Authors (including presenting author) :
TO CKM(1), CHIU FPF(1), CHEUNG SKY(1), TSE PLC(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Occupational Therapy Department, Tai Po Hospital
Introduction :
Occupational therapy makes use of meaningful activities as a means for treatments, while positive psychology is widely applied in clinical interventions to promote mental health. The PERMA model in positive psychology represents the five core elements of mental well-being and happiness, namely positive emotions (P), engagement (E), positive relationships (R), meaning (M) and accomplishment (A). The “Positive Leathercraft” program incorporated the PERMA model with leathercraft activity as a therapeutic intervention in which engagement and accomplishment were more focused.
Objectives :
The study evaluated the effectiveness of the “Positive Leathercraft” program in enhancing self-efficacy and mental well-being of patients with severe mental illness.
Methodology :
20 female adult psychiatric in-patients aged 20-56, diagnosed with severe mental illness, were recruited. In the first part of each session, they were guided to be aware of positive emotions, reflect on relationships and reveal meaning through making gifts to their significant ones, and focally, engage in a sense of “flow” and experience a sense of accomplishment through DIY leathercraft products, followed by the second part of psychoeducation on daily application of positive psychology to achieve ultimate happiness. Their self-efficacy and mental well-being were assessed using the Chinese General Self-Efficacy Scale (CGSS) and the Chinese Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (C-SWEMWBS) before and after the program respectively. A satisfaction survey was conducted to collect their feedback on the content of positive psychology and leathercraft activity.
Result & Outcome :
The two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed a statistically significant improvement in self-efficacy, F(1, 19) = 34.069, p < 0.001. For mental well-being, there was no statistically significant change, F(1, 19) = 1.407, p = 0.25, though the mean score of the C-SWEMWBS increased by 5.45%. The results were expected as engagement and accomplishment instead of all elements of the PERMA model were emphasized and they were related to self-efficacy. 85% of patients showed satisfaction or high satisfaction on the program. Positive feedback like “enjoyed creating leathercraft products”, “the concepts are applicable” was received. In conclusion, the “Positive Leathercraft” program gave promising results in enhancing self-efficacy and could serve as a starting point to enhance mental well-being. A continuous program with consolidation of positive psychology and a larger sample size including all genders is recommended.
