Emotional Roller Coaster Research Articles

An mHealth App to Support Fertility Patients Navigating the World of Infertility (Infotility): Development and Usability Study.

BackgroundThe experience of infertility and its treatment engenders considerable stress and is often described as an emotional rollercoaster. A mobile health (mHealth) app may be a novel solution to address the psychoeducational and psychosocial support needs of fertility patients because of its potential to reduce stress and increase patient empowerment. There are a few fertility-related apps that provide information and support to both men and women undergoing fertility treatment; however, none have documented their development and evaluation process.ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the development and evaluation process of a bilingual mHealth app, Infotility, designed to meet the psychoeducational and psychosocial support needs of men and women undergoing fertility treatment.MethodsTo develop the Infotility app, we adhered to the Medical Research Council guidelines for the development and evaluation of complex interventions. First, we conducted literature reviews and needs assessment surveys of fertility patients and health care providers who informed the content and design of the app. Second, we tested the intervention with a small group of end users who provided feedback on the design and appropriateness of the app’s content. Third, we evaluated the uptake and usability of the app using a pre-post study design. Finally, we updated the app’s content based on participants’ feedback and searched for partners to disseminate the app to the broader public.ResultsThis study is the first to describe the development and evaluation process of an mHealth app for men and women undergoing fertility treatment. The app met its goal in providing fertility patients with a clinician-approved, portable resource for reliable information about medical and psychosocial aspects of infertility and its treatments and a confidential peer support forum monitored by trained peer supporters. Participants rated the engagement, functionality, information, and esthetics of the app positively, with an overall app quality mean score of 3.75 (SD 0.53) and a star rating of 3.43 (SD 0.75), with a total possible score and star rating of 5.00.ConclusionsBy documenting the systematic development and evaluation of the mHealth app for men and women undergoing fertility treatment, this paper can facilitate the replication of the study intervention and the development of similar mHealth apps.

Meaningful recognition: An imperative for nurse manager well-being.

Meaningful recognition: An imperative for nurse manager well-being.

Health and well-being in eye care practice: Riding the emotional rollercoaster of the contact lens journey

In the last in their series of articles looking at the influence of mental health and well-being upon clinical practice, Sheena Tanna-Shah and Neil Retallic discuss how we can best personalise, support and influence new wearer's experiences to increase compliance, maximise the chance of success and reduce the likelihood of early contact lens drop out.

An Emotional Rollercoaster: The Emotional and Pedagogial Impact of Cultural Experiences on Agricultural Education Undergraduate Students

As classrooms become more diverse, having multicultural intelligence, or the ability to relate to diverse student populations, is imperative to be an effective classroom teacher (Conner & Roberts, 2013). To build cultural intelligence in a stand-alone course, examining self-perception and cultural engagement, as well as studying one’s own history and interaction with others of diverse backgrounds is essential (Brown, 2004; Hains et al., 2013; Vincent et al., 2014). This idea was the focus of the cultural experiences presented to pre-service teachers in a collegiate agricultural education course at a southern land grant university. Cultural experiences were used to introduce students to cultural diversity in a required agricultural education course for undergraduates. Students self-selected an experience outside of their cultural norm to observe, participate in, or volunteer for. Students then reflected on the experience and included their emotional response toward the stimulus as well as the implications of the experience upon pedagogy application. Reflections were coded and themes towards type of experiences emerged and included religious events, race/ethnicity events, public-service events, and socio-cultural events. From the total population (N=22) four student experiences were selected within each category and analyzed according to the components the Model of Cultural Experience and Evoked Emotion. Results concluded that students experienced fear as a primary emotion before and during the experience while having emotions of joy, surprise, fear, and sadness during the experience. Upon reflection, students also indicated positive implications of the experience upon their pedagogy as future agricultural educators.

Nurses' experiences of a recertification process involving a series of examinations to obtain a nursing license in a new country.

To examine internationally educated nurses' (IENs') experiences of the recertification process when undergoing a series of examinations to test their nursing knowledge and skills and, thereby, obtain a Swedish nursing license. A qualitative study with a descriptive design. A convenience sample of 15 IENs at the end of the recertification process was included. Data were collected using semi-structured telephone interviews between September 2019 and January 2021 and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Conducting the recertification process to obtain a Swedish nursing license was challenging in many ways, and the nurses described a rollercoaster of emotions during the process: frustration, loneliness, stress and anxiety, but also happiness, pride and relief. The process was, for some, so demanding they almost gave up, and support was, therefore crucial for the nurses. However, many times, they had to struggle to find out where they could turn for help or guidance. The nurses found the formal support during the recertification process to be inadequate and inaccessible. For this reason, and to decrease the risk of nurses dropping out and instead taking unlicensed jobs, there is a need to develop and introduce more supportive structures and to make the existing support and information more accessible for the nurses. This study highlights the importance of offering accessible support during a demanding and challenging recertification process. These findings can help policymakers develop and introduce supportive structures in the process of recertification for IENs.

He Tamariki Kokoti Tau: Families of Indigenous Infants Talk about Their Experiences of Preterm Birth and Neonatal Intensive Care.

Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) bear an unequal burden of poor perinatal health outcomes, including preterm birth. An infant arriving preterm disrupts the birth imaginary of whānau (family collectives) and situates them in a foreign health environment that may not be culturally safe and nurturing. A cross-sectional interpretative phenomenological analysis of first interviews with 19 whānau participating in a Kaupapa Māori (by, with, for Māori) qualitative longitudinal study of preterm birth identified themes from their experiences and the meanings they attributed to them. Preterm birth was an emotional roller coaster, with the birth imaginary and anticipated roles disrupted as health practitioners took over the care of their infants. Whānau expressed the desire to be close to their infants, holding them, loving them, nurturing them, and emplacing them within whakapapa (genealogy, continual layering of foundations) networks. When health practitioners or hospital policies inhibited this intimacy by isolating, excluding, or discriminating, whānau were frustrated. Being familiar with hospital routines, staff, peers, infant cares, and being wrapped in wider whānau support were key for whānau coping. Whakawhanaungatanga (processes of establishing relationships) create safe spaces for whānau to be themselves. This quietens the ‘storm’ and returns whānau to a sense of calm, through the reclamation of their environment.

Adolescents' Experiences of Idiopathic Scoliosis in the Presurgical Period: A Qualitative Study.

ObjectiveAdolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a sideways curvature of the spine that can progress severely during adolescent development and require surgical intervention. This qualitative study was conducted to explore the psychosocial experiences of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis during the presurgical stage of treatment.MethodsFourteen adolescents with moderate-to-severe AIS aged 12–17 years participated in semistructured interviews and data were analyzed using inductive reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsFour key themes were generated from the analysis. “Proceeding with Caution” described adolescents’ adaptation to the physical impact of their AIS, while “Am I Different?” encompassed adolescents’ perceptions of their changing appearance and visibility of their condition. “An Emotional Journey” captured the rollercoaster of emotions from shock at diagnosis to the daunting realization of the severity of their condition, while knowing others with AIS could ease the emotional burden. Finally, adolescents’ concerns and expectations about their prospective surgery were captured by the theme “No Pain, No Gain”, whereby they were often keen to put surgery behind them.ConclusionsUnderstanding and addressing adolescents’ psychosocial support needs as they manage the challenges associated with idiopathic scoliosis is a key component of promoting better outcomes among this patient group. Clinical implications and opportunities for support provision are discussed.

THE MILLENNIALS’ EMOTION IN LEARNING USING TECHNOLOGY: DEMONSTRATING RESILIENCE OR FEELING DESPERATION?

The millennial generation is recognized as digital generation. The flourish and fast changing technology and information surround their lives. It is likely to influence and direct how they learn and socialize. One of significant learning media which is popular among today’s generation is video. The use of video, including vlog in English Language Teaching is prevalent today. However, how EFL students feel when they learn and create vlog are still under-examined. Thus, this study aims to explore several EFL students’ emotional experiences when they create vlog and academic video during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The study adopts qualitative research method. The data are collected through the students- participants’ narrative and vlog or video analysis. The study reports several findings. The first is the students-participants experience emotional roller coaster of negative and positive states. The second finding is the student-participants develop resilient capacity after regulating emotion by developing self-assurance of personal benefits of learning, creating economic prospect orientation and establishing social senses and global relationship goals. The third finding is it highlights the need to incorporate technology, emotion and cognition learning to fulfil the need and passions of today’s generation.

Emotion based video player

One's work can be done efficiently only if their mood is good. Emotions is the index of mood. Here model capture one's image as an input, predict their mood and play a video of opposite genre as an output, in order to change their mood, which is the main goal of this project. Hence taking them through an emotional roller coaster. The solution makes use of CNN (convolutional neutral networks) for detecting one's mood. It uses OpenCV (open-source computer vision library) in-order to get user's image using their respective web camera. It is done by importing modules like web-browser and requests in-order to get access to YouTube to play videos accordingly. The average accuracy rate of the system has increased to 98.53 percent. Eight primary emotion classes have been effectively classified by the method. As a result, the proposed strategy has been shown to be effective in recognizing emotions.

\u2018A roller coaster of emotions\u2019: a phenomenological study on medical students lived experiences of emotions in complex simulation

BackgroundSimulation-based education can induce intense learner emotions. The interplay between emotions and learning is less well understood. Gaining greater insights into learner emotions has potential to guide how best we manage emotions and optimise learning. This study aimed to understand learners’ lived emotional experiences in complex simulation and the perceived impact on learning.MethodsEight final-year medical students participated in the study. Wearing video-glasses, participants took part in a ward-based simulation. Video-footage was used to elicitate exploratory interviews and analysed using Template Analysis reflexively.ResultsAnalysis yielded four main themes: ‘nervous anticipation’: encapsulating the fear, anxiety and uncertainty experienced by learners prior to simulation; ‘shock and awe’: feelings of anxiousness and being overwhelmed at the start of a simulation; ‘in the moment: flowing or buffeting with the emotions’: experiencing fear of being judged as incompetent, but also experiencing positive emotions such as satisfaction; ‘safe-landing?’: whilst debriefing aimed to encourage more positive emotions, negative emotions about the simulation could persist even with debriefing.ConclusionsComplex simulation can evoke intense emotions in students. If students experienced a positive progression, they reported positive emotions and felt competent which was perceived to have a positive impact on learning. If students experienced failure, they reported strong negative emotions which made them question about their future performance and was perceived as negative for learning. Bringing to the surface these complex emotional dynamics, could permit educators to be aware of and adapt the emotional climate within simulation in order to optimise learning.

In Case You Haven't Heard…

Bad habits are notoriously hard to break. Ask any dieter, smoker or shopping addict why they continue to engage in a behavior they know is not good for them and they'll likely respond with a shrug and a look of utter helplessness, according to a June 29 news release from PsychTests AIM Inc. The problem is that whatever pleasure or comfort giving in to the habit may bring, it is short‐lived. Moreover, according to research from PsychTests.com, people who engage in such compulsive behaviors are more likely to struggle with a number of deeper emotional issues. Analyzing data collected from 12,259 people who took the Emotional Intelligence Test, PsychTests' researchers compared people who engage in compulsive habits (“habit‐engagers”) to those who don't (“habit‐resisters”). Habit‐engagers scored lower on a number of emotional intelligence competencies, including the following (note: scores range on a scale from 0 to 100): comfort with emotional situations or people (score of 47, versus 69 for habit‐resisters), emotional control (score of 39, versus 74 for habit‐resisters) and self‐motivation (score of 52, versus 77 for habit‐resisters). The PsychTests study also revealed that 59% of habit‐engagers are very sensitive to criticism (compared to 20% of habit‐resisters), 49% of habit‐engagers feel like they're on a constant emotional roller coaster (compared to 10% of habit‐resisters) and 59% of habit‐engagers are terrified of the future (compared to 18% of habit‐resisters).

Teaching in the New Millennium: An Autoethnographic Approach to Exploring Occupational Adaptation of Occupational Therapy Professors

This autoethnographic research examines the lived experience of occupational therapy faculty. Researchers penned their teaching narratives and identified themes related to teaching today's students. Upon completion, the researchers completed both first and second cycle coding of their own story and then the story of the co-investigator followed by the development of themes stemming from the collapsed data. Five themes emerged: faculty community, dancing as fast as I can, values, self-perception, and emotional rollercoaster. The findings provide insight into the lived experience of faculty members and the importance of these experiences to faculty identity, competence, and adaptation. The authors describe the implications of these findings to faculty growth and development and student learning.

The experience of individuals placed in quarantine: A systematic review, meta-summary, and meta-synthesis.

ObjectiveTo summarize the experience of individuals placed in quarantine during an outbreak.DesignA meta‐summary and a meta‐synthesis based upon a systematic review of qualitative studies.SampleThe Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, and Scopus databases were all searched up to April 2020.MeasurementsThe Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines were followed; then, the methodological quality of the studies included was assessed with the Critical Appraisal Screening Programme tool for qualitative studies.ResultsFive studies have been included documenting the experience of 125 adult individuals. A total of 16 codes emerged: in the meta‐summary, the most and least frequent codes were “Thinking about quarantine” (80%) and “Emotional roller coaster,” “Being alert for any symptom,” “Trusting or not?,” “Knowing who brought the infection,” and “Living in a surreal world” (20%). The codes which emerged were categorized into three main themes which summarized the whole experience of being placed in quarantine: (a) “Being swamped with a thousand emotions”; (b) “Being restrained”; and (c) “Needing to be considered.”ConclusionsThe experience of quarantine for people is a long journey which can feel chaotic due to uncertainty about the consequences on health, work, and the future. The findings of this study can help nurses in caring for quarantined individuals by enabling them to understand people's need for educational and emotional support. Ensuring the supply of consistent information is also important to increase people's compliance.

Analytics Pros: taking digital to the next level

Study level/applicability The case provides a great illustration of women leadership in crisis times. A failed merger forced a deep review of the firm strategy and a realization that the legacy leadership arrangement was not optimal anymore. The hustand-and-wife team ended up swapping executive positions, with Charlotte resolutely taking on the CEO position. Subject area The case is designed as an integrative case looking simultaneously at key subjects such as leadership, entrepreneurship and management of a fast growing service firm, strategy as applied to IT consulting and finally gender studies, with the possibility to discuss the impact of gender roles. Case overview The case investigates Charlotte's efforts at building an original Search Engine Optimization firm in Seattle, progressively taking control from her husband to save the firm from bad strategic decisions. Expected learning outcomes The case is written to convey the emotional rollercoaster lived by Charlotte and key decisions she had to make as the leader of this fast growing data analytics firm. Learning outcomes focus on what is expected of a leader in such situation, in particular a female leader in a male-dominated technology environment. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Social Implications Consulting in general, and data analytics consulting in particular, are male-dominated worlds where a female leader faces many obstacles to realize their potential. Charlotte provides a masterful example of how to contribute to and lead a fast-growing firm and manage the family and the relationship to a partner who also happens to be the co-founder of the firm. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Experiences of Parents of Specialist Peer Mentored Autistic University Students

ABSTRCT Background: Parents continue to support to autistic university students, and consequently, experience considerable stress. Aim: To explore the experiences of parents of specialist peer mentored university students and to examine these using the ICF as a theoretical framework. Method: Thirteen semi-structured interviews were completed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Directive content analysis linked the data to the ICF core set for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Results: Five interrelated themes emerged: The mentoring relationship is a facilitator, Developing skills for university, Mentoring changes lives, Mentoring is not a substitute for other supports, and University is an emotional rollercoaster. Specialist peer mentoring was linked to Activity and Participation (44%) and Environmental factors (32%) of the ICF core set for ASD. Conclusion: These results add to the specialist peer mentoring evidence-base, and indicate perceived benefits for autistic university students and their parents. An unintended consequence was that parents broadened their participation in activities.

Letter to the Editor: COVID-19 and Its Impact on the Sports Industry

One of the most quoted statements in sports literature was uttered during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in Johannesburg in which Nelson Mandela said, and I quote “Sport has the power to change the world, “It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers”. Every athlete wants to make a contribution to this and they have to put their lives on hold just for the nation. They sacrifice their relationships, friendships, and life in general just so other people can smile. Now there is COVID and athletes have been home. The emotional rollercoaster is real. The constant influx of information, changes to daily routines, uncertainty with personal health and the health of others coupled with rapidly changing reports, ischaracteristic of the ups and downs of a rollercoaster. All of which is physically and emotionally draining. Some studies have reported certain common feelings among athletes as follows: fear, anxiety, loss, relief, confusion, disappointment, exhaustion,frustration, and anger. Mandates to stay home and socially distance may cause you to feel physically alone. However, this has made several athletes feel like they are on an emotionalisland. There are understandable uncertainties and anxieties about when qualifiers will be held, how to maintain fitness and training, and whether the Olympic/Paralympic Games will occur or not. For some, this comes with permanent changes such as unwanted and unplanned pregnancies among female athletes, substance abuse, and overweight. This can never be clearly explained unless you are experiencing it.In Zambia, the year 2020 was as tormenting as it can get, from experiencing the hitherto unexplained gassing of citizens incidences with some dangerous chemicals to the realization of a COVID-19 outbreak and report of first case in March of 2020. Now every journal, media house and story teller has reported how it is no longer a hyperbole to claim that this new virus has left no life, sector or industry unaffected. In the first few months of the pandemic, the world had focused mainly on the effects of COVID-19 on the larger public and businesses, with concerns for athletes’ wellbeing hardly hitting the limelight.

Men's experience of their transition to first-time fatherhood during their partner's pregnancy: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

This was a qualitative study employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to capture the lived experiences and sense-making of seven male participants (aged 29–41), whose partner was in their second or third trimester of pregnancy. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and four superordinate themes emerged during the analysis: (1) Pushed and Pulled in Different Directions, (2) A Rollercoaster of Emotions, (3) A Long and Lonely Road and (4) Anticipating Fatherhood. The prenatal period seemed to constitute a turbulent time in the participants' lives and involved them experiencing intense, conflicting emotions and psychological states amidst a shifting sense of self, with few support resources available to them. Implications for counselling psychologists are discussed, with suggestions for future research made.

Focus on Infertility—Women’s Experiences of Using Social Media: A Qualitative Study

Background: Social media have slotted firmly into the mechanics of daily life, affecting people’s everyday interactions, and working life. Access to the Internet has changed the way people search for information, manage health and illness, and how they relate to each other. Persons affected by infertility are likely to search the Internet to obtain infertility-related information and social support. However, evidence is needed regarding the way in which the target group uses the Internet in infertility-related issues. The aim of the study is to describe infertile women’s experiences of using social media focusing on infertility. Methods: This study is based on qualitative semi-structured telephone interviews with seven women. The interviews were conducted between May 2020 and November 2020 and were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Two themes were constructed from the data: Invaluable venue and Opportunity of choice. The women used social media focusing on infertility to support each other, to find infertility-related information and for fellowship and solidarity. Usage of social media forums was a part of everyday life and different forums were used, depending upon where the women were in the treatment process. Further, decisions about choice of group were based on which age groups were targeted and geographical location. Conclusion: Infertility is one of the most stressful events in life and is associated with a rollercoaster of emotions. The use of social media focusing on infertility was experienced as positive, providing valuable information, support, eliminating loneliness and being a breathing space. Different forums were used depending on where the women were in the treatment process.

‘Riding an emotional rollercoaster’: A qualitative exploration of the psychological and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on UK residents

The current study explored the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on UK residents. Thematic analysis indicated that emotional waves of anxiety, low mood, anger and loneliness were experienced. Conversely, the pandemic prompted positive experiences for some, with emphasis on community engagement, new routines and ‘refocusing’.

Emotional Experience and Feelings during First COVID-19 Outbreak Perceived by Physical Therapists: A Qualitative Study in Madrid, Spain.

Knowing the experiences and feelings of health professionals who have actively worked on the first-line during the first COVID-19 outbreak could help for identifying specific professional duties focused on health assistance objectives. No qualitative study has been published describing the emotion/feelings of physical therapists during the first COVID-19 outbreak. This study describes and explores the emotional experiences and feelings of thirty physical therapists working at the first-line at eleven public health hospitals in Madrid (Spain) during the first COVID-19 outbreak (March–May 2020). A qualitative exploratory study was conducted based on an interpretive framework. Participants were recruited by purposeful sampling and snow-ball techniques between May and June 2020. In-depth interviews and researchers’ field notes were used to collect the data. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted to identify significant emerging themes from verbatim transcription. After identifying 2135 codes and 9 categories, three themes emerged to describe their emotional experiences and feelings. First, “Critical events”, with negative and positive critical events. Second theme, “Emotional Roller Coaster”, with emotions, feelings, and coping strategies. Third theme: “Last words: Conclusions of the COVID-19 outbreak experience”, with the meaning of the COVID-19 outbreak from a personal and professional perspective. Comprehensive support for all first-line healthcare professionals is needed.