The level and determinants of well-being among Polish economic migrants in Scotland - testing the Sustainable Happiness Model; a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study

Background: The available research on economic migration suggested that immigrants may be less happy than the indigenous populations. It was found that relatively stable dispositional factors such as optimism, and cognitive-behavioural factors such as income did not play an important role. Although useful, these studies did not examine a comprehensive range of predictors and most were not theoretically based. Furthermore all were based on quantitative designs and thus were unable to explain the relationship between these factors and well-being. Indeed, no qualitative studies have been conducted in the area of research. Aims: The aims of this study were to identify the level and determinants of well-being among Polish economic migrants living in Scotland, using a comprehensive range of predictors; to establish the extent to which the findings are supported by theory - the Sustainable Happiness Model (SHM) - and to provide greater insight into how factors have affected immigrants' well-being.Research Design & Methods: A sequential mixed-methods design was used in which the qualitative phase explains quantitative results in more detail. in the first phase, 188 participants selected by a combination of snowball sampling and advertising, completed questionnaires which were analysed by means of univariate and multivariate statistics. The second phase included semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 17 participants. The interviewees were selected using purposive sampling in the form of extreme case sampling, on the basis of the high/low scores on the predictors identified in the quantitative analysis. Transcripts of interviews were analysed by a thematic analysis. Results: Participants reported high levels of well-being. An earlier age at migration, good health and a proficient level of English predicted high well-being levels. The greater use of emotion-focussed coping, problem-focussed coping, higher social support, religiousness and tendency to make downward social comparisons, all predicted higher well-being levels. Emotion-focussed coping was the strongest predictor of all examined factors. Cognitive-behavioural and circumstantial factors accounted for more variance in well-being than personality, which contradicts the SHM that personality accounts for most variance in well-being. The qualitative study suggested that immigrants' adjustment process to a new country, their cultural values and the socio-economic background in their home country may explain such findings.Conclusions: The present findings contribute to the literature on economic migrants' mental health, in demonstrating that despite facing adaptation challenges and acculturative stress, migrants are capable of being happy. The findings demonstrate that emotion-focussed coping can be more adaptive than problem-focussed coping for immigrants who face difficult to change, adverse circumstances. The findings in relation to age at migration, perceived health status and language proficiency making a direct contribution to well-being, build on the previous research, which concluded that circumstantial factors have a minor impact on immigrants' well-being. The findings indicate the SHM, that was based on studies conducted on general populations from Western, rich, individualistic countries, may not be applicable to migrant populations from non-Western, collectivist cultures. A new well-being model is proposed which posits that well-being is explained mostly by cognitive-behavioural factors and circumstances. The study encourages future research to test the revised model across diverse populations. The study encourages future research to test the revised model across diverse populations. The study recommends the use of self-help cognitive-behavioural techniques to help maintain high well-being levels among immigrations

The level and determinants of well-being among Polish economic migrants in Scotland - testing the Sustainable Happiness Model; a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study

Background: The available research on economic migration suggested that immigrants may be less happy than the indigenous populations. It was found that relatively stable dispositional factors such as optimism, and cognitive-behavioural factors such as income did not play an important role. Although useful, these studies did not examine a comprehensive range of predictors and most were not theoretically based. Furthermore all were based on quantitative designs and thus were unable to explain the relationship between these factors and well-being. Indeed, no qualitative studies have been conducted in the area of research. Aims: The aims of this study were to identify the level and determinants of well-being among Polish economic migrants living in Scotland, using a comprehensive range of predictors; to establish the extent to which the findings are supported by theory - the Sustainable Happiness Model (SHM) - and to provide greater insight into how factors have affected immigrants' well-being.Research Design & Methods: A sequential mixed-methods design was used in which the qualitative phase explains quantitative results in more detail. in the first phase, 188 participants selected by a combination of snowball sampling and advertising, completed questionnaires which were analysed by means of univariate and multivariate statistics. The second phase included semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 17 participants. The interviewees were selected using purposive sampling in the form of extreme case sampling, on the basis of the high/low scores on the predictors identified in the quantitative analysis. Transcripts of interviews were analysed by a thematic analysis. Results: Participants reported high levels of well-being. An earlier age at migration, good health and a proficient level of English predicted high well-being levels. The greater use of emotion-focussed coping, problem-focussed coping, higher social support, religiousness and tendency to make downward social comparisons, all predicted higher well-being levels. Emotion-focussed coping was the strongest predictor of all examined factors. Cognitive-behavioural and circumstantial factors accounted for more variance in well-being than personality, which contradicts the SHM that personality accounts for most variance in well-being. The qualitative study suggested that immigrants' adjustment process to a new country, their cultural values and the socio-economic background in their home country may explain such findings.Conclusions: The present findings contribute to the literature on economic migrants' mental health, in demonstrating that despite facing adaptation challenges and acculturative stress, migrants are capable of being happy. The findings demonstrate that emotion-focussed coping can be more adaptive than problem-focussed coping for immigrants who face difficult to change, adverse circumstances. The findings in relation to age at migration, perceived health status and language proficiency making a direct contribution to well-being, build on the previous research, which concluded that circumstantial factors have a minor impact on immigrants' well-being. The findings indicate the SHM, that was based on studies conducted on general populations from Western, rich, individualistic countries, may not be applicable to migrant populations from non-Western, collectivist cultures. A new well-being model is proposed which posits that well-being is explained mostly by cognitive-behavioural factors and circumstances. The study encourages future research to test the revised model across diverse populations. The study encourages future research to test the revised model across diverse populations. The study recommends the use of self-help cognitive-behavioural techniques to help maintain high well-being levels among immigrations

Determinants of psychological distress in teenagers and young adults affected by cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. [Protocol]

The objective of this systematic review is to look at the key determinants of psychological distress in teenagers and young adults (TYAs) affected by cancer. Sources to be searched are MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE and PsycARTICLES. Any quantitative studies that assess the association among different factors (including individual and contextual types of factors commonly explored in the available literature in the subject area) with psychological distress will be included e.g. cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Participants will be teenagers and young adults (TYA) a) aged 13-24 years at cancer diagnosis (in line with Teenage Cancer Trust’s definition b) at any stage of cancer, c) diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or/and PTSD or reported depressive/anxiety/PTSD symptomatology (on a validated self-report or clinician measure)

The Determinants of Well-being among Polish Economic Immigrants. Testing The Sustainable Happiness Model in Migrant Population

Economic migration has increased dramatically over the past decades, yet, still little is known about the well-being of economic migrants. Most studies focus on the poor mental health of migrants. The few studies that examine well-being do not include a comprehensive range of predictors. They focus mostly on socio-economic factors and a limited number of cognitive-behavioural factors. Furthermore, most research is not theoretically based. The present study aims to (1) examine a comprehensive range of determinants of well-being (i.e. circumstantial, cognitive-behavioural and personality) among economic migrants; (2) establish the extent to which the findings are supported by an integrative theory of well-being—the Sustainable Happiness Model (SHM). A total of 188 Polish immigrants living in Scotland took part in the study. Participants completed a survey on well-being and potential predictors: circumstantial factors (e.g. socio-demographics), cognitive-behavioural factors (e.g. coping strategies) and personality. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics, multiple and hierarchical regression. The results indicated that cognitive-behavioural factors account for most variance in well-being and personality explains the least variance. This contradicts the SHM which posits that well-being is mostly accounted for by the set-point. It was argued that the SHM, largely based on studies conducted on non-migrant populations in developed countries, may not be applicable in its current form to economic migrant populations or non-western cultures. A modified model is proposed to explain well-being of migrant populations and non-western, more collectivistic societies. The study highlights the importance of addressing migrants’ adverse circumstances to help maintain well-being

Positive changes and appreciation of life among economic immigrants in Scotland.

Objectives: Existing qualitative studies focussed predominantly on exploring immigrants’ stress, distress and coping aimed at reducing stress. Little attention has been paid to immigrants’ psychological growth or positive life changes. In the present study the impact of post-migration experiences on well-being among economic immigrants has been explored. Design: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 17 immigrants. Transcripts were analysed by a deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Results: All immigrants reported positive life changes as a result of migration. Experiences related to migration helped immigrants rebuild their sense of self-worth and find ‘mental peace’ after living a demanding and burdensome life in Poland. Immigrants’ accounts also suggested that their thinking and behaviour patterns may be shaped by their cultural values and socio-economic background. Conclusion: Overall, the study indicates that migration is not merely a stressful life event but can have a positive impact on many aspects of immigrants’ lives and may provide opportunities for personal growt

Is Population Density Associated with Non-Communicable Disease in Western Developed Countries? A Systematic Review

Over the last three decades, researchers have investigated population density and health outcomes at differing scale. There has not been a systematic review conducted in order to synthesise this evidence. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) guidelines, we systematically reviewed quantitative evidence published since 1990 on population density and non-communicable disease (NCD) within Westernised countries. Fifty-four studies met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated utilising a quality assessment tool for ecological studies. High population density appears to be associated with higher mortality rates of a range of cancers, cardiovascular disease and COPD, and a higher incidence of a range of cancers, asthma and club foot. In contrast, diabetes incidence was found to be associated with low population density. High and low population density are therefore risk markers for a range of NCDs, indicating that there are unidentified factors and mechanisms underlying aetiology. On closer examination, our synthesis revealed important and complex relationships between population density, the built environment, the nature of greenspace and man-made exposures. In light of increasing rates of morbidity and mortality, future research is required to investigate these associations in order to establish causative agents for each NCD

The Determinants of Well-Being Among International Economic Immigrants: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Over the past decades migration has increased dramatically. Most of the scientific literature on immigrant mental health has focussed on stress, distress and mental illness. Less attention has been paid to positive aspects in particular mental well-being. The existing studies among immigrants who move for economic, educational or personal reasons have not been systematically reviewed and analysed to provide an overview of the factors which may affect their subjective well-being. Further, we do not know the extent to which the existing integrative theory of well-being, the Theory of Sustainable Happiness (Lyobumirsky et al. in Review of General Psychology 9:111–131, 2005) derived from research on general population is substantiated by research conducted with immigrants. To address these gaps we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the determinants of well-being among international immigrants. Overall 11 studies met inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. The analyses revealed that social support and dispositional factors (e.g. optimism, self-esteem) are strongly related to well-being whilst circumstantial factors such as income or duration of migration have weak and nonsignificant relationship with it. The findings are consistent with the Theory of Sustainable Happiness (2005) which suggests that circumstantial factors account for much less variance of well-being than dispositional factors because people tend to adapt to their circumstances. The study highlights the critical role of social support and intrapersonal factors in promoting and sustaining well-being of immigrants