The Happy Campaign: Assessing the Effectiveness of a Community-Wide Intervention on the Well-Being of Elders in Public Housing
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Mignon Montpetit Jolly
Expected Graduation Date
2021
Location
Center for Natural Sciences
Start Date
4-4-2020 9:00 AM
End Date
4-4-2020 10:00 AM
Disciplines
Education | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
In the field of developmental psychology, the Stress-and-Coping model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) posits that individual differences in biological, psychological, and social risk and protective factors serve to increase or buffer the impact of stressful experiences on psychological well-being later in life. Importantly, research suggests that residents of public housing generally experience more risk factors than elders at large (Rabins et al., 1996). The present study examines the impact of a programmatic intervention, The Happy Campaign, on elderly individuals living in public housing in a small Midwestern city. Goals of the Happy Campaign were to improve residents’ coping skills and increase perceived support. Results demonstrated significant improvement in key aspects of well-being post-intervention; these included increases in exercise, self-reported health, and hope, as well as decreases in negative affect. Although future research is needed to account for confounding variables that arose in conducting research in this community setting, these data provide preliminary evidence that a broad-based, environmental intervention may offset the myriad risks faced by particularly vulnerable elders, and even augment well-being.
The Happy Campaign: Assessing the Effectiveness of a Community-Wide Intervention on the Well-Being of Elders in Public Housing
Center for Natural Sciences
In the field of developmental psychology, the Stress-and-Coping model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) posits that individual differences in biological, psychological, and social risk and protective factors serve to increase or buffer the impact of stressful experiences on psychological well-being later in life. Importantly, research suggests that residents of public housing generally experience more risk factors than elders at large (Rabins et al., 1996). The present study examines the impact of a programmatic intervention, The Happy Campaign, on elderly individuals living in public housing in a small Midwestern city. Goals of the Happy Campaign were to improve residents’ coping skills and increase perceived support. Results demonstrated significant improvement in key aspects of well-being post-intervention; these included increases in exercise, self-reported health, and hope, as well as decreases in negative affect. Although future research is needed to account for confounding variables that arose in conducting research in this community setting, these data provide preliminary evidence that a broad-based, environmental intervention may offset the myriad risks faced by particularly vulnerable elders, and even augment well-being.