Dr. Claudia Menzel / Siân de Bell / Julius Cesar Alejandre

Human health is closely linked to the environment. Drug pollution in water and soil as well as the positive effects of spending time in nature on people's physical, mental and social health illustrate this. In some countries, such as the UK, so-called "nature-based social prescribing" has been established, whereby doctors can prescribe activities in nature that vary according to need. Initial studies show the effectiveness of these measures.

In order to promote the implementation of such programs in other countries, young scientists from the UK and Germany have developed a bi-national workshop. This workshop, funded by the British Council, aimed to identify opportunities and barriers for the introduction of nature-based social prescribing in different contexts. In order to make further progress and establish such a program in Germany, experts from health, environment and politics were invited to a 1.5-day workshop to discuss scientific background and best practice examples. Five relevant areas for implementation were identified: Capacity building, universal access, cross-cutting networks, standardized implementation for evaluation and sustainable promotion. Overall, nature-based social prescribing serves to improve public health and thus reduce healthcare costs. The workshop results were published in Environment International[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024003878] and presented at the House of Lords, Westminster, in July 2023.

JProf. Dr. Selma Rudert

Have you ever wondered why we are never really happy on our own? Why we are so strongly influenced by others in our decisions and judgments? Or why people sometimes do the most stupid things in groups, even though we would have expected individuals to be much more rational? Social psychologists ask themselves these and similar questions - and find exciting answers.
The "Forschung erleben" portal was created to discuss these questions and answers not only in the proverbial "ivory tower" of science, but also to make them accessible to a wide audience. The editorial team, consisting of researchers from several universities in German-speaking countries, publishes a short article every two weeks ("Did you know ...?!"). These articles each take up a topic from the current research literature and present it in an exciting and generally understandable way, with the aim of getting as many people as possible interested in social psychology.

http://www.forschung-erleben.de/

Raphael Gutzweiler, Simone Pfeiffer & Prof. Dr. Tina In-Albon

Mental health is an important social challenge. This is particularly true with regard to the prevention of mental health problems in children and young people. For this target group, skills in dealing with feelings and emotional competence are a key factor in mental health. The Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence working group has therefore developed a modularized prevention programme on the subject of emotional competence. As part of a cooperation project with regional schools, the program has been implemented since 2014 by Bachelor's students of psychology under the supervision of a lecturer in primary and secondary schools. The content is defined and prepared in consultation with the schools using age-appropriate, evaluated materials and measures. In 2017, 12 schools with 57 classes and a total of around 1,200 pupils in grades 1 to 10 took part in the project.
In the meantime, awareness of the project has increased thanks to cooperation with the resilience initiative of the Pfalzklinikum Klingenmünster and five Lions Clubs in the Vorderpfalz region. The latter have also made a scientific evaluation of the project possible through their financial support.

An article about this on Deutschlandfunk radio

The term "alternative facts" was first used by Kellyanne Conways, an advisor to the US President, in January 2017. The term quickly became synonymous with a culture of political debate in which the differences between objective facts and subjective assessments become blurred.
Psychological research can make a contribution to understanding the spread and acceptance of "alternative facts". Junior professor Dr. Tobias Rothmund and Prof. Dr. Mario Gollwitzer have spent a total of five years empirically investigating the influence of individual motivations on the processing of evidence-based information. The social debate surrounding "alternative facts" presented an opportunity to illustrate the psychological phenomenon of motivated handling of scientific evidence using this current topic. In September 2017, a corresponding press release was sent out by the German Society for Psychology (DGPs). The explanations were subsequently taken up by the press, radio and TV and expanded upon in interviews (e.g. Tagesthemen, Deutschlandfunk) and reports (e.g. Die Zeit). In times of polemicizing currents, it is even more important to counter these scientific findings and make them accessible to a broad public.

"Interview in the ARD Mediathek LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE!

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Reese

Science is not (always) abstract and bone-dry. It can also be entertaining and made very tangible - for example through a "science slam" Short and concise scientific lectures are presented in a relaxed evening setting and thus reach target groups beyond science and also far from the usual media in which environmental topics are usually dealt with (e.g. magazines, weekly newspapers). Prof. Dr. Gerhard Reese also relies on this form of knowledge transfer. Through a humorous and ironic approach to scientific topics, environmental psychological research becomes understandable for a wider audience and is remembered. Irony is an indispensable ingredient: the starting point of his contribution "A heart for climate change" is the idea that climate change also has very good aspects (bathing at the North Pole, a life without dangerous polar bears, ...) but is prevented by various actors. The audience should therefore be put in a position to contribute to less environmental protection - all underpinned by the results of psychological research. The scientific findings are also anchored in socio-political terms and their necessity for ensuring a polar bear-free future is explained.

Video of his presentation at the #59 Science Slam Berlin

Prof. Dr. Michaela Maier

The "TV duel" can be considered the most significant single event during the 2017 Bundestag election campaign. As a distinct format, the TV duel is an outstanding opportunity for academics to learn more about election campaigns and how they are received. This is not the first time that Prof. Dr. Michaela Maier's team at the Landau campus has recorded the real-time reactions of recipients during such a debate and supplemented them with quasi-experimental panel surveys. As a major event, the TV debate regularly attracts a great deal of media attention. The associated press work and media coverage of the project "Televised Debates: Das TV-Duell 2017" reached a large audience through regional and national print and broadcast media (ARD, ZDF, SWR, Phoenix, etc.). The reports on this study and its initial results were integrated into the daily reporting on the TV duel. The results of the study thus became part of the media and political discourse surrounding the TV duel. Using the example of the apparatus used to measure real-time reactions, social science research was illustrated well and gave the audience a clear insight into scientific processes.

Prof. Dr. Melanie Steffens

Planet Wissen (ARD-alpha) is one of the major series on German television that attempts to communicate science to a wide audience in an understandable way. In the program "Prejudices: Wie sie unser Leben bestimmen" (08.09.2017; 58:36 min.), Prof. Dr. Melanie Steffens was also invited to the studio as an expert. In addition to basic knowledge on the topic, she discussed some examples of her own research, including how language helps to perpetuate prejudices and how prejudices can be reduced without arousing resistance among the target group. Such a contribution can promote insight into the circumstances in which our impressions and decisions about other people can be shaped by prejudice and how this influence can be reduced.

The program can be viewed here.

Nadine Knab, M.Sc.

Wissenschaft & Frieden is an interdisciplinary journal for peace research, peace policy and the peace movement. It has been published since 1983 and covers peace policy topics from various academic disciplines. Experts address topics such as ways and means of civil conflict resolution and respect for human rights. Contributions take a position on the responsibility of science for social processes from the perspectives of natural science, political science, social science and psychology. Nadine Knab has been a member of the editorial team for the Forum Friedenspsychologie e.V. (co-editor) since summer 2015. She creates magazine concepts (e.g. 2-2017 Flight and Conflict) or writes her own articles.

The established Rhineland-Palatinate project "Reading newspapers makes trainees fit!" (ZeiLe) was carried out for the tenth time in the 2016/2017 project year. Over 10,000 trainees have already taken part. ZeiLe examines the development of trainees' knowledge and skills in a quasi-experimental design. To this end, the trainees are divided into two groups. Trainees in the experimental group read the regional daily newspaper every day and answer questions about the content of the daily newspaper at intervals of several weeks. Trainees in the control group do not do this. At the beginning and end of the training year, both groups answer extensive knowledge and competence tests. By comparing the measurement results over time and between the control and experimental groups, the effects of media reception on knowledge can be quantified. The project results have been regularly communicated in the daily press for over 10 years and were presented in summer 2017 at a high-profile congress in Mainz with over 100 multipliers from politics, business and society.

Prof. Dr. Annette Schröder/Dr. Alexandra Zaby

The non-profit association "Deutsches Bündnis gegen Depression e.V." (German Alliance against Depression), under the umbrella of the German Depression Aid Foundation, aims to improve the health situation of depressed people, increase knowledge about the illness among the population and prevent suicides. Numerous cities and municipalities have joined the alliance and are involved at a local level, including Landau and the Südliche Weinstraße.
In recent years, the Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Adulthood working group, together with the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic, has addressed the topic of mental health to interested citizens at various events using information stands. As cooperation partners of the alliance, they are also active in numerous lecture rounds (e.g. in the Haus der Familie, at Caritas, etc.) and smaller meetings with interested parties, those affected or their relatives. "The alliance (...), which has been in existence for 5 years, makes a significant contribution to informing the public on the subject of depression. A key factor is the extensive networking of different service providers in the field of depression care with those affected, relatives and interested volunteers. A wide range of information campaigns have helped to reduce people's fear of the subject of depression. (...)" ("An alliance against depression". p. 11)

Bündnis gegen Depression Landau-Südliche Weinstraße e.V.

Depressive disorders are one of the most common mental illnesses. In addition to improving psychotherapeutic care and strengthening prevention, there is an increasing focus on activating elements such as sport and exercise training, particularly for mild and moderate depressive disorders.
In the pilot project "Der Depression Beine machen!" ("Getting Depression on its feet!") initiated by the Rhineland-Palatinate Chamber of Psychotherapists, depressive patients were approached and given therapeutic support over a period of one year during weekly running training. Running groups for people with depression have been tested at three locations in Koblenz, Mainz and Landau since fall 2015 (with a focus on 2016). Each group was supported by a sports specialist and a psychotherapist (Dr. Jens Heider in Landau). The project was scientifically monitored and evaluated by the Center for Empirical Pedagogical Research at the University of Koblenz-Landau.
The pilot project received a great deal of media attention both regionally and nationally in 2016 and 2017(see here, for example).