scholarly journals The Pandemic as a Catalyst for Reimagining the Foundations of Location-Based Games

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (CHI PLAY) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Arpita Bhattacharya ◽  
Travis W. Windleharth ◽  
Cassandra Lee ◽  
Amulya Paramasivam ◽  
Julie A. Kientz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Physical Activities ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Finding Meaning ◽  
Life Circumstances

Mainstream location-based games (LBGs) highlight three foundations-exercise, exploration, and social interaction-which were hugely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This genre has already had access issues depending on the player's region, identity, ability, and technology, which the pandemic also amplified. Thus, the pandemic provided a unique opportunity to re-imagine the design of LBGs to preserve player benefits while challenging these foundations. We conducted a two-week diary study with 11 LBG players coping with difficult life circumstances, followed by remote co-design sessions. Participants continued to play primarily to maintain community connection while adjusting the mode of socialization, finding meaning through virtual exploration, and support mental health and personal growth. Participants discussed ways to enhance the experience by expanding the range of physical activities during social distancing, reimagining proximity-based social interactions, and exploring via social construction of places while expanding beyond how the three foundations are currently supported in LBGs.

scholarly journals “Communitas in Crisis”: An Autoethnography of Psychosis Under Lockdown

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110252
Author(s):  
Alison Fixsen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Psychiatric Ward ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Health And Social Services ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Acute Psychiatric Ward

In this article, I use autoethnography to examine time spent on an acute psychiatric ward during the COVID-19 lockdown. I employ the device of “communitas in crisis” to emphasize the precarious nature of this experience and the extent to which, for myself at least, informal social interactions with fellow patients and “communitas” were significant features of my hospital experience and subsequent discharge. I suggest that a lack of emphasis on inpatient to inpatient relationships in the recovery literature is an omission and a reflection of psychiatry’s authority struggles with both service users and professionals, along with a general perception of psychosis as individual rather than as a socially constructed phenomenon. I also suggest that, especially in the wake of greater social distancing, mental health and social services should safeguard against psychological and social isolation by creating more spaces for struggling people to interact without fear or prejudice.

Changing minds: every family in the land

1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 328-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Crisp
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Country Today

Records of ill people being stigmatised exist over the centuries, especially individuals with mental disorders and related mental health problems. Ingredients of such stigmatisation include a belief that such disorders are often self-inflicted and resistant to change. Also, the perceptions that those with them are dangerous and present major difficulties in social interaction (Hayward & Bright, 1997). Such stigmatisation then takes many behavioural forms, including abuse and social distancing. These same disorders are common and, overall, they comprise the largest group of health problems in the country today. For a century or more the public has been protected by the existence of mental hospitals. With their closure and the emphasis now on community care, public concern seems to be mounting and stigmatisation of those afflicted worsening.

scholarly journals Physical activity in periods of social distancing due to COVID-19: a cross-sectional survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (suppl 2) ◽  
pp. 4157-4168
Author(s):  
Edson Zangiacomi Martinez ◽  
Fabrícia Mabelle Silva ◽  
Thais Zanin Morigi ◽  
Miriane Lucindo Zucoloto ◽  
Thaise Lucena Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Physical Activities ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are associated with poor physical and mental health. The article aims to assess the changes in the habits of the Brazilian participants engaged in physical activities in relation to their practices, due the measures of social distancing during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. The secondary objective was to describe their levels of anxiety and depression. The questionnaire used in this online survey included demographic information, questions about self-perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 in the life routines and the 14-item Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale. A total of 1,613 adults completed the questionnaire between May 11 and 15, 2020. Of those, 79.4% reported that the measures to contain the epidemic had any impact on their physical activities, and many had to interrupt or decrease the frequency of their practices. Participants who felt a higher impact of quarantine on their physical activities tend to have higher prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms. Individuals who practiced physical activities reported that social distance had a high influence on their practices. Furthermore, changes in these habits are associated with high levels of poor mental health.

scholarly journals Sitting in the dark

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Global Crisis ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Youth Population ◽  
Mental Well Being

COVID-19 has created a new reality for countries worldwide as leaders are tasked with the responsibility of enacting safety measures to stop the rate of infection. Social distancing is promoted as one of the main ways of curbing the spread of the virus. Such measures limit social interaction and the spaces people are free to occupy. The following poem, entitled “Sitting in the dark: COVID-19 and mental well-being” speaks to the mental health impacts of such closures on the youth population, highlighting that no one is immune from the virus. This poem also explores the interconnectedness of a person’s physical and mental health andthe subsequent need to pay attention to both realities during times of global crisis. Despite the challenges the pandemic presents, it is imperative that youth find an outlet to cope, one that will help them develop resiliency and a sense of hope.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Socioeconomic life and Psychology of Transgenders: Insights from India

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 126-132
Author(s):  
Sugyanta Priyadarshini ◽  
Sukanta Chandra Swain
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Support System ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Social Discrimination ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Mental Health Concern ◽  
The Impact

India's COVID-19 lockdown has left transgender people at heightened risk of hunger and poverty since most of them make their living on streets by begging, street entertainment, and paid sex. They are not socially privileged to operate within the online world as they are predominantly dependent on social interactions and functions such as weddings or baby showers. Ideology is endangering transgender people from coronavirus. Transgender people are a socially marginalized community who is forced into slums where social distancing is challenging, making it a hotbed for Coronavirus. Further, the absence of healthcare backup and lack of awareness increases the looming fear among the transgender community regarding the budding impact of COVID-19. A substantial rate of economic instability, as well as social discrimination, was visible before the pandemic, thereby worsening their situation with a lack of food, fund, insecurity, safety, and mental health concern during COVID-19. This study focuses on the impact of the Coronavirus crisis on the socioeconomic life of Transgender people taking into account the explosion in unemployment, adding to an already disproportionate healthcare support system pushing them further to the margins. The study comes forward with useful suggestions based on content analysis of published and aired information to reduce the existing woes of transgender people during COVID-19.

scholarly journals The COVID in the Context of Pregnancy, Infancy and Parenting (CoCoPIP) Study: protocol for a longitudinal study of parental mental health, social interactions, physical growth, and cognitive development of infants during the pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezra Aydin ◽  
Staci M Weiss ◽  
Kevin A Glasgow ◽  
Jane Barlow ◽  
Topun Austin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Infant Development ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Physical Growth ◽  
Longitudinal Impact ◽  
Parental Mental Health ◽  
The Impact

Introduction While the secondary impact of the COVID pandemic on the psychological wellbeing of pregnant women and parents has become apparent over the past year, the impact of these changes on early social interactions, physical growth and cognitive development of their infants is unknown, as is the way in which a range of COVID related changes have mediated this impact. This study (CoCoPIP) will investigate: i) how parents experiences of the social, medical, and financial changes during the pandemic have impacted pre and postnatal parental mental health and parent-infant social interaction; and (ii) the extent to which these COVID-related changes in parental pre and postnatal mental health and social interaction are associated with fetal and infant development. Methods and analysis The CoCoPIP study is a national online survey initiated in July 2020. This ongoing study (n = 1700 families currently enrolled as of 6th May 2021) involves both quantitative and qualitative data being collected across pregnancy and infancy. It is designed to identify the longitudinal impact of the pandemic from pregnancy to two years of age, with the aim of identifying if stress-associated moderators (i.e., loss of income, COVID-19 illness, access to ante/postnatal support) impact parental mental health, and in turn, infant development. In addition, we aim to document individual differences in social and cognitive development in toddlers who were born during restrictions intended to mitigate COVID-19 spread (e.g., social distancing, national lockdowns). Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was given by the University of Cambridge, Psychology Research Ethics Committee (PREC) (PRE.2020.077). Findings will be made available via community engagement, public forums (e.g., social media,) and to national (e.g., NHS England) and local (Cambridge Universities Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) healthcare partners. Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviews journals.

“Shhhh! Alex Has Something To Say”: AAC-SGD Use in the Classroom Setting

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 108-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Mellman ◽  
Laura S. DeThorne ◽  
Julie A. Hengst
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Classroom Community ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Missed Opportunities

Abstract The present qualitative study was designed to examine augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) practices, particularly surrounding speech-generating devices (SGDs), in the classroom setting. We focused on three key child participants, their classroom teachers, and associated speech-language pathologists across three different schools. In addition to semi-structured interviews of all participants, six classroom observations per child were completed. Data were coded according to both pre-established and emergent themes. Four broad themes emerged: message-focused AAC use, social interactions within the classroom community, barriers to successful AAC-SGD use, and missed opportunities. Findings revealed a lack of SGD use in the classroom for two children as well as limited social interaction across all cases. We conclude by highlighting the pervasive sense of missed opportunities across these classroom observations and yet, at the same time, the striking resiliency of communicative effort in these cases.

Behavioral Assessment of Social Interactions in Natural Settings

1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Santoyo
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
Behavioral Observation ◽  
Social Responsiveness ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Social Effectiveness ◽  
Natural Settings

The present paper deals with behavioral assessment of social interaction in natural settings. The design of observational systems that allow the identification of the direction, contents, quality and social agents involved in a social interchange is an aim of social interaction assessment and research. In the first part a description of a system of behavioral observation of social interaction is presented. This system permits the identification of the above mentioned aspects. Secondly a strategy for the behavioral assessment of social skills is described. This strategy is based on the consequences and effects of social interaction, and it is supported by three basic processes: social effectiveness, social responsiveness and reciprocity.

Digital Pollution and Its Impact on the Family and Social Interactions

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2098555
Author(s):  
Shiv Ratan Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Critical Dimensions ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
The Family ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Potential Negative Effect ◽  
Human Attitude ◽  
Impact On Family ◽  
And Behavior

The present study was an attempt to identify the most prevailing means of digital devices and its impact as digital pollution on family and social interactions. Despite the obvious benefits of digital devices, in recent years researchers have taken more concern about its potential negative effect on human attitude and behavior, which in turn affects our society. A total of 613 usable responses were collected from Bangalore, India of excessive users of digital devices, such as a smartphone, computer/laptop, and television. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 23.0, AMOS 23.0, and SmartPLS 3.0. The results indicated that as the use of smartphone and computer/laptop increases, levels of digital pollution also increase, which in turn significantly triggers unfavorable impact on family and social interactions. The study indicated that digital pollution appears as an important predictor, which significantly affects social interaction unfavorably. The present study explored the various critical dimensions within this domain and delineated gaps in our knowledge of digital pollution. It was found that smartphones are more responsible for digital pollution among all the identified digital devices, followed by computer/laptop.

scholarly journals Resilient Research in the Field: Insights and Lessons From Adapting Qualitative Research Projects During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110161
Author(s):  
Syahirah Abdul Rahman ◽  
Lauren Tuckerman ◽  
Tim Vorley ◽  
Cristian Gherhes
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Qualitative Research Methods ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Building Resilience ◽  
Digital Methods

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the implementation of unprecedented social distancing measures, restricting social interaction and with it the possibility for conducting face-to-face qualitative research. This paper provides lessons from a series of qualitative research projects that were adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure their continuation and completion. By reflecting on our experiences and discussing the opportunities and challenges presented by crises to the use of a number of qualitative research methods, we provide a series of insights and lessons for proactively building resilience into the qualitative research process. We show that reflexivity, responsiveness, adaptability, and flexibility ensured continuity in the research projects and highlighted distinct advantages to using digital methods, providing lessons beyond the COVID-19 context. The paper concludes with reflections on research resilience and adaptation during crises.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document