Maximising life’s small pleasures and its effect on well-being.

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Maximising life’s small pleasures and its effect on well-being. Joseph Croguennec1* and Desirée Kozlowski1 1 Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia Aims: Greater subjective well-being is associated with improved physical and mental health. Positive psychology aims to shift from the traditional focus on poor psychological functioning and mental ill-health to promote healthy psychological functioning and flourishing. Recent research suggests that engagement with pleasurable activities may play a protective role in maintaining health. Attention deployment in the anticipation, savouring, and reminiscing of pleasurable states has been identified as potentially playing a role in effective emotion regulation. Methods: Intervention group participants (n = 42) attended a 2-hour workshop describing the potential benefits of pleasure and outlining strategies for anticipating, savouring, and reminiscing pleasurable moments. They also completed daily journaling tasks focused on those strategies. Pre and (2-week) post measures were obtained via a questionnaire including the Savouring Beliefs Inventory, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Perceived Stress Scale, and the WHO-5 Well-being Index. A non-equivalent control group (n = 28) completed the same questionnaire online on two occasions, also separated by two weeks. Results: Mixed between-within subjects ANOVAs confirmed that the intervention caused a significant increase in savouring beliefs (p <.001) and a significant reduction in perceived stress (p = .002) compared with the control group. The intervention was not associated with any significant change in negative affect (p >.05), however, positive affect was significantly higher post-intervention (p = .027). Well-being demonstrated a non-significant increase post intervention (p >.05) compared to the control. Conclusion: The primary outcomes from the intervention were reduced levels of perceived stress and increased positive affect after two weeks. The significant increase in savouring beliefs represents an increased tendency to attend to pleasurable emotions and events, which was the aim of the workshop. Follow up work should examine whether and to what extent these gains are maintained over time. Keywords: Affect, stress, Pleasure, Well-being, positive psychology intervention Conference: 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference , Coffs Harbour, Australia, 4 Oct - 5 Oct, 2018. Presentation Type: Research Topic: Abstract for 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference Citation: Croguennec J and Kozlowski D (2019). Maximising life’s small pleasures and its effect on well-being.. Front. Psychol. Conference Abstract: 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference . doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2018.74.00005 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Sep 2018; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Mr. Joseph Croguennec, Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia, j.croguennec.10@student.scu.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Joseph Croguennec Desirée Kozlowski Google Joseph Croguennec Desirée Kozlowski Google Scholar Joseph Croguennec Desirée Kozlowski PubMed Joseph Croguennec Desirée Kozlowski Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.