The PPI Companion
Empirically Supported Positive Psychological Interventions for the Promotion of Well-Being
Although the research behind positive psychological interventions (PPIs) spans two decades and many studies support their effect sizes for the promotion of well-being, there is a surprising lack of practical resources for clinicians to implement PPIs into their practice. Although individuals can find intervention resources across the internet, there is a distinct lack of publicly available protocols that are PPI-based. This lack of protocols is where the current protocol comes into play. We wanted to take the information we have learned from studying PPIs in research and intervention studies and create a publicly available PPI-based protocol for clinicians. There are several goals we hope to accomplish with this protocol, which are the following:
- Single resource: We wanted to provide a cheap and easily accessible single resource for clinicians to follow. It can be challenging to string together sessions using ambiguous worksheets and instructions available on the internet. There are other PPI protocols currently being researched. However, these protocols are not as easily accessible.
- Easy implementation: We wrote this protocol so that someone who has never used PPIs before can pick it up, read it, and implement it into their practice. We developed this protocol to be an approachable protocol, hoping that clinicians-in-training and experienced clinicians alike can easily understand and deliver these interventions.
- Structure: We wanted to create this protocol with the structure of a traditional CBT protocol. We see the value in unstructured therapy and loosely structured therapy; however, we wanted to provide clinicians with the most structure and let them decide how rigidly they would like to follow it. We think the best way to follow this protocol is to use it to structure a session, but following it precisely is not necessary (i.e., take from it and apply it loosely or tailor it to individual client needs). If the clinician has little experience, we recommend sticking closely to the protocol instructions. Each session includes psychoeducation, a centering exercise, worksheets to guide the in-session activities, and an assignment for between sessions. Additionally, we included some suggested prompts to support the clinician in guiding the conversation meaningfully.
- Variety: We wanted to create breadth in this protocol by sampling what PPIs have to offer. Thus, we selected and integrated all the major PPI domains into these sessions. Clients will be able to experience the PPIs that work best for them, and you can help guide them to additional similar PPIs upon termination or continuation of therapy beyond this protocol.
- Empirically supported: This specific protocol has not been studied or verified as efficacious for promoting well-being.Still, all the interventions in this protocol have direct evidence for their efficacy or are adapted from interventions/domains that have direct efficacy for the promotion of well-being.
- Short duration: We wanted to create a protocol that has flexibility but is ultimately short in duration so that it can be used in settings with session limits. The protocol spans between 11 sessions (minimum) and 20 sessions (maximum), depending on how many sessions the clinician decides to spend on certain PPI domains. If the treatment length is 11 sessions, each session focuses on a unique PPI domain. However, clinicians can linger on some domains due to the applicability and breadth of the domain.
With these goals, we hoped to create an easy-to-use, empirically supported, and structured singular resource with a variety of PPIs. For further questions or concerns about its use, please contact the authors using the emails listed on the author biography page.
