Role of Applied Components of Positive Psychology on Teachers' Mental Health and Students' Academic Achievement from the Perspective of School Principals

Positive psychology is a new psychology branch that focuses on positive traits leading to freshness, greater concentration, and individualschr('39') satisfaction. This study aimed to extract positivist psychology components and assess the effect of positivist content and theme on school education and improve teacherschr('39') and studentschr('39') psychological capital.

In this hybrid (qualitative-quantitative) research, the first positivist components and themes were extracted from Seligmanchr('39')s point of view using open coding, axial coding, selective coding steps, and a network of positive themes were drawn. Then, to assess the effect of positive psychological components and themes on teacherschr('39') competencies and their mental health and studentschr('39') personal and academic abilities, the opinions of 80 high school principals in Isfahan were evaluated using a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed by comparison of means and sample t-test using SPSS 19 software.

104 basic and five organizing themes were extracted from the texts of the Positive Psychology book written by Seligman; positive emotion empowerment, fascination (flow), positive relationships, meaning (goal), and achievement (success). Also, from the perspective of principals, positivist components and themes had a positive and above-average effect on improving teacherschr('39') positive mental characteristics, teacherschr('39') mental health and efficiency, teacherschr('39') organizational behavior and interactions, and improving teacherschr('39') abilities and studentschr('39') overall progress (p<0.0001).

Positive psychology has practical and useful components and themes to enhance teacherschr('39') abilities and mental health and can be taught by teachers in various curricula.