The Strengths and Subjective Wellbeing Research Intervention
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of the authentic happiness theory and the use of positive psychology interventions in relation to satisfaction with life in individuals who have experienced a first episode of psychosis. A single-case experimental design.
IRAS ID
220794
Contact name
Kara McTiernan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 18 days
Research summary
Fostering the wellbeing of individuals attending mental health services is a strategic priority for the NHS (Tai et al 2009, Prescott et al 2014). This necessitates undertaking research in this domain in order to develop interventions which are underpinned by an empirical evidence base. The current research intervention investigates how the authentic happiness theory and the use of positive psychology interventions leads to changes in satisfaction-with-life with patients who have experienced a first episode of psychosis. This is an unanswered theoretical question within the literature. Emerging research with patients with psychosis (Meyer et al. 2012, Freeman et al. 2014, Schrank et al. 2015, Sims et al. 2015) report that positive psychology interventions (PPIs) facilitate improvements in general indicators of wellbeing whilst simultaneously reducing symptoms of depression and psychosis. However previous studies have not adhered to the original theoretical construct or to the outcome measures deployed in the seminal positive psychology study (Seligman et al., 2005). Moreover the specific PPIs; using strengths, attending to positives and expressing gratitude (Seligman et al., 2005) have not been delivered exclusively on an individual basis with clients who have experienced a first episode of psychosis. A single case experimental study will investigate the use of such interventions with patients who have experienced a first episode of psychosis within an EIP service. The baseline phase will consist of three to eight weeks, whereby participants will monitor satisfaction with life with daily diaries. Thereafter participants will engage in an eight session intervention and will continue to complete the daily recordings. Subsequently there will be no contact between the research team and participants for one month. Contact will then be re-established and participants will be requested to complete the diary measures over seven days. Newcastle University and Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust are funding this research intervention.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NE/0114
Date of REC Opinion
26 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion