Search Results (30)

Objective: This study aims to investigate the feasibility of an online music therapy protocol for individuals previously diagnosed with COVID-19, focusing on their perceptions of their respiratory symptoms and the intervention’s impact on psychosocial measures. Methods: A within-subject experimental design was applied to examine an eight-week weekly online music therapy protocol, including singing, wind instrument playing, and music visualizations. All self-report data were collected bi-weekly throughout the 16-weeks study period, including baseline and post-tests. The measures for respiratory symptoms included the Medical Research Council’s Dyspnea Scale (MRC Dyspnea), Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire-Mastery Scores (CRQ Mastery), and Visual Analogue Scale for breathlessness. The measures for the secondary psychosocial outcomes were the Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Fatigue Severity Scale, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Results: Twenty-four participants were enrolled. The participants perceived a reduction in respiratory symptoms, and shortness of breath (MRC Dyspnea). Planned comparisons showed significant decreases in MRC from baseline to post-treatment (p = 0.008). The mixed-effects model, including pre-baseline and post-treatment, was significant (p < 0.001). Significant changes in Breathing VAS were consistent with improvements in MRC Dyspnea, showing a significant baseline-to-post difference (p = 0.01). The CRQ Mastery showed significant improvements from baseline to Week 12 (p < 0.001). No significant changes were observed in other secondary measures. Conclusions: Our preliminary findings suggest that this protocol is feasible, and as a result, may help individuals previously diagnosed with COVID-19 to cope with lasting respiratory symptoms and improve their perception of shortness of breath. Live music-making, including playing accessible wind instruments and singing, may contribute to an increase sense of control over breathing. As this was a feasibility study, we conducted multiple uncorrected statistical comparisons to explore potential effects. While this approach may increase the risk of Type I error, the findings are intended to inform hypotheses for future confirmatory studies rather than to draw definitive conclusions. Full article

The rapid spread of artificial intelligence (AI) in education means that students need to master both AI literacy and personal agency. This study situates a sample of 425 Slovenian secondary technical students within a three-tier framework that maps psychological empowerment onto AI literacy outcomes within a cultural–historical activity system. The agency competence assessments yielded four profiles of student agency, ranging from fully empowered to largely disempowered. The cluster membership explained significant additional variance in AI literacy scores, supporting the additive empowerment model in an AI-rich vocational education and training context. The predictive modeling revealed that while self-efficacy, mastery-oriented motivations, and metacognitive self-regulation contributed uniquely—though small—to improving AI literacy, an unexpectedly negative relationship was identified for internal locus of control and for behavioral self-regulation focused narrowly on routines, with no significant impact observed for grit-like perseverance. These findings underscore the importance of fostering reflective, mastery-based, and self-evaluative learning dispositions over inflexible or solely routine-driven strategies in the development of AI literacy. Addressing these nuanced determinants may also be vital in narrowing AI literacy gaps observed between diverse disciplinary cohorts, as supported by recent multi-dimensional literacy frameworks and disciplinary pathway analyses. Embedding autonomy-supportive, mastery-oriented, student-centered projects and explicit metacognitive training into AI curricula could shift control inward and benefit students with low skills, helping to forge an agency-driven pathway to higher levels of AI literacy among high school students. The most striking and unexpected finding of this study is that students with a strong sense of competence—manifested as high self-efficacy—can achieve foundational AI literacy levels equivalent to those possessing broader, more holistic agentic profiles, suggesting that competence alone may be sufficient for acquiring essential AI knowledge. This challenges prevailing models that emphasize a multidimensional approach to agency and has significant implications for designing targeted interventions and curricula to rapidly build AI literacy in diverse learner populations. Full article

Orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a promising, new treatment. We aimed to study patients’ experiences and adherence to OMT. Twelve patients with OSA were included in the study, and they engaged in OMT exercises three times daily for 12 weeks. Participants tracked their sleep and OMT exercise activities in an electronic diary. Exercise techniques were guided by a certified therapist. Patients’ experiences with OMT were assessed through semi-structured individual interviews conducted after a 12-week intervention, and the transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed an overarching theme that captured both facilitators of and barriers to OMT, organized into three subthemes: (1) motivation, (2) perceived support, and (3) perceived effects. Motivation was driven by a desire to improve general health and avoid continuous positive airway pressure treatment, and was supported by a sense of mastery and perceived effectiveness. Key facilitators included a trusting patient–therapist relationship, as well as developing routines and a sense of control. Barriers involved managing the comprehensive treatment protocol, insecurities around exercise execution and the potential impact of OMT, sickness burden, and previous negative healthcare experiences. These themes were supported by quantitative findings, which demonstrated high treatment adherence, while sleep data indicated modest individual improvements in subjective sleep quality and efficiency. By recognizing facilitators and barriers and addressing the individual differences among OSA patients, healthcare providers can better tailor their approach to meet diverse patient needs. This personalized approach, supported by emerging sleep improvements, may enhance patient engagement and improve adherence to OMT. Full article

Background: Social determinants of health—including both adversity and socioeconomic position—are known to shape physical health, health-related behaviors, and overall well-being. However, the psychological mechanisms that link these determinants to diverse outcomes remain insufficiently explored across international contexts. Objective: The objective of this study is to test whether sense of mastery and control over one’s life mediates the associations between key stressors (childhood abuse, financial insecurity) and socioeconomic resources (education, employment, and marital status) with a wide range of outcomes spanning health, behaviors, and well-being. Methods: Using cross-sectional data from Wave 1 of the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), we analyzed responses from more than 200,000 adults in 23 countries. Predictors included exposure to childhood abuse, perceived financial insecurity, and indicators of socioeconomic position (education, employment, and marital status). Outcomes included self-rated physical and mental health, depression, anxiety, smoking, drinking, physical activity, life satisfaction, and happiness. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate both direct and indirect (mediated) effects through sense of mastery and control over life. Results: Stressors were associated with poorer health, higher engagement in risk behaviors, and lower well-being. In contrast, higher levels of education, employment, and being married were linked to more favorable outcomes. In all tested models, sense of mastery and control over life significantly mediated the effects of both stressors and socioeconomic resources on health, behaviors, and well-being outcomes. Conclusions: Sense of mastery and control over life may represent key psychological pathways linking both adversity and social advantage to diverse health-related outcomes. Interventions that enhance individuals’ perceived control may offer cross-cutting benefits to improve health, promote well-being, and reduce behavioral risk factors globally. Full article

Background/Objectives: Mental disorders that emerge during adolescence frequently extend into adulthood, predicting poor academic and employment outcomes and heavy societal burdens. Novel efforts to improve youth mental health have transitioned from clinical recovery, typically focused on a cure, to a strength-based approach to wellbeing in supporting youth within mental health services. Mental health scholars have appealed for interventions to adopt an ecological system of care approach that integrates the principal caregivers in a young person’s life. Despite preliminary literature indicating the importance of caregivers, little research has focused on the caregiver’s role in supporting personal recovery in youth. Methods: This study sought to understand the role of caregivers in youth recovery by employing a qualitative design to inductively analyze the narratives from nine semi-structured interviews with caregivers. Additionally, deductive analysis explored the core five underpinnings of personal recovery connectedness, hope, identity, meaning, and empowerment (CHIME). Results: A thematic analysis of the literature identified five themes: providing unconditional love and positive regard; encouraging connection with peers; co-creating a sense of purpose, meaning, and hope; supporting assertiveness and advocacy; and promoting strength and opportunity for mastery aligning with the CHIME framework. The findings will allow health services to understand caregivers’ roles better, thus providing information to guide recovery-oriented and family-centered care. Full article

Increasing attention has been paid to the therapeutic effect of gardens on older persons in long-term care homes. However, problems on set up and reliability of implementation were still of concern in studies. This study investigated residents’ experiences of Virtual Zen Garden in Hong Kong. Twenty-four residents were interviewed using semi-structured interviews based on the phenomenological research approach in two long-term care homes. This study aligns with the COREQ (Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research Checklist). Nine theme clusters were organized that described the influence of Virtual Zen Garden on residents’ quality of life in long-term care homes. They are ‘staying engaged despite no change in physical condition’, ‘embracing current physical functioning’, ‘being the one to exercise autonomy’, ‘fostering a sense of relaxation and acceptance to the past, current and future lives’, ‘fostering a sense of satisfaction, purpose and mastery’, ‘open to companionship with staffs’, ‘feeling a sense of connection with other residents’, ‘perceiving a sense of security and identity in the living environment’ and ‘accepting the place they stay as a home in the rest of life’. Virtual Zen Garden demonstrated positive beneficial effect on quality of life in physical, psychological, social, and environmental perspectives. The findings were encouraging for the introduction of Virtual Zen Garden as an innovative intervention, into long-term care homes. Full article

Despite the growing influence of social media on both professional and personal lives, there is a noticeable lack of research on media literacy related to the perception of body image. This study aims to fill that gap by exploring well-being and the factors that support it. The sample included 520 students from both STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and non-STEM fields. We utilized adapted psychometric scales to measure attitudes towards physical appearance (SATAQ), body shape dissatisfaction (BSQ), and psychological well-being (PWB). The procedure involved assessing well-being and media exposure, and completing questionnaires designed to measure the impact of media exposure. The findings revealed that both STEM and non-STEM students with higher well-being reported significantly lower negative effects from exposure to idealized body images compared to those with lower well-being. Additionally, greater self-acceptance, a stronger sense of purpose in life, and better environmental mastery were associated with a lower negative impact on body image. Comparing the groups, STEM students exhibited higher resilience to the negative effects of idealized body images. These insights highlight key protective factors critical for developing interventions and strategies for student resilience. Full article

Children’s risky play opportunities depend on supervising adults’ attitudes and the play environment. The possibilities to engage in risk-taking outdoor play for children have seriously decreased over the last few decades, due to safety concerns and adults’ preoccupation with protection. In response to this shift, research has increasingly focused on influencing factors on professional attitudes toward risk-taking in children’s play. However, children’s perspective on risky play is underrepresented in the recent literature. This study generates awareness of children’s risky play preferences and interests to help professional caretakers hone their facilitating role. We explored children’s notions of risk and challenge in play during a loose parts intervention stimulating risky play and facilitated by after-school childcare practitioners. A thematic analysis examined observations, informal conversations, and roundtable talks with children about their risky play experiences. Children describe their risk-taking in play as experimental and daring. The findings report on children’s general views on risky play, their play experiences with loose parts, their real-life risky play experiences, and their opinions on the role of practitioners. By relating the results to risky play research and self-determination theory, this study offers insight into children’s innate needs. Taking risks on their own terms gives children a sense of self-confidence and mastery, and forces them into new relationships with other children and guiding adults. Consequently, children fulfill the three universal needs of self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Full article

Stein’s Freedom and Grace (Freiheit und Gnade) phenomenologically describes the experience of grace as the desire, communication, or acceptance of God’s Spirit of Love, accessed in the act of faith motivated by the soul’s otherwise unfulfilled desire for self-mastery. This article first discusses the affordances of Stein’s phenomenology which equip her to see grace as a fulfilment of the natural life of the soul, which is experienced as coming from beyond itself. It then addresses how the individual, personal I fails to satisfy its implicit desire for rational and free action in the natural life of the soul and how, in contrast, its opposite, the graced, liberated life of the soul, allows it to, but not on its own, only through union with God’s Spirit. It proceeds from this existential alternative to show how the treatise unfolds as an investigation of the various a priori possibilities for grace to be experienced and why it makes sense to acknowledge faith as a legitimate source of knowledge, as Stein does in work postdating Freedom and Grace. Finally, it is argued that the treatise is phenomenological in nature and that it does not presuppose either metaphysics or Christian doctrine but instead contributes to underpinning both. This argument simultaneously explains Stein’s own subsequent engagement as a Christian philosopher. Full article

Poverty increases vulnerability towards somatisation and influences the sense of mastery and well-being. The present study on adolescents living in relative poverty in a high-income group country (Israel) and a low-middle-income group country (India) explored the nature of somatisation tendency (ST) and its relationship with potency and perception of poverty (PP). Potency, a buffer against stress-induced negative health effects, was hypothesized to be negatively related to ST and mediate the link between PP and ST. Purposive sampling was used to collect questionnaire-based data from community youth (12–16 years) of two metropolitan cities—Kolkata (India, N = 200) and Tel-Aviv (Israel, N = 208). The nature of ST, PP and potency was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics and correlation-regression statistics and mediation analysis were used to understand the relationship among them. A clinically significant level of ST was reported by both Indian and Israeli youth experiencing 5–7 somatic symptoms on average. Potency was found to be a significant predictor of ST in both countries (p < 0.05) and emerged as a significant mediator (p < 0.001) in the PP and ST relationship among Indian adolescents. The present study highlights potency as a protective buffer in economically vulnerable community adolescents and re-establishes a high prevalence of ST among them, irrespective of their country’s global economic position. Full article

(1) Background: With an increasingly diversifying ageing population, it is important to understand what ‘ageing well’ means to older adults with a migration background. Given older adults’ preference to age in place and declining mobility, housing is a significant place in later life. Therefore, this paper explores the influence of housing, migration, and age on older migrants’ subjective wellbeing, with attention to immaterial aspects such as a sense of home as well. (2) Methods: In-depth interviews with older migrants from various ethnicities (N = 22) were conducted. The data collection and analysis were led by an inductive and deductive approach through thematic analysis. (3) Results: The results point to the dynamic nature of age(ing) and the role of migration background in the subjective wellbeing of older migrants. The need for preserving one’s housing situation and environmental mastery in later life is highlighted. Furthermore, the relation and mutual influence of subjective wellbeing and sense of home is uncovered. (4) Conclusions: This study highlights the intersection of age, migration, and housing to the subjective wellbeing and sense of home of older migrants. In addition, influences on older migrants’ subjective wellbeing concern both a material (i.e., housing) and immaterial (i.e., sense of home, age, migration) base. Full article

Abundant evidence shows that physical activity benefits adolescents’ mental health and wellbeing. Quantitative evidence has shown that adolescents engaging in leisure time physical activity, a number of sports, and team sport, display better mental health outcomes than their peers. The specific contextual factors that contribute to increased mental health and wellbeing through physical activity are, as yet, unconfirmed. The purpose of this study was to identify the contexts of physical activity and sport that positively impact mental health and wellbeing as perceived by adolescents. A sample of 58 adolescents participated in 13 focus groups discussing various factors related to physical activity, sport and mental health. Participants brought an object that represented physical activity and an image that represented wellbeing to each focus group to aid in the discussion and representation of both. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted on transcripts of the focus groups using a six-phase approach. Five key themes were identified: (1) achievements and improvements leading to increased self-esteem; (2) the importance of meaningful experiences, a sense of belonging and contributions to identity; (3) development of resilience and responding to setbacks; (4) social connectedness and relatedness, and (5) an opportunity to experience mindfulness, distraction and flow-states. In order to enhance and support wellbeing through physical activity, adolescents should be encouraged and provided with opportunities to engage in enjoyable activities with people with whom they experience a sense of belonging, where there is an opportunity to experience mastery and improvement and that includes an element of autonomy or choice. Full article

Gastrointestinal endoscopy is a complex procedure requiring the mastery of several competencies and skills. This procedure is in increasing demand, but there exist important management and ethical issues regarding the training of new endoscopists. Nowadays, this requires the direct involvement of real patients and a high chance of the endoscopists themselves suffering from musculoskeletal conditions. Colonoscopy quantification can be useful for improving these two issues. This paper reviews the literature regarding efforts to quantify gastrointestinal procedures and focuses on the capture of hand and finger kinematics. Current technologies to support the capture of data from hand and finger movements are analyzed and tested, considering smart gloves and vision-based solutions. Manus VR Prime II and Stretch Sense MoCap reveal the main problems with smart gloves related to the adaptation of the gloves to different hand sizes and comfortability. Regarding vision-based solutions, Vero Vicon cameras show the main problem in gastrointestinal procedure scenarios: occlusion. In both cases, calibration and data interoperability are also key issues that limit possible applications. In conclusion, new advances are needed to quantify hand and finger kinematics in an appropriate way to support further developments. Full article

This article introduces and applies an integrative model of cyberharassment victimization. The model combines routine activity theory (RAT), the general theory of crime (GTC), and the personal resources approach to analyze risk factors for victimization while acknowledging the protective role of a sense of mastery. Survey respondents were aged 15 to 25 years (N = 4816) from the U.S., Finland, Spain, and South Korea. Logistic regression models were used to analyze cyberharassment victimization. RAT-related factors were positively associated with cyberharassment victimization. Low self-control was positively associated with cyberharassment victimization in the U.S., Finland, and Spain but not in South Korea. The sense of mastery was negatively associated with cyberharassment victimization in the U.S., Finland, and South Korea but not in Spain. Protective factors against cyberharassment victimization should be utilized in future studies as adequate knowledge of protective factors could assist policymakers in generating preventative measures against cyberharassment. Our study demonstrates the benefits of integrating criminological theories and protective factors in studies using cross-national data to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of cyberharassment. Full article

Rationale: Although there remains insufficient evidence regarding singing programs as effective strategies for achieving clinically significant health outcomes, this non-pharmacological intervention appears to be subjectively low-risk and well-tolerated by people with advanced chronic respiratory diseases (CRD). Objective: This study sought to examine and synthesize the current qualitative evidence regarding the experiences of participating in singing for breathing programs by people with advanced CRD. Methods: A meta-synthesis of qualitative data was conducted. Electronic databases (Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EMBASE) were searched for published qualitative studies reporting the effects of singing programs for adults with advanced CRD and their carers. Primary qualitative data were extracted and analysed, which generated descriptive and analytical themes. Results: Themes identified from seven included studies were: anticipation and reluctance to participate; physical and psychological benefits; new sense of purpose and enjoyment; social connection and achievement; and broad views regarding program structure and content. The themes highlighted changing perspectives before, during and after engaging in the singing program, as participants transitioned from initial anxiety to mastery of their chronic condition as the singing program progressed. Participants, however, raised concerns regarding several singing technicalities, the lack of ongoing support after the singing programs’ conclusion and the social impacts of transitioning the sessions online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: This meta-synthesis highlights the positive experiences of people with CRD who participate in singing for breathing programs. Further research, including longitudinal qualitative studies, can provide insight into the acceptability and feasibility of singing programs and inform the broader implementation of the intervention. Full article