Meaningful Things Research Articles

AJIS 40th Anniversary Editorial

For forty years, AJIS has been a trusted plat­form for researchers, scholars, and practitioners, serving as a conduit for the exchange of ideas, the dissemination of cutting-edge research, and the cultivation of intellectual dialogue. Many of us found this journal a space for ruminating, discussing, and developing our own narratives on our Islamic heritage and what it means in the contemporary world. Especially compared to anti-Islamic biases in other corners of academia, AJIS is a coming “home.” One constant throughout the past four decades is the journal’s commit­ment to scholarship that documents and explores Islam’s rich religious, intellectual, legal, philosophical, and social heritages. The assumption is that these various perspectives have meaningful things to say about the human condition and our place in the world. Debate, discussion, and disagreement all appear in these pages, but always grounded in an underlying steadfastness that Islam is a faith tradition that is not obso­lete; that Muslims can contribute positively to humanity’s betterment. That said, the journal is not a place of religious homilies. This is an academic journal, with a double-blind peer review process. Articles that are published thus pass muster in the discipline in which they conduct their research. Let us thank the authors who have entrusted us with their groundbreaking research, pushing the boundaries of knowledge and enriching our understanding of critical issues in our disciplines. Let us thank the journal’s editors, editorial boards, diligent reviewers, and committed staff members who have meticulously upheld the journal’s reputation for excellence, contributing to its sustained success.

Musical Dedication—Willow

I had the privilege of knowing Dr. Janice Waldron for two and a half years during my undergraduate degree at the University of Windsor. Although I knew her for only a short period of time, she was such a force of nature and I feel so fortunate that I got to absorb some of her fairy dust before she continued her journey through the universe. I wrote this song titled “Willow” in honour of her joyful spirit and to remind myself of all the beautiful and meaningful things she taught me along the way. She always encouraged me to continue my journey with songwriting, therefore I believe this was the perfect way to pay tribute to her life and legacy. She was the most inspiring professor and mentor, and such a pivotal figure in my music education undergraduate degree. She was a fierce, yet compassionate and empathetic human being. I miss her dearly, but I know she watches over us every day.

Generation Z's perceptions of a good life beyond consumerism: Insights from the United States and Finland

AbstractThis paper examines Generation Z consumers' perceptions of a good life beyond consumerism and how their perceptions and practices have evolved during crises and the cultural context in which they live. We present a unique theoretical and empirical cross‐cultural investigation which focuses on the ecological crisis and COVID‐19 pandemic, and the changes they have caused to Gen Zs' daily lives in the United States (California) and Finland. Two large qualitative data sets were collected through focus group interviews and open‐ and closed‐ended surveys before and during COVID‐19 and analyzed via the PERMA framework. Findings revealed that Gen Zs' pathways that lead to a good life include: healthy behaviors and balance; positive and meaningful relationships; happiness and positivity; meaningful things; productivity and goals; and daily routines. Findings also indicated that since COVID‐19, Gen Zs are increasingly shifting toward virtuous behaviors and eudaimonic‐oriented life, in which moderation, meaningfulness, and self‐realization play key roles. Gen Zs are characterized as a global consumer cohort and a driver of change for a sustainable future, thus understanding how these future professionals, leaders, and mainstream consumers perceive a good life provides theoretical and practical insights into how to provide ecologically sustainable well‐being for nature and future generations.

Pengaruh Word of Mouth, Citra Merek dan Gaya Hidup terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Produk Motor Honda di Jakarta

Today's motorbikes can say a lot of meaningful things to society. Motorcycle manufacturers are required to introduce new technology every year to boost sales. With increasingly stringent business regulations due to competition, companies are forced to meet consumer needs in addition to being able to sell their products. Word of mouth, brand image, and lifestyle are some of the variables that might influence consumer decisions to buy. The method used in this research is quantitative. The results of this study are the influence of word of mouth (X1) on the purchase decision of Honda motorcycle products in Jakarta (Y), namely the calculated f value is greater than f table, f count 13.449> 2.47 from f table. The influence of brand image (X2) on the purchase decision of Honda motorcycle products in Jakarta (Y), namely the value of f count is greater than f table, f count is 61,601 > 2.47 from f table. The influence of lifestyle (X3) on the purchase decision of Honda motorcycle products in Jakarta (Y), namely the value of f count is greater than f table, f count is 53,769 > 2.69 from f table. The influence of word of mouth, brand image and lifestyle on the purchase decision of Honda motorcycle products in Jakarta (Y), namely the calculated f value is greater than f table.

Does the Weekly Practice of Recalling and Elaborating Episodes Raise Well-Being in University Students?

Increasing well-being is a prominent worldwide goal that can be achieved primarily through social support and environmental factors. However, in times of social distancing or isolation, it is important to also rely on self-managed activities. This study aimed to (a) test the effectiveness of a seven-week well-being intervention, in increasing need satisfaction, self-compassion, emotion regulation, and grateful disposition by curbing need frustration, self-derogation, and emotional suppression, and (b) examine the maintenance and long-term effects of the practices based on recall, elaboration, and writing. One hundred and twenty university students weekly recalled and elaborated for seven consecutive weeks on three recent episodes of gratitude, self-affirmation, goal setting, or meaningful things, according to the group to which they were assigned. Before the intervention, immediately after and one month later, they filled in questionnaires to assess need satisfaction/frustration, self-compassion/derogation, emotion regulation and grateful disposition. The results confirmed an increase in well-being and a decrease in ill-being for all groups (Cohen d for the significant differences ranging from 0.18 to 0.53). The effects were maintained one month later and even increased for self-compassion, self-derogation, need frustration, and emotional reappraisal. A follow-up assessment revealed that a third of the participants continued with the well-being practices. Implications and suggestions for future well-being interventions are discussed.

ANALISIS SEMIOTIKA IKLAN GOJEK EDISI RAMADHAN 2021 DI TENGAH PANDEMI COVID-19

Ramadan in 2021 is the second year that it is recommended not to go home and meet with family and friends during this Covid-19 pandemic. This is a problem for people who are used to going home because they can’t meet their family and friends. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the habits of many brands that initially only met the needs of their consumers but are now competing to provide solutions to their consumer problems. One of them is Gojek as a top of mind application that always answers the needs of its consumers, now providing many solutions. In this Ramadhan 2021, Gojek issued an advertisement which mainly said "Dekatkan yang jauh, kirim yang bermakna" with Gojek, people can still give meaningful things by sending something to family and relatives even though they can't meet. This study examines the messages contained in the Ramadan Gojek advertisement in 2021. The method used in this research is qualitative by obtaining data with observation and literature studies. The results of this research analysis show that Gojek's 2021 Ramadan advertisements utilize technology to convey messages to consumers in responding to needs and problems solving during this pandemic.

Clutter in domestic spaces: Material vibrancy, and competing moralities

Decluttering discourses position clutter as meaningless things as well as, seemingly paradoxically, morally problematic – as signs of laziness or an individual failure to organise the house. This article addresses the lack of academic research on the topic and challenges the mischaracterisation of clutter as meaningless by drawing from ethnographically informed research into clutter in people’s homes in Manchester. The article is situated in, and contributes to, the sociology of ordinary consumption, the unmarked and unnoticed, and materiality. I draw from the theoretical work of Mary Douglas and Michael Thompson that outlines the vibrancy and potential of the unnoticed materials and matter of everyday life. I centre materiality in thinking about the material vibrancy of clutter and draw from Jane Bennett’s notion of assemblages to think through the capacity of clutter to become morally potent. The article makes four main arguments; first, I challenge ideas that clutter is trivial as it includes both meaningless and meaningful things. Second, I argue that clutter is a way people negotiate, reinforce and manage social relationships. Third, I argue moralising discourses around materialism and decluttering interact with existing everyday moralities around consumption, finances and family life which are brought to bear when people deal with their clutter. Fourth, through its materiality, clutter forces people to engage with moral discourse of wastefulness, usefulness, materialism, and everyday familial norms.

Working-class wisdom: how relationality and responsibility shape working-class youth’s meaning-making on social media

ABSTRACT Young people spend prodigious time online cultivating identities, relationships, and values, however, most research about young people's experiences online fails to consider how socioeconomic status shapes young people's engagement online. Drawing on communication theory about meaning-making, impression management, and trends toward prosumption, we examine how social class, informs young peoples' engagement online. Interviews and focus groups with culturally and geographically diverse teens from working-class families reveal that working-class youth articulate their engagement online in terms of (1) rule following, (2) impression management to become intelligible to peers, (3) cultivating relationships, and (4) occasionally by intentionally keeping meaningful things offline. We argue that their energies reflect efforts at (1) controlling the meaning of posts and (2) relational work, evidencing a ‘responsibility-orientation’ to online engagement. Implications extend previous research identifying the importance of personal responsibility for working-class users online and consider how education systems and online platforms might better serve working-class youth.

Ways to Greater Happiness: A Delphi Study

In the first round of this Delphi study 14 experts suggested strategies for improving life-satisfaction. In a second round, experts rated these strategies for (a) effectiveness, (b) feasibility and (c) cost-effectiveness. They considered 56 strategies policy makers can use to raise average happiness in a nation and 68 ways in which individuals can raise their own happiness. Experts were informed about the average ratings made by the panel and about the arguments advanced. Then, in a third round, experts made their final judgments. Summed ratings for average effectiveness and feasibility of the strategies ranged between 8.4 and 4.9 on scale 2–10, which means that most of the recommendations were deemed suitable. Agreement was slightly higher on policy strategies than on individual ways to greater happiness. Policy strategies deemed the most effective and feasible are: (1) investing in happiness research, (2) support of vulnerable people and (3) improving the social climate, in particular by promoting voluntary work and supporting non-profits. Individual strategies deemed most effective are: (a) investing in social networks, (b) doing meaningful things and (c) caring for one’s health.

"Five" as a typological number in the medieval Arabic grammatical tradition

In the Arabic grammatical tradition several categories comprising exactly five members can be found, e.g., the types of “meaningful things”, of definite nouns, of tanwīn, of definite article, of tawābiʿ etc. Given the importance of the number ‘five’ in Islam, it is natural to ask whether these categorizations are affected by the symbolical meaning of that number. This article examines some of these categorizations in order to check the extent to which they are linguistically or theoretically justified, and whether they use ‘five’ as a typological number. In order to answer these questions, the fivefold divisions are tested for consistency and the surrounding discourse is investigated.

Important Goals, Meanings, and Relationships in Flourishing and Languishing States: Towards Patterns of Well-being

Qualitative studies of lay people’s perspectives on facets of well-being are scarce, and it is not known how the perspectives of people with high and low levels of well-being dovetail or differ. This research explored the experiences of people with high/flourishing versus low/languishing levels of positive mental health in three cross-sectional survey design studies. Languishing and flourishing participants were selected in each study based on quantitative data from the Mental Health Continuum - Short Form as reported by Keyes et al. (Journal of Health and Social Behavior 43:207–222, 2002). Qualitative content analyses were conducted on written responses to semistructured open-ended questions on the what and why of important meaningful things (study 1, n = 42), goals (study 2, n = 30), and relationships (study 3, n = 50). Results indicated that well-being is not only a matter of degree—manifestations differ qualitatively in flourishing and languishing states. Similar categories emerged for what flourishing and languishing people found important with regard to meaning, goals, and relationships, but the reasons for the importance thereof differed prominently. Languishing people manifested a self-focus and often motivated responses in terms of own needs and hedonic values such as own happiness, whereas flourishers were more other-focused and motivated responses in terms of eudaimonic values focusing on a greater good. We propose that positive mental health can be conceptualized in terms of dynamic quantitative and qualitative patterns of well-being. Interventions to promote well-being may need to take into account the patterns of well-being reflecting what people on various levels of well-being experience and value.

Absurd relations

Abstract Absurdist accounts of life’s meaning posit that life is absurd because our pretensions regarding its meaning conflict with the actual or perceived reality of the situation. Relationary accounts posit that contingent things gain their meaning only from their relationship to other meaningful things. I take a detailed look at the two types of account, and, proceeding under the assumption that they are correct, combine them to see what the implications of such a combination might be. I conclude that another way of looking at the absurdity of life is to see it as a conflict between our dual beliefs that there exist intrinsically meaningful contingent things, and that contingent things may only gain their meaning extrinsically through their relationships to other meaningful things. In this way, I provide another lens through which feelings of life’s absurdity may be interpreted and analysed: as the conflict between the simultaneous beliefs in both intrinsically and relationally meaningful contingent things. Looking through this lens gives us an entirely different framework for analysing life’s absurdity than that which Nagel described in 1971, providing opportunity for more potential avenues of analysis and discussion.

Do Not Neglect the Body and Action: The Emergence of Embodiment Approaches to Understanding Human Development.

It is becoming clear that to truly understand what it is to be human, focusing scientific efforts on the mind alone is insufficient. We are embodied minds, living and acting in a world full of meaningful things. In this article, we discuss how science has been informed by important research insights into the close relationship between the body, the mind, and the world. These interactions can be translated into embodied perspectives of human development. We provide evidence that perception, cognition, emotion, human relations, and behavior are grounded in our bodies from the beginning of our lives. From this perspective, the body cannot be assumed to be simply an effector for cognition or an instrument for collecting information for the brain. This comprehensive review and debate of embodied-related literature is accompanied by the identification of theoretical challenges and practical applications that will shape research for years to come.

Fooled by ‘smart drugs’ – why shouldn’t pharmacological cognitive enhancement be liberally used in education?

ABSTRACTResearch shows that various pharmaceuticals can offer modest cognition enhancing effects for healthy individuals. These finding have caused some academics to support liberal use of pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) in schools and universities. This approach partially arises from arguments implying there is little moral justification for regulating such drugs. In this paper, I argue against the liberal use of PCE on epistemic grounds. According to Charles Taylor, emotions and behaviour are epistemically valuable because they tell us meaningful things about reality. Hence, an accurate interpretation of students’ emotions and behaviour in context is crucial to support an effective and ethical educational process. This paper supports the assertion that PCE might alter emotions and behaviour, and thereby distort the interpretation of the educational situation by students, educators and policy makers. Therefore, when discussing whether or not to regulate PCE we should be mindful of these epistemic concerns.

A Study on What Makes Young Children Happy

The purposes of this research were to understand children’s perception of happiness and to propose suggestions for improving the level of happiness based on children's needs by analyzing individual interviews about what makes them happy and why. The subjects of the study were 163 children aged three to five at two kindergartens and one daycare center in Seoul, South Korea. Research results were as follows. First, they indicated living things (human, animal, plant) and inanimate things (plaything, school supply/book, tool/machine, accessory, food, property) as the objects that make them happy. The most frequently indicated objects that make children happy included plaything (toy) (31.9%), human (12.3%), school supply/book (10.6%). Secondly, the reason why specific objects make children happy was because those objects provided satisfaction with desire for play, emotional satisfaction, practical satisfaction, esthetic satisfaction, satisfaction with desire for creation, and moral satisfaction. The most frequent reason regarding why they become happy was because they could play with playthings, and felt fun or good when they play. The identified playthings that make children happy and satisfy their various needs were those which they could easily find at home and in the early childhood institutes. Such results suggest that children's happiness could be positively influenced by the setting where they could freely play while interacting with meaningful things.

Knightly Fables, Visual Concepts: On the Affinity Between Chivalry and Bourgeoisie

Knightly Fables, Visual Concepts:On the Affinity Between Chivalry and Bourgeoisie Jesús R. Velasco For Bernard Harcourt and Mia Ruyter 1 The knightly fable is a source of social and political hopes among knights. It was present in dozens of medieval and early modern narratives, and in it a knight will become a knight after he—as masculinity is paramount in the knightly fable—has been removed from all his earthly certainties. The reasons for this removal include political conspiracy, war, a curse, or an accident: they involve the loss of land, family, a horse, all his horses, or lineage, the very origins of the knight. Yet, by means of the physical, political, legal, and ethical prowess that texts normally include under the general concept of virtue, the knight will become somebody else as the result of combining everything he lost with the new and more important, more durable and meaningful things he obtained. He will sometimes get a new name, a new lineage, a new family, or brand new origins, better than those he lost.1 Some [End Page 301] names that articulate this kind of fable: Lancelot in the Lancelot en prose; Erec in Chrétien de Troyes’ Erec; Renaut de Beaujeau’s Li Biaus Desconneüs; Tirant lo Blanc in Joanot Martorell’s masterwork; Amadís de Gaula in Rodrigo Díaz de Montalvo’s successful recast; Galahad in La queste del saint Graal; Zifar in his Libro, among others.2 The previous paragraph may suggest that the knightly fable is a narrative structure, a combination of narrative motifs like the ones collected by Anti Aarne and Stith Thompson.3 I would rather argue that the structure is only a vehicle for the central thesis of the knightly fable, what I have called the social and political hope—that is, the idea that from loss, exile, and certain kinds of education, knighthood can endow an individual with territory, material wealth, and power. The line of inquiry raised by the knightly fable is not to simply put forth that there is a social hope, but, rather, to build a concrete social hope with concrete political purposes. The social hope of a novel like the fourteenth-century Libro del Cavallero Zifar focuses on the succession of the pre-existing kingdom of Menton and the fulfillment of a destiny, whereas the thesis of Amadís de Gaula entails the theorization of an imaginary political entity characterized by insularity and idealist politics, a knightly way of exercising power—the Ínsula Firme.4 [End Page 302] The main question raised in the knightly fable is: what can one do with chivalry? This question is central to the theorization of knighthood. Even when they look at alternative ideas about knighthood, scholars traditionally focus on noble, clerical, and monarchical texts dealing with knighthood from the top down. Each of these versions of knighthood shares the same perspective on what the purpose of chivalry is for those who already participate in chivalry and knightly discourse—that is, from the vantage point of nobility. In these cases, political-theologies may enter into conflict with more secular, politicized, or centralized ideas of jurisdiction, but they all leave untouched the core assumption that between chivalry and nobility there is a relation of affinity, and that objective power is founded on nobility as a synchronic as much as a diachronic category. This assumed affinity is what glues together the apparatus-like concepts and practices of knighthood from the Middle Ages to today.5 Whether considering these differences or not, scholarship on chivalry frequently combines the many differences within the trope of noble chivalry into another very powerful structural idea of knighthood, oftentimes called “knightly spirit,” or “the knightly code,” or even “the courtly code.” This idea of chivalry is highly codified, and this codification is also part of an apparatus of power that tends to underscore the centrality of nobility and its particular ethics—an imaginary that has spanned centuries and cultures.6 In this apparatus, lineage is an ever renewable historical device that assures the self-replication, the autopoesis of nobility; independently of [End Page 303] periods of concealment or disappearance, loss of political presence or influence...

The Meaning and Educational Value of Imagination Through Dewey's Concept of Experience

The aim of this study was to shed light on imaginative education by inquiring the meaning of imagination through Dewey's concept of experience and to find some methods for imaginative education to encourage students’ self-directed learning. For these, first, the conceptions, constructs, and features of educative experience that could be interpreted as Dewey's education were investigated. Next, the meaning and value of imagination in educative experience were discovered in the process of doing. Though Dewey's meaning of experience is a situation by itself, yet it would be explained by three rhythmic developmental phases: primary, reflective and consummatory ones. The reflective phase could not become the educative experience as an experience by itself. But it would act as very important intermediary to help the primary phase reach out to the consummatory phase by understanding the primary phase and imagining the future situation. In other words, the experience cannot turn into the consummatory phase unless it goes through the reflective phase. From the three rhythmic developmental phases, the imagination is the required ability at the reflective phase. Finally, the imagination is core ability to help that educational process and activity have value or be meaningful things connecting with each other closely. In conclusion, the imagination is the intermediation and necessary factor to let experience have educational value. In other way, the imagination could be emerged while teachers encourage students to get educational experience. Therefore, it could be one of best way of the imaginative education that teachers provide students with the structured experience as educational experience.

Material Communications

Abstract All of us have a place in our homes where we keep meaningful things. These are things that would be devastating to lose or have destroyed. Our relationship with these things shows us how we have a fundamental, innate relationship to the objects around us. It is curious how design might begin to play a strategic role here. Design can be defined as a process that acts as a mediator between people, objects and spaces often concentrated on ergonomics, economic efficiency, functionality, ‘sustainability’ and technology. Material Communications provides a way for makers to critique this and adapt their existing design process in order to take care and reflect on the meaning and significance of supplying individuals with material objects. The process of designing products and environments is rich with tactics for making and arranging tangible objects and spaces. Unfortunately, design in its current state is yet to provide a strategy that explicitly addresses this potential. As an interior and product designer, my research is focused around re-orienting the design process as a strategy to slow down and to nurture our relationships to artefacts. Material Communications is a strategy applied in family therapy that expands the understanding of the cognitive world for designers, and reveals the value of the material world for cognitive scientists. This research method has been put into action in a case study within child and family therapy. Through this research I have asked, ‘How might the process for design be used to bridge the gap between the material world and the cognitive world?

"Respecting Choices" Model Coming to South Carolina

The South Carolina Medical Association is now working to follow the lead of physician organizations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Virginia, as members plan to implement an early-intervention advance care planning program that has drawn national media attention in recent months. A product of La Crosse, Wisconsin’s Gundersen Health System, Respecting Choices engages patients in informed discussions about end-of-life decision-making. The paradigm trains non-physician facilitators to guide patients through complex, value-driven considerations within programs staged to individual health. Ninety-six percent of those who die in La Crosse now have advance directives; nationally, 30 percent of adults do. La Crosse has been dubbed in headlines as the “town that talks about death,” and providers across the country now hope their own towns can become the same. “It was a natural fit, because Respecting Choices is a very physician-friendly organization,” said John Ropp, a family physician serving on the South Carolina Medical Association Board of Trustees. “It makes sense from a clinician standpoint what they’re trying to accomplish.” Social workers, chaplains and nurses in five South Carolina health systems are expected to begin advance care planning facilitator training in early 2015. The dues-driven association will seek funding from those systems to help finance the estimated $250,000 implementation cost. Funding from private insurers is expected as well. Members say they realize a physician organization like their own is right to lead such an initiative, and their sponsorship helps remove any perception of conflict of interest. “It would be really difficult for an insurer or state agency to roll this out, because they would be seen as trying to save money by limiting care,” Ropp said. Respecting Choices designer and medical ethicist Budd Hammes agrees. “Medical societies stay out of provider competition,” Hammes said. “They represent physicians at all institutions and have clear leadership roles.” Several medical associations have recently sponsored Respecting Choices initiatives. “Honoring Choices Minnesota” has been the project of the Twin Cities Medical Society since 2010, training 1700 facilitators statewide. Project directors say about 35 percent of Minnesotan adults now have advance directives stored in electronic medical records - a percentage surpassing the national average. The Wisconsin Medical Society expanded Respecting Choices beyond La Crosse in early 2013, establishing advance care planning pilot sites within six health systems in the Madison-Milwaukee corridor. Three thousand end-of-life conversations have been facilitated in the project’s first year. “Whether it takes ten years or more, we want this to be a routine standard of care,” said John Maycroft, the Wisconsin Medical Society’s director of initiatives. “We may never hit La Crosse numbers, but maybe we can hit 70 or 80 percent.” This September, the Richmond Academy of Medicine will train 30 Respecting Choices facilitators across three health systems. The Academy voted to back the plan after several members shared concerns about hospice referrals coming too late for patients to realize true benefit. Executive director Deb Love said earlier intervention was considered “more palatable than the current approach- waiting until a crisis develops.” In South Carolina, it was the Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) pilot project this spring that exposed association members to the need for earlier advance care planning. POST, similar to an advance directive, is a medical order intended for patients expected to die within one year. “There’s a lot more to it,” Ropp said. “So the question was ‘where do we go next?’” Facilitators will be trained to speak with patients of all ages and stages of health regarding concerns about end-of-life care and any experiences had with seriously ill loved ones. A Respecting Choices discussion identifies a surrogate decision-maker, someone a patient believes is willing and trustworthy to make medical choices if he or she is unable. Religious and cultural beliefs influencing care choices are also unraveled, and patients often leave facilitations with advance directives completed. “It’s a way for them to come to their own personal insight about why this is important, what they want to do, and what their values, goals and preferences are based on other experiences,” Hammes said. Part of the program’s attractiveness, Ropp says, stems from the fact facilitators are non-physicians; they are placed within health systems so busy doctors may refer patients for comprehensive discussions. “Frankly, it’s really hard to have meaningful conversations about this stuff with the time we really have,” he said. “It’s going to take more than doctors to accomplish meaningful things in the community in terms of better end-of-life care.” Physicians, however, play a crucial role in advance care planning. Ropp believes that doctors nationwide are beginning to realize the value of early end-of-life dialogue and the urgent responsibility they hold to promote it. “Projects like this really hit at the core values of the physician-patient relationship,” he said. “It involves honest communication, consent and relationships.”

Women's Experiences of Being in an Acute Psychiatric Unit: An Occupational Perspective

Introduction: The need to address gender sensitivity and implement strategies to improve the treatment of women within inpatient mental health facilities has gained international recognition. Ascertaining service users' perspectives is a critical prerequisite to ensure that potential strategies are appropriate. This study aimed to identify factors influencing the occupational engagement of women service users in an acute inpatient mental health unit in Melbourne, Australia. Method: In this phenomenological study, five women were interviewed about their experiences of occupational engagement. Data were analysed according to Colaizzi's (1978) procedure, to generate an ‘essence statement’. Fieldnotes were kept and an audit trail of the analysis process was recorded. Findings: Three main themes emerged: (1) Living in hospital is difficult; (2) What we need from staff; and (3) More meaningful things to do, please. Conclusion: Study findings highlight a need for more empathetic communication with staff, more effective use of the physical environment to enable improved perceptions of safety, and more meaningful occupational opportunities.