Workshop 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Using Positive Psychology Interventions To Design A Key Stage 3 Programme For Schools As A Preventive Strategy For Mental Health Promotion (#019)

Gilda C Scarfe 1 , Matthew N Baxter 2
  1. Positive Action UK, Canterbury, KENT, United Kingdom
  2. Simon Langton Grammar School, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

The provision of treatment to young people with mental disorders poses a great economic burden for society. Recognizing these issues, several researchers have contended that it is better to promote the development of resilient functioning as early as possible in the course of development than to implement intervention strategies. The existing research shows that the mental health care system has traditionally focused more on treatment of mental disorders than on prevention. However, it is recognized that mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness, as expressed in the World Health Organization’s definition of mental health. Seligman and Csikszentmihaly’s (2000) argued that a negative bias prevailed in psychology research, where the main focus was on negative emotions and treating mental health problems. The aim of the workshop is to present the effects of specific positive psychology interventions in the students in KS3 as well as the importance of teacher training in the science of wellbeing. Subjective and psychological wellbeing and depressive symptoms were the outcome measures. We examined the variables moderating the effectiveness which were intervention type, dosage and quality of the research design.

  1. 1. Cowen, 1991, 1994, 1999; Knitzer, 2000a, 2000b; Luthar, 2000; Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Rutter, 2000; Werner, 2000. 2. Seligman MEP, Csikszentmihalyi M: Positive psychology: an introduction. Am Psychol 2000, 55:5–14.
  • Select one of the following conference tracks which best describes your submission area: Positive Education