Browsing by Author "Sansal, Kenan Eren"

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Citation - WoS: 9
RELATIONSHIP OF DAILY TIME SPENT \rOUTDOORS WITH SLEEP QUALITY AND \rEMOTIONAL WELL-BEING AMONG \rCOMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER ADULTS \rDURING COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
(Gunes Kitabevi Ltd STI, 2021) DILBER KARAGOZOGLU COSKUNSU; Kenan Eren Sansal; Sezin Hatice Tanriover; FADIME ÇINAR; Leyla ATAŞ BALCI; MEHMET BENGÜ ULUENGIN; Uluengın, Mehmet Bengü; Balcı, Leyla Ataş; Coskunsu, Dılber Karagozoglu; Tanriover, Sezin Hatice; Sansal, Kenan Eren; Çınar, Fadıme
Introduction: Given the recent constraints imposed due to the ongoing \rCOVID-19 pandemic and the importance of the daily light-dark cycle for \rentraining the human circadian system it is possible to state that the elderly \rare likely to be at serious risk of experiencing sleep-related problems. Whilst \rreduced or limited time outdoors and thus exposure to diurnal bright light \rappear to be detrimental to sleep and emotional well-being in old age further \rresearch is required to confirm this relationship. \rMaterials and Method: To build on earlier work a two-week study was \rconducted in a sample of 79 community-dwelling older adults recruited by \rusing snowball sampling method. Throughout the study the participants were \rallowed to be outdoors from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on weekdays. Whilst the \rparticipants were performing their daily habitual activities they were asked \rto keep an activity diary and report on their sleep quality and emotional wellbeing using two questionnaires.\rResults: The results demonstrated that participants’ daily time spent \routdoors (49.13 minutes on average) positively correlated with their perceived \rsleep quality and emotional well-being at various –– but significant –– levels \r(p<0.05). Moreover significant negative correlations were identified between \rparticipants’ sleep quality and experienced emotional disturbances (p<0.001).\rConclusion: Based on the research findings it is reasonable to conclude \rthat spending momentary periods outdoors may have adverse consequences \rfor the elderly. To maintain a healthy sleep-wake cycle and alleviate related \remotional problems in old age increasing outdoor time and diurnal bright \rlight exposure should be encouraged..
Citation - WoS: 8
Citation - Scopus: 10
Restorative Effects of Virtual Nature on the Emotional Well-being of Community-dwelling Older Adults
(GALENOS PUBL HOUSE, 2024) Kenan Eren Sansal; Ayse Candan Simsek; Selin Aktan; Fulya Ozbey; Ayca Paksoy; Ozbey, Fulya; Sımsek, Ayse Candan; Sansal, Kenan Eren; Aktan, Selin; Paksoy, Ayça
Objective: Given the loss of direct nature contact due to urbanisation and demonstrated psychological benefits of nature the question arises as to whether direct nature contact can be virtually substituted or supplemented in the elderly living in isolation from nature. Although a number of studies have demonstrated the restorative effects of virtual nature in old age their results are inconclusive and complicated by the novelty of virtual reality (VR) experience participants' nature connectedness and their previous nature contact. Therefore a study was conducted for increasing our limited understanding of the subject. Materials and Methods: Community-dwelling older adults living in highly urbanised areas of Turkey volunteered for the study. After excluding the ineligible volunteers and collecting information on sample characteristics 60 participants who were assigned to two study groups watched 6-minute 360 degrees videos of nature and urban settings on two separate occasions. On these occasions they reported on their affective states the restorativeness of the environments in those videos and their nature visit frequency. Results: VR experience was new and tolerable for the majority of the participants. Unlike the urban video the nature video significantly improved participants' affective states and was reported to be more restorative and favourable. Neither participants' nature connectedness nor their nature visit frequency which was found to be generally low did not have a moderating effect on the results. Conclusion: Virtual indirect contact with nature can be effectively used especially for those living in heavily urbanised areas to maintain or improve psychological well-being in old age.