What is it about?
Positive Psychology is important in understanding how to improve wellbeing. This paper looks an overview of the theory and practice of some reliable positive psychology interventions that can help mental health nurses apply them to their work and personal life.
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Why is it important?
This topic is becoming more popular but the current published research focusses more on how it is applied to clients more than the care staff. This paper recognises the current stresses of working in mental health care and how resilience is tested. It is useful for independent practitioners to reflect on opportunities to further develop their self-caring skills and it also provides a framework for managers and leaders to consider quick-win interventions to empower staff in easy and cost-effective ways.
Perspectives
I hope this article excites people into appreciating their own skills, talents and qualities and recognising what is good in their life. Because the interventions and principles are safe and transferable it is hoped they will improve their engagement in practice, the classroom and to flourish as human beings. The knowledge shared is suitable for individuals reading for it the first time but allows deeper exploration with further reading and accessing signposted links to allow individual learning needs to be met and perhaps incite suggestions and actions for further research into this area.
Mrs Jan Macfarlane
University of Bolton
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Positive psychology: an overview for use in mental health nursing, British Journal of Mental Health Nursing, February 2019, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjmh.2019.8.1.34.
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Resources
A positive psychology workshop for trainee assistant practitioners
A related publication
Positive psychology and its role within mental health nursing
This article explores the meaning of positive psychology and the importance of applying the latest research findings for the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. There will be an historical outline of positive psychology followed by an explanation of how it is relevant to mental health nursing today. The practical tasks provided in the boxes throughout the article will help the reader to understand what happiness means to an individual and how it can be developed with evidence-based, user-friendly effective exercises.
Contributors
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