White noise, white heat: A call to action from the frontline

Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic moves into a new phase with the successful roll out of vaccines in adults in the UK, there is an opportunity to reflect, re-evaluate, and reconfigure public health responses. Of importance is the need to defend and protect the frontline workforce who have sacrificed so much over the last 18 months. The present essay summarises key recommendations from frontline workers to policymakers with specific reference to the preparation needed for the Autumn and Winter to come. The participants from the CV19 Heroes Project give voice to concerns over the unique challenges posed by the coming months, and speak of the need to embed evidence into future policy to both compensate existing, and prevent future, occupational exposure to Covid-19, the experience of Long Covid, and the overall psychological and physical scars experienced from what has been a traumatic period of their working lives

All-Party Group on Coronavirus - oral evidence session 32: Workforce, wellbeing, and NHS capacity

Evidence given on 24th August 2021 by Dr Rachel Sumner (UoG) and Dr Elaine Kinsella (UL) to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus inquiry on the impact of the pandemic on frontline healthcare workers. Evidence based on work by Dr Rachel Sumner and Dr Elaine Kinsella

Better Together: A Joined-Up Psychological Approach to Health, Well-Being, and Rehabilitation

Health and well-being is best understood in terms of a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. But how ‘social’ is the biopsychosocial model when applied to mental health and rehabilitation? Psychology has traditionally viewed health as being determined by individual behavior. An integrative psychological approach is required to draw understanding from sociology, social psychology, and politics to consider how wider systemic, structural, and contextual factors impact on health behavior and outcomes. This e-book is dedicated to examining collective and community approaches to well-being and rehabilitation. In particular, the articles contained within this e-book are seeking to understand how social integration, social groups, social identity, and social capital influence health, well-being, and rehabilitation outcomes

Heroism Research: A Review of Theories, Methods, Challenges, and Trends

Heroism as an expression of self-actualization and a pinnacle social state is of fundamental interest to humanistic psychology and the field more broadly. This review places the growing discussion on heroic action in a humanistic perspective, as heroism aligns with ethical self-actualization in its highest form, personal meaning making, and social good, and can also involve profound existential costs. This review is organized in four major sections: First, the historical and philosophical underpinnings of heroism are examined, moving from ancient Greco-Roman perspectives, to more modern interpretations of Continental philosophy, and to Freud and Le Bon. Second, the article summarizes in detail a renaissance of interest in the psychology of heroism that began in the early 2000s, moving from a modern re-theorizing of heroism toward empirical exploration. This renewal of interest is described as six overlapping phases: theory building and exploration of operational definitions of heroism, taxonometric approaches to heroic figures, implicit theories of heroism, social ascription of heroic status, social influence of heroes, and internal motivations for heroic action. Third, key methodological challenges in studying heroism are discussed. Finally, the renewed interest in heroism is considered as a social movement involving not just researchers but also the broader public

Collective influences on individual functioning: Multiple group memberships, self-regulation, and depression after acquired brain injury

A growing body of research demonstrates the role that social groups play in protecting health and well-being in the context of adjusting to acquired brain injury (ABI). However, the psychological processes that underpin this relationship are less well understood. The present research extends this work by testing a theoretically derived model about the role of multiple social group belonging in contributing to improved self-regulation and depression symptoms. A cross sectional survey was conducted involving 50 adults with ABI (M = 45 years, SD = 12.10; range 22–67 years) who completed a series of self-report measures indexing social group membership, self-regulation, and depression. Support for the predicted model was found with mediation analysis showing that multiple group belonging predicted lowered depression symptoms, by providing a basis for enhancing self-regulation. The findings suggest that belonging to multiple groups provides individuals with multiple opportunities for social interaction with which to trial and develop self-regulatory skills, which, in turn, has a positive influence on depression