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Inspired by the dynamic changes in our daily lives enabled via quantified-self technologies and the urgent need for more studies on the human-computer interaction design mechanisms adopted by these applications, this study explores the value of user affective experience mirroring and examines the empowerment effect of meaningful gamification in a psychological self-help system (PSS) that aids people in work stress relief.

Based on an analysis of the existing systems and theories in relevant fields, we conducted mixed-method research, involving semi-structured interviews, experience sampling experiments and user bio data triangulations, to identify the benefits of user affective experience mirroring and examine the impact of visual impact metaphor–based (VIM) meaningful gamification on PSS users.

For a gamified PSS, users generally perceive VIM as arousing more feelings of enjoyment, empathy, trust and usefulness, empowering them to gain more mastery and control over their emotional well-beings, especially with relieving their occupational stress and upbringing their level of perceived happiness. Overtime, VIM-based meaningful gamification further boosts such value of a PSS.

Weaving together meaningful gamification and psychological empowerment theories, the results emphasized that successful empowerment of user through gamification in PSSs relies heavily on whether a deeper and meaningful affective connection can be established with the users, in short, “meaningful gamification for psychological empowerment”. Such an understanding, as demonstrated in our research framework, also sheds light on the design theories for persuasive technology and human influence tactics during human computer interactions.

The results of the study demonstrate to practitioners how to make the best use of gamification strategies to deeply relate to and resonate with users. Even without complicated game-play design, meaningful gamification mechanisms, such as VIM facilitate the empowerment of users while gaining their appreciation, establishing a deeper connection with them and eventually generating persuasive effects on intended future behavioural outcomes.

The effective management of work-related stress with handy tools such as a VIM-based PSS can be beneficial for many organizations and, to a large extent, the society.

This study proposed and empirically demonstrated the empowerment effect of meaningful gamification for PSS users. In this cross-disciplinary study, theories from different research domains were synthesized to develop a more thorough and multi-faceted understanding of the optimal design strategies for emerging information systems like this VIM-based PSS.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and present the innovations and service growth of leading UK digital health service bigwhitewall.com, against a backdrop of increasing consumer demand for digital health services.

Big White Wall (BWW) is explored as a service that prioritises safety and clinical governance in an arena where many services are not regulated. Its services and their interactions are also detailed, with focus on how growth is directed by users, as BWW's development from a peer support forum to a 24/7, always-staffed service, is traced from 2007 to 2013. Bigwhitewall.com is used as a case study, and the paper explores how the service is responding to both user demand and the challenges and opportunities of digital healthcare.

Through the case study, BWW was shown to be addressing both the needs of its users and the challenges of operating in a digital environment.

As this report is not concerned with theory, and limits itself to one organisation as a case study, it is unlikely that the research will generate more widely applicable theories relating to digital health services more generally.

Practical implications for digital health services that can be drawn from this paper include recognising the importance of staffing and regulation/clinical governance when many health apps and digital health services available to the consumer are under or unregulated.

This paper is useful to anyone interested in the field of digital mental health, as it explores some of the possibilities and challenges of this new field.

Corporate foundations – entities established to regularize corporate giving at an arm’s length removed from the firm – command substantial resources, root companies in the nonprofit sectors of their host communities, indirectly augment perceptions of corporate responsibility, and help firms to deflect controversies in an attentive global media environment. Despite these important roles, relatively little research has examined the institutional and strategic factors that influence such proximate charitable giving by firms. Using systematic data on foundations linked to S&P 3000 firms in the health sector – a growing domain in which public trust in high-stakes products and services is critical – fixed-effects models illustrate the primary role of network influences on giving: corporate foundations give substantially more in years following higher contributions by other (noncorporate) foundations in the health sector in a firm’s headquarters locality and also following increased contributions by industry peers through their corporate foundations. Giving also appears to reflect strategic reputational concerns, in that foundation contributions increase significantly following controversies associated with the corporate parent’s products and/or services. By contrast, giving tends to decline as the presence of outside directors on a firm’s board increases, as well as when firms carry heavier debt loads. Combined, these findings suggest that corporate foundations serve as a strategic proxy for the firm, reflecting both a company's position in community and interfirm networks while also mitigating the threat of reputational challenges.

The primary purpose of this descriptive study was to compare the levels of, and relationships among mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion, work engagement and work motivation between workers in Japan (collectivistic and success-driven culture) and the Netherlands (individualistic and quality-oriented culture).

A cross-sectional design, where convenience samples of 165 Japanese and 160 Dutch workers completed self-report measures about mental health problems, shame, self-compassion, engagement and motivation, was used. Welch t-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted to compare (1) the levels of these variables, (2) relationships among these variables and (3) predictors of mental health problems, between the two groups.

Dutch workers had higher levels of mental health problems, work engagement and intrinsic motivation, and lower levels of shame and amotivation than Japanese workers. Mental health problems were associated with shame in both samples. Mental health problems were negatively predicted by self-compassion in Japanese, and by work engagement in Dutch employees.

The novelty of this study relates to exploring differences in work mental health between those two culturally contrasting countries. Our findings highlight potential cultural differences such as survey responding (Japanese acquiescent responding vs Dutch self-enhancement) and cultural emphases (Japanese shame vs Dutch quality of life). Job crafting, mindfulness and enhancing ikigai (meaningfulness in life) may be helpful to protect mental health in these workers, relating to self-compassion and work engagement. Findings from this study would be particularly useful to employers, managers and staff in human resources who work with cross-cultural workforce.

Mental illness presents a huge individual, societal and economic challenges, currently accounting for 20% of the worldwide burden of disease. There is a gap between the need for and access to services. Digital technology has been proven effective in e-mental health for preventing and treating mental health problems. However, there is a need for cross-disciplinary efforts to increase the impact of e-mental health services. This paper aims to report key challenges and possible solutions for cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research teams within the domain of e-mental health.

The key challenges and possible solutions will be discussed in light of the literature on effective cross-disciplinary research teams.

Six topics have been key challenges in our cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research team: to develop a shared understanding of the domain; to establish a common understanding of key concepts among the project participants; to involve the end-users in the research and development process; to collaborate across sectors; to ensure privacy and security of health data; and to obtain the right timing of activities according to project dependencies.

This study focuses to increase knowledge and training in cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research, as this is often referred to as an important tool when developing sustainable solutions for major societal challenges.

This study needs to include theory and skills training in cross-disciplinary research in research training.

Cross-disciplinary teams have the potential to address major societal challenges, including more perspectives and more stakeholders than single disciplinary research teams.

Major societal challenges require complex and sustainable solutions. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research teams may work productively to solve these challenges. This paper shares experiences regarding the challenges and possible solutions for productive collaboration in cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial research teams within the domain of e-mental health services.

Well-being is an important dimension of human life but plays a controversial role in organizations, especially in different working environments. This study aims to explore the role of well-being in work from home (WFH) context, and its consequence on job outcomes among accountants in a fast-developing country, Vietnam.

A quantitative study is conducted with the data from Vietnamese accountants who had to work from home during the pandemic time. Partial least squares structural equation modeling method is applied to analyze the data.

The results show a direct and significant relationship of WFH with the employees’ well-being and job satisfaction (JS). Well-being fully mediates the influence of home-based work and JS on job performance.

This study generates valuable knowledge and practical implication in organizational policies and initiatives that aim to enhance employees’ well-being and promote positive job outcomes in the context of remote work. Organization employers should take their employees’ well-being as a key factor and consider it in personnel policy to enhance their work performance.

This paper aims to provide an easy-to-use yet powerful tool to assess the organizational readiness to adopt effective Smart Working (SW). In light of this main objective, based on the current state of research, the study develops a maturity model to assess the SW organizational readiness (SWOR). The SWOR maturity model consists of three dimensions, each of them further detailed into two sub-dimensions. A tool was developed to make use of the model.

The SWOR maturity model was converted into a Web-based questionnaire that includes 54 questions based on 44 items to operationalize the model sub-dimensions. The questionnaire was used in a survey conducted at the Local Health Authority (ASL) of the province of Bari (Italy).

Several implications derive from the present study. From a managerial perspective, the SWOR maturity model supports companies in the as-is analysis of processes, technologies and human resources, which are the enablers of an effective SW, and in the development of a roadmap to achieve a desired “to-be” situation.

Despite recent studies on SW have identified the key drivers that affect the success of SW implementation, there is a lack of models and tools that help companies become aware of the actions and investments to be taken to move towards an effective SW adoption. Even the analysis of the literature on maturity models reveals a gap in the research related to the assessment of SW organizational readiness. The present paper tries to overcome these limitations.

This paper highlights inclusion issues Indigenous people experience maintaining their mental health in the workplace.

Using a grounded theoretical approach, five sharing circles were conducted with the Nokiiwin Tribal Council's community members to better understand inclusivity issues related to workplace mental health.

Five themes emerged from the data related to enhancing inclusivity and workplace mental health for Indigenous workers: (1) connecting with individuals who understand and respect Indigenous culture; (2) respecting Indigenous traditions; (3) hearing about positive experiences; (4) developing trusting relationships and (5) exclusion is beyond the workplace.

The next step is to finalize development of the Wiiji app and evaluate the effectiveness of the app in helping Indigenous workers feel included at work and to improve workplace mental health. If effective, the Indigenous-developed e-mental health app will be promoted and its benefits for helping Indigenous workers feel included at work and also for providing accessible mental health resources, will be known. In the future, other Indigenous groups may be potentially interested in adopting a similar application in their workplace(s).

There is very little known about inclusivity issues related to Indigenous workers' maintaining their mental health. This paper identifies major issues influencing the exclusion and inclusion of Indigenous workers.

Mental health services in Great Britain are built predominately upon a bipolar perspective of mental health. That is, mental health is seen to exist on the opposite end of the same continuum as mental illness. The existence or degree of mental health is therefore dependent upon the existence or degree of mental illness and mental health is seen as a ‘secondary’ concept to mental illness. The aim of this paper is to review critically both the conceptual and the pragmatic implications of this position. This is achieved through an exploration of the differing (and often competing) ontological assumptions about mental illness. Second, the pragmatic repercussions that this has for mental health promotion are presented. The paper culminates by discussing the possible benefits of viewing mental health from within a two‐continua model — on both conceptual and pragmatic grounds.

Mental health promotion can learn from achievements in the field of health education and promotion. Health education and promotion has seen four major developments in the last decades: the need for planning, the need for evaluation, the behaviour‐environment issue, and the use of theory. A recently presented protocol for developing theory‐based and evidence‐based interventions, Intervention Mapping, is described here in more detail. Implementation is prominent in planning models and intervention protocols. The same expertise and professionalism that we put into the development of health promotion interventions for our target groups should be put into implementation interventions for programme users and decision‐makers.