Search Results (90)

The acoustic environment of dental clinics plays a critical role in shaping patient experience, staff performance, and overall clinical effectiveness. This comprehensive review, supported by systematic search procedures, investigates how soundscapes in dental settings influence psychological, physiological, and operational outcomes. A total of 60 peer-reviewed studies were analyzed across dental, healthcare, architectural, and environmental psychology disciplines. Findings indicate that mechanical noise from dental instruments, ambient reverberation, and inadequate acoustic zoning contribute significantly to patient anxiety and professional fatigue. The review identifies emerging strategies for acoustic optimization, including biophilic and sustainable design principles, sound-masking systems, and adaptive sound environments informed by artificial intelligence. Special attention is given to the integration of lean management and circular economy practices for sustainable dental architecture. A design checklist and practical framework are proposed for use by dental professionals, architects, and healthcare planners. Although limited by the predominance of observational studies and geographic bias in the existing literature, this review offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary synthesis. It highlights the need for future clinical trials, real-time acoustic assessments, and participatory co-design methods to enhance acoustic quality in dental settings. Overall, the study positions sound design as a foundational element in creating patient-centered, ecologically responsible dental environments. Full article

The global youth mental health crisis is increasingly intertwined with climate change, as young people experience heightened climate anxiety and ecological grief. This study examines the relationship between nature connectedness, climate worry, coping strategies, and mental health outcomes among Canadian university students. Drawing on Pihkala’s process model of eco-anxiety, we propose the Developing Ecological Consciousness Model, a three-act framework that traces young people’s journey from climate awareness to meaningful engagement. Using path analysis on two independent samples (N = 1825), we found that nature connectedness predicts increased climate worry, which in turn correlates with higher levels of depression and anxiety. However, meaning-focused coping emerged as a protective factor, mitigating these negative mental health impacts. Problem-focused coping alone was insufficient, highlighting the need for balanced strategies. The study underscores the dual role of nature connectedness—both as a source of climate distress and a foundation for resilience. These findings highlight the need for interventions that foster ecological consciousness while addressing the emotional toll of climate change, offering insights for policymakers, educators, and mental health practitioners working with youth in a warming world. Full article

With the increasing complexity of ecological and environmental problems, eco-anxiety is increasingly recognized as an essential problem in China. Despite its prevalence, there is a lack of valid measurements in China. The purpose of the present study was to expand the Hogg Eco-anxiety Scale (HEAS) under the Chinese context and evaluate the psychometric attributes of the expanded scale. Specifically, a qualitative study was conducted in Study 1 (n = 17) to expand the HEAS in the Chinese context. Exploratory factor analysis in Study 2 (n = 297) and confirmatory factor analysis in Study 3 (n = 374) were conducted to validate the scale. The climate change anxiety scale and pro-environmental behavior scale were used to assess criterion-related validity in Study 4 (n = 305). Results indicated that a new eco-anxiety scale (i.e., EAS-20) including 20 items attributed to four dimension (somatic symptoms, affective symptoms, rumination, and behavioral symptoms) was developed. It showed satisfactory psychometric properties, including high internal consistency (α = 0.97) and a four-factor structure explaining 84.36% of the variance. The criterion-related validity was acceptable (0.25 ≤ r ≤ 0.37). The article concludes that the 20-item Eco-Anxiety Scale (EAS-20) has good psychometric properties and can be applied to measure eco-anxiety in the Chinese adult population. Full article

Background/Objectives: Silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO₂NPs) do not exist in isolation in the environment but can interact with other substances, thus influencing their toxic effects on aquatic organisms. We assessed the combined impact of SiO₂NPs and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an antioxidant with the potential to counteract nanoparticle-induced oxidative stress (OS). Methods: Behavioral assessments, including the social interaction test and color preference test, were performed to evaluate neurobehavioral changes. OS biomarkers, including malondialdehyde (MDA) levels for lipid peroxidation and the activity of key antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), were assessed to evaluate the extent of cellular damage. Results: The results indicate that prolonged exposure to SiO₂NPs induces significant behavioral disruptions, including reduced exploratory behavior and increased anxiety-like responses. Furthermore, biochemical analysis revealed increased OS, suggesting nanoparticle-induced cellular toxicity. NAC co-treatment partially reversed these effects, particularly improving locomotor outcomes and antioxidant response, but was less effective on social behavior. Conclusions: These findings highlight the ecological and health risks posed by SiO₂NPs and point toward the need for further toxicological studies on their long-term biological effects. Full article

Global warming is driving significant changes in aquatic ecosystems, where temperature fluctuations influence biological processes across multiple levels of organisation. As ectothermic organisms, fish are particularly susceptible, with even minor thermal shifts affecting their metabolism, behaviour, and overall fitness. Understanding these responses is essential for evaluating the ecological and evolutionary consequences of climate change. This study investigates the effects of acute (4-day) and chronic (21-day) exposure to three temperature regimes—18 °C (low), 26 °C (control), and 34 °C (high)—on the spatio-temporal shoaling behaviour of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Groups of four fish were tested for six minutes in water maintained at the same temperature as their prior acclimation. Shoaling behaviour was assessed by analysing shoal structure—encompassing shoal dimensions and cohesion—as well as spatial positioning. Parameters measured included inter-fish distance, shoal volume, shoal area, homogeneity index, distance to the centroid, and the shoal’s vertical and horizontal distribution. Results revealed complex behavioural changes influenced by both temperature and duration of exposure. At 18 °C, zebrafish showed a marked preference for the bottom zone and exhibited no significant temporal modulation in exploratory behaviour—patterns indicative of heightened anxiety-like responses. In contrast, exposure to 34 °C resulted in increased shoal cohesion, particularly under chronic conditions, and a progressive increase in environmental exploration over the six-minute test period. This enhancement in exploratory activity was especially evident when compared to the first minute of the test and was characterised by greater vertical movement—reflected in the increased use of the upper zone—and broader horizontal exploration, including more frequent occupation of peripheral areas. These findings align with previous research linking thermal variation to neurobiological and proteomic alterations in zebrafish. By elucidating how temperature modulates social behaviour in ectotherms, this study offers valuable insights into the potential behavioural impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns had widespread psycho-social implications globally. However, the unique experiences of young adults in under-researched rural communities, such as Lonely Park in South Africa’s North West Province, remain poorly documented. This study explores the psycho-social well-being of young adults aged 18–24 in the Lonely Park community during the national COVID-19 lockdown from 23 March 2020 to 30 April 2020, with a particular focus on their emotional, psychological, and social experiences. Using a qualitative, phenomenological design rooted in Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST), data were collected from 14 purposively sampled participants through two focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was conducted following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Health Research Ethics Committee, and participants provided informed consent. Two main themes emerged, (1) psychological and (2) social well-being. Six sub-themes were identified: (1) negative emotions linked to lockdown, (2) fear of COVID-19 and its consequences, (3) rumination and anxiety, (4) disruption of social and educational routines, (5) coping strategies, and (6) structural limitations of healthcare and support systems. Participants experienced intense fear, boredom, isolation, and a sense of helplessness. Yet, coping mechanisms such as communication, spirituality, exercise, and adherence to public health regulations provided resilience. Some reported depression and financial strain due to job loss and school disruptions. The findings highlight the complex interplay of psychological, emotional, and social stressors in rural young adults during the pandemic. Policymakers and mental health practitioners must prioritise targeted psycho-social interventions for youth in under-resourced rural settings. A call is made for culturally responsive mental health programmes that incorporate local voices, especially in rural African contexts. Full article

Hispanic youth have one of the highest rates of unmet physical and mental health needs. This study aims to examine how child and adolescent healthcare access creates pathways to behavioral/mental health among a national sample of 1711 U.S. Hispanic youth. Using psychometric network analysis, unique pathways in which child healthcare access (i.e., transportation and health service-related factors) and behavioral/mental health were identified. Findings indicate relationships among depression, anxiety, school settings, and friendships. These associations offer a starting point for interventionists and policymakers to ensure that interventions are not targeted individually but from an ecological systems framework. This study may raise awareness of Hispanic youth’s barriers and better equip scientists to plan and implement approaches to address identified barriers. Full article

Climate change poses a significant threat to mental health, including the emergence of climate change anxiety (CCA). In this study, we examined whether exposure to climate-related events was associated with higher CCA through the mediating roles of climate change awareness and ecological coping strategies and whether these pathways differed by chronic illness status. In February 2025, 600 Israeli adults (50% female; mean age ≈ 50) completed an online self-report questionnaire assessing climate change exposure, awareness, coping, and anxiety. Data were analyzed using moderated mediation models, controlling for gender, age, and education. Greater climate change exposure was associated with an increased awareness and higher use of problem-focused coping, which, in turn, predicted elevated CCA. Meaning-focused coping was not associated with anxiety overall; however, among the participants without a chronic illness, it was linked to higher CCA. Climate change awareness alone was not associated with anxiety. A significant serial mediation was found via awareness and problem-focused coping, and a moderated mediation was found via meaning-focused coping among those without a chronic illness. Coping strategies play a key role in climate change anxiety. Although health status may influence this process, tailored interventions should prioritize coping styles in climate adaptation efforts. Full article

Climate change is opening up new fields of qualitative research, including one focused on parents’ perspectives on climate change. Our scoping review identifies and describes studies in OECD countries in this emerging field. We used recommended search strategies and methods for reviews of qualitative studies. We located 19 unique studies (22 papers) published between January 2000 and June 2024 which were characterised by distinct foci, study populations and participant profiles. The two major foci were reproductive decision-making and the emotional impacts of climate change on parents and children. Study populations were predominantly those already actively engaged in climate change issues. In studies providing socio-demographic information, most participants were socially advantaged. In developing this important field, we argue for a broader research agenda with respect to foci and for study populations and participant profiles that are more representative of the societies in which the studies are located. Full article

The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement (DPM, by Stroebe and Schut) is a well-known framework in contemporary grief research and counselling. It depicts how mourners oscillate between various tasks and reactions. There is a need to engage more with the intense feelings of loss (Loss-Oriented tasks), but also with other things in life and other parts of the adjustment process after a loss (Restoration-Oriented tasks). This interdisciplinary article applies the framework to ecological grief and extends it to collective levels. While the DPM has been broadened to family dynamics, many subjects of grief are even more collective and require mourning from whole communities or societies. Religious communities can play an important role in this. This article provides a new application called the DPM-EcoSocial and discusses the various tasks named in it, which are ultimately based on the grief researcher Worden’s work. The particularities of ecological grief are discussed, such as the complications caused by guilt dynamics, climate change denial, attribution differences about climate disasters, and nonfinite losses. Grief and grievance are intimately connected in ecological grief, and (religious) communities have important tasks for remembrance, mourning, and witness. The collective processes can lead to meaning reconstruction, transilience, and adversarial growth. Full article

High environmental sensitivity, known as sensory processing sensitivity, characterizes certain individuals, causing them to perceive and react intensely to external stimuli. Individuals with sensory processing sensitivity, referred to as highly sensitive people (HPSs), exhibit heightened emotional reactivity and empathy, alongside a profound aesthetic sensitivity and a unique connection to nature. This trait can lead to both advantages and challenges, including increased vulnerability to sensory overload. This correlation study explored the hypothesis that highly sensitive people could be more sensitive to natural stimuli, leading to a stronger environmental identity, a higher level of eco-anxiety, and more pronounced pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Data collection involved 501 Italian citizens (65.1% women; M age = 27.69 years; SD = 10.54). This study found positive correlations (between 0.20 and 0.47) between high sensitivity and environmental attitudes (e.g., New Ecological Paradigm and Climate Change Attitude Survey dimensions), identity aspects (e.g., connectedness to nature), behavioral aspects (e.g., pro-environmental behaviors), and eco-anxiety, suggesting that the highly sensitive person trait might be related to a stronger environmental identity, higher levels of eco-anxiety, and more pronounced pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. However, some exceptions were identified: ease of excitation and low sensory threshold were not significantly correlated with conservation behaviors and environmental citizenship, while aesthetic sensitivity was consistently associated with pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). Additionally, the low sensory threshold dimension appears to have a low association with attitudinal aspects measured by the Climate Change Attitude Survey. This suggests the complexity of sensory processing sensitivity and its nuanced impact on environmental dynamics. The findings emphasize the need for future research to explore the implicit dimensions of environmental attitudes and the emotional responses of HSPs to climate change. Practical recommendations include tailoring environmental education and policy strategies to address the unique emotional sensitivities of HSPs, fostering stronger engagement in pro-environmental actions. Full article

Post-Theoretical “creative–critical” research recently emerged in the discipline of Creative Writing as a collapse of the binaries between practice and Theory. This article shows that using this interdisciplinary methodology in the study of mysticism is a natural fit, illustrating its efficacy in a case study with the reflexive writing of the medieval Christian mystic Julian of Norwich. As a creative–critical writer and researcher, I explored the junctures where Julian’s poetics intersect with trauma-informed theology. Writing through these intersections formed a literary trauma-informed framework for the holding and processing of loss and grief through Julian’s nuanced modelling of mystical union with God. This case study shows how the framework came together critically and its application to contemporary ecological grief in the writing of a performative long poem, Blue: a lament for the sea. The “theopoetic” making process with two images from Julian’s texts, Christ’s “wounds” and “one-ing”, developed new language for liminal and spiritual experience. Insights from creative–critical research can be shared in artistic performance and publication in the academy and beyond in public impact. Bringing the whole self through theopoetics to the scholarly research of mysticism has the potential to form fresh insights, revealing new dimensions. Full article

Background/Objectives: Voice analysis has shown promise in anxiety assessment, yet traditional approaches examining isolated acoustic features yield inconsistent results. This study aimed to explore the relationship between anxiety states and vocal parameters from a network perspective in ecologically valid settings. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 316 undergraduate students (191 males, 125 females; mean age 20.3 ± 0.85 years) who completed a standardized picture description task while their speech was recorded. Participants were categorized into low-anxiety (n = 119) and high-anxiety (n = 197) groups based on self-reported anxiety ratings. Five acoustic parameters—jitter, fundamental frequency (F0), formant frequencies (F1/F2), intensity, and speech rate—were analyzed using network analysis. Results: Network analysis revealed a robust negative relationship between jitter and state anxiety, with jitter as the sole speech parameter consistently linked to state anxiety in the total group. Additionally, higher anxiety levels were associated with a coupling between intensity and F1/F2, whereas the low-anxiety network displayed a sparser organization without intensity and F1/F2 connection. Conclusions: Anxiety could be recognized by speech parameter networks in ecological settings. The distinct pattern with the negative jitter-anxiety relationship in the total network and the connection between intensity and F1/2 in high-anxiety states suggest potential speech markers for anxiety assessment. These findings suggest that state anxiety may directly influence jitter and fundamentally restructure the relationships among speech features, highlighting the importance of examining jitter and speech parameter interactions rather than isolated values in speech detection of anxiety. Full article

Engaging with music has been shown to have a positive impact on the quality of life of residents in care homes, who are known to be affected by anxiety, depression and loneliness. Based on the known benefits of in-person singing activities, a new Virtual Reality (VR) choir application was developed to facilitate group singing, aiming to improve residents’ wellbeing and sense of community. Co-designed with Alzheimer Scotland, the intervention was tested in two care homes for functionality and to develop an approach towards assessing feasibility. Residents participated in scheduled sessions over a five-week period, in addition to staff engaging in independent ad hoc use of the experience with residents. Data on reactions to the intervention, the quality of life of participants and preferences about the outcome instruments were collected. The VR intervention proved technically successful, user-friendly, and allowed multiple users to sing together. Participants and staff showed strong enthusiasm for the intervention, with residents actively engaging in singing and movement, although some residents found the headsets uncomfortable. This suggests that VR choirs could be a valuable, scalable activity in care homes, especially when in-person facilitators are unavailable. Preliminary observations indicated that the intervention was not detrimental to participants’ health; however, the sample size was very small and a larger feasibility study is required to examine the intervention’s effectiveness, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. This research highlights the challenges associated with measuring the feasibility of VR interventions in residential care settings, and the value of capturing qualitative data in an ecological setting that represents the intended use of the intervention. Full article

Background: Sexual satisfaction is vital for the sexual health and well-being of both cervical cancer patients and their spouses. Sexual dissatisfaction can arise from negative treatment, making it important to examine the factors that influence sexual satisfaction. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors affecting the sexual satisfaction of Thai women with cervical cancer after complete treatment and their spouses. Materials and Methods: A predictive correlational study was conducted with 100 couples using convenience sampling. The study was based on the ecological theory framework. Data were collected from April 2023 to January 2024 in two tertiary hospitals through five questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire, the Thai Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Charlson Comorbidity Index, the Couple Relationship Scale, Natsal 2000, and the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale. Data analysis was performed using multiple linear regression. Results: The multiple regression analysis showed that sexual difficulties and duration of marriage predicted 25.6% of the variance in sexual satisfaction among women with cervical cancer. The duration of marriage (b = −0.48, p = 0.012) had a stronger impact than sexual difficulties (b = −2.82, p = 0.005). Sexual difficulties and couple relationships accounted for 34.9% of the variance in sexual satisfaction for spouses. Sexual difficulties (b = −3.13, p = 0.004) had a greater effect than couple relationships (b = 0.30, p = 0.003). Conclusions: Healthcare providers should promote constructive communication between couples through open, respectful, and supportive dialogue to strengthen their relationship, improve mutual understanding, address sexual difficulties, and enhance sexual satisfaction for women with cervical cancer after treatment and their spouses. The findings results can inform future intervention research aimed at improving sexual satisfaction in this population one-year post treatment. Full article