A feasibility study of psychological strengths and well-being assessment in individuals living with recurrent depression

Current conceptualizations of mental illness focus on assessing psychopathology. A balanced approach would assess strengths that individuals bring to coping with illness. This study measures psychological strengths in individuals with recurrent depression, their coping strategies, and their perceptions of the usefulness of strengths assessment as a component of psychological assessment. Individuals (N = 112) with recurrent depression completed an online questionnaire measuring several psychological strengths, including gratitude, forgiveness, spirituality, and hope. Participants also described their use of coping strategies and their reaction to the utility of the two-continua model of mental health. A subset (n = 10) completed a follow-up telephone interview. Higher levels of gratitude, self-forgiveness, hope, and spirituality and lower levels of optimism were indicative of higher life satisfaction. Self-forgiveness, spirituality, and gratitude were predictors of happiness. Higher levels of hope and self-forgiveness predicted positive affect whereas lower levels of self-forgiveness predicted negative affect. Participants reported using a range of coping resources and indicated that they valued strengths assessment, perceiving the two-continua model of mental health as empowering. The researcher discusses implications for clinical practice

Motivation to drink alcohol in first year university students : having a good time or simply coping?

Research suggests that excessive alcohol consumption is a major health concern in undergraduates with typical drinking patterns established in the first year (Berwick, et al., 2008). While the stereotype is that students drink to have fun, some American research has suggested that excessive alcohol use is associated with stress in students (DeHart et al., 2009). The self-medication hypothesis (Khantzian, 2003) suggests that individuals with high levels of stress and anxiety will drink alcohol more frequently as a coping mechanism and this was examined here. The motivation to drink alcohol was assessed in British first year undergraduates (N=137) along with levels of stress, state and trait anxiety, and frequency of alcohol use. The self-medication theory was supported for women but not for men. Women also had higher perceived stress scores than men. The more students were motivated to drink to have a good time, the more frequently they drank

The development of a brief measure of learner autonomy in university students

A great deal of attention is paid to the requirement for university students to become autonomous learners. A review of the literature revealed a lack of relatively short psychometrically sound measures of autonomous learning despite its purported importance. This study aimed to develop a brief, psychometrically sound, measure of autonomous learning to facilitate empirical research in this area. Items for the scale were selected from reviewing the literature, and face validity was confirmed by experienced academics. In the first study, first‐year psychology students (n = 214) completed the measure. Principal components analysis produced a 12‐item measure with two subscales that appeared to be psychometrically sound. The factor structure was reproduced with a more diverse group of undergraduates (n =172) in a second study. The internal reliability and the concurrent validity of the scale were both found to be satisfactory, suggesting that this measure may prove useful to educational researchers

Review of Positive Psychology Applications in Clinical Medical Populations

This review examines the application of positive psychology concepts in physical health care contexts. Positive psychology aims to promote well-being in the general population. Studies identifying character strengths associated with well-being in healthy populations are numerous. Such strengths have been classified and Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) created to develop these strengths further in individuals. Positive psychology research is increasingly being undertaken in health care contexts. The review identified that most of this research involves measuring character strengths and their association with health outcomes in patients with a range of different conditions, similar to the position in positive psychology research on non-clinical populations. More recently, PPIs are beginning to be applied to clinical populations with physical health problems and this research although relatively scare is reviewed here for cancer, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. In common with PPIs being evaluated in the general population, high quality studies are scarce. Applying PPIs to patients with serious health conditions presents significant challenges to health psychologists. They must ensure that patients are dealt with appropriately and ethically, given that exaggerated claims for PPIs are made on the internet quite frequently. This is discussed along with the need for more high quality research. Keywords; positive psychology interventions; cardiovascular disease; cancer; diabetes; character strengths; health assets; revie

Personality

This chapter describes the concept of personality and various models of personality that are applicable to researchers in the area of religious studies

Thai conceptualizations of forgiveness within a work context : comparison with Western models

Forgiveness research has focused almost exclusively on individualistic Western culture despite acknowledgement of the importance of cultural factors. Conflict at work is common yet studies of forgiveness in work contexts are rare, as are qualitative studies. Addressing these short-comings, this study examines the forgiveness process as experienced by Thai nurses in a hospital within a collectivist culture heavily influenced by Buddhism. Thirty nurses were interviewed about a situation at work where the need for forgiveness arose. Qualitative methods were used to identify participants' cognitions, emotions, and behaviors in relation to the offensive event. Definitions of forgiveness were also elicited. Four continuous stages of the forgiveness process emerged: an experiencing stage, re-attribution stage, forgiveness stage, and behavioral stage. There were similarities with Western individualistic models but also some important differences related to Buddhism and Thai culture. Five dimensions of forgiveness emerged from the Thai definitions: overcoming negative approaches towards the offender, abandonment of negative judgment, fostering of positive approaches and loving-kindness towards the offender, awareness of the benefits of forgiveness, and forgiveness as incorporated within Buddhist beliefs. The results highlight the need to consider cultural influences when examining concepts like forgiveness

Stress, resilience, and leisure coping among university students : applying the broaden-and-build theory

Iwasaki and Mannell (2000) defined leisure as a coping strategy in their hierarchical model demonstrating the psychosocial functions of leisure and its relationship to stress. Evidence suggests that leisure coping is affiliated with resilience, and that both predict stress-coping and wellbeing. However, a theoretical explanation of how resilience is associated with the stress-reducing properties of leisure coping is lacking. Using the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 2001), a model was developed proposing that resilient individuals proactively use leisure coping to cultivate positive emotions and in turn enhance wellbeing. Leisure coping and positive affect were suggested to mediate the relationship between resilience and wellbeing outcomes (stress and flourishing). The model was tested among 202 UK undergraduates, a population reported to experience high stress. Structural equation modelling revealed that resilience had a significant positive effect on flourishing. Leisure coping beliefs demonstrated a positive relationship with resilience, positive affect, and flourishing. Positive affect mediated the relationship between resilience and flourishing, and between resilience and stress. Leisure coping strategies did not meaningfully contribute to the model. Leisure beliefs may have emerged as more important than leisure strategies because leisure beliefs are relatively stable with more enduring effects on health and wellbeing, while leisure strategies are transient and situation-based. Future research should examine the relationships longitudinally to explore developmental change. Implications of the findings for undergraduates are discussed. Keywords: flourishing; leisure coping; positive emotion; resilience; student stres

Using a gratitude intervention to enhance wellbeing in older adults.

The increasingly ageing population includes a proportion of generally well older adults that may benefit from low-level psychological support to help maintain their wellbeing. A factor consistently regarded as integral to wellbeing is gratitude. The effect of a ‘Three good things in life’ gratitude diary on subjective wellbeing in non-clinically depressed older adults was examined in the context of hedonic and eudemonic wellbeing measures and perceived stress. This intervention has not been tested on older adults previously. Participants were 88 community living adults aged 60 years or over. Beneficial outcomes following the 14 day intervention were evidenced by improved post-test scores on hedonistic wellbeing (life satisfaction and positive and negative affect) with further improvement at 30 days post-test. In contrast, improvements occurred in eudemonic wellbeing and perceived stress immediately following diary completion but these were not fully sustained at 30 days post-test. The acceptability of online versus paper delivery of the self-directed intervention was compared. Outcomes varied with completion route, health status, baseline gratitude and perceived stress. This age group managed and many preferred online delivery, Gratitude diaries seem to be a cost-effective method of producing beneficial improvements in wellbeing for older adults

Positive ageing: to what extent can current models of well-being categorize the life events perceived as positive by older adults?

Life expectancy is increasing globally, which makes understanding what contributes to well-being in older adults crucial for social and economic reasons. This is the first study to categorize positive life events in community dwelling older adults, to explore their fit with psychological well-being models. Volunteers selfdefined as well (N = 88), completed diaries identifying three positive events daily for 14 days. Diary entries combated negative stereotypes of ageing by describing older adults with active lives contributing to society. Of nine themes identified through thematic analysis of over 3,500 events; seven supported existing well-being models, being activities delivering positive affect and life satisfaction (hedonic model) and demonstrating competence, autonomy, relatedness, self-acceptance, purpose in life, and personal growth (eudemonic models). However, two well-supported new dimensions were also identified within the themes ‘interaction with the physical environment’ and ‘personal well-being’. These new dimensions were labelled ‘life-affirmation and ‘mindfulness’. This suggests the existence of additional considerations related to well-being specifically for older populations, which may indicate a need to broaden the existing models

Multi-group causal model of health literacy and behaviors on family well-being among Thai adults at risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

Background: We aimed to develop a causal model of family well-being by mediating health literacy (HL) and to compare models between spouses in men and women and in urban and rural communities. Study design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: The samples included 2000 spouses at risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by stratified random sampling in 2018. Data were collected by Likert questionnaires with reliability of 0.79-0.93, using to analyze via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: A causal model in overall group was consistent with an empirical data. Causal factors had direct effects on health behavior including social norm, positive attitudes, psychology capital, and HL (β=0.11, 0.14, 0.30, and 0.41, P<0.05 respectively). Health behavior and positive attitudes toward health had direct effects on family well-being (β=0.36 and 0.42, P<0.05, respectively). All factors could predict health behavior and family well-being of variance 70% and 50%. Invariance analysis of models showed no difference between spouses in men and women. In addition, mean comparison of latent variables showed that the positive attitudes toward health in women were lower than men. Moreover, HL and positive attitudes toward health of spouses in urban were lower in rural communities. Conclusion: Thai adult families in urban showed higher risk with NCDs. Therefore, health providers improved the first priority of HL and positive attitude which were the main causal factor