The Futures of Hybrid Work - Participatory Futuring in Practice

Throughout the last years, but especially with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, our workplaces and way of 'going to work' has changed a lot. One might even claim that the nature of work is 'in limbo', a transitional phase between the traditional on-site workplace and hybrid and remote work conditions. This overview of my doctoral research starts with a number of future oriented questions regarding collaboration and human interactions, embodied presence and socio-materiality in hybrid and remote work environments. The hypothesis is that a participatory futuring approach can engage stakeholders from different industries in a collective development of alternative futures and thereby inform the re-thinking process around remote and hybrid work conditions within and across industries. Hence, several empirical studies are proposed in order to (1) understand hybrid work settings and its challenges (2) create knowledge around possible futures of hybrid work and (3) investigate the strategic value of participatory futuring methods in industrial settings. © 2023 Owner/Author.

"Sleep Quality and Depression Level in Nurses in COVID-19 Pandemic".

The COVID-19 spread rapidly all over the world and pandemic process has negatively affected nurses. Sleep disorders and depression are among these negative effects. Managers' awareness of problems experienced by nurses and taking precautions will increase employee and patient satisfaction and provide quality patient care. The study was conducted in descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational design to explain nurses' sleep quality and depression levels and relationship between them during the COVID-19 pandemic with 142 nurses who completed Personel Information Form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Beck Depression Index (BDI). Sleep quality of nurses (64.8%) was poor, 33.1% had depression, and high school education, having a chronic illness and PSQI score increased the risk of depression level of nurses. Results highlight COVID-19 pandemic affected nurses' sleep quality and depression levels. All managers should be pioneers in providing psychological support to nurses and preparing and implementing a program for prevention of insomnia and depression.

#LaHoraSTEAM (The STEAM Hour) - An Initiative to Promote STEM-STEAM Learning in Quarantine Times (Work in Progress)

The pandemic produced by COVID-19 has forced a radical change in the strategies and methodologies used to share and transmit knowledge. With the schools/Universities' closure, the educational process changed radically from one day to the next. In particular, in several Latin-American countries, the quarantine conditions are extremely severe, limiting regular citizens' movement and confining them to remain at home, only allowing them to get out for "essential " activities. STEM-STEAM education, based on collaborative work, inquiry, experimentation, problem-solving, and project generation, encounters many obstacles. In the present situation, students and teachers' isolation does not have access to laboratories, materials, and other essential supplies to facilitate a quality educational process. Aware of these limitations, a group of professionals from several countries across the Americas have worked together and developed the ManifiestoSTEAM. The ManifiestoSTEAM is a voluntary team working without any monetary support. The ManifiestoSTEAM goal is to develop alternative ways to promote quality STEM-STEAM education reaching students, parents, and teachers directly at their homes. One of the initiatives developed by the ManifiestoSTEAM, #LaHoraSTEAM will be presented in this paper. #LaHora STEAM is a public broadcast (Facebook, YouTube) of one hour once a week - Saturdays to facilitate parents and children interaction. In each broadcast, one of the ManifiestoSTEAM members presents a "live" activity generating interactivity with the audience. Then, the other group members monitor the chats to share the audience's participation and show their questions to the presenter and the rest of the team to model a live learning experience based on STEM-STEAM activities. All the activities presented in the live broadcast are implemented using materials accessible at home! To ensure that the prospective participants receive the information (time, access link, list of materials), the ManifiestoSTEAM, allied with the Municipality of Lima - Perú manages the logistics of distributing the information live broadcasting. Following Lima's success, ManifiestoSTEAM implemented a similar series of seven activities in Medellin, Colombia. The name of Medellin's series is "Viernes de Ser + STEM." After discussing the methodology implemented to produce #LaHora STEAM, data collected in the first 15 broadcasts in Lima and seven in Medellin will be presented, showing the impact of the initiative. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

The interplay between mothers' and children behavioral and psychological factors during COVID-19: an Italian study.

Italy has been the first nation outside of Asia to face the COVID-19 outbreak. To limit viral transmission of infection, by March 10th, 2020, the Italian Government has ordered a national lockdown, which established home confinement, home (smart) working, and temporary closure of non-essential businesses and schools. The present study investigated how these restrictive measures impacted mothers and their pre-school children's behavioral habits (i.e., sleep timing and quality, subjective time experience) and psychological well-being (i.e., emotion regulation, self-regulation capacity). An online survey was administered to 245 mothers with pre-school children (from 2 to 5 years). Mothers were asked to fill the survey thinking both on their habits, behaviors, and emotions and on those of their children during the quarantine, and retrospectively, before the national lockdown (i.e., in late February). A general worsening of sleep quality and distortion of time experience in both mothers and children, as well as increasing emotional symptoms and self-regulation difficulties in children, was observed. Moreover, even when the interplay between the behavioral and psychological factors was investigated, the factor that seems to mostly impact both mothers' and children's psychological well-being was their sleep quality. Overall, central institutions urgently need to implementing special programs for families, including not only psychological support to sustain families with working parents and ameliorating children's management.