Embracing Well-Being in Diverse African Contexts: Research Perspectives

This is the first volume providing a research platform to showcase research in the field of positive psychology and well-being science in African contexts. Next to enhancing context-sensitive theory and practice on the African continent, it also contributes to the global discourse in positive psychology and facilitates the development of a science that reflects and is relevant to complexity and diversity in a globalising society. This volume brings together work from African scholars, featuring research on theoretical perspectives on well-being in Africa, measurement of well-being in Africa, manifestations and dynamics of well-being in Africa, and well-being promotion in Africa. It stimulates further research in positive psychology and well-being science in the African context and globally, and emphasises the interconnectedness and situatedness of human functioning and well-being, contributing to a more balanced perspective on well-being in an international perspective.

The volume benefits researchers, students and practitioners in Africa and other international contexts who study or apply the science of positive psychology and well-being in diverse contexts.

Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Lusilda Schutte, holding a PhD degree in psychology and a Masters degree in statistics, is an associate professor in the Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research at the North-West University in South Africa, as well as a registered and practicing clinical psychologist. She is the principal investigator of a funded research project (2020-2022) that examines the conceptualisation, measurement, dynamics, and correlates of well-being in diverse contexts. She has been invited to present at the 6th World Congress of Positive Psychology in 2018, to convene a symposium at the International Congress of Psychology in 2021, and to present guest lectures in the USA and Croatia. She is an Associate Editor of Springer’s Journal of Well-being Assessment, a Review Editor of Quantitative Psychology and Measurement, part of the journals Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics and Frontiers in Psychology, an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Happiness Studies, and she chaired the first Africa Positive Psychology Conference in 2018. She previously lectured statistics and worked as a statistical consultant at the North-West University and as a clinical psychologist at a government-funded psychiatric hospital in South Africa.

Tharina Guse is a counselling psychologist, professor, and Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Pretoria. Her broad research area concerns the field of positive psychology. In particular, she is interested in examining factors related to youth well-being, including interventions to maintain and promote their psychological well-being. Tharina further investigates the nature, dynamics and mechanisms of psychological strengths, specifically hope and gratitude. She also examines the application of hypnosis for mental health promotion. Tharina has been invited as visiting professor to the University of Bologna, Italy, on several occasions received an Erasmus scholarship to the University of Porto, Portugal in 2016. She has been elected as founding President of the South African Positive Psychology Association.

Marié P. Wissing (Drs. Clinical Psychology; DPhil Psychology), had been a Scientific Collaborator at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the Director of the School for Psychosocial Behavioural Sciences at the North-West University in South Africa, and is presently Extraordinary Professor in the Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (AUTHeR). She developed a research programme in Psychofortology (i. e. the science of psychological strengths; FORT) which included several funded team projects, and linked to multidisciplinary research projects. Her research focussed on the understanding, measurement and promotion of (bio)psychosocial well-being and strengths in diverse contexts, emphasizing theories and underlying philosophical assumptions. She is a steering member of the international Eudaimonic-Hedonic Happiness Investigation (EHHI) project, serves as Co-Editor of the Journal of Happiness Studies, and is a member of the editorial board of several other disciplinary journals. She edited the book Well-being Research in South Africa, guest-edited a special journal section on Meaning and Relational Well-being, and published many articles, chapters in scientific books, and commissioned research reports. She was an invited lecturer at various universities and a keynote speaker at conferences, initiated the First Positive Psychology Conference in South Africa in 2006 and the first masters degree in Positive Psychology in Africa. One hundred and twenty-six masters and doctoral degree students completed their studies under her (co-)supervision. She is on the Council of Advisors for the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).