Young People’s Attitude Toward Positive Psychology Interventions: Thematic Analysis (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Digital Positive Psychology interventions have been proposed to combat the current global youth mental health crisis; however, young people are largely not engaging with available resources. OBJECTIVE We explored young people’s attitudes to various Positive Psychology interventions to find ways of making them more engaging. METHODS We conducted an explorative workshop with 30 young people (16 to 21). They rated and reviewed 29 common Positive Psychology interventions (PPI). Ratings and recorded discussions were analyzed using Thematic Analysis. RESULTS Some interventions were conflicting with young people’s values or perceived as too difficult. Participants responded positively to interventions which fit to them personally and allowed them to use their strengths. CONCLUSIONS Values, context, strengths, and other personal factors are entangled with young people’s attitudes towards digital PPIs.