Search Results (9)

The rise of the silver economy has drawn a growing interest in understanding the needs and behaviours of older adults, both by academics as well as the business and public sectors. Services promoting wellbeing can have several benefits both on individual and national levels, and social connectedness, as one aspect of wellbeing, has been found to positively impact healthy ageing and quality of life among older adults. The aim of this study was to conduct a first exam of the potentials of a remote cultural event to facilitate social connectedness and well-being in a community of older adults through culture and the arts. This study utilised a qualitative exploratory approach in the form of a co-designed case study set in a Finnish care home. An opera streaming event was planned and organised in co-operation with multiple stakeholders including the residents. The results highlight the role of social interaction as part of a remote cultural experience, prior, during, and post-experience. Partaking in the event resulted in enhanced social connectedness, more positive views on technology and remote experiences, and overall satisfaction for joining. The social aspect, rituals, and etiquette are also present also in watching opera remotely, and emphasising these aspects in designing such services could leverage the potential that digital cultural experiences hold. Full article

The fiction “Quanxiang Pinghua”, published by Jianyang 建陽 Yushi 虞氏 in the Yuan Dynasty, depicts public religious concepts using a set of organized illustrations of etiquette. As a popular cultural reading material of the Yuan Dynasty, the fiction’s illustrations are a mixture of mainstream religious ideas, such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, reflecting the Jianyang people’s compromised identification of the three religions and their value of faith. The illustrations shape the religious view of “the impermanence of destiny”. With the help of the spatial narrative of the political and religious order of Confucianism and the public construction of the ritualistic landscapes of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, these images reflect the ethical enlightenment and religious beliefs of the three religions in social life. From the perspective of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, this article adopted interdisciplinary methods to analyze inherent religious ethics in the illustrations of the fiction and explore religious beliefs among the people in the Yuan Dynasty. This article suggested that, by depicting religious rituals, the illustrations in the fiction reflect the comprehensive acceptance of the benevolence and righteousness, filial piety, loyalty, and kindness of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism by the public of the Yuan Dynasty. The illustrations in the fiction manifest Confucian order and moral ethics, of which the extension is interconnected with the concepts of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and living ethics, manifesting the inner interpretation of Confucian ethics in Jianyang popular literature and art and the collective regulation of folk religious beliefs. Full article

This study investigated how needs–supportive and needs–thwarting coaching behaviors, basic need satisfaction (BNS), and basic need frustration (BNF) are positively or negatively related to collegiate athletes’ generalization of psychosocial skills in competitive sports. Japanese collegiate athletes (N = 228, M_age = 19.7 years) completed the measures to assess the study variables. Structural equation modeling for the hypothesized models of associations among the variables showed that needs–supportive coaching behavior positively influenced BNS, which, in turn, positively affected the generalization of all 10 psychosocial skills in competitive sports. Moreover, needs–thwarting coaching behavior had a positive influence on BNF, which, in turn, negatively affected the following skills: generalization of stress management, appreciating others, communication, and maintaining etiquette and manners. These findings highlight that coaches and life skills educational supporters should display needs–supportive behaviors that help to improve participants’ BNS and promote generalization of the psychosocial skills for life skills development through competitive sports. Furthermore, they should prevent needs–thwarting behaviors that frustrate their basic needs in competitive sports. Full article

In ancient China, all moral concepts are based on Li  禮  (ritual). Jing  敬  (reverence and respect) is one of the core categories of Confucian ritual spirituality and has rich ideological connotations. This study discusses how Confucianism realizes the ritualization of jing and constructs its symbolic system in the capping ritual to strengthen adult consciousness and social responsibility. First, based on relevant classic texts, we clarify the internal relationship between traditional ritual spirituality and jing. Then, we present an overview of the coming-of-age ceremony and discuss how religious beliefs and rituals incorporate Confucian ethical values and aesthetics. Finally, from the ritual uses of time, space, and behavior, we examine the meaning of jing in the specific practice of the traditional Chinese capping ritual and how it is conveyed to participants and observers through ritual implements and behaviors. The results show the capping ritual as an important life etiquette, and Confucianism injects the spirit of jing into every phase to cultivate an emotional response that will instantiate a moral ideal applicable to individuals and the state. In complex, modern societies, it is important to condense the Confucian spiritual connotation of jing and integrate it into modern coming-of-age rites. Full article

This research aimed to explore the experiences of handlers and trainers of disability assistance dogs in terms of the types of interactions they had with members of the Aotearoa NZ (NZ) public and how these interactions were perceived, interpreted, and managed. A qualitative method, guided by an interpretive approach and social constructionism, was utilised to collect data via semi-structured interviews with six handlers and six trainers of assistance dogs. Data were analysed using thematic analysis with the social model of disability as the theoretical base. Findings indicated that participants regularly faced a complex range of unique interactions due to various factors such as the public’s lack of knowledge and understanding of the dog’s role and right of access to public places. While participants encountered brief friendly comments about the dog and its role, other encounters involved long conversations, invasive personal questions, interference with their dogs, and denied access to businesses, cafés, restaurants, and public transport. These findings underpin the need to provide more education to the public on the etiquette of engaging with handlers and their assistance dogs and more support for businesses to understand the legal rights of handlers. Through education and support to change societal attitudes and remove structural barriers, disabled people using assistance dogs may be able to independently participate in community life and be fully included without hindrance. Full article

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and international sport, and its psychosocial benefits for its trainees have been studied extensively. This review aims to systematically assess and meta-analyze the effects of Taekwondo training on sociality, character, etiquette, and school life adjustment. We searched the RISS, NDSL, and KISS electronic databases between January 1985 and December 2019. We also included gray literature, such as theses, in addition to peer-reviewed articles. R software (version 3.6.2, R Core Team, Vienna, Austria) was used to synthesize the effect sizes and perform moderation analyses. Twenty-eight studies (24 cross-sectional and four intervention studies) were included in the final meta-analysis. Significant positive effects of Taekwondo training were found on sociality (MD = 0.266, 95% CI: 0.191 to 0.341), character (MD = 0.446, 95% CI: 0.331–0.560), etiquette (MD = 0.562, 95% CI: 0.500–0.624), and school life adjustment (MD = 0.308, 95% CI: 0.195–0.421). Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis support that Taekwondo can have a positive impact on the psychosocial factors of trainees. Due to several limitations discussed, well-designed RCTs and multiple levels of Taekwondo intervention studies should be conducted in future research to validate the current findings. Full article

Addressing adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions among young adults represents a public health priority since this age group did not directly experience a health risk from COVID-19. The study aims were to investigate the level of knowledge, risk perception and practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among undergraduate university students in Southern Italy. This cross-sectional study was conducted between the 1st and 31st of July 2020. An anonymous and structured questionnaire was sent via institutional email. Among the 1323 sampled students, more than two-thirds gave the correct answer to all the knowledge statements. Good knowledge about COVID-19 showed a positive association with those studying medical or life sciences majors. Almost two-fifths (38.5%) of the sample declared to have quite a bit/extreme fear of falling ill with COVID-19 and it was significantly more likely among females and those with good knowledge. Only 30.2% of the students did not touch their face mask while using it. Moreover, practicing respiratory etiquette was more likely among females, among respondents with higher levels of fear of falling ill with COVID-19 and among those who exhibited good knowledge about COVID-19. The study insights will be valuable for the ongoing mitigation of the current pandemic especially with regard to the correct use of face masks. Full article

Culturally sustainable environmental education is a crucial issue that is inseparable from our society and environment; and closely linked to our life. Taiwan’s cultural environment and family activities are characterized by religious beliefs and temple architectures. Incorporating digital technology into learning about the cultural environment of Taiwan can be an effective way to achieve sustainability. To have a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s culture and aesthetics, this study uses AR (augmented reality) technology to bring interactive experiences to the temple, so that the public can interactively experience arts in the temple. Through the AR navigation system, people can ascertain cultural connotations and understand the power of Taiwan’s beliefs. This study will take the Wumiao (martial temple) in Yanshui District, Tainan, Taiwan, as the research field to examine the learning experiences and performance with an AR navigation system. The empirical method is used to collect data of users’ behaviors and feelings; the statistics approach is also used to testify to the AR usability that is if with AR technology people can have a better understanding and learning performance on the culture aspect. Research finding proves one can have a better learning experience with AR tech with a positive result. According to the correlation coefficient analysis, only perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use are moderately correlated, the other differences are highly correlated. It is thus clear that AR navigation systems should be applied for having better folk beliefs, cultural etiquette learning experiences, and learning performance, more, for not merely having faith, but also loyalty as well. Full article

The present article gives an overview on central challenges humans face at the dawn of complex digital societies and the Internet of Things (IoT), i.e., a world completely connected to the Internet. Among the many challenges to be handled in digital societies is a growing fragmented life style leading to loss of productivity as well as moments for self-reflection. In all this, it is of tremendous importance to understand the impact of digital worlds on our brains and psyches and to reveal possible unintended side-effects of technology use. Does human nature change due to constant interactions with virtual realities? In this context, we also face the challenge to design digital worlds according to our mammalian-emotional heritage deeply anchored in subcortical areas of the human brain. Here, we refer to emotional needs as carved out by Panksepp’s Affective Neuroscience Theory and how they can or cannot be fulfilled in digital worlds. Aside from a review of several key studies dealing with the raised challenges, some first solutions to successfully meet the mentioned problems are provided to achieve sustainable and healthy digital worlds, with whom humans can interact carefree on a daily basis. Full article