The objective of the present study was to examine the perceptions of employees who have participated in workplace health promotion (WHP) initiatives, more specifically, whether the employees perceived the WHP initiatives to have an impact on their well-being, general health or work. Furthermore, the effect of WHP initiatives on the relationship between job demands-resources and positive work outcomes, namely employee resilience, engagement, well-being and affective organisational commitment, was investigated. This study collected perceptions from 107 employees, all of whom were employed in organisations which had engaged in WHP initiatives. MultipleThe objective of the present study was to examine the perceptions of employees who have participated in workplace health promotion (WHP) initiatives, more specifically, whether the employees perceived the WHP initiatives to have an impact on their well-being, general health or work. Furthermore, the effect of WHP initiatives on the relationship between job demands-resources and positive work outcomes, namely employee resilience, engagement, well-being and affective organisational commitment, was investigated. This study collected perceptions from 107 employees, all of whom were employed in organisations which had engaged in WHP initiatives. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Two significant interactions were found – the perception the WHP initiative had an impact on well-being and work had a moderating effect on the relationship between work overload and employee resilience. These findings have implications for organisations developing WHP initiatives targeted at improving the health and well-being. Further investigation of a wider span of perceived impacts and a more targeted examination, such as the type of WHP initiative completed, or the time that the employee spent doing the initiative is warranted. hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Two significant interactions were found – the perception the WHP initiative had an impact on well-being and work had a moderating effect on the relationship between work overload and employee resilience. These findings have implications for organisations developing WHP initiatives targeted at improving the health and well-being. Further investigation of a wider span of perceived impacts and a more targeted examination, such as the type of WHP initiative completed, or the time that the employee spent doing the initiative is warranted.

One of the most interesting aspects of human beings is their ability to choose a course of action and strive to achieve it. When participating in therapeutic interventions involving physical activities, people may allocate different amounts of effort, persistence and commitment to succeed in them. The reason for this difference lies in their motivation. The present thesis focuses on the energising of behaviour, that is, the differential effort and motivation that people put into therapeutic activities. Placebo responses are generally explained by the mechanisms of response expectancy, conditioning and motivational concordance. Findings presented in this thesis partially supported motivational concordance, testing for the first time that therapeutic outcome after engagement in intrinsically motivated tasks requiring physical activity was explained both by response expectancy and motivational concordance . The effects of response expectancy, perceptions of effort and intrinsic motivation on therapeutic benefit and mood change were investigated in both laboratory (Studies 1-4) and real-life therapeutic contexts (Study 5). Study 1 showed that effort mediated the effects of expectancy on perceived benefit, and effort predicted both positive and negative affect following the performance of a breathing exercise. Study 2 showed that differences in outcome between guided imagery and meditation were very small, but that non-specific factors play the major role in outcome. Study 3 showed that perceiving a task as difficult enhances effort perceptions, intrinsic motivation and therapeutic outcome. Motivated behaviour predicted therapeutic outcome but not expectancy. Study 4 showed that the provision of success feedback enhances outcome expectancies, motivated behaviour and mood change. Expectancies, motivation and effort predicted positive affect, whereas only effort predicted negative affect. Finally, results from Study 5 suggest that placebo responses may differ in real-life therapeutic interventions according to the strength motivational factors are elicited within the intervention. Both expectancy and motivated behaviour predicted change in positive affect, whereas motivated behaviour predicted change in negative affect and empowerment. Therapeutic outcome and its underlying mechanisms are likely to reflect a mixture of response expectancies and intervening motivational factors.

Previous research has suggested that there is a strong and positive relationship between being an entrepreneur and possessing a high degree of subjective well-being as well as job satisfaction. The big five personality traits have also been argued to be significantly related to both subjective well-being and job satisfaction. Little is however known if personality affects entrepreneurs and regular employees differently. In this paper the impact of personality traits on the cognitive part of subjective well-being as well as job satisfaction are investigated separately among entrepreneurs and regular employees. This is done through OLS-regressions using a Swedish nationally representative survey Employment, Material Resources, and Political Preferences (EMRAPP), where entrepreneurs were oversampled in order to be able to compare entrepreneurs (N = 2483) and regular employees (N = 2642). The findings suggest that there is no substantial difference between entrepreneurs and regular employees when looking at the relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being. Findings on job satisfaction on the other hand showed that the personality trait openness to experience had no impact on job satisfaction, and that the personality trait emotional stability (neuroticism reversed) was equally beneficial for both entrepreneurs and regular employees. Extraversion had a positive relationship with job satisfaction among both entrepreneurs and regular employees, although the relationship was twice as strong among entrepreneurs. The personality traits agreeableness and conscientiousness on the other hand were only related to job satisfaction among entrepreneurs. Personality traits are thus much more important for job satisfaction among entrepreneurs.

Lake Winnipeg is under examined, yet a very interesting lake. This 10th largest lake in the world supports a small-scale fishery, which today is pre-dominantly for walleye. Currently, the fishery is very strong. Historically, however, it has been characterized by fluctuations in both catches and returns. The end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s was a turning point for the fishing industry. At that time, the fishery experienced declining catches and diminishing returns. In order to reverse the trend, the Provincial Government of Manitoba introduced a quota system while the Federal Government established the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation (FFMC) to handle the marketing of freshwater fish. Today, the fishery on Lake Winnipeg has been at a record level of production and these two institutions play a significant role in the fishery. To gain an insight into fishers’ social context in the Gimli area, a social well-being analysis was applied following design of the ESRC Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group adapted by Sarah Coulthard and colleagues. The social well-being analytical tool shed light on three domains of fisher’s life; material well-being, subjective well-being and relational well-being. Together, these domains give an insight into how satisfied fishers are with their current social environment. The analysis of fishers’ social experience in the Gimli area shows that current policy seems to be working equally well in the areas of relational and subjective well-being. In fact, the quota system and the FFMC still have great impact on the fishers, not only from an economic view but also for their subjective values and relational well-being.

Livstillfredsställelse är vår kognitiva bedömning av vårt liv. Studier har visat att affekter påverkar vår kognition, samtidigt ses livstillfredsställelse som en stabil disposition. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om vår bedömning av vår livstillfredsställelse tillfälligt förändras efter att ha exponerats för negativ respektive positiv information. Hypotesen var att vi uppskattar vår livstillfredsställelse olika högt beroende på om vi exponeras för negativ eller positiv infomation. Satisfaction With Life Scale delades ut till 50 studenter på en högskola efter exponering av negativ respektive positiv information under en föreläsning. Resultatet visade att det inte fanns någon statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan negativ och positiv information med avseende på livstillfredsställelse. Avsaknaden av skillnad skulle dock exempelvis kunna bero på en för svag exponering av negativ information. Keywords: life satisfaction, happiness, subjective well-being, current mood

The purpose of this study was to apply concepts of virtue and positive psychology to the understanding of well-being in gay and lesbian individuals. Ninety-two self-identified gay and lesbian university students between the ages of 18 and 30 completed an online research survey to assess their well-being and character strengths. Preliminary factor analysis revealed a two-factor virtue structure underlying the 24 character strengths as outlined by the Values In Action (VIA) inventory. Participants were grouped using cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis was then performed to differentiate between group membership based on virtue factors. Results suggest that individuals with high autonomy and low overall well-being score lower in interpersonal strengths than those with balanced well-being. As social support has been identified as a key factor related to well-being for this population, further attention is warranted to study the relationship between autonomy, interpersonal character strengths, and social support in this population. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Tidspress existerar inom revisionsbranschen och vi vill genom denna undersökning studera tidspressens påverkan på revisorns välbefinnande, om välbefinnandet tar skada. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förklara hur tidspress påverkar revisorns välbefinnande och därtill utreda hur sambandet påverkas av olika revisor- och revisionsspecifika faktorer samt av revisorns professionsidentitet, organisationsidentitet och familjeidentitet. Följaktligen vill vi besvara följande frågeställning: Hur påverkar tidspress revisorns välbefinnande? För att besvara syftet och frågeställningen har en kvantitativ enkätundersökning genomförts. Enkäten skickades ut till revisorsassistenter och auktoriserade revisorer i Sverige för att inhämta tillräcklig och användbar information. Totalt erhölls 232 svar från respondenterna, vilket därefter statistiskt bearbetades för att testa studiens hypoteser. Resultatet av studien påvisade ett negativt samband mellan revisorns tidspress och välbefinnande. Därutöver kunde studien ge belägg för att revisorns familjesituation kan ha påverkan på sambandet vid en något högre signifikansnivå än fem procent. Slutsatsen blir att ju mer tidspress revisorn upplever desto sämre blir välbefinnandet. / Time pressure exists within the audit profession and we performed a survey to study the influence that time pressure has on the auditor’s well-being, if well-being is harmed. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain how time pressure affects the auditor's well-being. Additionally, we examine how the relationship is affected by various auditors- and auditspecific factors, as well as by the auditor's professional identity, organizational identity and family identity. Consequently, we want to answer the following research question: How does time pressure affect the auditor's well-being? To achieve the purpose and answer the research question, a quantitative survey has been conducted. A questionnaire was sent out to audit assistants and certified auditors in Sweden to obtain sufficient and useful information. A total of 232 answers were obtained from the respondents, and the data were statistically processed to test the hypotheses of the study. The results of this study demonstrate a negative relationship between the auditor's time pressure and well-being. In addition, the study seems to indicate that the auditor's family situation has a impact on the relationship between time pressure and well-being, but only if the significance level is slightly higher than five percent. The conclusion is that the more auditors experience time pressure the worse is their well-being.

This study firstly explored whether individuals can identify character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) depicted by characters in positive psychology movies. Furthermore, the study investigated whether their existing character strengths and well-being are augmented or developed through viewing these films. A mixed method design exploratory qualitative approach with a phenomenological design was followed where quantitative data were obtained with a two-group pre- and post-testing design with a retention test. Participants were assigned to an experimental (n=15, mean age= 28.67, SD age = 8.79) and control group (n=15, mean age = 25.67, SD age = 9.28). A self-developed strength questionnaire and five standardized scales, namely Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (MHC-SF) (Keyes, 2006); the General Psychological Well-being Scale (GPWS) (Khumalo, Temane, & Wissing, 2010); the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky, 2008); Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE) (Chesney, Neilands, Chambers, Taylor, & Folkman, 2006) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (Kroenke & Spitzer, 2002), were administered to measure psychological well-being. Qualitative data were obtained through focus groups and questionnaires that were completed after the viewing of each film. Qualitative results suggest that participants were able to identify 22 of the 24 character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) as depicted by characters in the movies. Furthermore, participants were able to relate to the characters and report how they use the depicted strengths in their own lives. ANCOVA‘s revealed a medium increase (Cohen‘s d- value = 0.47 - 0.74) in the strengths: open-mindedness, zest, kindness, leadership and modesty immediately after the intervention and a large increase (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.9) in humour immediately and a month after the intervention. A medium to large (Cohen‘s d = 0.45 - 0.87) decrease was found on the strengths perspective and forgiveness immediately after the intervention, and in authenticity, love; appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude and hope a month after the intervention. Social intelligence showed a decrease (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.46; 0.51) immediately and a month after the intervention. A medium increase (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.53 - 0.56) in general well-being and emotional well-being was found a month after intervention, while general coping efficacy and coping via support from friends and family showed this increase (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.53; 0.56) immediately after the intervention in the experimental group. A contradictory finding was, that social well-being showed a medium (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.72) decrease immediately after the intervention. Suggestions for further research include establishing preferable movies before intervention, the use of a standardized strength scale and another experimental group, with the absence of focus groups, so as to determine a more accurate effect of films / Thesis (MA (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This study firstly explored whether individuals can identify character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) depicted by characters in positive psychology movies. Furthermore, the study investigated whether their existing character strengths and well-being are augmented or developed through viewing these films. A mixed method design exploratory qualitative approach with a phenomenological design was followed where quantitative data were obtained with a two-group pre- and post-testing design with a retention test. Participants were assigned to an experimental (n=15, mean age= 28.67, SD age = 8.79) and control group (n=15, mean age = 25.67, SD age = 9.28). A self-developed strength questionnaire and five standardized scales, namely Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (MHC-SF) (Keyes, 2006); the General Psychological Well-being Scale (GPWS) (Khumalo, Temane, & Wissing, 2010); the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky, 2008); Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE) (Chesney, Neilands, Chambers, Taylor, & Folkman, 2006) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (Kroenke & Spitzer, 2002), were administered to measure psychological well-being. Qualitative data were obtained through focus groups and questionnaires that were completed after the viewing of each film. Qualitative results suggest that participants were able to identify 22 of the 24 character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) as depicted by characters in the movies. Furthermore, participants were able to relate to the characters and report how they use the depicted strengths in their own lives. ANCOVA‘s revealed a medium increase (Cohen‘s d- value = 0.47 - 0.74) in the strengths: open-mindedness, zest, kindness, leadership and modesty immediately after the intervention and a large increase (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.9) in humour immediately and a month after the intervention. A medium to large (Cohen‘s d = 0.45 - 0.87) decrease was found on the strengths perspective and forgiveness immediately after the intervention, and in authenticity, love; appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude and hope a month after the intervention. Social intelligence showed a decrease (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.46; 0.51) immediately and a month after the intervention. A medium increase (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.53 - 0.56) in general well-being and emotional well-being was found a month after intervention, while general coping efficacy and coping via support from friends and family showed this increase (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.53; 0.56) immediately after the intervention in the experimental group. A contradictory finding was, that social well-being showed a medium (Cohen‘s d-value = 0.72) decrease immediately after the intervention. Suggestions for further research include establishing preferable movies before intervention, the use of a standardized strength scale and another experimental group, with the absence of focus groups, so as to determine a more accurate effect of films / Thesis (MA (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Cultural oppression and marginalization through colonization of First Nation peoples has led to a variety of physical and mental health problems. Regaining health and well-being in these First Nations communities will require interventions sensitive to cultural needs and supportive of traditional practices. Anthropogenic induced climate change has the potential to warm the region around the Hudson and James Bay lowland by 3.9-4.5 ??C. This warming will affect both the traditional and conventional food system in the communities on the western James Bay coast. Western James Bay First Nations already face high levels of food insecurity. The traditional food system is becoming weakened as people participate less in hunting activities, and will become further degraded as climate change makes hunting practices more risky and expensive. However, climate warming may provide greater cultivation potential in the region improving local production of produce if these activities are pursued. Home gardening and community gardening have the potential to improve access to fresh vegetables, nutritional choices, and community cohesion if pursued in First Nations communities.