Well-Being Research in South Africa

Well-Being Research in South Africa PDF

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.

Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives

Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives PDF

Author: Lusilda Schutte

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2022-03-02

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9783030859237

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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.

Collaborative capacity development to complement stroke rehabilitation in Africa

Collaborative capacity development to complement stroke rehabilitation in Africa PDF

Author: Quinette Louw

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2020-12-31

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 1928523862

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This scholarly book focuses on stroke in Africa. Stroke is a leading cause of disability among adults of all ages, contributing significantly to health care costs related to long term implications, particularly if rehabilitation is sub-optimal. Given the burden of stroke in Africa, there is a need for a book that focuses on functioning African stroke survivors and the implications for rehabilitation within the African context. In addition, there is a need to progress with contextualised, person-centred, evidence-based guidance for the rehabilitation of people with stroke in Africa, thereby enabling them to lead socially and economically meaningful lives. The research incorporated in the book used a range of primary and secondary methodological approaches (scoping reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, descriptive studies, surveys, health economics, and clinical practice guideline methodology) to shed new insights into African-centred issues and strategies to optimise function post-stroke.

Africa's Wellbeing in an Uncertain World

Africa's Wellbeing in an Uncertain World PDF

Author: Vusi Gumede

Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers

Published: 2020-11-09

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1990931707

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The world remains uncertain. Africa is fragile. Many issues remain unresolved and the African, and global, situation is worsening. South Africa has been at the crossroads for long enough. There can be no more delays, the time has come to address the many critical issues. In Africa's Wellbeing in an Uncertain World, Vusi Gumede discusses these critical issues about Africa, with specific focus on South Africa. He has revisited opinion articles and blogs he has been writing since the mid-2000s and taken his ideas and arguments, together with his deliberations on the recent changes globally and in Africa, and presented them in this thought-provoking book. While taking into account what others have said about similar issues, this is an attempt to get us to talk about these challenges, the important issues and fundamental problems, with a view to finding solutions. The future of the African continent could be bright if all the efforts that are being pursued for the improved wellbeing of Africans succeed. But, as Vusi Gumede reflects in this book, if South Africa is to achieve the society envisaged in the Constitution, then all South Africans, whatever the colour of their skin, have an important role to play.

A Quantitative Analysis of Regional Well-Being

A Quantitative Analysis of Regional Well-Being PDF

Author: Vani Kant Borooah

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-10-14

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1000202828

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Using data from the World Values Survey, this book sheds light on the link between happiness and the social group to which one belongs. The work is based on a rigorous statistical analysis of differences in the probability of happiness and life satisfaction between the predominant social group and subordinate groups. The cases of India and South Africa receive deep attention in dedicated chapters on cast and race, with other chapters considering issues such as cultural bias, religion, patriarchy, and gender. An additional chapter offers a global perspective. On top of this, the longitudinal nature of the data facilitates an examination of how world happiness has evolved between 1994 and 2014. This book will be a valuable reference for advanced students, scholars and policymakers involved in development economics, well-being, development geography, and sociology.

Well-Being of Youth and Emerging Adults across Cultures

Well-Being of Youth and Emerging Adults across Cultures PDF

Author: Radosveta Dimitrova

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-01-02

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 3319683632

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The current volume presents new empirical data on well-being of youth and emerging adults from a global international perspective. Its outstanding features are the focus on vast geographical regions (e.g., Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America), and on strengths and resources for optimal well-being. The international and multidisciplinary contributions address the complexities of young people’s life in a variety of cultural settings to explore how key developmental processes such as identity, religiosity and optimism, social networks, and social interaction in families and society at large promote optimal and successful adaptation. The volume draws on core theoretical models of human development to highlight the applicability of these frameworks to culturally diverse youth and emerging adults as well as universalities and cultural specifics in optimal outcomes. With its innovative and cutting-edge approaches to cultural, theoretical and methodological issues, the book offers up-to-date evidence and insights for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of cross-cultural psychology, developmental science, human development, sociology, and social work.

Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives

Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives PDF

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.

Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies

Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies PDF

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.

Wellbeing in Developing Countries

Wellbeing in Developing Countries PDF

Author: Ian Gough

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-05-31

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1139464078

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In a world where many experience unprecedented levels of wellbeing, chronic poverty remains a major concern for many developing countries and the international community. Conventional frameworks for understanding development and poverty have focused on money, commodities and economic growth. This 2007 book challenges these conventional approaches and contributes to a new paradigm for development centred on human wellbeing. Poor people are not defined solely by their poverty and a wellbeing approach provides a better means of understanding how people become and stay poor. It examines three perspectives: ideas of human functioning, capabilities and needs; the analysis of livelihoods and resource use; and research on subjective wellbeing and happiness. A range of international experts from psychology, economics, anthropology, sociology, political science and development evaluate the state-of-the-art in understanding wellbeing from these perspectives. This book establishes a new strategy and methodology for researching wellbeing that can influence policy.

The Wellbeing of Families in a South African Resource-constrained Community

The Wellbeing of Families in a South African Resource-constrained Community PDF

Author: Hester Barnard

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Wellbeing Theory, also known as the positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievements (PERMA) model (Seligman, 2011), proposes that there are five pillars or pathways by which people can pursue wellbeing; all of which are definable and measurable constructs (Adler & Seligman, 2016). The PERMA model incorporates a number of wellbeing theories from both subjective and objective points of view which, according to Kern, Waters, Adler, and White (2014), makes it a multidimensional measure for wellbeing that looks at both wellbeing feelings as well as functioning well in various life domains (Huppert & So, 2013). While there is a fair amount of research within the field of Positive Psychology on wellbeing conceptualisations and the applicability of the PERMA model within individualistic societies, the applicability thereof in more collectivistic societies such as the peri-urban resource-constrained community of Diepsloot South Africa, is yet an area to be further researched. The present study involved a secondary data analysis of existing data that were collected during an EAP (Equine-Assisted Psychotherapeutic) positive parent workshop with a group of parents from the Diepsloot settlement in Johannesburg, South Africa. The aim of the present study was to determine whether descriptions of family life and wellbeing in Diepsloot provided by these families align with the PERMA model pathways. The findings showed that the wellbeing conceptualisations of the Diepsloot families overlapped with the PERMA pathways in culturally consistent ways and further showed that the PERMA model holds relevance for the South African context and that it is a valuable model to be used in the identification of family assets and strengths.