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Introduction to Positive Psychology

Assessment 1: Written Reflection on Positive Psychology Perspectives

Task Description:
The purpose of this written reflection is to demonstrate your growing understanding of a positive psychology theoretical model and how it may be applied in your own life. This short written task provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your skills in critical reflection, and your ability to produce a clear and concise written piece. The focus of this assessment is to show that you have reflected on your learning to understand it in the context of your own personal experiences. Please be assured that what you write will be treated confidentially and will only be seen by the assessment markers.

Please note, this assessment task must be completed individually - it is an independent assessment piece, meaning that you cannot work with other students to complete it.

In the Week 1 Moodle Workbook, Martin Seligman's PERMA model of wellbeing is introduced. For Assessment 1, you will reflect on the PERMA model and write a 600-word personal critical reflection. You will:

Reflect on how the PERMA model - Seligman's conceptualisation of wellbeing - compares and contrasts with your own personal understanding of wellbeing prior to beginning this unit. For example, in what ways does Seligman's PERMA model reinforce or challenge your pre-existing world beliefs? What are the points of alignment and points of difference? What were your insights when reflecting on this? Your experiences and insights will need to draw upon relevant theory and evidence. This means your comparative analysis must be supported by at least five reputable academic references (journal articles, textbooks, government reports); and a minimum of three of these academic references must be references that have been referred to in the Unit Moodle Workbooks.

Next, consider how you can apply the PERMA model to your own life to understand and enhance your personal wellbeing. Write about your perceptions of (a) how the PERMA elements are currently part of your life, and/or (b) ways that they are not currently represented in your life.
To gain a comprehensive picture of how PERMA is currently represented in your life, the next step of this assessment is to complete a wellbeing measurement tool which has been designed to assess a person's levels of PERMA, called "The PERMATM Profiler". You will access the PERMATM Profiler on the University of Pennsylvania's Authentic Happiness website. You will need to register to complete this measurement tool (which is listed as PERMATM on the website). After answering the questionnaire items, the website will then calculate and display your results on the PERMA Profiler. After examining these results, reflect upon what the results mean to you. For example, how did the results relate to your perceptions of your own wellbeing? Did the measurement instrument provide the results you expected?
Finally, create one SMART goal (a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time- bound goal) for yourself, based on one or more PERMA elements and your insights from completing the PERMA Profiler, that you can implement in your life to further enhance your personal wellbeing. Your choice of goal should be informed by empirical research about strategies for enhancing wellbeing, and thus this section should include reputable academic references. For your chosen goal, explain how it meets the SMART criteria, and provide one relevant visual element (e.g., photograph, drawing, diagram, illustration, graph or map)

to represent your goal which supports your written reflection. Your visual element needs to be original; i.e., no google images or stock images permitted.

The maximum word count for this assessment task is 600 words.

This word limit includes in-text citations but excludes any reference section. Meeting the word count is included as a part of the marking criteria in your marking rubric on Moodle. See the Psychology Word Count Information document on Moodle for a rationale for using this type of word limit restriction.

Assessment Criteria:
For Assessment 1, your work will be assessed on:
Quality of the comparative analysis between the theory and pre-existing personal perspectives
Reflection on your own wellbeing in relation to theory and wellbeing measurements
Application of theory to development of a future goal
The quality, clarity, and conciseness of written communication, including adherence to the word-limit
Accurate use of appropriate references and adherence to APA referencing requirements for in-text citations and the reference list.

Assessment 2: Wellbeing Essay

Task Description:
The overall aim of this assessment task is to explore the alignment between wellbeing theory, research, and practices, and the implications for the ways we can foster/enhance wellbeing in a specific setting/context.
Please note, this assessment task must be completed individually - it is an independent assessment piece, meaning that you cannot work with other students to complete it.
For Assessment 2, you will write a 2100-word essay applying a theory of wellbeing to explore wellbeing issues faced in an applied setting/context (e.g., workplace, school), and then evaluate strategies that can be used to improve and build wellbeing in that setting.
The essay should focus on integrating wellbeing theory and research from the published academic literature and how this could be usefully applied in a practical context/setting to generate strategies to increase/build/improve wellbeing.
You will:
Choose one specific applied setting (e.g., a workplace; school; residential aged care; hospital; etc). Alternatively, you may choose one specific population group or context (e.g., new parents; people with a particular chronic illness; teenagers; etc). Ensuring you keep this specific will help give focus to your essay.
Research and then summarise the wellbeing considerations/issues/challenges faced in the chosen context/setting (e.g., what are the wellbeing issues or challenges faced by people living in a residential aged-care setting? e.g., meaninglessness, loneliness, depression, etc). This summary should be based on reputable academic evidence, and should cite at least one published systematic review journal article about the chosen setting.
Apply one positive psychology theoretical framework for wellbeing that can help explain the wellbeing issues identified in your chosen applied context/setting. You will choose one theoretical framework from the list below and demonstrate how it provides an appropriate framework for understanding the wellbeing considerations commonly experienced in the chosen setting (e.g., if ‘meaninglessness' is a concern in aged-care settings, is there a positive psychology theoretical perspective that discusses the importance of ‘meaning' to an individual's wellbeing?) As part of this section, you will produce a visual diagram (e.g., a mind-map, concept-map) outlining the wellbeing issues you discovered in your setting, and how these issues connect to the components within your chosen wellbeing theoretical framework. Your visual diagram needs to be original and have clear relevance to the content of your essay; i.e., no google images or generic diagrams permitted. (Tip: a photograph of a hand-drawn diagram is an effective approach).
Examine how empirical research studies have previously attempted to influence (i.e., increase, improve, build, enhance) wellbeing in the chosen context/setting. In this section, you will summarise and critique at least two published peer-reviewed empirical research studies evaluating intervention/prevention strategies, including what was done in each study (i.e., what the interventions entailed), the procedures used to assess/measure changes in wellbeing in each study, and the results found in each study. You will then evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the intervention/prevention attempts investigated in these research studies.

Your essay will conclude with a summary and evaluation of potential implications and recommendations for future work that is needed in the chosen context/setting.

Thus, in a logical, well-integrated essay (using APA style referencing and headings) you will identify (with well-reasoned justification based on theory) and explore in detail the ways in which wellbeing can be understood and influenced within a practical setting. It is important to note here that you are expected to critically apply positive psychology theoretical concepts to your chosen specific practical context, not just write an essay about positive psychology concepts more generally.
A focus on one of the following four key theoretical perspectives of wellbeing is recommended:
Seligman's PERMA model (See Week 1 Moodle Workbook)
Ryff's Psychological Wellbeing model (See Week 2 Moodle Workbook)
Ryan and Deci's Basic Psychological Needs model from Self-Determination Theory
(See Week 3 Moodle Workbook)
Diener's Subjective Wellbeing model (See Week 4 Moodle Workbook)
There are recommended readings provided in Moodle about each of these theoretical perspectives, and it is expected that your essay will include citations to at least three of these reputable academic sources related to the theoretical perspective you choose to focus on for the essay.

Please note, if you have another preference for your theoretical focus, this can be discussed with the Unit Coordinator.

Assessment Criteria:
For Assessment 2, your work will be assessed on:
Introduction to the essay (introduce the wellbeing context/setting and outline what will be covered in the essay)
Discussion of wellbeing issues/challenges faced within the chosen applied context/setting
Rationale for the chosen theoretical framework of wellbeing and demonstration of relevant application to the applied context/setting
Evaluation of ways to increase/build wellbeing in the applied context/setting
Conclusion and future recommendations (summing up of essay, including implications and recommendations for future work in the applied context/setting)
The quality, clarity, and conciseness of written communication, including adherence to the word-limit
Accurate use of appropriate academic references and adherence to APA referencing requirements for in-text citations and the reference list.

Assessment 3: Presentation on Wellbeing Measurement

Task Description:

As outlined in the Unit Profile, Assessment 3 involves producing a recorded audio-visual presentation that examines different strategies to measure/assess wellbeing. The purpose of this presentation is to build critical knowledge about the various ways wellbeing can be assessed and measured in an applied setting/context, and to demonstrate effective verbal communication skills.

Please note, this assessment task must be completed individually - it is an independent assessment piece, meaning that you cannot work with other students to complete it.
You will:
Choose one specific setting/context as a focus for the presentation. (Note that the setting/context chosen for Assessment 3 may be the same or different from the setting/context chosen for your essay in Assessment 2.)
Search the published academic literature to identify different strategies/methods that have been used to measure/assess wellbeing in your chosen setting/context. From this search, choose two relevant wellbeing measurement/assessment tools to investigate in-depth (Please note that opportunities for guidance and formative feedback regarding the choice of measurement tools will be provided via the unit Moodle site).
Plan, prepare, and produce a 10-minute audio-visual presentation recording that describes the chosen setting/context and analyses the two different strategies to measure/assess and understand wellbeing in the chosen setting. The recorded presentation will include camera footage of your face as you speak, along with your presentation slides. The content of your presentation will include the following:
An "Acknowledgement of Country" will form the beginning of your presentation. (Please note, the Acknowledgement of Country transcends grading and is not part of the marking rubric. Its length is also not counted in the 10 minutes allocated for time-limit).
An introduction that provides an outline of the chosen setting/context and justification for why understanding wellbeing in that setting/context is important.
Next, report on two different measurement/assessment tools that are suitable for determining the level of wellbeing of people in the chosen setting/context. A clear descriptive analysis of each chosen measurement tool should be provided (what does it measure, how does it measure this, e.g., how many questions/observations; how scores are derived, etc.), followed by a comparison and evaluation of the quality of each measurement tool for the chosen setting (e.g., strengths, weaknesses, usefulness, reliability, validity).
The presentation will conclude with a summary of the usefulness of the wellbeing measurement tools examined, and recommendations on the best way to use these measurement tools to understand wellbeing in the chosen setting. Place Your Order Now!
A reference list acknowledging all sources referred to in the presentation will be provided as the final presentation slide.

Assessment Criteria:
For Assessment 3, your work will be assessed on:
Presentation opening
Justification for setting/context choice
Presentation depth and accuracy in analysis of relevant academic research literature on two wellbeing measurement/assessment tools
Concluding recommendations on the use of the wellbeing measurement tools in the chosen context
Presentation organisation and coherence
Originality utilised in the presentation
Presenting style
Use of communication aids
Accurate use of appropriate academic references and adherence to APA referencing requirements and copyright in presentation aids