Employee Wellbeing: Evaluating The Wellbeing Game in Two Settings

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Psychology
Degree name
Master of Science
Publisher
University of Canterbury
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
English
Date
2016
Authors
Keeman, A. M.
Abstract

Increasing employee wellbeing has many benefits for the organisation, however, many organisational wellbeing interventions focus more on decreasing stress and less on increasing wellbeing. This research used two studies to evaluate whether The Wellbeing Game is an effective wellbeing intervention in both a non-organisational and an organisational setting. Study 1 investigated the efficacy of The Wellbeing Game in a non-organisational setting. Participants were 60 students (44 female, 16 male) from the University of Canterbury with a mean age of 21.48 years. The experimental group played The Wellbeing Game for one week whereas the control group did not. All participants completed pre and post-test measures of wellbeing and stress and an image valence perception task at the beginning and end of the week. This study found that The Wellbeing Game significantly increased wellbeing, but did not decrease stress or change perceptions of image valence. Study 2 evaluated The Wellbeing Game in an organisational context. The 52 participants from a New Zealand financial organisation played The Wellbeing Game for one month. Wellbeing and stress were measured at the beginning and end of the one month period. The results showed that The Wellbeing Game significantly reduced stress and wellbeing was increased when employees felt that it helped them to connect more with others. However The Wellbeing Game did not contribute to improved organisational attitudes. Regardless, this research indicates that The Wellbeing Game is an effective wellbeing intervention in both an organisation and a non-organisational context.

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Citation
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Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
All Rights Reserved