Prelims

Half Title Page

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Series Page

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN PRACTICE

Series Edited by:

• Professor Jerome Carson, Professor of Psychology at the University of Bolton, UK

• Dr Michelle Tytherleigh, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Chester, UK

Positive psychology is the fastest growing area of psychology, and this series presents the latest developments in that field, providing a range of scholarly yet practical books for academics, practitioners, and students.

Positive Psychology in Practice features volumes investigating fields such as addiction, resilience, positive education, and healthcare. These volumes are authored by academics who have published and carried out research in that specific area, and many are co-authored by practitioners to provide real-world context and application.

Positive Psychology in Practice volumes:

• Positive Psychology for Healthcare Professionals: A Toolkit for Improving Wellbeing, authored by Jan Macfarlane and Jerome Carson

• Positive Education at All Levels: Learning to Flourish, edited by Michelle Tytherleigh (forthcoming 2023)

• The Positive Psychology of Laughter and Humour, authored by Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky, Merv Neal and Jerome Carson (forthcoming 2024)

Editorial board:

• Dr Chathurika Kannangara, Associate Teaching Professor, University of Bolton, UK

• Dr Roshelle Ramkisson, Visiting Professor of Psychiatry, University of Bolton, UK

• Ros Ben-Moshe, Psychologist, University of Melbourne, Australia

• Professor Samuel Ho, Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

• Dr Mark Durkin, Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Trinity University, UK

Endorsement Page

Ready for a tour of some of the best work in positive psychology? Read this book, and most important, use your zest and hope as you do the practical activities and curiously reflect on the questions. The more you personalize the material in each chapter, the more benefit you are likely to experience for your wellbeing and resilience!

— Ryan M. Niemiec, Psy.D., Bestselling author of The Power of Character Strengths, Character Strengths Interventions, and Mindfulness and Character Strengths; and Chief Science & Education Officer of the renowned VIA Institute on Character

An indispensable resource for healthcare professionals. Informative, engaging, thoroughly researched and refreshingly practical. This book is an injection of hope that revitalises your sense of agency and leaves you feeling empowered.

— Sarah Gregg, Author of Find Your Flow & Choose Happy

I once read how a nurse has ‘the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name but they will never forget how you made them feel’ (Maya Angelou). Positive Psychology helps us be our best selves, and to be our best for others requires feeling our best selves too. What Jan has done by her research and throughout this book has helped find a way to keep our nurses and caregivers at their best so, in turn, they continue to be remembered for the best they make others feel.

— Dr Michelle Y Tytherleigh, C.Psychol., SFHEA, PGCE(LTHE), AFBPS

Title Page

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

A Toolkit for Improving Wellbeing

BY

JAN MACFARLANE

University of Bolton, UK

AND

JEROME CARSON

University of Bolton, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Copyright © 2023 Jan Macfarlane and Jerome Carson.

Published under an exclusive license by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80455-957-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80455-956-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80455-958-1 (Epub)

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

TABLES

FIGURE

About the Authors

Jan Macfarlane, PhD, is a Lecturer in Health and Social Care at the University of Bolton. Her specialist area is Positive Psychology, specifically in how it can be utilised to maintain and potentially improve the wellbeing and mental fitness of health care professionals. She has developed a range of programmes that have been delivered to staff and students which have shown how these can be used to help people thrive. She has contributed to a range of journals and her main suite of publications is with the British Journal of Mental Health Nursing where she also holds a position on the board. She is a qualified state registered nurse and a mental health nurse whose career in the NHS spanned over 30 years.

Jerome Carson, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Bolton. He is a qualified Clinical Psychologist and has worked in the National Health Service for 27 years. He came to Bolton in 2012. His main research interests are Positive Psychology, recovery from mental health problems, alcohol addiction, bereavement, and autoethnography. He has published widely with over 300 co-authored papers and book chapters. He is the Editor-in-chief of the journal Mental Health and Social Inclusion and the Co-editor of journal Social Work and Social Sciences Review. He is the Joint Series Editor of the new Emerald Positive Psychology Book Series.

Foreword

Kevin Gournay

In the first two decades of my experience as a healthcare professional, working in a range of settings, I became used to identifying the problems of the patient. I sometimes recorded my assessments on ‘problem-orientated medical records’. My approach therefore led to formulations about problems and deficits. With the benefit of hindsight, I now see that there was so much about my patients that I missed.

My outlook began to change in the early 1990s, when I was fortunate enough to visit a number of model services in the USA and other countries. It was in Kansas that I encountered a new way of working with those with serious and enduring mental health problems, in a method called ‘The Strengths Model of Case Management’. I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Charlie Rapp, a social worker by background, who was instrumental in disseminating this model into practice (Rapp & Goscha, 2011). I began to see that this approach had enormous benefits in the processes of rehabilitation and recovery, for those with serious and enduring mental health problems – with an emphasis on building on the individual’s strengths, rather than focussing on deficits. In turn, this approach required the professional and the service user to engage in a relationship of equals, rather than the service user being a passive recipient of treatments targeted on ‘problem areas’.

Reading this book by two of the UK’s leading authorities on Positive Psychology has been an enormous pleasure. The authors have set out, in a very engaging manner, a range of Positive Psychology interventions. In doing so, they have reminded the reader of the need for the professional to recognize that they need to be kind to themselves, so they can be kind to others. The book also reinforces my long-held belief that humour should play an important part in all of our lives and perhaps needs to be utilised more in professional interactions.

The book does not forget the evidence that underpins the effectiveness of a Positive Psychology approach and serves as a contribution to an area that is being increasingly recognised.

I found reading this book to be an excellent antidote to the reading of soulless scientific papers that appear to summarise human experiences in tables of data. This is not to say that data are unimportant. However, I can see no reason why data cannot be set out in juxtaposition to personal accounts. Thus, we have a reminder that we should never forget that we are all human beings with human needs; all equal beneath the ‘veneer of the camouflage’ we all wear.

Back to my experience in Kansas, there I learned that everyone has the potential, or to put it another way, a set of strengths on which to build. However, such strengths may be dormant and may require a process of searching. This book is indeed a ‘toolkit’. First, the book assists the reader to identify potential and then, via Positive Psychology interventions, to begin the process of building.

Professor Kevin Gournay, CBE.

Quote

‘The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honour. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt’.

Leo Buscaglia.

(Living, loving & learning by Leo F. Buscaglia, 1982, Fawcett Columbine edition, in English – 1st Ballantine Books Trade Edition: April 1983.)

Acknowledgements

‘I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood’.

Audre Lorde (‘The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action’. In Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, pp. 40–44. Trumansburg, NY: Crossing Press, 1984.)