Thumbs up! A Pilot Study of a Positive Psychology Intervention for Children in Greece

Abstract

The current study aimed to test the hypothesis that a newly developed multi-component 8-week Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI) programme for children could lead to a significant decrease in negative emotion, state anxiety, trait anxiety, and a significant increase in hope and positive emotions. Participants were recruited online and assigned randomly to the experimental and control groups with equal sample sizes (N = 8) groups for this study. Each participant completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires before and after the completion of the programme. Measurements included Hope, STAI, PANAS and demographic self-reported questionnaires. Hope and positive emotions increased, whereas negative emotions, trait anxiety and state anxiety decreased. The results supported our hypothesis that PPIs could be considered a successful alternative intervention or prevention for children.