Accessibility statement

Psychology of Wellbeing - PSY00021I

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  • Department: Psychology
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
    • See module specification for other years: 2023-24

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2024-25

Module aims

This module seeks to introduce students to the complexity of the term ‘well-being’. It covers core well-being concepts such as hedonic, eudaimonic and biopsychosocial wellbeing, explores the relationship between wellbeing and resilience, and outlines the impact of intersectionality on how well-being is experienced. Students will also gain relevant insight into the real-world applications of well-being research as attention will be paid to what findings tell us about well-being within the university student population.

Module learning outcomes

  • Identify core factors related to psychological wellbeing
  • Evaluate how various factors interact to influence an individual's levels of wellbeing
  • Detail how wellbeing varies as a result of intersectional identities
  • Detail the relationship between psychological wellbeing and resilience
  • Apply psychological wellbeing research findings to the student population
  • Develop an understanding of how wellbeing can be researched

Module content

The course will cover 4 key topics:

1) Well-being - Here the focus will be on the hedonic (e.g. happiness, life satisfaction) and eudaimonic (e.g. satisfying one's important needs) as well as the biopsychosocial models (biological e.g. growth and morbidity rates; psychological e.g. having peace of mind; social e.g. life events and social identity)

2) Resilience - differentiating having good levels of wellbeing from having the capacity to maintain wellbeing during adversity (does this happen through being born with resilient personality traits or is it a natural process that spans the lifespan?)

3) Application to student wellbeing - Here, the focus will be on understanding the complexity of applying general findings to specific student groups (e.g. is resilience the same across university students in different countries?)

4) Improving well-being - Here we will introduce students to non-traditional (e.g. gardening, exercise, travel (and the impact of weather), art, mindfulness, religion-based therapies, pet therapy (e.g. goat yoga), and music) as well as traditional methods (e.g. psychotherapy)

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) 50
Essay/coursework 50

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) 50
Essay/coursework 50

Module feedback

The marks on all assessed work will be provided on e-vision.

Indicative reading

None specified.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.