Looking to enhance your wellbeing?

May 30, 2007

A research project under way at the University of Wollongong aims to enhance the wellbeing of its participants.

The project is being led by Clinical Psychology Masters candidate Carlene Amey and supervised by Dr Lindsay Oades, of the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health.

Positive psychology claims that the cultivation of certain human strengths, such as gratitude, can protect people from mental health problems by improving their wellbeing. Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness -- it involves an individual’s satisfaction with their life, their capacity to achieve their potential and thrive in the face of challenges, and the quality of their social interactions.

Ms Amey said that gratitude was just one of the positive emotions that was suggested to have an impact on wellbeing.

“Gratitude is the emotional response felt after benefiting from the actions of another. It functions to establish and maintain supportive social relationships and to enhance the outcomes of these relationships.”

Ms Amey said that there is some evidence that keeping a daily record of things that you are grateful for can lead to increased experience of positive emotions and decreased negative emotions. Daily gratitude diaries are also associated with a more optimistic view of the future and fewer physical symptoms.

The project is aimed at investigating the effect of keeping a daily gratitude or life events diary on an individual’s wellbeing and their general health. The project is also interested in whether the effects of the diary intervention are maintained after one month.

The project team is now seeking research participants from interested members of the public aged 18 years or older.

Participants will be required to complete three sets of questionnaires relating to their wellbeing and general health. They will also participate in a 21-day intervention, which will involve making a brief diary entry once a day. All correspondence for this research will be postal.

Participation is voluntary and Ms Amey said that all information would remain confidential.

Those wishing to participate should send their contact details to Marie Johnson at mjohnson@uow.edu.au or phone 4221 4207. Media enquiries can be directed in the first instance to Marie Johnson.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128