News Release: The course that can make you happier
21 Jan 2020 | Action for Happiness
The Action for Happiness
course can make you happier than getting married or finding a
job
New research has found that taking a happiness
course in your local area can raise your life satisfaction more
than getting a long-term partner or finding employment.
[1]
The Exploring What Matters
course developed by the UK charity Action for Happiness - and
backed by the Dalai Lama - has been evaluated by a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)
carried out by academic experts from the Centre for Economic
Performance at the London School of Economics, the
Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University and
University College London as part of the evidence
programme of the What Works Centre for
Wellbeing.
The course is led by volunteers and takes place
face-to-face in local communities over 8 weekly sessions. It is
offered on a donation-basis - so it remains accessible to everyone
- and has already been run in hundreds of locations across the
UK.
The findings come in the same week as the infamous
'Blue Monday', supposedly the most depressing day of the year. The
day is a gimmick that has no basis in science, but many people do
feel down at this time of year due to Seasonal Affective Disorder
(SAD) or 'Winter Blues', while others may be struggling with
finances or family challenges post Christmas.
Nancy Hey, Director of the What Works Centre
for Wellbeing, said:
"Britain faces an important challenge around mental
health issues and loneliness, but surprisingly little research has
been done previously to evaluate ways to improve wellbeing for the
general population, especially in local communities. The Action for
Happiness course takes a unique, evidence-informed approach and the
results of this research are extremely promising. Running these
courses more broadly across the UK could potentially make a really
big difference in improving people's lives and increasing national
wellbeing".
Dr Mark Williamson, Chief Executive of
Action for Happiness, said:
"This course brings people together face-to-face in a
supportive local group to explore what really matters in life.
There's no magic formula for happiness, but the course helps people
feel more connected to others, discover a greater sense of purpose
and identify simple actions they can take to be happier and to help
others. This new research backs up what hundreds of people have
already told us - taking part in these groups is
life-changing".
The trial was led by Dr Christian Krekel (LSE) and Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve (Oxford) with
additional support from Dr Daisy Fancourt (UCL). It found that,
relative to a control group, the course provides large and
statistically significant benefits in three areas: personal
wellbeing, mental health and pro-sociality.
In terms of personal wellbeing, Life
Satisfaction increases by around one whole point on the 0-10 scale,
from an average of 6.4 out of 10 before the course to 7.4 after the
course. This increase (+1.0) is greater than those from other major
life events such as being partnered as opposed to single (+0.59) or
being employed as opposed to unemployed (+0.7), when compared with
findings from other cross-sectional studies of wellbeing in the UK
[2].
Figure 1: Change in Life Satisfaction (0-10
scale)
In terms of mental health, the trial found the
course significantly decreased depression by about 50% of a
standard deviation, and decreased anxiety by 42%. Prior to the
course, participants reported average scores corresponding to a
clinical symptomatology of mild depression and anxiety. After the
course, these scores reduced to a symptomatology of minimal
depression and anxiety, the lowest category for both measures.
In terms of pro-sociality, the trial found that
participating in the course can make participants more likely to
act in ways which help others, with large and statistically
significant increases in levels of compassion and social trust.
Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve of Oxford
University said:
"We wanted to investigate whether this course actually
makes a difference to people's lives. So we subjected it to a full
Randomised Controlled Trial which is the 'Gold Standard' in terms
of evaluation. The results were really impressive: the course
delivers large and statistically significant improvements in
wellbeing and reductions in mental health symptoms. Although
further research is needed to understand the long term
implications, it is clear that this intervention has huge potential
and really does work".
The 8 week "Exploring What Matters" course is volunteer-led and
has already been attended by 6,000 people in over 250 locations.
The content is based on the findings of hundreds of scientific
studies relating to happiness and mental wellbeing. Participants
learn how to cultivate happiness by taking action in their daily
lives, exploring themes such as how to cope with difficult times
and be more resilient, how to have good relationships, how to find
meaning at work and how to create happier and stronger
communities.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For interviews, further comment and information
please contact: Sarah Vero Head of
Communications Action for Happiness: 07414639227 sarah.vero@actionforhappiness.org
The full academic study can be found here: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1671.pdf
Action for Happiness is a UK Charity with 175,000
members and over a million online followers. Its patron is the
Dalai Lama. It has no commercial, political or religious
affiliations.
Action for Happiness promotes the Ten Keys to Happier Living
that are underpinned by the latest research in positive psychology.
It also provides daily actions people can take to be happier and
kinder through its app and online calendar, which is used by millions of
people.
Its flagship 8-week Exploring What
Matters course has been run in over 250 locations and attended
by thousands of people. It also hosts regular public
events, supports a network of Happy
Cafes and provides resources for schools
and organisations.
References
[1] C. Krekel, J.-E. De Neve, D. Fancourt, and R.
Layard, "A Local Community Course that Raises Mental Wellbeing and
Pro-Sociality", Discussion Paper, Centre for Economic Performance,
London School of Economics and Political Science, January 2020.
ISSN 2042-2695
[2] A.E. Clark, S. Flèche, R. Layard, N. Powdthavee,
G. Ward, "The Origins of Happiness: The Science of Wellbeing over
the Life Course", Princeton University Press, January 2018. ISBN:
0691177899