Second wave positive psychology coaching difficult emotions: Introducing the mnemonic of 'TEARS HOPE'

Abstract Although the Positive Psychology (PP) approach has only recently established itself as a specialism within coaching, there is already a fresh perspective beginning to take shape within the field. This second wave (Held, 2004, Lomas & Ivtzan, 2016) or PP2.0 (Wong, 2011) calls for us to embrace the dark sides along with the bright sides and to integrate the challenging and difficult aspects of human experience into our understanding of wellbeing and flourishing. The author welcomes this second wave (PP2), making an appeal for PP coaches to embrace the ‘bad’ along with the ‘good’. The current article recognises that PP2’s emphasis on the coexistence, compatibility and contextual nature of emotions can be extrapolated to carefully considered techniques used within coaching conversations. The variety of possible coaching approaches is summarised and discussed by introducing the acronym TEARS HOPE as a mnemonic and model for PP2 coaching with difficult emotions

Relation Liftings on Preorders and Posets

The category Rel(Set) of sets and relations can be described as a category of spans and as the Kleisli category for the powerset monad. A set-functor can be lifted to a functor on Rel(Set) iff it preserves weak pullbacks. We show that these results extend to the enriched setting, if we replace sets by posets or preorders. Preservation of weak pullbacks becomes preservation of exact lax squares. As an application we present Moss's coalgebraic over posets

Creative Writing through the Arts. Final full report.

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Creative Writing through the Arts. Final summary report

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Bacterial Biofilms in Drinking Water Systems: Protecting Patient Health at the Alberta Children’s Hospital

When we hear of bacterial contaminated drinking water, we generally think of microscopic organisms swimming freely throughout the system. Although bacteria are found in this free living form, or planktonically, the majority of microorganisms in natural environments are in fact found growing on a surface. These surface adhered bacteria are called biofilms and can be found anywhere, ranging from implanted medical devices to drinking water pipes. Drinking water system operators use the multiple barrier approach to ensure the microbiological safety of the water. The approach includes primary treatment of the source water with chlorine or UV light; secondary chlorine treatment throughout distribution systems; and routine testing for indicator organisms, such as Escherichia coli. Thus, the presence of indicator organisms signifies that there has been a failure in the treatment process or a contamination in the water system. Regardless of chemical or irradiation treatment, normal flora biofilms continue to grow in these systems. It is theorized that these resident flora biofilms may incorporate and shield pathogenic organisms from chlorine disinfection. The Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH) water system has a unique design, engineered to reduce bacterial contamination and biofilm growth. This project, done in collaboration with Alberta Health Services and the ACH, aims to evaluate bacterial survival after exposure to low levels of chlorine. It is hypothesized that the chlorine levels maintained in our water systems for secondary treatment may be insufficient to disinfect biofilm growth. Eight isolates were obtained directly from chlorinated water systems, including the ACH. These isolates were tested both planktonically and as biofilms, grown using the Calgary Biofilm Device, under a range of chlorine concentrations. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) assays have shown that biofilms can be 2-20 times more resistant to chlorine disinfection when compared to their more vulnerable planktonic counterparts

Embracing the ‘Bad’ along with the ‘Good’ as Part of a Positive Psychology Coaching Dialogue

The application of approaches to coaching that embrace the ethos of positive psychology are flourishing, with solution-focus (Cavanagh & Grant, 2014) and appreciative inquiry approaches (Orem, Binkert & Clancy, 2011) offering the means by which coaches can support positive change through adopting a focus on strengths, competences and achievements and moving away from deficit discourse. Whilst these approaches can be transformational, their success depends upon the coaches’ ability to adopt flexibility within their chosen models. In particular, the way of being a positive psychology coach involves appreciating with honesty, empathy and care the frame of reference of the coachee even when they harbour difficult experiences and the language of problems rather than those of hope and possibility

Do the big-five personality traits predict empathic listening and assertive communication?

As personality traits can influence important social outcomes, the current research investigated whether the Big-Five had predictive influences on communication competences of active-empathic listening (AEL) and assertiveness. A sample of 245 adults of various ages completed the self-report scales. Both Agreeableness and Openness uniquely predicted AEL. Extraversion had the biggest influence onassertiveness but did not uniquely explain AEL variance. Conscientiousness and Neuroticism had small predictive influences on assertiveness. Further investigation into the pathways linking Big-Five facets to the different components of these communication competences is proposed and practical implications including understanding personality traits for successful leadership is discussed