DESIGN OF LIVING ENVIRONMENTS FOR NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS: INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN RECREATION ACTIVITIES1

Nursing-home residents have frequently been characterized as unoccupied and disengaged. At the outset of the present study, most residents were to be found in their own rooms, not exhibiting gross motor behavior or social interaction, and not participating in appropriate activities. To modify residents' levels of participation with the environment, a manipulative area was provided in the lounge. Participation in the lounge averaged 20% on days when the activity was not available, but increased to a mean of 74% on days when equipment and materials were given and residents were prompted to participate. When prompts were withdrawn and materials were available only by request, mean participation fell to 25%. The findings demonstrate that manipulative activities can support a high level of participation with the environment, if residents are prompted to use equipment and materials.     

The importance of routines for the performance of everyday activities

Whether the weekly frequency with which everyday activities (e.g., taking a shower, running for exercise) are performed is determined by intentions to perform the activities at different frequencies rather than by routines was investigated. Sixty-four subjects participated in an experiment in which self-reported frequency of performance of 10 activities was predicted from indicated intentions as well as from self-reports of the frequency with which the activities were performed a previous week. The results were as expected for a few of the activities, whereas for a majority of them performance was predicted from previous frequency without the mediation of intentions. Consistent with the conclusion that routines played a more important role than intentions, it was also found that intentions failed to predict performance better the following week than it predicted performance the week after that week. Conditions under which intentions may be a more important determinant were discussed.     

Feasibility and preliminary outcomes for Move-Into-Learning: An arts-based mindfulness classroom intervention

This feasibility study investigated teachers’ assessment of Move-Into-Learning (MIL), an eight-week school-based Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), designed to reduce stress and improve behavior in at-risk elementary students. MIL was implemented with two classrooms of third-grade students (n?=?41) in a low income, urban neighborhood using a pretest to posttest single group design. One of the two classrooms (n?=?20) completed a two-month follow-up measure examining sustainability of results. The program included mindfulness meditation, yoga movement with breathing exercises, and Appreciative Inquiry (AI) exercises that invited students to express themselves in the written and visual arts. MIL was evaluated via semi-structured teacher interviews and the Connors’ Behavior Rating Scale. Pre/post intervention showed significant improvement in behaviors, such as hyperactivity (t[1,39?=?3.1; p?=?0.002), and highly significant differences in the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder index (t[1,39]?=?5.42; p?<?0.001) and cognitive/inattentiveness (t[1,39]?=?5.56; p?<?0.001) subscales. Teacher interview data supported these findings suggesting MIL as a feasible and acceptable MBI that can be implemented in a third-grade classroom.     

Comorbid social anxiety disorder in clients with depressive disorders: predicting changes in depressive symptoms, therapeutic relationships, and focus of attention in group treatment

The current study examined whether depressed outpatients with comorbid SAD respond differently to a cognitive-behavioral group intervention and if so, how and why. Using growth curve modeling, we found evidence that depressed clients with comorbid SAD had rapid improvement in depressive symptoms over the course of treatment and generally did not differ from those without comorbidity in developing close therapeutic relationships and modifying the direction of attentional focus away from the self. Non-linear effects demonstrated that rates of change in depressive symptoms, relationship variables, and focus of attention, were most rapid early in treatment. In contrast to hypotheses, trajectories of change in therapeutic relationships and attentional focus did not mediate the effect of SAD on treatment improvement in depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that comorbid SAD does not have a detrimental effect on the course of depression treatment and group-based treatments can be as beneficial for depressed individuals with comorbid SAD. It may be that group-based treatments for depression provide explicit opportunity for emotional processing in social situations (i.e., exposure) and hence mimic efficacious therapies for SAD.     

Doing Well: A SEM Analysis of the Relationships Between Various Activities of Daily Living and Geriatric Well-Being

An existing large data set, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with the subsequent addition of the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS) data, provides a rich data set for the examination of the activities of older adults. In this study HRS and CAMS data are used to examine relationships between various activities of daily living (ADLs) and well-being in older adults. Using structural equation modeling, influences of direct and indirect factors that affect older individuals' cognitive and emotional well-being are analyzed. The data suggest ability to perform ADLs has little to do with cognitive well-being, but is an influential factor in determining emotional well-being.     

Treatment Engagement: Building Therapeutic Alliance in Home-Based Treatment with Adolescents and their Families

Client engagement is an essential yet challenging ingredient in effective therapy. Engaged clients are more likely to bond with therapists and counselors, endorse treatment goals, participate to a greater degree, remain in treatment longer, and report higher levels of satisfaction. This study explored the process of engaging high-risk youth and their parents in a unique home-based family therapy intervention. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 19 families who completed family therapy sessions that included a core component aimed at increasing treatment engagement. Parents’ and youths’ perceptions of engagement suggest the importance of developing therapeutic alliance with therapists, who facilitated building a shared alliance among family members. Implications for improving client engagement are discussed within the context of alliance building with the therapist and among family members.     

Élargissement et renouvellement des questions traitées par l’ergonomie dans le domaine du développement durable : retour sur 12 ans de travaux sur les activités domestiques et la maîtrise des consommations énergétiques

This paper aims to trace how the integration of a societal issue such as “sustainable development” influenced our work in ergonomics in terms of activity analysis and contributions to the design during the last 12 years. We redefined the issue of energy consumption management and of behavioral modification. If we first developed household activities analyses for the design of smart home services, the introduction of sustainable issues leaded us to build the concept of “sustainable situation”: a new form of interaction between the actors and their environment. Sustainable situations allow energy consumption reduction as well as human well-being and development. We thus added sustainability as a new design criteria to preexisting ones such as utility, usability and appropriability. This new design perspective leaded us to enlarge our analysis of the lived experience at home to the longitudinal analysis of processes (appropriation, reflexivity, development and commitment) for the design of resources for the human development and activities.     

From “villages of longevity” to “villages of cancer”? The emotional geography of tourism development in Bama,China

Studies on residents' attitudes toward tourism development either assume that residents are unemotional “homo economics” or frame their emotions as forming rigid patterns. Following emotional approach, this study on Bama in China argues that residents' emotions toward tourism development and its environmental impacts are dynamic and ambivalent. Qualitative methods such as semi-structured interview and observation were used to collect data. The results show that during tourism development, interactions with outsiders encouraged the residents to realize the symbolic healing effects of their living environment and develop feelings of amazement and pride. However, continuous development had negative effects on the physical and symbolic environments, which induced complex emotional responses in the residents, including dislike, dissatisfaction, tolerance, anger, and fear. However, in this wealth-building stage, the residents’ ecological grief is compensated by economic growth and has not evolved to resisting actions against development. The emotional ambivalence between eagerness to economic prosperity and concern of ecological loss still exists in Bama and was enhanced in the shutdown of tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research should explore whether, and how ecological concerns about a tourism location may override potential economic gains and encompass anti-development actions.