Title Abstract "Subjective well-being. Understanding of differences in subjective well-being: a description and explanation of difference sin subjective well-being in West-European welfare states" "The project's general aim is to contribute to a sociological understanding of differences in individuals' subjective well-being within the general population of West-European welfare staes, by describing, explaining and predicting well-being on the basis of several sociological theories that social trust, well-being strategies en contextual charactersitics of welfare states. We analayse the available survey data using multivariate and multilevel regression methods." "Asessing and Enhancing Emotional Competence for Well-Being (ECoWeB) in the Young: A principled, evidence-based, mobile-health approach to prevent mental disorders and promote mental well-being" "Johnny Fontaine" "Department of Work, Organisation and Society, Deutsches Jugendinstitut, AUDEERING GMBH, Jaume I University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Institutszentrum Schloss Birlinghoven, MONSENSO A/S, University of Glasgow, University of Copenhagen, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Brno University of Technology, University of Exeter, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, University of Geneva" "Although there are effective mental well-being promotion and mental disorder prevention interventions for young people, there is a need for more robust evidence on resilience factors, for more effective interventions, and for approaches that can be scalable and accessible at a population level. To tackle these challenges and move beyond the state-of-the-art, ECoWeB uniquely integrates three multidisciplinary approaches:(a) For the first time to our knowledge, we will systematically use an established theoretical model of normal emotional functioning (Emotional Competence Process) to guide the identification and targeting of mechanisms robustly implicated in well-being and psychopathology in young people;(b) A personalized medicine approach: systematic assessment of personal Emotional Competence (EC) profiles is used to select targeted interventions to promote well-being:(c) Mobile application delivery to target scalability, accessibility and acceptability in young people. Our aim is to improve mental health promotion by developing, evaluating, and disseminating a comprehensive mobile app to assess deficits in three major components of EC (production, regulation, knowledge) and to selectively augment pertinent EC abilities in adolescents and young adults. It is hypothesized that the targeted interventions, based on state-of-the-art assessment, will efficiently increase resilience toward adversity, promote mental well-being, and act as primary prevention for mental disorders. The EC intervention will be tested in cohort multiple randomized trials with young people from many European countries against a usual care control and an established, non-personalized socio-emotional learning digital intervention. Building directly from a fundamental understanding of emotion in combination with a personalized approach and leading edge digital technology is a novel and innovative approach, with potential to deliver a breakthrough in effective prevention of mental disorder." "Digital Well-Being in an ‘Always-on’ Society: Toward Conceptual Clarification and Empirical Evidence on the Relationship Between Digital Disconnection and Psychological Well-Being." "Kathrin Karsay" "Leuven School for Mass Communication Research" "Despite the many benefits and conveniences that mobile devices entail, smartphone users report that constant availability comes with negative consequences, such as digital stress or overuse. Furthermore, users have expressed difficulties detaching from the phone, and many want to feel less dependent on the device. Within this paradox of permanent connectivity, a new concept has been introduced: digital well-being. Digital well-being is defined as the individual optimal balance between the advantages and disadvantages of digital technologies. The project aims to advance research on digital well-being by addressing the following key research questions: How can digital well-being empirically measured? What are relevant susceptibility factors for digital well-being, and how does digital well-being relate to psychological well-being" "Evaluation of a workplace intervention for the promotion of wellbeing on physical, mental and social wellbeing of employees and employers" "Els Clays" "Department of Public Health and Primary Care" "Promoting work ability is an important policy goal, and is considered as key for tackling long-term sickness absence and work disability. Work ability refers to a good balance of the demands posed on workers with their health condition, their motivation and capacities. Strengthening personal resources of workers is an important tool in promoting work ability. Workers need to be supported in their uptake of a healthy lifestyle, and in engaging in actions to promote their mental, physical and social wellbeing. Moreover, this dimension also relates to other elements of work ability. For instance, workers in good health are overall more engaged and motivated in their job. We further see that the adverse impact of, e.g., physical work demands can be buffered by healthy lifestyle. The work environment is an ideal setting to implement wellbeing-promoting interventions. People spend a large part of their time at the workplace so large groups can be reached in an efficient way. Furthermore, workplace interventions allow targeting specifically vulnerable groups, such as lower educated workers.This policy-oriented research is conducted by UGent, commissioned by the Department of Work and Social Economy of the Flemish government, to improve the health and wellbeing of employees and employers. UGent evaluates an intervention program which is implemented by Energy Lab in SME’s in Flanders. The specific aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on the physical, mental and social wellbeing using a realist evaluation method. The study includes quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews, focus groups) research methods. Outcome measures (physical, mental and social wellbeing), contextual factors (e.g., socio-economic position of employees) and potential mechanisms (e.g., intervention implementation) at the level of employees, employers and workplaces are measured.       " "Optimising physical education teachers’ motivating style via an online tailored approach: what are the effects on students’ motivation and physical activity, and teachers’ well-being?" "Katrien De Cocker" "Department of Movement and Sports Sciences" "Regular exercise is beneficial for youth’s physical and mental health. Still, the majority is insufficiently active. Physical education teachers and more specifically their motivating style play a crucial role in motivating young people to be active. Hence the need for effective interventions targeting teachers’ motivating style. Current Self-Determination-Theory-based interventions are mostly workshop-like one-size-fits-all programs. In this project, we aim to (1) develop an online tailored tool to optimise secondary school teachers’ motivating style (Phase 1) and (2) evaluate its effects on student- and teacher-outcomes (Phase 2). In Phase 1, we will conduct cross-sectional (Study 1) and design-based (Study 2) research. In Study 1, tailoring principles will be developed by comparing teachers’ self-reports, students' perceptions (questionnaire), and observations (class video-recordings) of teachers’ motivating style. In Study 2, teachers' desires concerning an online tool will be identified through interviews and questionnaires. In Phase 2, we will evaluate the tool in a randomised-controlled-trial (Study 3). Effects on student- (need-satisfaction/frustration, motivation for physical education, and physical activity) and teacher- (motivating style and well-being) outcomes will be examined. Groundbreaking is the online tailoring based on multi-informant measures and the potential impact on health promotion and educational practice." "Work design: Achieving a better balance of the workload and improving the employee well-being" "Robert Boute" "Operations Management Research Group (main work address Leuven), Faculty of Business and Economics, Kulak Kortrijk Campus" "This research project concerns operational ‘work design’ decisions to positively impact the workload balance (and the consequential working conditions and well-being) of employees, in an increasingly digital, real-time data-driven and uncertain context. It aims to develop a smart innovative design of work, integrating decisions about labour flexibility (and the training needed to accommodate it), digitization and automation (supported by the integration of technology in workflows), and real-time adaptability. This design will support a better balance of workload within and between individuals, and an improved human-technology collaboration, which is key to improve working conditions (such as a fairer distribution of work, more work variety, and less workload peaks) and their social impact (such as less stress, staff fall-outs and safety critical human errors)." "Well-being and recidivism in adolescent delinquents with psychiatric disorders: Does living a good life result in a reduction of recidivism rates?" "Stefaan Pleysier" "Leuven Institute of Criminology, Institute for Social Law" "Research in young delinquents, who exhibit persistent antisocial behaviour, has consistently revealed relatively high prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders (between 50% and 90%). Research and rehabilitation efforts have focused mainly on this population's criminogenic risk factors that are directly related to re-offending/recidivism, while other more general (non-criminogenic) needs (e.g., school or living situation) to increase well-being, have mostly been neglected. A recent theoretical framework, the Good Lives Model of offender rehabilitation (GLM), suggests that enhancing young delinquent’s capabilities in order to meet all their relevant human needs (in addition to only targeting criminogenic risk factors) could improve their well-being and (subsequently/simultaneously) reduce recidivism rates. Although promising, clear evidence for the underlying assumptions of the GLM is lacking. Consequently, our study aims to gain insight into associations between human needs of the GLM, overall well-being and delinquency/recidivism in the general adolescent population and in a group considered to especially benefit from improvements in well-being: adolescent delinquents with psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, we will evaluate which available interventions for this population are best able to meet their relevant needs, improve overall well-being and reduce recidivism rates." "The process basis and predictive value of emotion dynamics for psychological well-being." "Peter Kuppens" "Quantitative Psychology and Individual Differences" "Our well-being is not only reflected in how we feel on average, but also in how our feelings change. Studying the patterns and regularities of these changes provides a wealth of information about how we emotionally respond to events and how we regulate our emotions, for better or for worse. While we know that these emotion dynamics play an important role for our well-beging, researchers have yet come to understand what lies at the basis of particular patterns of emotion dynamics, and what role they play in our well-being. With this project, we aim to uncover the processes that underlie how people's feelings vary across time and carry over from one moment to the next, and how they impact their well-being. At the core of this project lies a large-scale longitudinal study in which a cohort of late adolescents is followed during the challenging transition into higher education. The data will be used to (1) cross-sectionally examine the processes underlying key dynamical emotion characteristics and their relationship to personality, emotion reactivity and regulation, and (2) longitudinally examine how these characteristics prospectively predict, and are predicted by, well-being, adjustment, and imprtant life outcomes. The outcome of this project is expected to provide concrete insights into factors contributing to human thriving and suffering, and provide clues to how we can cultivate the former and combat the latter." "Benefitting from the Outdoor Environment: How to design (health)care facilities' in- and outdoor spaces to contribute to end-users' physical and mental health and well-being." "Margo Annemans" "Henry van de Velde" "Interacting with the outdoor environment has a positive impact on people's physical and mental health and well-being. Nevertheless, (health)care facilities are usually not designed for patients, residents, visitors, and staff to fully benefit from the opportunity to experience and use the outdoor environment. Physical, mental, and organisational obstacles impact on their interaction with the outdoor environment. These obstacles often relate to the design of in- and outdoor interior spaces, with the term ""interior"" referring to ""with building qualities related to human dimensions and conditions."" Those involved in designing interior spaces thus hold a major responsibility in creating them in such a way that they benefits patients', residents', visitors' and staff's health and well-being. A combination of design concepts that highlight the role of interior spaces in supporting patients', residents', visitors', and staff's interaction with the outdoor environment, and strategies on how to implement these concepts in designing healthcare facilities is needed. Therefore, this project aims to investigate how to design (health)care facilities' in- and outdoor interior spaces to allow patients, residents, visitors, and staff to optimally benefit from the outdoor environment, and as such to contribute to their physical and mental health and well-being. Following a design anthropology approach, the project connects the past, present, and future in a process of attuning people and environments. Past and present cases of (health)care facility that realised specific in- and outdoor interior spaces to improve patients', residents', visitors', and staff's interaction with the facility's outdoor environment, are studied through ethnography- and design-based methods. The cases on designs realised in the past will result in theoretical insights into how patients, residents, visitors, and staff experience and use in- and outside interior environments of (health)care facilities and how this impacts on their physical and mental health and well-being. The cases on ongoing designs will foreground how interaction with the outdoor environment is taken into account and materialised throughout the design process of in- and outdoor interior spaces. Finally, design workshops will allow to develop design concepts and strategies to facilitate the design of future (health)care facilities in which interaction with the outdoor environment is supported." "How can we promote performance and well-being in youth sports? The crucial role of leadership development and identity management." "Katrien Fransen" "Physical Activity, Sports & Health Research Group" "Identity development is a complex process that is particularly prominent during adolescence, a period in which young people develop as individuals and are in search of their own identity. This identity is multi-layered and consists of both a personal identity, which emphasizes unique characteristics of the individual, and numerous social identities. These social identities are formed through interaction with the environment and in particular with the social groups to which someone belongs, such as a sports team. Previous studies have already pointed out the importance of these social identities for the performance of athletes and their well-being, as well as for an optimal transition at the end of their career. However, since this research mainly took place among adults, knowledge about the role of these social identities within youth sports is currently very limited. This research project therefore aims to fill this gap by guiding youth athletes in a process of identity management and strengthening, with the aim of improving their well-being, and thereby also their performance potential. The project includes two research lines that focus on different aspects of identity management in the sports context from the theoretical framework of the Social Identity Approach. The first line investigates how the leadership of coaches and leaders within the team (peer leaders) can contribute to strengthening the shared team identity, which can in turn promote the success and well-being of sports teams. In addition, we are developing a leadership program specifically aimed at youth sports teams to strengthen identity leadership at a young age. The second research line focuses on identity management during important transitions, such as the transition to another team, deselection or injuries. This line conceptualizes the transition process as a process of identity change and tests the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at identity planning and reconstruction. Attention is also paid to strengthening the social identities of youth athletes outside the sports context. Through this dual research setup, this project can provide insight into how identity management can help athletes not only improve their performance, but also support their well-being at different stages of their career."