Stress Management and Resiliency Training for public school teachers and staff: A novel intervention to enhance resilience and positively impact student interactions

BackgroundBurnout in teachers has been linked to decreased effectiveness as educators, and suboptimal interactions with students. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the outcomes of a brief Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) program for public school staff.Materials and methodsThis single-arm, prospective trial involved an investigation of the effects of a brief SMART program on participant stress, anxiety, resilience, gratitude, happiness, life satisfaction, and quality of life (QOL).ResultsSignificant improvements were noted in participant anxiety (P < 0.001), stress (P = 0.003), gratitude (P = 0.001), happiness (P < 0.001), life satisfaction (P < 0.001), and QOL (P < 0.001). Most participants reported that the skills learned positively affected interactions with students (77.2%) and coworkers (72.2%).ConclusionsThe SMART program showed promising effectiveness for improving anxiety, stress, gratitude, happiness, life satisfaction and QOL. Given the prevalence and impact of teacher burnout, larger, controlled trials and broader dissemination of the intervention are warranted.     

Positive aspects of the coping of mothers of adolescent children with developmental disability in the Bedouin community in Israel

This research examines the positive aspects of coping experienced by 270 mothers of adolescent children with and without a developmental disability in the Bedouin community. The mothers completed the Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire, the Grandparents Functional Support Assessment, the Gratitude Questionnaire, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Mothers of adolescent children with developmental disability reported higher levels of social support, gratitude, and personal growth than did mothers of adolescent children without developmental disability. Additionally, mothers demonstrated a higher level of gratitude toward their spouse's parents. Positive correlation was also found between gratitude and personal growth and between gratitude and support from the husband's parents. The findings highlight the important need to develop awareness and culturally appropriate intervention programs based on these positive aspects, to enhance these mothers’ coping abilities.     

感戴的研究现状及展望

目的介绍心理学研究中的1个新领域。方法文献综述法。结果本文对．当前感戴研究的主要领域：感戴与人格的关系，感戴与健康的关系，感戴与幸福感的关系，感戴与宗教的关系以及感戴与亲社会行为的关系分别做了阐述，并对未来研究做出展望。结论感戴的研究依然处于初级阶段，国内研究该给予更多的关注。     

大学生感戴与主观幸福感的关系研究

目的探讨大学生感戴与主观幸福感的状况及两者的关系。方法采用董霞修订的大学生感戴问卷,段建华修订的总体幸福感量表,对济南市3所大学580名学生进行调查,回收有效问卷521份。结果①大学生的感戴水平存在性别差异(F=8.25,P=0.031);②大学生感戴与幸福感中对健康的担心这一因子存在负相关,与总体幸福感及其它5个因子存在正相关。感戴与主观幸福感(t1=3.33,P1=0.005)及其因子精力(t2=2.55,P2=0.048)、对生活的满足与兴趣(t3=4.25,P2=0.002)、愉快的心境(t4=1.89,P2=0.007)、对情感和行为的控制(t5=0.04,P6=0.003)、紧张-松弛(t6=0.02,P2=0.037)间存在线性关系。结论女大学生感戴水平高于男大学生,大一新生比大四学生体验更强烈的幸福感;大学生的感戴状况可以预测幸福感,感戴水平越高,幸福感越强。     

Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration

This paper presents a new model of gratitude incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life", incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others, but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life. Research into individual differences in gratitude and well-being is reviewed, including gratitude and psychopathology, personality, relationships, health, subjective and eudemonic well-being, and humanistically orientated functioning. Gratitude is strongly related to well-being, however defined, and this link may be unique and causal. Interventions to clinically increase gratitude are critically reviewed, and concluded to be promising, although the positive psychology literature may have neglected current limitations, and a distinct research strategy is suggested. Finally, mechanisms whereby gratitude may relate to well-being are discussed, including schematic biases, coping, positive affect, and broaden-and-build principles. Gratitude is relevant to clinical psychology due to (a) strong explanatory power in understanding well-being, and (b) the potential of improving well-being through fostering gratitude with simple exercises.     

Exploring neural mechanisms of the health benefits of gratitude in women: A randomized controlled trial

BackgroundGratitude has received growing interest as an emotion that can bring greater happiness and health. However, little is known about the effects of gratitude on objective measures of physical health or the neural mechanisms that underlie these effects. Given strong links between gratitude and giving behavior, and giving and health, it is possible that gratitude may benefit health through the same mechanisms as giving to others. Thus, this study investigated whether gratitude activates a neural ‘caregiving system’ (e.g., ventral striatum (VS), septal area (SA)), which can downregulate threat responding (e.g., amygdala) and possibly cellular inflammatory responses linked to health.MethodsA parallel group randomized controlled trial examined the effect of a six-week online gratitude (n = 31) vs. control (n = 30) writing intervention on neural activity and inflammatory outcomes. Pre- and post-intervention, healthy female participants (ages 35–50) reported on support-giving behavior and provided blood samples to assess circulating plasma levels and stimulated monocytic production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)). Post-intervention, participants completed a gratitude task and a threat reactivity task in an fMRI scanner.ResultsThere were no significant group differences (gratitude vs. control intervention) in neural responses (VS, SA, or amygdala) to the gratitude or threat tasks. However, across the entire sample, those who showed larger pre- to- post-intervention increases in self-reported support-giving showed larger reductions in amygdala reactivity following the gratitude task (vs. control task). Additionally, those who showed larger reductions in amygdala reactivity following the gratitude task showed larger pre-to-post reductions in the stimulated production of TNF-α and IL-6. Importantly, gratitude-related reductions in amygdala reactivity statistically mediated the relationship between increases in support-giving and decreases in stimulated TNF-α production.ConclusionThe observed relationships suggest that gratitude may benefit health (reducing inflammatory responses) through the threat-reducing effects of support-giving.     

Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions

Objectives

To test whether individual differences in gratitude are related to sleep after controlling for neuroticism and other traits. To test whether pre-sleep cognitions are the mechanism underlying this relationship.

Method

A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted with a large (186 males, 215 females) community sample (ages=18-68 years, mean=24.89, S.D.=9.02), including 161 people (40%) scoring above 5 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, indicating clinically impaired sleep. Measures included gratitude, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), self-statement test of pre-sleep cognitions, the Mini-IPIP scales of Big Five personality traits, and the Social Desirability Scale.

Results

Gratitude predicted greater subjective sleep quality and sleep duration, and less sleep latency and daytime dysfunction. The relationship between gratitude and each of the sleep variables was mediated by more positive pre-sleep cognitions and less negative pre-sleep cognitions. All of the results were independent of the effect of the Big Five personality traits (including neuroticism) and social desirability.

Conclusion

This is the first study to show that a positive trait is related to good sleep quality above the effect of other personality traits, and to test whether pre-sleep cognitions are the mechanism underlying the relationship between any personality trait and sleep. The study is also the first to show that trait gratitude is related to sleep and to explain why this occurs, suggesting future directions for research, and novel clinical implications.     

神经重症患者家属创伤后成长的影响因素及路径分析

目的 了解神经重症患者家属创伤后成长现状,分析希望、感恩、心理弹性对创伤后成长的影响.方法 2019年1月—12月,采用便利抽样法,选取上海市某三级甲等医院神经外科ICU 340名患者家属作为研究对象.应用Herth希望量表、感恩问卷、心理弹性量表及创伤后成长评定量表对其进行调查.结果 340名神经重症患者家属创伤后成...     

高考学生感恩与自测健康的关系

目的:研究高考学生感恩与自测健康之间的关系。方法:采用感恩问卷(GQ-6)和自测健康评定量表(SRHMS V1.0)对207名高考学生进行调查,分析感恩与高考学生自测生理、心理、社会健康和健康总分的关系。结果:1除自测社会健康外,高考学生的自测生理、心理健康和健康量表总分均低于一般人群;2将高考学生感恩成绩分为高感恩组、中间组和低感恩组,且不同感恩组在自测生理健康(F=5.865,P0.01)、自测心理健康(F=7.105,P0.01)、自测社会健康(F=14.232,P0.01)和健康总分(F=13.027,P0.01)上差异均极其显著;3除在自测生理健康方面中间组与低感恩组无差异外,高感恩组在健康各维度上的得分高,中间组居中,低感恩组得分最低;4高考学生的感恩与自测生理健康(r=0.182,P0.01)、自测心理健康(r=0.270,P0.01)、自测社会健康(r=0.351,P0.01)和健康总分(r=0.333,P0.01)均为极其显著正相关;并且感恩能够显著预测自测生理健康(β=0.188,P0.05)、自测心理健康(β=0.274,P0.01)、自测社会健康(β=0.352,P0.01)和健康总分(β=0.338,P0.01)。结论:高考学生总体的自测健康状况不容乐观,应该积极关注高考学生的健康状况;感恩是影响高考学生自测健康的重要因素,应该进一步加强高考学生的感恩教育。