Research has only recently begun to examine how individuals can be mentally healthy as opposed to simply showing the absence of distress. One way of defining mental wellness, Psychological Well-Being (PWB; Ryff, 1989), encompasses six dimensions of positive functioning. Cognitions relating to the future are a key element of well-being and are particularly relevant in the late adolescent developmental stage. The study's first aim was to examine how the positive and negative events adolescents anticipate in the future are seen as being implicated in various aspects of their well-being. The second aim was to examine the relationship between PWB self-report scores and levels of anxiety and depression. Sixth form students completed a task which elicited positive and negative events they were anticipating in the future and their thoughts about what was good or bad about those events. They also completed a measure of anxiety and depression and self-report scales of PWB. Open-ended responses about the consequences of the events (what was good or bad about them) were independently coded for the presence of the six PWB dimensions. Environmental Mastery was the most salient aspect of PWB present when participants discussed the consequences of both positive and negative events. The frequency of PWB dimensions present in adolescents' responses was similar between those with high and low levels of anxiety and depression, except those with high levels expressed significantly more responses related to Positive Relations with Others. On the self-report measures Positive Relations and Self-Acceptance showed unique relationships to depression scores, and Environmental Mastery and Self-Acceptance showed unique relationships to anxiety scores. The findings have implications for developing prevention strategies focusing on strengthening these aspects of PWB in the hope of protecting vulnerable people from future distress.

Targeting the ultra poor (TUP) is an integrated, grant-based, anti-poverty intervention in rural Bangladesh. It combines productive asset grants (mainly livestock), confidence building, enterprise training, healthcare, cash and social security support for protecting the ultra poor's consumption, promoting their wealth accumulation and preventing the negative effects of illness. This thesis examines TUP's effects on health (i.e., physical, behavioural, psychological and promotional) and well-being (i.e., food consumption) of ultra poor people. It analyses the impact dynamics (i.e., short-, medium- and long-terms) of health and well-being, food consumption vulnerability to shocks and TUP's differential effects on well-being. The thesis examines these issues constructing a more reliable matched panel from the BRAC's original balanced panel dataset, which is quasi-experimental in nature. The estimates using conditional difference-in-difference (DID) approach with household fixed effects indicate that TUP has had beneficial effects on health and well-being including reduced illness, healthcare sought from modern practitioners, self-reported health improvements, clean water, safer sanitation and improvements in overall wellbeing. However, these health outcomes are not sustained in the long-term (even decay) because of the program design and the lack of household preferences to maintain and invest in health outcomes (e.g. sanitation). In contrast, findings confirm the long-term beneficial effects on well-being. It also suggests the use of BRAC's original sample may lead to a downward bias in TUP's impact assessment on health and well-being as it does not adequately control for the differences in initial conditions among the treatment and control households. Analysis reveals that both health and non-health shocks are prevalent to ultra poor households and are associated with their food consumption vulnerability. However, TUP smooths food consumption through direct and indirect mitigating effects. The results also suggest that being a TUP household improves access to NGOs for shock-induced borrowing. However, food consumption insurance role does come at the cost of production efficiency. Further empirical investigation using the quantile treatment effects (QTE) and the conditional quantile difference-in-difference (QDID) approaches point to a minor differential effect on well-being in the medium- and long-terms. Finally, the QDID approach shows that though TUP works best for the poorest of the ultra poor, it impacts well-being positively from the lower to the upper tail of the food consumption distribution. Therefore, estimation methods used to the matched panel confirm a positive and lasting impact of TUP on food consumption, which supports the extreme poverty-alleviating effects of TUP in rural Bangladesh.

This study investigated the spiritual and religious experience of members of the Sikh community with a focus on how such an experience affects their sense of wellbeing. Consequently, the central aim of this study is to explore how Sikhs use religion and spirituality with coping. This was examined by exploring how Sikhs deal with stressful events and how these impacted on their wellbeing. The thesis was comprised of two parts. Study one comprised of the thematic analysis of questionnaires. 56 UK based Sikh participants (23 males and 33 females; age range 17-62) took part. The findings from study one speculated that the older age group appeared more accepting of their religion and spirituality suggesting maybe they are less occupied by a quest to explore their life through religion and spirituality than the 20-30 year old age group. Consequently, study two looked more closely at participants aged between 20-30 year olds to further explore their lived experience. In line with the IPA methodology, a small well-defined opportunity sample of six people (4 males and 2 females) in the Sikh faith, who have been practicing their religion for at least 2-3 years and between the ages of 20-30 were invited to participate in the interviews. Four superordinate themes were found which represented an overall story. The themes were namely, religious and spiritual struggles; religion and spirituality assisting with the development of self and identity; spiritual striving and aids to well-being: religious/spiritual coping. It is hoped that findings from this research will help to inform our understanding of how Sikh client's religious and spiritual beliefs influences their wellbeing as well as incorporating this knowledge into the therapy process to make good clinical judgements. This study will enhance research in counselling psychology with regards to religion and spirituality and mental health specifically with regards to young Sikh's.

There is evidence for increased rates of psychoses and mood disorders in immigrant populations, with some contradictory findings showing that migrants have better mental health outcomes than their native-born counterparts. Explanatory theories considered individual and contextual factors. Acculturation processes are regarded to play an important part, but again there are contradictory findings. The relationships between immigration, acculturation and mental health are complex and more explorations are needed. The aim of this study was to explore whether construing before and after emigration was related to acculturation processes and mental health in Polish immigrants in the U.K. Forty adult immigrants participated in this study; measures of psychological well-being, cultural attitudes, and repertory grid interviews were used. Participants reported positive attitudes towards Polish and British cultures, significantly more positive attitudes towards the heritage culture. As a group, participants compared favourably to their counterparts living in Poland in terms of levels of psychological well-being. They also construed themselves more favourably following emigration. Nevertheless 20% of participants reported a history of mental health difficulties. Nearly half (45%) of participants reported clinically significant levels of distress, which is more than double the national prevalence rate in the U.K. The main findings of this study indicated a relationship between how Polish migrants construe themselves and significant others, their psychological adjustment and cultural attitudes. More positive attitudes towards Polish culture were associated with higher levels of positive affect. A positive view of Polish culture was associated with a relatively more salient construing pre-emigration. Contrary to the prediction, high levels of conflict in construing of significant others before emigration was related to a positive view of Polish culture. A relatively more conflicted view of self post-emigration was related to less positive attitudes towards British culture. As predicted, more structured construing post-emigration was linked with better mental health outcomes. Furthermore, a relatively more favourable view of self following immigration was associated with higher levels of positive affect and fewer symptoms of psychological distress. The latter was also linked with relatively lower levels of conflict in construing of 'self after emigration'. Case examples are presented. Recommendations for clinical practice and further research are made.

Det är viktigt hur kontorsmiljöer utformas så att de kan skapa förutsättningar för lärande, välbefinnande och hälsa på arbetsplatsen. Syftet med aktivitetsbaserade kontor (ABkontor) är att ge de anställda möjligheten att välja den kontorsplats som bäst lämpar sig för den uppgift som ska utföras. Det innebär att ingen har en egen plats att gå till. Även om den här kontorstypen blir alltmer populär finns det begränsat med forskning som undersökt vilken effekt ABkontor har på kommunikation, stöd, hälsa och välbefinnande, särskilt ur ett lärandeperspektiv. Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka om det finns skillnader mellan män och kvinnor i hur de skattar hälsa, välbefinnande och hur nöjda de är med olika förutsättningar för informellt lärande i ABkontor, samt om det finns ett samband mellan förutsättningar för informellt lärande på arbetsplatsen och upplevd hälsa och välbefinnande. Ett frågeformulär skickades ut till 174 arbetare på ett av Trafikverkets kontor och svarsfrekvensen var 53 %. Analyserna visar att det inte fanns någon signifikant skillnad mellan män och kvinnor i hur tillfredsställda de är med de olika förutsättningarna, generellt så skattades tillfredställelse högt. Ett signifikant samband hittades mellan informellt lärande och välbefinnande men inte mellan informellt lärande och hälsa. Vidare forskning behövs för att undersöka om informellt lärande faktiskt äger rum i ABkontor genom att undersöka en större population och en större variation av ABkontor för att reda ut den kausala relationen mellan informellt lärande och välbefinnande. / It is important how office environments get designed so they can promote conditions for learning, well-being and health in the workplace. The purpose of an activity-based office (ABW) is to give the employees a possibility to choose the workplace best suited for the task at hand, implying that no one has their own private office to go to. Although this office environment gets increasingly popular, there is a lack of research demonstrating the effects of ABW:s on communication, collegial support, health and wellbeing, especially from a learning perspective. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in how satisfied women and men are in an ABW with the conditions for informal learning, such as work-related information exchange, cooperation and social support and test whether it is a relation between informal learning at work and self-rated wellbeing and health. A questionnaire was sent out to 174 employees working at the Swedish Transport Administration and the response rate was 53 %. The analyses showed that there is no significant difference between men and women in how satisfied they are with the conditions for informal learning in the ABW, overall both genders gave high ratings on satisfaction. A significant relationship was found between informal learning and well-being but not between informal learning and health. Further research is needed to investigate whether informal learning actually takes place in the activity-based office, using a bigger sample and variety of ABW:s, to clear out if the relation between informal learning and well-being is causal.

It is vital that people with spinal cord injury (SCI) maintain a physically active lifestyle to promote lifelong health and well-being. Yet despite these benefits, within hospital rehabilitation and upon discharge into the community, people with SCI are largely inactive. Physiotherapists in SCI rehabilitation have been identified as the healthcare professionals (HCPs) ideally placed to promote a physically active lifestyle. However, to successfully engage people with SCI in physical activity (PA), physiotherapists have to manage their hopes and expectations of SCI rehabilitation. With all this in mind, the purpose of this thesis was to explore the role of PA for people with SCI in hospital rehabilitation and in the community. The first aim of this research was to explore the barriers, benefits and facilitators of PA for people with SCI. The second aim was to examine how hopes and expectations are managed by the physiotherapists in SCI rehabilitation and by health practitioners in a community-based leisure time physical activity (LTPA) setting. The third aim was to propose improvement to LTPA promotion for people with SCI. These aims were addressed through: 1) a meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature to identify the barriers, benefits and facilitators of LTPA for people with SCI; 2) an examination of the role of LTPA in SCI rehabilitation; and 3) an exploration of experiences of participants with SCI, and their trainers in a new type of LTPA; activity-based rehabilitation (ABR). Framed by interpretivism, data were analysed by thematic analysis and dialogical narrative analysis. This thesis has made an original and significant contribution to the literature by revealing a deep understanding of factors that constrain and facilitate physically active lifestyles for people with SCI. For example, this research has uniquely demonstrated the role of pleasure in facilitating continued engagement in LTPA. Furthermore, this thesis identified that despite valuing the role of PA for people with SCI, active promotion of PA remains largely absent from physiotherapy practice. The dilemmas of promoting PA for the physiotherapists in SCI centres included a lack of training and education in health promotion and a concern over the false hope of recovery from LTPA opportunities such as ABR. To try and avoid false hope of recovery, the physiotherapists drew upon the therapeutic plot of acceptance and employed therapeutic actions to guide patients towards realistic hopes and expectations. An identification of three narrative types operating in ABR did reveal that some clients were exercising in the hope to walk again. However, the trainers were not preoccupied with acceptance as they also tried to avoid false hopes of ABR. In light of these findings there are several practical recommendations for people with SCI, HCPs such as physiotherapists, the health care system and other health practitioners in community based LTPA opportunities. These practical implications are aimed at improving PA promotion and reducing the barriers to PA for people with SCI. For example, there is a need for more effective knowledge translation across the macro, meso and micro fields. At the macro level meaningful guidelines on PA for people with SCI need to be developed and embedded into UK and Ireland policies if they are to be received and utilised by physiotherapists in SCI rehabilitation and health practitioners in the community. At the meso and micro level appropriate training and education need to be delivered to physiotherapists on PA and SCI to equip them with sufficient knowledge to prescribe and promote PA. Furthermore, the knowledge on PA shared with physiotherapists needs to include the diversity of LTPA opportunities available to people with SCI including ABR. Closer communication and engagement should be implemented at the micro level between physiotherapists in SCI centres and the health practitioners working in community initiatives such as ABR to confront issues regarding hope. In addition to knowledge translation practices, there needs to be support within the healthcare system to facilitate a physically active lifestyle for people with SCI. Equally, a more critical attitude to PA promotion is called for in terms of the possible adverse consequences.

No description available.

The purpose of this PhD was to explore the psycho-social health (PSH) and well-being (WB) of Great Britain's (GB) Wheelchair Basketball (WhB) players over time, starting from when they became disabled and culminating in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The sample comprised 16 players (8 male, 8 female) and 4 coaches. They were interviewed on three occasions - 2 years before, within a year of and a year after London. Observations spanned this period, whilst data was also collected via two visual methods: auto-photography (AP) and timelining. All data was analysed using a thematic analytical approach. First the challenges to PSH and WB of being disabled are discussed, with the diversity of experience highlighted. Secondly in exploring the role of spinal units and story-tellers in initiating players into sport, a lottery which risked their PSH and WB is exposed. Whilst copious benefits of recreational disability sport are described, being a GB WhB player is revealed as an extreme health rollercoaster. Just as being a Paralympian offers perks and privileges, so too does it risk players becoming obsessed. Performance and health are shown to be uniquely related and yet not always simultaneously achievable. Finally, from the pride of wearing the jersey and competing at a home Paralympics, to shattered dreams and unfulfilled ambitions, London 2012 is relived. The research concludes that creating a 'Healthy Paralympian' is a challenging task and yet winning formula. Recommendations are made to realise this aim, whilst those which have already been adopted by GB WhB are also shared.

Succeeding in life often depends on childhood conditions. The link between childcare arrangements and the development of competencies in early childhood on the one hand, as well as the impact of parental leave on children on the other hand, is yet to be fully understood. In this dissertation, I examine differences in childcare arrangements and changes in parental leave and if they matter for an individual’s development in several aspects. Differences between childcare centers and family daycare in Germany are explored and whether these differences matter for a child’s short-term development regarding cognitive and socio emotional skills and a child’s interaction with their parents. It also investigates whether an extension of parental leave in the former German Democratic Republic affected long-term well-being of children and long-term well-being and health of mothers. / Erfolg hängt oft von den Bedingungen in der Kindheit ab. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Kinderbetreuung und der Entwicklung von Kompetenzen in der frühen Kindheit einerseits und den Auswirkungen von Elternzeit auf Kinder andererseits ist noch nicht vollständig geklärt. In dieser Dissertation untersuche ich, ob Unterschiede in der Kinderbetreuung und Veränderungen in der Elternzeit eine Rolle für die Entwicklung eines Individuums in verschiedenen Aspekten spielen. Die Dissertation untersucht, ob es Unterschiede zwischen Kindertagesstätten und familiärer Tagesbetreuung in Deutschland gibt und ob diese Unterschiede für die kurzfristige Entwicklung eines Kindes in Bezug auf kognitive und sozio-emotionale Fähigkeiten und die Interaktion des Kindes mit seinen Eltern von Bedeutung sind. Außerdem untersuche ich, ob sich die Verlängerung der Elternzeit in der ehemaligen DDR auf das langfristige Wohlbefinden der Kinder und das langfristige Wohlbefinden und die Gesundheit der Mütter ausgewirkt hat.

There is a lack of knowledge on how alternative forms of sports facility provision influences end user's sports and physical activity behaviour, and the consequent impact this has on their health, well-being and social capital. To address this knowledge gap, this thesis has undertaken a multi-level analysis of the sport delivery system. It examines if strategic priorities and objectives pursued by different types of sport and fitness facilities, that are being influenced by macro level forces, along with their characteristics and ownership, influences individuals sport participation behaviour with a potential consequent impact on the policy outcomes of health, well-being and social capital. In the UK recently, sport policy objectives have focussed on increasing the population s participation in sport and physical activity to enhance a range of outcomes including health, well-being and social capital. Over the last three decades, there has also been significant changes in sport provision with the growth of private sector facilities, and public sector facilities being outsourced to private management. However, there is no evidence of the effectiveness of these alternative arrangements in delivering the policy objectives. There is limited knowledge on how different agents and actors in the sport delivery system function collectively to achieve these objectives or not, and a multi-level analysis of the sport delivery system i.e., from policy, through facilities, to end users does not exist. This gap in knowledge is addressed in this thesis through the adoption of a mixed methods case study of Leicestershire and Rutland Sport-County Sport Partnership (LRS-CSP) region in the midlands of England. The sport participation of individuals who use differently owned and managed sport and fitness facilities in the LRS-CSP region is examined, and the impact this has on their health, well-being and social capital, from macro level (policy), meso level (facilities), and micro level (end users) perspectives. Data collected at these levels involves, semi-structured interviews with the regional managers (macro level) who are responsible for the development and provision of sport in the region, a quantitative survey involving the facility managers (meso level) who are responsible for the day-to-day activities of the facilities, and quantitative survey and focus groups of end users in the region (micro level). Surveys done at the meso and the micro level are matched to the facilities of a variety of different ownership and characteristics to explore the influence this might have on individuals participation frequency and the impact this has on their health, well-being and social capital. The results show that government and public sport agencies priorities towards the sports sector which operate at the macro level of the sport delivery system influence the strategic objectives pursued by different types of sport and fitness facilities that are responsible for sport provision at the meso level of the sport delivery system. Public sport agencies and government bodies through their policies seem to have a significant influence over public sector including LMC facilities strategic decision making. However, this is not the case for the private sector facilities. Neither the strategic objectives of facilities nor their ownership and characteristics are shown to have a significant difference on the users sport participation behaviour, nor on the sport policy outcomes of their health, well-being and social capital. The largest influence on sport participation seems to be when individuals engage in sport with those they meet at the facility, indicating that facilitation of the co-creation of social capital among individuals could play a bigger role in increasing participation levels. Along with this, results also show that sport participation has a direct positive influence on individuals health which then enhances their well-being and social capital. This thesis contributes towards the long-standing debate about the relative value of different ownership types that span the public, private, and LMCs and their relationship with performance . The findings of the thesis suggest that, providing general availability of space for sport and fitness activities and by facilitating a network of opportunities with others and across activities is important in achieving the policy outcomes of improved participation and the consequent positive impact this has on health, well-being and social capital, and should be given priority in sport provision.