Resilience Intervention for Families of Autistic Children:Reviewing the Literature

Given the rising diagnostic rates of autism, it is imperative to investigate the well-being of families with autistic children. Families of autistic children report more mental health difficulties than families of typically developing children. Resilience is identified as a key protective factor for mental health difficulties in many populations, and research suggests that this construct is effective for coping with mental health difficulties in families of autistic children. However, reviews on resilience interventions for families of autistic children are lacking. Accordingly, this paper aims to report (a) common mental health difficulties that families of autistic children experience, (b) how resilience may reduce mental health difficulties, (c) interventions to enhance resilience in families of autistic children, and (d) discuss implications for practice and future research. Our review identified that mental distress resulting from feelings of uncertainty and helplessness following a diagnosis, in addition to caregiving stressors, is especially common among families of autistic children. Enhancing resilience is suggested to reduce those difficulties by tapping into strengths related to various positive psychological resources such as internal locus of control, positive cognitive appraisal, acceptance and self-efficacy. Interventions such as Dance Movement Psychotherapy and spirituality-based approaches, are deemed especially helpful to families of autistic children. However, research in this area is still underdeveloped, and there is a pressing need to build a more rigorous evidence base. Findings reviewed in the current work can aid families of autistic children, healthcare practitioners, and researchers to support the mental wellbeing of families of autistic children, which in turn would support the wellbeing of autistic children

Comparing the Mental Health of Healthcare Students: Mental Health Shame and Self-compassion in Counselling, Occupational Therapy, Nursing and Social Work Students

Poor mental health of healthcare students is a cause for concern in many universities. Though previous research has identified mental health shame and self-compassion as critical in this student group, how these variables differ across different healthcare disciplines remains to be evaluated. Healthcare students (n = 344; counselling, occupational therapy, social work and nursing) completed measures regarding these variables. MANOVA and regression analyses were performed. (1) Counselling and nursing students were more depressed than occupational therapy students; (2) nursing students were more anxious than occupational therapy and social work students; (3) occupational therapy students had more positive attitudes towards mental health than the others; and (4) nursing students worried about their own reputation associated with their family more than counselling students. Self-compassion was the strongest predictor of mental health in all groups; however, the effect sizes varied: largest in nursing and smallest in social work students. Findings will help inform effective interventions for students in each healthcare discipline

Self-Compassion during COVID-19 in Non-WEIRD Countries: A Narrative Review

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted people’s mental health negatively worldwide, including in non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic) countries. Self-compassion, kindness and understanding towards oneself in difficult times have received increasing attention in the field of mental health. Self-compassion is strongly associated with good mental health in various populations. This narrative review aimed to synthesise the evidence on self-compassion and mental health in non-WEIRD countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. MEDLINE and PsycINFO were searched for empirical studies. Self-compassion was consistently associated with positive mental health in non-WEIRD countries too. However, how, and to what degree, each component of self-compassion impacts mental health remains to be evaluated across different cultures. Future research such as multi-national intervention studies, or component network meta-analysis, is needed to advance our understanding of how self-compassion improves mental health in different populations

Self-Compassion Interventions to Target Secondary Traumatic Stress in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review

Healthcare professionals’ wellbeing can be adversely affected by the intense demands of, and the secondary traumatic stress associated with, their job. Self-compassion is associated with positive wellbeing outcomes across a variety of workforce populations and is potentially an important skill for healthcare workers, as it offers a way of meeting one’s own distress with kindness and understanding. This systematic review aimed to synthesise and evaluate the utility of self-compassion interventions in reducing secondary traumatic stress in a healthcare worker population. Eligible articles were identified from research databases, including ProQuest, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and EBSCO. The quality of non-randomised and randomised trials was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. The literature search yielded 234 titles, from which 6 studies met the inclusion criteria. Four studies reported promising effects of self-compassion training for secondary traumatic stress in a healthcare population, although these did not use controls. The methodological quality of these studies was medium. This highlights a research gap in this area. Three of these four studies recruited workers from Western countries and one recruited from a non-Western country. The Professional Quality of Life Scale was used to evaluate secondary traumatic stress in all studies. The findings show preliminary evidence that self-compassion training may improve secondary traumatic stress in healthcare professional populations; however, there is a need for greater methodological quality in this field and controlled trials. The findings also show that the majority of research was conducted in Western countries. Future research should focus on a broader range of geographical locations to include non-Western countries

A Narrative Review of Compassion Focused Therapy on Positive Mental Health Outcomes

Background: Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) has been attracting attention in mental health practice and research. CFT is effective in reducing a variety of negative mental health symptoms. Positive mental health (PMH) focuses on an individual’s functioning, quality of life, and well-being, aiming to achieve fulfilment. A need for PMH has been increasingly recognised such as national policies incorporating recovery-oriented approaches. However, how effective CFT is for PMH outcomes remains to be investigated. This narrative review aimed to identify the literature that reports evidence on CFT used against PMH outcomes. Methods: Our research questions (RQs) were as follows: RQ1. What PMH outcomes are targeted in CFT intervention research? RQ2. Is CFT effective for PMH?” Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO were searched on the Ovid platform. All studies that mentioned “compassion focused therapy” and “compassion-focused therapy” were searched. Results: Sixteen RCTs were included published since 2012. Nine studies were from Europe, four from Asia, two from Northern America, and one from Australia and New Zealand. CFT was used for diverse PMH outcomes, and the effects were overall positive. Self-compassion and compassion were the most frequently evaluated outcomes. Conclusions: The mechanism of action for CFT on PMH needs to be evaluated. CFT can be used as part of personal recovery in mental health. More evidence from non-WEIRD countries including LMICs is needed

Investigating the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of optimism, and examining changes in them using positive psychology interventions.

Optimism has a multitude of benefits to individuals in the domains of physical health (Räikkönen & Chirag, 2019); it has also been associated with better performance, socially and academically (Solberg Nes, Evans, & Segerstrom, 2009), decreased stress and less likelihood to burnout (Chang, 2000), better mood, coping and stronger immunity in response to stress (Segerstorm, 1998), and increased problem solving (Chang, 1996). Currently, optimism has been defined in two main ways. Firstly, it has been defined as 'the global generalising tendency to believe that one will generally experience good versus bad outcomes in life' (Scheier & Carver, 1985; p.219). This suggests that optimists look on the bright side of life, whereas pessimists believe that if something can go wrong for them, it will. Secondly, optimism is conceptualised as a positive explanatory style; it concerns how they explain the event to themselves, either positive or negative. This optimistic or pessimistic thinking is reinforced daily through how we explain things to ourselves, relating to why good or bad things happen to us (Seligman, 2005). In the main, explicit measures have been used to measure optimism; however, explicit measures may be susceptible to several biases, such as social desirability. Implicit measures have been suggested to be able to overcome these biases (Greenwald, 1998). In this thesis, an implicit measure was created and assessed to overcome these biases. These implicit measures were compared to explicit measures to investigate how well they correlated. This thesis has three main aims; (a) to create an optimism implicit association test (IAT) to investigate the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of optimism. (b) to investigate the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of optimism, including associated changes when using positive psychology interventions. (c) to investigate if optimism is changeable over time. To address these aims, within the thesis, three studies and a systematic review were employed. Study 1 aimed to create a valid and reliable optimism implicit association task (IAT) and to also investigate the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of optimism. The study examined the relationship between implicit Visual Probe Task (VPT), IAT and explicit Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R). The findings in study 1 showed promising results for the reliability and validity of the IAT. However, no relationship was found between implicit and explicit optimism measures. Study 2 examined the factor structure of optimism, within both the optimism IAT and explicit questionnaire measures. The findings suggested that implicit and explicit optimism were separate factors and therefore, could be considered separate dimensions. A systematic review and meta-analysis explored optimism and positive psychology interventions in the workplace (using the PRISMA checklist). The systematic review revealed three studies that investigated randomised controlled trials (RCT) and whether positive psychology interventions (PPIs) increase optimism in the workplace. The meta-analysis found good homogeneity and a small to medium effect on optimism. This suggests that optimism in the workplace is malleable through PPIs. Study 3 used a pilot RCT to examine whether PPIs can change the implicit and explicit optimism. A working population were randomly assigned to kindness to self, kindness to others or control group. The findings suggest a preliminary effectiveness at increasing optimism. The overall conclusion from the three studies and systematic review suggested that optimism and pessimism are separate two-dimensional constructs. Additionally, the findings suggest that implicit and explicit measures are also separate constructs. Finally, the acts of kindness to self and others positive psychology interventions show potential to increase implicit and explicit optimism, and optimism is changeable over time.N/

Positive Psychology Interventions to increase self-esteem, self-efficacy, confidence, and decrease anxiety among students with dyslexia: A narrative review

Dyslexia is classed as a neurobiological difficulty and is referred to as a Specific Learning Disability (SPLD) that primarily affects reading, writing, working memory (WM), and organisational skills. Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have been found to increase self-esteem, self-efficacy, and confidence and lower anxiety among students with dyslexia. Therefore, to summarise the current evidence on PPIs, a narrative review was undertaken. The review synthesised the findings from six studies that investigated PPIs for dyslexic individuals across various education settings. Four key themes emerged: (1) characteristics and effectiveness of PPIs, (2) level of education, (3) gender differences, and (4) PPIs differences in Western and Eastern countries. The analysis revealed that group interventions in secondary schools positively impacted self-esteem and social skills among dyslexic pupils, while the efficacy of sunflower therapy for dyslexic children showed inconclusive results on academic performance but potential psychological benefits. Socioemotional wellbeing programmes for dyslexic children yielded mixed outcomes, with temporary increases in self-esteem post-programme. Mindfulness meditation demonstrated promise in improving reading accuracy and attention functions in adults with dyslexia. Positive psychology group interventions effectively enhanced subjective wellbeing, academic self-concept, and achievement among dyslexic children. Early interventions showed promise in improving coping strategies, perceived control, and overall wellbeing among students with dyslexia. This review highlights the potential benefits of diverse interventions across different educational settings, emphasising the importance of early support and targeted interventions for individuals with dyslexia