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‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project
BACKGROUND: Random acts of kindness can improve wellbeing. However, less is known about the impacts of giving and receiving acts of kindness with strangers on wellbeing and loneliness. Therefore, this study’s objectives were to evaluate a participatory public mental health project involving sending...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8858806/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35197889 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.813432 |
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author | Wang, Congxiyu Pearce, Eiluned Jones, Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Brynmor |
author_facet | Wang, Congxiyu Pearce, Eiluned Jones, Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Brynmor |
author_sort | Wang, Congxiyu |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Random acts of kindness can improve wellbeing. However, less is known about the impacts of giving and receiving acts of kindness with strangers on wellbeing and loneliness. Therefore, this study’s objectives were to evaluate a participatory public mental health project involving sending and receiving a card with goodwill messages, to understand how such acts of kindness influence wellbeing and loneliness, and to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the project’s impacts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was an analysis of anonymized service evaluation data collected in the ‘Kindness by Post’ (KBP) project in 2020. It used a mixed-methods single-group design and data from 289 participants. Changes in wellbeing, loneliness, sense of belonging and hope from baseline (12th–14th February) to follow-up (26th February–2nd March) were analyzed using linear or multinomial logistic regression. Regression models also examined the associations between changes in wellbeing and baseline loneliness or participation level. Free text responses about experiences and suggestions for the project were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Participants had a small, but statistically significant improvement, in wellbeing equating to 0.21 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.12–0.30) after taking part in the project, as well as improvements in loneliness, sense of belonging and hope. How lonely a participant was at baseline and whether participants both sent and received a kindness card were not associated with improvements in wellbeing. In the qualitative analysis, a desire to help others emerged as the main motivator to take part in the card exchange. Participants reported enhanced personal fulfillment, leading to improvements in wellbeing. Receiving a card could make people feel special and cherished, which was reported to establish a sense of connection with others, with potential benefits for reducing loneliness. CONCLUSION: This study provided preliminary evidence that the KBP project might improve wellbeing, loneliness, sense of belonging and hope. Sending a kindness card in this project played a predominant role in wellbeing enhancement, and receiving a kindness card could reduce loneliness. This study suggests that the KBP project can be replicated in more contexts in the future, and might improve wellbeing and loneliness in large communities. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8858806 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88588062022-02-22 ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project Wang, Congxiyu Pearce, Eiluned Jones, Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Brynmor Front Psychol Psychology BACKGROUND: Random acts of kindness can improve wellbeing. However, less is known about the impacts of giving and receiving acts of kindness with strangers on wellbeing and loneliness. Therefore, this study’s objectives were to evaluate a participatory public mental health project involving sending and receiving a card with goodwill messages, to understand how such acts of kindness influence wellbeing and loneliness, and to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the project’s impacts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was an analysis of anonymized service evaluation data collected in the ‘Kindness by Post’ (KBP) project in 2020. It used a mixed-methods single-group design and data from 289 participants. Changes in wellbeing, loneliness, sense of belonging and hope from baseline (12th–14th February) to follow-up (26th February–2nd March) were analyzed using linear or multinomial logistic regression. Regression models also examined the associations between changes in wellbeing and baseline loneliness or participation level. Free text responses about experiences and suggestions for the project were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Participants had a small, but statistically significant improvement, in wellbeing equating to 0.21 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.12–0.30) after taking part in the project, as well as improvements in loneliness, sense of belonging and hope. How lonely a participant was at baseline and whether participants both sent and received a kindness card were not associated with improvements in wellbeing. In the qualitative analysis, a desire to help others emerged as the main motivator to take part in the card exchange. Participants reported enhanced personal fulfillment, leading to improvements in wellbeing. Receiving a card could make people feel special and cherished, which was reported to establish a sense of connection with others, with potential benefits for reducing loneliness. CONCLUSION: This study provided preliminary evidence that the KBP project might improve wellbeing, loneliness, sense of belonging and hope. Sending a kindness card in this project played a predominant role in wellbeing enhancement, and receiving a kindness card could reduce loneliness. This study suggests that the KBP project can be replicated in more contexts in the future, and might improve wellbeing and loneliness in large communities. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-02-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8858806/ /pubmed/35197889 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.813432 Text en Copyright © 2022 Wang, Pearce, Jones and Lloyd-Evans. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Wang, Congxiyu Pearce, Eiluned Jones, Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Brynmor ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project |
title | ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project |
title_full | ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project |
title_fullStr | ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project |
title_full_unstemmed | ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project |
title_short | ‘Kindness by Post’: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Participatory Public Mental Health Project |
title_sort | ‘kindness by post’: a mixed-methods evaluation of a participatory public mental health project |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8858806/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35197889 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.813432 |
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