The good gifts program: evaluation of a positive youth development intervention for opportunity youth

The hardships faced by youth experiencing or at-risk for experiencing homelessness, or opportunity youth, are well documented. Programs for these youth are often deficit-based, failing to recognize existing strengths to foster resilience. The Good Gifts Program is a positive youth development intervention created collaboratively with opportunity youth, service providers, and researchers to augment existing services with the goal of nurturing gratitude, generosity, and hope. We evaluated this pilot program during a period of wide-spread service disruption (in the summer of 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic). Opportunity youth (n = 38;aged 16–24) completed up to four group sessions as well as pre- and post-test assessments, with daily diaries throughout. Results showed no overall evidence for program efficacy and, indeed, declines in gratitude, generosity, and hope with greater program attendance. The modest sample size and significant heterogeneity in program fidelity, participation, and context presented challenges to data interpretation and highlight considerations for future work. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Positive Psychology is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Character Strengths and Resilience in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the pandemic, older adults were perceived as a vulnerable group without considering their various strengths. This study explored the associations between character strengths and resilience, and verified if some of these could predict resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 92 participants (women = 79.1%), ≥ 70 years of age (mean = 75.6 years), completed an online version of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths - Positively keyed (VIA-IS-P) to assess 24 character strengths (grouped under six virtues) and the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale. Results showed that 20 of the 24 strengths correlated positively and significantly with resilience. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the virtues of courage and transcendence, as well as attitudes toward aging, uniquely predicted the level of resilience. Interventions should be developed to improve certain strengths (e.g., creativity, zest, hope, humor, and curiosity), while reducing ageism, in order to promote resilience.

Character strengths as a coping strategy in times of COVID-19

For about two years, we have collectively mourned material, economic, and emotional loss caused by COVID-19. Measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus have contributed to the deterioration in people's mental health. According to scientific evidence, boredom, isolation, helplessness, lack of control, uncertainty, fear of dying, have had an impact on the well-being. There is an increase in the exacerbation of symptoms and pre-existing conditions of psychopathologies and the appearance of new symptoms. However, it is argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has helped people learn more about themselves and their capacities. This article is a narrative review, not intended to be exhaustive, but aims to address emotional well-being by highlighting the identification and use of character strengths as a coping strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. I discuss how character strengths play a positive and significant role in increasing resilience in people who experienced adverse situations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (Spanish) Por aproximadamente dos anos hemos vivido un duelo colectivo por la perdida material, economica y emocional provocada por la pandemia de COVID-19. Las medidas tomadas para evitar la propagacion del virus han contribuido al deterioro de la salud mental de las personas. Se documenta en la literatura que el aburrimiento, aislamiento, impotencia, falta de control, incertidumbre, preocupacion, y miedo a morir, han tenido un impacto en todas las dimensiones del bienestar. Tambien, se registra un aumento en la exacerbacion de sintomas y condiciones preexistentes de psicopatologia y aparicion de nuevos sintomas. No obstante, se plantea que la pandemia de COVID-19 ha ayudado a las personas a aprender mas sobre si mismas y sobre sus capacidades. Este articulo es una revision narrativa, que no pretende ser exhaustiva, pero que tiene como objetivo abordar el bienestar emocional destacando la identificacion y el uso de las fortalezas de caracter como estrategia de afrontamiento durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Discuto como las fortalezas de caracter impactan y aumentan el desarrollo de la resiliencia en personas que experimentan situaciones adversas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Integrity, positive psychological capital and academic performance

PurposeIn this study, the authors consider the mediating role of psychological capital (i.e. PsyCap) in the relationship between integrity and academic performance. Specifically, the authors propose that integrity is a relatively stable and distal character strength that is likely to have a minimal direct effect on academic performance. Going further, the authors argue that integrity is more likely to have an indirect effect on academic performance via the psychological resources that encompass one's PsyCap.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from a sample of 179 undergraduate business students and student grade point average (GPA) data, the authors find support for the notion that PsyCap partially mediates the relationship between integrity and academic performance.FindingsThese findings reveal the key role that PsyCap plays in translating a student's integrity toward behaviors that lead to higher levels of academic performance.Originality/valuePrior research suggests the direct relationship between integrity and academic performance has been mixed. In this study, the authors consider how mediation may help explain this relationship. The authors believe this to be among the first empirical studies to consider integrity, PsyCap and academic performance.

Character Strengths' Change During COVID-19.

The COVID-19 had negative effects on individuals and nations worldwide. However, based on literature suggesting that crises can trigger growth, we propose that it may have also triggered individuals' character strengths development, especially among those having experienced moderate levels of difficulty during the pandemic and having received social support. The participants' (N = 1700) 24 character strengths were assessed twice: before and during COVID-19. At the second assessment, participants also reported the level of impact COVID-19 had on their lives, and their perceived social support. MANOVA analysis revealed a general increase in character strengths, with significant - but mainly negligible or small - increases in 17 strengths: appreciation of beauty and excellence, bravery, prudence, creativity, curiosity, fairness, gratitude, honesty, hope, judgment, kindness, leadership, perspective, self-regulation, social intelligence, spirituality, and zest. Across the 24 strengths, the reported level of COVID-19's impact (i.e., low, moderate, or high) was not associated with different changes during the pandemic. Univariate analyses showed that such changes were significant only in curiosity, forgiveness and kindness. The multivariate effect of social support on changes in character strengths was significant. Specifically, it enhanced the increase in love, prudence, curiosity, forgiveness, gratitude, honesty, hope, judgment, leadership, humility and zest during COVID-19, although the interactions effect sizes were small. The results suggest that, in the time frame examined in this study, character development processes triggered by COVID-19 were evident, yet specific changes in strengths were relatively mild. Some of these processes may have been enhanced by social support. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10902-022-00575-6.

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic upon Chinese Positive Traits.

Will Chinese people change in terms of their character strengths when disasters strike? As far as the most recent COVID-19 pandemic is concerned, we provide an explorative answer from the impacts of positive traits included in the Values in Action Classification of Strengths upon Chinese people. We conducted a large-scale online survey from 1 January 2019 to 13 February 2020, with 12,878 respondents nationwide, covering all the administrative regions in China and all age intervals. The changes in the 24 character strengths before and during the pandemic were compared. Results revealed a significant increase in teamwork triggered by the pandemic among Chinese people. Fine-grained differences in demographic variables were also examined. Results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly boosted teamwork for both males and females. Concerning age differences, only younger adults (18-25-year-old) showed a significant increase in teamwork. Besides this, it was also discovered that females always performed a higher teamwork tendency than males, and the elderly higher than the younger, regardless of the pandemic.

Purpose in Life and Character Strengths as Predictors of Health Sciences Students' Psychopathology During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Health sciences students experience high levels of psychopathology conditioned by psychosocial, financial, and academic factors. However, COVID-19 pandemic might even have worsened their mental health. Thus, this article aims to evaluate how the exposure to COVID-19 pandemic has affected these students' mental health and to determine the effect of purpose in life and character strengths on this psychopathology. Methods: A cross-sectional study of unpaired samples was carried out in Spain during the first and third waves of the pandemic in 70 medical and 52 nursing students. Results: The risk factor that most determined the appearance of anxiety was the exposure of family and friends to COVID-19 (OR = 4.01; p < 0.001), while the most protective factors were honesty (OR = -1.14; p = 0.025) and purpose in life (OR = -0.18; p < 0.001). Purpose in life also protected against the onset of depression and total psychopathology. In addition, we observed studying medicine was a protective factor against total psychopathology while being a nursing student was associated with high levels of acute stress. Conclusion: Exposure of the students' family and friends to SARS-CoV-2 favored the appearance of symptoms of anxiety. Honesty had a preventing role in the onset of anxiety and a high purpose in life was protective against the appearance of anxiety, depression, and total psychopathology.

Character strengths sustain mental health and post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought negative and positive changes in the general population, with some people experiencing post-traumatic growth after the first wave. Little research has focused, however, on personal factors potentially helping individuals cope with COVID-related difficulties. This study investigates the relations between character strengths, mental health, and post-traumatic growth. DESIGN: Longitudinal (T1: April 2020; T2: December 2020-January 2021). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 254 Italian adults (54 males; mean age = 36.05, SD = 14.04) completed questionnaires on character and mental health at T1, and on mental health and post-traumatic growth at T2. RESULTS: General mental health was worse at T2 than at T1. Structural equation modelling showed that character, as a whole, had a significant direct effect on post-traumatic growth and mental health at T2, and an indirect effect mediated by post-traumatic growth. Furthermore, regression analyses evidenced that the virtue of transcendence was uniquely related to mental health at T2, while humanity was specifically associated with post-traumatic growth (after accounting for the other virtues). CONCLUSION: Individuals' character strengths related to their mental health and post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, with evidence of post-traumatic growth mediating the relation between character and mental health.

Promoting preservice teachers? psychological and pedagogical competencies for online learning and teaching: The TEAC H. program

During the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face teaching was not viable because many schools were forced to close as a preventive measure. Educators abruptly shifted to online classes without sufficient time and resources to prepare for such an enormous transition. Although shifting from traditional face-to-face format to modern e-learning approach ensured that students could be educated outside of the classroom, its impact on the quality of learning and teaching (L&T) can be mixed. This study aims to address the knowledge gap in conventional teacher training by developing a web-based program called T.E.A.C.H. to enhance preservice teachers' psychological and pedagogical competencies for conducting online L&T. The program consisted of five modules, each focused on one dimension of psychological competence (creativity, curiosity, love of learning, judgment, and perspective) and applied to the 'three foci' for online L&T (attendance and participation, engagement, and assessment). Adopting a quasi-experimental design with matched sampling, a total of 314 preservice teachers were allocated into the intervention or control group. The intervention group was given access to the web-based program to receive training materials, learn about the content, and take part in the online L&T exercises. Program effectiveness was evaluated using pretest and posttest questionnaires, a teaching design task, short quizzes, and a program quality assessment. The results showed that the T.E.A.C.H. program was effective in promoting preservice teachers' psychological competencies, positive attitudes toward online L&T, self-efficacy to teach in an online format, intentions to use technology for L&T, and online pedagogical skills. The successful implementation of T.E.A.C.H. encourages school leaders, teachers, and teacher professional development providers to utilize this web-based program to enhance online teaching practices.

Character strengths as a coping strategy in times of COVID-19

(Spanish) Por aproximadamente dos anos hemos vivido un duelo colectivo por la perdida material, economica y emocional provocada por la pandemia de COVID-19. Las medidas tomadas para evitar la propagacion del virus han contribuido al deterioro de la salud mental de las personas. Se documenta en la literatura que el aburrimiento, aislamiento, impotencia, falta de control, incertidumbre, preocupacion, y miedo a morir, han tenido un impacto en todas las dimensiones del bienestar. Tambien, se registra un aumento en la exacerbacion de sintomas y condiciones preexistentes de psicopatologia y aparicion de nuevos sintomas. No obstante, se plantea que la pandemia de COVID-19 ha ayudado a las personas a aprender mas sobre si mismas y sobre sus capacidades. Este articulo es una revision narrativa, que no pretende ser exhaustiva, pero que tiene como objetivo abordar el bienestar emocional destacando la identificacion y el uso de las fortalezas de caracter como estrategia de afrontamiento durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Discuto como las fortalezas de caracter impactan y aumentan el desarrollo de la resiliencia en personas que experimentan situaciones adversas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Character Strengths Predict an Increase in Mental Health and Subjective Well-Being Over a One-Month Period During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown.

This study examines whether character strengths predict resilience (operationalized as stable or higher mental health and subjective well-being despite an adverse event) over a period of approximately 1 month during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Spain. Using a longitudinal design, participants (N = 348 adults) completed online measures of sociodemographic data, information regarding their situation in relation to the COVID-19, character strengths, general mental health, life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. All variables were measured at Time 1 and Time 2, except for sociodemographic and most COVID-related information (Time 1 only). Time 1 data collection was conducted between March 21, 2020 and April 2, 2020, i.e., approximately the second week of lockdown in Spain. Time 2 data collection was conducted between April 24, 2020 and May 18, 2020, after the Spanish government announced its intention to progressively release the lockdown. A principal component analysis of character strengths was conducted. Five character strength factors were extracted: fortitude, goodness, intellectual, interpersonal, and restraint. Factor structures at Times 1 and 2 were highly consistent. All character strength factors at Time 1 correlated positively with life satisfaction and positive affect, and negatively with negative affect and mental health at T2 (higher scores in the mental health measure indicate poorer mental health). Fortitude strengths showed the highest correlations. We conducted a series of regression analyses with strength factors at Time 1 as predictors, and mental health, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect as dependent variables, controlling for their baseline levels. To test the directionality of the relationship between strengths and the dependent variables, all analyses were reversed. All character strength factors predicted an increase in mental health. They also predicted positive affect, with the exception of strengths of restraint. Fortitude, intellectual, and interpersonal strengths predicted an increase in life satisfaction. Finally, fortitude strengths, interpersonal strengths, and strengths of restraint, predicted a decrease in negative affect. None of the reversed analyses yielded significant effects. Limitations, implications, and possible character strengths-based interventions aimed at promoting mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Positive psychology: hope and its role within mental health nursing

This is the twelfth article in a series that explores the meaning of positive psychology and the impact it has on the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. It will focus on positive psychology interventions that help to develop hope and considers how its uplifting effect, through contemporary use in the field of mental health nursing, can be experienced. This article initially introduces the concept of hope then links it with the field of positive psychology. It then focuses on Snyder's theory of hope and its use in promoting wellbeing. It follows with the application of hope within the nursing context. Finally, it refers to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and how hope may be used to support the mental health nursing workforce. The practical activities provided in the article will help the reader increase their own awareness of hope and consider ways to develop its use and transferability within their own life..

The Relationships between Character Strengths and Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from Greece under Lockdown during COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019. As long as this type of coronavirus was new, the main way for governments to avoid the spread of the infection was enforced quarantine. Besides public health protection, quarantine can have a psychological impact on the residents, with main symptoms being angst, anxiety, depressive, and PTSD symptoms. As it has been found that character strengths can promote subjective wellbeing, the purpose of the study was to examine this relationship under the new situation of quarantine in the Greek population in adults who were in quarantine for at least two weeks. The total sample consisted of 354 participants who were aged 18-72-years-old. A total of 263 participants were women (74.3%), 91 were men (25.7%), and 94.6% of them were highly educated. The sample was a convenience sample. The tools used were PANAS, PERMA and finally VIA-114GR. The data analysis was completed using SPSS software version 26.0 (IBM Corp. Released 2019. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp) and EQS 6.1 (Multivariate Software Inc.: Encino, CA, USA, 2006). The results showed that love, curiosity, persistence, hope, and zest are strongly associated with subjective wellbeing, even in conditions such as quarantine, and can support specific aspects of it.

Character strengths intervention for nurturing well-being among Pakistan's university students: A mixed-method study.

A strengths intervention, The Good Life, was developed for this study to augment Pakistani university students' PERMA-oriented well-being. The intervention strategy focused on all 24 strengths, observing strengths in others, and developing the lesser strengths based on the dominant ones. Intervention best practices from positive, vocational, and educational psychology were also implemented to support greater learning capabilities among participants. Additionally, fidelity to training was observed to ensure intervention integrity. In this three-wave longitudinal study, participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 91) and a wait-list/no-treatment control group (n = 91). Quantitative results revealed that the experimental group reported greater well-being than the control group immediately after the intervention and 6 months later. Qualitative findings shed light on the character strengths demonstrated by the experimental group to build each PERMA dimension during Time 2 and Time 3. Findings also provided insights into how the experimental group experienced well-being during Time 2 and Time 3. Together, the quantitative and qualitative findings provide encouraging evidence regarding the long-term efficacy of the intervention in Pakistan's collective society. Implications for offering future strengths interventions amid the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for improving the Good Life intervention are also discussed.

A Perspective on Mature Gratitude as a Way of Coping With COVID-19.

AIM AND METHODS: This perspective presents evidence of mature gratitude as a way of coping with the threats and boundaries of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This narrative, non-systematic review will be based on studies from the COVID-19 period in association with more general literature on the characteristics of mature gratitude related to good mental health. RESULTS: The results from the literature suggest that a confrontation with our existential vulnerability during a pandemic is not only a crisis but also an opportunity to view our lives in a different way. Mature gratitude, as proposed in this perspective, can help us in coping with the threats and boundaries that are part of our lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This time of crisis gives us the opportunity to self-reflect on our current life and plans for the future and to reframe them through a positive lens which can encourage individuals to actively strengthen their psychological resilience and coping skills. CONCLUSION: Cultivating an attitude of mature gratitude through actions of kindness, expressing being thankful for life and God, and enjoying all the small things in life helps in coping with the current threats of COVID-19 and building lifelong resilience for the future. Knowledge about these associations can help psychologists, counselors, and coaches to support people who experience psychological issues due to the current pandemic and all crises to come.

Influence on Forgiveness, Character Strengths and Satisfaction with Life of a Short Mindfulness Intervention via a Spanish Smartphone Application.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) are a recognized effective psychological practice characterized by attention control, awareness, acceptance, non-reactivity, and non-judgmental thinking obtained through the practice of meditation. They have been shown to be useful in reducing stress and enhancing well-being in different contexts. In this research, the effectiveness of an MBI was evaluated on variables that can promote successful job performance such as mindfulness trait, positive and negative affect, forgiveness, personality strengths and satisfaction with life. The intervention was carried out through a smartphone application called "Aire Fresco" (Fresh Air) during 14 days in the middle of the quarantine produced by the Covid-19 pandemic. The study sample was composed of 164 Spanish people who were distributed in two groups: control group and experimental group, which were evaluated before and after the intervention. The MANCOVA performed showed an overall positive effect of the intervention on the variables evaluated. The different ANCOVAs carried out showed that the intervention was beneficial in increasing mindfulness trait, reducing negative affect or increasing life satisfaction, among others. Our study is, as far as we know, the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of a brief intervention in mindfulness conducted using a smartphone application in Spanish.

"Andrà tutto bene": Associations Between Character Strengths, Psychological Distress and Self-efficacy During Covid-19 Lockdown.

The Covid-19 pandemic obliged people around the world to stay home and self-isolate, with a number of negative psychological consequences. This study focuses on the protective role of character strengths in sustaining mental health and self-efficacy during lockdown. Data were collected from 944 Italian respondents (mean age = 37.24 years, SD = 14.50) by means of an online survey investigating character strengths, psychological distress and Covid-19-related self-efficacy one month after lockdown began. Using principal component analysis, four strengths factors were extracted, namely transcendence, interpersonal, openness and restraint. Regression models with second-order factors showed that transcendence strengths had a strong inverse association with psychological distress, and a positive association with self-efficacy. Regression models with single strengths identified hope, zest, prudence, love and forgiveness as the strengths most associated with distress, love and zest as the most related to self-efficacy and zest to general mental health. Openness factor and appreciation of beauty showed an unexpected direct relation with psychological distress. These results provide original evidence of the association of character strengths, and transcendence strengths in particular, with mental health and self-efficacy in a pandemic and are discussed within the field of positive psychology.