Introduction: Caring for stroke survivors in primary care settings substantially impacts family life and health. Caregivers of stroke survivors have different challenging experiences in providing care in relation to family happiness. This study aimed to explore family happiness and its contributing factors among family members caring for stroke survivors in suburban Thailand. Methods: Qualitative semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted among 54 family caregivers in suburban Thailand communities from January to July 2020. Interviews and focus group discussions were digitally recorded, independently transcribed and analysed using ATLAS.ti 8.0. Qualitative data analysis method was used. Results: Family happiness was found to help a family function and be satisfied with caring. The analysis revealed three themes for achieving family happiness: 1) ideal caregiver characteristics: virtue, love and gratitude, experience in caring, good health and self-care ability, good management of emotions and freedom to manage problems and obstacles; 2) family function: family structure, roles and duties, relationships and management of family problems; and 3) resource support: financial, health and environmental supports. Conclusion The findings demonstrate how life adaptations can improve family happiness within families of stroke survivors. Understanding caregivers’ perceptions of their experiences in caring for stroke survivors is a challenge for healthcare providers; overcoming this could transform an unpleasant life into caregiving happiness. Appropriate and practical support from healthcare authorities could empower families of stroke survivors to succeed in caregiving and achieve family happiness.
Perception ; Stroke ; Caregivers ; Happiness

BACKGROUND: Happiness may help to prevent negative physiological outcomes in response to life events; however, factors contributing to happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been longitudinally investigated. This study explored the predictors of happiness in mothers of young children in Japan using comparable data that were obtained before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted the baseline survey in February 2020, and 4 months later, we also conducted the follow-up survey. Throughout all 47 prefectures in Japan, 4,700 (100 respondents/prefecture) mothers of infants and/or preschoolers (0-6 years) participated in the baseline online survey; 2,489 of these also participated in the follow-up survey. RESULTS: We performed hierarchical multiple regression analysis and our final model indicated that maternal happiness during COVID-19 pandemic was positively related to employment status (homemaker, β = 0.052, p = 0.014), levels of available social support (average, β = 0.052, p = 0.012, high, β = 0.055, p = 0.010) and happiness score before the pandemic (β = 0.467, p < 0.001), and satisfaction toward the measures against the COVID-19 at partners' workplace (average, β = 0.129, p < 0.001; high, β = 0.279, p < 0.001), preventive behavior against COVID-19 (average, β = 0.055, p = 0.002; high, β = 0.045, p = 0.015) and positive attitudes/thinking (β = 0.087, p < 0.001) during the pandemic. In contrast, poor mental health (K6 ≥5, β = -0.042, p = 0.011) before the pandemic and negative changes during the pandemic (≥3, β = -0.085, p < 0.001) were negatively related to maternal happiness during the pandemic. Our final model explained 44.9% of the variance in mothers' happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS Satisfaction toward the measures against the COVID-19 at partners' workplace, preventive behavior, and positive attitudes/thinking were especially important for maternal happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future study is needed to consider measures against infectious diseases in the workplace that are desirable for the well-being of parents with young children, taking into account the gender perspective.
COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Happiness ; Humans ; Japan/epidemiology* ; Mothers/psychology* ; Pandemics

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the components and nature of happiness in middle-aged women in Korea. METHODS: Thirty middle-aged women living in metropolitan Seoul and Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces agreed to participate in this study. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants in one-on-one settings. The data were analyzed qualitative using Colaizzi's method of phenomenology. RESULTS: The three theme clusters were extracted from the raw data, along with 13 themes and 138 meaningful sentences and phrases. The three happiness theme clusters in middle-aged women were “live healthy for stability,” “rule one's mind for harmony,” and “activate hopes for self-esteem.” The first theme cluster included healthy life, economic stability, physical youth, and positive thought. The second theme cluster included that harmonious family, ruling of mind, my position as invisible person in social relationships, and precious relationships to support. The last theme included the center of one's life is oneself, a sense of accomplishment, self-improvement, recognition of one's worth and rest for one self. The three theme clusters were associated with the existence, relatedness, and growth (ERG) of ERG areas, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the core components of happiness in middle-aged women are to live healthy and mind-ruled and activate hope. The nature of happiness is egocentric stability in middle-aged women. The results suggest that theme clusters might be used to develop a scale for measuring happiness in middle-aged women. This will be helpful to assess the psychosocial status of middle-aged women in Korea.
Adolescent ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Happiness ; Hope ; Humans ; Korea ; Methods ; Middle Aged ; Qualitative Research ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: The growth of Korean adolescents' average height has slowed over the past 10 years. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between height and mental health in Korean male adolescents.METHODS: This study used data from the 2015 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (34,152 male school students). The male adolescents were divided into the below-average height and above-average height groups according to age. The association between height and mental health was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression.RESULTS: The above-average height group had significantly higher subjective health (P=0.003) and significantly lower depression than the belowaverage height group (P=0.031). In multivariate logistic regression, the odds ratio of subjective health wass 1.13 (P=0.043), but no significant difference in subjective happiness, depression, stress and suicidal ideation (P>0.05) at both group.CONCLUSION: It was confirmed that height is associated with subjective health in Korean male adolescents.
Adolescent ; Depression ; Diagnostic Self Evaluation ; Happiness ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Health ; Odds Ratio ; Risk-Taking ; Suicidal Ideation

PURPOSE: Emotional intelligence is a factor affecting the health of individuals, and happiness is another factor affecting it. Medical students' health can greatly affect a community's health due to the important role of medical students in maintaining and improving it. Accordingly, we aimed to study the relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness among the students of the Shiraz Medical School. METHODS: This study is an analytical, cross-sectional study. The target population of this study was the medical students who began studying in the medical school and the international branch of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from September 2014 to September 2017. The sample size was 300 students who were selected by a systematic sampling method. The instruments for collecting information in this study were Oxford Happiness Inventory and Siberia Schering's Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. The significance level of the tests was set at 0.05. RESULTS: The mean age of 292 responded participants were 20.73 with standard deviation of ±1.81 emotional intelligence (p < 0.001), level of stress (p < 0.001), and grade (p=0.03) and type of personality (p < 0.001) can explain the changes in the happiness level and they were significant effective factors in the regression modeling. CONCLUSION: Emotional intelligence was a predictive factor for happiness in medical students. Students with higher emotional intelligence felt healthier. And happiness in extroverted students was higher than introverted ones. It is suggested that the results of this study should be confirmed with prospective studies.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Emotional Intelligence ; Happiness ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Iran ; Methods ; Prospective Studies ; Sample Size ; Schools, Medical ; Siberia ; Students, Medical

PURPOSE: This study aimed to develop and test a model of the happiness of mothers with young children based on the stress-coping-adaptation model of Lazarus and Folkman. METHODS: The data collection period was from May to July 2016. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data from 210 mothers with children under 5 years of age living in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Gangwon provinces. The exogenous variable was parenting stress, and the endogenous variables were parenting alliance, depression, optimism, ways of coping, and happiness. Data from 201 questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The final modified model showed a reasonable fit to the data, and out of 25 paths, 13 were statistically significant. This model explained 78.4% of the variance in the happiness of mothers with young children and confirmed that depression, optimism, parenting alliance, and social support-focused coping have a direct effect on the subject's happiness. Parenting stress also influenced happiness through parenting alliance, depression, and optimism. CONCLUSION: In order to bolster the happiness of mothers with young children, positive psychological interventions that can minimize psychological vulnerabilities, such as depression, and that can enhance their strengths, such as optimism, may serve as effective ways of coping with and adapting to stress.
Child ; Data Collection ; Depression ; Gangwon-do ; Gyeonggi-do ; Happiness ; Humans ; Mothers ; Optimism ; Parenting ; Parents ; Seoul ; Statistics as Topic

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop a structural model based on Bronfenbrenner's ecology of human development theory, that illustrates relationships of happiness and associated factors among Korean college students. METHODS: Study participants were 357 college students recruited from five universities throughout the convenience sampling. Self-reported data were collected from November, 2018 to January, 2019. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and a structural equation modeling in order to identify factors associated with college students' happiness. RESULTS: The tested model demonstrated the acceptable model fit compared to the hypothesized model, that explained college students' happiness with 68.7% accuracy. Positive family function, high self esteem and ego-resilience were significant factors associated with happiness for college students. However, positive friend support was not significant in our model. CONCLUSION: Our study findings suggest that both family and individual interventions are required to reduce negative emotions and increase happiness of college students. In particular, multicomponent interventions should include the concepts of self esteem, ego-resilience, and family function in terms of assessment and intervention contents tailored to Korean college students.
Ecology ; Ecosystem ; Friends ; Happiness ; Human Development ; Humans ; Models, Structural ; Self Concept

PURPOSE: This aim of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of interpersonal relations on the association between emotional intelligence and happiness of nursing students. METHODS: Both junior and senior nursing students were selected for this study (N=187). The survey was conducted using self-reported questionnaire between March and May, 2018. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analysis with Sobel test. RESULTS: The happiness of nursing students had positive correlation with emotional intelligence (r=.70, p<.01) and interpersonal relations (r=.60, p<.01). Emotional intelligence had positive correlation with interpersonal relations (r=.63, p<.01). Interpersonal relations had a partially mediating effect on the relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness of nursing students. CONCLUSION: According to this study, interpersonal relations played an important role to buffer the impact of emotional intelligence on happiness among nursing students. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a psychological program to improve interpersonal relations to enhance the happiness of nursing students.
Emotional Intelligence ; Happiness ; Humans ; Interpersonal Relations ; Linear Models ; Negotiating ; Nursing ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effect of a Happiness Self-Coaching program for new graduate nurses working in cancer care units. METHODS: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest, nonequivalent control-group design was applied to conduct the study. Study participants were new graduate nurses employed within 12 months and working as shift employees at G university hospital, located in J city. A total of 21 new graduate nurses participated in the study, 10 in the experimental group, and 11 in the control group. The happiness self-coaching program was conducted weekly for 70 minutes from February 1 to June 6, 2016 for 6 weeks. The experimental group received the Happiness Self-Coaching program through lectures, presentation, group activities, and strength card play. Data were analyzed by using repeated measure ANOVA and paired t-test. RESULTS: The experimental group demonstrated significantly higher happiness (F=6.82, p=.003) and self-efficacy (F=3.38 p=.045) levels compared to the control group.
Happiness ; Lectures ; Nursing ; Oncology Service, Hospital ; Self Efficacy

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of self-esteem as a moderator of the factors influencing suicidality among middle-schoolers. METHODS: Moderated multiple regression analysis was applied to assess the influence of happiness, depression, and hostility on suicidality and to determine the degree to which self-esteem served as a moderator of those relationships. Data were collected from 268 students at a middle school in Busan, Korea, using a self-administered structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Happiness, depression, and hostility had significant direct effects on suicidality. Self-esteem showed no direct effect, but had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between hostility and suicidal behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that various interventions, such as counseling programs, should be designed to alleviate hostility and depression and to enhance happiness and self-esteem among early adolescents.
Adolescent ; Busan ; Counseling ; Depression ; Happiness ; Hostility ; Humans ; Korea