Developing Psychological Resilience to the Impact of Drought.

BACKGROUND: Drought is a slow-onset natural hazard with significant socioeconomic, environmental and psychological impacts. The extant literature has predominately focused on the physical and economic dimensions of resilience, which mainly address the socioeconomic and environmental consequences of drought. However, the mental health effects of chronic environmental adversity, such as prolonged drought, remain an under-researched area, and frameworks that build and strengthen the psychological aspect of the social resilience of communities are lacking. METHODS: This feasibility study will employ a mixed-method design sub-divided into three phases. Phase 1 will utilise social network analysis (SNA) to identify leadership patterns and their intersections across communities. While phase 2 will use semi-structured interviews to ascertain the perceived roles of identified leaders in preparing for and recovering from drought impacts, the third phase will adopt the Delphi method to unpack existing perceptions of control, coherence and connectedness.

Perception of safety is a prerequisite for the association between neighbourhood green qualities and physical activity: Results from a cross-sectional study in Sweden.

In this study, we assess how the Scania Green Score (SGS5), and the five distinct perceived neighbourhood green dimensions within this area-aggregated index (1km2 squares), is associated with self-reported physical activity and general health, and if perceived safety and social coherence has a moderating effect. Two independent surveys, both conducted in Scania, Sweden, was used for data on SGS5 and health outcomes (N=28 198 and N=23 693), respectively. SGS5 was more clearly associated with physical activity (OR 1.06; 95% CI 1.02-1.10) than with general health (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.00-1.04). This association was moderated by safety (p for interaction <0.001); SGS5 was positively associated with physical activity only among individuals who perceived high safety in their neighbourhood (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.02-1.11). No moderating effect was seen for social coherence. Among specific dimensions, cultural history was positively associated with both physical activity and general health. Our results suggest that perception of safety is a prerequisite for the positive effects of neighbourhood green qualities.

El papel mediador de la capacitación docente en el manejo de la violencia escolar sobre el bienestar social de profesores / The mediating role of teacher training in the management of school violence on social welfare of teachers

La violencia escolar afecta negativamente, y el bienestar social escolar positivamente, la salud mental de los estudiantes y de sus profesores. En este estudio se analizó el efecto mediador de la necesidad de contar con capacitación en violencia escolar y de la magnitud de violencia escolar, en 397 profesores de escuelas básicas, sobre la asociación entre la frecuencia percibida de maltrato entre estudiantes y la coherencia social con que observan su contexto escolar. El modelo de mediación resultó significativo y mejoró el poder predictivo de la frecuencia de conductas de maltrato entre estudiantes sobre la coherencia social de la escuela. Sin embargo, es solo la percepción que los profesores tienen sobre su necesidad de capacitación en violencia escolar la variable que actúa como mediadora. Se discuten estos hallazgos en relación a la necesidad de fortalecer y mejorar los programas de capacitación y formación inicial y continua de los docentes.

Students' and teachers' mental health is negatively affected by school violence, and positively affected by teachers' social wellbeing in school. We analyzed the mediating effect of teachers' perceived need to receive training in school violence prevention, as well as teachers' perceived magnitude of violence in their schools, on the negative association between the frequency of student maltreatment and teachers' perception of social coherence in their school. 397 elementary school teachers participated in this study. The mediating model theorized proved significant and improved the predictive power of the frequency of student maltreatment on teachers' social coherence in school. However, only teachers' perceptions of the need to receive teacher training on school violence had a mediating effect. Findings are discussed in terms of the need to strengthen and improve teacher training programs in school violence and school wellbeing, both for in-service as well as for teachers in formation.