The foremost idea of the proposed research is to highlight the impact of psychological distress and coping strategies on the wellbeing of individuals in incarceration. In Pakistan, there is limited literature available to support the psychological wellbeing of individuals in incarceration. The current research will not only explore the impact of psychological distress and coping strategies on the wellbeing of inmates. In addition, the research will also aim to investigate the effectiveness of group-based interventions, which includes Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) and Positive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PCBT) in improving psychological distress, coping strategies, and wellbeing of Incarcerated Individuals.
Individuals with first time offense
Minimum duration of incarceration: 3 months.
Must have a score falling in the mild to severe range for depression and/or anxiety and a score below 6.4 on the PERMA profiler.
Urdu understanding and ability to comprehend measures
not falling in the age criteria
having a history of repeated crime
under any pharmacological and psychological treatment.
Individuals with types of crimes such as murder and rape were not included.
Parallel
Positive Psychotherapy (PPT)
BehavioralThe participants in this experimental group will receive intervention; treatment plan based on a strong foundation of positive psychology for enhancing positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment by building up individuals' inner skill sets, including strengths and achievements, to manage their psychological distress to improve their quality of life. The intervention plan is designed to employ 8 PPT exercises, including a positive introduction, three good things, using character strengths in a way, positive cognitive reappraisal, active constructive responding, savouring, gratitude letters and forgiveness letters.
Positive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PCBT)
BehavioralIn this experimental group, the participants will receive an intervention plan based on incorporating positive psychology and solution-focused brief therapy (Bannink \& Geschwind, 2021) within the model of cognitive behavioral therapy. The 8-week session plan emphasizes on what is better, exploring the existing resources and self-monitoring to improve wellbeing and quality of life.
Waitlist Control Group
Other interventionParticipants allocated to this group will be considered as on the waitlist during the active data collection period. This group will serve as a comparison group to see the effectiveness of PPT and PCBT.
Psychological Distress
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale DASS-21 is a self-report questionnaire designed to examine three negative emotional states. The scale has 21 items, with 7 items for each subdomain.
PERMA Profiler
23-item questionnaire for assessing five elements, including positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment), along with negative emotion and health.
Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory
Self-report 28-item questionnaire to measure coping with sress
Character Strengths
72-item Character Strength Survey to assess 24 universal character strengths.
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