This study validates the Humor Style Questionnaire in a group of 315 university students of both genders from Lima, Peru, with an average age of 19,7. The Humor Style Questionnaire (HSQ) by Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray & Weir (2003), the Psychological Well-Being Scale (BIEPS-A) by Casullo (2002) and the Hope Scale by Herth (1991) were used. After the neutralization of four items, results show reliability coefficients between 0,64 to 0,78 and a factorial structure confirming the existence of four factors (42,94% of the total variance).Results show positive associations between psychological well-being and hope with affiliation and self-enhancing styles, and negative associations between aggression and self-defeating humor. Results support the convergence validity and the construct of the scale. / Se realiza la validación de la Escala del Sentido del Humor con 315 estudiantes universitarios de ambos sexos de Lima, Perú, con una edad promedio de 19,7 años. Se aplicó la Escala sobre el Sentido del Humor (HSQ) de Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray & Weir (2003), la Escala de Bienestar Psicológico (BIEPS-A) de Casullo (2002) y la Escala de Esperanza (HHS) de Herth (1991). Los resultados muestran, con la neutralización de cuatro ítemes, unaescala confiable con coeficientes entre 0,64 y 0,78, y una estructura factorial que confirma la existencia de cuatro factores que explican el 42,94% de la varianza total. Las correlacionesentre bienestar psicológico y esperanza con las áreas de afiliación y mejoramiento personal de la HSQ son positivas y significativas, y para agresividad y descalificación personal, negativas.Estos resultados apoyan la validez convergente y de constructo de la escala.

abstract: Interest in health and wellness has significantly increased in today's society. Living a healthy and active lifestyle is suggested to promote overall physical and psychological well-being. This study explored the effects of wearing a Fitbit Zip activity monitor and the impact of expressing mindfulness on levels of physical activity. It was predicted that expressing mindfulness, as measured by the use of present-tense language during the daily emotional writing task, would moderate the relationship between wearing a Fitbit Zip activity monitor and change in physical activity. Specifically, it was hypothesized daily monitoring would only lead to increased activity among those higher in mindful language. Over the course of five days, participants were asked to wear a Fitbit Zip and to complete a daily questionnaire and writing task at the end of each evening. On the last day of the study, participants completed a follow-up assessment, which suggested that the combination of wearing a Fitbit Zip activity monitor and expressing more mindfulness throughout the week increased levels of physical activity. An important issue for future research is to conduct this study for a longer period of time in order to get more variability in the data. However, despite the limitations of the design, these findings suggest that activity monitoring may be a promising way to promote healthy lifestyle change. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2014

O Bem-estar Psicológico (BEP) é um construto que reflete o funcionamento positivo ou ótimo em nível psicológico. Suas seis dimensões, relações positivas com outros, autonomia, domínio do ambiente, crescimento pessoal, propósito na vida e auto aceitação, emergem da convergência de teorias do desenvolvimento humano, psicologia humanista-existencial e sobre a saúde mental. O objetivo desse estudo foi adaptar e investigar as evidências de validade da Escala de Bem-estar Psicológico (EBEP), e está dividido em três partes. Na primeira, é apresentado o conceito de BEP a partir de uma revisão seletiva da literatura, abordando questões sobre sua origem, o desenvolvimento do conceito, as diferentes abordagens na sua avaliação, e por fim, seus correlatos psicossociais, sociodemográficos e neurobiológicos. A segunda parte descreve o processo de adaptação da EBEP para o português brasileiro, a partir de uma abordagem que incluiu diferentes níveis de análise da adequação dos itens: tradução sintetizada, análise de juízes e avaliação da familiaridade. Por fim, a última parte descreve a validação da EBEP a partir de sua relação com indicadores prévios de bem-estar em nível psicológico, bem como a avaliação do desempenho psicométrico da mesma. Ao todo 346 sujeitos participaram do estudo ao longo de diferentes etapas. Os instrumentos utilizados foram a EBEP, a Escala de Satisfação de Vida, a Escala de Afeto Positivo e Negativo, o Inventário Beck de Depressão (BDI), e o Questionário de dados sociodemográficos. As análises dos dados incluíram estatísticas descritivas, análise multivariada de variância (MANOVA), correlações de Pearson, e medidas de consistência interna através do alpha de Cronbach. Os resultados indicam a validade da EBEP a partir de sua relação com indicadores prévios do bem-estar em nível psicológico. Ainda é constatada a necessidade de estudos n / Psychological Well-being (PWB) is a construct that reflects the positive or optimal functioning in psychological level. Its six dimensions, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life and self acceptance, emerging from the convergence of human development, humanistic-existential psychology and mental health theories. The aim of this study was to adapt and investigate the validity evidences of the Psychological Well-being Scale (PWBS), and is divided into three parts. At first, we present the concept of PWB from a selective review of the literature, addressing their questions about their origin, development of the concept, the different approaches for their assessment, and ultimately, their psychosocial, sociodemographic, and neurobiological correlates. The second part describes the process of adapting PWBS to Brazilian Portuguese, from an approach that included different levels of items adequacy analysis: synthesized translation, judge’s evaluation and analysis of familiarity. Finally, the last part describes the validation of PWBS from his relationship with previous indicators of well-being in psychological level, as well as evaluating the psychometric performance of this instrument. Altogether 346 subjects participated in the study over different stages. The instruments used were the PWBS, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Sociodemographic Questionnaire. The data analysis included descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), Pearson´s correlations, and measures of internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. The results indicate validity evidences of EBEP from his relationship with previous indicators of well-being in psychological level. It is still found the need for studies in Brazil in relation to this construct.

Epileptic seizures are usually stressful episodes for individuals, not least as they are often experienced in public. Most research into epilepsy has been conducted in Western cultures, and we know little about the experiences of people with epilepsy and living in Middle Eastern countries. This study aims to examine the influence of social comparison on the perception of quality of life for people with epilepsy in Iran and in the United Kingdom. Three studies were completed. Two studies were qualitative; exploring individuals’ experiences of living with epilepsy and investigating coping strategies, respectively, (UK = 10, Iran = 10), for each study. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The third quantitative study was examined to determine whether social comparison dimensions, (upward negative, upward positive, downward negative, downward positive), predict quality of life in both countries, (N = 100 for each country), and a hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyse data. The first study indicated people compare themselves to others and the unpredictable nature of a seizure causes individuals to perceive negative feelings and experience anxiety, furthermore urinary incontinence attached to seizures appeared to leave people feeling ashamed and anxious. Study two revealed that whilst Iranian people used emotion-focused coping strategies, individuals from the United Kingdom applied problem-focused coping strategies. In Iran religious coping strategies were used to cope with incontinency; however positive social comparison (downward) was used as a coping strategy for incontinency in the United Kingdom. Study three found that self-esteem was the main predictor for quality of life in Iran and the United Kingdom. Whilst a seizure’s severity negatively predicts quality of life in the United Kingdom, positive social comparison (upward) accounted for quality of life in Iran. This study suggests that providing positive role models can help Iranians have a better perception for their quality of life, whereas British people potentially maximise their quality of life through seizure management.

Aristotle (4th century B.C.E/1925) described eudaimonia as “the good life”, and is today commonly understood as eudaimonic well-being (EWB) within research. Despite the long history, the definitions and operationalizations of EWB are diverse and no coherent description or explanation for the biology of EWB exist. Hence, the present thesis reviews current neuroscientific- and additional biological research on EWB. This review reveals EWB to be most frequently operationalized as psychological well-being (PWB) (Ryff, 2014), and is here used as basis for an attempt to explain the biological and psychological profiles of EWB as high PWB. High PWB was characterized by brain activity linked to the reward circuitry, dorsolateral and left prefrontal cortex (PFC) and grey matter (GM) volume in areas of the brainstem and insular cortex. High PWB was also positively related to lower levels of several harmful biomarkers. The proposed psychological profile of high PWB included the psychological functions goal directed behaviour and emotional control. It is hoped that the proposed profiles will serve as inspiration for further exploration of the biology and psychology of human well-being (WB).

Magister Commercii - MCom / The costs of occupational health and well-being are increasingly being considered as sound ‘investments’ as healthy and engaged employees yield direct economic benefits to the company.The concept of Work engagement plays a vital role in this endeavour because engagement entails positive definitions of employee health and promotes the optimal functioning of employees within an organisational setting. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between work engagement, self-efficacy and optimism amongst call centre employees in a retail organisation in the Western Cape. Over the last several years, most call centre research has predominately been focused on the aspects and causes of stress, burnout, and the deterrents of employee’s well-being. In response to the prevailing preoccupation with negative aspects, the research focused on more positive aspects of human functioning and experiences. The sample comprised of ninety three call centre employees who are employed in the customer service department in a major retail organisation in the Western Cape. Convenience sampling was utilised. The measuring instruments included the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, The Life Orientation Test-Revised and The General Self-Efficacy Scale. Statistically significant relationships were found between work engagement, self-efficacy and optimism. It was found that call centre agents displayed average levels of work engagement and optimism however they displayed high levels of self-efficacy. It was furthermore found that a moderate percentage of the variance in work engagement can be explained by self-efficacy and optimism. The implication of the results is that interventions that focus on the personal resources (viz. efficacy beliefs,optimism, hope and resiliency) and job resources (viz. physical, social or organizational aspects of the job) will contribute to increasing levels of work engagement.

Approximately 10% of adults living in the United States meet criteria for a Substance Use Disorder. Although 12-step groups are considered evidence-based practices for substance use problems, an understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which they facilitate recovery practices remains in its infancy. The purpose of the current study was to explore whether attachment could be considered a possible mediator of the effects of recovery practices on positive psychosocial outcomes. Participants (N = 112) were self-identified NA members from 26 U.S. states who completed an online survey assessing attachment style, psychosocial sense of community, psychological well-being, and various other recovery and psychosocial constructs. Results indicated a number of recovery-related practices emerged as significant predictors of secure attachment, over and above covariates. For example, higher levels of home group comfort were associated with increased probability of secure attachment classification (by self-report). In general, psychological sense of community did not significantly predict secure attachment, over and above covariates. Although attachment predicted psychological well-being in univariate models, it generally failed to predict psychological well-being in models that included covariates and recovery-related predictors. Theoretically, these data suggest that functional social support variables are primary recovery-related predictors implicated in NA-involvement, above and beyond other structural social support variables. This further suggests that attachment-related dimensions of 12-step interventions may be integral to recovery outcomes.

The diploma thesis deals with the very topical theme of well-being. Its aims are (1) to explore the personality context of the three most commonly used concepts of well-being - subjective, psychological well-being and self-esteem, (2) to confirm the connection of well-being with personality traits and to contribute to clarifying other personality contexts that the research sounds ambiguous - with values, identity styles, and coping strategies, and (3) find different patterns of relationships of individual concepts of well-being with measured variables, thus confirming the uniqueness of these constructs. The methods used include the calculation of correlation coefficients between individual concepts of well-being and all other variables and the calculation of differences by correlating other variables with all three pairs of well-being concepts. The results largely confirmed expectations. The weakest relationships with personality variables were found in subjective well-being, operationalized as life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was most predicted by stability, commitment, and extraversion. Psychological well-being was most predicted by commitment, stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, and a negative diffusion style of identity. Self-esteem was most strongly predicted by stability, a...

Physician well-being has become an important area of interest given that reduced well-being can have a negative effect on patient outcomes. However, research has predominantly focused on impairment thus studies addressing physicians' positive functioning are limited. The purpose of this two-phase, mixed methods study was to investigate the well-being and self-regulation capacity of physicians using a positive psychology lens. In Phase 1, 132 physicians (n = 40 physicians; n = 92 resident physicians) completed online questionnaires to assess their levels of psychological and affective well-being and self-regulation capacity. Selected based on Phase 1 data, 12 physicians then took part in an in-depth individual interview in Phase 2 to discuss their experiences of psychological well-being and self-regulation. Results of Phase 1 showed that physicians and resident physicians had moderate and high levels of self-regulation capacity, respectively. While both groups reported high levels of psychological well-being, they had average levels of positive and negative affect. MANOVAs confirmed the hypothesis that high self-regulating physicians and resident physicians would have higher levels of psychological well-being and positive affect compared to those with lower levels. However, those with higher self-regulation capacity did not have lower negative affect, nor did physicians have significantly higher levels of psychological and affective well-being than resident physicians. Regression analyses confirmed the hypothesis that a significant amount of variance in levels of psychological well-being would be explained by self-regulation capacity. There was a particularly strong relationship between self-regulation capacity and the dimensions of purpose in life and environmental mastery, which suggests that physicians who effectively self-manage may be better able to preserve a sense of purpose and an adequate work-life balance in their daily life. A qualitative content analysis of the Phase 2 qualitative data revealed that physicians had both high and low functioning experiences of psychological well-being across the dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, and autonomy. They, however, reported high functioning for the dimensions of personal growth and purpose in life. Their experiences also varied based on their professional and personal life contexts, with work-life balance emerging as a prevalent theme. Physicians' self-regulation experiences involved individualized preparation, performance, and evaluation processes that were perceived to influence their well-being. Results of a composite analysis suggest that the development of effective self-regulation skills could be one way to help physicians achieve satisfactory levels of well-being.

This thesis considers parental psychological well-being and the acceptability of parenting support for those who have an adolescent with type one diabetes (T1D). Within the literature it is acknowledged that T1D diagnosis and management can have an effect on all family members. Furthermore poor parental well-being can impact negatively on adolescent well-being. It is therefore important to understand parental well-being in the context of adolescent T1D. Paper one presents a literature review of the psychological status of parents of adolescents with T1D. The review highlighted that adolescent T1D diagnosis has the potential to impact on parental psychological well-being, with some parents experiencing clinically concerning symptoms of anxiety, depression or psychological distress at different time points during their adolescent’s chronic illness. Over recent years it has increasingly been recognised that psychosocial variables can impact on physical well-being and illness management. It is important that individuals who experience distress are offered appropriate support. With regard to families and parents, psychological support may be offered through parenting interventions. Paper two aimed to explore whether Teen Triple P Positive Parenting Programme resources were acceptable to parents of adolescents with T1D and whether they would be interested in undertaking a parenting intervention. It also explored whether adolescent behaviour difficulties, parental psychological distress or diabetes-related family conflict were related to parents’ acceptability ratings and intentions to participate. Diabetes factors, such as time since diagnosis and levels of blood glucose control were also considered. The results indicated that the Teen Triple P resources have the potential to be acceptable to parents and that they would be interested in participating in a parenting intervention if one was available to them. The critical reflection considers both the literature review and the scientific study. Within this paper the approaches used, the challenges encountered, and the implications for clinical practice, and future research, are considered.