The crisis cloud's silver linings: The effects of hope and gratitude on employee burnout and engagement

A crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic has a tremendous impact on organisations and their employees. Building on the job demands–resources model, conservation of resources theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, we examined the influence of job stressors on employee burnout, as well as how positive emotions can help employees thrive in tough times. We collected data from 503 Australian employees during the transition period of the COVID-19 crisis, when the country had reached a high vaccination rate and was starting to prepare to return to pre-crisis normal. Our findings show that financial insecurity has a direct impact on employee burnout, whereas a health threat has only an indirect effect. Further, our findings highlight the importance of positive emotions. Hope for the post-crisis future was found to buffer the negative impact of financial insecurity and reduce employee burnout, and feeling gratitude at work was found to mitigate the effects of burnout and enhance employee engagement even when employees are emotionally exhausted.

Contactless digital financial innovation and global contagious COVID-19 pandemic in low income countries: Evidence from Uganda

Since its outbreak, Covid-19 has led to upsurge in economic inactivity, leaving many households and firms without access to and use of basic services including financial services. Specifically, with the lockdown and curfew, most traditional bank branches remained closed, leaving households without access to quality, affordable, convenient, and safe financial services. This study aims to establish whether contactless digital financial innovation like mobile money can promote access to and use of financial services in the presence of pandemic positive emotions in low-income countries. SmartPLS 3.0 was used to construct the structural equation mediation model with bootstrap based on 2,737 valid responses. It was found that contactless digital financial innovation such as mobile money significantly promotes access to and use of financial services in low-income countries under pandemic situation. Additionally, the findings showed that the use of contactless digital financial innovation promotes Covid-19 standard operating procedures in low-income countries. Cognizant to the role of human behaviour in technology adoption and usage, the structural equation model with bootstrapping revealed a 4 percentage points improvement in Covid-19 standard operating procedures due to the use of contactless mobile money channel. Accordingly, the findings could be useful in the following ways: governments in low-income countries may use it to promote public health concern under pandemic situations. Mobile money can allow individuals to store, send, and receive money during situation of limited or no movements caused by pandemic health restrictions. Besides, the use of contactless digital financial innovation may promote digital commerce in low-income countries under the pandemic situation. Similarly, mobile money can be used to promote government-to-person, person-to-person, person-to-business, and business-to-person payments under emergency situations. The findings may also help governments in low-income countries to rethink about taxes levied on mobile money. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Dream changes across the first three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

The 2019 novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has strongly impacted the world. Recent research findings found significant effects of the pandemic on dreaming. We investigated sociodemographic, COVID-19-related variables, and oneiric activity (by the Most Recent Dream) during the first, the second, and the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in three matched samples, for a total of 600 Italian adult subjects (82.7% women;aged 18-81 years, M = 30.4, SD = 13.3). Results indicated that: (a) the majority of participants were medium recallers;(b) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, participants reported higher negative emotions and longer dreams;(c) during the second wave, participants reported higher positive emotions and lower presence of sensory impressions in their dreams;(d) during the third wave, participants reported lower positive emotions in their dreams;and (e) participants knowing a COVID-19 death reported shorter dreams and higher negative emotions in their dreams, while student participants reported longer and more realistic dreams. Results of the quali-quantitative analyses revealed recurring themes in the Most Recent Dreams, as well as a strong continuity with the waking experience, especially focused on family and friends, as well as on places where the quarantine was lived and on the outside world. In sum, the findings of this study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic understood as a high-impact and traumatic event, significantly affects people's dreams, especially in terms of elicited emotions, as well as in terms of themes related to the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Augmented Spaces: Introducing a Technology-Supported Home Environment to Improve our Mental Health during "Work from Home” Isolation

During the COVID-19 pandemic many restrictions were implemented to prevent the spread of the disease. These restrictions included working from home (WFH) and self-isolation. However, this situation had a negative impact on our mental health, causing depression and anxiety in many employees around the world. In this context, we hypothesized that our home spaces could become a catalyst of positive emotions through the use of technology-supported home environments, which use cyber-physical systems to reduce mental health symptoms during the lockdown. We used a qualitative approach, through interviews and cultural probes, to understand the experience of people who were forced to work from home during the lockdown. Additionally, we used a design science approach to explore technology-supported solutions that could enhance our home spaces. The result is a system that mixes analog and digital elements to create interactive rooms, which have a positive impact on people's well-being. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Assessing Wellbeing and Soft Skills of Software Developers and Students in the Context of Working from Home during the COVID-19 era

Derived from COVID-19 pandemic remote work is now a trend, involving new skills and variations on developers' wellbeing. Current students are going to live this new era in the labor market;it is needed to know if they are getting ready for this scenario. This paper presents an exploratory study based on a survey to assess how developers in industry and students in the academy experienced their wellbeing expressed in emotions during the pandemic, as well as how they practiced the soft skills involved in software development. The results of developers are considered as basis to assess how students are prepared for this context. The descriptive study has shown that developers experienced more positive emotions, while students had a mix of positive and negative emotions. In terms of soft skills, developers and students showed closer levels of practice, however students should reinforce some skills. © 2022 IEEE.

Emotional contagion as a trigger for moral disengagement: Their effects on workplace injuries

The purpose of this study was to empirically test the proposition that contagion of emotions triggers moral disengagement and subsequent increases in work-related injuries. Using emotional contagion and social cognitive theories, we tested the proposition that higher contagion of anger (i.e., a negative emotion that interferes with mental functioning and enables inappropriate behavior) would trigger moral justifications for safety violations, whereas higher contagion of joy (i.e., a positive emotion accompanied by an optimal operating condition and constructive activity) would prevent safety-related moral disengagement. In turn, moral disengagement was predicted to be related to higher rates of subsequent workplace injuries. Using a cross-country and multi-method (i.e., cross-lagged, cross-sectional) design, data from 503 employees in the U.S. (two-wave) and 538 employees in Italy (cross-sectional) supported the hypothesized mediation model. Specifically, both in the U.S. and Italy, emotional contagion of anger positively predicted moral disengagement, whereas emotional contagion of joy negatively predicted moral disengagement. Furthermore, moral disengagement positively predicted experienced injuries and partially mediated the relationship between contagion of joy/anger and injuries. These findings suggest that moral justifications of safety violations, and related injuries, may be prevented by exchanges of positive emotions (and triggered by exchanges of negative emotions) that employees absorb during social interactions at work. Theoretical and practical implications for organizational ethics are discussed in light of the globally increasing emotional pressure and concerns for a safe and psychologically healthy environment in today's workplace, particularly given the recent pandemic spread of Coronavirus disease (CoVid-19). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Emoji use in online communication with emerging adults: The impact on ambiguity, affect, and social connection

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing guidelines has had a great impact on society. Emerging adults (ages 18-29) specifically are struggling as their need for social connection is critical to their mental health. However, the lack of nonverbal cues in electronically mediated communication (EMC) makes maintaining relationships online more difficult. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, our online communication has been advancing, so that some nonverbal cues, such as gestures and facial expressions, can be replicated in text conversations through emojis. Specifically, this study examined the role of emojis in providing emotional cues to reduce ambiguity, enhance positive affect, decrease negative affect, and increase feelings of social connectedness. Four separate ANCOVAs were conducted in order to explore the differences between emojis conditions (positive, negative, neutral, and no emojis) on the outcome variables while including current levels of psychological distress as a covariate. For each of the four models, there was at least one emoji condition that was statistically different than the others, suggesting that the inclusion of emojis had a significant impact on perceived ambiguity, changes in positive and negative affect, and feelings of connectedness. Additional pairwise t-tests demonstrated that the ambiguous text message was the clearest when it was accompanied by a positive emoji, when compared to both the negative and neutral emoji condition. The statements with a positive emoji, instead of no emoji, contributed to less of a decrease in positive affect. Additionally, the addition of each emoji had a unique impact on negative affect. Furthermore, positive emojis, when added to an ambiguous text message, contributed the most to feelings of connectedness when compared to the negative emoji, the neutral emoji, and no emoji conditions. Limitations and future directions are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The examen for life during COVID-19: Impact on interpersonal processes, self-transcendent positive emotions, and mental health symptoms

In times of crisis, such as during a pandemic, people turn to their belief systems to cope. One exercise that may be helpful for individuals as they cope with the COVID-19 pandemic is the examen, a contemplative practice rooted in the Catholic Jesuit tradition. Prior research on the examen is scant but suggests that further research may be promising. Haarman (2020) adapted the Ignatian examen for the context of COVID-19. The Examen for Life During COVID-19 includes seven steps: 1) acknowledging one's emotions, 2) asking for light and insight when reviewing the day, 3) reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on one's life and how it has influenced one's social connections, 4) reflecting on ways that one is interwoven with others in society, including which connections people often ignore, 5) acknowledging one's emotions throughout the reflection, 6) reflecting on a connection that seems most important or significant, and 7) reflecting on ways that one can maintain a connection with others that is meaningful. The present study explored how practicing the Examen for Life during COVID-19 impacted participants' experience of self-transcendent positive emotions, autonomous interpersonal styles, interpersonal relationship goals, and anxiety and depression symptoms. It also examined the moderating impact of trust in God on mental health symptoms and negative affect. Though results did not reveal support for a priori hypotheses, exploratory analyses revealed that the Examen for Life During COVID-19 may be particularly helpful for those most negatively impacted by the pandemic. The results highlight the utility of studying a variety of contemplative practices, as different practices will likely be helpful for different practitioners. It also prompts consideration of practitioner's prior experience with prayer, the purpose of contemplative psychology, selection of control groups, and limitations of psychological inquiry into spirituality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Communicating veracity: The impact of emotion and multimodal resources for correcting online misinformation in older adults

This dissertation research project explored the impact of emotion (positive or negative) and presentational modality (text-only, multimodal, motion imbued styles) in correcting online misinformation for older adults. Using the theoretical foundation of the heuristic and systematic processing model, along with the emotion-based broaden and build and socioemotional selectivity theories, participants (N=302), in an online experiment, were exposed to social media misinformation rebuttals for two topics: that vaccines cause magnetism and COVID can be cured through the intake of vitamin supplements (such as Vitamin C or D). Results showcased the effectiveness of crafting positively framed misinformation corrections for the bolstering of message credibility within typically incongruent ideological groups, and in the use of motion within correctional content for the elevation of positive affect. Additionally, this study also exposed a link between medical mistrust and the perceived credibility toward vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation corrections, a reminder for health communication practitioners of the underlying political factors behind belief in health misinformation. Lastly, results from a thought-listing exercise displayed the prominence of heuristic thinking styles with rare exceptions for systematic processing spurned by skepticism and a desire to preserve original vaccination and COVID-19 beliefs. For scholars and practitioners, results, in general, point to a de facto reliance on heuristic cues in the evaluation of online information, with important considerations for systematic processing, and two, the use of positive affect in aiding the acceptance of misinformation corrections that may run counter to the beliefs of your target audience. This lends credibility to theories that prioritize the use of positive emotion for bolstering message reception and effectiveness for older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Boredom, interoceptive ability, and emotional eating

Emotional eating is a commonly described phenomenon reported by individuals across the weight spectrum. Not only does existing evidence suggest it is not an effective emotion regulation strategy, but emotional eating is also associated with difficulty losing weight during weight loss interventions and other negative health outcomes. The majority of existing work in the area of emotional eating has focused on the broad dimensions of negative and positive affect. Yet, there are data suggesting that different emotions appear to produce different changes in eating behaviors, suggesting the importance of investigating the influence of discrete emotions on eating. The lack of understanding regarding eating in response to boredom in particular, is a major gap in the current literature. Moreover, little is known about individual characteristics that could make some individuals more vulnerable to "bored eating." Given data suggesting interoception as central to other forms of dysregulated eating, as well as its theoretical relevance, the current study focused on interoceptive ability as a vulnerability factor for bored eating. Utilizing an experimental design, Study 1 examined boredom as a trigger of snacking behaviors in a laboratory setting. Due to COVID-19, data collection was terminated early, but preliminary results provided tentative support for a causal role of boredom in food consumption. Study 2 was a cross-sectional, correlational extension of Study 1. Consistent with predictions, Study 2 found that boredom proneness was a significant predictor of emotional eating, even when accounting for the broad dimensions of negative and positive affect. Inconsistent with hypotheses, the association between boredom proneness and emotional eating was not moderated by interoception. Findings have implications for the prevention and treatment of emotional eating. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Examining the relationships between positive psychology and teacher burnout in secondary education

Since the world has faced the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a workforce shortage in many professions, and education is among those professions. Even before the global pandemic, education was seeing worrying levels of shortage, stress, burnout, and attrition. Teachers feel stress from the growing list of different roles and responsibilities they must fill in their job. This creating a rise in teachers feeling burnout, which creates more problems for education such as poorer performing teachers and teachers leaving the profession. Researchers continue look at various ways to treat, reduce, and prevent burnout in several ways.Using Seligman's positive psychology and the PERMA framework for well-being, the purpose of this study is to examine possible relationships between positive psychology traits or positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment on teacher burnout elements emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and accomplishment. This study used a quantitative approach and survey research methodology. Participants were 145 secondary (6-12) teachers from various public schools in two Midwest States. An ANOVA found that there was a significant difference in positive psychology accomplishment trait between physical education and special education teachers. Pearson correlation coefficients identified the burnout components had a relationship with all positive psychology traits, except for relationships. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that emotional exhaustion may be predicted by gender, positive emotion, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment;depersonalization may be predicted by positive emotion;accomplishment may be predicted by engagement and meaning. Recommendations for teachers (and teacher organizations), school administrators, and school boards are discussed, along with recommendations for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Cultural differences in the construal of suffering and the COVID-19 pandemic

The present research examines how suffering is construed across cultures. Study 1 (N1 = 264;N2 = 745) asked participants to provide free associations for suffering. Chinese individuals generated more positive associations than did Euro-Canadians. Study 2 (N = 522) had participants create a hypothetical potion of suffering to represent what people would experience while suffering. Chinese participants added more positive ingredients and fewer negative ingredients than Euro-Canadians did. How would cultural differences in the construal of suffering matter in a real-life negative situation? Study 3 (N = 608) showed that Chinese participants generated a greater proportion of potential positive outcomes for the COVID-19 outbreak and reported more positive affect during the pandemic than did Euro-Canadians. Thus, Chinese construe suffering more positively than Euro-Canadians. These findings are consistent with previous research on cultural differences in dialectical thinking and lay theory of change and have implications for coping and resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The Role of Parental Self-Efficacy Regarding Parental Support for Early Adolescents' Coping, Self-Regulated Learning, Learning Self-Efficacy and Positive Emotions

Although adolescence is characterized by increasing individuation, parental support represents an important resource especially in early adolescence. This multi-informant study examined the role of parental self-efficacy in providing emotional and instrumental support when early adolescents partially learned from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a resources model of coping, we examined effects of parental self-efficacy on early adolescents' reports of self-regulated learning (SRL), learning self-efficacy, and positive emotions, mediated via early adolescents' problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Assumptions were tested among 263 Austrian parent-child dyads. While the mediation assumption was rejected, we identified positive associations between emotional support and SRL, and between problem-focused coping and SRL, learning self-efficacy, and positive emotions. Instrumental support negatively related to SRL, suggesting benefits of emotional over instrumental support. © The Author(s) 2023.

When it comes to hope, the rich get richer: A daily diary study of fluctuations in state hope

The current study examined the association between dispositional and state hope in college students using a 2 -week diary. Specifically, we tested whether dispositional hope predicts lower levels of daily changes in state hope over a 2-week period as well as whether higher-than-normal levels of state hope would result in higher-than -normal levels on subsequent days. Data were collected from 101 students (Mage = 25.91) who were studying online due to COVID-19 restrictions. The sample was predominantly female (74 %) and Black (49 %) or His-panic/Latinx (25 %). The results indicated that individuals with higher levels of dispositional hope at the beginning of the study experienced lower levels of lability in state hope compared to their counterparts with lower levels of dispositional hope. Additionally, when individuals reported levels of state hope on a particular day that were higher than average for them, they experienced a boost in state hope the following day. These results highlight the self-perpetuating nature of hope, and suggest that some individuals are less susceptible to daily fluctuations in hope than others based on their disposition. Furthermore, the results emphasize that hope varies both between - and within - persons.

Gaining resilience through transformative services in cause-related events: an interaction ritual chain perspective

PurposeThis study aims to unlock a ritual chain mechanism that promotes socio-mental (or socio-psychological) resilience. This study draws on interaction ritual chains theory and the concept of transformative service to answer the question of how people could be inspired toward an elevated level of group solidarity, emotional energy, morality and, thus, socio-mental resilience. Design/methodology/approachThis study took a qualitative approach resting upon online reviews and observations from an augmented food festival about hot pot delicacies dedicated to medical workers fighting hard amid the early coronavirus outbreak. FindingsThe results of this study point to four primary ritual outcomes (e.g. emotional energy, group solidarity, symbols of relationships and standards of morality) along with a two-tier micro-macro socio-mental resilience sustainability paradigm. Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical findings from this study could help operators to justify their transformative initiatives as means for customers to replenish their depleted physical and mental resources. Originality/valueThis inquiry presents new nuances to interaction ritual chains. This study also extends the transformative role of hospitality services to accentuate a linkage among individuals, communities and the society.

Redemption from SRHRM under COVID-19: How business threat due to COVID-19 affects employee insomnia via hope and workplace anxiety

Existing studies show that the COVID-19 pandemic influences employee outcome in the work domain. However, the impact of business threat due to COVID-19 on employee daily insomnia remains unexplored. Addressing this research gap can help scholars understand the risks of COVID-19 in the non-work domain. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotion, we explore how and when business threat due to COVID-19 triggers employee insomnia. Using an experience sampling methodology where 89 employees are surveyed for 7 workdays, our multilevel analyses show that employee daily hope and workplace anxiety mediate the effects of business threat due to COVID-19 on employee insomnia. Furthermore, socially responsible human resource management (SRHRM) practices weaken the negative relationship between business threat due to COVID-19 and employees' hope and mitigate the positive relationship between business threat due to COVID-19 and their workplace anxiety. We also find that SRHRM practices influence the indirect effect of business threat due to COVID-19 on employee insomnia via workplace anxiety. Our study helps understand the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between business threat due to COVID-19 and employee insomnia and further sheds light on the role of SRHRM in mitigating the destructive effect of business threat due to COVID-19.

Using Neuroscience-informed Group Work with Children and Adolescents Affected by the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many types of disruptions from mild inconveniences to deaths. These disruptions have resulted in a host of stress responses among children and adolescents. Small group work is one way that helpers in schools and agencies can address developmental and diagnostic issues that arise. Neuroscience informs counselors understanding of stress responses and reactions in children and adolescents, as well as aids in generating activities and activating group therapeutic factors. This article describes the ways the neuroscience of pandemic stress and therapeutic factors can be used in group work with children and adolescents.

Mobile-learning adoption in teacher education amidst COVID-19: Identifying two critical stages by exploring teachers' emotions

Mobile learning (ML) is extremely relevant to distance teaching. Although much is known about ML usage in teacher education, less is known about crucial points in teachers' ML adoption process under constraints such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this exploratory case study was to gain insight into the ML adoption process, including its critical points, by examining teachers' emotion-related language. This study investigated the emotional response of 32 inservice teachers to Mobile Learning (ML) adoption while attending ML training during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews (10), focus groups (3), and participants' reflections (96) at five time points. The data underwent multilevel analysis (content and linguistic analyses), revealing two critical stages during the ML adoption process and indicating several factors that may affect the quality of emotional response, thereby promoting or impeding this process. The study highlights the critical sages and their related features that must be addressed to promote optimal ML adoption in teacher education in both routine and emergency conditions.

Communicating veracity: The impact of emotion and multimodal resources for correcting online misinformation in older adults

This dissertation research project explored the impact of emotion (positive or negative) and presentational modality (text-only, multimodal, motion imbued styles) in correcting online misinformation for older adults. Using the theoretical foundation of the heuristic and systematic processing model, along with the emotion-based broaden and build and socioemotional selectivity theories, participants (N=302), in an online experiment, were exposed to social media misinformation rebuttals for two topics: that vaccines cause magnetism and COVID can be cured through the intake of vitamin supplements (such as Vitamin C or D). Results showcased the effectiveness of crafting positively framed misinformation corrections for the bolstering of message credibility within typically incongruent ideological groups, and in the use of motion within correctional content for the elevation of positive affect. Additionally, this study also exposed a link between medical mistrust and the perceived credibility toward vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation corrections, a reminder for health communication practitioners of the underlying political factors behind belief in health misinformation. Lastly, results from a thought-listing exercise displayed the prominence of heuristic thinking styles with rare exceptions for systematic processing spurned by skepticism and a desire to preserve original vaccination and COVID-19 beliefs. For scholars and practitioners, results, in general, point to a de facto reliance on heuristic cues in the evaluation of online information, with important considerations for systematic processing, and two, the use of positive affect in aiding the acceptance of misinformation corrections that may run counter to the beliefs of your target audience. This lends credibility to theories that prioritize the use of positive emotion for bolstering message reception and effectiveness for older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The examen for life during COVID-19: Impact on interpersonal processes, self-transcendent positive emotions, and mental health symptoms

In times of crisis, such as during a pandemic, people turn to their belief systems to cope. One exercise that may be helpful for individuals as they cope with the COVID-19 pandemic is the examen, a contemplative practice rooted in the Catholic Jesuit tradition. Prior research on the examen is scant but suggests that further research may be promising. Haarman (2020) adapted the Ignatian examen for the context of COVID-19. The Examen for Life During COVID-19 includes seven steps: 1) acknowledging one's emotions, 2) asking for light and insight when reviewing the day, 3) reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on one's life and how it has influenced one's social connections, 4) reflecting on ways that one is interwoven with others in society, including which connections people often ignore, 5) acknowledging one's emotions throughout the reflection, 6) reflecting on a connection that seems most important or significant, and 7) reflecting on ways that one can maintain a connection with others that is meaningful. The present study explored how practicing the Examen for Life during COVID-19 impacted participants' experience of self-transcendent positive emotions, autonomous interpersonal styles, interpersonal relationship goals, and anxiety and depression symptoms. It also examined the moderating impact of trust in God on mental health symptoms and negative affect. Though results did not reveal support for a priori hypotheses, exploratory analyses revealed that the Examen for Life During COVID-19 may be particularly helpful for those most negatively impacted by the pandemic. The results highlight the utility of studying a variety of contemplative practices, as different practices will likely be helpful for different practitioners. It also prompts consideration of practitioner's prior experience with prayer, the purpose of contemplative psychology, selection of control groups, and limitations of psychological inquiry into spirituality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)