EARTH of Well-Being System: A pilot study of an Information and Communication Technology-based positive psychology intervention

Abstract

The positive technology field combines the objectives of positive psychology with enhancements from information and communication technologies. Following this approach, our team developed the ‘EARTH of Well-Being,’ a system designed to induce positive emotions and reinforce psychological resources through a self-guided positive psychology internet intervention. This paper describes the EARTH system and presents the results of a pilot study that assesses users’ acceptance and perceived usefulness of the system and provides preliminary evidence of its efficacy in providing users with positive experiences. Thirty-eight volunteers used the application in six sessions distributed over two weeks. They reported high levels of acceptability and perceived usefulness. Moreover, participants reported increased positive mood after each session. Overall, results support the future use and investigation of this system as a positive psychology intervention, and suggest that it could be useful for increasing positive mood.

Keywords:

• positive psychology interventions
• positive technology
• virtual reality
• information and communication technologies
• mood-induction procedures
• narrative exercises

Funding

This study was funded in part by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport Spain, Projects EARTH [grant number PSI2010-09568-E] and ‘CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, an initiative of ISCIII’.