200 Brief Report A Mixed-Methodological Evaluation of a Subjective Well-Being Intervention Program With Elementary-Age Students A. Stephen Lenz, Jennifer Gerlach, Julia Dell'Aquila, and Danielle Pester Received 10/04/18 Revised 01/13/19 Accepted 02/04/19 DOI: 10.1002/jcad.12314 An embedded mixed-methods design was implemented with 34 elementary-age students (mean age = 10.15 years, SD = 0.65) to evaluate salient experiences and improvements in protective factors and life satisfaction associated with a subjective well-being intervention program (SWIP). Analyses resulted in a model of participant experiences in which thematic experiences with SWIP participation (improved emotional expression, enhanced self-discovery, and increased empathy) promoted the emergence of protective factors (self-concept and self-confidence) that contributed to life satisfaction. Keywords: embedded mixed-method design, positive psychology, strengths-based intervention, subjective well-being, protective factors Early developmental experiences leading to positive cognitive and affective appraisals of self and a sense of life satisfaction have been linked to coping and resilience (Haas et al., 2019). Suldo et al. (2015) found that a youth's ability to mobilize strengths-based coping strategies was associated not only with positive self-appraisal and life satisfaction but also with academic success. Other researchers have suggested that when youth develop a sense of gratitude and learn to use their unique character strengths intentionally, their capacity for optimism and enjoyment is magnified (Norrish, 2015; Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivicha, & Linkins, 2009). As a result, numerous strengths-based approaches have been developed for school settings to increase subjective well-being as a function of the positive cognitive and affective self-concept associated with a sense of life satisfaction (Shonshani, & Slone, 2017; Suldo, 2016). Taken together, a proposition has emerged wherein youth development can be positively influenced through strengths-based interventions that promote adaptive responses, such as using positive self-awareness, coping skills, and prosocial interpersonal habits. Positive psychology-based interventions have shown potential for the development of internal assets including gratitude, kindness, and personal strengths when applied in academic settings (Suldo et al., 2015). One such intervention is the subjective well-being intervention program (SWIP; Suldo, 2016), a manualized intervention that leverages the positive psychology principles of kindness, gratitude, char- acter strengths, and optimism to promote happiness and sub- jective well-being. Roth, Suldo, and Ferron (2017) reported promising preliminary evidence related specifically to the SWIP, as indicated by a medium effect size (ES) associated with increased life satisfaction (ES = .53) and proportions of positive versus negative affect (ES = .76). However, meta- analyses completed by Bolier et al. (2013) revealed very few studies examining the impact of positive psychology-based interventions specific to children or adolescents, leaving only a small degree of understanding about the effectiveness of these interventions, particularly among diverse samples composed of diverse ethnic identities. The purpose of this study was to estimate the usefulness of a positive psychology-based intervention with elementary- age students within a predominantly Hispanic school. Our activities were guided by two general research questions: (a) To what degree is a 5-week SWIP associated with changes in constructs representing subjective well-being (protective factors [self-concept and self-confidence] and A. Stephen Lenz, Jennifer Gerlach, Julia Dell'Aquila, and Danielle Pester, Department of Counseling and Educational Psychol- ogy, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. A. Stephen Lenz is now at Department of Leadership and Counselor Education, The University of Mississippi. Danielle Pester is now at School of Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to A. Stephen Lenz, Department of Leadership and Counselor Education, The University of Mississippi, 145 Guyton Hall, University, MS 38677 (email: aslenz@olemiss.edu). 2020 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Journal of Counseling & Development April 2020 Volume 98 A Subjective Well-Being Intervention Program life satisfaction)? and (b) What do participants perceive to be salient interpersonal and intrapersonal experiences related to completing a 5-week SWIP? Method We implemented a preexperimental embedded mixed- methods research design with a single group of participants by using a dialectical pluralism process framework to reconcile and synthesize divergent epistemological considerations associated with quantitative and qualitative data collection, analyses, and interpretation (Johnson, 2017; Mertens, 2018). This design was selected based on Wester and McKibbon's (2019) proposition that embedded designs provide a flexible strategy for answering research questions related to the impact of interventions with uniquely quantitative and qualitative research questions and data strands. Participants Participants were 34 children (16 girls, 47%; 18 boys, 53%) with a mean age of 10.15 years (SD=0.65) enrolled in fourth (n = 19,56%) and fifth (n = 15, 44%) grades at a bilingual (English and Spanish) elementary school in the Central Southern region of the United States. Participants reported predominantly Hispanic (n=23, 68%) and Caucasian (n = 8, 24%) ethnic identities; two (6%) identified as Asian American and one (2%) identified as African American. Participants' first language was nearly equally represented by Spanish (n = 18,53%) and English (n = 16,47%); all students were pro- ficient in both languages at grade level for reading, writing, oral, and receptive comprehension. Measures Protective factors. The Individual Protective Factors Index (IPFI; Phillips & Springer, 1992) assesses psychosocial characteristics associated with the ability of youth to over- come challenges to lead healthy and productive lifestyles. The 12 items of the IPFI are divided into two subscales: Self-Concept (six items) and Self-Confidence (six items). Internal consistency among scores in our sample was within the good range (a = .83). Life satisfaction. The Satisfaction With Life Scale for Children (SWLC; Gadermann, Schonert-Reichl, & Zumbo, 2010) estimates self-reported satisfaction with life among youth. We implemented the SWLC as a proxy metric of subjective well-being based on historical use of the measure depicted within meta-analyses such as those by Bolier et al. (2013). Internal consistency among scores in our sample was within the good range (a = .86). Intervention We implemented a nine-session adaptation of the SWIP (Suldo, 2016). The SWIP content is organized in reference to the exploration of happiness across three phases: past, pres- ent, and future Fach of the closed group counseling sessions was delivered in a 45-minute, classroom guidance format 2 days per week (Tuesday, Thursday) for 5 weeks, with the final Thursday session used for completing focus group activities. Group sessions were structured according to the following: (a) purpose, (b) session goals and objectives, (c) session ac- tivities (ice breaker, exploration of topic), and (d) review of homework activity. The SWIP incorporated session activities, group process, and weekly take-home tasks to practice apply- ing positive psychology principles in daily activities. Sessions were delivered by two doctoral-level counselor education students (third and fourth authors) with experience counseling youth using structured group interventions. Session 1 included ice-breaker activities, an introduction to the positive psychology term of happiness, and an explora- tion of what happiness is and its importance. Sessions 2 to 4 focused on past and present happiness-related content and included take-home tasks such as gratitude letters and journals written to a person of importance. Sessions 5 to 7 transitioned to strategic use of character strengths to promote happiness in the present within familial relationships, friendships, and school environments. Session 8 developed plans for positive emotions, happiness, and optimism in the present and future. The final session reviewed all activities and prompted self- reflection and discussion to promote continued growth. Adherence to SWIP Principles, Practices, and Processes Counselors met with the first author regularly during the project development stage of the study, received a 60-minute educational orientation to the SWIP, and completed literature reviews related to positive psychology interventions with children. Counselors met twice weekly with the first author for clinical supervision and reviewed SWIP session plans, materials, activities, and process experiences. Procedure Institutional review board approval was secured from the university and the participating school district. Participants were solicited in English and Spanish through informational sessions in class, single-page flyers sent home to parents, and use of the Teacher-Parent Remind app. Participants identified through assent and consent activities completed a brief demo- graphic questionnaire and preintervention administrations of IPFI and SWLC measures. They completed the nine-session SWIP over 5 weeks. Participants were asked to complete a postintervention administration of the IPFI and SWLC and focus group interviews the week following SWIP conclusion. The second author completed two focus group interviews-one with fourth-grade participants (n = 9) and one with fifth-grade participants (n=10) to explore the phenomenon of how the Journal of Counseling & Development April 2020 Volume 98 201 202 intervention was interpreted and internalized. Focus groups were chosen as a practical strategy over individual interviews because of time constraints, developmental age, and no previously established rapport between the second author and participants. Focus group data were audio recorded with a digital recorder to capture the participants' exact experiences in their own words. The third and fourth authors acted as process observers during the focus groups to denote any group interactions or nonverbal activity that was indiscernible in recordings. Participants chose pseudonyms before completing the interview protocol, which was grounded in a phenomenological epistemology and consisted of open- ended questions related to participants' thoughts, feelings, and reactions to the intervention. Each interview lasted approximately 45 minutes and was guided by the following questions: (a) What did you think about these lessons? (b) How did these lessons make you feel about yourself? (c) How do these lessons make you feel about others? (d) What did you learn? (e) What about these lessons stood out to you the most? Why? (f) What was your least favorite part? Why? (g) Have you used any of the ideas you learned outside of school? (h) Is there anything else about your experience with these lessons that you'd like to share with me? Data Analyses Quantitative. An a priori power analysis indicated that 27 participants would be necessary to detect a medium effect associated with a pre-post contrast of IPFI and SWLC scores given standard probability parameters (a = .05, = .80). Paired-samples t tests were computed to detect statistically significant differences in scores on the IPFI and SWLC with significance limits adjusted using the Bonferroni correction (a/k = adjusted alpha; .05/2.025). We computed effect size (d) to estimate magnitude and direction of changes over time using the guidelines described by Watson, Lenz, Schmit, and Schmit (2016) for interpreting outcomes with suggested conventions (.20 for small, .50 for medium, and .80 for large), in standard deviation units, within boundaries of statistical precision, and situated into developmental context. We computed bivariate correlations depicting relationships among gain scores for self-reported ratings of the IPFI and SWLC using conventions presented by Swank and Mullen (2017) to characterize relationships as small (.10), medium (.30), or large (.50). Qualitative. We implemented Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-step thematic analysis to analyze the results: (a) familiar- izing oneself with the data, (b) generating initial codes, (c) searching for themes, (d) reviewing themes, (e) defining and naming themes, and (f) producing the report. The second, third, and fourth authors completed this process through initial line-by-line descriptive coding, a second round of analysis to collapse individual codes into broader themes, and a final group coding iteration that identified ubiquitous themes. The second author identifies as a professor and former school counselor whose work has been primarily with children and adolescents. The third and fourth authors, who were doctoral students at the time of the study, delivered the SWIP. Trust- worthiness was promoted through three strategies: reflexive journaling to bracket biases and assumptions, independent coding, and use of a peer debriefer. Convergence of data types. Independent analyses of quan- titative and qualitative data were compared and contrasted in formal and informal meetings during which the first and sec- ond authors engaged in deliberative democratic processes to honor the value of each data strand for representing the SWIP impact and experiences that may have mediated changes over time. Data were situated as a framework across four areas: (a) presence of protective factors and life satisfaction prior to SWIP, (b) salient experiences with SWIP content, (c) pre- post contrasts of IPFI and SWLC scores, and (d) predictive relationships between IPFI and SWLC gain scores. Results Scores on IPFI and SWLC Prior to SWIP Participants' mean scores for the IPFI and SWLC were 37.38 (SD = 6.04) and 20.02 (SD = 4.56), respectively (see Figure 1). Salient Experiences Associated With Participating in SWIP The participants in each interview described improved under- standing of emotions, recognition of character traits, develop- ment of confidence, and perspective of others' experiences and emotions. Three themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: improved emotional expression, enhanced self- discovery, and increased empathy (see Figure 1). Improved emotional expression. This theme is defined as the development of personal vocabulary associated with emotional experiences and related usage with self, peers, and others. Five fourth graders and six fifth graders described how the inter- vention made them feel safer when expressing their emotions and feelings, and they felt less likely to be judged by others and more comfortable emoting. Participants also stated that the intervention equipped them with words and skills to share their feelings outside of group. Fourth grader Zorro shared that he felt "more comfortable saying how I feel to other people." Catherine, also a fourth-grade student, shared similarly that the intervention "made me feel more, more able to go out and talk to more people." Savannah, a fifth-grade student, stated that the intervention "helped me express my emotions about what I am thankful for." Fifth grader Ninja shared, "I can express these emotions without thinking that everybody is going to judge me... and I don't have them bottled up." Vanessa, also a fifth grader, stated, "I was [able] to express more emotions that I didn't really know I had." Improved Emotional Expression Development of personal vocabulary associated with emotional experiences and related usage with self, peers, and others Pre-SWIP Protective factors (M-37.38, SD = 6.04) Life satisfaction (M=20.02, SD = 4.56) Enhanced Self-Discovery Discovery of different character traits with subsequent clarity in understanding of self and ways to pursue personal uniqueness Change in Protective Factors (self-concept, self-confidence) p=.03, d= .53 Change in Life Satisfaction p=.01, d= .61 FIGURE 1 Increased Empathy Increased effort and belief in personal abilities for understanding the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others that supported increased perspective taking and attending to emotional cues r=.39, p=.01 Conceptualization of Participant Response to a 5-Week Subjective Well-Being Intervention Program (SWIP) Enhanced self-discovery. This theme is defined as dis- covering different character traits with subsequent clarity in understanding of self and ways to pursue personal uniqueness. Six participants in each group described gaining knowledge of various character traits, which empowered them to take prideful ownership of their individual qualities. Kassie, a fourth-grade student, shared that the intervention taught her to not be "scared to say what you're going to say... and like do what makes you feel happy." Zorro stated, "Someone else was teaching you how to be more you, it's weird but I like that." Fifth grader Gala appreciated that the intervention "[made me feel] joyful and thankful by discovering more about myself," while Myth, also in fifth grade, declared, "It kind of helped me like describe myself, who I am." Fifth grader Monkey Luffy added, "You learn what you are good at, like your character traits, and that when you do it more you feel more yourself." Increased empathy. This theme is defined as the increased effort and belief in personal abilities for understanding the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others that supported increased perspective taking and attention to emotional cues. Four fourth graders and six fifth graders explained how the intervention helped them connect to others by increasing their understanding of another person's viewpoint. Fourth grader Guadalupe stated that the intervention helped her realize that others "also have emotions of their own." Kassie shared that when others "act [mean] like that, something kind of happened at home or...maybe they had a bad day." Fifth-grade student Galaxy stated that he was able to read his mother's emotions better because "when my mom feels bad or something, she doesn't talk to anyone." Two fifth graders, Onion and Vanessa, similarly expressed that interpreting cues such as not eating or sleeping too much can indicate that people may be upset or angry about something unrelated. Changes Associated With 5-Week SWIP and Scores on SWLC and IPFI Findings from paired-samples / tests revealed statistically significant increases in reported protective factors at the end of the intervention when compared with before the SWIP, (34)=-2.53, p=.01, d= .61 (95% confidence interval [CI] [0.12, 1.10]), indicative of a medium effect size (see Figure 1). These findings illustrate an improvement of about 61% Journal of Counseling & Development April 2020 Volume 98 Journal of Counseling & Development April 2020 Volume 98 203 204 of a standard deviation among participants completing the SWIP. Inspection of the CI indicates that the differences associated with this effect could be as small as 12% or as large as 110% of one standard deviation. The increase in IPFI scores pre-SWIP (M=20.02, SD-4.56) to post-SWIP (M = 22.03, SD = 2.86) represents an increase in life satis- faction, which may indicate a greater sense of fulfillment among participants. The results of paired-samples/tests supported the depic tion of the SWIP as associated with changes in participants' individual protective factors across time (see Figure 1). When accounting for the Bonferroni correction, the 1 test was not statistically significant, 1(34)=-2.21 p = .03, d= .53 (95% CI [0.05, 1.02]), indicative of a medium effect size. These findings illustrate an improvement of about 53% of a standard deviation among participants completing the SWIP. Inspection of the CI indicated that differences asso- ciated with this effect could be as small as 5% or as large as 102% of one standard deviation. The increase in IPFI scores pre-SWIP (M = 37.38, SD = 6.04) to post-SWIP (M =40.44, SD = 5.07) represents a trend in which participants reported an increase in self-concept and self-confidence, which may serve as protective factors when youth are faced with challenges. Predictive relationships between IPFI and SWLC gain scores. Correlations between IPFI and SWLC gain scores resulted in a statistically significant relationship (r = .39, p = .01), indicative of a medium effect size and moderate as- sociation between scores (see Figure 1). Discussion The results of this mixed-methods study have encouraging implications for understanding the relationships between the SWIP, participant experiences, protective factors, and life satisfaction. Our independent analyses and subsequent mix- ing of qualitative and quantitative data strands resulted in the emergence of a formal conceptualization of participant expe- riences with the SWIP (see Figure 1). This conceptualization rests on the supposition that the SWIP content was perceived in distinctive ways that may have contributed to participants' capacities for emotional expression, self-discovery, and em- pathy, which contributed to increases in protective factors that were predictive of life satisfaction. This conceptualization is consistent with previous literature depicting relationships be- tween the type of intrapersonal and interpersonal psychosocial resources that promote coping with adversity and subjective well-being across the life span (Haas et al., 2019). Interviews with participants revealed three themes depicting the developmental and growth-oriented experiences associated with the SWIP content and processes. For the first theme, improved emotional expression, not only did participants experience the groups as an opportunity Lenz, Gerlach, Dell'Aquila, & Pester to develop their feelings vocabulary, but they also put that knowledge into practice with self, peers, and others. Although the development of feelings vocabulary was not an overt goal of our adaptation of Suldo's (2016) SWIP, the exploration of positive psychology topics such as personal strengths, gratitude, and happiness may have provided opportunities for participants to explore other areas of their affective identities. For the second theme, enhanced self- discovery, participants reported that the SWIP stimulated engagement in self-discovery activities that promoted general knowledge about character strengths, as well as specific knowledge about those they embodied. These developments are consistent with positive psychology and strengths-based approaches to youth development (Norrish, 2015) and the SWIP in particular (Suldo, 2016). From a positive psychology perspective, the use of character strengths is hypothesized to function as a protective factor that promotes resilience during instances of adversity and duress. Finally, the third theme, increased empathy, was indicative of participants' experiences of connecting with others through increased perspective taking. This theme was surprising given the focus of the SWIP content on personal development and personal agency for fostering subjective well-being, rather than other constructs such as mutuality or classroom climate. However, during focus groups, participants commented on the emotionally moving experiences associated with activities such as gratitude letter reading to significant others (e.g., parents, teachers, and friends). We conceptualized the three thematic experiences with the SWIP (improved emotional expression, enhanced self-discovery, and increased empathy) as contributing to the emergence of protective factors depicted by the IPFI. Although the amount of improvement in IPFI scores was not statistically significant, interpretation of the related effect size (d = .53) indicated a gain effect greater than the mean standardized difference reported by Bolier et al. (2013) across the 28 studies they reviewed. This medium effect size is promising, but comparisons to the existing evidence base depicted in Bolier et al.'s analyses are not direct because our study was preexperimental in nature rather than based on between-groups comparisons. How- ever, the medium effect size associated with roughly 7 hours of intervention across 5 weeks is auspicious when one considers the well-established corpus of evidence suggesting that protective factors are strong predictors of constructs such as resilience, optimism, and happiness (Masten & Cicchetti, 2016). Our data, analyses, and reference to theories of positive psychology with youth (Norrish, 2015; Seligman, 2002; Shonshani & Slone, 2017) suggest that the development of protective factors among participants may have con- tributed to life satisfaction, as depicted by statistically A Subjective Well-Being Intervention Program and practically significant correlations with scores on the SWLC. This final component of our framework provided a logic-driven bridge between protective factors and life satisfaction associated with the experiences of participat- ing in the SWIP. Thus, an overall depiction was created wherein salient experiences of participants' emotional expression, self-discovery, and empathy contributed to increased self-concept and self-confidence (protective factors), which were associated with self-reported sat- isfaction with life. The results of this study yield several implications for counselors working in schools as well as school counselors who are interested in positive psychology-based interven- tions. The original 10-week SWIP delivery may not be conducive to school counselors' schedules owing to large caseloads and time constraints, but the evidentiary support for an adaptation of the intervention denotes a degree of flexibility and responsiveness with positive implications for preventive programming. To reinforce concepts learned from this intervention, counselors can collaborate with teachers to create activities or assignments to be included outside of the intervention. Counselors can also provide training to teachers or include them in the administration of the SWIP to promote concept generalization and transfer of learning across other areas of curricular development. Be- cause collaboration with parents is a key responsibility when working with children, counselors can also communicate intervention concepts to parents to help with knowledge re- tention, application, and meaningful reinforcement. Finally, data collected during SWIP applications can be utilized for a number of accountability reporting practices. Although measures such as the IPFI and SWLC can be useful, asso- ciations with truancy, office referrals, and grades may also serve as metrics of interest to stakeholders. Limitations of the Study and Directions for Future Research Although our study has provided preliminary commentary about the experiences and improvements associated with the SWIP, some important limitations are noted. First, our design did not feature a comparison group; therefore, we encourage future researchers to implement experimental designs to explore causal attributions related to interven- tion effect. Second, our quantitative analyses were con- tingent upon use of self-reported data; future researchers may want to incorporate other data such as behavioral observations or number of office referrals to strengthen attributions of utility. Third, our sample size was small (N = 34) and comprised predominantly Hispanic and Caucasian participants and was thus limited in represen- tativeness of more diverse samples. Future research with larger, more diverse samples may promote more nuanced understanding of the influence of the SWIP in association with cultural-based variables. Although we included a moderator guide and process observers to promote fidelity within qualitative processes, it is possible that different re- searchers may have gleaned different results. Additionally, supplementing focus groups with individual interviews may have led to further crystallization of or discrepancies within our reported themes. 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