South African organisations face the challenge of creating organisations that will engage employees in ways that allow for the optimisation of their strengths. This can be achieved by following a strength-based approach (SBA). An SBA aims to achieve optimisation of human functioning, where talents and strengths are the focus and weaknesses are understood and managed. Although previous research suggests that an SBA has positive influences on individual and organisational outcomes, no instrument exists within the South African context that measures employees’ perception of the extent to which they believe their organisation makes use of their strengths and talents. Recently, a new scale was developed to address this need. However, no studies have been done to see how well the items of this scale function. The objectives of this research were to 1) conceptualise an SBA according to literature, 2) determine whether the items in the SBA scale are unidimensional, 3) to determine the internal validity and reliability of the new SBA scale, and 4) make recommendations for future research. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was used whereby online and hardcopy versions of the questionnaire were distributed to participants. A sample of 699 participants was collected from the Gauteng and North-West provinces. Rasch analysis was used to determine the reliability and validity of the items. Acceptable item reliability was found. Both the item and person separation indices were acceptable. Mean infit and outfit indices for both person and item were acceptable. The seven-point frequency-based Likert scale worked satisfactorily overall, although categories 0, 1, and 2 were under-utilised. Finally, the infit and outfit statistics for all eight items functioned satisfactorily, except for one item. Recommendations are made for practice as well as for future research. / Thesis (MA (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Adolescent mothers are unique; they are both teenagers and parents. Some are students. Many have difficulty with these multiple roles. Secondary schools that support adolescent mothers by providing parenting classes and daycare present an ideal environment to introduce and investigate parent-child music programs. In the present study, the experiences of adolescent mothers and their children in a modified music program based on Kindermusik (2010) curriculum are explored. This research is part of a growing movement to work with youth from a perspective of their interests, assets and resilience. The guiding research question is: What are the experiences of adolescent mothers and their infants in a culturally responsive parent-child music program? I worked with a local parent-child music instructor to implement a program in a Saskatoon school, and received support from a Cree Elder and a Métis singer-songwriter to develop a cultural component of the program. Thirteen young women and their infants participated in the study; one adolescent mother was Aboriginal and five infants had paternal Aboriginal heritage. Other participant ethnicities mirrored the diversity in Saskatoon where much of the population is of multi-ethnic origin from British, German, French, and Ukrainian ancestry (Thraves, 2006). A case study of the eight-week music program was used, emphasizing experiential knowledge, continuous compilation of data, extended researcher observation, and the development of relationship and participant empowerment (Stake, 2010). Primary sources of data included participant-observations and focus group interviews. Secondary sources comprised individual interviews with the parent-child music instructor, an Elder, and school staff; short check-in interviews with most of the adolescent mothers; and video footage and photographs taken during the parent-child music program. The Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2003)—a feminist analysis consistent with the epistemology—was used to interpret the focus group interviews. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was utilized to elucidate the other sources of data. The qualitative findings provide an in-depth understanding of the experiences of adolescent mothers and their infants in a parent-child music program using practical interactions that model and reinforce parenting skills through welcoming, informal, positive and culturally responsive activities. Key findings are strengthened mother-infant connections, enhanced maternal wellbeing, and the development of children’s social skills. Limitations and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Hopp och Självkänsla är två begrepp som studerats länge inom positiv psykologi och Hoppteorin av Snyder och kollegor (1991) förklarade hur egenskaperna hänger ihop. Hopp är ett begrepp inom kognitiv motivationsteori och definieras som den generella upplevelsen att ens mål går att uppnå medan Självkänsla är upplevelsen av det egna värdet. Hopp består av två komponenter: Agency och Pathway. Pathway är vägfinnande tänkande och Agency den motiverande komponenten. Föreliggande studie syftade till att undersöka sambandet mellan Hopp samt Hopps två komponenter med Självkänsla. Betydelsen av kön och ålder på Hopp och Självkänsla undersöktes i detaljer. I svensk kontext, enligt vår vetskap, saknas studier om relationen mellan Hopp och Självkänsla. Deltagarna var 136 svenska högskolestudenter med en medelålder på 24 år (SD = 5.6 år), 53 % män och 47 % kvinnor. Väletablerade självskattningsskalor användes, The Hope Scale för att mäta Hopp och Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (modifierad) för Självkänsla. Icke-parametrik test av Spearman och Mann-Whitney användes för dataanalys. Resultaten visade att kvinnor har ett signifikant högre värde av Hopp och Agency. Vuxna (över 22 år) hade signifikant högre Hopp, Agency, Pathway och Självkänsla än unga vuxna (under 22 år). Kön påverkade inte Självkänsla. Trots att det fanns en medelstark och signifikant korrelation mellan Hopp och Självkänsla visade multipel regressionsanalys att Agency var den enda oberoende variabeln som signifikant bidrog till Självkänsla. Att kvinnor uppvisar högre Hopp än män och att vuxna uppvisar högre Hopp än unga vuxna är två resultat som inte är i linje med tidigare studier. / Hope and Self-Esteem are two concepts in positive psychology. Snyder and colleagues (1991) grounded the theory that defines Hope and suggest a relation to Self-Esteem. Hope is defined as the general perception that one's goals can be met, while Self-Esteem as a feeling of self-worth. Hope's two components are: Pathway and Agency. Pathways are the route generating thoughts to desired goals, and Agency is the motivational component of Hope. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the concepts of Hope -and Self-Esteem, and the possible effects of age and gender, in a Swedish context, that, according to our knowledge, were not previously studied. The study population included 136 Swedish college students (Mean age = 24, SD = 5.6 years), in a close to 50:50 gender distribution. Data was collected with the help of the validated, self-rated questionnaires: Snyder´s "Hope Scale" and "Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale" (modified). The non-parametric statistical methods of Spearman and Mann-Whitney were used for data analysis. Results showed that women scored significantly higher than men, and adults (over 22 years) scored higher than young adults (under 22) in Hope. Self-esteem was not affected by gender but young adults scored significantly lower than adults. Moreover, while a moderate and significant correlation between Hope and Self-Esteem could be measured, the multiple regression analysis showed that only the Agency component contributed significantly to Self-Esteem. Women showing higher Hope than men and adults showing higher Hope than young adults are two findings that are not in line with previous studies.

Persons with mental illness struggle daily to overcome their illnesses that relentlessly attack the mind. In efforts to revolutionize mental health treatment, psychologists and doctors have attempted to go beyond symptom reduction. One such method is the Clubhouse Model of psychosocial rehabilitation that welcomes persons with severe mental illness into a socially supportive environment and involves them in meaningful and productive work (Doyle, Lanoil & Dudek, 2013). The Clubhouse Model works: its members report greater feelings of functionality, autonomy, and happiness (Tanaka & Davidson, 2015). However, it is not yet clear how exactly the Clubhouse Model is so effective. The current proposed study will apply the psychology phenomena of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) to the Clubhouse Model’s core structure, its work-ordered day. This proposed study will collect data on Clubhouse members’ experience in three activities: the work-ordered day, free time, and therapy to determine if they are ever in a state of flow. The proposal will collect the data over a six-month period using the Experience Sampling Method (Hektner, Schmidt & Csikszentmihalyi, 2007). Additionally, the proposal will collect longitudinal data of the members’ quality of life (QoL) to determine if members’ QoL increase due to their Clubhouse membership. The proposal’s first hypothesis is that members will experience greater levels of flow during the activities of the work-ordered day over their free time and therapy. The proposal’s second hypothesis is that by experiencing flow, Clubhouse members will experience greater levels of QoL.

Unethical behaviour is affecting societal behaviour and impacting business success. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly adopted across businesses and for personal use and insufficient attention is paid to the impact of unethical practices in the use of ICT on various stakeholders involved. ICT professionals are well positioned to provide guidance to ICT users and decision makers but they need help. While they have the knowledge and skills in ICT, they also need a sense of professional responsibility towards their stakeholders and a moral attitude to help them understand how unethical practices in ICT can affect others and the ability to make good decisions in the use of ICT. Ethics education has been shown to be effective for other professions and this research project builds and tests a model based on current good practices found to be effective in ethics education. More specifically, it adopts a Positive Psychology perspective, not previously used in ICT ethics education, looking at what is working well and examines the use of a Positive Psychology approach, namely Appreciative Inquiry (AI) which has been found elsewhere to be an effective method to motivate change. This research project tests the impact that an Appreciative Inquiry included in a computer ethics class has on the development of moral attitude. The project had a quasi-experiment design with a large sample of over 400 participants (undergraduate Information Technology Management students) using both a control and treatment group to determine the effect of AI on the changes in moral sensitivity and moral judgment of the participants. One well validated survey tool and one developed specifically for ICT, the Defining Issues Test 2 and the IMIS Survey, respectively, were used to test changes from the beginning to the end of each course. The study findings demonstrate that a well-developed ethics course, adopting good practices, produced significant changes in the moral attitudes of the participants. The adoption of AI in the treatment group produced significant changes in elements of the student’s moral judgment validated by both the pre-and post-analysis and instructor observations. Thus taking a Positive Psychology approach to ICT ethics is a useful innovation to ethics education. The project has also demonstrated that AI may have significant potential for ethical education across professions and business at large.

A presente tese teve por objetivo avaliar diferentes aspectos do construto sentido de vida (SV) e suas relações com variáveis biossociodemográficas e outros construtos psicológicos positivos (otimismo, esperança, satisfação com a vida, felicidade subjetiva, autoestima e autoeficácia) em uma ampla amostra nacional. Para atingir os objetivos propostos, foram desenvolvidos um artigo teórico e seis artigos empíricos. O primeiro artigo apresentou o construto SV, e discutiu as potencialidades e limitações dos principais instrumentos existentes na literatura para avaliação do construto sentido de vida. Posteriormente, foram elaborados três estudos empíricos de adaptação e validação de instrumentos psicológicos para o contexto brasileiro. Os três instrumentos validados foram: 1) Questionário de Sentido de Vida (QSV); 2) Questionário de Fontes de Sentido e de Sentido de Vida (QFSSV); e 3) Escala de Felicidade Subjetiva (EFS). O quinto artigo da tese avaliou como diferentes categorias de sentido interagem com variáveis biossociodemográficas, fontes de sentido e com características psicológicas positivas. O sexto artigo investigou como o construto “busca por sentido” se relaciona com as diferentes categorias de sentido. Além disso, buscou-se compreender se a busca por sentido poderia moderar a relação entre as diferentes categorias de sentido com os índices de bem-estar subjetivo, mensurado pelos construtos satisfação com a vida e felicidade subjetiva. Por fim, o último artigo empírico investigou como diferentes características biossociodemográficas e psicológicas influenciam a intenção das pessoas em participar de futuras etapas desta pesquisa. A amostra total empregada foi de 3,034 sujeitos (63,9% mulheres), com idades variando entre 18 e 91 anos (M = 33,9, DP = 15,01), oriundos de 22 diferentes estados do Brasil. Do total da amostra, 91,4% responderam aos instrumentos em uma plataforma virtual, enquanto 8,6% o fizeram no método papel e caneta. Os três instrumentos adaptados para o contexto brasileiro apresentaram adequadas propriedades psicométricas, sugerindo sua possibilidade de uso em estudos futuros. Os resultados também demonstraram a existência de diferentes categorias de sentido de vida (realização existencial, indiferença existencial, crise existencial, conflito existencial), e que sujeitos inseridos nestas categorias apresentam importantes diferenças no que se refere a suas características biossociodemográficas e psicológicas. Foi descoberto, também, que a busca por sentido é maior entre os que apresentam conflito existencial, embora esteja positivamente relacionada com os níveis de crise existencial. Os resultados desta tese apontam para a necessidade da continuidade dos estudos acerca da temática. Esta tese pretende contribuir para a área da Psicologia Positiva ao fornecer três novos instrumentos psicométricos para uso no contextobrasileiro, e ao apresentar resultados anteriormente não discutidos na literatura da área do sentido de vida. / This dissertation aimed to evaluate different aspects of the construct “meaning in life” (MIL) and its relations with sociodemographic and other positive psychological constructs (optimism, hope, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem and self-efficacy) in a large Brazilian sample. To attain the proposed goals, one theoretical and six empirical articles were developed. The first theoretical article presented the MIL construct and discussed the benefits and limitations of the main existing scales designed to evaluate the MIL construct. Further, three validation articles of psychological measures were developed. The three questionnaires were: 1) Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ); 2) Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe); and 3) Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). The fifth article of the dissertation aimed to show how different categories of meaning interacted with sociodemographic variables, sources of meaning and positive psychological characteristics. The sixth article sought to evaluate to what extent the construct “search for meaning” relates to the different categories of meaning. Furthermore, we aimed to assess if search for meaning moderates the relation among the different categories of meaning with subjective well-being. Finally, the last empirical paper evaluated how different sociodemographic and psychological variables influence the intention in participating in the future waves of the present study. Participants were 3.034 subjects (63.9% women) with ages varying from 18 e 91 years old (M = 33.9; DP = 15.01), originated from 22 different Brazilian states. From the total, 91.4% answered the questionnaires in a web-based platform, whereas 8.6% answered in the paper-and-pencil method. The three adapted instruments presented adequate psychometric properties, and suggests its possible use in future studies. The results also showed the existence of different categories of meaning (meaningfulness, existential indifference, existential crisis, existential conflict), and that people inserted in these categories present important differences in their bio-psychossocial and psychological variables. It was also shown that search for meaning is higher among those in the existential conflict group, although search for meaning is positively related to crisis of meaning. The results of this study point to the need for further studies on the subject. This dissertation seeks to contribute to the Positive Psychology field by offering three different psychometric scales to use in the Brazilian context, and to present empirical results not previously achieved, contributing to the knowledge on the MIL literature.

Happiness, or the concept of well-being can be traced back to the era of Aristotle (384 to 322 BC), Epicuruss (341 to 270 BC), John Locke (1632 to 1704) and more recently Ed Diener (DOB 1946), who played an integral part in the well-being revolution. People have very different ways in seeking happiness, whether it is closely associated to their personal life, the work environment or in society, they are constantly striving towards a goal of experiencing happiness at its purist form. Bursts of absolute joy and the purist form of immediate gratification cannot provide a path to finding happiness and well-being. The process is intricate and requires a variety of variables integrated into a combination of events and lifestyle experiences to culminate into an existence which produces a feeling of inner peace and fulfillment. Current research suggests that this is not an attainable state of existence, but human nature drives every individual to seek out a path to finding true happiness. The advent of the modern day economic crisis has changed the global environment to the extent where society is attempting to find a new norm to operate in. As a consequence, individuals are presented with new challenges which have forced them to re-evaluate their path to finding a balance in their lives. These changes have added new challenges to deal with and adapt to as new forces in the global environment start to shape a new tomorrow. People spend a large portion of their existence working to earn an income and to provide a means of supporting themselves and their dependents. The challenges they face are enhanced by the strains of working in stressful and pressurised working environments as their employers are also adapting to the changing global environment. Economic pressure is passed on to employees, as they are pushed to achieve the financial results demanded by shareholders. The last ten years has seen a wealth of research being conducted in the space of well-being and how it relates to business has gained popularity. The study of epidemiology refers to the study of components of human behaviour, which have a negative impact on individual functioning, like stress and anxiety disorders. Well-being in the workplace can counter these ailments and create a working environment absent of these negative afflictions which damage the productivity of a workforce. Employers who understand the positive aspects associated with well-being are in a position to effectively deploy their employees to produce improved financial results. The starting point for many organisations is to determine the current level of happiness in their businesses and to establish what variables are responsible for the current state of well-being. The main objective of the empirical study was to determine the level of happiness at a financial institution. The target population (354 potential respondents) is the regional office the financial institution based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Potential respondents received electronic requests by email, requesting their participation in the study. A total of 164 completed questionnaires were returned (46.33%) and analysed. Literature was reviewed to develop a conceptual model. Seven variables were identified as having an influence on employee happiness and have the potential to change employee well-being levels to aid organisations in their quest to adapt to the prevailing economic conditions and stress people have to deal with on a daily basis. The results from the study show that Work-life, Safety and Security, Growth and Development, Health, Recognition and Reward, Autonomy and Social Connectedness are all closely associate with employee well-being. Safety and security, Autonomy and Recognition and Reward have direct positive associations with the concept of well-being and have a significant relationship and potential to enhance well-being. The end result is that with the correct interventions by an employer, well-being can be measured and applied in the working environment. The correct combination of variables can have a positive impact in the work environment. A happy workforce can be an advantage to an organisation, their interventions can add great value to employees by increasing their commitment to the organisation and ultimately the business can benefit from their Interventions by seeing their efforts being realised in their financial results.

In a theoretical part of diploma thesis is presented a gratitude and psychological conceptions of this phenomenon. Gratitude can be an emotion, disposition, life approach or a virtue. Gratitude has effect on different aspects of well-being. We can measure gratitude by different tools and cultivate it by different ways. In our research we tried to increase well-being by intervention of gratitude. We compared efficacy of the intervention of gratitude with the intervention known as ,,three good things". We also wanted to know if a belief in efficacy of intervention can change a scores of well-being. We tried to discover short-term and long-term effects. Our sample was created by 153 university students but only 56 of them stayed up to the end of study. We chose following method for measuring: GQ-6, Questionnaire of life satisfaction, Positivity Self Test, Zung's self rating inventory of depression and Beck's inventory of anxiety. Participants were randomly put into the one of three group (intervention of gratidue, intervention ,,three good things" and comparison). Data were counted by multilevel linear regression. We found out no significant differences. Due to very small sample this conclusion is not surprising.