Studies on Distress and Being Well
Principal Investigator at ZRC SAZU
Duška Knežević Hočevar, PhDProject Team
Lilijana Šprah, PhD, Majda Černič Istenič, PhD, Sanja Cukut Krilić, PhD, Anela Klemenc Bešo, Mateja Slovenc Grasselli, PhD, Dino Manzoni, Nataša Dernovšček Hafner, PhD-
Programme ID
P5-0439
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Duration
1 January 2023–31 December 2028 -
Lead Partner
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Financial Source
ARIS
Research programme ‘Studies on Distress and Being Well’ addresses experiencing and judging dimensions of life and health that are positive or negative, i.e., psychological wellbeings. The programme addresses current sociomedical issues that have been conducted in the past two decades by the research team at the Sociomedical Institute ZRC SAZU. These issues relate to the study of: the experience of illness and injury related to distress in different work environments; the design and implementation of psychoeducational programmes to strengthen mental health; the analysis of mental health services; the experience and treatment of distress in the adult population and, in particular, in some socially deprived groups (e.g., migrants) and the most at-risk occupational groups in terms of health (e.g., farmers and agricultural workers).
The study of psychological wellbeing is explicitly interdisciplinary, which is also an important feature of the programme’s research group which has been practicing and contrasting epistemologies, methodological approaches, and theories of psychology, medicine, sociology, and anthropology. In doing so, they face numerous challenges, from conceptualization and methodology to measurement. However, their initial stance is that there is not just one way to understand or track wellbeing, but there is a multiplicity of wellbeings, with preferred questions focusing on how people imagine, conceptualise, express, and experience their wellbeings in different social and cultural contexts.
The main objective of the programme is to combine the disciplinary diversity (epistemological and methodological) of the social sciences, humanities, and medicine in the field of distress and wellbeings of adult people. Distress and wellbeings of research participants are discussed within the framework of various theorisations of psychological wellbeings, considering biological as well as social, cultural, and environmental dimensions of distress related illnesses. Initially, the research team draws on concepts and constructs of mental health literacy and psychological wellbeings, social suffering, ordinary ethics, and the complex relationship between people’s agency and structural circumstances to better explain the impact of social, structural, cultural, and environmental changes on research participants’ distress and illness than is possible from existing health evidence alone.
The programme objective will be systematically addressed by the research team in six work packages (WP1-WP6), four of which are thematically focused. These include studies on the design and implementation of mental health strengthening programmes (WP2), studies on distress and wellbeings of people who farm (WP3) and immigrants (WP4), and the development and implementation of tools for monitoring indicators in the field of wellbeings and mental health strengthening (WP5).
The results of the programme include SCIENTIFIC WORK, such as articles published in national and international journals, book chapters, monographs and EVENTS. In the list below, the scientific work is listed chronologically (in descending order) by work package (WP); the most important events that bring the programme content to an interested audience are also listed chronologically.
WP2: STUDIES ON THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MENTAL HEALTH STRENGTHENING PROGRAMMES
Original scientific article
Manzoni, D. Kaj je travma?: od travme do posttravmatske stresne motnje (What is trauma?: From trauma to post-traumatic stress disorder). Problemi: revija za kulturo in družbena vprašanja. 2023, 61(1/2), pp. 133-163, 247-248, 253.
Independent scientific component part or a chapter in a monograph
Šprah, L., Dernovšček Hafner, N. Mental health literacy: a useful measure to promote early detection od mental disorders, reduce stigma and improve help-seeking behaviour. In: Hodun, M. (ed.), Sawicki, M. (ed.), Tęcza, M. (ed.). FundaMENTAL health: addressing mental health crisis in Europe. [Brussels]: European Liberal Forum EUPF, 2024, pp. 89-107. https://www.omra.si/media/2728/sprah_dernovscek_mental-health-literacy_a-useful-measure-to-promote-early-detection-of-mental-disorders-reduce-stigma-and-improve-help-seeking-behaviour.pdf.
Manzoni, D. Protislovja delegirane ljubezni (The contradictions of delegated love). In: Petrevski, D. (ed.), et al. Platforma 4: zbornik študentk in študentov Podiplomske šole ZRC SAZU. 1. Edition. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, Založba ZRC, 2024, pp. 34-67. DOI: 10.3986/9789610507734_02.
Handbook
WP3: STUDIES ON DISTRESS AND WELLBEINGS OF PEOPLE WHO FARM
Original scientific article
Knežević Hočevar, D. Farmer distress through ordinary ethics: "Abolish the social support and give us fairer prices!". L' Uomo: società tradizione sviluppo. 2024, 14(1), pp. 41-64. https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/uomo/article/view/19008/17964.
Černič Istenič, M. Work-life balance on a farm with young children in Slovenia. Agriculture and human values. 2024, pp.1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10611-1.
Becot, F., Černič Istenič, M., et al. New insights on the role of the farm household-farm operation interface in family farm persistence and a call for future research. Journal of Rural Studies. 2024, 112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103449.
Knežević Hočevar, D., Slovenc Grasselli, M. Farmers on the reasons for their embodied anxieties in post-1991 Slovenia. Anthropological notebooks. [Online ed.]. 2023, 29(2), pp. 101-127. https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/617/479, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10471596.
Šprah, L., Černič Istenič, M. Is there a need to monitor the health statistics of people who farm?. Anthropological notebooks. [Online ed.]. 2023, 29(2), pp. 128-163. https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/618/468, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10417582.
Review article
Nye, C., Knežević Hočevar, D., et al. Mental health, well-being and resilience in agricultural areas: a research agenda for the Global North. Journal of Rural Studies. [Online ed.]. Feb. 2025 [in progress], 114, [article no.] 103506. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016724003103, DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstur.2024.103506.
Independent scientific component part or a chapter in a monograph
Knežević Hočevar, D. Ko na kmetiji odpove telo (When the body fails on a farm). In: Šumi, I. (ed.), Urek, M. (ed.). Od dehumanizacije do diskriminacije: vztrajne socialne problematike v Sloveniji (From dehumanisation to discrimination: persistent social problematics in Slovenia). Ljubljana: Založba Univerze, 2024, pp. 177-212.
Guest editor
Anthropological notebooks. Knežević Hočevar, D. (editor of the thematic issue 2023). [Online ed.]. Ljubljana: Društvo antropologov Slovenije: = Slovene Anthropological Society, 1995-. http://www.drustvo-antropologov.si/anthropological_notebooks1.html.
Preface, editorial, afterword
Knežević Hočevar, D., Janssen, B. Living in contrasting agricultural worlds and yet experiencing similar anxieties. Anthropological notebooks. [Online ed.]. 2023, 29(2), pp. 1-13. https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/611/473, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10417734.
Doctoral Dissertation
Slovenc Grasselli, M. Etnografija moralnih ekonomij pri sodelovalnih odnosih med kmeti: doktorska disertacija = Ethnography of moral economies in cooperative relations between farmers: doctoral dissertation. Ljubljana: 2024. 1 spletni vir (1 datoteka PDF (VI, 166 str.)). Repozitorij Univerze v Ljubljani – RUL.
Other monographs and completed works
Šprah, L. Aktiven podeželan, aktivna podeželanka (Active rural man, active rural woman). Ljubljana: ZSPM; [San Bruno]: YouTube [distributer], 2023. 1 spletni vir (1 videodatoteka (13 min, 12 sek)). https://zspm.si/projekt-tera-enakost-spolov-na-podezelju/aktiven-podezelan-podezelanka/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx8Kn5EuOGo&t=600s.
WP4: RESEARCH ON DISTRESS AND WELLBEINGS OF MIGRANTS
Original scientific article
Cukut Krilić, S., Zavratnik, S. Uncertainties of temporary protection: forcibly displaced people from Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Global networks. Jan. 2025, 25(1). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/glob.12508, DOI: 10.1111/glob.12508.
Knežević Hočevar, D., Cukut Krilić, S. Managing the distress of migrant farmworkers: lessons learned from the Midwestern United States. Dve domovini: razprave o izseljenstvu. 2024, 60, pp. 115-135. http://twohomelands.zrc-sazu.si/uploads/articles/1722447142_TSA006_Kne%C5%BEevi%C4%87_Cukut.pdf, DOI: 10.3986/2024.2.07.
Cukut Krilić, S, Zavratnik, S. Structural vulnerabilities and (im)mobilities amidst the Covid-19 pandemic: people on the move along the Balkan Route, posted and agricultural workers. Central and Eastern European migration review. 2023, 12(2), pp. 15-31. http://www.ceemr.uw.edu.pl/sites/default/files/Cukut%20Krilic_Zawratnik_2023.pdf, DOI: 10.54667/ceemr.2023.04.
Review article
Manzoni, D., Šprah, L. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of refugees: a systematic literature review. Dve domovini: razprave o izseljenstvu. 2024, 60, pp. 21-47. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands/article/view/13872/12060, DOI: 10.3986/2024.2.03.
Independent scientific component part or a chapter in a monograph
Cukut Krilić, S., Vah Jevšnik, M. Rethinking health-related vulnerabilities of temporary migrant workers in agriculture and construction. In: Vah Jevšnik, M (ed.), Toplak, K. (ed.). Further discussions on labour mobility in the EU. 1. Edition. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2023, pp. 153-172. https://omp.zrc-sazu.si/zalozba/catalog/view/2084/8552/2204 DOI: 10.3986/9789610508021_07.
Vah Jevšnik, M., Cukut Krilić, S. A perfect storm: demographic ageing, severe healthcare staff stortages, and globalisation of healthcare labour markets. In: Vah Jevšnik, M. (ed.), Toplak, K. (ed.). Further discussions on labour mobility in the EU. 1. Edition. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2023, pp. 59-77. https://omp.zrc-sazu.si/zalozba/catalog/view/2084/8552/2207 DOI: 10.3986/9789610508021_03.
Guest editor
Dve domovini: razprave o izseljenstvu. Cukut Krilić, S. (guest editor 2024). Ljubljana: Inštitut za slovensko izseljenstvo: = Institute for Slovene Emigration Research, 1990-. http://twohomelands.zrc-sazu.si/sl/issues/items, https://www.dlib.si/results/?euapi=1&query=%27keywords%3ddve+domovini%27&pageSize=25&fformattypeserial=journal, http://www.sistory.si/11686/menu370.
Preface, editorial, afterword
Cukut Krilić, S. Mental health in the context of migration: introduction to the thematic section. Dve domovini: razprave o izseljenstvu. 2024, 60, pp. 15-19. http://twohomelands.zrc-sazu.si/uploads/articles/1722445327_TSA001_Cukut%20Krili%C4%87.pdf, DOI: 10.3986/2024.2.02.
WP5: RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TOOLS TO MONITOR INDICATORS IN THE FIELD OF WELLBEINGS AND STRENGTHENING OF MENTAL HEALTH
Dernovšček Hafner, N., Draksler, K., Dodič-Fikfak, M. Differences in depression and sick leave due to stress at work among unemployed workers, reemployed workers, and survivors after company restructuring. Research in social change. 2024, 16(1), pp. 27-46. https://sciendo.com/issue/RSC/14/1.
EVENTS
- Invited lecture. Knežević Hočevar, D. Some observations from a research visit to the USA, 9th Meeting of Young Farm Entrepreneurs, Šempeter v Savinjski Dolini, 27 February 2025.