A Holistic Model for Wellness and Prevention Over the Life Span

A Cross-Sectional Exploration of the Relationship between Undergraduate Nursing Student Wellness and Academic Outcomes at a South African Higher Education Institution

As a first step towards a more holistic approach to the development of undergraduate nursing science students at a South African Higher Education Institution, student wellness levels and their relationship to academic performance were explored. An exploratory, quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used to obtain convenience samples of students across academic year levels. Wellness assessment data were collected using a newly developed South African Wellness Questionnaire for Higher Education. Group differences in wellness mean scores as well as the relationship between wellness profiles and academic performance categories were explored using descriptive and multivariate statistical techniques. A clear pattern of highest and lowest wellness dimension scores was found. The wellness profile of students assessed revealed physical and environmental wellness as the weaker areas, while group strengths pertained to social, emotional and spiritual wellness. Although no direct relationship between wellness profiles and academic performance was found, there were tentative indicators that students with higher levels of wellness performed better academically than those with medium wellness levels.

Academic Psychobiography in South Africa: Past, Present and Future

Our aim is to highlight the past, present and future state of affairs of South African psychobiography. Particular attention is given to the trends and the challenges faced by academic psycho-biographers in South Africa. Over the past decade psychobiography has evolved into an established research genre and has become a methodology used by various academics and post-graduate research scholars at South African universities. Psychobiography entails the study of historically significant and extraordinary individuals over their entire life spans with the aim to uncover and reconstruct their lives psychologically. These longitudinal case studies include the psychological study of personalities in diverse occupational fields such as architecture, arts and literature, business and entrepreneur-ship, politics, religion and spirituality, sport, science, as well as the popular biographies of celebrities. Psycho-biographical studies in South Africa have been nurtured in the departments of psychology at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Rhodes University, the University of Johannesburg, and the University of the Free State. Most of these biographical studies have been completed as postgraduate r research endeavours in master's and doctoral degree programmes in psychology where academic staff have initiated and grown psychobiography as a strategic research focus area within their faculties. Psycho-biographical research has considerable logistical and administrative value for postgraduate research and the supervision process, and is also of academic benefit to the theoretical development of South African psychology. In South Africa an array of exemplary personalities constitute a ‘hall of fame’. Their legendary lives are ideal case studies which may be used to develop and/or refute aspects of psychological theory and its applicability to human development over the span of an individual's life.

Potential contributions to disability theorizing and research from positive pyschology

PURPOSE

Within the context of taking the perspectives of disabled individuals themselves more seriously, it is imperative that researchers and practitioners accord due primacy to the experiential worlds and everyday lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. Based on the premise that theoretical groundedness (along with methodological rigour) is integral to sound research, it is argued that the existing body of knowledge regarding the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities may be complemented by a conceptual placing of understandings of disability in relation to a prominent theoretical pathway at the moment, namely, the interdisciplinary emphasis on human strengths and wellness.

METHOD

A critical engagement with key conceptualizations of disability entailed a focus on the development, strengths, and challenges of medical, social and psychologically based conceptualizations of disability.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The existing body of knowledge around disability may be extended and complemented by key concepts regarding human health/wellness from the field of Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology's keynote contribution to the study of disability and rehabilitation entails directing researchers and practitioners to the aim of building, reinforcing and extending disabled individuals' strengths and capacities in order to optimize their functioning in all areas of life, and thereby promote wellness.

A risk and prevention counselor training program model: theory and practice

The need for training mental health counselors in risk and prevention is presented, and justification of the development of an innovative and integrative prevention training program is offered. Theoretical underpinnings that connect the counseling discipline to the field of prevention are described. A risk and prevention training model from Harvard Graduate School of Education is presented as a case example that illustrates the integration of prevention practices into a counselor training curriculum. Prevention research initiatives are described as vehicles for interactive learning and training. Challenges and future opportunities for programmatic implementation are reviewed with attention towards systematic planning and program design.

Adolescent gender differences in mattering and wellness

Mattering to others has been associated with psychosocial well-being and overall wellness. The relationship of perceived interpersonal and general mattering to overall wellness was studied with a sample of 462 high school students (229 males and 233 females). The two measures of perceived mattering (the Mattering to Others Questionnaire and the General Mattering Scale) were significantly but modestly interrelated (r=.29). Both scales were significantly correlated with overall scores on the Wellness Evaluation of Life Style-Teenage form. Females perceived they matter to their families, and in general, more than do males, and mattering significantly predicted wellness for females.

Postcards to God: exploring spiritual expression among disabled older adults

Postcards to God was a creative method to allow individuals to express their spirituality. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of this innovative method. At a skilled nursing facility in a geriatric residence, 19 older disabled workshop participants created collage and message "Postcards to God", and completed a brief survey. Postcard content and construction were coded and analyzed using qualitative methods around self-reports along two attitudinal dimensions: a) making a postcard to God; and b) level of religiousness. Spiritual and religious dimensions were related to postcard thematic content. Postcards were used for expressions of spirituality and prayer across all levels of self-reported religiousness. The Postcards project seems like useful way to facilitate spiritual expression. If validated in further study, this method may prove a useful way to promote spiritual expression in a variety of older and frail populations.

Benefits of a nurse-managed wellness program. A senior center model. Using community-based sites for older adult intervention and self-care activities may promote an ability to maintain an independent lifestyle

Recent health initiatives have encouraged the promotion of wellness and self-care among the elderly population. This research describes the effectiveness of a nurse-managed wellness program located at a multi-purpose senior center. The wellness clinic was created to provide a broad range of screening services, individual counseling services, health educational programs, and management services for chronic diseases common among older adults. Outcome measures focusing for utilization of health services, healthy behaviors, emotional well-being, and mental and physical health variables gathered from 111 older adults demonstrated significant program success. Respondents who used the wellness clinic more frequently, and in particular, those who consulted regularly with the clinical nurse, were more likely to increase their healthy behavior and subsequent health knowledge. As a result of participation in the wellness programs, respondents reported a greater psychological comfort and a more confident feeling concerning the ability to maintain an independent lifestyle.

Conceptualization and measurement of the spiritual and psychological dimensions of wellness in a college population

Wellness is commonly conceptualized as having many dimensions, but little effort has been made to evaluate how spiritual and psychological dimensions are related to overall wellness. To explore the relationship between measures of spiritual and psychological wellness and perceived wellness in a college student population, the authors administered a series of survey instruments to 112 undergraduate students under quiet classroom conditions. They used the Life Attitude Profile to measure spiritual wellness, the Life Orientation Test and the Sense of Coherence Scale to measure psychological wellness, and the Perceived Wellness Survey to measure overall wellness. Path analysis performed with a proposed theoretical model revealed that the effect of life purpose on perceived wellness was mediated by optimism and sense of coherence, which had independent effects on perceived wellness beyond that of life purpose. The findings suggested that an optimistic outlook and sense of coherence must be present for life purpose to enhance a sense of overall well-being.

Religiosity is associated with affective and immune status in symptomatic HIV-infected gay men

This study examines the relationship between religiosity and the affective and immune status of 106 HIV-seropositive mildly symptomatic gay men (CDC stage B). All men completed an intake interview, a set of psychosocial questionnaires, and provided a venous blood sample. Factor analysis of 12 religiously oriented response items revealed two distinct aspects to religiosity: religious coping and religious behavior. Religious coping (e.g., placing trust in God, seeking comfort in religion) was significantly associated with lower scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, but not with specific immune markers. On the other hand, religious behavior (e.g., service attendance, prayer, spiritual discussion, reading religious literature) was significantly associated with higher T-helper-inducer cell (CD4+) counts and higher CD4+ percentages, but not with depression. Regression analyses indicated that religiosity's associations with affective and immune status was not mediated by the subjects' sense of self-efficacy or ability to actively cope with their health situation. The associations between religiosity and affective and immune status also appear to be independent of symptom status. Self-efficacy, however, did appear to contribute uniquely and significantly to lower depression scores. Our results show that an examination considering both subject religiosity as well as sense of self-efficacy may predict depressive symptoms in HIV-infected gay men better than an examination that considers either variable in isolation.