A course registration of US$ 700 is levied on those who wish to obtain official course credit and an ISQOLS certificate for having completed the course. A discount of US$ 100 is available for ISQOLS members (i.e., US$ 700 for nonmembers and US$ 600 for members). A textbook is used in this course as well: Sirgy, M. Joseph (2021). The Psychology of Quality of Life: Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. An arrangement with Springer was made to offer students a significant discount to purchase the e-book version. This discount is: USD 54.99 compared to $169.00 (original price). Please contact the ISQOLS office (office@isqols.org) for more details about purchasing the textbook.

There is a fee of US$ 50 for non-ISQOLS members who wish to simply audit the course without certification (i.e., attend any one or more of the 10 webinars modules).

No. However, to make the most out of the material provided in this course, it is recommended that the applicants have at least some background in social sciences and rudimentary knowledge of population statistics.

• Tuesday, March 1st, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 1 (Introduction: philosophical foundations; definitions and measures of wellbeing; positive outcomes of wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, March 8th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 2 (Objective Reality and Wellbeing: effects of technological, economic, political, and socio-cultural factors on wellbeing; effects of resources on wellbeing; effects of demographic factors on wellbeing; effects of personal and consumption activities on wellbeing; effects of biology, drugs, life events, and the environment on wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, March 15th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 2 (Objective Reality and Wellbeing – continued: effects of technological, economic, political, and socio-cultural factors on wellbeing; effects of resources on wellbeing; effects of demographic factors on wellbeing; effects of personal and consumption activities on wellbeing; effects of biology, drugs, life events, and the environment on wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, March 22nd, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 3 (Subjective Reality and Wellbeing: effects of personality on wellbeing; effects of affect and cognition on wellbeing; effects of beliefs and values on wellbeing; effects of needs and need satisfaction on wellbeing; effects of goals on wellbeing; effects of self-concept on wellbeing; effects of social comparisons on wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, March 29th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 3 (Subjective Reality and Wellbeing – continued: effects of personality on wellbeing; effects of affect and cognition on wellbeing; effects of beliefs and values on wellbeing; effects of needs and need satisfaction on wellbeing; effects of goals on wellbeing; effects of self-concept on wellbeing; effects of social comparisons on wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, April 5th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 4 (Domain Dynamics: work wellbeing, residential wellbeing, material wellbeing; social, family, and marital wellbeing; health wellbeing, leisure wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, April 12th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 4 (Domain Dynamics – continued: work wellbeing, residential wellbeing, material wellbeing; social, family, and marital wellbeing; health wellbeing, leisure wellbeing; etc.)
• Tuesday, April 19th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 5 (Population Segments and Wellbeing: the wellbeing of children, the wellbeing of older adults; the wellbeing of women, the wellbeing of geographic population segments, the wellbeing of specialty population segments; etc.)
• Tuesday, April 26th, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 5 (Population Segments and Wellbeing – continued: the wellbeing of children, the wellbeing of older adults; the wellbeing of women, the wellbeing of geographic population segments, the wellbeing of specialty population segments; etc.)
• Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022, 10-11:30 AM (EST): Module 6 (Wrapping Up: integrative models of wellbeing; philosophy and public policy issues related to wellbeing)

To pass the course and receive an official certification, registered students must pass a series of exams. Each exam will involve a set of take-home essay questions provided after each webinar (10 webinars = 10 exams). Students will be required to provide answers to the essay questions and submit their answers before the beginning of the next webinar (i.e., students will have 7 days to complete each exam). Each exam will be graded on the traditional A-F academic scale. A minimum of a total grade of C- is required to pass the course. Students will be provided the option to list the actual letter grade (A-F) on their official certification letter or a designation of Pass/Fail (a minimum of C- constitutes a Pass). The webinars will be recorded and posted on a YouTube site. As such, students missing a live webinar can catch up by watching the completed webinar on YouTube and submit their answers to the questions of their missed webinar before the next webinar. Students who do not receive a passing grade can repeat the course, which will be offered toward the end of the year (2022).

ISQOLS can provide educational credit in terms of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for the Psychology of Well-Being Certification Program. 1 CEU is equivalent to 10 contact hours. The Psychology of Wellbeing Certification Program involves 10 webinars, 1.5 hours each, or 15 contact hours total. This translates into 1.5 CEUs. As such, the program provides 1.5 CEUs (or 15 contact hours total).

Those interested in receiving the CEUs should provide enough information to their own educational institution about the ISQOLS certification program and their own institution would determine if they would accept these CEUs.

Many occupations require CEUs to stay licensed in their profession (counselors, life coaches, teachers, etc.). Those who wish to use the certification program for CEUs in meet continuing education requirements of their profession should contact their state/country licensing board and submit information about the course.

This certification is provided by the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), a global organization with a mission to promote and encourage research in the field of quality-of-life (QOL), happiness, and wellbeing studies. ISQOLS has members all throughout positioned in academic institutions as well as stakeholder groups, and are well-respected for their contributions to QoL. As such, an official certification would be beneficial to anyone who wants to apply psychological science of wellbeing to guide academic research projects, policy making, managerial decision-making, population statistics, and/or coaching and counseling.

The principal benefits you will obtain from the certification course are:

• a philosophical and academic foundation of much of the research on wellbeing and positive mental health, showing the beneficial effects of happy people at work, in terms of health, and to society at large;
• understanding how sociocultural factors, income factors, other demographic factors, and biological and health conditions influence wellbeing and positive mental health;
• knowledge of how individuals process information from their objective environment, and how they manipulate this information to influence wellbeing and positive mental health;
• insights into how psychology of wellbeing applies to various life domains and special populations such as women, children, and elderly;
• a foundation in theories and models of wellbeing and positive mental health that integrate and unify disparate concepts and programs of research.

This course is administered by a world-renowned QoL researcher, Dr. M. Joseph Sirgy. All the webinars will be available for the student to review, and they will additionally gain access to the textbook, an excellent resource, at a discounted price from Springer.