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This study investigated the influence of the secondary school-environment on adolescent mental health (MH). Late adolescents (16-18-years-old) experience multiple contributors to their MH, particularly the pressure of high-stakes examinations engendering an emotionally charged, performance-based learning environment. These pressures. associated with transitioning and the greater responsibility for the future, reflect prevailing neoliberal values of competition, responsibilization and individualism. I studied the school-environment using a Critical Theory approach and ethnographic and participatory methods. Student-participants from a sixth-form college co-researched the study topic alongside teachers, parents and college-leaders. In this way, different 'roles' and lived experiences came together in a democratic platform to critically explore the relationship between education and MH. The study shows that late adolescents are grappling with introspection (e.g., self-esteem, self-doubt) and therefore managing different layers of recognition which include an 'intimate estrangement' that influence their well-being, their subjectivity, and MH. Subjectivity, and modes of subjectivation, helped explain a complex relationship with the self, revealing the influence of compulsory education environments on MH. Co-produced findings provided reflexive opportunities for participants to reconsider their status as service-users and stakeholders in school and mitigate a pervasive sense of 'crisis' through participatory action for change. The study's findings can help policymakers to: (i) inform education policy for more precise definitions and inclusive approaches to define MH; (ii) monitor how schools and colleges engage with young people's MH in the face of school environment and policy demands; (iii) assess through participatory consultations how students perceive MH related policy to adjust in implementation. The impact of educational policy on MH is critical as policy is often ideological and polyvalent and intersects with educational life during adolescents' transition to adulthood. Policies constitute modalities of being (subjectivities) by imagining the 'good life' for all; they should thus also recognise students as stakeholders to be involved in their development, as people able to make authentic choices and hold critical views about educational success and failure.

This thesis and its studies look at the construct of resilience in different demographics of migrants: (i) permanent, first-generation migrants, (ii) temporary migrants, (ii) 2nd and 3rd generation migrants, and (iv) domestic UK population exploring in what way migrant-specific risk factors, such as the impact of moving away from social support networks, culture, language impact migrant resilience. Further, this thesis explores which protective factors seem to be dominant within these demographics and whether levels of resilience differ between the groups. That is, whether the effects of having spent a substantial part of their years in a cross-cultural environment, and whether the challenges and changes this lifestyle encompasses will make members of these demographics differ in resilience compared to their domestic counterparts. In addition, these studies examine to what extent contextual similarities or differences help explain the levels of resilience within the studied demographics. Lastly, the impact of adversity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on resilience pre-and-post the initial phases of the pandemic are investigated. Results from initial studies indicate that people from UK migrant groups are significantly more resilient than peers who do not leave their country of origin. The findings and implications of these studies are further and in-depth discussed.

The aim of this study was to explore experienced teachers' thoughts and feelings about wellbeing and resilience at work. A qualitative methodology and critical realist stance were adopted and a semi-structured interview was designed. Ten teachers were recruited via purposive, snowball sampling and interviews were recorded and transcribed before being subjected to reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Nine key themes were developed, these included: 'Well-being has multiple dimensions', 'Resilience is a response to adversity', 'Multiple factors support well-being & resilience', 'Beliefs about resilience diverge', 'Fundamental pressures impact well-being and resilience', 'Senior managers can create stressful school cultures', 'Parental and public disrespect is detrimental to well-being', 'Attitudes and approaches to teacher well-being are problematic' and 'Teacher responses to pressures can be problematic'. My analysis, therefore, helps to elucidate and problematise wellbeing and resilience in teaching, with implications for interventions designed to address both constructs. Limitations related to subjectivity mean that generalisations cannot be made.

Memory is a major outcome of a tourism trip that offers cognitive-affective-behavioural sources to be utilised in daily life. Specifically, consumers use their memories to revisit destinations, repeat similar experiences of a past trip and spread word-of-mouth, as well as enhance their daily well-being. To take advantage of consumer memories, tourism organisations and researchers have strived to understand what constitutes memorable experiences that are compelling enough to be remembered after a tourism trip occurred. Given the importance of consumer memories in tourism, this thesis aims to identify the role of memory derived from a tourism trip in articulating its consequences such as well-being and behaviour. To achieve the research aim, three research objectives are developed based on existing theories and literature. Correspondingly, three studies were conducted, each presented in a form of a journal manuscript in this thesis. To address each research objective, this thesis adopts deductive research approaches, which include scale development (Study 1), experiment research design (Study 2), and longitudinal research design (Study 3). More specifically, there were some limitations in defining tourism memory and measuring it based on existing memory scales. Therefore, Study 1 developed operational definitions of tourism memory and tourism memory characteristics scale and found the relationship between tourism memory and behavioural intentions. Second, relationships between tourism memory, mood, and behavioural intentions were not fully posited in tourism contexts. Study 2 addressed this research gap by identifying the mood-repairing role of tourism memory, and relationships between tourism memory valence, mood, and behavioural intentions. Lastly, longer-term relationships between tourism memory, rehearsal, and well-being were not sufficiently explored. Therefore, Study 3 identified the longer-term relationships between tourism memory, rehearsal, and well-being by investigating these relationships through three longitudinal analysis methods. The research findings made significant contributions to existing theories and literature by improving the knowledge of tourism memory and its related consequences such as rehearsal, well-being, and behavioural intentions. Moreover, practical implications were provided with recommendations for tourism product design, product advertisement, consumer communication, and the policy for public health.

Data science for mental health using social media may allow us to derive digital pheno- types that present new avenues for our understanding, measurement and treatment of mental health outcomes. The timeliness and scale of these data are significant advantages over traditional survey methods. However, to ensure new technologies are developed safely and responsibly we need to use high quality ground truth that ensures that they are as robust as they can be. In this thesis I explore how population birth cohorts, specifically the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), could provide this high quality evidence through social media data linkage programmes. I use interdisciplinary methods to analyse questionnaires, focus groups and linked Twitter data from the ALSPAC cohort to understand who the populations are that use social media and how acceptable social media data linkage is to participants. I then assess the quality of the literature on mental health inference from social media, and go on to use the linked data to see whether this form of data linkage can provide new information for digital phenotyping for mental health. Overall, I find that cohort participants are generally accepting of social media data linkage, and that the linked sample broadly represents the population of people who use Twitter. Using this linked data I illustrate that population level inference of mental health outcomes of depression, anxiety and well-being are feasible at a population-level, and that using data from a well-specified sample allows us to explore model error in more detail. Future work conducting social media data linkage in other cohort samples is recommended to allow for comparisons across ages and geographies. The involvement of potential users in future research is also encouraged. Ultimately, access to higher quality of ground truth measurement will lead to safer and more reliable technologies.

This doctoral thesis examines the impact of innovation on jobs using the first historical index of job quality and international comparative case studies of sectors in Great Britain and the United States. It makes four principal contributions. First, it constructs a new indicator of living standards that measures work-related wellbeing in the past. Second, it shows that macroinventions increased the division of labor and thereby raised the inequality of work-related wellbeing. Third, it demonstrates that firms' push to reduce unit labor costs produced a race between job quality and productivity. Managers adopted microinventions that could have reduced work intensity or improved safety, but to raise productivity they demanded higher effort levels and increased throughput, which mitigated improvements to safety and conditions. Fourth, it shows that some instances of technological change produced widespread unemployment and provided opportunities to reorganize the workforce. Higher-status workers used the dislocation of innovation to claim or retain the best jobs. These findings contribute to historical scholarship on the development of living standards and provide perspective for debates about job polarization and the future of work.

In this thesis, through the lens of agentic emotion regulation theory (Woodman et al., 2010) and attachment theory (Barlow, 1969), we aimed to investigate the emotion regulation function that activities may serve. Agentic emotion regulation theory provides an individual-differences perspective on participants' psychological needs and motives for engaging in risk-taking activities (Woodman et al., 2010). According to agentic emotion regulation theory, high-risk activities provide greater opportunities to experience and control strong externally derived emotions, in which participants' agentic actions alter the nature of their emotions and life circumstances (i.e., success, injury, death). In this way, participating in high-risk activities, such as mountaineering, has been shown to reduce participants' emotion regulation difficulties and bolster their sense of agency immediately after participation (Barlow et al., 2013). Despite these advancements, we do not understand how participants' agentic emotion regulation difficulties evolve between participation. Understanding the evolution of participants' agentic emotion regulation between participation would help to explain the motives that underlie their repeated return to the high-risk sports domain. Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) is another perspective on how our relationships with people, activities, and objects influence our emotion regulation strategies and wellbeing. Bowlby's (1980) attachment theory proposes that all individuals strive to maintain close relationships with agents that provide a safe haven from distress and secure base from which to explore. Researchers have begun expanding the scope of attachment theory by investigating the attachment emotion regulation function that nonhuman agents serve, such as pets and objects, in response to social insecurity (Keefer et al., 2014). Despite these advancements, discrepancies remain regarding the definition of genuine attachment relationships within this literature and there are scant empirical tools for measuring the attachment support that human-nonhuman relationships provide (Carr & Rockett, 2017). As such, there is ongoing debate regarding the attachment function that human-nonhuman relationships serve and their compensatory role in response to insecure social relationships (Keefer et al., 2014). Chapter 1 outlines the agentic emotion regulation and attachment theory rationale on which Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are based. In Chapter 2 of this thesis, we provide evidence that high-risk climbers, such as mountaineers and traditional climbers, are motivated by the agentic emotion regulation function that participation serves. Studies 1, 2, and 3 show that high-risk climbers experience a greater increase in agency and emotion regulation difficulty between participation than low-risk climbers (i.e., sport climbers) and low-risk sporting participants (e.g., swimming) who displayed no such difficulty. Collectively, these findings provide the first repeated-measures evidence that high-risk activities are beneficial for regulating participants' agentic emotion regulation difficulties. In Chapter 3 (Study 4), we provide support for the attachment function that elite athletes' activities serve. Specifically, our qualitative findings suggested that athletes sought their activities as a safe haven from their interpersonal and intrapersonal anxieties. Furthermore, these findings provide a novel insight into the emotion regulation processes that athletes' activity attachments supported. That is, athletes' activities provided a secure base from which to reflect and reappraise challenging emotions. In Chapter 4 (Study 5) we first developed and provided support for the psychometric properties of the four-factor Relationship Attachment Support Scale and six-factor Relationship Exploratory Support Scale. Then, in Study 6, we provided support for the compensatory attachment role that activities serve in response to social insecurity. Specifically, the emotion regulation benefits of individuals' activity attachments significantly attenuated the negative relationship between insecure social attachment and wellbeing. Collectively, these findings provide a preliminary insight into the emotion regulation processes and benefits of activity attachment, especially for those suffering from insecure social attachments. Chapter 5 of this thesis discusses the results from three empirical chapters (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) in a theoretical and applied context.

Affective experiences colour much of human experience, shaping how we feel about, respond to, and regulate daily life. While emotion and mood are distinct though related affective phenomena, many studies use these terms interchangeably and draw conclusions on the latter based on findings that may be more pertinent to the former. Key theoretical differences delineate emotion versus mood, with importance placed in maladaptive experiences of long-term mood rather than short-term emotion in mood disorders such as depression. Unpacking differences in these affective dynamics is vital to approaching improvements in mental health and well-being. In addition, much of waking life is spent mentally wandering, and furthering our understanding of mentation and mind wandering in mental health is of importance in conjunction with affect. Where the mind may go to at rest free from distraction may possess important insights into the nature of the mental landscape and mental well-being. This thesis investigates differential aspects of emotion, mood, and mind wandering in diverse clinical populations with the goal of elucidating these experiences in relation to mental health. This includes investigations through a series of studies on: (i) the underlying structure of emotion and mood representations in adolescents, (ii) intraday emotions dynamics using clinical diagnostic and data-driven assessment of person-specific models of temporal emotion, (iii) interrelationships of emotion and mood over time and summary metrics of group-level complexity for both affect types, (iv) naturalistic mood regulation strategy use and outcomes, (v) a theoretical framework for comprehensive mind wandering study, and finally, (vi) naturalistic mind wandering, related affect, and a sensory deprived assessment of mind dimensions using novel methodologies. Altogether these findings provide evidence for the significance in studying emotion, mood, and mind wandering with the aim of providing a foundation for clarifying affective experience and multidimensional aspects of thought content in mental health.

This thesis considers the workplace experiences of British professional African, Asian and Caribbean (AAC) women, to better understand the holistic nature of their organisational experiences and any consequences for their well-being. The thesis is grounded in social identity theory, intersectional theory and identity work scholarship and examines women's experiences at the intersection of multiple identities, in doing so it demonstrates the importance of understanding the nature of intersectional, social differences within groups, such as "women" and what this might mean for organisations. The thesis' research questions are: What are the workplace experiences of British professional women of African, Asian and Caribbean ethnicities? And, what are the implications for African, Asian, and Caribbean ethnic women's well-being? The thesis extends intersectionality and some intersectional identity-work scholarship beyond its original focus of non-prototypical multiple identities constituting multiple-disadvantage. The thesis also considers ways in which intersectional identities may be a resource due to the uniqueness or originality of such an identity (in the UK context), thus allowing professional British African, Asian and Caribbean women to leverage particular opportunities and navigate certain challenging workplace experiences, particularly issues of stereotyping and "otherness". The thesis engages with a qualitative exploratory methodology, which adopts a non-traditional methodological approach to conducting real-time semi-structured online written interviews with British professional AAC women. The empirical studies include a sample of 50 British professional AAC women across all studies. The findings reveal how intersecting identities are leveraged within daily organisational encounters, with the main themes to emerge being, (a) experiences of identity imposition and, (b), the use of strategic identity flexing to navigate organisational inter-personal exchanges. This thesis makes a methodological contribution to intersectional and racio-ethnic identity research, which to my knowledge is one of the first to utilise a document sharing word processing platform to conduct web-based written interviews. Furthermore, from the research in this study, it is now possible to take a strength-based approach to the study of African, Asian and Caribbean (AAC) ethnic women (racial and ethnic identity relations), rather than solely a deficit-based approach.

The present research dissertation has been developed with the intention to provide practical strategies and discover new intellectual operations which can be used to generate Transdisciplinary insight. For this reason, this thesis creates access to new knowledge at different scales. Firstly, as it pertains to the scale of new knowledge generated by those who attend Becomebecome events. The open-source nature of the Becomebecome methodology makes it possible for participants in Becomebecome workshops, training programmes and residencies to generate new insight about the specific project they are working on, which then reinforce and expand the foundational principles of the theoretical background. Secondly, as it pertains to the scale of the Becomebecome framework, which remains independent of location and moment in time. The method proposed to access Transdisciplinary knowledge constitutes new knowledge in itself because the sequence of activities, described as physical and mental procedures and listed as essential criteria, have never been found organised 6 in such a specific order before. It is indeed the order in time, i.e. the sequence of the ideas and activities proposed, which allows one to transform Disciplinary knowledge via a new Transdisciplinary frame of reference. Lastly, new knowledge about Transdisciplinarity as a field of study is created as a consequence of the heretofore listed two processes. The first part of the thesis is designated 'Becomebecome Theory' and focuses on the theoretical background and the intellectual operations necessary to support the creation of new Transdisciplinary knowledge. The second part of the thesis is designated 'Becomebecome Practice' and provides practical examples of the application of such operations. Crucially, the theoretical model described as the foundation for the Becomebecome methodology (Becomebecome Theory) is process-based and constantly checked against the insight generated through Becomebecome Practice. To this effect, 'information about the observer' is proposed as a key notion which binds together Transdisciplinary resources from several studies in the hard sciences and humanities. It is a concept that enables understanding about why and how information that is generated through Becomebecome Practice is considered of paramount importance for establishing the reference parameters necessary to access Transdisciplinary insight which is meaningful to a specific project, a specific person, or a specific moment in time.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is frequently used as a proxy for well-being. Such use of GDP is problematic for many reasons, for GDP excludes activities that contribute to well-being and includes others that have a negative impact instead. A vast array of metrics has therefore been developed that aim to complement or replace it and put well-being at the heart of policymaking. Nonetheless, previous research has shown that their use and impact has been limited to date. This thesis examines the use and impact of well-being metrics and the factors affecting them in the crucial cases of Scotland and Italy. Despite being at the forefront of the well-being debate, both countries have never been studied before in the context in question. This thesis fills this gap, collating views from 120 stakeholders on different facets of the well-being debate gathered through interviews that were conducted between 2018 and 2020. Of uttermost importance was the study of informants' awareness of problems and solutions and the extent to which these were regarded as such, problem and solution awareness and recognition being the founding pillars of a theory of policy change that I developed drawing on Kingdon's Multiple Stream Approach. Furthermore, this thesis provides an extended analysis of the use of well-being metrics in parliamentary debates and media reporting in both countries before and during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the first of its kind to be undertaken. The research was conducted using the archives made available by TheyWorkForYou and the Italian Parliament as far as the study of parliamentary debates is concerned, and Factiva and TVEyes as far as newspaper and radio and TV coverage are concerned, employing advanced search strings and a robust methodology aimed to reduce the number of duplicates and potentially irrelevant hits returned. Findings reveal low awareness of well-being metrics and of GDP's limitations, especially among policymakers and journalists; a prevailing view of economic growth as a prerequisite for well-being which translates into the preference for GDP to be integrated with other metrics rather than replaced altogether and which results in economic crises generating punctuations that strengthen the status quo and hinder attempts to bring about change; and an almost unanimous scepticism of subjective indicators. Most importantly, findings reveal very limited use and impact of well-being metrics, particularly of official national frameworks, in line with what the theory of policy change that I developed would predict. Ten recommendations are made to increase the use and impact of well-being metrics in both countries, among which is the need to put more effort into promoting the well-being agenda when the economy is expanding as opposed to periods in which economic growth is lacking and to divert resources to awareness campaigns that enhance the use and impact of already existing metrics rather than to the development of new metrics altogether.

The philosophy of well-being has generally assumed that only a weak form of pluralism could be true about prudential value: one which posits a plurality of constituents of well-being. The main exponent of theories espousing this form of pluralism are pluralist objective list theories. In this thesis I argue for the need to explore stronger forms of pluralism about well-being. In Chapter 1, I begin by arguing that pluralist objective list theories should develop an account of ill-being. Doing so, however, reveals a particular phenomenon about the relation between objective list goods and ills. This is that they appear to form pairs: each good is a counterpart to a particular and distinct ill (and vice versa), e.g. pleasure and pain, such that the two stand in a special relationship to each other. In Chapter 2 it is argued that objective list theories lack the ability to appropriately explain pairing. In particular, though they can develop accounts of how members of a pair are related, they cannot explain why the pairing relation obtains. This, it is argued, is a serious problem for objective list theories. Following this, in Chapter 3 I argue that perfectionism, an alternative objectivist account of welfare, provides an intuitive explanation of (most of) the objective list theory's goods and ills as well as of the nature of pairing. However, perfectionism itself encounters a serious problem in its inability to appropriately account for the goodness of pleasure and badness of pain. A broader, eudaimonist solution is then introduced that can save some degree of the perfectionist view. However, this is itself heavily suggestive of the stronger pluralist theories defended by this thesis. Chapter 4 introduces and explains Heathwood's distinction between different kinds of monism and pluralism. In particular, I employ his proposed notion of radical pluralism in articulating a radical pluralist theory of well-being. On top of postulating a plurality of goods and ills, this theory proposes a plurality of kinds of prudential values (or value properties), i.e., that different goods and ills are good and bad for us in different ways. This will be shown to not only survive initial scrutiny, but also explain pairing in an intuitive way: by postulating a distinct value property for each good-ill pair, such that each good-ill pair is good and bad for us in the same kind of way, while other pairs are good and bad for us in different kinds of ways. In Chapter 5 I introduce a serious problem facing the radical pluralist theory of well-being, arising from the threat of the incomparability of instances of different values. This would mean that, under radical pluralism, instances of achievement cannot be compared with instances of pleasure. As such bearers of prudential value do seem to be comparable, this constitutes an important obstacle for the theory to overcome. In addressing this, I consider both incomparabilist and comparabilist solutions, dismissing the former and developing a version of the latter based on the articulation of normative relations between such prudential values and of their grounds. Chapter 6 turns to argumentation in favour of the radical pluralist theory of well-being, primarily focused on arguing that there are cases where we can rationally regret not choosing the worse of two (or more) options, even when both options are exclusively prudentially valuable. This, it is maintained, cannot be explained by weaker forms of pluralism, but only by stronger ones like radical pluralism. Finally, in Chapter 7 the radical pluralist theory is applied to three important issues in current discussions of well-being: the formulation of explanatory theories, the variabilism-invariabilism debate, and the problem of alienation faced by at least some objectivist theories. In each case, it is argued that the radical pluralist theory offers novel approaches and insights into these questions, further providing a case for its careful consideration in future discussions of well-being.

Optimal mental health is a global and increasingly pressing issue. Major events in recent times, such as the effects of global warming and the Covid-19 pandemic, have had undeniable negative effects on people's well-being. The mental health of young people is of particular importance: strategies to deal with adversity are learned and developed at this stage of life. Success aids the likelihood of being a lifelong resilient and hopefully flourishing individual, whereas difficulty may leave an individual vulnerable to slipping into persistent mental ill health. Given this, there seems an obvious and necessary role for educational institutions in promoting such strategies and thus improving the well-being of students. Positive psychology has a valuable contribution to make in this regard, as achieving optimal mental health is perhaps its primary purpose, and positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are broad-based and cost-effective to implement when compared with more traditional clinical approaches. They are also technology friendly, meaning they may be disbursed widely. The research in this thesis explores the use of several PPIs in school and university settings with the aim of building significant and lasting well-being improvements for young people. It works to find the most effective interventions and to understand what makes them so. Finally, it seeks to create real-world value by considering how such interventions may be designed and implemented in an educational context. The thesis comprises four studies. The first study used a positive diary exercise in a sample of primary school children. The exercise resulted in a significant increase in happiness and reduction in depressive symptoms during and up to three months after the intervention. A tertile split revealed interestingly different response profiles for participants depending on baseline well-being. A similar intervention in the second study found significant associated improvements in academic performance. The third study applied two PPIs in samples of undergraduates. The first part also used the diary exercise, which found there to be less convincing evidence of its effectiveness when compared with the first two studies. The second part used a signature strengths intervention, which resulted in marked and sustained improvements in self-esteem and life satisfaction. This study highlighted the differing outcomes that different interventions may have, particularly across age groups. It also raised questions as to why certain well-being markers improve more or last longer than others, suggesting that an individual's sense of autonomy or control may be a factor. These questions shaped the fourth study, which was more exploratory. It used a novel exercise-framed PPI to determine whether a sense of control, as measured by judgments of contingency, is linked with well-being, and whether positively manipulating such judgments might lead to improvements thereof. The complexity of the experimental paradigm meant that findings were inconclusive in this regard, but it opened the door to future work that might be able to distil more robust effects. Overall, this thesis finds that PPIs demonstrate huge promise for mental health improvements and that they are a feasible option for incorporation into an educational curriculum. However, it seems they are not universal aids and careful consideration needs to be given to the type of intervention used and who the target recipients are. Age and baseline well-being are two important factors, for example. If properly implemented, PPIs could be valuable tools to build resilience and enable young people to flourish now and through the rest of their lives.

If any concept is subject to the standards of judgement in our human form of life it is the notion of what it is to flourish. Yet what is clear is that in the understandable desire to improve human happiness, well-being, success and satisfaction, researchers often neglect the importance of normativity and context. What researchers are left with is some technical or theoretical, non-normative, concept with the gloss of a normative concept. The problem in the literature is that by technicalizing the concept and dislocating it from its everyday contexts without paying sufficient attention to the dynamic and changeable influence of use, language-games, normativity or occasion-sensitivity, the concept loses its meaning. This is important because of the potential for misapplying the concept in the areas of human knowledge, understanding, education, science and policy. Therefore, the case I make is that the concept demands much greater attention than is currently afforded and this thesis will provide that level of attention. Because there is no finite list of possibilities where someone might be said to flourish, the thesis will aim to strike a proper balance between the clarity needed in order to make sense of the term through connective analyses, whilst also exploring the vital contextual nuances and occasion-sensitivity that give richness, life and meaning to the concept.

The links between employment and the well-being of people has attracted in recent times the growing interest of researchers in academic, governmental, and non-governmental institutions. A considerable interest has focused on entrepreneurship and the growing number of individuals in self-employment. Entrepreneurial activity has been linked with economic growth and development. Therefore, understanding the how and the why entrepreneurship and well-being are connected has not only value as academic knowledge, but also value for the society and political decision making. Bearing in mind that people have different preferences, and that those preferences can change over time, it is important for research to examine the phenomena over long periods of time. There have been recently repeated calls for alternative examinations of entrepreneurship as a career path (Burton et al., 2016; Sullivan and Al Ariss, 2019) and as an experience over time (Ryff, 2019; Stephan, 2018). This PhD research examines the allocation of time to self-employment and how self-employment experience is associated with facets of well-being over time. This PhD research critically examines the phenomena using data from the United Kingdom's Household Longitudinal Study survey (UKHLS). Using work histories information from Waves 1 to 9 of the UKHLS, I calculate the proportion of individuals' employment time that was allocated to self-employment, compared to the proportion allocated to wage-employment. This method allows the measuring of selfemployment in an alternative way as a continuous employment experience. Using this method, I also investigate how individuals who live or migrate to urban and rural areas allocate time to self-employment, as well as differences between women and men in different age groups. The findings show that self-employment experience affects facets of well-being in a non-monotonic fashion. Moreover, the analysis indicates that these effects not only differ across levels of experience, but also that the effect of self-employment experience differs across the various facets of well-being and between women and men.

This thesis explores the everyday practice of dress worn through first time, full-term pregnancies into the initial postpartum phase. Conducted through the lens' of consumption, use and disposal, it aims to understand everyday dressing acts through a period of liminal change, understand how this influences the impact on the wearer's sense of self, and how and if these practices sit within a 'sustainable fashion' framework. The research questions for this study were: What are the drivers of the consumption, use and disposal of clothing during pregnancy and the postpartum period?; Can you dress sustainably during pregnancy and into the postpartum period? And; Can you dress sustainably whilst supporting personal identity during pregnancy and into the postpartum period? Taking a constructivist approach with a feminist lens, the research was conducted with a bond of five women over nearly two years, through the practice of intimate individual wardrobe studies, held both prior to their babies arrival and after. Data was analysed using a thematic method. This research finds that although practices of dress through pregnancy could be framed as sustainable, they often hold tension at the cost of the individual wearer's sense of self and therefore do not sit within a broader sustainable framing. This research also finds that if one is to address the social aspects to sustainability it can come at a cost to the environmental considerations.

Coastal collection, also known as foraging, harvesting, gleaning or gathering, has been essential to the success of the human species but there has been little contemporary exploration of its ecological or social importance in developed economies. In this thesis, I begin by reviewing existing socio-ecological research into intertidal harvesting and previous attempts at engagement and management of collectors, before exploring the growing need for an innovative, or transformative, approach to future management. Teasing the impact of collection activities from other shoreline activities has proved difficult by researchers, but there are growing concerns that collecting can have significant ecological impacts. There is evidence that, under certain conditions, even a single intense collection event can have long lasting effects on both the target species and habitat, whilst low level collection of multiple species over time can also have detrimental impacts to local ecological communities. Management of hand collection activities grounded in principles of ecological sustainability has often failed to get to implementation stage through lack of understanding of the activities being undertaken. If implemented, non-compliance from collectors is frequently a problem, driven by a lack of understanding from managers about the importance of the activities to the people undertaking them. Despite warnings that management strategies based solely on principles of ecological sustainability are unlikely to be successful, nor their enforcement cost-effective, few have attempted alternative management approaches, and collection activities remain largely misunderstood by, and beyond the reach of, policy makers. My thesis provides evidence to enhance the understanding of both the socioeconomic and ecological importance of coastal collection activities, paving the way to a more holistic and inclusive management approach. Despite significant knowledge gaps, policy makers in Wales are increasingly interested in managing intertidal collection activities. Until now, no peer reviewed research has specifically focussed on how collecting in the UK links to people's well-being, which may offer information to guide future management approaches. Driven by policy interests, coupled with the requirements of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015, I undertook research with the coastal collectors of Wales. Questionnaires revealed what is collected, motivations underpinning collection activities, and how engaging in coastal collection relates to the well-being of collectors. Ninety-one coastal taxa were collected by respondents, with 33 different taxa considered of great importance to collectors. People were motivated to collect intertidal resources for provisioning purposes, for example collecting mussels to eat, crabs for angling bait or cockles for money. The experience of collecting was also important. Many reported collecting for fun, thrill, and excitement, or as an excuse to enjoy the environment and fresh air. Some collected for solitude whilst others as a social activity. Analysis revealed complexities in the relationship between collection activities and human well-being. For example, the act of collecting reduced anxiety levels of collectors, those of lower well-being were more likely motivated to collect for provisioning purposes whereas those of higher well-being were motivated by experiential factors. My second data chapter further explores the experiential meanings behind collection activities through thematic analysis of interviews with coastal collectors. Although all participants acknowledged some provisioning motivation, there were three other intertwined themes through which participants were benefitting from their activities - personal identity, nature connectedness and overall health and well-being. Benefits are discussed in relation to psychological theories of biophilia, attention restoration, self-actualisation, and my concept of a modern hunter-gatherer persona. Overarching concerns about the sustainability of both stocks and the art of collecting were expressed by most collectors, with many feeling misunderstood or ignored by managers and policy makers. My qualitative research revealed the importance of coastal collection for some people, and their dependence on it. This chapter provides a foundation for tailored engagement with different types of collectors as Wales strives for sustainable use of coastal resources for current and future generations. The challenge of assessing the anthropogenic impact of intertidal collection on rocky shores led me to develop, in my final chapter, a suite of experiments designed to ascertain human impacts on sheltered, tide swept shores. Any disturbance of this habitat is usually attributed to people turning rocks, often for the collection of crabs. My use of novel technology to tease natural from anthropogenic disturbance demonstrates that the disturbance of tide swept boulders is little understood, and can occur via natural, peripatetic, movement in high tidal velocities, in addition to people turning rocks at low water. Overall, my thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to address some of the social and ecological knowledge gaps that can feed conflict between collectors, policy makers and managers. I suggest new framings to persistent management conundrums, beyond traditional ecological and subsistence narratives, that will enhance understanding of, and future engagement with, intertidal collectors whilst promoting advocacy for future management amongst collectors themselves.

This thesis explores challenges related to measuring well-being and behaviour, presents novel ways to handle such data and offers some evidence from analysing these types of data which has implications for welfare. Across the three chapters I have two main objectives. Firstly, I present and justify methods to handle data on unobservable feelings, such as satisfaction, motivation or pride. Secondly, the research questions are connected through their preoccupations with understanding human welfare. In Chapter 1, I ask what importance (weightings) do individuals attach to different areas (domains) of life in their overall life satisfaction? In my answer I tackle a fundamental question for economists regarding reported satisfaction data: if we do not wish to assume such data are inter-personally comparable, how can we extract information from them (such as domain weightings)? Existing work uses regression: pooling data across individuals in order to identify average weightings, hence making the inter-personal comparability assumption. I instead use a Maximum Entropy criterion function, which can find a solution for each individual separately: I can identify J domain weightings from a single report of J domain satisfactions and overall satisfaction, and hence find individual-specific weightings. In Chapter 2, jointly with Séverine Toussaert, we investigate the effectiveness of incentives that emerge from a perceived threat to one's image, triggered by another's assessment: an ego threat. We study this in the context of a road-running race. We ask runners to tell us about their time goal for a race and then tell them we doubt they can achieve their goal, or we offer them a reward (a voucher) if they achieve it, or both, or neither. We find that the ego threat message boosts goal achievement by 12 percentage points, but no effect of the voucher. We look for evidence for the mechanisms through which the message may work, and try to evaluate the welfare effect of the treatment. In Chapter 3, I present a method to quantify the ordinal differences between two welfare measurement techniques: traditional utility-based Revealed Preference orderings versus Subjective Well-being orderings (from non-incentivized self-reports of well-being). As a proof of concept, I apply the method to an international dataset, and also outline ideal datasets to which this method could be applied for future research on quantifying differences between well-being measures.

This study is among the first to investigate the dynamic value co-creation process in non-medical cancer support setting, it specifically examines the often-overlooked male cancer patients. The study explores the continuing value co-creation process and value outcomes, through patient's reflections and personal explanations of their lived experiences. Participants were accessed mainly from Maggie's Centres, a well-known cancer support charity in the UK. This research takes a mixed methods approach involving a systematic literature review, non-participant observation, interviews, a survey and a focus group. Thematic analysis was applied to study qualitative data, whereas multiple linear regression and multivariate regression were conducted to analyse quantitative data. The findings show that different value co-creation motivations and behaviours enhance different dimensions of male patients' well-being, in the non-medical setting. Particularly, this is the first study to identify that enjoyment, as a motivational factor for value co-creation, and responsible behaviour, as a behavioural factor, have a direct positive effect on all four dimensions of patients' well-being (psychological, social, existential and physical). Interestingly, this research reveals that when informants co-create value driven by their negative emotions, they experience a positive effect on their psychological well-being. Also, this study is the first to find that informants' motivations to co-create value with others can change over time, previous literature, in social support service settings in general, did not identify this possible change. In addition, this study discovers four emerging resources that informants co-create and perceive to be valuable for themselves. They are the ability to share personal feelings, opportunity to share those feelings, hope for longer and better life and knowledge to manage the illness. This study is the first to demonstrate that the co-created ability to share personal feelings by patients in the charity setting improves their communication skills, enabling them to talk about their illness and share their feelings in their everyday life. This research has four main theoretical contributions: it clearly shows the dynamic value co-creation process through consumers' active engagement and interaction with other actors while using complex and prolonged services; it also extends our understanding of how context; it identifies four emerging resources that are co-created by and for male patients in the social support setting, which is rarely explored in the literature. It also reveals the impact of the value co-creation motivations, behaviours and emerging resources on various dimensions of consumers' well-being and reveals how and why these dimensions are enhanced. The practical implications of this research allow charities and support organisations to understand how and why patients and other actors co-create value for patients in the social support setting and the impact of the value co-creation on patients' well-being.

Background: Children and young people's (CYP's) mental health and well-being is an important issue within United Kingdom educational policy and practice. Research involving CYP with special educational needs, such as learning difficulties, is limited, even though they experience mental health difficulties more often than the general population. Schools and educational settings are ideally situated to identify and support CYP's mental health. This thesis explores how practitioners can promote the mental health and well-being for young people with learning difficulties. Method: The first paper (Paper 1) describes a systematic literature review (SLR) into the views and experiences of people with learning difficulties who received therapeutic intervention. Due to the dearth of research with CYP in this area, the study incorporates participants across a wider range, whilst ensuring that the views of some adolescents and young adults aged 11-25 were represented. Paper 1 identified 12 studies examining the views of people with learning difficulties and used the critical appraisal skills programme (2018) to quality screen studies, and a thematic analysis to aggregate the findings. The empirical study (Paper 2) explored how four practitioners from a specialist sixth form setting in the North West of England supported the mental health and well-being of students aged 16-19. This consisted of virtual semi-structured interviews, which were thematically analysed, and a follow-up focus group gathered more tangible strategies and provision to improve the practitioner utility of the findings. Results: Analysis of the studies in Paper 1 yielded insight into strategies around the contracting of therapeutic work, importance of clear communication, the therapeutic alliance, and the ending of therapy to promote accessibility and participation in therapy. Findings from Paper 2 illuminated tangible practice and strategies that are implemented by practitioners to promote mental health and well-being at both the universal and targeted levels. The study also identified facilitators and barriers to implementing such support, which included difficulties monitoring the effectiveness of interventions, access to skills-based training for staff, and difficulties for those with more complex needs and how they communicate their feelings. Implications for practice: This thesis outlines good practice that can promote students' mental health and well-being, with a population where there is a limited research available. Papers 1 and 2 offer suggestions to practice that can promote universal and/or targeted avenues of support. Further research is needed to explore the implications for practice for younger pupils. Paper 3 defines a dissemination and impact strategy for the research undertaken in Papers 1 and 2.

This Comfort in Clothing study explores how fashion, clothing and dress practices contribute to the psychosocial well-being of women in the UK. Fashion is a global industry, fuelled in recent times by the growth of the athleisurewear sector, reflecting the postmodern preoccupation with comfort, leisure and well-being in Western societies. Well-being is identified as important to the individual and on a wider societal level, with rising mental health issues identified as a global health concern and well-being statistics reported by numerous developed economies. Bauman, a prominent sociologist, acknowledged the anxieties of the postmodern actor in his concept of Liquid Modernity, attributing them to the fast pace of change and overwhelming freedom of choice, factors inherent in today's fashion industry. Thus, this study makes an original contribution to theoretical knowledge by applying Bauman's concept of Liquid Modernity to the phenomenon of well-being in relation to clothing artefacts, fashion and dress practice. Literature related to comfort in clothing, well-being, positive psychology and identity was reviewed. Research exists in terms of physical and physiological comfort in clothing, however a gap was identified in terms of the psychological comfort gained from the everyday use of non-elite fashion and clothing. The key elements of well-being were identified as community, work, time, the body, place, individuality, emancipation, income, colour and confidence, with these being mapped to the research focus of fashion, clothing and dress practice. The concepts of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and positive psychology were also explored. Examination of existing fashion research revealed the applicability of an interpretive world-view and multi-modal qualitative methodology. Qualitative data was gathered in the form of innovative, participant-produced image/narrative elicitations from a key informant sample. In addition, focus groups were conducted with an expanded sample. All participants were females currently living in the UK, who were mostly interested or very interested in fashion. Triangulation of the resultant multiple data types was employed during the analysis stage. The value of this Comfort in Clothing study lies in the contribution to knowledge of everyday dress practices in the postmodern era, and how those lived experiences and autobiographical memories of dress impact the psychosocial well-being of the participants. The key findings confirm that female appearance management remains firmly focused on the body and controlled by the fear of judgement, both self-judgement and the judgement of others. Hedonic well-being, gained from presenting oneself properly in public and feeling good through looking good was prevalent. Bauman's definition of the individualistic person was found to dress as a community-minded citizen, seeking the solidity of normative, ritualised dress practices and rejecting fashion's fast-paced and perpetual change. This suggests a disconnect between the fashion industry as a driver of creative destruction and constant consumption, and the clothing consumer's need for the safety and solidity of routine and the known. A hierarchy of attachment emerged, which found clothing to be under-valued, suggesting an opportunity for increased eudaimonic well-being through adoption of clothing with longevity, enabling meaning and memory to accrue and ultimately, to provide comfort in Liquid Modernity.

Evidence suggests that those who experience recurrent challenges with literacy are more likely to develop well-being difficulties, with their difficulties having an impact on their self-esteem (Burden, 2008; Jordan & Dyer, 2017; Rose, 2009). Although most students with literacy needs will receive some form of support for their learning difficulty, psychological support is rarely offered (Malboeuf- Hurtubise et al., 2017c). A mixed methods design utilising both pre- and post-intervention measures and a focus group, was used to explore the impact of a school-based mindfulness programme on well-being, self-esteem, and levels of mindfulness, with primary-aged students experiencing social behavioural and/ or emotional and well-being (SBEW) difficulties, alongside literacy difficulties. The Mindfulness in Schools Project's (MiSP), Paws b mindfulness programme, was delivered to the intervention group over four weeks, before being delivered to the waitlist control group. Measures of well-being, self-esteem and mindfulness were completed by both groups pre- and post-intervention, with participants' views of the intervention explored during a focus group. Results showed a large significant interaction effect between group and time on students' ratings of well-being, indicating that the intervention led to improvements in well-being. No significant changes in self-esteem and levels of mindfulness were measured. Thematic analysis of the focus group data showed the Paws b programme was well liked by the participants, particularly the curriculum content and the mindfulness techniques and practices. Several benefits of taking part in the intervention in relation to improved relationships, being better able to recognise and respond to emotions experienced and feelings of calm were described by the participants. The students also expressed that they would continue to use their new skills gained and that they think others would benefit from taking part in a school-based mindfulness programme.

This study investigated the design of play equipment for encouraging peer-to-peer social interactions amongst children with cerebral palsy aged from 4 to 6 years, as a means of developing their social competence. The focus was on developing a new conceptual model and criteria for designing this specialist play equipment and, thus, creating a level playing field for children with different manifestations of cerebral palsy. According to the statistics of the National Health Service, it is estimated that approximately 1 in 400 children is born with cerebral palsy in the UK (NHS, 2017). It is recognised that these children often have reduced social engagement, yet socialisation plays a fundamental role in development. In spite of this, there are few toys specifically developed for children with cerebral palsy and even fewer which support peer socialisation. Therefore, there is a need to develop relational play equipment for them. The research presented here is interdisciplinary and informed by a social perspective on disability. It combined theoretical investigation with design practice within an action-research approach. User-centred design was used for the design development and intervention. Observations of children with cerebral palsy and interviews with their parents and conductors were employed for collecting data about the children's social interactions before and during the design intervention in order to determine the effectiveness of the proposed concept. Data collection was carried out at the National Institute of Conductive Education in Birmingham, England. A conceptual design model of play equipment for enhancing the social competence in children with cerebral palsy was developed. The model focused on designing semiotic content that could trigger cognitive, emotional, social and physical processes to encourage children to participate in relational play and facilitate peer-to-peer social interactions. Based on this model, design criteria were developed, integrating two interrelated sets of indicators. The first set pertained to the design position and comprised child-friendly design criteria. The second pertained to the social purpose, comprising indicators of social competence, such as social skills and self-confidence. Based on these criteria, a number of design ideas were developed, using ideation, intuitive hand sketching and brainstorming. A final idea of the thematic play environment, "Undersea Friends", which corresponded best to the conceptual model of play equipment and met most of the design criteria and recommendations from parents and conductors, was chosen for the design intervention. "Undersea Friends" consists of the toys intended for practising particular social skills, where each toy in the play space is a creature-friend and a facilitator of children's interactions. These toys are Octopush Olly for practising turn taking, Hexapush Hetty for practising cooperation and Larry Long Legs for sharing. Two prototype toys for this environment were developed and evaluated with children with cerebral palsy for the purposes of this study. This completed study highlights the difficulties which children with cerebral palsy may experience with peer interactions while playing. It provides a new understanding of the development of social competence through engaging children in relational play, facilitated by specialist play equipment, as well as the prototype toys of the play environment, "Undersea Friends". This research contributes to understanding of how designers can approach the creation of such play equipment by providing design criteria, design recommendations and suggestions for further investigation.

The current PhD thesis investigates the relationship between the Architectural design of homes and inhabitants' psychological well-being. Psychological wellbeing is understood to be achieved by addressing human psychological needs. In fact, while there are many guidelines and policies that inform the architectural design of homes, there is a lack of consideration for the satisfaction of human needs through design. People spend most of their lifetime inside their homes compared to any other form of built environment, However, most of existing literature on psychological well-being within the built environment focuses on non-residential buildings such as; offices, schools, elderly homes, hospitals, etc. and there is a general lack of literature on well-being in homes specifically. This research combines the two fields of architecture and psychology, by investigating theories of psychological needs as these are the key nutriments of psychological well-being. The aim of this research was to develop a theoretical model of the architectural design of homes based on human needs to support and promote users' psychological well-being. A mixed methods approach was adopted to address and achieve the research aim. First, a quantitative survey questionnaire was distributed online and around Bristol, UK (n=101) to explore if there was a link between residents' perceptions of their homes and their psychological well-being. Second, a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews took place in Clifton, Bristol (n=13) to investigate, in-depth, the results of the survey. The results of the quantitative study demonstrated a direct link between residents' satisfaction with their home and satisfaction with life in general. Further, the survey showed the importance of the physical structure of homes and of perceived opportunities for personalisation in the overall satisfaction with a home and subsequently, well-being and life in general. The qualitative phase results identified five key themes which were perceived to affect the experience of homes; physical structure, memories embodied in the home, security, transformability, and cultural preference. The main contributions to knowledge that this PhD thesis offers are: • An assessment of well-being in the built environment focusing on homes. • A study of human needs to identify the architectural needs for a healthy home. • A theoretical model of the architectural design of homes based on human needs to support and promote users' psychological well-being.

Research shows that poor mental health is a growing concern worldwide particularly among young people. One of the main causes is believed to be the internalisation of stress often associated with the proliferation of examinations that they are required to undertake at school. Early interventions have been acknowledged as a way to prevent and reduce these mental health issues. However, while a number of programmes have been developed, the majority have not involved key stakeholders in the design process. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and test the feasibility of a co-produced school-based intervention to improve mental health and well-being in young people. The study was primarily based on stages one and two of the Medical Research Council framework for developing complex interventions, with a pragmatic mixed methods approach used to identify intervention components and outcomes. Co-produced through a six-step process with key stakeholders (students and teachers), the intervention was tested and refined in the school setting over three stages in Year 9 students aged between 12 and 14 years. Based on a review of extant literature and qualitative data collection in schools, the multi-component R.E.A.C.T. (Reducing Exam Anxiety through Activity and Coping Techniques) programme was created to reduce test anxiety and improve mental well-being. The six-week group-based intervention, underpinned by self-regulatory, behavioural and cognitive theoretical components, involved physical activity and psychoeducation elements based on recommendations from teachers and students. Quantitative findings suggested small improvements among the intervention group across the outcome measures (test anxiety, self-efficacy, physical activity) although no statistically significant differences were found. However, qualitative feedback revealed that students were less anxious around examination periods indicating that the programme has value in reducing test anxiety. The results also suggested that the intervention was feasible for teachers to deliver and could be incorporated into the school setting. The findings of this study highlighted the importance of engaging students and teachers in the research process to co-produce interventions. They also suggest the feasibility of a future full Randomised Controlled Trial to determine the effectiveness of the R.E.A.C.T. programme using a larger sample of schools.

This PhD thesis examines the role of cultural values as a predictor of population health and wellbeing in a global context. Within the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) framework, several factors including social class, income and education have been studied extensively as drivers of cross-national differences in health, but much less literature exists on the role of culture and cultural values. In order to address this gap in the literature I employ a qualitative analytical approach applied to multiple waves of the World Values Survey (1979-2014). In an initial analysis, I assess whether the three most common cultural values models, those of Hofstede, Schwartz and Inglehart, are good predictors of population health outcomes. Indulgence, traditional/rational, intellectual and affective autonomy, long-term orientation and embeddedness dimensions yield largest effect sizes in predicting health outcomes. I also find a significant and large interaction effects between country's wealth and selected cultural dimensions Secondly, I develop a novel, data-driven, computationally intensive approach to Exploratory Factor Analysis to explore whether clusters, or dimensions, of values exist, and which are the most relevant for explaining population health. Of the dimensions identified, I find that religiosity, membership in civic organisations and democratic views are the most useful for explaining global differences in health and wellbeing. Thirdly, I explore the question of autonomy. I show that two dimensions of autonomy may be identified, which I term Individual and Female Autonomy. Of the two, Individual Autonomy is a good predictor of rates of national maternal mortality and combined maternal and child mortality. Finally, I critically review and assess country-level indicators of women's social position (also referred to in the literature as gender equality or equity, or women's empowerment). I provide an extensive critique of the so-called 'parity' approach prevalent in the global health and development literature, and suggest an alternative 'institutional' approach as more comprehensive and socially just.

With human nature being standardly defined as ways of thinking, feeling and acting, the contemporary discourse on the topic reveals a primary emphasis on thinking, i.e. mental processes, as the essence of being human. This observed prioritisation of cognitive activity over the lived experience, and which Merleau-Ponty calls 'disembodied scientification' (Merleau-Ponty and Edie, 1964) creates and re-enforces the commonly visible boundaries between the human and the natural world and forges many conceptual contradictions as well as prevailing objectification of the natural world as mere resource to humankind. In this thesis I argue that the operational attitude toward Nature presupposes its existential passivity and renders it barely contextual to our own wellbeing. Next to that, I also propose that personal engagement and storied narrative offers more valid, subjective depth to how one can understand human nature and that the importance of deepening one's comprehension of the relational interconnectedness with the living world around and caring for that relationship in everyday life has never been more urgent. And while the currently opportunistic relation to Nature resides primarily within mental attitudes toward human nature that prioritize what we think over what we feel, somatic sensitivity, where somatic means to study the self from the perspective of one's lived experience encompassing the dimensions of body, psyche and spirit (Hanna, 1986) emphasizes our inborn ability for internal perception and offers help in opening and widening our embodied capacities to engage with the world in 'movements made special through care' (Fraleigh, 2015). The mindful practices of somatic felt thinking, that sprang from this intuitive, practice-based inquiry as its methodological grounding, develop here into a holistic practice offered as a way of re-connecting with the ecological depths of the self and which value internal sensations, emotions and imaginings as integral part of being human in a 'more-than-human' world (Abram, 1996). The thesis presents then the scope of experiential load shaped by felt thinking about human nature while moving in/with Nature, and elaborates on such processes in relation to the movers' overall wellbeing. It covers creative journeys of opening up to the living agency of Nature itself through the emergent three phases of experiential relatedness and its dimensionality in embodied experience of the self as analogous to the dynamics of embryological layers formation, namely its ectodermic attentiveness, its mesodermic connectivity, and its endodermic intensity. The experiential depths provide also different time/space contexts for the embodied comprehension of the self that expand on the phenomenological and the Bergsonian heritage of thought in practice. The first phase of experiential flux connects the movers to the natural environment as self through sensual presence in physical time of inward and outward s-pacing, the second phase offers cocreating engagement with the natural world through experiential responsiveness in psychological time of animating, and the final stage of becoming the Nature/self through insightful intuiting in primordial sense of relatedness takes the movers to the most meaningful extent of experience by deepening one's sense of being and belonging. Laid out as a thorough interpretation of practice, the thesis presents its original contribution to eco-phenomenology with its ontological principle of embodied relationality in towards and away from movement as a primal gateway to wellbeing and its creative inter-constitution. It also constructs a cyclical paradigm for ecological felt thinking grounded in unifying depths of experience of 'other' within the self and provides a proper look at contextualising it theory. Supported by wide considerations of ontological co-creation in Nature the thesis concludes that felt thinking with Nature, as experiential reflexivity practice guided by being with Nature in contemplative movement, and a practice-based method of self-inquiry, can path a more ecologically mindful way for an inclusive understanding of human nature/Nature relationship as Nature/self, and promotes a more intuitive, movement-guided alertness to modes of 'being well' with self/other in broader life contexts that weave both, the creative and the caring together.

Aims: Being an informal carer of someone with a life-limiting or terminal illness ('Carer') often results in marked levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Yet, Carers have little available free time to devote to lengthy, well-being interventions offered outside the home. Carers also struggle to prioitorise their self-care, a factor which may help buffer some of the negative impacts of being a Carer. The aim of this research was to gain insight into Carers' views and perceptions of the impact of a brief, four module, online self-compassion intervention for Carers which was created to improve wellbeing, increase self-compassion and develop self-care among Carers. In so doing, the research addresses gaps in the literature relating to self-compassion interventions for Carers and targeted self-care initiatives for Carers. Design: This predominantly qualitative study was undertaken in two phases. In Phase One semi-structured interviews with nine participants of a four module, one to one self-compassion intervention (iCare), delivered in person, were conducted and data subjected to a reflexive thematic analysis within a critical realist framework. Additionally, descriptive statistics were collected. The findings from Phase One provided a theoretical basis for the design and content of the online version of iCare, the intervention studied in Phase Two. Seven Carers completed the four module online self-compassion programme. Data were collected through individual module feedback, post-intervention online qualitative questionnaires and descriptive statistics. Findings: The reflexive thematic analysis of the data generated four overarching themes: The Myth of SuperCarer; Get with the programme!; 'Being kinder to myself'; and Everyone's a winner. These explored how participants approached iCareonline, the impact engaging with it had on their well-being and highlighted how participants developed self-care through gaining permission to recognise their own needs. Improvements in psychological well-being and increases in self-compassion were reflected in the quantitative findings. In line with critical realist methodology, a causal mechanism was proposed explaining the development of self-compassion and conscious self-care among participants based on a cyclical model of Carer self-compassion. Implications: This study has relevance for: healthcare practitioners as the findings suggest that these professionals have a key role in legitimising Carer needs and fostering permission in Carers to practise self-care; counselling and psychotherapy professionals who work with Carers who are well-placed to challenge barriers Carer-clients may erect in the face of encouragement to practise self-care and self-compassion. Some of the content of iCare may prove useful to those therapists adopting a pluralistic approach when working with clients who are carers. Finally, teachers of mindful self-compassion could note the importance of the permission-giving aspects of a self-compassion intervention and the role it plays in developing conscious self-care in participants.

This dissertation explores consumer credit and its effects on the British economy and the British households. Chapter 1 offers a brief introduction to the issues around consumer credit that each of the subsequent chapters covers. Chapter 2 is the first empirical chapter and considers how the enactment of appropriate regulation can improve the understanding of the cost of credit. This chapter studies the effects of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 on the British economy through the introduction of the calculation and publication of the true cost of lending. Moreover, it tests the presence of a structural break in the relationship between the price and volume of consumer credit. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the effects of shocks to consumer credit on inflation and households’ savings. Chapter 3 turns to analyze the impact of consumer credit on households’ consumption and self-reported well-being across the income distribution. This chapter analyzes whether consumer credit can reduce consumption inequality by allowing poorer households to increase their consumption of consumer durables and leisure or, if on the contrary, it worsens self-reported measures of well-being. Next, chapter 4 studies households’ financial resilience and evaluates the role that consumer credit plays in affecting it. This chapter answers the question Is there a measure that correlates with households’ probability of falling into financial distress and, moreover, predicts the likelihood of these households over- coming said distress? To answer this question, this chapter proposes as a proxying measure the logarithmic ratio of households’ financial assets and short-term liabilities. Moreover, this chapter reports the asymmetries of ownership of financial assets and short-term credit across the income and wealth distributions. Then it analyzes the effects of said proxy on the occurrence probability of a series of financial resilience-related events. Finally, chapter 5 offers tentative overall conclusions and points to a future research agenda.

People have been intrigued by happiness and what it means to live a good and meaningful life for millennia. Researchers have become increasingly interested in studying the sources of happiness and which strategies are effective in leading to long-lasting and increased subjective wellbeing. Growing evidence shows that intentional engagement in kind activities and behaviours, such as performing acts of kindness, showing generosity or expressing gratitude, can have a significant effect on increasing and sustaining happiness. The rapid adoption and integration of technology in everyday life has provided a unique potential for developing persuasive interventions and digital behaviour change systems as tools for stimulating and enhancing pro-social behaviours and attitudes. Persuasive technologies have been shown to be effective in motivating people to adopt and maintain healthy behaviours and could play a key role in designing effective interventions that increase subjective wellbeing. This thesis investigates how persuasive technology can encourage engagement in meaningful, achievable and enjoyable kind activities that prevent mental health problems and improve subjective wellbeing. The primary research contribution of this thesis is studying the design of an adaptive behaviour change intervention and evaluating its effectiveness in encouraging people to participate in kind activities and behaviours. We developed "Be Kind", an online intervention that personalises persuasive messages to motivate engagement in meaningful, achievable and enjoyable activities, which improve subjective wellbeing. We evaluated the effectiveness of the intervention in motivating behaviour change, influencing behavioural intention and improving subjective wellbeing. The results suggest that the intervention has a positive effect on people's behaviour and leads to increased happiness. We investigated the actual persuasiveness of Cialdini's persuasion principles, which formed the foundation for personalising the intervention. Our findings differ from work investigating perceived persuasiveness, indicating that what people perceive to be more persuasive is not necessarily what will persuade them to engage in a certain behaviour. Moreover, we explored how people's susceptibility to different persuasive principles varies over a longer period of time. Exploring personalisation of persuasive technologies and understanding actual persuasiveness is relevant to a wide variety of other domains. Our research will provide new insights and contribute as a foundation for the development of technology supporting people's wellbeing, having implications for future work on personalising persuasive strategies and designing digital behaviour change interventions.

This research is situated at the nexus of human dignity and spiritual leadership theory. It critically explores human dignity, an expression of human value and worth, for its potential as the basis of an advancement to spiritual leadership, a contemporary organisational leadership theory. Following this critical exploration, the thesis proposes that human dignity is an implied element of spiritual leadership that, if made explicit, represents a valuable advancement to the theory. Based on the findings of the research, specific advancements to the theory are proposed that incorporate the acknowledgement of and respect for human dignity as spiritual leadership behaviours. In the research, these behaviours were seen to contribute positively to the desired outcome of spiritual leadership, namely an increase in the perception of well-being experienced by leaders and followers. The research offers a contribution to the field of organisational leadership by exploring the linkage between human dignity, the elements of spiritual leadership, and higher-order needs associated with well- being in the workplace, such as meaning-making, sense of purpose, and the sense of belonging. The research involved a qualitative field study of individual contributors, mid-level managers, and executives in a variety of organisations. Through semi-structured interviews, participants were invited to share their ideas and lived experiences regarding human dignity and the elements of spiritual leadership. The primary findings fall into three thematic categories, each of which is explored in detail in the thesis. The first theme is that participants perceived their dignity to be acknowledged and respected when leaders include them in decision-making processes. Inclusive decision-making is a leadership behaviour consistent with the ideals of spiritual leadership practice. Second, participants also reported that leadership behaviours that make them feel seen, known, and trusted, contribute to their sense of dignity as well as their sense of “mattering” in the workplace. Mattering and dignity are two related concepts that are, in turn, closely linked with the sense of calling and sense of membership. Finally, participants expressed that thoughts about human dignity are elements of the “inner life”, consisting of the values and attitudes that inform and motivate outward behaviour. These thematic findings are consistent with the expected outcomes of spiritual leadership and its emphasis on the inner life of the leader. Together, they form the basis for the human dignity advancements proposed to the theory.

Art therapy and other art-for-health initiatives are part of UK health and social care policy, as well as international humanitarian services for people fleeing persecution. There are currently unprecedented numbers of refugees and high levels of mental distress have been identified in this population. The non-verbal and symbolic potential for expression within art-making may provide a unique form of beneficial initiative. Through a critical realist perspective this thesis adds to the body of knowledge about art-based projects for refugee well-being. A mixed-methods systematic review was conducted in 2018. The quantitative data (k=2) showed that group art therapy is an effective intervention for reducing symptoms of mental distress in refugee children. The qualitative synthesis (k=24) presents a way to conceptualise the kinds of outcomes people experience from different modes of art-based engagement. Themes were developed through the qualitative data synthesis, including Beautifully handmade, Seeing with fresh eyes, Honour the past: forget the past, Telling the story and Being part of the world and Learning and working together. Accordingly, an interplay of creative, personal and social elements is proposed to occur is such activities. While different art-based approaches are identified: art therapy, facilitated art-making and independent art practice, these are shown to engender similar human experiences. This thesis builds on previous research on the use of colouring books for well-being. A mixed-methods randomised controlled study demonstrates their efficacy as a selfsustained well-being activity over one week. This study compared the effect of colouring pre-drawn mandala patterns with free-form drawing and a control group. The study included 69 university students and staff. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) were used. A large and significant effect size was found for WEMWBS and a dose response was demonstrated in the colouring condition. A feasibility project was then run at a refugee drop-in centre, where colouring books and colouring pages were provided on a weekly basis for seven weeks. While colouring books have been provided to refugees previously, this thesis demonstrates the potential well-being value of such provision, and the likely uptake of colouring books by this population. Data are presented from four refugees and four staff members. Accordingly, this thesis shows that colouring books are acceptable to refugees. Thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis were used to explore the qualitative data from both primary research studies. Colouring was found to be a relaxing activity by participants in both studies. Participants valued both the process of colouring and the final product. Both reflection and distraction are presented as potential mechanisms involved in improving well-being through colouring. Some participants found the colouring evoked memories, some used the process to express emotions and others found the colouring gave them a welcome diversion from other thoughts. Colouring at the refugee centres also provided an impetus for inter-personal relationships, such as colouring with friends. Art-based approaches are explored as a range of useful and acceptable interventions to improve the well-being of refugees. Consideration is given to the variety of contextual factors that influence the creative and relational elements that are considered central to these interventions. Art-based projects operate within complex social and political systems. Identifying cultural norms and exploring power dynamics can contribute to the understanding and development of initiatives seeking to improve individual well-being, and effect wider collective social and political change.

Section A: Presents a thematic synthesis and appraisal of literature, using a systematic search methodology of qualitative research on the views and experiences of adolescents of social media and well-being. The synthesis revealed four themes, each with positive and negative sides: connections, identity, learning and emotions. Each theme is explored and related to theoretical and extant literature. Clinical implications are provided around each theme, describing ideas of how to work positively with adolescents and social media, while negotiating potential drawbacks. Research recommendations are made concerning extrapolating the factors discussed by adolescents and how to enhance research quality in the area. Section B: Presents a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of the relationship between social media and well-being, in a sample of 497 UK adolescents. Several stress and well-being hypotheses are tested, including the moderating roles of gender and self-esteem that is contingent on friendship quality, within a diathesis-stress model. Results show friendship contingent self-esteem to be significantly related to social media investment, and increased stress to significantly influence well-being change. Findings are discussed in terms of the link between contingent self-esteem and problematic social media investment, stress and well-being.

There is a considerable amount of literature showing that levels of well-being in schoolteachers in England are low and this leads to reduced retention. Currently, the number of teachers leaving the profession before retirement is causing retention problems. However, most teachers stay in teaching and some flourish and so the rationale for this research is to discover reasons for this. If characteristics aiding retention can be found then these can be developed and retention improved. Thus, the overarching aim of this research is to explore factors influencing the levels of teacher resilience and well-being and how these contribute to their retention. The study examined retention from the perspective of positive psychology. This branch of psychology examines interventions that not only repair deficits in people, such as low mood, but also develop strengths to produce a flourishing individual. Generating well-being, for example, is not just the removal of negative emotions but also the development of strengths to enable the individual to thrive. The self-belief variables of Hope, Optimism, Self-efficacy, Mindset and Job crafting were examined to see if they contribute to Resilience, Well-being and Retention in secondary, schoolteachers. Alongside these psychological factors, demographic factors such as age and length of service were also studied to address the first objective of the study: to measure demographic and psychological factors predicting teacher Resilience, Well-being and Retention. This strand was investigated using quantitative methods. Teachers working in English secondary schools (N=279) completed a survey to measure the impact of the demographic and psychological factors on the dependent variables. To obtain qualitative data, semi-structured interviews were also undertaken, as described below. The demographic analysis indicated that only years spent in teaching and positions of responsibility were related to the variables of interest. The regression analysis showed that Self-efficacy and Optimism predicted Resilience. Hope, Optimism and growth Mindset (the latter as a negative suppressor) predicted Well-being but only Work orientation-calling predicted Intention to Quit teaching. Well-being was a strong mediator in the Resilience-Intention to Quit relationship, indicating that Well-being enhances the effect of Resilience on reducing Intention to Quit. The quantitative data addressed questions of ‘what and when’ but to find out ‘how and why’ eleven (N=11) semi-structured interviews were carried out on three groups of teachers: Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs), established, and those that had left, or were in the process of leaving the profession. The qualitative data generated was then subjected to thematic analysis. This addressed the second objective: to explore in-depth teacher accounts at different career stages about factors contributing to decisions to stay or leave the profession. This analysis indicated that teachers needed contextual factors, especially the autonomy to craft their work, so they could then develop their sense of Calling. In particular, they wanted the ability to work collegially in a supportive environment, put students at the centre of their work and develop their academic subjects. By doing this they could develop their Calling. Using a critical-realist approach the third objective was carried out: to examine the relationship between objective 1 and 2 and examine the applications of the research. The findings from the two strands triangulated and aligned with each other on several points especially the central role of Calling. They also showed that both psychological and contextual factors are needed to develop all the self-belief variables and Resilience, Well-being and Retention. Implications and applications of the findings are discussed.

Background & aims: To provide appropriate and suitable support to caregivers of people with dementia, it is important to explore the risk and protective factors related to their psychological wellbeing. The aim of this thesis, is firstly, to highlight lived experiences of dementia caregiver’s; secondly, to explore the role of psychological resilience in their ability to adapt and maintain their role; and finally, to identify and examine their perspectives of current support services in meeting their needs. Method: A sequential explanatory mixed method design was used. In Phase I participants completed a postal survey (n=45), including demographic information, a healthrelated quality of life measure and a psychological resilience scale. Results were used to inform and direct Phase II, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted (n=11), transcribed and analysed using thematic analyses. Results: The quantitative findings indicated that participants with higher mental health outcomes and high psychological resilience were more likely to access support services. Physical wellbeing had a greater association with factors related to providing care. Seven main themes were identified in the qualitative analysis, the majority relating strongly to a high degree of restricted opportunities and encroaching responsibilities. The findings indicate that caregivers are required to be flexible and adapt to their individual circumstances, within an ever-evolving situation. Implications: The results of this study suggest that identifying those with low levels of psychological resilience and wellbeing may be useful in identifying those in greater need of support. Recommendations for potential service developments are discussed, as well as the implications for Counselling Psychology practice.

Rationale and Aims: Ethnic Identity (EI) refers to the extent to which an individual identifies with their cultural group (Phinney, 2000) and has been widely documented as being beneficial for well-being (Smith and Silva, 2011; Umaña-Taylor, 2011). EI can be especially beneficial for ethnic minority populations, such as British Bangladeshis, who are at risk of a complex, largely undocumented negotiation of identities and stressors related to cultural adjustment in Britain (Eade, 1994). However, some research suggests the opposite effect: namely, that high levels of EI may actually increase vulnerability to distress when faced with discrimination, especially when considering populations that face intersectional disadvantages. A systematic review of the literature regarding British Bangladeshi identity and well-being revealed that there are currently no documented experiences of third-generation British Bangladeshi adults. Furthermore, no peer reviewed qualitative research has explicitly considered EI and well-being in the British Bangladeshi population. Hence the aim of this study was to understand the importance of EI and well-being in third-generation British Bangladeshi adults. Methods/Analysis: A qualitative design was employed where semi-structured interviews were conducted on 15 third-generation British Bangladeshi participants. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), within a Critical Realist epistemology. Findings: Three main themes were identified: Theme 1 – “Oh my God, I’m different” being “made to feel” like an outsider in Britain. Theme 2 – “You’re a coconut” being “made to feel” like an outsider within the British Bangladeshi community. Theme 3 – “A proper sense of belonging”. Participants discussed their experiences of feeling like an outsider, due to a multitude of factors e.g. race, religion, cultural practices and gender norms. At times their strategy for survival involved trying to behave in ways that they perceived as synonymous with being ‘White British’ in professional and public spaces. Multiple challenges also appear to be faced whilst trying to engage with their own community. Despite these challenges, participants talked through connecting with elements of their Bangladeshi and Islamic heritage that has enabled a sense of belonging at a number of different stages within varying contexts and moments in their lives. Implications: Findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and theoretical models. Implications for clinical psychological research and practice, methodological considerations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

This research seeks to extend current understandings of the experiences and challenges that face refugee students learning in protracted refugee situations like Jordan. The project looks at Syrian refugee students’ experiences and perceptions of learning in Jordan’s segregated, double-shift schools. Education for refugee has focused on enhancing access and learning quality, seeking to allow refugee children to gain a sense of normalcy and create opportunities for their futures. However, little attention has been paid to how refugee students’ experience their learning spaces in more long-term refugee situations, and how their well-being, aspirations, and perceptions of self and the future are influenced by the education initiatives that refugee-hosting nations put forth. Through a qualitative phenomenological approach, I draw on Sen’s Capability Approach to explore children’s perceptions of their well-being and experiences in schools and outside schools. I engage with students to understand the values and hopes that children have for their present and future, and I examine how these values are shaped by the interactions between schools and the social, economic, and political factors that affect students. This study uses visual-based methods with children to elicit conversations, and also draws on five teacher interviews and classroom observations. The findings of this study portray the important role that schools play in influencing how refugee children’s identities are shaped, and the extent to which students’ school reinforce or transform the limitations that refugee children experience within their hosting nation. It contributes to understanding the values that children believe are important for their well-being in these schools, and provides a discussion on how children’s needs and the challenges they face can also vary across age and gender. The research offers compelling insight into how negative practices within schools, how segregated school structures, and a lack of alignment between policymaking and practice can harm children’s development and undermine the benefits of access to education. These findings illustrate the importance of situating refugee students’ well-being in relation to their social, political, economic, and cultural factors. Finally, the study also calls for a greater understanding of how the well-being of parents and teachers can influence refugee students’ own well-being.

The primary aim of this thesis is to formulate an intensional definition of aesthetic experience. Its secondary aims are (i) to show how this definition might be used for empirical research and (ii) to better understand other terms that are qualified by ‘aesthetic' (chiefly, ‘aesthetic properties' and ‘aesthetic value'). In chapter one, I will explain the nature of the problem we face and why it demands our attention. In chapters two and three, I will critically survey positions in the literature and argue that none adequately characterise aesthetic experience. In chapter four, I will motivate and defend an intensional definition of ‘aesthetic experience' and an art-based account of ‘aesthetic properties'. The former states, put briefly, that aesthetic experiences are those which acquire a valence when the subject attends to the content of her experience for its own sake and discerns aesthetic properties. The latter states that ‘aesthetic properties' are those which comprise the value artworks have as works of art. In chapter five, I will use this definition of aesthetic experience to formulate the hypothesis that mindfulness training can augment one's propensity for having rewarding aesthetic experiences of nature and everyday life. I will then propose how this hypothesis could be empirically investigated. In chapter six, I conclude by examining what my analysis of ‘aesthetic experience' and ‘aesthetic properties' reveals about ‘aesthetic value'. I will then, finally, highlight topics requiring further research.

Background: Older people in care may be lonely with insufficient contact if families are unable to visit. Face-to-face contact through video-calls may help reduce loneliness, but little is known about the processes of engaging older people living in care in using video-calls. Aims: 1-To explore how to normalise the use of video-calls within the care environment, 2-To examine how video-call communication for older people might reduce loneliness and social isolation. Sub aims: 3- To identify the barriers and facilitators to using video-calls within a care environment for older people, care staff and social contacts, 4-To explore how staff and social contacts’ attitudes towards using video-calls change after implementation. Design: A mixed methods approach of ethnography and feedback forms using collaborative action research (CAR) methodology included five core steps taken across two cycles of research: (1) Recruitment of older people and relevant social contacts. (2) Planning how best to implement the intervention. (3) Implementation of video-calls. (4) Reflection to identify barriers to and benefits of using video-calls. (5) Re-evaluation to tackle the identified barriers. Intervention: The video-call intervention comprised a wheeled device (Skype on Wheels (SoW) that could hold an iPad or tablet and telephone handset and used Skype to provide a video-call service for residents and their social contacts. In cycle two, Skype TV (STV) was an additional form of delivering video-calls on a larger screen and trialled alongside SoW. Methods cycle one: Seven care homes and one community hospital in the South West of England participated. Care staff (n=32) were collaborators who implemented the intervention by agreeing the intervention, recruiting older people without dementia (n=34) and their distant family (n=19), and setting up video-calls. Ethnographic data included field notes and reflective diaries on observations and conversations with care staff, older people and family which were maintained over 15 months and analysed using thematic analysis. Results cycle one: Four care homes implemented the intervention. Eight older people (23%) with their respective family contacts made use of video-calls. Older people were able to use SoW with assistance from care staff and enjoyed the use of video-calls to stay better connected with distant family. However, five barriers towards implementation were staff turnover, risk averseness, the SoW design, lack of family commitment, and staff attitudes regarding technology. Methods cycle two: Four care homes continued to cycle two. This consisted of three key activities to address the identified barriers in cycle one to improve implementation. Namely; 1- focus groups to allow residents (n=28) to aesthetically personalise SoW, 2- video-calls using SoW between school pupils (n=4) and residents (n=20) to build new social contacts and trial the use of a prompt sheet to improve the quality of conversations, and 3- inter-care home video-calls using SoW and STV between residents (n=22) across care homes to increase socialisation. Residents with dementia but with the mental capacity to consent (n=7) were included in cycle two. Additionally, the usability, content and face validity, and usefulness of scales to measure outcomes of loneliness (CELS), social isolation (LSNS-R and LSNS-6), well-being (SWEMWBS) for residents, and staff attitudes towards technology (ATTS) were tested. Scales were given at baseline and follow-up (6 months) and were analysed for simple descriptive statistics. Field notes on observations, feedback forms and structured interviews with residents, social contacts and care staff were maintained over 10 months and analysed using thematic analysis. Results cycle two: Personalisation of SoW and an alternative method of accessing through STV, along with introducing a non-familial social contact to video-call increased the uptake of participation from residents, and helped retain residents in the intervention over a longer period. The use of a ‘prompt’ sheet with school pupils improved the quality of conversations between older people and pupils. All residents with dementia were capable of participating in all activities and found them beneficial, even though they did not always remember using video-calls between sessions. Care staff attitudes towards video-calls improved after acting as a ‘facilitator’ during activities. Exploration of the usefulness of scales to measure key outcomes concluded that the LSNS-6 and CEL scales are useful and appropriate for residents with dementia, or who are end of life. However, the SWEMWBS was not useful, and the ATTS needed further exploration with care staff. Conclusion: These findings suggest that video-calls for residents with and without dementia can to some extent be normalised within a complex long-term care home environment over some months, whereas it was not feasible in a community hospital because of the short patient stays. However, it is still unclear how effective video-calls are in reducing loneliness and social isolation within care. The current research suggests that care homes adopt implementation activities in the order of 1- residents to aesthetically personalise video-call technology, 2- allow residents to engage in non-familial social contacts to become familiar and improve acceptability and 3- help residents accustomed to video-calls to reconnect with distant family members.

Understanding the relationship between positive psychology and neuroscience is fundamental for furthering a multi-pragmatic, cross-disciplinary approach to the study of psychological phenomena. This thesis investigates the effects of achievement motivation on regional brain activation, cognitive functioning, affective responses, and well-being. A triangulation of psychophysiological, self-report, and objective cognitivebehavioural measures were used in the design of three studies. Study 1 examined the predictive effects of achievement goal orientations, bio-behavioural approach and avoidance systems, and frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. A hypothesised moderated mediation model further explored interactions between these variables in predicting well-being. Study 2 included two experiments. Experiment 1 examined the effects of situationally induced achievement goals on attentional network functioning, perceptual asymmetry, and four affective responses. Experiment 2 sought to replicate and expand on the findings of Experiment 1 by triangulating measures of problem solving and well-being with objective EEG measures of regional brain activation. Study 3 combined cognitive and event-related potential (ERP) measures to investigate the effects of situational goal involvement on free word recall and dynamic neural activity underlying emotional word processing. In Study 1, left superior frontal activity, a mastery-approach goal orientation, and the behavioural approach system (BAS) predicted both forms of wellbeing. The right prefrontal and mid-frontal regions moderated the effect of masteryapproach goal orientation on eudaimonic well-being and mastery-approach goal orientation partially mediated links between the BAS and well-being. Both experiments in Study 2 revealed that approach, compared to avoidance, conditions of achievement motivation lead to significant increases in left hemispheric activation, attention, problem solving, approach-related positive affect, hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Study 3 found that free recall was highest in the mastery-approach goal condition and in response to positive words. ERP analysis confirmed the benefits of mastery-approach motivational involvement in processing of emotional information. The present thesis revealed that approach motivational types appear to be more adaptive than avoidance motivational types in predicting well-being and facilitating left brain activation following sustained cognitive engagement. This could ultimately benefit cognitive health and well-being across educational settings. The findings are discussed in relation to previous studies, social cognitive and neuroscientific theories of motivation and emotion, and positive psychological concepts of well-being. Limitations are identified that provide directions for future longitudinal and intervention research. The thesis concludes with suggestions for further integration, investigation, and application in the areas of cognitive, neurophysiological, positive, and affective psychology.

Contact with birth parents has been identified as one of the most important issues amongst looked-after children (Timms & Thoburn, 2006). Policy decrees that local authorities must support contact between looked-after children and birth parents unless this is not 'reasonably practical or consistent with [the child's] welfare' (Schedule 2, paragraph 15). Research used to inform policy and practice has predominantly been based on methodologically flawed research, using incomparable samples, secondary data and has excluded the voice of the child. Therefore, the aims of the current study were to; 1) Explore care experienced young people's experiences of contact with birth parents, 2) Identify the main issues surrounding contact with birth parents amongst looked-after children and young people, 3) Explore the impact of contact on looked after children and young people's well-being. To achieve these research aims, the use of an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was determined to be most appropriate. In an initial qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of looked-after children. The type of analysis used was interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), which is concerned with exploring and portraying the meanings and processes of individual perspectives (Jarman, Smith & Walsh, 1997). A total of 5 key themes were identified, including disempowerment, depersonalisation, empowerment, contact & placement stability, and support & attachment relationships, as well as an embedded theme of contact throughout. Findings suggest that the most fundamental function of contact was to maintain or enhance pre-care attachment bonds. These findings then informed the quantitative phase in which a survey was distributed to a sample of care experienced children (n=143). A proposed contact model was also developed from findings of the initial qualitative phase in which to interpret and measure data in the quantitative phase. The main findings suggest that contact can impact children's well-being and that children's attachment relationships help to predict contact and outcomes associated with well-being.

This research explores the capacity of jewellery to be emotionally embedded and to perform a mnemonic function. It investigates the work of European jewellers, jewellery design methods and thought-provoking ways of displaying jewellery in an atypical setting. It is situated in the context of contemporary jewellery design and practice and aims to expand our knowledge of the potential of materials and new technologies to advance opportunities for the making of jewellery as an artefact with the capacity to be a carrier of emotions and memories. Throughout, the author utilises concepts of sensitising materials and notions of narrative quality. A body of work comprising nineteen publications including a chapter from a monograph book by the author is presented. The academic outputs illustrate a range of approaches from the theoretical and the experimental to exploratory qualitative methods. The findings, testing innovative materials and new technologies contribute to our understanding of technical and aesthetic solutions to the problematics of investing jewellery with memories and emotions through the application of both digital technologies and traditional craft techniques. The results were then applied in qualitative contexts, firstly to explore their capacity to support the designing and making and secondly, in a collaborative setting to explore the capacity of this novel practice for enhancing well-being. The distinctive contribution to knowledge comprises, in part, reflections on the materiality of the object from the jewellery maker's perspective. The purpose is to further an understanding of the role of emotionally and mnemonically embedded jewellery both in everyday life and as an agent of well-being. In doing so, it can be seen as: extending the work of anthropologist Ingold; informing the theory of jewellery initiated by Lindermann; and as refining conceptualisations of the capacity of emotionally charged jewellery for enhancing well-being.

This thesis demonstrates resilience and the ability to enjoy life despite hardships. While most studies of refugees and asylum seekers focus on issues of trauma and ill-health, this thesis attends to both positive and negative experiences that people experience due to a forced migration. Drawing on forty interviews as well as ethnographic observations, this thesis uses narrative and ethnographic methods to investigate the most salient factors contributing to well-being and happiness among African refugees and asylum seekers in two different urban environments: Newcastle-upon- Tyne in the UK and the greater Banjul area in the Gambia. I argue that through the stories these people told me about their lives, well-being and happiness can be subsumed under three main themes. The first theme of growth and meaning is one that features prominently in post-flight narratives. I show how people make sense of their lives and turn the negative experience of flight into something positive, meaningful and purposeful by using the concepts of posttraumatic growth and sense of coherence. The second theme of relational well-being is used to highlight the ambivalent role that various social relationships - families, friends and the wider community - have on an individual's happiness. The third theme is temporal well-being. Specifically, I compare the two groups to explicate how perceptions of the passage of time in the present affect well-being and what the implications of an imagined future are for present happiness. Finally, I show how religion links these three themes together. This research primarily contributes to well-being and happiness studies where anthropology is underrepresented and to migration and refugee studies where it brings an ethnographic and narrative approach. Its interdisciplinary nature, and particularly the emphasis on qualitative methodologies, complements research in social psychology and sociology whose approaches to happiness and well-being tend to emphasise quantitative methods. This emphasis on quantitative methods risks missing the context and nuance that qualitative research adds. I argue that it is not only the methods which make the contribution of this research valuable, but also the multi-sited and comparative nature of it which offer unique insights in how diverse individuals strive for well-being and a good, happy life.

Approximately 70.8 million individuals are displaced worldwide and of these 25.9 million are refugees (UNHCR, 2019). According to UNHCR (2018), 85% of the world's refugees are hosted by low-income nations such as Uganda. Presently, the country faces Africa's highest refugee crisis in years (ibid). The scale of the problem is growing rapidly, with refugee numbers increasing from half a million in 2016 to 1.36 million in 2019 making it the third-highest refugee-hosting country in the world (ibid). Most of the refugees in the country are women and children (IRC, 2014). While the country recently shot to prominence with regards to refugee settlement and management, it is confronted with the subsequent protection and assistance demands (Mwenyango and Palattiyil, 2019). Refugees have the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Health, however, is influenced by individual behaviour, social-cultural factors and other social determinants including the migration process and status (WHO, 2018). The conditions experienced before, during transit and in host destinations create and increase vulnerability for poor health outcomes (ibid). Women and children on the move are exceptionally vulnerable to inequities that operate through exploitation and abuse (Freedman, 2019; Alsaba and Kapilashrami, 2016; IOM, 2014; Papadopoulos; 2008; Berends, 2017). Social work is a distinct profession that alleviates suffering and deprivation of individuals and groups, due to its professional values of respect for human rights, social justice and care (IFSW, 2012). This study sought to examine the health needs and services for refugee women and children in the Nakivale refugee settlement (NRS) Uganda and enunciated the role of social work in responding to such needs. I specifically examined: (a) the public health needs, vulnerabilities and experiences of refugee women and children (b) accessible health services and (c) barriers to accessing and utilising health services for this group. All three were united by the overarching goal of interrogating social work's role in health promotion. The study used mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative). I administered a survey of 377 refugee women and 69 in-depth interviews (refugee women and men and key informants). The findings indicate that the Government of Uganda and its partners in refugee work are trying to support refugees to overcome the devastating conditions. However, there are outstanding gaps/ barriers (individual, socio-cultural and structural) to access and utilisation of health services. Women and children continue to live in vulnerable conditions. The study reveals a necessity for social work in settlements and provides recommendations for improving health services. The need to improve refugees' access to health care is urgent because it impacts their worth and dignity and is essential for the country's development (UNDP, 2016).

This study explored associations between trait self-compassion, goal motives, goal progress and well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect) in an undergraduate sample. Self-compassion has been associated with many indices of well-being. However, surprisingly little research has investigated the pathways through which self-compassion and well-being are connected. Exploring the process of goal pursuit could provide a viable way of understanding how self-compassion may translate to well-being, as goals are important for providing purpose and direction in life. Thus, this study examined how self-compassion might help students adjust to the challenges of starting university. It set out to test two proposed mediation models: i) whether intrinsic and identified motives and goal progress mediate self-compassion's relationship with change in life satisfaction and positive affect from the beginning to the end of the first term and ii) whether introjected and external motives mediate self-compassion's relationship with change in negative affect from the beginning to the end of the first term. First-year undergraduates completed self-report questionnaires online at the beginning, middle and end of their first term of university. Results indicated that higher levels of self-compassion were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect and lower levels of negative affect at the beginning, middle and end of the first term. The study did not find support for prospective associations between self-compassion and changes in life satisfaction or positive affect. Self-compassion significantly predicted relative reductions in negative affect at the middle of term but was not significantly related to change in negative affect at the end of term. Self-compassion was negatively associated with introjected and external motives but no relationships were found between self-compassion and intrinsic and identified motives or goal progress. No support was found for the proposed mediation models. Conceptually, the non-significant findings suggest that self-compassion is more relevant to understanding negative experiences than to goal striving itself. Future research could investigate the negative association between self-compassion and introjected and external motives in more detail, with future experimental work determining whether self-compassionate manipulations could reduce people pursuing goals for controlled reasons.

Wellbeing is a popular term in education policy and practice in the Western world. In contrast the term is almost nonexistent in the policy documents in Pakistan but is nevertheless implicated in the process of learning. Equally, while the discourses that construct the conceptualisation of wellbeing in the Western world have been closely examined, the various definitions that the term may inhabit in Pakistan have not been explored. Accordingly, the focus for this study is to explore the understandings of wellbeing held by children and teachers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Conceptually, the study approaches child wellbeing from a social justice perspective that is grounded in Martha Nussbaum's (2011) Capabilities Approach. Through individual and group interviews with teachers, and focus groups with children in four secondary schools in the province, the research reveals the four discourses that construct the conceptualisation of wellbeing in the provincial culture called the Pashtun culture: the discourse of economics; the discourse of education; the discourse of social order; and the discourse culture/religion. By using thematic discourse analysis as a tool, the study identifies the representations of wellbeing that are accepted as 'commonsense'. Three key findings of this study are: wellbeing appears in a range of familiar forms to any individual, (i.e. wellbeing is a protean construct); wellbeing in the Pashtun culture is bound up in the culturally/religiously appropriate ways of being and doing, and is largely communal in nature (i.e. wellbeing is an examined life); and the understanding of wellbeing is partially unique even when constructed by the shared script of the four discourses (i.e. wellbeing is partially discourse-free). Using Nussbaum's concept of human dignity as the prism, the thesis foregrounds the ways in which the four discourses could be revised through education policy and practice, offering valuable insights into potential reforms.

Big-Data characteristics and spirituality are seldom discussed together in the context of assistances provided by big-data based digital media on spiritual goal strivings (SGS). This study's main aim is to investigate the significance of this relationship between big-data based digital media characteristics and SGS outcomes, and its impact on well-being. A theoretical integrated framework was developed underpinned by Media Richness Theory (MRT) to capture the influence of big-data based digital media characteristics on SGS outcomes. The research design of this epistemological study adopted positivism type of scientific enquiry; employing a deductive approach confining under quantitative research methods and used survey data collection technique. Non-probability self-selection sampling was used and a total of 987 valid responses were analysed by applying statistical tests and techniques following rigorous statistical Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques using IBM AMOS. The results revealed the existence of significant relationship between the big-data based digital media characteristics and SGS outcomes. The study also reveals that digital media characteristics influences successes in SGS outcomes where certain aspects of digital media characteristics are shown to assist SGS towards accomplishments while some have shown to cause hindrances for SGS to be accomplished. The results also confirmed that success in SGS accomplishments increased vitality aspect of well-being. This information is vital for decision making, implementing and planning for various spiritual stakeholders mainly spiritual seekers, spiritual organisations and user experience (UX) - user interface (UI) designers of big-data based digital media developers. With this knowledge contribution, the stakeholders are able to make informed decisions and look for efficient strategies that would provide effective, reliable and sustainable assistances towards SGS accomplishments. The study provides theoretical contribution to the body of IS literature with an integrated and extended MRT conceptual framework providing the foundation for exploring the extended MRT instrument for future studies in similar thematic contexts by other researchers. Further, this study's empirically validated evidence provides practical contribution in its effort to spiritual stakeholders with the confidence to adopt and develop effective strategies to implement big-data based digital systems in organisations with selective configuring and tuning to utilise the accelerating aspects of the medium for effective SGS accomplishments. UX and UI stakeholders will benefit significantly to be able to design and develop digital systems supporting SGS based on a deeper understanding of the certain factors from this study which indicates significant influence on SGS and to look for effective strategies in their development phase to accommodate the revealed concerns and assistances that would provide efficient, consistent and sustainable spiritual goal outcomes. Overall the findings in this study provide optimistic future for utilising the assistances provided by big-data based digital media capabilities for SGS accomplishments. Overall statistical results reveal that the advantages of assistances provided towards SGS outcomes outweighed the disadvantages of hindrances towards SGS outcomes.

The concept of social axiom represents generalized beliefs regarding individuals, agencies and other social institutions, and the spiritual world. The relationship between social axioms and social and mental well-being has not been widely investigated. The aim of this research is to consider the role of culture in four distinct areas of study: 1) The role of social axioms and their dimensions in predicting mental well-being (subjective and psychological well-being) as well as the mechanism of the relationship between social axioms and well-being through controlling the variables of Iranian and UK students and the big five personality factors. 2) The mediation role of mindfulness and perspective taking. 3) The scope of influence of one's attachment to national or ethnic identity on well-being. 4) The understanding of the participants of various social beliefs, especially of the concept of divine providence and its impact on one's well-being. As method, the first three goals were addressed by correlational studies while the fourth goal was investigated using grounded theory. The research sample for the first study consisted of 73 Iranian students (37 females and 36 males) residing in Iran and 66 students (45 females and 21 males) living in the UK. The sample for the second study included 72 Iranian students (34 females and 38 males) who reside in Iran, and in the third study the sample was composed of 66 Iranians (35 females and 31 males) who live in the UK. In the qualitative research (fourth study), the participants were 14 Iranians living in the UK for at least 3 years (4 male and 10 female). Instruments used were the Social Axiom Survey (SAS; Leung et al., 2002), Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991; John & Srivastava, 1999), Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff, 1989), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Mroczek & Kolarz, 1998), the perspective taking subscale of the Empathy Questionnaire (Davis, 1980), the acceptance subscale of the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (Cardaciotto et al., 2008), Paullhus's Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR; Paulhus, 1984), and the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised (MEIM-R; Phinney & Ong, 2007). In the qualitative research, a structured interview was used. Results show that: 1) In both samples of students who live in the UK and in Iran iv social cynicism and fate control are related with well-being. Also, in the Iranian case reward for application, social complexity, and religiosity have significant relationships with well-being but in the UK based students this is not the case. Results also showed that social axioms can predict well-being over and above the role of country and personality traits. 2) The mediation role of mindful acceptance was not endorsed in the relationship between social cynicism and subjective well-being. It was found that the predictor (social cynicism) and the mediator (mindful acceptance) were not significantly correlated with the outcome (subjective well-being). However, the mediation role of perspective taking in the relationship between social complexity and psychological well-being was endorsed. 3) The moderation role of attachment to national identity in the relationship between social axioms and subjective well-being was endorsed. 4) The qualitative study indicated that Iranian immigrants have an indigenous strategy for attaining mental well-being in the face of complications and difficulties, relying on their national identity and religious background. This strategy is based on the concepts of free will and predestination of life events. Paying attention to negative events and ignoring positive events and inefficient problem-solving strategies can account for the relationship between social cynicism and low well-being and inattention to cultural elements. However, the Iranian collective culture, optimal coping style, and excessive insistence on religious elements as a cultural attribute can explain the relationship between religiosity, reward for application, and well-being in the Iranian sample. On the other hand, surrendering to divine will and the belief in divine will and predestination of life events along with the belief in human free will account for the role of attachment to national identity in the relationship between social axioms and well-being in the Iranian sample. In conclusion, it seems that though social axioms are related to well-being, different aspects of social axioms seem to be related to different aspects of well-being in different ways and this relationship is influenced by cultural attributes.

Delivered through the medium of a Community of Philosophical Inquiry, this thesis outlines the experience of engaging prisoners in philosophical conversation, thereby articulat-ing the relevance of this type of education for those in long-term confinement. The research, which took place in two prisons, explores the role of prison education, community dialogue and active philosophising in encouraging personal development. With similar populations but contrasting characters, HMPs Grendon and Full Sutton provided the backdrop to grounded, ethnographically-led research. The research design reflects the exploratory nature of the approach. Derek Layder’s adaptive theory has provided a methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on desistance literature, prison sociology, and philosophical pedagogy to enhance and develop understanding of the emergent themes. However, as a criminological piece of research, it sits within the criminological, and more specifically, prison sociological paradigm. The thesis culminates in a discussion of personal development that articulates the role of education in developing growth identities among prisoner-participants. The research de-scribes the role of philosophical dialogue in developing trust and relationships between and among the participants; the relevance of this type of education to prisoners’ psychological wellbeing; and the significance of the subject-matter to participants’ perspectives. The thesis argues that prison promotes the formation of a hyper-masculine ‘survival’ identity. It goes on to argue that education, and more specifically philosophy education, can play a role in culti-vating growth identities that encourage personal exploration, self-reflection, and development of new interests and skills among prisoners.