At its core, mental wellbeing refers to positive self-perception, effective coping with challenges and positive social interactions. International students mental wellbeing can be negatively impacted as they face additional challenges compared with domestic students, such as cultural and social differences. The research aimed to integrate mental wellbeing elements into a web application for international students at KTH, as there is a lack of services for this specific target group. Using a user-centered design (UCD) approach, Lull, was designed and developed to include multiple features related to university services, mindfulness, self-reflection and social interactions. The evaluation results showed a high level of usability and a positive feedback from participants in integrating wellbeing elements. The semi-guided chats were able to create a sense of community and were perceived as the most important feature. Finally, a need for targeted services for international graduate students was highlighted along with the potential of digital platforms complementing traditional services, rather than replacing them. / I grund och botten handlar psykiskt välbefinnande om positiv självuppfattning, effektiv hantering av utmaningar och positiva sociala sociala interaktioner. Internationella studenters mentala välbefinnande kan påverkas negativt eftersom de möter ytterligare utmaningar jämfört med inhemska studenter, till exempel kulturella och sociala skillnader. Forskningen syftade till att integrera mentala välbefinnande i en webbapplikation för internationella masterstudenter vid KTH, eftersom det finns en brist på tjänster för denna specifika målgrupp. Med hjälp av en användarcentrerad design designades och utvecklades "Lull" för att inkludera flera funktioner relaterade till mindfulness, självreflektion och sociala interaktioner. Utvärderingsresultaten resultaten visade en hög nivå av användbarhet och en positiv feedback från deltagarna när det gäller att integrera välbefinnandeelement. De halvstyrda chattarna kunde skapa en känsla av gemenskap och uppfattades som den viktigaste funktionen. Slutligen framhölls ett behov av riktade tjänster för internationella masterstudenter tillsammans med potentialen hos digitala plattformar som kompletterar traditionella tjänster snarare än att ersätta dem.

Den psykiska hälsan har haft en negativ utveckling och sedan coronapandemin har den försämrats ytterligare, även bland ungdomar. Trots att den psykiska hälsan i allmänhet är god så uppger många ungdomar att de mår dåligt. Den psykiska hälsan påverkar såväl individen som samhällsutvecklingen. Bland ungdomar påverkar den psykiska hälsan skolprestationen och skoltrivsel, något som påverkar ungdomarnas framtidsmöjligheter. Det sociala stödet anses vara en skyddande faktor för ungdomars psykiska hälsa. Syftet med studien var att undersöka socialt stöd, psykiskt välbefinnande och stress bland gymnasieungdomar i mellersta Sverige och studera om det föreligger samband mellan dessa. Totalt 120 gymnasieungdomar deltog i en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie. Datainsamling bestod av en enkätundersökning. Resultatet analyserades med Spearman’s rangkorrelationsanalys. Resultatet visar att det finns ett positivt samband mellan socialt stöd och psykiskt välbefinnande. Vidare visar resultatet på ett svagt negativt samband mellan socialt stöd och stress. Sammanfattningsvis, det föreligger ett samband mellan socialt stöd, psykiskt välbefinnande och stress. Sambandet är starkare mellan socialt stöd och psykiskt välbefinnande än mellan socialt stöd och stress. Detta indikerar på att det finns andra faktorer som har starkare samband med ungdomarnas stressnivå, men att det sociala stödet är betydelsefullt för den psykiska hälsan. / Mental health has had a negative development and since the corona pandemic it has deteriorated further, also among young people. Although mental health is generally good, many adolescents state that they don’t feel good. Mental health affects both the individual and the development of society. Among adolescents, mental health affects school performance and enjoyment of school, something that affects young people's future opportunities. Social support is considered a protective factor for adolescents’ mental health. The purpose of the study was to investigate social support, psychological well-being, and stress among upper secondary school students in middle Sweden and to study whether there is a correlation between these. A total of 120 upper secondary school students participated in a quantitative cross-sectional study. Data collection consisted of a questionnaire survey. The result was analyzed with Spearman's rank correlation analysis. The results show that there is a positive relationship between social support and psychological well-being. Furthermore, the results show a weak negative relationship between social support and perceived stress. In conclusion, there is a relationship between social support, psychological well-being, and stress. The relationship is stronger between social support and psychological well-being than between social support and stress. This indicates that there are other factors that have a stronger connection with adolescents’ stress experience, but that social support is important for mental health.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att sammanställa forskning om vilken påverkan basinkomst har på mottagarnas psykiska hälsa. Vi ville även undersöka hur införandet av basinkomst påverkat sambandet mellan ekonomiska problem och psykisk hälsa samt diskutera resultaten utifrån kopplingen mellan basinkomst, psykisk hälsa och den teoretiska referensramen. Uppsatsens forskningsfråga löd: Hur har genomförda prövningar av basinkomst påverkat deltagarnas psykiska hälsa? Forskningsfrågan besvarades genom en litteraturöversikt där i nio artiklar (varav en monografi) ingick, vilka rapporterade resultat från prövningar av införande av basinkomst där både kvantitativa och kvalitativa studier inkluderades. Artiklarna och monografin samlades in genom sökningar i databaserna Scopus, Onesearch och Social Services Abstracts samt sekundärsökningar. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys tillämpades där tre huvudteman: Delaktighet och gemenskap, Autonomi samt Hälsoeffekter med underteman identifierades. Empirin analyserades med hjälp av teorierna empowerment samt stigma och skam. Slutsatsen utifrån uppsatsens syfte visade att experiment med basinkomst, villkorad eller ovillkorad, ökade mottagarnas psykiska hälsa. Känslan av empowerment ökade hos mottagarna och resultatet visar att mottagarna upplevde mer livstillfredsställelse, ökad delaktighet, minskad stigmatisering, skam och ökat självbestämmande. Detta gemensamt bidrog till känslan av makt över det egna livet och förmåga att hantera motgångar. / The purpose of this essay was to compile research on the impact basic income has on the recipients' mental health. We also wanted to examine how the introduction of basic income affected the connection between financial problems and mental health and discuss the results based on the connection between basic income, mental health and the theoretical frame of reference. The essay's research question was: How have completed trials of basic income affected the mental health of the participants? The research question was answered by a literature review in which nine articles (of which one monograph) were included, which reported results from trials of the introduction of basic income where both quantitative and qualitative studies were included. The articles and monograph were collected through searches of the Scopus, Onesearch and Social Services Abstracts databases as well as secondary searches. A qualitative content analysis was applied where three main themes: Participation and community, Autonomy and Health effects with sub-themes were identified. The experience was analyzed using the theories of empowerment and stigma and shame. The conclusion based on the purpose of the essay showed that experiments with basic income, conditional or unconditional, increased the mental health of the recipients. The sense of empowerment increased in the recipients and the results show that the recipients experienced more life satisfaction, increased participation, reduced stigma, shame and increased self-determination. This jointly contributed to the feeling of power over one's life and ability to deal with adversity.

Deep touch pressure is used to treat sensory processing difficulties by applying a firm touch to the body to stimulate the nervous system and soothe anxiety. I conducted a long-term exploration of deep touch pressure from a first-person perspective, using shape-changing pneumatic actuators, breathing and ECG sensors to investigate whether deep touch pressure can guide users to engage in semi-autonomous interactions with their breathing and encourage greater introspection and body awareness. Based on an initial collaborative material exploration, I designed the breathing garment- a wearable vest used to guide the wearer through deep breathing techniques. The breathing garment presents a new use case of deep touch pressure as a modality for hapticbreathing feedback, which showed potential in supporting interoceptive awareness and relaxation. It allowed me to engage in a dialogue with my body, serving as a constant reminder to turn inwards and attend to my somatic experience. By pushing my torso forward, the actuators were able to engage my entire body while responding to my breath, creating a sense of intimacy, of being safe and taken care of. This work addresses a gap in HCI research around deep touch pressure and biosensing technology concerning the subjective experience of their emotional and cognitive impact. The longterm, felt engagement with different breathing techniques opened up a rich design space around pressure-based actuation in the context of breathing. This rendered a number of experiential qualities and affordances of the shape-changing pneumatic actuators, such as: applying subtle, slowly changing pressure to draw attention to specific body parts, but also disrupting the habitual way of breathing with asynchronous and asymmetric actuation patterns; taking on a leading or following role in the interaction, at times both simultaneously; and acting as a comforting companion or as a communication channel between two people as well as between one person and their soma. / Djuptrycksterapi (Deep Touch Pressure, DTP) används för att behandla personer som har problem med att processa sensoriska upplevelser. Detta genom att applicera ett fast tryck på kroppen för att aktivera nervsystemet och lindra ångest. Jag genomförde en långtidsutforskning av DTP ur ett första-persons-perspektiv, med hjälp av formförändrande tryckluftsaktuatorer, andnings sensorer och EKG-elektroder. Dess syfte var att undersöka ifall DTP kan guida användare till att engageras i semiautonoma interaktioner med sin andning och främja en större introspektion och kroppsmedvetenhet. Baserat på ett initialt samarbete kring undersökning av olika material, designade jag “the breathing garment” - en bärbar väst som guidar användaren genom djupandningstekniker. Andningsvästen visar på en ny användning av DTP som en modalitet av haptisk andningsfeedback, och den möjliggör ett stödjande av interoceptisk medvetenhet och avslappning. Andningsvästen tillät mig att delta i en dialog med min egen kropp, och fungerade som en ständig påminnelse att vända mig inåt och uppmärksamma mina somatiska upplevelser. Genom att trycka min bröstkorg framåt kunde aktuatorerna engagera hela min kropp när de svarade mot min andning, vilket skapade en känsla av intimitet, trygghet och att vara omhändertagen. Detta examensarbete uppmärksammar ett område som tidigare varit outforskat inom HCI av djuptrycksterapi och biosensorteknik kring den subjektiva upplevelsen av dess emotionella och kognitiva påverkan. Det långvariga engagemanget med aktivt upplevande av olika andningstekniker öppnade upp en stor designrymd kring tryckbaserade aktuatorer i en kontext av andning. Det visar på ett flertal experimentella kvaliteter och affordances av de formförändrande tryckluftsaktuatorerna, såsom: att applicera ett gradvis ökande och markant tryck för att dra uppmärksamheten till specifika kroppsdelar, men också för att bryta det vanliga andningsmönstret genom asynkron och asymmetrisk mönsterpåverkan; att ta en ledande eller följande roll i interaktionen, ibland båda samtidigt; och att agera som en tröstande följeslagare, eller som en kommunikationskanal mellan två människor, likväl som mellan en person och hennes soma.

Mental health has traditionally been described as the absence of mental problems, being those second ones equated to impairments, overlapping disability with mental illness. This unfounded conviction is being replaced by a positive mental health approach that recognizes them as distinct constructs. The two continua model is the first model to prove with empirical support that the presence of mental problems does not entail a lacking positive mental health. In the midst of this transformation disabled children’s voices are being acknowledged as an often-ignored presence as the United Nation’s Convention of People with Disability pushes for their recognition.  This systematic review aims to explore which instruments are being used to measure the mental health of children with disabilities, and to assess how do they compare to the Mental health Continuum Scale (MHC-SF) which emerges as the operationalization of positive mental health in the Two continuum model. Five databases were explored, eight articles were chosen from which nine questionnaires were analysed and quality assessed with the Cosmin Checklist. From those, two instruments focused on mental problems (SDQ and ChYMH), two Surveys from which items were taken and adapted to measure flourishing (NSCH 2016/2011-2012 and L&H-YP 2011), three instruments targeting quality of life on children with a disability (Kidslife, CPQoL-Teens and Kidscreen), a newly developed subjective mental health questionnaire for children with intellectual disability (WellSEQ) and the MHC-SF itself.  Results show the emotional wellbeing dimension to be the most widely used, but positive functioning is misrepresented often measured as external factors. There is a tendence towards the traditional deficit-based formulation of items, despite that, there are good quality instruments that cater to children with disabilities with self-report measures (CPQoL-Teens, WellSEQ and Kidscreen) although severe ID co-mobilities are excluded. The use of digital resources in the administration poses a promising path to allow large scale surveys in children with cognitive and motor impairments, even more so being that the School is the common place of administration without acknowledging that children with chronic health conditions present higher rates of absenteeism.

This research aimed to investigate how life coaching influenced five female high school learners (aged 16 and 17 years old) at an independent school in Gauteng province. The learners attended four life-coaching sessions with an experienced and accredited life coach over a period of eight weeks. Data was collected from a literature review of previous research on life coaching and coaching in general, interviews with the learners both before and after the life coaching experience and from journal entries kept by the learners during the process. All learners learnt through the process and experienced positive changes in their lives. This included improved balance in their lives; improved time management, reduced stress and more positive mind-sets. They were able to set goals and achieve some success during the process. They expressed increased confidence in themselves and their abilities to overcome challenges in their lives and recommended life coaching for other learners. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Educational Management)