Valerie Shephard and Woody Caan
This paper aims to report on a 12‐item measure developed by the authors, which assesses and monitors the wellbeing of employees across an organisation: Wellness at Work (W@W).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report on a 12‐item measure developed by the authors, which assesses and monitors the wellbeing of employees across an organisation: Wellness at Work (W@W).
Design/methodology/approach
The W@W questionnaire for employees was delivered in parallel with a multi‐site survey undertaken by the Health and Safety Executive, during the development of their management standards. This paper reports its testing across a higher education workforce with 552 diverse participants.
Findings
This survey revealed that individuals with low or deteriorating “wellness” gave distinctive responses to questions about their future work, and enabled widespread discussion within the organisation about actions to improve employee wellbeing.
Originality/value
W@W is a practical measure for use in workplace settings.
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Bonnie McBain, Liam Phelan, Anna Ferguson, Paul Brown, Valerie Brown, Iain Hay, Richard Horsfield, Ros Taplin and Daniella Tilbury
The aim of this paper is to outline the collaborative approach used to craft national learning standards for tertiary programs in the field of environment and sustainability in…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to outline the collaborative approach used to craft national learning standards for tertiary programs in the field of environment and sustainability in Australia. The field of environment and sustainability is broad and constituted by diverse stakeholders. As such, articulating a common set of learning standards presents challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed and used a staged collaborative curriculum design methodology to engage more than 250 stakeholders in tertiary environmental education, including discipline scholars, students, professional associations and employers and other environmental educators. The approach was adaptive, to ensure underrepresented stakeholders’ perspectives were welcomed and recognised. The project was commissioned by the Australian Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (ACEDD) and funded by the Federal Government’s Office for Learning and Teaching.
Findings
The collaborative approach developed and used for this work facilitated an inclusive process that valued diversity of perspectives, rather than marginalise diversity in favour of a perspective representing a minimum level of agreement. This is reflected in the standards themselves, and is evidenced by participant feedback, piloting of the standards and their subsequent application at multiple universities. Achieving this required careful planning and facilitation, to ensure a democratisation of the stakeholder consultation process, and to build consensus in support of the standards. Endorsement by ACEDD formalised the standards’ status.
Originality/value
Collaborative curriculum design offered the opportunity to foster a shared sense of common purpose amongst diverse environmental education stakeholders. This approach to curriculum design is intensive and generative but uncommon and may be usefully adapted and applied in other contexts. The authors note one subsequent instance where the approach has been further developed and applied in transforming a generalist science program, suggesting the methodology used in this case may be applied across other contexts, albeit with appropriate adjustments: the authors offer it here in the spirit of supporting others in their own complex curriculum design challenges.
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Patti Lou Watkins, Vicki Ebbeck and Susan S. Levy
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Feel WonderFull Fitness (FWF), a program adhering to the Health At Every SizeTM (HAES) paradigm, on larger women's physical activity and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Feel WonderFull Fitness (FWF), a program adhering to the Health At Every SizeTM (HAES) paradigm, on larger women's physical activity and psychosocial health. FWF was tailored to overcome barriers based on weight bias.
Design/methodology/approach
The study compared “overweight” and “obese” women in FWF to those not currently enrolled in formal exercise programs. Controls were divided into low physical activity (LPA) and moderate physical activity (MPA) conditions based on pretest exercise level. Outcome measures were collected at pretest and three months later at posttest.
Findings
FWF participants had the greatest gains in physical activity and demonstrated significantly greater improvements in depression than the LPA group. FWF and the MPA group showed more improved scores on perceived body attractiveness than the LPA group. Scores on an eating disorders measure improved for all groups, but somewhat more so for the FWF group. Improvements occurred in the absence of weight loss or decreases in body mass index and body fat percentage.
Research limitation
The study was based on a small, homogenous sample using a quasi-experimental design.
Practical implications
The study illustrates HAES strategies that practitioners might incorporate into various health and fitness settings.
Social implications
The study highlights weight bias as a social justice issue and as a barrier to physical activity participation for larger women.
Originality/value
The study adds to a growing body of literature evaluating HAES approaches, with HAES representing a novel alternative to weight-loss interventions for improving psychosocial health among larger women. It also contributes to the literature on weight bias that has been understudied relative to bias based on other areas of difference.
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In the last two decades, the fashion value chain traveled to developing parts of the world. To these nations, it paved a path for socio-economic development initially but lately…
Abstract
Purpose
In the last two decades, the fashion value chain traveled to developing parts of the world. To these nations, it paved a path for socio-economic development initially but lately, the aftermath has costed more. This article visualizes the gains and losses of fast fashion to these countries.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth systematic literature review was performed to analyze the secondary data from academic journals and reports from international organizations. The authors have compiled their empirical journeys in academia, research and industry from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) based on Schon's (1983, 1990) theory of reflective practice. Further on, the article is structured using the value chain analysis (VCA) method which visualizes the aftermath of mass-producing fashion for the developed countries.
Findings
In this research it was found that LMICs have made substantial economic progress in the past two decades, however at a high social and environmental cost. It is the right time to find a balance between economic development and harm caused to the citizens of these nations.
Originality/value
At the moment the existing academic literature talks about unsustainable practices in the fashion sector around the world. This research precisely targets the LMICs where the aftermath is supposed to be much more severe. Further, it provides solutions and urges these nations to bring a substantial change throughout the value chain for a robust future.