Under the Risk of COVID-19 Epidemic: A Study on the Influence of Life Attitudes, Leisure Sports Values, and Workplace Risk Perceptions on Urban Development and Public Well-Being

This study examined the impact of attitudes toward life, recreational sports values, and workplace risk perceptions on urban development and public well-being under the risk of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. A mixed-method research study was conducted, and 2400 valid questionnaires were collected via purposeful sampling. The questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS 26.0 statistical software and validated with basic statistical methods and Pearson's correlation analysis. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to collect the opinions of 12 respondents on the questionnaire results, including academics, foreign entrepreneurs and employees, local entrepreneurs and employees, and official institutions. Finally, all the data collected were discussed via triangulation analysis. The survey found that different cities' social and industrial development and job market needs lead to different attitudes toward life, leisure values, and perceptions of job-seeking and employment risks. The smoother a person's growing-up background, the better their learning history, the better their learning and working experience, and the richer their life experience;consequently, positive attitudes toward life, correct leisure values, and positive attitudes toward job hunting and employment can be cultivated. In addition, people with positive attitudes toward life, leisure values, and job hunting and employment can improve their city's economy and environment for sustainable development, thereby improving their quality of life and increasing their well-being.

Learning to combat social isolation in senior living communities during COVID-19 and beyond

Social isolation has been a growing concern since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately impacting older adults. Social isolation can impact the physical, mental, and emotional health of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine coping strategies of older adults living in senior living communities, as well as the supportive efforts of the team members working in such communities, to determine best practices for combating social isolation for older adults. This qualitative study was guided by the research question: How do older adults perceive loneliness, social isolation, and social connectedness living in senior living communities? Guided by the theoretical frameworks of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) and strength and vulnerability integration model (SAVI), this study explored how diminished time horizons impact the prioritization of social connections. This qualitative study collected data through semi-structured interviews from older adults living in senior living communities in the United States. Several themes emerged from the data including Parameters of Social Connection, Dining Room as a Hub of Socialization, Time Horizon Awareness and Compensation, Strategies of Connection, and Loss of Spouse. Several implications for best practices are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Zukunftserwartungen der Österreicher*innen während der Coronakrise

ZusammenfassungWas kommt nach der Coronakrise? Die Forschungsnotiz befasst sich mit den Zukunftserwartungen der Österreicher*innen während der ersten Phase der Coronapandemie. Die Daten des Austrian Corona Panel Project zeigen, dass die Zukunftserwartung für Österreich und die Erwartungen an die eigene Zukunft stark divergieren. Während mehr als 60 % Prozent der Befragten glauben, dass sich die Situation in Österreich verschlechtern wird, gehen nur 26 % von einer Verschlechterung ihrer eigenen Lebensumstände in den nächsten Jahren aus.Anhand von Einschätzungen der Befragten zu den drei von Anhut und Heitmeyer postulierten Krisenzuständen – Struktur, Regulation, Kohäsion – lässt sich veranschaulichen, dass Vertrauen in die gesellschaftlichen Institutionen ein wesentlicher Indikator dafür ist, wie optimistisch oder pessimistisch die Menschen in Österreich ihre eigene und die gesellschaftliche Zukunft beurteilen. Darüber hinaus ist es die Wahrnehmung bestehender materieller Ungleichheiten, welche sowohl die Einschätzung der Entwicklung der persönlichen, aber auch der Lebensumstände in Österreich bestimmt. Zudem sind diejenigen, die der Politik und dem öffentlichen Leben Relevanz zusprechen, pessimistischer, wenn es um die Zukunft des Landes geht.Alternate :What will come after the Corona crisis? The research note discusses the Austrians' expectations for the future during the first phase of the Corona pandemic. Data from the Austrian Corona Panel Project illustrates that there is an inherent difference between the future expectations for Austria and the expectations for the individual future. While more than 60% believe that the situation in Austria will get worse within the next years, only 26% think so when it comes to their own future.

Exploring the effects of the COVID-19 emergency remote education on students' social and academic integration in higher education in Austria

This article analyses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' social and academic integration, based on Tinto's integration theory. A total of 640 university students in Austria completed an online survey pertaining to academic and social integration during the home-learning period. Results indicate that social integration and academic integration decreased significantly during the lockdown period in the beginning of 2020. The level of perceived support during home learning was positively associated with the levels of social and academic integration. Furthermore, while student age was a predictor for higher academic integration, it was not a predictor for social integration among peer students. Academic and social integration during COVID-19 was significantly linked with student satisfaction in various studies. This study has important implications for future home-learning periods, suggesting how institutions could prepare for longer disruptions of attendance and how they could leverage student integration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychosocial Implications, Students Integration/Attrition, and Online Teaching and Learning in South Africa's Higher Education Institutions in the Context of COVID-19

This article explores the psychosocial impact of online teaching and learning on students, following the decision by South African universities to move teaching and learning from physical contact platforms to cyberspace interactions. South Africa's intervention, like many other countries, adopted the necessary measures that would prevent the spread of the virus among its population, particularly educational institutions. One such measure was the decision to shut down institutions in South Africa and the contingent measure to operationalise teaching and learning using cyberspace. The unprecedented move to online teaching engendered levels of anxiety and fear, and presented a highly disruptive and traumatic experience for many students, especially those from impoverished and rural backgrounds. While focusing on student psychosocial vulnerabilities during this pandemic, the article also presents background factors such as social and economic factors that constrain student success in South Africa's higher education institutions (HEIs), and which became exacerbated during the pandemic. It further explores the behavioural significance of online teaching and learning's impact on the physical and psychological energy that students devote to their academic work. The study is underpinned by psychosocial and student-integration theories, and it weaves the argument articulated by leaning heavily on the secondary data. Lastly, by way of recommendation, the study highlights the unique challenges that the COVID-19 disaster posed for South African students in HEIs and emphasises the need to give symbolic attention to these unique challenges. The study, therefore, is proposing improvement in preparedness and the mitigation of societal disruption in South African society and higher education during future pandemics.

An emerging future for work and education: Implications for integrative learning in social work

Social work practice education should be designed for sustainability and relevance in emerging and future work contexts. Changes influencing the emerging world of work including transformations in services, communication technologies, distributed working patterns, and new priorities and identities should inform the design of the integrated learning components of the curriculum. Changes influencing the future delivery of education include increased demand for flexible, collaborative, networked and digital learning;pre-existing but rapidly accelerated because of COVID-19. Together, these drivers compel us to innovate to ensure graduates are practice ready and resilient in these evolving contexts. In this analysis of social work, nursing, and allied health literature diverse approaches to integrative learning are examined, generating an evidence base for informing decision making when innovating in the design of integrative learning. This article advocates an orientation towards the future world of work and education, as a lens for reimagining integrative learning in social work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Sensemaking in-between the known and the unknown: Narratives of immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States

In today's hyperconnected, fast-changing environment, where uncertainty is the only certainty, individuals often find themselves in ambiguity, in-between the known and the unknown times and spaces. During ambiguous transitions, individuals deliberately engage in a cognitive process to make sense of their circumstances by generating the stories of who they are and what is happening. These stories ongoingly update a mental map that enacts a more ordered environment under liminality. This qualitative research collected and analyzed the narratives of 20 relatively resourceful immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States to explore their sensemaking during immigration, entrepreneurship, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This purposeful sampling was informed by the concept of the hybrid identity of immigrants and the emerging evidence that some resourceful immigrant entrepreneurs rely on diverse repertoires of approaches to travel across the complexity of multilayered cultural and institutional contexts. By exploring the sensemaking narratives of these immigrant entrepreneurs, the study investigated how they navigated the tensions in-between two spaces (home culture and host culture) and two times (pre-COVID-19 and during prolonged COVID-19). As a result, this study excavated detailed cognitive processes (mental dialogues weaving different elements into a holistic narrative), influencing factors (backgrounds and surroundings), and characteristics (disequilibrium, ambivalence, and randomness) of sensemaking in uncertainty and ambiguity with rich empirical accounts. Furthermore, the investigation resulted in three overarching findings. First, the study detangled multilayered contextual factors at three levels-global/national/regional, community/institutional, and family/individual-dynamically influencing immigrant entrepreneurs. Second, the study found insights into immigrant entrepreneurs' identity and strategies for navigating continuous changes. Identity was constructed with both solid and fluid stories of participants' values/beliefs, self-evaluations, feelings, and sense of belonging. Immigrant entrepreneurs switched on different modes of actions (develop, strive, quest, create, reflect, and retreat) and strategies (hybrid, match & connect, niche, flow, and bricolage) to respond to changing contexts. Intellectual humility facilitated the cognitive process of immigrant entrepreneurs in shifting their approaches. Third, the study highlighted the narrative mode of thinking, allowing participants to resolve identity paralysis and integrate ambivalence using metaphors and dialectical sequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Thank you for being a friend: Social integration and psychological well-being in lesbian older adults

A growing body of research has identified the relationship between loneliness and numerous adverse health outcomes in adults over the age of 55. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older adults have been flagged as an especially high-risk group, and while social networks have been shown to protect against loneliness in LGBT youth, this has yet to be investigated in older adults. A growing arena for social connection in older adults is the Internet, with over 45% of seniors reporting regular use of social media sites;however, disagreement persists regarding the influence of these sites on mental health, particularly in LGB older adults. This study examined associations between social integration and psychological well-being among lesbian older adults and a demographically similar sample of heterosexual women. Additionally, the study explored the mediating roles of mental health status (loneliness, depression, anxiety) and social media (use and attitudes) on this relationship, as well as the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on social communication. Lesbian (n = 201) and heterosexual women (n = 245) between the ages of 55 and 85 completed online questionnaires assessing social integration, psychological well-being, mental health status, social media, and changes in communication patterns during COVID-19. In each sample, social integration was significantly correlated with psychological well-being;however, lesbian and heterosexual older women did not significantly differ in levels of social integration or well-being, and neither sexual orientation nor age moderated this relationship. Loneliness, depression, and anxiety were found to significantly mediate the relationship between social integration and psychological well-being, particularly regarding the more objective dimensions of social integration. Conversely, social media use and attitudes were not found to be significant mediators, and no notable changes in communication patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic were found. These results suggest that social integration is importantly linked to psychological well-being in both lesbian and heterosexual older adult women, and that this relationship is indirectly affected by mental health status. While the limited representativeness of the study sample may restrict the generalizability of these findings, they generally strengthen support for considering social factors when addressing the mental health needs of lesbian older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Fear of COVID-19 opinion expression: Digitally mediated spirals of silence and the situational theory of problem solving

Integrating the Spiral of Silence and the Situational Theory of Problem Solving, this study examines the relationships among fear of isolation, public segmentation, and willingness to express COVID-19 opinions amidst a public climate polarized by social media. An online survey sampled 338 U.S. participants. Findings revealed that fear of isolation predicted COVID-19 opinion expression. Additionally, segmentation of publics predicted COVID-19 online information-seeking behavior while situational variables moderated the relationship between fear of isolation and opinion expression engagement. Findings provide practical implications for effective health messaging and social media literacy efforts to combat opposing public opinion judgments about adhering to public health guidelines. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The inheritance of local wisdom for maintaining peace in multicultural society

PurposeThe research aims to investigate the value of local wisdom, analyse local wisdom for the harmony of a multicultural society and discover forms of inheritance of local wisdom for maintaining peace.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research was used in this research. The primary data were obtained through observation, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Secondary data were obtained through reports from agencies, such as Social Services and Central Bureau of Statistics, literature studies and news from the internet. The data validity technique used was source triangulation. The data were analysed with stages of data reduction, data presentation and conclusion.FindingsThe results showed that the local wisdom sedekah bumi, selamatan malam 1 suro, sadranan and kuda lumping contain values related to religion, cooperation, harmony, togetherness, kinship and cohesiveness;the implementation of local wisdom can strengthen social harmony;and the inheritance of local wisdom takes place sustainably from families and communities to the younger generation.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was conducted during the peak of COVID-19 cases in Central Java, Indonesia. Therefore, the data could not be obtained maximally.Practical implicationsThis research contributes widely not only to the village studied but also to other communities with similar conditions.Social implicationsThe inheritance of local wisdom can help maintain peace, unify societies and offer solution to social conflicts by implementing traditions containing humanity and peaceful values.Originality/valueThis research offers a new insight concerning the inheritance of local wisdom that can function as a tool to achieve a peaceful society and prevent social disasters from occurring.

Older People and the Pandemic: Social Exclusion, Heterogeneity of the Groups of Seniors and Intersectionality of age Inequalities

The article discusses the reactions of older Russians to the restrictions of the pandemic from the perspective of critical gerontology, sociology of space and intersectional approach based on 39 interviews collected in Russian regions in 2020â€"2022. In the context of the risks of coronavirus, inequalities in relation to older people and differentiation within the groups of seniors, have manifested and intensified. With considerable diversity, two typical ways in which older people respond to pandemic restrictions stand out: the first are outraged by them, the others do not notice them. The first type of reactions is demonstrated by people who maintained high physical mobility, social activity and involvement. With the advent of the pandemic, they experienced fear and indignation, they perceived the lockdown and self-isolation as a restriction of freedom. They tend to evaluate external assistance as annoying overprotectiveness, they are often ready to act as a subject, and not just an object of care. The second type of reactions is typical for people with limited mobility who are in contact with a narrow circle of people and social spaces, relying on external help from the family, helping professionals. They did not notice the limitations of the pandemic, nothing has changed in their lives. They accept selfisolation, social exclusion and external care as the norm. Active and mobile older people are "outraged" by the manifestations of objectification and exclusion ("murmuring"), those living in social isolation are ready for self-stigmatization, accepting exclusion as the norm ("resigned"). The ability to detect inequalities and resist them directly correlates with social inclusion, and exclusion reduces "sensitivity" to manifestations of structural inequalities. Self-stigmatization is indirectly supported by the normative dependence and low mobility of older people in the discourse of professional care. Age discrimination intersects with the normativity of social exclusion of immobile people, equating old age with disability, and is justified by the priority right to care. This actualizes the role of inclusive and intersectional approaches in the sociology of aging, social policy and practice.Alternate abstract:Ð' статье обсуждаются реакции россиян старшего возраста на ограничения пандемии на материалах 39 интервью, собранных в российских регионах в 2020â€" 2022 гг. Ð' условиях рисков коронавируса проявились и усилились неравенства в отношении пожилых людей и гетерогенность геронтогруппы. При значительном многообразии выделяется два способа реагирования людей старшего возраста на ограничения пандемии: первые ими возмущены, другие их не заметили. Первый тип реакций («ропщущие») демонстрируют люди, которые поддерживали высокую физическую мобильность, социальную активность и включенность. С приходом пандемии они испытали страх и возмущение, локдаун и режим самоизоляции восприняли как ограничение свободы. Они склонны оценивать внешнюю помощь как раздражающую гиперопеку, часто готовы сами выступать в качестве субъекта, а не только объекта заботы. Ð'торой тип реакций («безропотные») характерен для маломобильных людей, контактирующих с узким кругом людей и социальных пространств, полагающихся на внешн ŽÑŽ помощь. Они не заметили ограничений пандемии, в их жизни ничего не изменилось. Самоизоляцию, социальную эксклюзию и внешнюю заботу они принимают как норму. Полагаем, способность обнаруживать неравенства и противостоять им прямо коррелирует с социальной включенностью. Самостигматизация подкрепляется нормативностью зависимости и маломобильности пожилых людей в дискурсе профессиональной заботы. Ð'озрастная дискриминация пересекается с отождествлением старости с зависимостью и маломобильностью, нормативностью социальной эксклюзии немобильных людей и оправдывается приоритетным правом на поддержку и заботу. Ключевой проблемой большинства людей старшего возраста в условиях пандемии стали эксклюзия и недоступность значимых ресурсов. Существенно возросла роль социальной поддержки, но также проявился ее амбивалентный характер, в Ñ‚. ч. готовность пожилого человека выступать не только объектом заботы, но и ее субъектом.

Towards a typology of virtual events

Despite the mounting prominence of COVID-induced virtual substitutes to face-to-face events, the boundaries and terminology between different types of virtual events have not been clearly defined. Theoretical misconceptions exist surrounding the diffusion of virtual reality and existing virtual events into the tourism, hospitality and events sectors, with conceptual ambiguity generating contention. Consequently, this paper develops a typology of virtual events designed to clarify theoretical misconceptions and establish clear limits whereby all virtual events can be classified. Integrating the three dimensions of social presence, virtuality of environment, and location, the SPEL cube is presented as a conceptual model. This paper contributes to understanding the extant literature and practices of virtual events, providing implications for the management of events in the tourism, hospitality, and events sectors;and delivering a foundation for future research into optimal adaptations of immersive technologies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Promoting youth mental health during covid-19: The feasibility of integrated social-emotional learning

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was (a) to provide education to elementary school teachers on developing an emotional vocabulary and the RULER approach (recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions) to social-emotional learning (SEL), (b) demonstrate how to integrate RULER strategies into existing curriculum, and (c) evaluate their knowledge about, perceived benefits of, and perceptions regarding the feasibility of implementing the two social-emotional learning strategies.Background: Youth mental illness is pervasive throughout the United States (US) and has detrimental effects that permeate every level of society. School-based SEL programs have been shown to cultivate resilience and have been increasingly used as an avenue for mental health promotion. Teachers are often the primary implementers but have cited many challenges that limit their ability to regularly teach SEL curriculum, including time constraints, lack of knowledge, and lack of training.Methods: Participants were recruited via email to attend a Zoom-based education session that included an audio-visual presentation with practice application exercises. They were then asked to complete a retrospective pretest and posttest survey with questions pertaining to demographics, knowledge level, benefits associated with SEL, and feasibility.Results: Twelve teachers participated in the project and successfully completed all pretest/posttest materials. The results showed an increase in all measures for participant knowledge, perceived benefit, and implementation feasibility;however, only 67% of teachers anticipated having the time to integrate the new SEL strategies.Conclusions: The provided education did improve scores for all outcomes measures, showing that additional education for teachers could make SEL implementation more feasible. However, perceptions related to time constraints, although improved, were still somewhat low and represent an area requiring ongoing support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Ethics and Marketing of Social Integration in Cultural, Heritage and Educational Contexts

In the current situation, Covid-19 has highlighted inequalities in all parts of the planet, demarcating a gap between the pandemic framework and social relationships, which require ethics and care in the distance scenario. In this sense, there is an urgent need to proceed with the ethics of care, both in terms of knowledge and action, and it is opportune to reflect on the link between health and education, in a systematic way. Therefore, in this article, the objective is to analyze the systems of acquisition of peace, education and health, aiming to highlight a culture based on the stimulation of conscience, in favour of integration and peaceful transposition of life in society. It is believed that the ethics of care is an element of social integration, based on moral feelings and the human ability to responsibly care for others. From this perspective, it appears that adequate support guarantees the continuity of learning and helps to reduce socio-educational gaps. In this way, it is necessary to defend a social experience in which differences can be recognized, valued and used, in line with the fulfillment of human rights, and the equality of conditions for all, especially those that allude to the containment of the recent pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Cabaran dan Implikasi Adaptasi Silang Budaya Pembantu Rumah Indonesia (PRI) di Malaysia

Pekerja asing yang bekerja di luar negara sering kali berhadapan dengan cabaran dan kesulitan kerana perbezaan dengan budaya asal mereka. Ini memberi kesan dan implikasi kepada mereka semasa bekerja terutama dalam aktiviti berinteraksi dengan silang budaya. Perbezaan budaya dalam aktiviti komunikasi adalah sukar dan boleh menghalang mesej serta pemahaman makna kepada dua budaya. Justeru makalah ini meneroka cabaran dan implikasi yang di hadapi oleh pembantu rumah Indonesia semasa bekerja di Malaysia. Kajian ini berpandukan pengalaman pekerja asing dalam bidang domestik berdasarkan dapatan kajian-kajian lepas yang menekankan proses penyesuaikan diri memerlukan jangka masa yang panjang terhadap sebuah budaya baharu. Mekanisme kajian melihat cabaran dan implikasi yang wujud semasa bekerja boleh mengganggu tahap prestasi kerja. Kaedah kualitatif menerusi temubual mendalam telah dilaksanakan ke atas tujuh informan terdiri daripada pembantu rumah Indonesia. Hasil kajian mendapati terdapat empat tema berkaitan cabaran dalam komunikasi silang budaya iaitu persepsi, stereotaip, ethnosentrisme dan diskriminasi. Kesemua cabaran ini dilihat menghalang kelancaran mengadaptasi budaya baharu sekaligus membentuk implikasi seperti keresahan, berprasangka dengan budaya baharu, menjadi rendah diri dan sekaligus sukar untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan budaya tersebut. Penulis berpendapat kaedah temubual mendalam ini sesuai untuk meneroka luas pengalaman pekerja asing yang berhadapan dengan cabaran dalam konteks silang budaya pada masa akan datang.Alternate abstract:The foreign worker who works overseas often faces challenges and obstacles because of their foreign cultures. This place an implication towards them when working, especially during cross-cultural integration. Different cultures in communication make it complicated and further conflict between the understanding of two cultures. Thus, this study explores challenges and implications faced by Indonesian maids working in Malaysia. This research built upon Indonesian maids' experiences working in the domestic sector based on past finding that focus on the adaptation process to a new culture which may take a long time. This mechanism finds that all the challenges and implication can affect one's work performance. The quantitative method carried out by interviewing seven participants of Indonesian maids. This research finding is four themes regarding intercultural communication: perception, stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and discrimination. All of these produce challenges in the smooth adaptation of new cultures that as a result, brought implications such as anxiety, prejudice towards new culture, low self-esteem and made the process of adapting to new culture harder. The researcher reckons that this thorough interview is suitable to deeply explore the foreign workers' experiences that will face the challenges in the intercultural context in the future.

Testing an integrated theory: Distancing norms in the early months of COVID-19

We draw on norms theory to develop hypotheses about norms regulating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. We identify two theoretical approaches-the consequentialist and social cues approach-and argue that understanding norms will be enhanced by integrating these two approaches. We apply these general theoretical approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic to suggest concrete hypotheses regarding distancing norms. We test our hypotheses using two vignette experiments. We find that when the consequences of behavior are clear, both behavior consequences and social cues independently affect norms. But when the consequences of a behavior are ambiguous, behaviors and social cues interact to affect norms. Theoretically, our results provide the first empirical test of an integrated theory of norms, showing that in ambiguous situations an integrated approach produces more accurate predictions than either the behavior consequences or social cues approach alone. Substantively, our paper helps to explain Covid-19 distancing norms and variation in those norms across political orientation. Our findings have implications for understanding support for and compliance with public health directives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

К оценке социального настроения казахстанского студенчества

В статье обобщены результаты социологического исследования социального настроения студенческой молодежи, проведенного в Казахстане с 2019 по 2021 г. Установлено, что уровень удовлетворенности студентов зависит от степени социального оптимизма/пессимизма и благополучия общества и имеет признаки нестабильности. Результаты демонстрируют низкую оценку социального настроения студентов, испытывающих как материальные, так и психологические трудности, связанные с опасением более длительных последствий кризиса.Alternate :The article offers an analysis of the social well-being of Kazakhstani student youth during the pandemic. Based on materials of research in Kazakhstan in 2019-2021 it has been found that the level of student satisfaction depends on the degree of social optimism/pessimism and well-being of society showing signs of instability. Over the past three years, high levels of social well-being are correlated with students who are confident about their future. The study also revealed a low assessment of social well-being by students experiencing material and psychological difficulties, as well as lacking social integration. Low assessment is also associated with fear of more long-lasting impact of the crisis. Particular attention in this study is paid to the issues of changing the social well-being of students and assessing the nature of social expectations, the possibility of certain problems in the near future, fears and confidence/uncertainty in the future and rethinking the social goals of young people before and after the COVID-19 pandemics.

Covid-19 WhatsApp sticker memes in Oman

In this paper, the form and function of personalized Covid-19 WhatsApp sticker memes created and shared as social laments by citizens in Oman are examined. The compiled data set of 288 WhatsApp stickers was taken from a larger ethnographic project on Arabs and Covid-19. To collect and analyze the data, perspectives from visual semiotics were integrated with participatory and geosemiotic approaches to ground the stickers socially and globally. Six functions of Covid-19 WhatsApp stickers in Oman were identified: expressing political dissent, creating public signs, promoting religious agenda, indexing frustration, expressing levity, and constructing counter-discourse. Based on this analysis, it is suggested that by creating and using WhatsApp stickers during the 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic, Omani citizens positioned themselves as agentive participants in charge of their own lives, thus, solidifying a decade-long request for a new form of public-government relationship. The paper adds to research on Arabic digital communication and pandemic discourse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A Scoping Review of Ageing Experiences among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse People in Australia: Towards Better Ageing Policy and Cultural Well-Being for Migrant and Refugee Adults.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Australia's population is growing, ageing, and becoming more ethnically diverse, resulting in barriers and challenges around social inclusion for non-English speaking migrants and refugees. This scoping review investigates the experiences of ageing within Australia among older adults from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrant and refugee backgrounds to identify barriers to social integration. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A scoping review of English-language literature and grey literature on the experiences of ageing among CALD migrant and refugees living in Australia was conducted from January 2000 to January 2021, according to Arksey and O'Malley's review process. A total of 34 studies were identified for analysis. RESULTS: Three primary themes were identified: (i) socio-cultural similarities in settlement experiences; (ii) engagement with technology for social connection; and (iii) engagement with family and community networks. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Ageing, language, socio-cultural and technology contexts shape attitudes to belonging, as well as access to sociomedical services. We argue a cultural well-being framework may assist in developing policy for improved social integration of older CALD adults. As the focus is on social and cultural experiences, all studies with a primary focus on medical and other chronic conditions were excluded. Future studies could include health related articles to present a more comprehensive approach regarding older CALD adult needs. Follow-up research could focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the experiences of older adults in Australia, in particular those of CALD backgrounds.

Muslim charity in the United Kingdom: Between counter-terror and social integration

Writing ahead of the next ‘Independent Review' of the United Kingdom's counter-terror strategy, this article presents two inter-related arguments. First, that the current counter-terror legislation is counter-productive, according to its own logic, in achieving social integration. Second, that Islamic practices and conceptualisations associated with charitable giving hold potentials to offer a more inclusive understanding of social integration than that currently utilised in the United Kingdom. The actions of Muslim charities and practitioners within Britain (exemplified by service provisions during Covid restrictions) serve as an important tool for social integration. Thus, by exploring the potentials of Muslim charitable giving, an alternative solution to social integration in the United Kingdom is presented. Drawing from participant interviews with a range of Muslim charitable practitioners, this article argues that supporting British Muslim charities would assist social integration and the construction of ‘shared values' assumed by UK counter-terror strategies to be a tool in combating ‘extremist' narratives. [ FROM AUTHOR]