Enhancing One's Sense of Self (v. 1.0)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Promoting and Protecting Subjective Well-Being Using Self-Affirmation.
IRAS ID
241873
Contact name
Charlotte Entwistle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 25 days
Research summary
Promoting and Protecting Subjective Well-Being Using Self-Affirmation.
Well-being is an important aspect of mental and physical health. A key aim of government policies is to improve well-being, however measures used to do this are often costly. The present study aims to see whether a brief, psychological intervention can improve well-being. This invention will involve a self-affirmation manipulation, in the form of a questionnaire, which works by allowing one to recognise the value of ones’ individual self. This study also aims to see whether more interventions will lead to greater increases in well-being. The study will also measure changes in people's self-esteem and anxiety before and after the self-affirmation manipulation to see whether they are involved in the self-affirmation process (i.e., as a mediator).
People that attend the Health and Well-Being College, which is a college that runs free courses designed to help people improve their health and/or well-being, those that wish to take part in the study will complete questionnaires that assess their well-being, self-esteem and anxiety. Depending on the group that they are randomly assigned to, they will then either undergo a self-affirmation manipulation, the self-affirmation manipulation twice or no self-affirmation manipulation. Their well-being, self-esteem and anxiety will be assessed again following this. It is predicted that those who undergo self-affirmation will have more improved levels of well-being than those who do not; those who undergo the self-affirmation twice will have the most improved levels of well-being. This would suggest that a brief, psychological intervention could be used to improve well-being at a large scale.
The time-frame for the data collection period aims to be between May 2018-August 2018.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2
REC reference
18/ES/0063
Date of REC Opinion
17 May 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion