Quality of Life, Well-Being and Mental Health in the context of Physical Activity and Health

Submission Deadline: 28 February 2025 View: 139 Submit to Special Issue

Guest Editors

Dr. Iva Sklempe Kokic, Department of Biomedicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia

Dr. Tena Velki, Faculty of Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia

Dr. Ivana Duvnjak, Faculty of Kinesiology, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatiav

Summary

There are many definitions and concepts of quality of life and well-being in different disciplines and contexts such as public health, psychology, clinical medicine, social sciences, education, etc. While quality of life can be defined as an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value system in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns (WHO), the term is also closely interconnected with other terms such as well-being, life satisfaction and health, including mental, physical, social, and functional health. Quality of life in medicine applies to healthy lifestyle, and relation between health and disease. World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being”. The study of well-being is increasingly researched in the past few decades. This concept is investigated mostly within two perspectives – hedonic and eudaimonic. Hedonic perspective encompasses globally positive life evaluation, and positive over negative emotions. Eudaimonic perspective include various constructs such as self-determination, mastery, growth, relationships with others, and social integration. These perspectives showed useful in the context of exploring adaptation and protective factors in attaining positive functioning. Furthermore, it is known that regular physical activity and healthy lifestyle contribute to physical health indicators, positive mental health, and well-being in different populations, from childhood to older age.

Although much progress has been made in the interdisciplinary research on relationship between quality of life, well-being, mental health and lifestyle, sedentary behaviour and physical activity in recent years, many aspects remain unexplored. For instance, Covid-19 pandemic caused detrimental effects on mental health causing social isolation and physical inactivity. Long-term consequences of these processes are still unknown and unresearched. Likewise, there is still much to investigate regarding possible improvements of mental health and well-being of different populations (including children, elderly, athletes, caregivers and healthcare workers, individuals suffering from chronic disease, etc.) using different interventions in the domain of exercise science/kinesiology, psychology and education.

Therefore, we invite researchers from different fields to contribute to this special issue with their original research or review articles using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research methods. This issue focuses on quality of life, well-being and mental health in the context of physical activity and health, i.e. relationship and interconnections between these concepts as well as different interventions which aim to improve quality of life, well-being and mental health.

The topics of interest for the special issue include, but are not limited, the following:

· Association between quality of life, well-being and mental health with physical activity, exercise and lifestyle

· Psychological aspects of well-being and quality of life among different populations

· Impact of physical activity and lifestyle interventions on quality of life, well-being and mental health

· Quality of life and well-being among different populations, for example healthy populations such as children, athletes or caregivers and patients with chronic disease, children with disabilities or elderly

· Chronic disease effect on different aspects of quality of life, well-being and mental health and possible countermeasures

· Interventions for improving quality of life, well-being, and mental health in different populations

Keywords