Positive psychology has offered many insights into the building blocks of well-being). Although several authors have commented that the concepts related to charter strengths and resilience have great relevance in rehabilitation medicine few have explored the potential impact of a psycho-educational group on the well-being of long-term survivors of moderate to severe brain injury. 

Objective : Development and piloting of a two 12-week psychoeducational groups that introduced based on the concepts and interventions of Positive Psychology.

Setting: Community-based brain injury support service (Community Head Injury Resource Services of Toronto). 
Participants: 30 survivors of moderate to severe brain injury.

Intervention: Two positive psychology workshops (a total of 24 weeks of content) were developed using key concepts and exercises presented in Authentic Happiness (2002). The Happiness workshop provided an overview of the elements of well-being (positive emotional, engagement, Positive Relationships, Meaning and Achievement). Exercises related to savoring, gratitude, positive affect were introduced. The Strengths Workshop introduced the concept of signature strengths. Participants completed an adapted version of the Global Assessment of Character Strengths (McGrath, 2017). Participants were assisted in setting goals based on using their signature strengths. The format of both workshops included a ‘check-in’ emphasizing what went well in the previous week, review of homework, presentation of new materials, and homework assignment. The mode of presentation included power-point presentations, videos, role plays and modeling. 

Results:   12 participants completed pre and post outcome measures.  
While there was a trend toward improvement on most measures, only the self-esteem scale reached significance t=2.20, df 11, p=.05.


Conclusions:  The workshops were well received, and appeared to be relevant to the clients who participated.    The psycho-educational character of the group makes it appropriate for a variety of clients, but is not intended as a clinical intervention. 

Outcome measures: Clinical Basis-32 (Eisen, Dill and Grob, 1994), TBI Quality of Life (Tulsky, et al, 2016).

Applying the Science of Happiness to Life After Brain Injury