scholarly journals The Restorative Effect of the Natural Environment on University Students’ Psychological Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Emma A. Payne ◽  
Natasha M. Loi ◽  
Einar B. Thorsteinsson
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
Waitlist Control Group

The present study evaluated the effect of a three-week intervention aimed at improving psychological health in university students. Participants included 200 Australian students randomly assigned to an experimental or waitlist control group, with 42 adhering to intervention instructions. Participants in the experimental group read a story about someone who used the natural environment to decrease stress and burnout levels and to increase their perceived satisfaction with life. They were then instructed to spend 20 minutes each week, for three weeks, in any chosen natural environment. Waitlist control participants received intervention instructions three weeks later. Restorativeness was positively associated with life satisfaction and negatively related to stress and burnout. Experimental participants, compared to waitlist control participants, experienced a significant decrease in stress; however, the intervention had no effect on life satisfaction or burnout. More research is still needed to determine the practical significance of nature exposure on university students’ psychological health.

scholarly journals A Randomized Waitlist-Controlled Trial of an Intergenerational Arts and Heritage-Based Intervention in Singapore: Project ARTISAN

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Hau Yan Ho ◽  
Stephanie Hilary Xinyi Ma ◽  
Michael Koon Boon Tan ◽  
Ram Chandra Bajpai
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Waitlist Control Group

Loneliness has become a global major public health concern, with detrimental effects to the young and old. ARTISAN (Aspiration and Resilience Through Intergenerational Storytelling and Art-based Narratives) is a 5-week, 15-h participatory art and group-based intervention that focuses on resilience building and loneliness alleviation among the young and old through a structured multimodal framework held at a museum space. Developed with a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, this intervention is evaluated using an open-label waitlist randomized controlled trial design (RCT) comprised of community-dwelling youth and older adults randomized into an intervention group (n = 35) or a waitlist-control group (n = 33). Participants were assessed on standardized self-reported psychometric measures including loneliness, resilience, quality of life, social support, life satisfaction and national identity at three time points. Qualitative data generated during each intervention session as well as acceptability focus groups were recorded and transcribed. Linear mixed modeling analyses revealed that participants in the intervention group experienced improvements in life satisfaction compared to participants in the waitlist-control group (95% CI: 0.22 to 0.77, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.53) immediately after the completion of ARTISAN. Subgroup analyses for youth participants indicated improvements in quality of life (95% CI: 0.16 to 0.52, p < 0.001, d = 1.31) and national identity (95% CI: 0.18 to 0.80, p = 0.002, d = 0.43) in comparison to the waitlist-control group. At 5-weeks follow-up, the intervention group participants continued to experience high levels of life satisfaction (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.42, p = 0.017, d = 0.47), enhancements in resilience (95% CI: 0.07 to 0.55, p = 0.011, d = 0.46), as well as a significant reduction in loneliness (95% CI: −0.34 to −0.08, p = 0.001, d = 0.61) compared to baseline, reflecting the effectiveness and positive residual effects of the ARTISAN intervention. Similarly, the qualitative findings provided support for the intervention and additional insights to the quantitative findings. This holistic intervention framework that integrates stories, arts and heritage for bridging and empowering lives fills a critical gap in knowledge and practice between the arts, health and citizenship, paving the way for further research in creating a more caring and inclusive society with the arts.Clinical Trials Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03048708.

The effect of patience training on university students’ patience and life satisfaction levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 712-719
Author(s):  
Ayşe Eliüşük Bülbül ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Wilcoxon Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Satisfaction Scale ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the "patience training program" on the patience and life satisfaction levels of university students. The study was organized as a pre-test, post-test experiment and control group design. For a total of 30 students from which were 17 in the control group and 17 in the experimental group, patience training was given for 5 weeks. The "Patient Scale" developed by Schnitker (2010) and adapted to Turkish by Eliüşük and Arslan (2016) and the "Life Satisfaction Scale" developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985) and adapted to Turkish by Dağlı and Baysal (2016) were used as a data collection tool in the study. The "Wilcoxon" test was used for the comparison of in-group differences in the analysis of obtained data and the "Mann-Whitney U" test was used in examining the differences between the two groups. As a result of the study, it was observed that the patience and life satisfaction average scores of students in the experimental group receiving "patience training" increased significantly, while there was no significant difference in the patience and life satisfaction averages scores of the control group students.

Life satisfaction and its relationship with self-esteem among Najran University students: الرضا عن الحياة لدى طلاب جامعة نجران وعلاقته بتقدير الذات

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (20) ◽  
pp. 168-155
Author(s):  
Najeh Mohammad Zawahreh Najeh Mohammad Zawahreh
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Satisfaction Scale ◽  
Degree Of Satisfaction ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Life Satisfaction Scale

This study aimed to identifying the degree of life satisfaction, the level of self-esteem and the relationship between them among students of Najran University in KSA the study sample consisted of (639) students, of whom (319) were male and (320) female students. The researcher use previous literature to building two measures, the life satisfaction scale and the self-esteem scale. Validity and reliability of both tools were concluded. the results revealed that the degree of life satisfaction among Najran University students was high, and their level of self-esteem was high, and the results showed a strong, positive and significant correlation between the degree of satisfaction with Life and the level of self-esteem, and indicated that there were no differences in life satisfaction and self-esteem among Najran University students due to the gender variable, or type of college variable.The study recommended measuring students' life satisfaction and self-esteem periodically.

scholarly journals The Resilience Journal: Exploring the Potential of Journal Interventions to Promote Resilience in University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max S. Lohner ◽  
Carmela Aprea
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Daily Monitoring ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Resilience Intervention

Given the prevalence of mental health issues among university students, they must be regarded as a vulnerable population. Resilience interventions offer one potential means of strengthening students’ capacity to overcome academic challenges and external threats. This is all the more urgent in light of the additional difficulties caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic, such as the demands of remote learning. The present study is a first step toward designing and evaluating an appropriate dynamic resilience intervention for students. The design of the Resilience Journal intervention draws on insights from expressive writing and positive writing research and focuses on reflection on daily challenges. In this online intervention, 100 business school students (66% female, Mage = 23.74) at a German university were randomly assigned to two groups and completed two different versions of the Resilience Journal for 5 days. The two versions focused, respectively on broadening attention to challenges and priming attention to mastered challenges. In a pre-post design, two resilience measures and one measure of life satisfaction were used to assess intervention outcomes. Additionally, a newly developed rating scale was used for daily monitoring of dynamic resilience. While both groups showed a significant increase in resilience as measured by the Brief Resilience Scale, that increase could not be attributed directly to the intervention, as there were no group differences, and the design did not include a control group. The other resilience and life satisfaction measures showed no significant change. This first implementation confirms the potential of the Resilience Journal and indicates directions for the development of dynamic resilience interventions and measures in future studies. To further study the potential of such a positive psychology intervention, future research necessitates the inclusion of control groups.

scholarly journals Pilot Study of Mindfulness Training on the Self-Awareness of Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease – A Randomized Controlled Trial

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Marcel Buchwitz ◽  
Franziska Maier ◽  
Andrea Greuel ◽  
Franziska Thieken ◽  
Kenan Steidel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Motor Symptoms ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Disease Symptoms ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Sleeping Problems ◽  
Waitlist Control Group ◽  
Insight Into

Objective: This study aims to evaluate feasibility and effects of a newly developed mindfulness intervention tailored to specific needs of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).Background: The phenomenon of impaired self-awareness of motor symptoms (ISAm) in PD might be reduced by increasing patients’ mindfulness. A PD-specific mindfulness intervention has been developed and evaluated as a potential treatment option: IPSUM (“Insight into Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms by using Mindfulness”).Methods: IPSUM’s effectiveness is evaluated by comparing an intervention with a waitlist-control group. Applying a pre-post design, patients were assessed before, directly after and 8weeks after treatment. The primary outcome was the change in a quantitative ISAm score from baseline to post-assessment. Secondary outcome measures were PD-related affective changes and neuropsychological test performance. Feasibility was evaluated via feedback forms.Results: In total, 30 non-depressed and non-demented PD patients were included (intervention: n=14, waitlist-control: n=16). ISAm score did not change significantly, but the training group showed greater performance in sustained attention and language tasks over time. Additional changes included greater mindfulness as well as less sleeping problems and anxiety. Cognitive disturbances, apathy, and sleeping problems worsened only in the waitlist-control group. Patients’ feedback regarding the training concept and material was excellent.Conclusion: Insight into Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms by using Mindfulness has not been capable of reducing ISAm in PD patients but appears to be a feasible and effective concept to, among others, support mental health in the mid-term. It has to be noted though that the study was stopped beforehand because of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic. The lack of findings might therefore be caused by a lack of statistical power. The need for further research to better understand the mechanisms of ISAm and its connection to mindfulness in PD is highlighted.

scholarly journals A randomized controlled trial to improve psychological detachment from work and well-being among employees: a study protocol comparing online CBT-based and mindfulness interventions

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Tement ◽  
Saša Zorjan ◽  
Meta Lavrič ◽  
Vita Poštuvan ◽  
Nejc Plohl
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Online Interventions ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Psychological Detachment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Waitlist Control Group ◽  
Psychological Detachment From Work

Abstract Background The changing landscape of the work environment, which often encompasses expectations of employees being continuously available, makes it difficult to disengage from work and recover. This can have a negative impact on employees’ well-being, resulting in burnout, depression and anxiety, among other difficulties. The current study will test the effectiveness of two different online interventions (i.e., cognitive behavioral therapy; CBT and mindfulness-based stress reduction; MBSR) on employees’ psychological detachment, burnout and other variables related to general (e.g., life satisfaction) and work-specific (e.g., work engagement) well-being. Methods/design The study is designed as a randomized control trial with two intervention groups (i.e., CBT, MBSR) and a waitlist control group. Participants will be full-time employees from a wide range of organizations from Slovenia, who report moderate difficulties with psychological detachment from work and burnout and are not receiving any other form of treatment. The online interventions will encompass 12 sessions over 6 weeks (2 sessions per week); each session will include 1) an active audio-guided session and 2) home assignments, accompanied by handouts and worksheets. The study outcomes (i.e., psychological detachment, burnout, general and work-specific well-being), potential mechanisms (i.e., work-related maladaptive thinking patterns, mindfulness) and moderators (e.g., supervisor support for recovery) will be assessed immediately before and after the interventions (pre and post measurement) and 3 months after intervention completion (follow-up). Additionally, participants will fill out questionnaires for the assessment of the central mechanisms and study outcomes each week. Discussion We expect that the CBT-based intervention will lead to greater improvements in psychological detachment from work and burnout compared to the MBSR and the waitlist control group. Additionally, we expect that the CBT-based intervention will also lead to greater enhancement of both general and work-related well-being. Trial registration https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN98347361 [May 19, 2020].

The Effectiveness of Group Triple P and the Impact of the Four Telephone Contacts

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia C. Gallart ◽  
Stephen Matthey
Keyword(s):  
Self Report ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Triple P ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Waitlist Control Group ◽  
Group Sessions ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of the four telephone contact sessions that are prescribed as an integral component of the Group Triple P parenting program, and to compare the efficacy of Group Triple P to a waitlist control group. Parents of children aged 2 to 8 years were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: the usual Group Triple P program, consisting of four group sessions and four telephone calls (n = 16); a modified Group Triple P condition, consisting of just the four group sessions (n = 17); or a waitlist control condition (n = 16). Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted using the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and the Parenting Scale (PS). Statistically and clinically significant main effects were found for attending either the full Triple P or the modified Triple P program on both the DASS and the ECBI, but not on the participant's perception of their parenting style (PS). We conclude that (a) the four telephone sessions are not an essential component for the initial effectiveness of the Group Triple P program (though further research needs to explore whether they impact on maintenance of gains), and (b) that Group Triple P is effective in bringing about change, as measured using these self-report instruments.

Teaching about Near-Death Experiences: The Effectiveness of Using the Day I Died

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice Miner Holden ◽  
Kathy Oden ◽  
Kelly Kozlowski ◽  
Bert Hayslip
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Waitlist Control Group ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
The Brain

In this article, we reviewed results of research on near-death experiences (NDEs) over the past 3 decades and examined the effect of viewing the hour-long 2002 BBC documentary The Day I Died: The Mind, the Brain, and Near-Death Experiences on accurate knowledge about near-death experiences among advanced undergraduates at a southwestern university. In a quasi-experimental research design, the experimental group completed a 20-item questionnaire before and after viewing the documentary ( n = 66; 45 females, 21 males), and the waitlist control group completed the questionnaire as pre- and posttest before viewing the documentary ( n = 39; 36 female, 3 male). The two groups' scores at pretest were not significantly different ( p > .05). Group by occasion repeated measures ANOVA revealed the experimental group's posttest scores moved significantly in the direction of correctness with a large effect size ( p < .001; η2= .56), whereas waitlist control group posttest scores remained similar to pretest scores. We discuss two exceptions to the effectiveness of the documentary and recommendations for educators using it as well as for future research.

scholarly journals Implementation and Effects of an Information Technology-Based Intervention to Support Speech and Language Therapy Among Stroke Patients with Aphasia: Protocol for a Virtual Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Kim ◽  
Laura Laird ◽  
Carlee Wilson ◽  
Till Bieg ◽  
Phillip Mildner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Waitlist Control ◽  
Treatment Assessment ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Waitlist Control Group

BACKGROUND Mobile application-based therapies are increasingly being employed by speech-language pathologists in the rehabilitation of people with aphasia (PwA) as an adjunct or in lieu of traditional in-person therapy approaches. These apps can increase the intensity of treatment, and have been shown to result in meaningful outcomes across several domains OBJECTIVE VoiceAdapt is a mobile therapy app designed with user and stakeholder feedback within a user-centered design framework. VoiceAdapt uses two evidence-based lexical retrieval treatments to engage PwA to improve their naming abilities through interaction with the app. The purpose of the randomized controlled trial (RCT) proposed here is to examine the feasibility and clinical efficacy of training with VoiceAdapt on the language and communication outcomes of people with aphasia. METHODS A multicenter RCT is being conducted at two locations within Canada. A total of 80 people with aphasia will be recruited to participate in a two-arm, waitlist-controlled, crossover group RCT. After baseline assessment, participants will be randomized into an intervention group or a waitlist control group. Intervention group participants will engage in five weeks of training with the app, followed by post-treatment assessment and follow-up assessment after an additional five weeks. Those in the waitlist control group will have five weeks of no training, followed by a pre-treatment assessment, training for five weeks and post-treatment assessment. All aspects of the trial are being conducted remotely given the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS Recruitment of participants started in September 2020 and the study is expected to be completed by March 2022. Publication of results is expected within six months of study completion. CONCLUSIONS Results of the RCT will provide data to inform evidence-based practice on the use of technology-based solutions to treat aphasia. If positive results are obtained from this RCT, the VoiceAdapt app can be recommended as an efficacious means of improving lexical retrieval and communicative functioning in PwA within an easily accessible, cost-effective manner. Moreover, the implementation of this RCT through remote assessment and delivery can inform the profession on telerehabilitation practices and monitoring app-based home therapy programs. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04108364; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04108364

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document