Subjective Dimensions Research Articles

Evaluation and Optimization of Green Space Fairness in Urban Built-Up Areas Based on an Improved Supply and Demand Model: A Case Study of Chengdu, China

Urban green space (UGS) is an important public infrastructure. However, the rapid development of cities and the insufficient supply and uneven distribution of UGSs have led to a mismatch between them and various needs, which has seriously affected environmental justice and social equity. This study discusses the fairness of UGS from the perspective of supply and demand and improves the theoretical framework of supply and demand combination evaluation. First, this study analyzes the supply of UGSs through accessibility analysis and evaluates their demand from both subjective and objective dimensions. Second, the fairness of UGS is analyzed from a Gini coefficient and spatial evaluation perspective. Finally, the location optimization of UGSs is performed, which provides strategic guidance for the improvement of UGSs in Chengdu. The research results based on Chengdu City show that the travel mode directly affects the supply range of UGSs and is reflected in their fairness. At the same time, in the case of a highly dense population, UGSs in the city are in short supply; that is, the equity is negatively correlated with the population. This study provides a new perspective to evaluate UGS fairness and can be a reference for UGS optimization decisions.

Why reconnect to nature in times of crisis? Ecosystem contributions to the resilience and well‐being of people going back to the land in Greece

Abstract Multiple crises, including climate change, ecosystem degradation, economic, political and social upheavals, severely impact people's well‐being. Ecosystem services (or nature's contributions to people) play a key role during crisis that needs to be further elucidated. Most research focusses on the material benefits that ecosystems provide in times of crisis, paying less attention to intertwined intangible, nonmaterial dimensions. Yet, these intangible ecosystem benefits are often crucial for people's resilience and well‐being in times of need. We examine the role that nature plays for resilience and well‐being in times of crisis through a case study of Greece's back‐to‐the‐land movement during the European economic crisis. We conducted semistructured interviews with 76 households that had gone back‐to‐the‐land to understand why people sought to reconnect to nature and what their experiences were. Our results show that reconnecting to nature provided material ecosystem benefits such as food and income often from previously undervalued ecosystems (e.g. abandoned orchards) as well as nonmaterial ecosystem benefits such as mental health, feelings of safety, calm and independence that helped people cope with the crisis and adapt and transform to new socio‐ecological contexts. Participants reported that reconnecting to nature also changed their relational values. People mentioned gaining new perspectives, meanings and relationships with others and the natural world. While the crisis significantly affected people's material well‐being, reconnecting with nature helped people cope with crisis but also prompted a profound reevaluation of what constitutes a good life, leading to changes in their subjective and relational well‐being. This enhanced their capacity to act and plan for the future (their agency). Overall, our research emphasizes how reconnecting to nature and its multidimensional ecosystem benefits during crises can have transformative effects on individuals' resilience, well‐being and their relationships with the environment. Our research shows that not only material benefits of ecosystem services need to be valued but also intangible, nonmaterial benefits that affect material, subjective and relational dimensions of well‐being and resilience. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Psychometric Properties of a Machine Learning-Based Patient-Reported Outcome Measure on Medication Adherence: Single-Center, Cross-Sectional, Observational Study.

Medication adherence plays a critical role in controlling the evolution of chronic disease, as low medication adherence may lead to worse health outcomes, higher mortality, and morbidity. Assessment of their patients' medication adherence by clinicians is essential for avoiding inappropriate therapeutic intensification, associated health care expenditures, and the inappropriate inclusion of patients in time- and resource-consuming educational interventions. In both research and clinical practices the most extensively used measures of medication adherence are patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), because of their ability to capture subjective dimensions of nonadherence. Machine learning (ML), a subfield of artificial intelligence, uses computer algorithms that automatically improve through experience. In this context, ML tools could efficiently model the complexity of and interactions between multiple patient behaviors that lead to medication adherence. This study aimed to create and validate a PROM on medication adherence interpreted using an ML approach. This cross-sectional, single-center, observational study was carried out a French teaching hospital between 2021 and 2022. Eligible patients must have had at least 1 long-term treatment, medication adherence evaluation other than a questionnaire, the ability to read or understand French, an age older than 18 years, and provided their nonopposition. Included adults responded to an initial version of the PROM composed of 11 items, each item being presented using a 4-point Likert scale. The initial set of items was obtained using a Delphi consensus process. Patients were classified as poorly, moderately, or highly adherent based on the results of a medication adherence assessment standard used in the daily practice of each outpatient unit. An ML-derived decision tree was built by combining the medication adherence status and PROM responses. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (NPVs), and global accuracy of the final 5-item PROM were evaluated. We created an initial 11-item PROM with a 4-point Likert scale using the Delphi process. After item reduction, a decision tree derived from 218 patients including data obtained from the final 5-item PROM allowed patient classification into poorly, moderately, or highly adherent based on item responses. The psychometric properties were 78% (95% CI 40%-96%) sensitivity, 71% (95% CI 53%-85%) specificity, 41% (95% CI 19%-67%) positive predictive values, 93% (95% CI 74%-99%) NPV, and 70% (95% CI 55%-83%) accuracy. We developed a medication adherence tool based on ML with an excellent NPV. This could allow prioritization processes to avoid referring highly adherent patients to time- and resource-consuming interventions. The decision tree can be easily implemented in computerized prescriber order-entry systems and digital tools in smartphones. External validation of this tool in a study including a larger number of patients with diseases associated with low medication adherence is required to confirm its use in analyzing and assessing the complexity of medication adherence.

The existential dimension of the experience of seclusion: a qualitative study among former psychiatric inpatients

BackgroundSeclusion is a coercive measure - temporary confinement in an almost empty, non-stimulating room in a closed psychiatric admission ward to prevent (further) urgent danger due to a mental disorder. Although there is observational research about patients’ behaviors during separation (e.g. hitting walls or doors, sleeping, or praying), research into the subjective and existential dimension of the experience of seclusion in psychiatry is rare.AimAim of the current study is to describe and analyze - using the theoretical lenses of Yalom (1980) and Jaspers (1919) - how clients experience their involuntary stay in a seclusion room in a closed psychiatric clinic in existential terms.MethodsA qualitative study was carried out among former clients (N = 10) who were asked, in retrospect, about their existential concerns in the seclusion room. In the thematic analysis, the main, deductive codes were theory based (Yalom, Jaspers), composed of subcodes that were inductively derived from the interviews.ResultsThe respondents affirmed the ultimate existential concerns about death (e.g. sensing to be dead already), lack of freedom (e.g. loss of agency), isolation (e.g. interpersonal, not able to speak, feeling an object) and meaninglessness. With respect to the latter, the respondents reported a rich variety of spiritual experiences (both negative, such as knowing to be in hell, as positive, hearing/imagining a comforting voice or noticing/imagining a scenery of nature in the room).DiscussionAlthough some experiences and behaviors may conflate with symptoms of psychosis, the participants generally expressed a relief about the ability to talk about their experiences. Sharing and discussing the existential experiences fits into the paradigm of psychiatric recovery and personalized care. Their intensity was obvious and might have warranted additional support by a chaplain or spiritual counselor in mental health care settings.

Mimetic Understanding: The Embodied Dance of Words and Action

ABSTRACT In this article we emphasize that Greek tragedy, surprisingly, can prove to be close to current psychoanalytic practice in exploring the paradoxical dimension of subjectivity. The interweaving of explicit/implicit communication and unconscious dimension in psychoanalytic work gives rise to emergent moments of meaning. Tragedy and psychoanalysis find their value in always striving for truth, at times grasping it, only to lose it and to have to co-construct it all over again. In the figure/background articulation of the spoken, the unspoken, and the unspeakable, it is important to consider words not as labels fixed to define qualities and phenomena, but as living processes that go through exciting twists and turns. The words of therapy are spoken words and are part of a communicative flow that takes place in the interweaving of multiple implicit and explicit channels involving all the senses: voice quality, rhythm, sound, gaze, emotionally activated body. We have been interested in rhythm in the clinical exchange and we have delved into the study of imitation as the primary vehicle of implicit relational knowing and the transmission of pragmatic knowledge embodying ways of being in the world at very deep and procedural levels. A short vignette and a clinical case illustrate how the tool of mimesis proves useful in activating and improving our clinical sensitivity.

Breaking apart the splits that glue us together: Disruption as therapeutic action

ABSTRACT Drawing an analogy among the splits in US Constitutional democracy, in Communist totalitarianism, in our field, and in many of our patients’ psychic foundations, the essay advances the idea that the disruption of fundamental splits—often fastened together by keystone selfobjects—is vital for an emancipatory psychoanalysis. My argument is that to heal our democracy, and to help many of our patients heal, our praxis must cultivate a generative rupturing of the psyche/social status quo that goes beyond the incremental work that often characterizes what we do, and builds upon the promise of Winnicott’s “breakdown experience” and Fanon’s decolonial praxis. The author further considers resonances across her conception of “feminine law” and the vaginal signifier as the zero of the signifying chain, Koichi Togashi’s “psychoanalytic zero”, and Hortense Spillers’ reading of the black feminine as the zero of the social order. This zero, she argues, acts as a site of rupture and radical transformation, enabling alterity, contradiction, and the operations of a disordered apres coup temporality. Clinically, this manifests as desperation and desire coalescing as a liberatory force, infused with ethical charge, with the potential to dismantle archaic oppressive structures and alliances. The essay concludes that that we are at the brink of a collective, paradoxical experiment in constituting ourselves as fully human in which we reclaim an alienated (material) dimension of human subjectivity, surrendering to the other-than-human, for the sake of joining liberty and love, present and ancestral truths, in a relationship that doesn’t require splitting.

Activities of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia with Regard to Developing Symbolic and Identity Ties with the Polish Diaspora

This article aims to outline the activities of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia (Polish abbrev. MEG) in building relations with the Polish diaspora and maintaining Polish identity among Poles and people with Polish ancestry living abroad. Its main thesis is that the MEG, as a comparatively small institution, has a relatively large potential for shaping symbolic and identity ties with the Polish diaspora and could potentially be an important actor for activities undertaken in this sphere, implemented as part of a broadly defined policy with regard to and for Poles living abroad. The article consists of an introduction, three main sections and a conclusion. In the first section, we briefly define the diasporic policy in its subject and object dimensions, present selected concepts that typify this policy, and point out the role of culture and cultural institutions in building symbolic and identity ties with the diaspora. The second section was devoted to presenting the history, circumstances of the establishment and organizational basis of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia. The museum, although technically a self-government cultural institution, is the first and only museum in the country to show the history of emigration from Poland and Polish lands in a comprehensive way. Section three, on the other hand, focuses on showcasing selected MEG activities in forming symbolic and identity ties with the Polish diaspora.

Poetry, paths, and peatlands: integrating poetic inquiry within landscape heritage research

On the first page of The making of the English landscape, W.G. Hoskins states that ‘poets make the best topographers’. This speaks to the long-standing expression of human feelings, understandings, and experiences of landscape through poetry. In this article, I build from this idea of poetry as a way to write about landscapes to explore how poetic inquiry can be a powerful and appropriate method to research landscapes and their heritage. Using examples from my own research practice of the creation of new poems through a process called poetic transcription, I argue that poetic inquiry is an, as-yet, under-used approach within landscape heritage research. Furthermore, poetry’s capacity to express the plural, affective, sensorial, and subjective dimensions of engagement with landscapes and their heritage offers potential within studies informed by phenomenological and more-than-representational perspectives.

THE IMPACT OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER ON FAMILY RELATIONS: a systematic replication

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions that arise in a way that consumes excessive time for affected individuals, causing functional impairment and significant suffering. Considering that the family has played the role of main caregiver in the current psychosocial project, the present study aimed to investigate the overload of family members of patients previously with OCD, aiming to be a systematic replication of the study by Soares Neto et al. (2011), entitled “Overburden in family members of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder”. For data collection the Family Burden Assessment Scale (FBIS-BR) and a questionnaire that collected sociodemographic data and related to family life were used. Seven family members of subjects with OCD participated in this research, selected by degree of proximity, over 18 years old and without ongoing mental disorders. The research carried out a survey study, with quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Its purpose was to analyze and understand the degree of objective and subjective overload of these family members. As main results high levels of overload were found, especially in the items covered by the subjective dimension of the scale, although the overall objective score was higher. Subscale A (referring to the frequency of performing daily activities) recorded the greatest impact on objective burden; while subscale E (referring to concern for psychiatric patients), compared to all subscales, had the highest mean score. In view of this, it is essential that there is greater support from health services and professionals to families, considering that they have occupied the position of main caregiver.

The heroes of Krajina in the epic songs of Ćamil Kulenović

This paper focuses on the epic poemby Ćamil Kulenović, the epic poet from Krajina. We will emphasize there presentation of identities of the epic heroes of Krajina in Ćamil Kulenović’s poems; how they are presented in his poems, their psychological characterization, interpersonal relationships, relationships to female subjects, as well as how interculturalism is manifested in them. Furthermore, the interpretation of Kulenović’s poems will prove thath is poems belong to theoralepic tradition of Krajina with its specificity: epic ambience, objective and subjective dimension, duels, Krajina heroes, weddings, abductions, use of books, describing, detailing, clichéd beginnings and endings, established formulas, repetitions.

Specificity of quality of life assessment in people with mental disorders.

Quality of life is an integral element of a new perspective on health. Even though the definition and structure of the concept of quality of life are still being debated, researchers exploring the topic agree that it has both objective and subjective dimensions. When the quality of life of patients is examined somatically, the objectives formulated in the study procedure are usually easily achieved, particularly when the basic hypothesis is that good physical health generates a high quality of life. However, where mental diseases and dysfunctions are investigated, and the analysis involves a large number of variables constituting quality of life, the relationship is not so clear-cut. Consequently, in addition to methodological accuracy the researcher must put a major focus on the patients and their manifestations. The thesis stating that it is impossible to measure quality of life in this population, or worse still, that there is no need for such measurements, is indefensible, considering that people with mental disorders have the same right to a good life as healthy individuals, and achieving an improvement in their quality of life becomes an increasingly common target among anticipated therapeutic benefits. Looking at the issue from the perspective of findings obtained in multiple studies, it is evident that quality-of-life measurements are not easy, but a successful attempt may provide researchers with a source of valuable non-clinical data and even enhance their personal satisfaction.

NANDA nursing diagnoses associated with the occurrence of psychomotor agitation in patients with severe mental disorder: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundPsychomotor agitation is increased psychomotor activity, restlessness and irritability. People with psychomotor agitation respond by overreacting to intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli, experiencing stress and/or cognitive impairment. the aim was to analyse the association of nursing diagnoses with the disinhibition dimension, the aggressiveness dimension and the lability dimension of the Corrigan Agitated Behaviour Scale.MethodsThis study was conducted in Spain using a multicentre cross-sectional convenience sample of 140 patients who had been admitted to psychiatric hospital units and had presented an episode of psychomotor agitation between 2018 and 2021.ResultsThe Corrigan Agitated Behaviour Scale was used to assess psychomotor agitation. Associated nursing diagnoses, violence directed at professionals and the environment are shown to be predictive values for the severity of the agitation episode. Moderate-severe psychomotor agitation episodes are shown as predictors of violence directed mainly at professionals and the environment.ConclusionsThere is an urgent need for mental health nurses to have knowledge of the extended clinic in order to care for users and improve their health conditions in dealing with people, with their social, subjective and biological dimension.

Accuracy of estimating self and other body size among adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze body size estimates of others by patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and to identify any differences with the perception of their own body size. Adolescent females (age, 13–17 years) were enrolled into AN (n = 30) and control(n = 23) groups. The Subjective Body Dimensions Apparatus (SBDA) was used to evaluate body size estimates for oneself (self-estimation) and others (other-estimation). Participants also completed questionnaires assessing eating disorders and depressive symptoms. The AN and control groups scored significantly higher in self-estimation than in other-estimation. However, the AN group showed higher self-estimation scores than the control group for all the body parts and for the global silhouette (p < .001). Patients with more severe eating disorder symptomatology showed more distorted self-estimation (p < .05). No statistically significant differences were found in the other-estimation scores between the groups (p = .714), indicating that AN and control patients estimate the body sizes of others similarly. Eating disorder symptomatology correlates with self-estimation scores but not with other-estimation scores in adolescents with AN. No correlations existed between clinical symptomatology and other-estimation.

Subjective Wellbeing of Community Dwelling Older Adults in Nigeria.

Previous comparative international studies on wellbeing of older adults in Africa have presented figures based on indicators which tend to obscure the variations in terms of wellbeing among the older adults in a particular country. This paper examined the subjective dimension of quality of life of community dwelling elders in Nigeria. It identified factors related to different levels of subjective wellbeing in different parts of the country and among different socio-economic groups.Data for the paper were drawn from a national study on vulnerability of older adults in Nigeria. A sample of 3,696 older adults (55.6% males; 44.4% females; mean age = 69.2, SD = 8.60) was selected through multi-stage systematic random sampling, using the national census enumeration area framework. Data were collected using structured interviews via Open Data Kit (ODK). Subjective Wellbeing was measured using the Flourishing Scale.Multiple linear regression analysis revealed resilience as the main predictor for older adults' subjective wellbeing. Other significant predictors included perceived attitudes towards old age in the respondents' community, ability to meet daily financial needs, independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), membership in social and religious groups and location, whether rural, peri-urban or urban.The findings of the study make significant contributions to the existing literature on older adults' wellbeing in Nigeria and provide material for future regional and international comparisons on the subject. The findings also provide data that can be utilized for policies and programme interventions that will be in alignment with the older adults' perceived needs.

A pilot study to develop a participation self-assessment tool for adolescents: The Social Participation Inventory (SPI).

Participation is one of the key goals of re/habilitative processes. Since participation impacts adolescents' social-emotional development and overall health, this goal is particularly important for them. However, to date, no German-speaking self-assessment tool for participation among adolescents is available. This study sought therefore to develop such a tool and to test its psychometric properties. Based on a preliminary qualitative study, we developed 133 items for a pilot version of the Social Participation Inventory (SPI). The SPI assesses the objective dimension (i.e., attendance) and the subjective dimension (i.e., involvement and satisfaction) of participation. To test the psychometric properties of the SPI, we conducted a quantitative cross-sectional survey and applied the SPI to n= 151 adolescents with and without disabilities and/or chronic diseases. By using principal component analyses, we examined the SPI's consistency and verified the theoretical considerations regarding the two components of participation (i.e., objective and subjective dimensions). Items that did not load sufficiently on components were removed after careful theoretical-based consideration. The condensed version of the SPI consists of 39 items that assess participation and 18 items to assess the perceived importance of respective areas of life. The SPI shows very good overall reliability (Cronbach's α = .920) and good validity. This study provides a new psychometrically tested participation self-assessment scale for adolescence with and without disabilities and/or chronic diseases. Further research is needed to re-evaluate its psychometric properties and to evaluate the application of the SPI in clinical and scientific contexts.

Well-being and Capability Approaches to Social Injustice in Internationalization of Higher Education: Evidence from Vietnam

This mixed-method study investigated social injustice in higher education produced from the internationalized high-quality program (HQP) characterized by adapting the curriculum from prestigious universities abroad and employing English as the medium of instruction in Vietnam, based on White’s (2010) well-being approach as well as Sen’s (2001) capability approach. Using the questionnaire administered to 120 students and 30 lecturers and semi-structured interviews conducted with eight students in a university in Vietnam, the findings suggested that from subjective dimensions of well-being, the superior features of the HQP and pre-sessional English language training were perceived values of endowments that HQP students and their parents situated themselves in. That established a solid linkage to material dimensions reflected in the possibility of securing the economy after program completion. From the capability approach perspective, although such a disparity in endowments was unjustifiable due to problematic program delivery, there were no different entitlements that might have led to social injustice, providing that students of any program could fulfil their education. The issue of financial affordability relating to the HQP implementation has raised concern about unequal access to educational opportunities for all.

Contextualized Logging of On-Task and Off-Task Behaviours During Learning

Learners use digital media during learning for a variety of reasons. Sometimes media use can be considered “on-task,” e.g., to perform research or to collaborate with peers. In other cases, media use is “off-task,” meaning that learners use content unrelated to their current learning task. Given the well-known problems with self-reported data (incomplete memory, distorted perceptions, subjective attributions), exploring on-task and off-task usage of digital media in learning scenarios requires logging activity on digital devices. However, we argue that logging on- and off-task behaviour has challenges that are rarely addressed. First, logging must be active only during learning. Second, logging represents a potential invasion of privacy. Third, logging must incorporate multiple devices simultaneously to take the reality of media multitasking into account. Fourth, logging alone is insufficient to reveal what prompted learners to switch to a different digital activity. To address these issues, we present a contextually activated logging system that allows users to inspect and annotate the observed activities after a learning session. Data from a formative study show that our system works as intended, and furthermore supports our assumptions about the diverse intentions of media use in learning. We discuss the implications for learning analytics.

Looking for the local ‘grant-grabbers’: Cattle farmers' criticisms and emerging environmental subjectivities in southwestern France

Meeting the challenge of “turning farmers into conservationists” is fundamental to tackling the climate/biodiversity crisis in the European Union. This is especially true in marginal areas, where environmental stewardship is (one of) the main justification(s) for the large amount of subsidies directed to largely unprofitable forms of agriculture, notably through agri-environmental and climatic measures (AECM) targeting cattle farmers. This article intends to analyse the confusing and sometimes reciprocal accusations of misuse of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which are made between cattle farmers. This study combines observations and interviews with suckler cattle farmers in a small region in southwestern France which is dominated by mixed crop-livestock farming and targeted by an AECM. It provides insights into local discourses that constitute environmental incentives as a moral issue. The results show that accusations are strongly context-dependent and extend beyond farming culture, thus reflecting the manifold identities of the cattle farmers. The AECM scheme, despite its low specifications, plays a role in the identity tensions that characterize contemporary cattle farming. The exploration of emerging environmental subjectivities allows us to take both the material and subjective dimensions of farmers’ identities into account.

Savaş Sonrası Amerikan Estetik Kuramında Gestalt’tan Örüntüye Geçiş: Rudolf Arnheim ve György Kepes’in Çalışmaları

The following article is an inquiry into the aesthetic valences of the concept of pattern as informed both by Gestalt theory and information theoretical tendencies toward quantification. In the trail of its object, it evokes the historical context of the second half of the 20th century American artistic and technological culture and offers critical engagements with texts by its main interlocutors Rudolf Arnheim and György Kepes. While Arnheim is a second-generation Gestalt theorist whose responses to the rise of a digital paradigm are instructive, Kepes stands out for the way he seeks a rapprochement between science and art through visuality. The article demonstrates that both theorists grapple with the challenges issued by advances in computation and the epistemological implications of visions of data processing (even machine learning research) ascendant in their time. The article has a philosophical orientation in paying particular attention to matters of abstraction underlying patterns, the contrasts between analog and digital coding, quality and quantity, the temporality of pattern formation, and the dimension of subjectivity. Finally, in its departure from the interface Kepes’ work offers between science and art, the article contextualizes the question of pattern with reference to the history of science, by putting it in contact with influential treatments of objectivity in the discourse of Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, but more critically, in the work of Donna Haraway.

The connotation, cause, and reform path of institutional transaction costs: a grounded theory analysis

ABSTRACT Institutional transaction costs profoundly reflect the relationship between the government and the market, and play an important role in the economic development of a country or region. This study uses grounded theory to explore its theoretical connotation and essential reasons, confirms the core elements from the three dimensions of subject, behaviour and environment, and then builds its theoretical framework. The results show that, under the influence of bounded rationality and opportunism, institutional transaction cost is a kind of cost generated by market players in the process of complying with government economic policies. Therefore, this study attempts to provide a reference path for institutional transaction cost reforms in other countries or regions from three aspects: improving the efficiency of government agencies, regulating government regulatory behaviour, and improving the institutional environment of the market.