Research Article
Mental Wellness Needs Among Staff at Machakos County Referral Hospital: A Cross‑Sectional Study
Issue:
Volume 15, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
37-45
Received:
27 January 2026
Accepted:
10 March 2026
Published:
22 July 2026
Abstract: Background: Healthcare workers are increasingly exposed to occupational stressors that predispose them to poor mental wellbeing and burnout, particularly in resource-constrained public health settings. Understanding staff mental wellness needs is essential for informing effective institutional wellness interventions. Objective: This study assessed the prevalence of work-related stress and burnout, coping mechanisms, utilization of mental health services, and staff perceptions regarding the need for a structured wellness program at Machakos County Referral Hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional online Survey was conducted among 182 clinical and non-clinical staff members. Data was collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, Self-reported stress frequency, mental wellbeing, Self-reported exhaustion experience, coping strategies, organizational support, awareness and utilization of mental health services, and preferred wellness interventions. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used for data analysis. Results: Work-related stress was highly prevalent, with 91.2% of respondents reporting feeling stressed at least sometimes. Self-reported exhaustion was nearly universal, reported by 93.4% of participants. Only 7.1% rated their mental wellbeing as excellent, while 20.3% rated it as poor or very poor. High workload, lack of support, and lack of recognition were the most cited contributors to burnout. Gender, age, employment type, job role, and years of service were not significantly associated with burnout (p > 0.05). Coping strategies were predominantly informal, including talking to colleagues, rest, and prayer, while professional mental health service utilization was low (15.4%), mainly due to confidentiality concerns and fear of stigma. Despite moderate awareness of available services (65.9%), utilization remained limited. A strong majority (92.9%) expressed the need for a structured staff wellness program, with stress management workshops and recreational activities being the most preferred interventions. Conclusion: There is a high burden of stress and self-reported exhaustion among staff at Machakos County Referral Hospital, coupled with low utilization of formal mental health services. Staff demonstrate strong readiness for structured wellness interventions. Institutional investment in comprehensive, confidential, and accessible staff wellness programs is urgently required to promote workforce wellbeing and sustain quality healthcare delivery.
Abstract: Background: Healthcare workers are increasingly exposed to occupational stressors that predispose them to poor mental wellbeing and burnout, particularly in resource-constrained public health settings. Understanding staff mental wellness needs is essential for informing effective institutional wellness interventions. Objective: This study assessed ...
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Research Article
Presence Without Attention: A Phenomenology of Distraction
Mohamed Zeinu Hassen*
Issue:
Volume 15, Issue 3, June 2026
Pages:
46-57
Received:
2 July 2026
Accepted:
11 July 2026
Published:
28 July 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.pbs.20261503.13
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Abstract: Contemporary discourse treats distraction almost exclusively as a deficit: a failure of attention, a moral lapse, a symptom of technological overreach. This article argues that such a framing forecloses a more interesting phenomenological question, namely what kind of presence distraction itself constitutes. Drawing on Husserl's account of intentionality, Heidegger's analysis of falling and average everydayness, and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body, I develop an account of distraction not as absence but as a distinct mode of being-present-to-the-world, what I call dispersed or ambient presence. I argue that the body sustains a field of practical involvement even when explicit attention has migrated elsewhere, and that this split between bodily presence and attentional focus is not an aberration of consciousness but one of its basic structural possibilities. The second half of the article situates this phenomenological account within the contemporary attention economy, drawing on Bernard Stiegler's theory of tertiary retention to explain why digital environments do not merely capture attention but reorganize the very structure of retention and protention that makes sustained presence possible. I conclude by considering the ethical and existential stakes of a world engineered to produce distraction as a permanent condition, and by proposing that the antidote is not simply more attention but a recovery of what I call thick presence: an integration of bodily, temporal, and intentional dimensions of experience that mere concentration cannot by itself restore.
Abstract: Contemporary discourse treats distraction almost exclusively as a deficit: a failure of attention, a moral lapse, a symptom of technological overreach. This article argues that such a framing forecloses a more interesting phenomenological question, namely what kind of presence distraction itself constitutes. Drawing on Husserl's account of intentio...
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