BackgroundDuring national lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, previously office-based workers who transitioned to home-based teleworking faced additional demands (e.g., childcare, inadequate homeworking spaces) likely resulting in poor work privacy fit. Previous office research suggests poor work privacy fit is associated with lower wellbeing and higher work fatigue. Emerging evidence suggests a relationship between childcare duties during pandemic teleworking and work fatigue. In addition to psychosocial working conditions (job demand, job control, and job change management), which are acknowledged predictors of work fatigue, this poses a significant threat to occupational health during pandemic teleworking. However, the relative effects of aspects of the psychosocial environment (job demands and resources), the home office environment (including privacy fit), and the social environment (childcare) on work fatigue as well as their interactions are under-explored.ObjectiveThis study examined the relationships between the psychosocial, environmental, and social working conditions of teleworking during the first COVID-19 lockdown and work fatigue. Specifically, the study examined teleworkers’ physical work environment (e.g., if and how home office space is shared, crowding, and noise perceptions) as predictors of privacy fit and the relationship between privacy fit, childcare, psychosocial working conditions (job demand, job control, and job change management), and work fatigue. Work privacy fit was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between childcare and work fatigue.MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted with teleworkers (n = 300) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in April and May 2020; most participants were in Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.ResultsPath analysis was used to examine the hypothesized relationships. Privacy fit was lower for those reporting greater levels of noise in home-working spaces and those feeling crowded at home. Work fatigue was lower amongst those with greater privacy fit and higher amongst those with high levels of job demand. An indirect relationship was observed between childcare and work fatigue with privacy fit mediating this relationship.ConclusionThe influence of privacy fit has so far been largely neglected in research on teleworking, especially during the pandemic. However, its contribution to workers’ wellbeing should be acknowledged in occupational health strategies.

Background: Previous research indicates that the physical environment of healthcare facilities plays an important role in the health, well-being, and recovery outcomes of patients. However, prior works on mental healthcare facilities have incorporated physical environment effects from general healthcare settings and patient groups, which cannot be readily transferred to mental healthcare settings or its patients. There appears to be a specific need for evidence synthesis of physical environmental effects in mental healthcare settings by psychopathology.Purpose: This review evaluates the state (in terms of extent, nature and quality) of the current empirical evidence of physical environmental on mental health, well-being, and recovery outcomes in mental healthcare inpatients by psychopathology.Method: A systematic review (PRISMA guidelines) was performed of studies published in English, German, Dutch, Swedish, and Spanish, of all available years until September 2020, searched in Cochrane, Ovid Index, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science and identified through extensive hand-picking. Inclusion criteria were: Adult patients being treated for mental ill-health (common mental health and mood disorders, Cochrane frame); inpatient mental health care facilities; specifications of the physical and socio-physical environment (e.g., design features, ambient conditions, privacy); all types of empirical study designs. Quality assessment and data synthesis were undertaken.Results: The search retrieved 1,068 titles of which 26 met the inclusion criteria. Findings suggest that there is only indicative evidence of the impact of the physical healthcare environment on patients' mental health, well-being, and recovery outcomes. There is significant lack of pathology-specific evidence. Methodological shortcomings and empirical scarcity account for the poor evidence.Conclusion: This review highlights the need for more research using advanced study designs.

Student social connectedness is indicated to be changing with the increasing digitalisation of universities. This narrative literature review aims to bring new meanings to the hybrid university learning environment (HULE), and to develop a framework for the benefit of student social connectedness by using placemaking theories. It searches through the academic literature for evidence of experience with three attributes of social connectedness: socialising, social support, and sense of belonging, in relation to individuals’ sense of place, bringing a range of outcomes, such as identity development, which might contribute to improved social connectedness. This is then expanded in the HULE by looking at the physical and online spaces, with a focus on liminal space and co-design. The findings show that an overly rigid structure of the HULE can cause negative student social connectedness, with co-design being proposed as a way of creating a tailored and connected learning experience. However, this is underdeveloped for learning environment needs and could be enhanced by applying placemaking theories to map levels of student social connectedness in the physical location and in the more-than-real ‘non-places’. This provides an innovative perspective of the HULE based on student social connectedness, impacting the existing pedagogical approach for university courses.

Student social connectedness is indicated to be changing as universities are becoming more digitalised. Although social connectedness is shown to have a significant influence on the learning process, little is understood about the relationship between student social connectedness and the hybrid university learning environment (HULE). This empirical study aims to develop understandings by exploring student social connectedness in a hybrid-style class at a Swiss university. The study applies theories of placemaking and socio-materiality to explore students’ self-reported and observed perceptions of individual social connectedness at the start of a university master’s level course. The qualitative study is conducted using questionnaire data and observational data collected over the first month of a new course starting in the Autumn semester. The findings indicate that although students favour flexibility to design their learning space, they require the appropriate tools and guidance in which to make effective decisions for their social connectedness. Understanding the correct implementation of co-design for the HULE is therefore deemed important to facilitate social connectedness, this is particularly necessary for the liminal space. These findings are preliminary as part of a larger research project and offer a basis for further research to be developed. This study offers an innovative perspective of the HULE based on student social connectedness, impacting the existing pedagogical approach for university courses.