Yes / The survey considered this was a greater burden compared to cancer (16%) and heart disease (16%), suggesting reducing mental ill health should be a priority for public health (Davies 2014). [...]the impact of stigma associated with poor mental health prevents individuals from accessing services that have the capacity to improve lives (Corrigan et al, 2014). To support organisations to reduce sickness absence, NICE published its "Workplace health: management practices" guidelines in 2016 (NICE, 2016), and the more recent "Healthy workplaces: improving employee mental and physical health and wellbeing" (NICE, 2017) shows workplace health now features high on the Government's agenda. [...]transformational programmes have sought to create a sea change in the way mental healthcare is delivered, from a mainly medical model approach, considered denigrating, paternalistic, inhumane and reductionist (Shah and Mountain, 2007), to that of a biopsychosocial model (Engel, 1977)With its emphasis on a more broad and integrated approach to human behaviour, this model requires the use of effectivecommunication skills in service delivery, to extend care beyond that of the individual to include family members and to emphasise the importance of illness prevention as well as treatment provsion (Dogar, 2007). The case for mental health promotion at work Considerable emphasis is now being placed on the importance of positive mental health and wellbeing as mental health is now considered a priority for the Government, with recent policies aiming to create a parity with physical health.

Yes / ESRC funded project Powering Productivity (ES/S015124/1)

Abstract Purpose – The aim of this thesis is to describe and explain how service employees create personal wellbeing through improving the customer’s experience of the service by being proactive in their work, continuously running the service interaction and stimulating the customer. Design/methodology/approach – The study takes on a qualitative approach and data was collected through a primary analysis of 9 extensive interviews performed on service providers within the mobility service-business in Gothenburg.   Findings – The findings of this study show how service employees’ can create personal wellbeing for themselves in different ways and to varying extent using different tactics, judgement procedures and implicit knowledge resources. Research limitations/implications for future research – The service setting in this study is not comparable to all other organisations, something must be taken into account. Future research should focus on further analysing the findings of this thesis by performing similar studies in other service contexts and a more detailed examination of the different components. Practical implications – The findings of this thesis provide valuable insights for managers within similar service organisations where there is need for improved employee wellbeing and performance. This could lead to significantly enhanced service experiences that would benefit, not only the employees’, but also customers’ and the organisation as a whole. Keywords – Employee Wellbeing, Service Employees, Service Interaction, Transformative Service Research, Service Dominant Logic, Employee Tactics

Wellbeing may be the most important feeling able to experience by a person. The research concerning wellbeing has traditionally been focused on psychological wellbeing, yet how wellbeing of populations can be estimated and compared remains unclear. This study proposes a method of measuring wellbeing by keeping to the essence of it as being a subjective feeling. It adopts the rather common term of subjective wellbeing (SWB) and identifies two important aspects of SWB; happiness and life satisfaction. These aspects of life are part of the questionnaires used in many multinational survey studies, including the World Value Survey (WVS). With data from these surveys, SWB can be compared between populations based on subjective survey answers from individuals. The paper tests this approach by using results of the WVS and performing a statistical analysis comparing SWB between cultures. Evaluation of the results leads to the conclusion that, by means of happiness and life satisfaction, a not complete, but at least reasonable operational measurement of SWB is obtained.

No description available.

No / Wellbeing is a complex construct and to date there has been great inconsistency across measures of wellbeing with respect to their theoretical foundations, dimensions, composition, and psychometric properties. The need for wellbeing measures that have robust epistemological and ontological frameworks and sound psychometric properties is evident as a basis for effective care planning, outcome evaluation and research. The following paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the Wellbeing Evaluation Scale (WES), long and short forms, from an analysis of data drawn from a representative population of 203 adults aged 55 years and over. Following an initial pilot study (n = 98), a repeated investigation involved a representative sample of 203 adults over the age of 55 who were recruited from the West Midlands for this study. The findings suggest that the WES is a reliable, valid, and representative measure of wellbeing in adults over 55. It is concluded that the WES can be considered as a reliable tool for the purposes of assessment, care planning and research.

Studies of childhood bereavement suggest that communication is a crucial issue for adults and for children (Silverman and Worden, 1993). Closed communication seems to be a ‘natural’ adult response and this seems to be shared by some professionals. This study was designed to explore aspects of communication between adults and children experiencing loss or impending loss. The study consisted of five investigations: 1) An analysis of narratives obtained in interviews with 4 adults bereaved in childhood; 2) An exploration of 8 narratives illustrating the theme of children’s grief in literature; 3) An exploration of communication strategies used by 6 counsellors working with bereaved children; 4) An exploration of 6 counsellors’ communication strategies obtained by interviews with counsellors and volunteers and 5)An evaluation of a support programme using qualitative data from brief interviews with 24 participating children, attending 2 distinct, age appropriate, groups. A semiotic analysis of texts culled from the investigations was carried out. In Investigations 1 and 2, it was established that silence functioned as a sign whilst, unsurprisingly, the investigations in which counsellors’ communication was analysed (3 and 4) showed that empathy and dialogue were central. The specific question addressed in the first investigation was whether closed communication had operated in the lives of bereaved children who are now adults and, in the second, whether this is found across generations and cultures. The findings in both cases gave an affirmative answer. The evaluation of group support for 24 children suggested that the programme had been helpful in resolving shorter term effects of loss and lends some support to the notion of ‘Continuing Bonds’. The research question formulated for the study was: What psychological tools, including signs, operate in adult-child communication in this context. The main finding was that both open and closed styles of communication are employed.

The aim of the study was to discover the most suitable methods of psychologically preparing patients for modern day surgery and to formulate a pre-operative nursing plan which embraces such methods. Contemporary evidence suggests the level of information provided, individual coping style, anxiety and social cognitions may strongly influence the psychological status of patients undergoing surgery. However, the most crucial aspect within day surgery may concern the degree to which the level of information provided meets with individual requirements i.e. information matched with maximum (vigilant coper) and minimum (avoidant coper) levels of requirement. A convenience sample of 120 patients undergoing intermediate, non-life threatening, gynaecological laparoscopic day surgery were contacted prior to admission and randomly assigned into two groups. Group I received an extended information booklet and Group II a simple information booklet. All participants received a questionnaire pack pre-operatively which was utilised to determine coping style, anxiety, health locus of control and self-efficacy. Initially, the nurses rated participants in receipt of the extended information as less anxious, irrespective of coping style (F (1, 47) = 4.257, p = 0.45). However, irrespective of the information booklet received, participants with a vigilant coping style encountered greater external health locus of control (F (1, 47) = 4.249, p = 0.045). Again, irrespective of the information booklet received, participants with a vigilant coping style also experienced lower self-efficacy (F (1, 47) = 6.173, p = 0.017). As participants in receipt of the extended information booklet were observed to be less anxious, the ability of the booklet to alleviate anxiety is discussed. Additionally, regardless of information received, vigilant coping behaviour was associated with diminished health locus of control and lower self-efficacy. Such sub-optimal appraisals are equally explored. An innovative plan is proposed providing explicit psycho-educational guidance for intervention throughout modern elective day surgery. Incorporation of this strategy into nursing practice is outlined and techniques for implementation recommended.

After decades of marginalisation, there is a resounding assertion that 'faith matters' in development. A growing body of evidence suggests that religion promotes developmental values of social justice, equity, and compassion for the poor, it shapes people's identities and is an important source of welfare provision. Nevertheless, studies on faith and development have been restricted to the instrumental approach; a developmentalised version of religion which biases faith based organisations and other formalised organisations that conform to the mainstream development agenda. This thesis departs from the instrumentalisation of faith to a lived religion approach and sees development as 'inherent' in what religions do. It explores how a Christian faith community (CFC) in Ayigya, Ghana lives and experiences its faith in the everyday. It considers how these experiences shape and construct both the wellbeing aspirations and achievements of the CFC. The research adopts an ethnographic methodology to investigate the wellbeing experiences of the CFC. This consisted of the profiling of the CFC, qualitative interviewing (in-depth, semi structured, conversational and focus group discussions), participant observation and faith dairies. This study finds that the CFC offers a rich associational life for its members; one that constructs what wellbeing is and one that contributes significantly to how wellbeing is achieved. As such, for many the CFC has replaced the role of the state in social service delivery and welfare provision. The CFC provides a compelling wellbeing narrative that is congruent with both traditional norms and values and modern neoliberal discourses, that shapes the wellbeing aspirations of its members. The CFC also supplies its members with a social and spiritual capital, but most pertinently a divine agency to translate these wellbeing aspirations into achievements. This study contributes to the alternative development literature; it proposes that a lived religion and multidimensional subjective wellbeing approach is well suited to understanding the complex processes involved in the wellbeing narratives of faith communities in the global South.

The central objective of this thesis was to explore relationships between personal values, and depressed mood and subjective wellbeing, and to determine if the notion of values can be more useful in the fields of clinical and positive psychology. An initial literature review of values identified the potential importance of values in relation to mood and wellbeing, but also showed that more research was required to clearly establish such links. Two survey studies using Schwartz’s model of values (Schwartz, 1992), and one longitudinal study investigating relational aspects of values, were conducted to explore these relationships. Study 1 was a New Zealand paper-based study and investigated links between the importance of, and satisfaction with, values and depressed mood and subjective wellbeing. Study 2 was a larger international internet-based study which sought to replicate important findings from Study 1 and investigate links between people’s knowledge of their values and the extent to which they were living in alignment with values. Study 3 consisted of a sub-sample of participants from Study Two who completed a subset of Study 2 assessment measures six months later. This study explored how relational aspects of values (knowledge of values, living in alignment with values) related to changes in depressed mood and SWB over time. Cumulatively the results from these studies re-orientate our thinking towards an increased utility for the notion of values in the areas of clinical and positive psychology. Regarding depressed mood, these studies found links between greater depressed mood and lesser importance of Self-Direction, Stimulation and Hedonism value types. The importance of values as a whole was not associated with depressed mood; however being satisfied, knowing values, and living in alignment with values were associated with less depressed mood. Regarding subjective wellbeing, these studies found links between greater subjective wellbeing and greater importance of Self-Direction, Stimulation, Hedonism, and Benevolence value types. The importance of values as a whole was not associated with subjective wellbeing; however being satisfied, knowing values, and living in alignment with values were associated with greater subjective wellbeing. A causal relationship was found between living in alignment with values and latter subjective wellbeing, but not for knowledge of values and later subjective wellbeing. In addition, no major deviations in the coherence of values’ systems between individuals with and without depressed mood, or for individuals with and without high subjective wellbeing, were found. Strengths, implications, and limitations of the studies are noted for the fields of clinical and positive psychology, and suggestions for future research are made.