The Holistic Life-Crafting Model: a systematic literature review of meaning-making behaviors

Pursuing meaningful life experiences is vital for wellbeing and health. Crafting strategies, such as job crafting and work-life balance crafting, have been developed to create meaning in specific life domains. However, these strategies share common underlying behaviors that transcend specific contexts. Building on this understanding, we propose a comprehensive “holistic life-crafting” approach that integrates overlapping behaviors from various crafting strategies. This study aims to clarify the theoretical conceptualization of life-crafting by identifying common strategies and behaviors underlying different meaning-making crafting approaches. Through a systematic literature search of six databases between January and April 2022, we identified 16,479 published records. Using predefined inclusion–exclusion criteria, 51 records (reflecting five crafting approaches, resulting in 223 different crafting behaviors) remained. Through content analysis, we grouped these behaviors into seven broader crafting strategies, forming the “holistic life-crafting” approach. Findings suggest that life-crafting is a holistic, continuous process of proactive meaning-making by intentionally balancing life demands with available resources and altering life’s cognitive, environmental, interest, relational, skill, and task-related aspects to promote personal growth and wellbeing. The holistic approach encompasses cognitive, environmental, interest, relational, resources-demands, skill, and task crafting strategies. This framework provides a comprehensive understanding of how individuals can actively shape their lives to promote more meaningful life experiences across different domains.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO, identifier CRD42022333930

Gratitude in the Time of the Coronavirus:A Thematic Analysis of the Three Good Things in Young Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the daily lives of college students, resulting in elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and isolation. Research suggests positive psychology interventions aimed at practicing gratitude, offer potential benefits in reducing these common mental health problems. However, there is a limited understanding of how or why these interventions work nor what function gratitude plays in the lives of young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the purpose of the paper was to explore the sources and targets of gratitude of college students during the COVID-10 lockdown in Ireland. This study aimed analyse the content of the ‘Three Good Things’ intervention as reported by young adults during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Ireland. A total of 109 college students participated in a 7-day online ‘Three Good Things’ intervention, where they were prompted to reflect on and document three positive experiences each day. Participants were asked to elaborate on how these experiences made them feel and to highlight their role in facilitating these positive experiences. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the 2,200 submitted responses. The findings revealed three overarching themes relating to participants’ expressions of gratitude during the COVID-19 lockdown: (1) cultivating positive social interactions, (2) prioritizing meaningful self-care, and (3) fostering hope for a more normal life post-pandemic. By delving into the lived experiences of college students, this study sheds light on the elements central to their expressions of gratitude during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings underscore the importance of social connections, self-care practices, and hopeful prospects as sources of gratitude among students.</p

Advancing knowledge and evidence-based practice in industrial and organisational psychology: a review of a decade of scholarly publications (2004-2013) in the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology.

Industrial and Organisational Psycholog

Perspectives of female leaders on sense of coherence and mental health in an engineering environment

Orientation: Positive organisational behaviour impacts strongly on various individual and work-related outcomes. Gender perspectives in this paradigm have not yet been comprehensively researched. Research purpose: This article explores female perspectives on mental health and sense of coherence. The aim is to promote an understanding of gender-related subjective perceptions on mental health and sense of coherence from an emic perspective. Motivation for the study: Limited research exists regarding the perceptions of positive leadership behaviour of female leaders within South African who experience unique challenges within the business environment and remain healthy at the same time. Research design, approach and method: Data from a mixed-method research study are presented, thereby providing insights into quantitative and in-depth qualitative empirical data from 15 female leaders. The study followed a single, embedded case study approach. Main findings: The main findings show that sense of coherence, mental health and gender awareness are connected. Female leaders with a high sense of coherence refer to gender in a positive or neutral way in a male-dominated work environment. The results emphasise individual and social health-promoting strategies in an organisation and the way personal life orientation contributes to individual (mental) health. Practical/managerial implications: Organisations need to focus more on promoting mental health in terms of gender and gender-related positive psychology frames. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the literature on gender within the positive organisational behaviour paradigm, presents recommendations for future research and highlights the practical implications for organisations

Perceptions of the targets and sources of COVID-19 threat are structured by group memberships and responses are influenced by identification with humankind

This research was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation awarded to RvD, NMJ, and JAH (DI 848/15-1 and HA 6455/4-1). Data collection for this study was supported by a grant from the association of friends and supporters (Freunde & Förderer) at Goethe University.The purpose of this study was to investigate which social groups are perceived as a threat target and which are perceived as a threat source during the COVID-19 outbreak. In a German sample (N = 1454) we examined perceptions of social groups ranging from those that are psychologically close and smaller (family, friends, neighbors) to those that are more distal and larger (people living in Germany, humankind). We hypothesized that psychologically closer groups would be perceived as less affected by COVID-19 as well as less threatening than more psychologically distal groups. Based on social identity theorizing, we also hypothesized that stronger identification with humankind would change these patterns. Furthermore, we explored how these threat perceptions relate to adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines. In line with our hypotheses, latent random-slope modelling revealed that psychologically distal and larger groups were perceived as more affected by COVID-19 and as more threatening than psychologically closer and smaller groups. Including identification with humankind as a predictor into the threat target model resulted in a steeper increase in threat target perception patterns, whereas identification with humankind did not predict differences in threat source perceptions. Additionally, an increase in threat source perceptions across social groups was associated with more adherence to health guidelines, whereas an increase in threat target perceptions was not. We fully replicated these findings in a subgroup from the original sample (N = 989) four weeks later. We argue that societal recovery from this and other crises will be supported by an inclusive approach informed by a sense of our common identity as human beings.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A trouble shared is a trouble halved : the role of family identification and identification with humankind in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

This research was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation awarded to RvD, NMJ, and JAH (DI 848/15-1 and HA 6455/4-1). The data collection for this study was supported by a grant from the association of friends and supporters (Freunde & Förderer) at Goethe University.The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health-related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples’ mental and physical health. Contextual factors such as living in a high-risk area might further increase the risk of health deterioration. Based on the Social Identity Approach, we argue that social identities can not only be local that are characterized by social interactions, but also be global that are characterized by a symbolic sense of togetherness and that both of these can be a basis for health. In line with these ideas, we tested how identification with one’s family and with humankind relates to stress and physical symptoms while experiencing health-related anxiety and being exposed to contextual risk factors. We tested our assumptions in a representative sample (N = 974) two-wave survey study with a 4-week time lag. The results show that anxiety at Time 1 was positively related to stress and physical symptoms at Time 2. Feeling exposed to risk factors related to lower physical health, but was unrelated to stress. Family identification and identification with humankind were both negatively associated with subsequent stress and family identification was negatively associated with subsequent physical symptoms. These findings suggest that for social identities to be beneficial for mental health, they can be embodied as well as symbolic.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

How national leaders keep ‘us’ safe : a longitudinal, four-nation study exploring the role of identity leadership as a predictor of adherence to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions

This research was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation awarded to RvD, NMJ and JAH (DI 848/15-1 and HA 6455/4-1).Objectives : To investigate whether citizens’ adherence to health-protective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by identity leadership, wherein leaders are perceived to create a sense of shared national identity. Design : Observational two-wave study. Hypotheses testing was conducted with structural equation modelling. Setting : Data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Germany, Israel and the USA in April/May 2020 and four weeks later. Participants : Adults in China (n=548, 66.6% women), Germany (n=182, 78% women), Israel (n=198, 51.0% women) and the USA (n=108, 58.3% women). Measures : Identity leadership (assessed by the four-item Identity Leadership Inventory Short-Form) at Time 1, perceived shared national identification (PSNI; assessed with four items) and adherence to health-protective NPIs (assessed with 10 items that describe different health-protective interventions; for example, wearing face masks) at Time 2. Results : Identity leadership was positively associated with PSNI (95% CI 0.11 to 0.30, p<0.001) in all countries. This, in turn, was related to more adherence to health-protective NPIs in all countries (95% CI 0.03 to 0.36, 0.001≤p≤0.017) except Israel (95% CI −0.03 to 0.27, p=0.119). In Germany, the more people saw Chancellor Merkel as engaging in identity leadership, the more they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI 0.04 to 0.18, p=0.002). In the USA, in contrast, the more people perceived President Trump as engaging in identity leadership, the less they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI −0.17 to −0.04, p=0.002). Conclusions : National leaders can make a difference by promoting a sense of shared identity among their citizens because people are more inclined to follow health-protective NPIs to the extent that they feel part of a united ‘us’. However, the content of identity leadership (perceptions of what it means to be a nation’s citizen) is essential, because this can also encourage people to disregard such recommendations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Enhancing scientific credibility: an open science strategy for the South African Journal of Industrial psychology

Orientation: The purpose of this editorial was to provide an introduction and a general overview of the special issue on Open Science Practices: A Vision for the Future of SAJIP, as hosted in the 45th edition of the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP). Specifically, the aim was to provide a viable, practical and implementable strategy for enhancing the scientific credibility, transparency and international stature of SAJIP