Violence against women is a persistent problem with deleterious consequences, such as the onset and maintenance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is still little evidence-based...Show moreViolence against women is a persistent problem with deleterious consequences, such as the onset and maintenance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is still little evidence-based research done on the effects of peer support for people with symptoms of PTSD that have experienced domestic violence. Consequently, it is of great clinical interest to investigate if peer support groups are beneficial for this subgroup. This study investigated whether peer support groups are an effective treatment for reducing PTSD symptoms by increasing hopefulness among women who have experienced abuse. Thirteen female participants (Mage = 37.54 years at baseline) attended ten sessions of peer support groups led by an experience expert and completed questionnaires at a pre-measurement and a post-measurement. The methods used in this study were the Life Events Checklist, PTSD checklist for DSM-5, adult hope scale, and childhood trauma questionnaire. We found a reduction in the severity of PTSD symptoms (for intrusion symptoms and negative changes in cognitions and mood) and an increase in hopefulness after participation in the peer support sessions. This increase was seen for both participants' goal orientation and their ability to make plans to achieve their goals. Although we expected a relationship between PTSD symptomology and hopefulness, this was not found. The findings from this study suggest that peer support groups may be a beneficial addition for women with PTSD symptoms who are not in treatment (yet) or have tried established PTSD treatment.Show less
Governments worldwide are faced with unique challenges during the current COVID-19 pandemic. To limit the threats that this virus causes to public safety, governments need to ensure that their...Show moreGovernments worldwide are faced with unique challenges during the current COVID-19 pandemic. To limit the threats that this virus causes to public safety, governments need to ensure that their citizens follow the measures set out by them. Previous research has shown that information that contains specific types of messages can have an influence on the extent to which people are willing to adhere to government measures. The current study builds on these strategies and theories and investigates the extent to which the communication of either fear or hope has an influence on (1) people’s understanding of COVID-19 related information and (2) people’s willingness to adhere to government measures. In a survey experiment participants read a scenario in which the government issued a statement regarding the measures that they had put in place previously. Results show that the communication of hope increases people’s understanding of COVID-19 related information but does not have an effect on people’s willingness to adhere to government measures. These findings suggest that when governments want to increase people’s understanding of the pandemic situation during future pandemics they need to communicate hopeful messages, but these findings also suggests that more research needs to be done into ways in which actual willingness to adhere to government measures can be increased.Show less
Researchers have tried to link the motivation to experience certain emotions to specific ideologies. Recently there has been more support for taking context into account when studying the influence...Show moreResearchers have tried to link the motivation to experience certain emotions to specific ideologies. Recently there has been more support for taking context into account when studying the influence of ideology on the motivation to experience an emotion. One of these contextual factors is the belief that an emotion can reinforce one’s ideology. Therefore, this study investigated whether the belief that anger reinforces one’s ideology motivates one to experience anger. Additionally, we tested whether leftists are more motivated to experience hope than rightists and whether rightists are more motivated to experience fear than leftists. The belief that anger reinforces one’s ideology was induced by reading a scientific article about anger and ideology. To test if participants were then more motivated to experience an emotion, participants created a ranking of their preference for reading anger, hope, fear and no emotion inducing articles. We found that reading an article that states that anger reinforces one’s ideology does not motivate one more to experience anger. There was also no evidence that leftists are more motivated to experience hope than rightists or that rightists are more motivated to experience fear than leftists. These results show the difficulty of convincing one that anger reinforces one’s ideology and that one can be hesitant to want to experience anger. The results that hope was not tied to leftists and fear not tied to rightists can be explained by the influence of a state of fear in the participants due to the use of Coronavirus-related stimuli. These findings indicate that future research should also take other contextual factors into account, like one’s current emotional state, when studying the influence of beliefs about emotions on motivated emotion regulation.Show less
This thesis aims to examine the effects that the Syrian civil war had on the theme of hope in Syrian prison literature. The research is conducted through the analysis of three short stories of...Show moreThis thesis aims to examine the effects that the Syrian civil war had on the theme of hope in Syrian prison literature. The research is conducted through the analysis of three short stories of prison literature, one of which written before the war, the other two written after the war. It will compare the notion of hope in the pre-war and post-war stories.Show less
