Fostering Positive Communities: A Scoping Review of Community-Level Positive Psychology Interventions

Historically, positive psychology research and practice have focused on studying and promoting well-being among individuals. While positive psychology interventions focusing on the well-being of communities and marginalized groups have recently been developed, studies reporting on their nature and characteristics are lacking. The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of community-level positive psychology interventions. It reviews the target populations, intervention modalities, objectives, and desired effects of 25 community-level positive psychology interventions found in 31 studies. This scoping review shows that community-level programs based on positive psychology vary greatly in all these aspects. However, most interventions are aimed at individual-level changes to achieve target group outcomes. Contextual issues such as social conditions, values, and fairness affecting well-being are rarely considered. Discrepancies between community-level positive psychology interventions and community psychology in terms of values and social change are discussed.


Program
Author ( Six 90-min sessions on psychoeducation and brief skills training in positive psychology topics (e.g., goal setting, happiness habits, building social connections, etc.) delivered via group phone teleconference and supported with a web-based group page for participants.
The program was modelled on resilience interventions, focusing on optimism, happiness, and capitalizing on opportunities for forward movement and positive outcomes. It also included special themes such as attending more closely to planning or goal setting and identifying more specifically how to implement program content in the face of adversity. Ten 120-min weekly sessions for groups of around ten people. Activities included mini-lectures, discussions, and exercises on concepts such as personal strengths, self-compassion, purpose in life, or positive relations. Sessions were designed to stimulate interactive discussions where participants took turns to share their views and ask questions. Each session consisted of three parts: a review of the previous session and a discussion of home assignments; a discussion of the theme and contents of the current session and a breakout activity; and an overview of key lessons and discussion of home assignments for the following session. Sessions were facilitated by psychology graduates in participants' native language (Twi). Train the trainer workshops (2.5 hours) were offered to social service and school organizations. A manual was also provided for designing and implementing their own community program, with oversight from the research team. The organizations were randomly assigned to design interventions promoting either positive physical activity or positive healthy diet with a focus on one of three psychology themes of joy, gratitude, or savoring.
For the intervention, families participated in one 120-min. core session including group activities and homework assignments on positive psychology and physical activity. Each theme consisted of three target behaviors for participants to engage in during group activities and homework assignments so that physical activity could be encouraged, reinforced, and sustained. The different themes involved behaviors such as sharing happy experiences in physical activity with family members, appreciating the strengths of family members during physical activity and expressing one's gratitude for doing and enjoying physical activity together to family members through, paying attention to the process of physical activity. There was also a booster session (60 min.) offered one month later to consolidate knowledge and skills acquired. Train the trainer workshops (2 days) plus a design manual were offered to social service workers so they could design and implement a community program focused on one of five positive psychology themes (gratitude, flow, happiness, health, or savoring).
Each community program consisted of two 2-3 h core sessions and a 1-h booster session, held 6 weeks after the core sessions. The two core sessions emphasized positive family communication, which were run in the form of group activities and homework assignments, while the booster session was held to consolidate the knowledge and skills from the core sessions. The group activities provided the participants with the opportunity to practice the target behaviors during the intervention program while the homework assignments reinforced the target behaviors at home. For example, the homework assignment for the gratitude intervention involved keeping a daily diary of family events that elicited gratitude, and the savoring intervention involved the practice of savoring food during family meals in order to find enjoyment in life. Train the trainer workshops (2.5 hours) were offered to social service and school organizations as well as a training kit to help them plan the community program. The organizations developed the program with group activities and homework focused on one of five positive psychology themes (joy, gratitude, flow, savoring, or listening).
For the intervention, families participated in one 120-min. core session. There was also a booster session (60 min.) offered one month after the intervention. The goal was to promote positive family communication through family cooking and dining. Facilitators emphasized one of the following positive psychology strategies: participants were encouraged to discover the pleasures of positive family communication, express gratitude and appreciation toward family members, increase cooperation in family interactions, develop a habit of savouring both food and family interactions during family meals, or actively attend to family members' feelings, emotions and concerns.
The activities were developed creatively by the facilitators, such as sharing and reminiscing about a happy experience with family members and create more happy experiences by enjoying a meal together, discussing family members' contribution to family meals and other chores and expressing appreciation through words or action, learning to cooperate with each other through preparing a family meal together, guessing the ingredients of a family meal to understand the importance of savouring, or roleplaying one's response to a family members' thoughts, feelings, and concerns. 1) Seligman intervention: Special emphasis on engagement and "the meaningful life". Exercises focused on enhancing positive feelings, identifying and using personal strengths and finding meaning in one's life.
2) Lyubomirsky intervention: Moderate overlap with the Seligman group regarding specific exercises targeting optimism and gratitude. It included exercises focusing on religion and spirituality, physical activity, and developing strategies for coping.
3) Fordyce intervention: Some common elements with the two previous programs in that some happiness activities focused on optimism, becoming present-oriented, and eliminating negative cognitions and feelings. In contrast to the other interventions, the Fordyce intervention focused on increasing organizational skills, setting realistic goals, and focusing on positive personality traits.

Physical well-being
Physical well-being Older adults Increase quality of life Nine 1.5-hour weekly training sessions based on an intervention specifically focused on forgiveness, gratitude and life review therapy. Sessions comprises themes such as an introduction to positive psychology, gratitude, autobiographical memory, life review, positive emotions in old age, the benefits of forgiving and being forgiven. The positive memories of specific events focused on childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and in the last session, this part of the program was completed by conducting a life summary. Homework assignments consisted of writing a letter of thanks, a letter of gratitude, looking for childhood photos which reminded them of happy times, remembering songs that have meaning, etc. The last session served to explain the benefits of the program, administration of the scales and questionnaires, farewells and closure of the intervention program. Nine 90-min weekly sessions based on a program incorporating elements from the fields of stress management, cognitivebehavioral therapy, and positive psychology. This program included sessions teaching participants methods to elicit the relaxation response, the practice of adaptive coping and cognitions, behaviors necessary to create a healthy lifestyle, and methods of building social support. Throughout the course of intervention, participants were asked to elicit the relaxation response at home each day, through development of a consistent mind-body practice. Practices for achieving healthy lifestyles like mindful eating and physical activity (yoga), daily appreciation journals of people and events they are thankful for, exploration and challenge of patterns of distorted or irrational automatic thoughts were also part of the curriculum. Group exercises promoting humor, empathy, and social support were also used. Sessions followed a regular structure and included time for didactic, experiential, and discussion portions, as well as meditation.
Coping self-efficacy

Improve mental health
Five days a week, 6-month long, interactive program rooted in positive psychology interventions focused on themes that promote well-being (e.g., grit, empathy, hope). The lessons lead to a student-led project, in which participants exercise their strengths and skills in a design-thinking process to ideate, prototype, and launch a project in their neighborhood to better their community. Activities include performance and skits, finding local heroes, gratitude letters, storytelling, community family interviews, games and others. The basic intervention (BI) and the basic intervention plus planning (BI+P) were given by social workers from participating NGOs to participants and at least one member of their family aged 6 and over. The BI+P had supplemental material to emphasizes enhancement of intention through increasing awareness of outcomes, and planning to promote intention's translation into behavior change. Both interventions were designed to educate as to the positive effects of the targeted behaviors of the chosen theme and to motivate participants to adopt the targeted behaviors in the family context.

Community service project implementation
Both structures contained a core intervention session (at least 2 hour long), a booster session (1 hour long, six weeks following the core session), and a social gathering without intervention (three months after the core session) for assessment. Social workers were required to: (a) cover each of the four themerelated behaviors entirely; (b) begin with a brief introduction to the program, followed by an ice breaking activity to engage the participants; (c) engage in interactive activities (competitions, games, group discussions, personal sharing, workshops, and drama) in order to engage members and communicate the core messages; (d) do a brief summary talk to emphasize the importance and/or benefits of these targeted behaviors within their families; (e) cover planning in the BI+P program at the end of the session. The planning included a booklet, attributional discussion, and homework was assigned.