Toward a Tripartite Factor Structure of Mental Health: Subjective Well-Being,Personal Growth,and Religiosity

According to recent research findings, the domain of psychological well-being may be represented by 2 basic factors: subjective well-being (e.g., happiness, life satisfaction) and personal growth (e.g., self-actualization, a sense of meaningfulness). This study tested the hypothesis that in addition to those 2 factors, a 3rd basic factor is necessary to adequately describe the ways in which people search for well-being. That factor is a type of religiosity that is based on other-centeredness and self-renunciation. A sample of 242 undergraduate and graduate students completed 10 measures of psychological well-being that resulted in 21 scales and subscales. Principal components analyses provided initial support for a tripartite model of psychological well-being. Results also suggested that current measures of personal growth may measure either the autonomy or mature social relationships components of the construct.     

Social Identity, Health and Well-Being: An Emerging Agenda for Applied Psychology

The social environment comprising communities, families, neighbourhoods, work teams, and various other forms of social group is not simply an external feature of the world that provides a context for individual behaviour. Instead these groups impact on the psychology of individuals through their capacity to be internalised as part of a person's social identity. If groups provide individuals with a sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging (i.e. a positive sense of social identity) they tend to have positive psychological consequences. The impact of these identity processes on health and well-being is explored in the contributions to this special issue. In this editorial, we discuss these contributions in light of five central themes that have emerged from research to date. These themes address the relationship between social identity and (a) symptom appraisal and response, (b) health-related norms and behaviour, (c) social support, (d) coping, and (e) clinical outcomes. The special issue as a whole points to the capacity for a social identity approach to enrich academic understanding in these areas and to play a key role in shaping health-related policy and practice.     

Portraits of Well-Being: Photography as a Mental Health Support for Women With HIV

Many women living with HIV/AIDS (WL-HIV/AIDS) experience significant mental distress. Although creative arts strategies are well positioned to help support women by inspiring creativity and meaning-making, few arts programs have been implemented and evaluated with this population. The authors conducted a photography project with 30 WL-HIV/AIDS from three United States cities. Participants took pictures to capture their lives with HIV/AIDS and described their photos and stories in group and individual sessions. Using thematic analysis, the authors identified that the project supported women’s mental health in four ways by facilitating empowerment and helping women to express themselves, address their mental health with new tools like photography, and process past traumas. Photography projects may help WL-HIV/AIDS understand and manage their mental health.     

An Investigation of Islamic Well-Being and Mental Health

The overall aim of this study was to develop the Islamic Well-Being Scale and examine the relationship between mental health and Islamic well-being. In this study, four sub-studies were performed to create the one-factor Islamic Well-Being Scale, perform a confirmatory factor analysis and validate the Islamic Well-Being Scale, differentially predict ill-being and well-being outcomes using the Islamic Well-Being Scale, and compare individuals with different Islamic belief levels using the Islamic Well-Being Scale. In total, 170 adults, 209 adults, 216 theological faculty students and 152 undergraduate educational faculty students participated in each sub-study. Several scales related to well-being and ill-being were used in this study. The Islamic Well-Being Scale was found to be valid and reliable. Islamic well-being was related to certain indicators of well-being and ill-being.

     

Toward a Public Mental Health Approach for Survivors of Terrorism

Abstract

Although most people exposed to bioterrorism or mass casualties will be extremely distressed during the immediate aftermath, only a minority (approximately 30%) will develop clinically significant psychiatric disorders. From a public mental health perspective, the challenge is to provide both preventive programs for the entire population and early detection and intervention for those at greatest risk for PTSD or other post-traumatic psychiatric disorders. Both individual and soci-etal preventive and early intervention approaches are reviewed. Utilization of the media, especially television, is presented as an example of one of many potential community/societal public mental health approaches.     

Exploring Well-Being among Mental Health Professionals in India

An exploratory mixed methods study was designed to understand the construction and experience of happiness and well-being among Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) in India. Through non-probabilistic sampling techniques, 17 MHPs were selected from three government hospitals in a city in North India. Qualitative interview data were triangulated with scores from the Mental Health Continuum-Long Form (MHC-LF). Analysis showed that despite happiness being a desirable and pleasurable state, participants rarely devoted time thinking about it. Happiness was a multidimensional phenomenon which affected personal, interpersonal, social and environmental realms. Happiness was synonymous with contentment and satisfaction and was understood as the opposite of unhappiness. Although recognised as a universal phenomenon, happiness had a subjective and individual-specific understanding, experience and manifestation. Data from the MHC-LF provided scores on overall well-being, and emotional, psychological and social well-being, and indicated that 14 participants had flourishing mental health, and three were moderately mentally healthy. The personal and professional lives of the MHPs were closely intertwined and impacted well-being in multiple ways. Certain temperamental qualities, personal insight from the field, supportive interpersonal relations and management of time, work, thought, behaviour and affect were protective factors of well-being. Additional responsibilities at work, negativities in client narratives, stigma and myths associated with the profession, biases from other professionals, lack of opportunities for personal development and growth, insufficient infrastructural and human resources were threats to well-being. The findings of the study have implications for policy, education and training, and practice for mental health practitioners.     

Education and Mental Health: New Directions for Interaction

Traditionally, mental health workers (psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) provide diagnostic evaluations and individual or group psychotherapeutic or casework treatment. With the advent of the community mental health movement, a new role model, that of “mental health consultant,” has emerged. This paper outlines the functions of the “mental health consultant” in the Job Corps program as a way of highlighting the functions of the mental health professional working in this new way. Educational, training, and work programs may be enriched by mental health consultation, and the new directions for interaction between education and mental health are described in this paper.     

Toward a Metric for Mental Functions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between the incidence of decubitus ulcers and the level of spinal cord injury, sex, race, level of intellectual functioning, and level of academic achievement. A total of 114 subjects with spinal cord injuries were surveyed and tested at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, Fishersville, Virginia. The results of this study indicated no relationship between the incidence of decubitus ulcers and the demographic or personality factors studied.     

Toward a Critical Community Psychological Perspective on Unemployment and Mental Health Research

Psychological research has established that unemployment causes widespread psychological distress and ill health in communities but, arguably, little of this research is truly community psychological. In this paper we sketch out a critical community psychological perspective and use it to contribute to understanding of the role of psychosocial aspects of income in the experience and mental health of employed and unemployed members of low-income families in a severely deprived community context; to the development of innovative participatory methodology, and to promote the interests of impoverished unemployed people through the research process as well as through the research outcome.     

Toward a Bahá'í Concept of Mental Health: Implications for Clinical Practice

The author highlights the emerging interest in understanding religious beliefs as a resource for more fully conceptualizing clients' psychological functioning. Although various authors have explored religious theories of mental health in an effort to increase understanding of clients' problems, there is a dearth of information on the Bahá'í client and how this particular religion conceives of mental health. The purpose of this article is to create an initial formulation for a Bahá'í concept of mental health and to discuss its clinical implications to aid in counseling Bahá'í clients.     

Toward a New Paradigm of Health and Human Potential

In today's highly dynamic and changing industries there are an incredible array of things converging, all of which are signalling a significant need for a new paradigm in health and medicine. Scientific revolutions have brought forward new forms of knowledge, which fundamentally oppose the premises on which the majority of our traditional medical institutions are based. Through my CIRR framework (Critique, Insight, Re-Define, Re-Structure) I will bring forward the key elements and principles of what this paradigm shift is and what would be involved in bringing it into fruition. There are 3 key elements of a paradigm shift which I will review through the CIRR framework these are a) structural and systemic elements b) dynamics of social constituents and pathologies and c) shifts in thinking that have given rise to new forms of knowledge that enable new forms of research and practice. I will demonstrate that the key elements involved in a genuine paradigm shift are here, however it's up to us to bring it into fruition. I hope to inspire both researchers and practitioners towards this new paradigm in health and human potential.     

Spirituality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidences for a New Domain in the Personal Well-Being Index

Subjective well-being explores the evaluations, both positive and negative, of how people experience their lives. Research in the field inquires how people perceive their well-being in different settings, including different cultures, regions and cities. A large number of different measures have been designed to capture subjective well-being. One of the most used SWB measure is the Personal Well-being Index (PWI), an evaluation of life developed by Cummins et al [(2003). Social Indicators Research, 64, 159–190] which proposes that satisfaction with life consists of seven different life-domains. Theoretical considerations of the contribution of spirituality and religiosity to life satisfaction, from a eudaimonic (from the Greek, it consists of the word "eu" (good or well-being) and the word “daemon” (spirit)) point of view, led to test the contribution of this new domain in the prediction of the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) in Bogotá, Colombia. Empirical results confirm the construct validity and reliability of the scale. The contribution of the new domain—satisfaction with spirituality and religiosity—to PWI was found significant. Based on these results the paper explores conceptually the role of spirituality contributing to satisfaction with life. The finding stresses the importance of interpreting satisfaction with life as a whole from the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. New questions for research in this important area are proposed     

Family Forms and Member Well-Being: A Research Agenda for the Decade of Behavior

Few institutions have changed as much in the past quarter-century as have American families. What are the factors affecting change? What are the conditions under which different family forms might best serve the interests of their members? What further changes are required? In this paper societal inequalities manifested within and between two family forms, heterosexual marriage and single-parent families, are reviewed, and a research agenda to assess the conditions under which these different family forms might best serve the interests of their members is posed.     

Socioeconomic Status and Child Mental Health: The Role of Parental Emotional Well-Being and Parenting Practices

This study examined the role of parental emotional well-being and parenting practices as mediators of the association between familial socioeconomic status (SES) and child mental health problems. The sample included 2,043 5th-7th graders (50.7 % female) participating in the second wave of the Bergen Child Study. Children completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, parents reported family economy and education level, emotional well-being (measured with the Everyday Feelings Questionnaire), and the use of negative disciplinary and affirmative parenting practices (measured using the Family Life Questionnaire). Path analyses were conducted to examine the associations between SES and externalizing and internalizing problems. Results supported a model where family economy was associated with externalizing problems through parental emotional well-being and parenting practices, whereas maternal education level was associated with externalizing problems through negative discipline. The direct association between paternal education level and externalizing problems was not mediated by parenting. For internalizing problems, we found both direct associations with family economy and indirect associations with family economy through parental emotional well-being and parenting. The results suggest that parental emotional well-being and parenting practices are two potential mechanisms through which low socioeconomic status is associated with child mental health problems.     

Cortisol Awakening Response as an Index of Mental Health and Well-Being in Adolescents

Physiological measures provide a useful complement to self-report indices of mental health and well-being. The cortisol awakening response (CAR) has been associated with mental distress, but less consistently so with positive functioning. In this study, the utility of two CAR indices as a measure of the full spectrum of mental health and well-being in a sample of healthy adolescents was explored. Forty-seven adolescents (14M, 33F; mean age 13.89, SD = .73) completed questionnaires on mental distress and positive functioning, and provided three saliva samples for cortisol analysis as well as demographic and life event information. Correlational analyses revealed that both absolute CAR (CARi) and area under the curve during awakening (CAR_AUC) indices correlated positively with measures of mental distress, and inversely with measures of positive functioning. When the significant life events score was controlled, moderate to strong effects were maintained with negative and positive affect, mental well-being, satisfaction with life and perceived social support from significant others. These findings provide the first data confirming that CAR is a reliable index of positive functioning in healthy adolescents.