Telework Support Method to Reduce Loneliness by Improving Interpersonal Trust Using Well-Being Values
摘要
Designing environments that maintain and improve well-being is becoming increasingly emphasized for work and educational settings. While working styles have become more flexible due to reforms centering on telework in the post-COVID-19 era, workers struggle with issues such as difficulty in building interpersonal trust and an accompanying increase in loneliness. In addition, previous research has shown that there is a negative correlation between interpersonal trust and loneliness. However, sharing one’s values out loud can help people to better understand others’ personalities, thereby improving interpersonal trust. In this study, we propose a method for group members to explicitly share their values with each other and engage Conversing about each other’s values using “Cards for Collective Wellbeing,” a tool that promotes conversation through reflecting on one’s own well-being. To evaluate the proposed method, we conducted remote group work with university students under three conditions: not using cards (condition 1), sharing the selected cards with the group (condition 2), and sharing the selected cards followed by explaining the reason for choosing three cards and exchanging comments (condition 3). After the group work, we administered questionnaires regarding their impressions of other members, interpersonal trust, and loneliness. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in interpersonal trust and reduction in loneliness between condition 1 and condition 3. Moreover, a moderate negative correlation was found between loneliness and participants’ impressions of others. These findings suggest that explicitly sharing values through the proposed method may enhance one’s understanding of others and reduce loneliness. In the future, we plan to improve this method and conduct further verification in more realistic settings, with the aim of more effectively addressing loneliness.