scholarly journals Application of Positive Psychology Education in Chinese Medical Students to Increase Their Psychological Well-being: A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Qin Zhang ◽  
Bao-Shuai Zhang ◽  
Meng-Die Wang

Abstract Background Anxiety and depression have been on rise in Chinese medical students due to the heavy academic pressure of medical practice and the deteriorating doctor-patient relationship in China. The psychological well-being of the Chinese medical students has become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential effect of positive psychology education on improving the mental health of Chinese medical students. Methods A total of 49 undergraduate students (mean age =19.5 years old) at their year-2 and year-3 medical study in our institute were enrolled in an 8-week positive psychology training course, which was embedded into a regular school curriculum. Their hope scale, life satisfaction scale, subjective happiness scale, as well as depression and anxiety scales were measured before and after the training program, respectively. Results The analyses results showed that over 95% of the participants reported an improved mental status after the training program. Their positive emotions, including hope, life satisfaction and happiness, significantly increased, while the negative emotions, including depression and anxiety, were significantly relieved. Conclusions These evidence suggest that positive psychology education holds promise for increasing the mental well-being and reducing psychological distress among Chinese medical students. Further research is required to demonstrate the efficacy of this program using larger representative sample cohorts.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Qin Zhang ◽  
Bao-Shuai Zhang ◽  
Meng-Die Wang

Abstract Background Anxiety and depression have been increasing among Chinese medical students. The psychological well-being of Chinese medical students has become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. Increasing evidence shows that positive psychology interventions can be effective in the enhancement of psychological well-being, and may help to prevent depressive symptoms in university students. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential effect of positive psychology education on improving the mental health of Chinese medical students. Methods An 8-week classroom-based positive psychology intervention workshop, which was established as an elective course embedded in the regular school curriculum, was conducted at the School of Medicine, South China University of Technology (SCUT), China. Undergraduate medical students of the institute in year-2 or year-3 of academic study participated in this training course voluntarily. The participants’ self-reported data on the hope scale, life satisfaction scale, subjective happiness scale, and depression and anxiety scale were collected and analyzed at pre-course (n=61) and post-course (n=49) times. The investigation was also validated with an independent cohort of students who enrolled in the course in the year following the preliminary study. Results The analyses showed that the psychological well-being of the participants were improved after the intervention. Their mean scores on the hope scale, life satisfaction scale and subjective happiness scale were significantly improved (P<0.05), while their symptom levels of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced (P<0.01). A similar trend was observed in the validation cohort. Conclusions These preliminary findings suggest that positive psychology education holds promise for improving psychological well-being among Chinese medical students. Further investigations with larger and well-controlled sample cohorts may yield more convincing and reliable results.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Qin Zhang ◽  
Bao-Shuai Zhang ◽  
Meng-Die Wang

Abstract Background Anxiety and depression have been on rise in Chinese medical students due to the heavy academic pressure of medical practice and the deteriorating doctor-patient relationship in China. The psychological well-being of the Chinese medical students has become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. Increasing evidence showed that positive psychology interventions can be effective in the enhancement of psychological well-being, and may help to prevent depressive symptoms in university students. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential effect of positive psychology education on improving the mental health of Chinese medical students. Methods An 8-week classroom-based positive psychology intervention workshop, which was set as a selective course embedded in the regular school curriculum, was performed at School of Medicine, South China University of Technology (SCUT), China. Undergraduate medical students of the institute at year-2 or year-3 academic study took part in this training course voluntarily. Self-report data on hope scale, life satisfaction scale, subjective happiness scale, as well as depression and anxiety scale were collected and analyzed at pre-course (n=61) and post-course (n=49) among the participants. The investigation was also validated in an independent cohort of students who enrolled in the course in the following year of the preliminary study. Results The analyses showed that the psychology well-being of the participants were improved after the intervention. Their mean scores on hope scale, life satisfaction scale and subjective happiness scale were significantly improved (P<0.05), while the symptom levels of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced (P<0.01). Similar trend was also observed in the validation cohort. Conclusions These preliminary findings suggest that positive psychology education holds promise for improving the psychological well-being among Chinese medical students. Further investigations in larger and well-controlled sample cohorts may yield more convincible and reliable results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Qin Zhang ◽  
Bao-Shuai Zhang ◽  
Meng-Die Wang

Abstract Background Anxiety and depression have been increasing among Chinese medical students. The psychological well-being of Chinese medical students has become a critical focus of attention for the medical education community. Increasing evidence shows that positive psychology interventions can be effective in the enhancement of psychological well-being, and may help to prevent depressive symptoms in university students. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential effect of positive psychology education on improving the mental health of Chinese medical students. Methods An 8-week classroom-based positive psychology intervention workshop, which was established as an elective course embedded in the regular school curriculum, was conducted at the School of Medicine, South China University of Technology (SCUT), China. Undergraduate medical students of the institute in year-2 or year-3 of academic study participated in this training course voluntarily. The participants’ self-reported data on the hope scale, life satisfaction scale, subjective happiness scale, and depression and anxiety scale were collected and analyzed at pre-course (n = 61) and post-course (n = 49) times. The investigation was also validated with an independent cohort of students who enrolled in the course in the year following the preliminary study. Results The analyses showed that the psychological well-being of the participants were improved after the intervention. Their mean scores on the hope scale, life satisfaction scale and subjective happiness scale were significantly improved (P < 0.05), while their symptom levels of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced (P < 0.01). A similar trend was observed in the validation cohort. Conclusions These preliminary findings suggest that positive psychology education holds promise for improving psychological well-being among Chinese medical students. Further investigations with larger and well-controlled sample cohorts may yield more convincing and reliable results.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Brittany Maiolino ◽  
Nicholas A. Kuiper

In this study we investigated how individual differences and personality constructs taken from the positive psychology and humor domains of psychology may play an important role in psychological well-being. Participants completed measures assessing trait gratitude, savoring, and humor styles; along with several positive and negative indicators of psychological well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive affect, depression, and anxiety). We first examined the degree of empirical and conceptual overlap among the personality constructs from these two domains. Here, we found that higher levels of gratitude and savoring were associated with higher levels of self-enhancing and affiliative humor, whereas higher levels of aggressive and self-defeating humor were primarily associated with lower levels of gratitude. Subsequent regression analyses indicated that the positive psychology construct of gratitude was predictive of several different indices of positive and negative well-being, whereas savoring was most predictive of greater positive affect. In addition, these regression analyses also revealed that the humor styles of self-enhancing and self-defeating humor provided a significant increase in the prediction of several positive and negative indices of well-being, above and beyond the effects attributable to the positive psychology constructs alone. These findings were then discussed in terms of developing a broader and more integrated theoretical approach to the understanding of psychological well-being.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-26
Author(s):  
L.A. Golovey ◽  
M.D. Petrash ◽  
O.Y. Strizhitskaya ◽  
S.S. Savenysheva ◽  
I.R. Murtazina

The present paper considers daily hassles in different life domains, reveals their connections to the level of strain and perceived stress, investigates the role of psychological well-being and life satisfaction in the perception of the number of stressors and strain caused by stress. Methods: Inventory of daily stressors (Petrash et al.), Scale of perceived stress (Ababkov et al.), Psychological well-being scale (C. Ryff), Life satisfaction scale (E. Diener), a survey on satisfaction with different life domains. Sample: 334 adults aged 20—60 (118 males, 216 females). Results revealed hassles in all the life domains. Most pronounced hassles in women were those related to health, loneliness, competitiveness, job; most pronounced hassles in men were job-related, financial, health and family stressors. Perception of daily hassles was associated with an increase in the levels of stress overstrain and perceived stress. The number of stressors and the level of overstrain was higher in women. Psychological well-being, subjective well-being, and financial satisfaction were shown to be direct positive predictors of the number of perceived hassles and the level of overstrain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lunthita M. Duthely ◽  
Sandra G. Nunn ◽  
John T. Avella

Population studies paint a dismal picture of the mental health status of adolescents, in the US and worldwide. Positive psychology, which takes a preventative approach to keeping individuals in higher states of well-being, is being implemented increasingly among youth, with the goal of avoiding future mental health and psychological problems. In this study, a novel intervention, which fused the practice of meditation with gratitude visualizations, was tested among adolescents. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the extent to which the intervention affected life satisfaction, school satisfaction, and measured gratitude, among a culturally diverse cohort of adolescents. Instrumentation consisted of three positive psychology measures—theStudent Life Satisfaction Scale, theSchool Satisfaction Subscale, and theGratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form.Participants were randomly assigned either to the delayed-intervention, no-treatment control group or to the experimental group. The four-week intervention was manualized primarily from the heart-centered gratitude visualizations outlined in a happiness and positive emotions handbook,The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey. The intervention significantly affected life satisfaction, school satisfaction, and gratitude of the experimental group, when compared to the control group. Medium to large effect sizes were detected using the ANCOVA statistical test.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 558-562
Author(s):  
Solveiga Blumberga ◽  
Solvita Voronova

State Holding Company makes a number of improvements, followed by a process of changes each year. This study was conducted to understand how the changes in the company affect the employees working in it and how the employees deal with the stress caused by such changes. The purpose of the study was to investigate the links between personnel work stress, subjective and psychological well-being of employees during changes in State Holding Company. The research undertakes issues such as: the levels of employee stress and subjective well-being, the levels of employee psychological well-being, links, if any, between subjective and psychological well-being and work stress, and the methods used in the research study. The survey was created with reference to works of other authors such as “Professional Life Stress Scale”, “Life Satisfaction Scale” and “Psychological Well-being Survey”. It was concluded that the employees had medium levels of stress, medium levels of life satisfaction, and medium levels of overall psychological well-being. There are statistically significant links between subjective well-being, psychological well-being and work stress. Recommendations were prepared for the Human Resources Department to reduce stress levels of personnel working and successful management of changes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meire Cachioni ◽  
Lais Lopes Delfino ◽  
Mônica Sanches Yassuda ◽  
Samila Sathler Tavares Batistoni ◽  
Ruth Caldeira de Melo ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: The present study aimed to analyze the distribution of measures of subjective and psychological well-being according to demographic criteria and length of participation in the program. Method: A cross sectional study using the following instruments was carried out: a sociodemographic questionnaire (age, gender, education, length of participation in University of the Third Age (U3A) and similar programs located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil; an Overall Life Satisfaction Scale; a Life Satisfaction Scale that contemplated four domains: health, physical capacity, mental capacity and social involvement; a Positive/Negative Affect Scale; and a Personal Development Scale. The data were analyzed by the chi-squared test (for comparison of categorical variables), the Mann-Whitney and the Kruskal-Wallis U tests (for comparison of continuous variables). Results: Age and gender were the main factors that were significantly associated with overall life satisfaction, life satisfaction in specific domains, and morale. Higher education was associated with psychological adjustment. Conclusion: Participating in a U3A contributes to high levels of subjective and psychological well-being. Elderly individuals of more advanced ages and men had higher rates of satisfaction with life and positive feelings. The elderly can assess their development trajectory, their commitment to society and consider their efforts in pursuing an ideal of personal excellence.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 595-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maretha Visser ◽  
Leigh-Anne Routledge

This research aimed at identifying patterns of substance abuse among South African adolescents and exploring the relationship between psychological well-being and substance abuse. Psychological well-being was assessed with selected items of the Bar-On EQ-I and Diener's Life Satisfaction scale. Self-reported substance abuse patterns of 1 918 learners between the ages of 12 and 19 from 13 schools in Tshwane were recorded. Schools were selected to represent the population composition of the area. It was found that substance abuse (current alcohol use, excessive alcohol use, and use of illicit drugs) increased with age and that nearly twice as many males as females abused substances. Language group was found to be a determining factor with regard to current and excessive use of alcohol; however, it was not found to influence drug use. An analysis of variance showed that adolescents who used drugs had significantly lower levels of psychological well-being and life satisfaction. The same was not found for excessive use of alcohol. The results can contribute to a better understanding of substance use behaviour and to identifying adolescents who may be at risk of abuse.


2021 ◽  
pp. 168-175
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Sagone ◽  
Maria Luisa Indiana ◽  
Elena Commodari ◽  
Salvatore Luciano Orazio Fichera

This study examined the differences between adolescents with a self-fulfilling profile and those with a self-destructive profile in resilience, well-being, and satisfaction with life. The Resiliency Attitudes and Skills Profile (De Caroli & Sagone, 2014a) was used to measure sense of humor, competence, adaptability, control, and engagement; the Life Satisfaction Scale (Di Fabio & Gori, 2016), the Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) was used to explore general psychological well-being; the Positive (PA) and Negative (NA) Affect Scale (Di Fabio & Bucci, 2015) was applied to measure the two opposite affective profiles, self-fulfilling (high PA and low NA) and self-destructive profile (low PA and high NA). Results showed that adolescents with a self-fulfilling profile reported higher resilience, life satisfaction, psychological well-being than those with a self-destructive profile. Future research could deep protective factors of self-fulfilling profile and risk factors of self-destructive profile in adolescence.


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