Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
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Item “We just keep pushing through”: a mixed-method study on musculoskeletal discomfort and mental well-being among nurses in resource-limited settings(BioMed Central Ltd, 2025-12-01) Patangia B; Srinivasan PM; Lee MCCBackground: Nurses in under-resourced settings frequently report high levels of musculoskeletal (MSK) discomfort, which significantly affects their mental well-being. While workplace strain is well documented, the combined impact of physical burden and institutional neglect remains underexplored in these environments. Aim: The study aims to examine the prevalence of MSK discomfort and its association with psychological well-being among nurses in under-resourced healthcare environments in Northeast India, and to explore the experiential and structural factors contributing to these occupational health risks. Methods: A sequential mixed-methods study design was employed, following an explanatory approach. The study commenced with a survey to gather quantitative data. Quantitative data were collected from 216 nurses using the Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (Extended-NMQ) and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, the results of which informed the development of subsequent interview questions. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with 11 nurses to capture experiential and structural factors. This structure enabled deeper contextual understanding and facilitated triangulation across data types. Results: Among the participants, 47.2% reported experiencing lower back pain, followed by discomfort in the knees (27.3%) and upper back (25%). Higher levels of MSK discomfort were significantly associated with employment in the public sector and more than ten years of work experience. A strong negative correlation was observed between MSK discomfort and mental well-being. Thematic analysis revealed key stressors: physical depletion, emotional exhaustion, organizational apathy, and limited healthcare access. In response to these challenges, nurses often relied on self-management due to insufficient institutional support. Triangulated findings underscored how structural deficiencies intensified both physical and psychological strain among nurses. Conclusions: There is an urgent need for evidence-based occupational health interventions to address ergonomic, psychosocial, and institutional challenges, particularly in low-resource healthcare settings, to safeguard the well-being of frontline nursing staff. This study offers novel understanding from a high-need yet under-researched geographic context, namely the northeastern states of India, bridging empirical gaps in MSK health literature through the integration of experiential and structural factors. Clinical trial number: Not applicable.Item Psychosocial Work Environment Risks Among Danish Fishers(Taylor and Francis Group, 2025-02-17) Grøn S; Junaid F; Froholdt LLOBJECTIVE: Our paper focuses on psychosocial risks that are under-researched within the fishing industry. The study was conducted in Denmark. Firstly, we investigated how Danish fishers perceive their psychosocial work environment. Secondly, we formed a group of industry partners and stakeholders with the purpose of designing ways to mitigate the reported stressors. METHODS: The study design is action research, employing qualitative co-creative methods for data collection in both the first and the second stages. The methods include chronicle workshops and design thinking workshops. Participants in the workshops came from different stakeholder groups, including fishers. We ensured that the focus remained on centering the voices of the fishers to understand the psychosocial risks within the industry context. RESULTS: In the first stage, we used thematic analysis, which led to the identification of ten themes: (1) discouragement, (2) stress, (3) poor economy, (4) negative atmosphere, (5) distrust, (6) injustice, (7) fear, (8) unpredictability, (9) powerlessness, and (10) lost pride. This study explored the key risks and highlighted that a lack of influence and meaning, reduced rewards, and increased unpredictability are likely to lead to increased stress in an environment that lacks social support. CONCLUSION: Existing research into the psychosocial working environment has established six dimensions where an imbalance leads to negative health effects. They are sometimes referred to as "the 6 gold nuggets" where an imbalance leads to negative health effects. We compared our themes to these gold nuggets and identified a clear overlap, which gave us confidence in the relevance of our data. Through the workshops, we co-created six recommendations to address the reported risks and provide policymakers with actionable recommendations.Item A Framework for the Empirical Investigation of Mindfulness Meditative Development(Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2023-05) Galante J; Grabovac A; Wright M; Ingram DM; Van Dam NT; Sanguinetti JL; Sparby T; van Lutterveld R; Sacchet MDMillions of people globally have learned mindfulness meditation with the goal of improving health and well-being outcomes in both clinical and non-clinical contexts. An estimated half of these practitioners follow mindfulness teachers’ recommendations to continue regular meditation after completion of initial instruction, but it is unclear whether benefits are strengthened by regular practice and whether harm can occur. Increasing evidence shows a wide range of experiences that can arise with regular mindfulness meditation, from profoundly positive to challenging and potentially harmful. Initial research suggests that complex interactions and temporal sequences may explain these experiential phenomena and their relations to health and well-being. We believe further study of the effects of mindfulness meditation is urgently needed to better understand the benefits and challenges of continued practice after initial instructions. Effects may vary systematically over time due to factors such as initial dosage, accumulation of ongoing practice, developing skill of the meditator, and complex interactions with the subjects’ past experiences and present environment. We propose that framing mindfulness meditation experiences and any associated health and well-being benefits within integrated longitudinal models may be more illuminating than treating them as discrete, unrelated events. We call for ontologically agnostic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research to study the effects of continued mindfulness meditation and their contexts, advancing the view that practical information found within religious and spiritual contemplative traditions can serve to develop initial theories and scientifically falsifiable hypotheses. Such investigation could inform safer and more effective applications of mindfulness meditation training for improving health and well-being.Item Optimising function and well-being in older adults: protocol for an integrated research programme in Aotearoa/New Zealand.(BioMed Central Ltd, 2022-03-16) Lord S; Teh R; Gibson R; Smith M; Wrapson W; Thomson M; Rolleston A; Neville S; McBain L; Del Din S; Taylor L; Kayes N; Kingston A; Abey-Nesbit R; Kerse N; AWESSoM Project TeamBackground Maintaining independence is of key importance to older people. Ways to enable health strategies, strengthen and support whanāu (family) at the community level are needed. The Ageing Well through Eating, Sleeping, Socialising and Mobility (AWESSOM) programme in Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ) delivers five integrated studies across different ethnicities and ages to optimise well-being and to reverse the trajectory of functional decline and dependence associated with ageing. Methods Well-being, independence and the trajectory of dependence are constructs viewed differently according to ethnicity, age, and socio-cultural circumstance. For each AWESSoM study these constructs are defined and guide study development through collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, and with reference to current evidence. The Compression of Functional Decline model (CFD) underpins aspects of the programme. Interventions vary to optimise engagement and include a co-developed whānau (family) centred initiative (Ngā Pou o Rongo), the use of a novel LifeCurve™App to support behavioural change, development of health and social initiatives to support Pacific elders, and the use of a comprehensive oral health and cognitive stimulation programme for cohorts in aged residential care. Running parallel to these interventions is analysis of large data sets from primary care providers and national health databases to understand complex multi-morbidities and identify those at risk of adverse outcomes. Themes or target areas of sleep, physical activity, oral health, and social connectedness complement social capital and community integration in a balanced programme involving older people across the ability spectrum. Discussion AWESSoM delivers a programme of bespoke yet integrated studies. Outcomes and process analysis from this research will inform about novel approaches to implement relevant, socio-cultural interventions to optimise well-being and health, and to reverse the trajectory of decline experienced with age. Trial registration The At-risk cohort study was registered by the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials registry on 08/12/2021 (Registration number ACTRN 12621001679875).Item Blended human-technology service realities in healthcare(Emerald, 5/01/2022) Dodds S; Russell-Bennett R; Chen T; Oertzen A-S; Salvador-Carulla L; Hung Y-CPurpose – The healthcare sector is experiencing a major paradigm shift toward a people-centered approach. The key issue with transitioning to a people-centered approach is a lack of understanding of the ever-increasing role of technology in blended human-technology healthcare interactions and the impacts on healthcare actors’ well-being. The purpose of the paper is to identify the key mechanisms and influencing factors through which blended service realities affect engaged actors’ well-being in a healthcare context. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper takes a human-centric perspective and a value co creation lens and uses theory synthesis and adaptation to investigate blended human-technology service realities in healthcare services. Findings – The authors conceptualize three blended human-technology service realities – human-dominant, balanced and technology-dominant – and identify two key mechanisms – shared control and emotional-social and cognitive complexity – and three influencing factors – meaningful human-technology experiences, agency and DART (dialogue, access, risk, transparency) – that affect the well-being outcome of engaged actors in these blended human-technology service realities. Practical implications – Managerially, the framework provides a useful tool for the design and management of blended human-technology realities. The paper explains how healthcare services should pay attention to management and interventions of different services realities and their impact on engaged actors. Blended human-technology reality examples – telehealth, virtual reality (VR) and service robots in healthcare – are used to support and contextualize the study’s conceptual work. A future research agenda is provided. Originality/value – This study contributes to service literature by developing a new conceptual framework that underpins the mechanisms and factors that influence the relationships between blended human technology service realities and engaged actors’ well-being
