Promoting Wellness
Promoting wellness: Integrating community and positive psychology
Journal of community psychology (2006) by …..
BRIEF SUMMARY
WHAT IS WELLNESS ?
It is a multifaceted (has many faces and meanings) concept that integrates signs of well-being with the ability to function well. Put simply : wellness = doing well (functioning, adapting) + living well (enjoying life, being satisfied).
It is not the absence of illness or distress; it is the presence of positive characteristics such as positive emotions, positive social characteristics and positive functioning ( p. 923 ).
INDIVIDUAL WELLNESS 1) Subjective indicators – Cognitive and affective measures.
Cognitive = How you evaluate your life including things like work, marriage, community and an overall contentment in life.
Affective = Positive emotions: Longitudinal (research done over a span of time / the opposite of just a “picture in time”) and experimental results affirm that positive emotions lead to better social, occupational and physical functioning. They also undo the bad effect of negative emotions and build further psychological resources (a form of compensation).
An example of subjective measures could be, “I love to sing” or ski and that’s when I feel really well. Subjective evaluations empower individuals to define their own well-being. 2) Objective indicators – Community psychologists often use objective measures to evaluate well-being. They include things like education, literacy, resources (ex. money). It focuses on the “content”/ material life rather than subjective indicators.
Objective theories of well-being create lists of things that are truly valuable to individuals irrespective (non-depending on individual/subjective) of values.
Another way to use your resources effectively is to define what an individual does well or what your individual strengths are. Martin Seligman & Peterson (2004) classified strengths into 24 categories.
Some of these are listed on page 926 such as:
Journal of community psychology (2006) by …..
BRIEF SUMMARY
WHAT IS WELLNESS ?
It is a multifaceted (has many faces and meanings) concept that integrates signs of well-being with the ability to function well. Put simply : wellness = doing well (functioning, adapting) + living well (enjoying life, being satisfied).
It is not the absence of illness or distress; it is the presence of positive characteristics such as positive emotions, positive social characteristics and positive functioning ( p. 923 ).
INDIVIDUAL WELLNESS 1) Subjective indicators – Cognitive and affective measures.
Cognitive = How you evaluate your life including things like work, marriage, community and an overall contentment in life.
Affective = Positive emotions: Longitudinal (research done over a span of time / the opposite of just a “picture in time”) and experimental results affirm that positive emotions lead to better social, occupational and physical functioning. They also undo the bad effect of negative emotions and build further psychological resources (a form of compensation).
An example of subjective measures could be, “I love to sing” or ski and that’s when I feel really well. Subjective evaluations empower individuals to define their own well-being. 2) Objective indicators – Community psychologists often use objective measures to evaluate well-being. They include things like education, literacy, resources (ex. money). It focuses on the “content”/ material life rather than subjective indicators.
Objective theories of well-being create lists of things that are truly valuable to individuals irrespective (non-depending on individual/subjective) of values.
Another way to use your resources effectively is to define what an individual does well or what your individual strengths are. Martin Seligman & Peterson (2004) classified strengths into 24 categories.
Some of these are listed on page 926 such as: