Evangelische Hochschule Nürnberg
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A longitudinal pilot study on stress-levels in the crowdsensing mHealth platform TrackYourStress
(2019)
Background: The mobile phone app, TrackYourStress (TYS), is a new crowdsensing mobile health platform for ecological momentary assessments of perceived stress levels.
Objective: In this pilot study, we aimed to investigate the time trend of stress levels while using TYS for the entire population being studied and whether the individuals’ perceived stress reactivity moderates stress level changes while using TYS.
Methods: Using TYS, stress levels were measured repeatedly with the 4-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), and perceived stress reactivity was measured once with the Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale (PSRS). A total of 78 nonclinical participants, who provided 1 PSRS assessment and at least 4 repeated PSS-4 measurements, were included in this pilot study. Linear multilevel models were used to analyze the time trend of stress levels and interactions with perceived stress reactivity.
Results: Across the whole sample, stress levels did not change while using TYS (P=.83). Except for one subscale of the PSRS, interindividual differences in perceived stress reactivity did not influence the trajectories of stress levels. However, participants with higher scores on the PSRS subscale reactivity to failure showed a stronger increase of stress levels while using TYS than participants with lower scores (P=.04).
Conclusions: TYS tracks the stress levels in daily life, and most of the results showed that stress levels do not change while using TYS. Controlled trials are necessary to evaluate whether it is specifically TYS or any other influence that worsens the stress levels of participants with higher reactivity to failure.
This paper deals with the question, to what extent, in the German context, have biblical didactic implications and systemic requirements in religious education led to social inequality in heterogeneous classrooms. Based on four different case studies in elementary, middle, and vocational schools, an empirical insight is provided that sheds exploratory and descriptive light on the construction of reality in the context of biblical learning. The analysis clearly shows that physical as well as socialization-related limitations, structural and systemic conditions in the German school system, and also strangeness and existential irrelevance, are obvious barriers that prevent students in heterogeneous settings from accessing biblical learning. In the synopsis, with theological–pedagogical implications as well as didactical challenges, it becomes clear how necessary difference-sensitive Bible didactics in the context of heterogeneity and social inequality is. Finally, based on the empirical evidence of the analyzed case studies and the theoretical framings, concrete expectations for biblical learning in religious education, in relation to heterogeneity and social inequality, are highlighted.
Corona Health
(2021)
Physical and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic is typically assessed via surveys, which might make it difficult to conduct longitudinal studies and might lead to data suffering from recall bias. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) driven smartphone apps can help alleviate such issues, allowing for in situ recordings. Implementing such an app is not trivial, necessitates strict regulatory and legal requirements, and requires short development cycles to appropriately react to abrupt changes in the pandemic. Based on an existing app framework, we developed Corona Health, an app that serves as a platform for deploying questionnaire-based studies in combination with recordings of mobile sensors. In this paper, we present the technical details of Corona Health and provide first insights into the collected data. Through collaborative efforts from experts from public health, medicine, psychology, and computer science, we released Corona Health publicly on Google Play and the Apple App Store (in July 2020) in eight languages and attracted 7290 installations so far. Currently, five studies related to physical and mental well-being are deployed and 17,241 questionnaires have been filled out. Corona Health proves to be a viable tool for conducting research related to the COVID-19 pandemic and can serve as a blueprint for future EMA-based studies. The data we collected will substantially improve our knowledge on mental and physical health states, traits and trajectories as well as its risk and protective factors over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its diverse prevention measures.
This work strives to develop a typological classification of the use of conscious and unconscious defense and coping mechanisms based on methodically and structurally collected data from a qualitative survey of 43 former soldiers in Germany. Seven coping and defense types were identified: the Fighter, the Comrade, the Corpsman, the Strategist, the Partisan, the Self-Protector and the Infantryman. The types identified differed with regard to the accumulation, combination, and use of their conscious and unconscious defense and coping mechanisms in the superordinate areas of behaviour, relationships, emotions, reflexivity and time focus. The typological classification could offer psychotherapeutic interventions tailored to individuals and their defense and coping mechanisms, which could lead to improved therapy use and compliance.
Employees of the public employment services (PES) are street-level bureaucrats who shape activation policy on the ground. This paper examines how PES staff use enhanced discretion in an innovation project carried out by the German Federal Employment Agency. Applying a bottom-up perspective, we reconstruct PES employees’ logic of action and the dilemmas they face in improving counselling and placement services. According to our findings, placement staff use enhanced discretion to promote more individualised support and an adequate matching of jobseekers and employers. The use of discretion is framed by organisational norms and reward mechanisms and by the current labour market situation. Our analyses are based on qualitative interviews and group discussions with placement staff.
Serotonin immunoreactivity was previously found in myenteric neurons co-innervating motor endplates in the mouse esophagus striated muscle and aninvolvement in motility control was suggested. However, it is not known ifother neuroactive substances are present in these neurons and to what extentthey co-localize. First, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) was established as abona fide marker for putative inhibitory myenteric neurons by evaluating co-localization with neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and neuropeptide Y(NPY). Then, co-localization of serotonin and VIP was tested in co-innervatingaxons on motor endplates, which were visualized withα-bungarotoxin (α-BT)by multilabel immunofluorescence. Myenteric ganglia were also surveyed forco-localization in neuronal perikarya and varicosities. nNOS, NPY, and VIPwere completely co-localized in enteric co-innervating nerve terminals onmotor endplates. After co-staining with VIP, we found (a) serotonin (5-HT)-positive nerve endings without VIP (44% of 5-HT-positively innervated end-plates), (b) 5-HT- and VIP-positive endings without co-localization (35%), and(c) 5-HT- and VIP-positive endings with co-localization (21%). About one-fifthof nerve terminals on motor endplates containing 5-HT originate from putativeinhibitory peptidegic nitrergic neurons. However, the majority represents a different population presumably subserving different functions.
Background and teaching situation: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had a substantial didactic impact on medical teaching. In Erlangen, the lecture “General Practice” was offered asynchronously and digitally in an inverted-classroom concept. Contents were available via a learning platform. The lecture was presented using annotated videos, consolidation materials and control questions. A forum encouraged for discussions and feedback and collected in-depth aspects for a case-based video consultation. The aim of this work is to evaluate and critically examine the digital teaching concept during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Methodology: Two semester cohorts evaluated the lecture. Overall impression of the lecture, didactic elements, suitability and the desired future lecture format were surveyed quantitatively. Free text answers were evaluated by means of qualitative content synthesis.
Results: In terms of overall impression, the students (N=199) rated the lecture on average as “very good” (M=1.41, SD=.57). Digital methods were perceived as suitable for supporting self-study, and digital usage was rated as unproblematically (M=1.18, SD=.50). Desired future teaching formats were blended learning concepts (79.4%). Organisation, structure and content presentation were highly appreciated. The time for completing the course was perceived critically. The students urged for more practical and consolidating lecture work.
Discussion and implications: The results illustrate high acceptance of digital teaching and underline the demand for future blended learning concepts. It is particularly important to better consider the students’ time investment and practical relevance of digital self-learning mechanisms.
Employees of the public employment services (PES) are street-level bureaucrats who shape activation policy on the ground. This paper examines how PES staff use enhanced discretion in an innovation project carried out by the German Federal Employment Agency. Applying a bottom-up perspective, we reconstruct PES employees’ logic of action and the dilemmas they face in improving counselling and placement services. According to our findings, placement staff use enhanced discretion to promote more individualised support and an adequate matching of jobseekers and employers. The use of discretion is framed by organisational norms and reward mechanisms and by the current labour market situation. Our analyses are based on qualitative interviews and group discussions with placement staff.
Following Michael Lipsky's well‐known argument that policy is made in the daily encounters between street‐level bureaucracy and citizens, a growing body of research emphasizes that actors and organizations delivering social and labor‐market policy play a crucial role in welfare‐state politics. Using qualitative data collected at three local employment agencies in Germany, this article explores worker‐client relations as a crucial mechanism through which activation policies are translated into practice. The analysis investigates how caseworkers define their role and their relationships with clients. The findings show that it is essential for caseworkers to achieve client compliance. In such a context, building relationships of trust is a strategic instrument in overcoming possible barriers to co‐operation in the caseworker‐client interaction. Caseworkers develop strategies to create the impression of trustworthiness and to motivate both unemployed clients and employers to become trust‐givers in the caseworker‐client relation. While research has often stressed the dichotomy between disciplining and enabling elements of activation policies, our explorative study shows that persuasion and trust‐building are a further important dimension of the frontline delivery of activation policies. These strategies reflect the importance of emotional aspects of frontline work.