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Psychology of Wellbeing Certification

Develop an understanding of psychology of wellbeing and receive a certification from the International Society of Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), a globally-recognized academic and professional association, with its own publications, journals, conferences, and identity. ISQOLS is collaborating with the Management Institute for Quality-of-Life Studies (MIQOLS) in the administration of this certification program.

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Learn about the Proliferating Research Related to the Psychology of Wellbeing

The research involving the psychology of wellbeing is immensely vast and growing exponentially. Learn about the basic concepts and models of the psychology of wellbeing to help you with own scholarly research.

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The certification course includes:

  • 6 major content-rich learning modules capturing content of 30 chapters from the book on The Psychology of Quality of Life: Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health (published by Springer, 2021).
  • 10 webinars designed with flexibility and remote-learning in mind
  • Support from a renowned quality-of-life/well-being scientist
  • An official certification on successful completion of the course work and examination

To learn more about the certification program, watch this video overview presented by the course instructor, Prof. Dr. M. Joseph (Joe) Sirgy.

Course Modules

Introductory Module

The introductory module lays the 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.

Topics in this module include:

  • philosophical foundations
  • definitions, and measures of wellbeing
  • positive outcomes of wellbeing
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This certification program is aimed at:

  • Graduate students interested in developing a research project (e.g., Master’s thesis, Doctoral dissertation) involving topics related to the psychology of wellbeing
  • Academic scholars interested in developing research expertise in the psychology of wellbeing
  • Public policy officials interested in the science of wellbeing to guide decision making
  • Managers of for-profit and non-profit organizations interested in applying the science of wellbeing to enhance employee and patron wellbeing
  • Researchers employed by national bureaus of statistics
  • Quality-of-life/well-being coaches interested in using the research to help counsel clients
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The Instructor’s Biography

M. Joseph Sirgy is a management psychologist (Ph.D., U/Massachusetts, 1979) and the Virginia Tech Real Estate Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (USA) and Extraordinary Professor at the WorkWell Research Unit at North West University – Potchefstroom Campus (South Africa). He has published extensively in the area of business ethics and quality of life (QOL). His awards include: International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies’ (ISQOLS’) Distinguished Fellow Award, ISQOLS’ Distinguished QOL Researcher, Academy of Marketing Science’s (AMS) Distinguished Fellow Award, AMS’ Harold Berkman Service Award, Virginia Tech’s Pamplin Teaching Excellence Award/Holtzman Outstanding Educator Award and University Certificate of Teaching Excellence, the EuroMed Management Research Award, and the Macromarketing Society’s Robert W. Nason Award. Best paper awards include articles published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, the Journal of Travel Research, and Applied Research in Quality of Life. His editorial responsibilities include co-founding editor of Applied Research in Quality of Life, editor of the QOL section in the Journal of Macromarketing, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Macromarketing, editor of ISQOLS’/Springer’s book series on International Handbooks in QOL, Community QOL Indicators--Best Cases, Applied Research in QOL--Best Practices, and co-editor of the Springer book series on Human Well-Being and Policy Making.

M. Joseph Sirgy

What our former students say:

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Frequently Asked Questions

The course is administered through a self-paced program of instruction. The program includes:

  • Readings from the textbook The Psychology of Quality of Life: Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health (published by Springer, 2021);
  • Videos of 10 previously-recorded webinars (1.5 hours each);
  • Lecture slides;
  • One-to-one Interaction with the course instructor through e-mail and video conference; and
  • Certification given successful performance on a set of 10 exams involving essay questions.

Certification

  • ISQOLS members can take the course for certification for $700.
  • Non-ISQOLS members can take the course for certification for $900.
  • Benefits include:
    • Access to the lecture slides
    • Access to the lecture videos
    • Discount from Springer to purchase the textbook that supports the course
    • Direct communication with the instructor by e-mail and/or video conferencing
    • Certification upon demonstrated learning (evaluated through successful completion of several exams)

Audit

  • ISQOLS members can audit the course for $50.
  • Non-ISQOLS members can audit the course for $200.
  • Benefits include:
    • Access to the lecture slides
    • Access to the lecture videos
    • Discount from Springer to purchase the textbook that supports the course

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.

The course is asynchronous (i.e., self-paced). After watching each webinar video (and reading the assigned chapters with supporting lecture slides and communicating privately with the instructor about issues arising from the assigned course material), the course participant alerts the course instructor about of their readiness to take an exam covering the assigned video webinar (one of 10). The instructor then administers the exam covering the assigned video webinar and provides the course participant with a grade and feedback after which the participant continues to watch the next video webinar (with readings from supporting material). That is, the process is repeated until the course participant completes watching the remaining videos (with readings from supporting material). Alternative to course certification is course audit. The course audit is still self-paced with no exams.

To pass the course and receive an official certification, registered participants must pass a series of exams. Each exam will involve a set of take-home essay questions provided after watching each video webinar (10 video webinars = 10 exams). Participants will be required to provide answers to the essay questions and submit their answers before watching the next video webinar (i.e., participants will have seven 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). Links to the video webinars are posted in the context of the course website which will be provided to course participants after course registration. Participants who do not receive a passing grade can repeat the course.

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 and estimated 20 contact hours total. This translates into 2 CEUs.

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 seasoned QoL researcher, Prof. Dr. M. Joseph (Joe) Sirgy. Course instruction is supported by access to video webinars, lecture slides, readings from the assigned book (The Psychology of Quality of Life: Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health; published by Springer, 2021), exams, feedback on the exam questions, and private communication with the course instructor through e-mail and video conferencing.

International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS)


Address:
P.O. BOX 118
Gilbert, AZ 85233
U.S.A. 

Email:
office@isqols.org

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