quality of life and social connectedness. The Move Together program effectively improved physical health and psychosocial well-being among older Chinese Australians through its culturally adapted, bilingual delivery model. These findings provide valuable insights for health professionals and policymakers adapting and implementing programs for culturally and linguistically diverse older populations to address chronic disease risks and social isolation. Full article

Tourism growth in the Cook Islands is broadly supported by residents, but evidence of social and environmental harm is mounting. This study examines the role that tourism plays in the dynamic processes of disorientation and reorientation related to tourism development in three islands: Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Mitiaro. A total of 102 interviews were conducted at a critical juncture where Cook Islanders reflected on the pre-COVID-19 tourism boom and the subsequent shock of border closures. The findings highlight the undeniable economic dominance of tourism and opportunities for individual livelihoods. However, residents expressed that these must not come at the cost of other types of wellbeing, especially in tourism-heavy Rarotonga. A reorientation towards greater connectedness with culture, each other, and local environments was seen as essential. Cook Islanders expressed a need to take control of tourism in ways that are community-driven, balanced across economic/financial, physical, social, spiritual, and mental wellbeing, and in harmony with local carrying capacities. Full article

Indigenous frameworks suggest environmental risk and protective factors for American Indian (AI) children’s development can be understood in terms of connecting and disconnecting forces in five domains: spirituality, family, intergenerational ties, community, and environment/land. This study examined the prevalence of these forces among 156 urban AI parents and their children (mean age = 10.69, SD = 1.92) and investigated associations with child executive function (EF). Parents reported on three disconnecting forces (parent stressful life events, discrimination, and neighborhood risks) and two connecting forces (knowledge of tribal history and engagement with cultural beliefs and traditional practices). Parents rated children’s EF using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), and a subsample of children (n = 81) provided self-report EF data. Controlling for income and child age, connecting forces (parent engagement with cultural beliefs and traditional practices and knowledge of tribal history) were associated with higher parent-reported and child self-reported EF, while disconnecting forces (discrimination and neighborhood risk) were related to lower child EF. Findings highlight the protective role of cultural connectedness for urban AI children’s cognitive development, and the importance of centering Indigenous theory in risk and resilience research with AI families. Full article