Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives

Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives

Author: Lusilda Schutte

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-05-19

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 303085924X

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This is the first volume providing a research platform to showcase research in the field of positive psychology and well-being science in African contexts. Next to enhancing context-sensitive theory and practice on the African continent, it also contributes to the global discourse in positive psychology and facilitates the development of a science that reflects and is relevant to complexity and diversity in a globalising society. This volume brings together work from African scholars, featuring research on theoretical perspectives on well-being in Africa, measurement of well-being in Africa, manifestations and dynamics of well-being in Africa, and well-being promotion in Africa. It stimulates further research in positive psychology and well-being science in the African context and globally, and emphasises the interconnectedness and situatedness of human functioning and well-being, contributing to a more balanced perspective on well-being in an international perspective. The volume benefits researchers, students and practitioners in Africa and other international contexts who study or apply the science of positive psychology and well-being in diverse contexts. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.


Well-Being Across the Globe

Well-Being Across the Globe

Author:

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2024-05-29

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1837685835

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A global multidimensional concept, well-being is an important measure that is closely associated with quality of life. This book examines well-being concepts and measurements, related health theories and correlates of well-being, as well as gender and geographical differences. The authors explore the evidence on well-being policies, programs, and health interventions, in addition to issues of health advocacy, self-care, and healthy aging. They also examine global wellness perspectives in the context of planetary challenges and decolonization. As the authors share their unique perspectives, they bring to the fore the integration of cross-cutting themes of gender, human rights, social and environmental justice/equity and inclusivity, health promotion/settings, and healthy public policy. This book explores the diversity of philosophical and methodological perspectives on wellness and well-being. It further contextualizes the lived experience of the dimensions of well-being as experienced by the contributors across different regions of the globe.


Well-Being Research in South Africa

Well-Being Research in South Africa

Author: Marié P. Wissing

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-05-13

Total Pages: 634

ISBN-13: 9400763689

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This is the first book to bring together examples of research in positive psychology / psychofortology conducted in the multi-cultural South African context with its diverse populations and settings. The volume reflects basic as well as applied well-being research in the multicultural South African context, as conducted in various contexts and with a variety of methods and foci. Theoretical, review, and empirical research contributions are made, reflecting positivist to constructivist approaches, and include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches. Some findings support universality assumptions, but others uncovered unique cultural patterns. Chapters report on well-being research conducted in the domains of education, work, health, and family, and in clinical, urban vs. rural, and unicultural vs. multicultural contexts. Studies span the well-being of adolescents, adults, and older people, and topics include resilience in individuals, families, and groups, measurement issues and coping processes, the role of personal and contextual variables, and facets such as hope, spirituality, self-regulation, and interventions.


Factors Impacting Student Well-Being and Coping Tactics

Factors Impacting Student Well-Being and Coping Tactics

Author: Aloka, Peter Jo

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2024-08-23

Total Pages: 616

ISBN-13:

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Higher education institutions grapple with a pressing challenge: the well-being of their students. Amidst the transition to university life, students face a myriad of stressors, from academic pressures to managing finances and social connections. Yet, there continues to be a lack of robust evidence and focused literature addressing this critical issue. Factors Impacting Student Well-Being and Coping Tactics presents a comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing mental, emotional, and social health in higher education settings. This book explores the intrinsic and extrinsic elements shaping student well-being through meticulously curated chapters, from risk factors to protective mechanisms. By offering evidence-based strategies and practical recommendations, the book empowers academics, administrators, and counselors to proactively address students' challenges and foster a supportive environment conducive to personal and scholarly growth.


The Handbook of International Psychology

The Handbook of International Psychology

Author: Merry Bullock

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-11-18

Total Pages: 695

ISBN-13: 1317404688

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This second edition of The Handbook of International Psychology chronicles the discipline of psychology as it evolves in different regions, from the perspective of those living and working in the countries they write about. This volume surveys the history, methodology, education, training, and future of psychology in more than 100 countries/territories, organized by region and continent. In this thoroughly updated and expanded edition, chapters highlight the important ways in which psychological knowledge and services are contextualized through culture, history, geography, social, and political forces. This comprehensive handbook is essential for students and teachers of psychology, as well as professionals wanting to develop their understanding of psychology around the world.


Social and Physical Ecologies for Child Resilience: Wisdom from Asia and Africa

Social and Physical Ecologies for Child Resilience: Wisdom from Asia and Africa

Author: Haibin Li

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2023-11-16

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 2832538940

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Since Emmy Werner and her team discovered on the Hawaiian island of Kauai the “invincible” children who fared well despite exposure to significant household risks, there has been proliferating research on child resilience as a positive response to adverse conditions. The past five decades have seen significant advancements in, and diverse approaches to understanding challenges, facilitative factors, and positive outcomes in the resilience process that involve children. Despite existing and continuously emerging modelings and framings, there appears a common understanding that child resilience unfolds through the interactions between individuals and the environments surrounding them. This Research Topic, therefore, takes an ecological approach to child resilience. While ecologies constitute social spaces that nurture child resilience, they can also refer to the “physical” environments surrounding children. There has been robust empirical evidence suggesting resilience is a shared capacity of the individual and the social ecology (e.g., families, schools, and communities), and more recently of the individual and the physical ecology (e.g., the built or natural environment).


Positive Youth Development, Mental Health, and Psychological Well-Being in Diverse Youth

Positive Youth Development, Mental Health, and Psychological Well-Being in Diverse Youth

Author: Nora Wiium

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2023-06-15

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 2832527876

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In this Research Topic, our aim is to examine how personal resources related to competencies, skills, and self-perception as well as environmental, contextual, and relational features of the social contexts of diverse youth, directly or indirectly are important to mental health and psychological well-being. As previous research on young people has mainly focused on youth’s weaknesses rather than their strengths, our use of Positive Youth Development (PYD) in working with culturally diverse youth and their well-being in this Research Topic is novel. We invite contributions from researchers that were initially presented their papers in a meeting that was held by research partners of the Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development (CN-PYD), and who represent an international and multidisciplinary panel of experts on PYD. The CN-PYD was initiated in 2014 at the University of Bergen and has an ongoing data collection that involves approximately 10,000 minority and majority youth and emerging adults (ages 16 to 29) living in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and South America. CN-PYD uses a strengths-based approach to the conceptualization of youth as resources and agentic, which is in opposition to the view of the developmental period of adolescence as being a period inherently fraught with problems and risks. The goal of the cross-national project is to assess personal strengths and contextual resources, considering how these resources come together to facilitate youth thriving and to document how young people make positive and valued contributions to themselves and others. We also advance research on the complex interplay between personal and contextual resources and their connections with risk behaviors and problems, in essence, taking a perspective of the whole child, both in terms of strengths and problems.


Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies

Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies

Author: Irma Eloff

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-08-09

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 3030153673

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This handbook reflects on quality-of-life in societies on the continent of Africa. It provides a widely interdisciplinary text with insights on quality-of-life from a variety of scientific perspectives. The handbook is structured into sections covering themes of social context, culture and community; the environment and technology; health; education; and family. It is aimed at scholars who are working towards sustainable development at the intersections of multiple scientific fields and it provides measures of both objective and subjective quality-of-life. The scholarly contributions in the text are based on original research and it spans fields of research such as cultures of positivity, wellbeing, literacy and multilinguism, digital and mobile technologies, economic growth, food and nutrition, health promotion, community development, teacher education and family life. Some chapters take a broad approach and report on research findings involving thousands, and in one case millions, of participants. Other chapters zoom in and illustrate the importance of specificity in quality-of-life studies. Collectively, the handbook illuminates the particularity of quality-of-life in Africa, the unique contextual challenges and the resourcefulness with which challenges are being mediated. This handbook provides empirically grounded conceptualizations about life in Africa that also encapsulate the dynamic, ingenious ways in which we, as Africans, enhance our quality-of-life.