Young People’s Attitude Toward Positive Psychology Interventions: Thematic Analysis
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Background: Digital instantiations of positive psychology intervention (PPI) principles have been proposed to combat the current global youth mental health crisis; however, young people are largely not engaging with available resources. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore young people’s attitudes toward various PPI principles to find ways of making digital instantiations of them more engaging. Methods: We conducted an explorative workshop with 30 young people (aged 16-21 years). They rated and reviewed 29 common PPIs. Ratings and recorded discussions were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Some interventions were conflicting with young people’s values or perceived as too difficult. Participants responded positively to interventions that fit them personally and allowed them to use their strengths. Conclusions: Values, context, strengths, and other personal factors are entangled with young people’s attitudes toward digital instantiations of PPI principles.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A recent study showed that youth preference regarding psychological interventions for emotional problems revolves around a balance between the medical model of mental health and growth positive models.
“A recent study showed that youth’s preference regarding psychological interventions for emotional problems revolves around a balance between the medical model of mental health, oriented to solving problems and the growth positive models”
From Use of automated conversational agents in improving young population mental health: a scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [49]
The Introduction (Background; page not listed) contrasts a disease model focused on resolving problems with positive psychology’s focus on strengths and growth. But the Discussion (Principal Findings; page not listed) says young people’s intervention preferences were diverse and individual; it does not find that their preferences revolve around a balance between those two models. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006) · Qualitative Research in Psychology · doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa · Cited by 194,414 · see citing works
Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593 · Cited by 20,391 · see citing works
Maslow, A. H. (1962) · D Van Nostrand eBooks · doi:10.1037/10793-000 · Cited by 7,200 · see citing works
The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development
Patel, V., Saxena, S., Lund, C., Thornicroft, G., Baingana, F., Bolton, P., Chisholm, D., Collins, P. Y., Cooper, J. L., Eaton, J., et al. (2018) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31612-x · Cited by 3,692 · see citing works
Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology: The Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014) · doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8 · Cited by 1,653 · see citing works
When and how do young people seek professional help for mental health problems?
Rickwood, D. J., Deane, F. P., & Wilson, C. J. (2007) · Medical Journal of Australia · doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01334.x · Cited by 1,195 · see citing works
Positive psychology in practice
Linley, P., & Joseph, S. (2004) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118996874 · Cited by 835 · see citing works
Microrandomized trials: An experimental design for developing just-in-time adaptive interventions.
Klasnja, P., Hekler, E. B., Shiffman, S., Boruvka, A., Almirall, D., Tewari, A., & Murphy, S. A. (2015) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000305 · Cited by 671 · see citing works
Beyond Good and Evil. Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future.
Thilly, F., Nietzsche, F., & Zimmern, H. (1908) · The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods · doi:10.2307/2012221 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
Second Wave Positive Psychology: Exploring the Positive–Negative Dialectics of Wellbeing
Lomas, T., & Ivtzan, I. (2015) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-015-9668-y · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Co-design of eHealth Interventions With Children and Young People
Thabrew, H., Fleming, T., Hetrick, S., & Merry, S. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00481 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
Young students' use of the Internet for mental health information and support
HORGAN, Á., & SWEENEY, J. (2010) · Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2850.2009.01497.x · Cited by 303 · see citing works
The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Positive Psychological Interventions
Parks, A. C. (2014) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118315927 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
Mohr, D. C., Schueller, S. M., Riley, W. T., Brown, C. H., Cuijpers, P., Duan, N., Kwasny, M. J., Stiles-Shields, C., & Cheung, K. (2015) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.4391 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
The tyranny of the positive attitude in America: Observation and speculation
Held, B. S. (2002) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.10093 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
A history of modern psychology
(1975) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7894(75)80226-7 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Developing mental health mobile apps: Exploring adolescents’ perspectives
Kenny, R., Dooley, B., & Fitzgerald, A. (2016) · Health Informatics Journal · doi:10.1177/1460458214555041 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Fleming, T. M., Merry, S., Stasiak, K., Hopkins, S. A., Patolo, T., Ruru, S., Latu, M., Shepherd, M., Christie, G., & Goodyear‐Smith, F. (2019) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/12656 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Critique of positive psychology and positive interventions 1
Wong, P. T. P., & Roy, S. (2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315659794-12 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Christensen, H. M., Reynolds, J., & Griffiths, K. M. (2011) · Early Intervention in Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1751-7893.2010.00242.x · Cited by 70 · see citing works
The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Positive Psychology
Brown, N. J. L., Lomas, T., & Eiroa-Orosa, F. (2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315659794 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
A Prescription for Psychiatry: Why We Need a Whole New Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing
Kinderman, P. (2014) · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Person–Activity Fit in Positive Psychological Interventions
Schueller, S. M. (2014) · doi:10.1002/9781118315927.ch22 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Wyman, P. A., Gaudieri, P. A., Schmeelk-Cone, K., Cross, W., Brown, C. H., Sworts, L., West, J., Burke, K. C., & Nathan, J. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9330-4 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Huppert, F. A. (2004) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470939338.ch41 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
A review of youth mental health promotion apps towards their fit with youth media preferences
Michel, T., Tachtler, F. M., Slovák, P., & Fitzpatrick, G. (2019) · EAI Endorsed Transactions on Pervasive Health and Technology · doi:10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.161419 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationHeidegger on intersubjectivity
Dallmayr, F. (1980) · Human Studies · doi:10.1007/bf02331811 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
The meaning and valence of gratitude in positive psychology
Gulliford, L., & Morgan, B. E. (2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315659794-6 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Worthington, E., Wade, N., & Hoyt, W. T. (2014) · doi:10.1002/9781118315927.ch2 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
(2018) · Bristol University Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qgnpz.16 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [6]Seligman M Csikszentmihalyi M Positive psychology: an introduction Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology 2014 New York, USA Springer
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Use of automated conversational agents in improving young population mental health: a scoping review
Balan, R., Dobrean, A., & Poetar, C. R. (2024) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-024-01072-1 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
“…psychological interventions for emotional problems revolves around a balance between the medical model of mental health, oriented to solving problems and the growth positive models, based on the assumption that all human beings have the capacity to fl ourish, and build upon existing strengths 49 .”
Liu, L., Cao, Y., Su, M., Zhang, J., Miao, Y., & Yao, N. A. (2022) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-022-07303-z · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Exploring a Gaming-Based Intervention for Unemployed Young Adults: Thematic Analysis
Straand, I. J., Følstad, A., & Bjørnestad, J. R. (2024) · JMIR Human Factors · doi:10.2196/44423 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Bioethics and advance directives in psychiatric in the hospital context
Mondragón-Barrios, L., & Stepke, F. L. (2023) · Salud Mental · doi:10.17711/sm.0185-3325.2023.033 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Kaubisch, S., Kloek, M., Primbs, R., Iglhaut, L., Piechaczek, C., Keim, P., Feldmann, L., Schulte‐Körne, G., & Greimel, E. (2025) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2025.100872 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Straand, I. J., Følstad, A., & Wuensche, B. C. (2024) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/59158 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Effects of PQ4R Strategy on Oral Reading Comprehension among Grade 4 Learners
Camohoy, M. P. G., Osias, N. C., & Corpuz, G. G. (2025) · European Modern Studies Journal · doi:10.59573/emsj.9(2).2025.11 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Uvhagen, L., Söderqvist, F., & Gustafsson, J. (2026) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2026.1778047 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Balan, R., Dobrean, A., Poetar, C.-R., Florean, I. S., Balázsi, R., Coșa, I. M., & Månsson, K. N. T. (2026) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106692 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Facultad de Medicina, U. D. L. S., & Díaz-Quijano, D. M. (2022) · Gaceta Médica de Caracas · doi:10.47307/gmc.2022.130.4.9 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Parkinson, A., Mullan, B. A., & Finlay‐jones, A. L. (2025) · CoDesign · doi:10.1080/15710882.2025.2582678
Ralph, T., Cook, L., Peters, A. J., & Lawrence, D. (2025) · Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology · doi:10.1007/s11896-025-09788-w
Aldaweesh, S., Alelsheikh, G., Alhamed, F., Kleek, M. G. V., & Shadbolt, N. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791060
Aldaweesh, S., Kleek, M. G. V., & Shadbolt, N. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791898
An Empirical Study on Clinicians’ Information Needs Regarding Medical Laboratory Literature
邱, 文. (2026) · Statistics and Applications · doi:10.12677/sa.2026.156138
Garzón-Mendoza, J.-G., & Archila, Y. M. R. (2026) · Cultura Educación y Sociedad · doi:10.17981/cultedusoc.17.1.2026.6857
- Authors
- Michel, T., Tachtler, F., Slovak, P., & Fitzpatrick, G.
- Affiliations
- TU Wien (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Michel, Toni
- Venue
- JMIR Human Factors
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2020-11-09
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e21145
- ISSN
- 2292-9495 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7683250
- OpenAlex
- W3092040031
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR Human Factors (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- European Commission (HORIZON2020, 722561)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- positive psychology interventions, youth mental health, young people's attitudes, digital interventions, values, personal strengths, intervention design
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
