Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor

© 2018 The Authors. Do acts of kindness improve the well-being of the actor? Recent advances in the behavioural sciences have provided a number of explanations of human social, cooperative and altruistic behaviour. These theories predict that people will be ‘happy to help’ family, friends, community members, spouses, and even strangers under some conditions. Here we conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the experimental evidence that kindness interventions (for example, performing ‘random acts of kindness’) boost subjective well-being. Our initial search of the literature identified 489 articles; of which 24 (27 studies) met the inclusion criteria (total N = 4045). These 27 studies, some of which included multiple control conditions and dependent measures, yielded 52 effect sizes. Multi-level modeling revealed that the overall effect of kindness on the well-being of the actor is small-to-medium (δ = 0.28). The effect was not moderated by sex, age, type of participant, intervention, control condition or outcome measure. There was no indication of publication bias. We discuss the limitations of the current literature, and recommend that future research test more specific theories of kindness: taking kindness-specific individual differences into account; distinguishing between the effects of kindness to specific categories of people; and considering a wider range of proximal and distal outcomes. Such research will advance our understanding of the causes and consequences of kindness, and help practitioners to maximise the effectiveness of kindness interventions to improve well-being

Cognitive control of internally-guided behaviour

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Service Users as the Key to Service Change? The Development of an Innovative Intervention for Excluded Young People

Background: Excluded young people, especially those affected by street gangs, often have complex unmet needs and high levels of health and social inequalities. This paper outlines the development of Music & Change, an innovative and comprehensive intervention accessible to young people, which aimed to holistically meet the mental health and other needs of its participants and ultimately to reduce offending rates. Its central principle was coproduction and partnership with its potential users. Method: The setting was an inner‐city housing estate; the core group of participants was 15 young people aged 16–22 years. The intervention used contemporary music skills (e.g. DJ‐ing and lyric writing) and other coproduced project activities as a vehicle to build relationships with practitioners and address young people\u27s multiple needs. Data were gathered using a focused ethnography, largely from field notes, and analysed using thematic analysis in order to ascertain users’ perceptions of its delivery. Results: Young people identified six key principles of the intervention, such as the need for consistent relationships with trusted staff, mental health support to be wrapped round other youth‐led activities and local service delivery within their safe territories. Conclusions: Music & Change was valued by young people who do not easily engage with professionals and services. The findings led to the development of the ‘Integrate’ model, which is using these coproduced principles to underpin several new pilot projects that aim to address the health and social inequalities of excluded young people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

The ‘refugee crisis’: social psychology, public engagement and social action

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