The concept of the "authorship of their own lives in people with disabilities" belongs to the trend which creates a positive, capable image of a person with disability in the society. The aim of this article is to relate contemporary theories which conceptualise disability in the categories of a universal human condition, natural human…

For more than a century, improving the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities has been the cornerstone of the work of family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals. This began with our founder, Dr. Ellen Swallow Richards, and it continues today. As FCS professionals, we focus on helping people make wise, informed decisions…

This study explored the influence attending a Norwegian folk high school had on the long-term well-being of former students. The Norwegian folk high schools represent a unique form of publicly funded education with an emphasis on learning through shared experience and that by law, the schools cannot issue grades, give formal examinations, or…

Students' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) may depend on the extent to which the school environment fostered by their teacher is perceived as autonomy-supportive. We tested a conditional process model in a physical education context in which students' perception of their teachers' autonomy-supportive behaviour moderated the relationship…

Schools have an important role to play in supporting the psychosocial and physical health of students with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Good school-based support for students with T1D is related to better diabetes management and quality of life. However, support for students with T1D appears inconsistent across schools in Western Australia. Strategic…

In this paper we suggest a way to measure the well-being of society based upon our own development of the Social Quality model. The Social Quality model has the advantage of being sociologically grounded as a measure of the well-being of society and the individuals within it. We test our model of Social Quality against life satisfaction as an…

In an increasingly fast-changing, complex and diverse world, social and emotional skills are becoming ever more important. In this paper we present an overview of literature on social and emotional skills, describing the nature and structure of these skills, their development, malleability and factors that influence them, their cross-cultural…

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Personal Well-being Index for Adults (PWI-A), a measure of subjective well-being. The study used data from 533 high-ability American college students: honors students and participants in an early college entrance program. In earlier studies using the PWI-A, the instrument appeared to show…

A key challenge in formative evaluation is to gather appropriate evidence to inform the continuous improvement of initiatives. In the absence of outcome data, the programme evaluator often must rely on the perceptions of beneficiaries and staff in generating insight into what is making a difference. The article describes the approach adopted in an…

The purpose of this study was to develop a predictive population model with respect to quality of life, school violence, and family dynamics in adolescent students from Medellín, Colombia. Cross-sectional, explanatory study was realized with 3460 adolescents using probability sampling for selection. Structural equation modeling was performed. The…

Participation is essential to children's development. Children with disabilities are at risk for restricted participation. Despite wide use of the word participation, the definition remains vague. The eight steps of analysis by Walker and Avant (2005) were used to guide the concept analysis. The uses and defining attributes of participation were…

Research on subjective wellbeing includes studies of both domain-related and global distress. The mental health literature, though, focuses almost exclusively on global distress. This seems to be partly due to a common belief that psychological distress, and the moods that comprise distress, necessarily lack referential content. However, if that…

Recently the environmental movement has seen much success and progress under a newly-framed green paradigm. Yet, despite the proliferation of national attention to, and public interest in, the go-green mentality, environmental education still seems to be stuck within the old environmental paradigm. This critical essay shares lessons that…

Quality of working life has been defined as the part of overall quality of life that is influenced by work. We developed a mediation model where home-work interface, job and career satisfaction, control at work, and working conditions are considered to be positively related to employee commitment and to the absence of stress at work. These two…

The importance of positive subjective well-being (SWB) is supported by the wide-ranging network of relations between students' SWB and crucial school processes and outcomes, such as positive student engagement behavior, interpersonal relationships, coping skills, and academic achievement. Some studies have revealed that not only is positive SWB a…