Joep Van Agteren

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• PhD
• Affiliate Senior Lecturer at The University of Adelaide

Simplified models and schematics can be used to communicate and disseminate scientific evidence and theory, which in turn can improve health literacy; an outcome that plays a fundamental role in improving health outcomes of individuals and populations. This article highlights the risk of oversimplification of scientific research on wellbeing and me...

The dual-continua model of mental health suggests that mental illness and positive mental health reflect distinct continua, rather than the extreme ends of a single spectrum. The aim of this review was to scope the literature surrounding the dual-continua model of mental health, to summarise the evidence, highlight the areas of focus for individual...

Our current understanding of the efficacy of psychological interventions in improving mental states of wellbeing is incomplete. This study aimed to overcome limitations of previous reviews by examining the efficacy of distinct types of psychological interventions, irrespective of their theoretical underpinning, and the impact of various moderators,...

The multitude of definitions, models, and measures of positive mental health has hindered academic precision and therefore the ongoing scientific evolution of this important area. This umbrella review aimed to synthesize the theoretical landscape of positive mental health, by reviewing measures that were designed to capture overarching, multi-dimen...

The key focus of this report is to capture the largely invisible issue of Languishing. We have summarised the key results from a collaborative scientific study of more than 16,000 Australian adults. The key results of this study show the negative impact of Languishing in Australia. Languishing describes a mental state where people have low levels...

Background: Emergency service personnel perform roles associated with high levels of trauma exposure and stress, and not surprisingly experience greater risk for poor mental health including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and substance use relative to the general population. Although programs exist to minimise the risk o...

Purpose There is a gap in available mental well‐being services in Australia for women diagnosed with breast cancer. This pilot mixed‐methods uncontrolled study aimed to assess the feasibility of an online mental health and well‐being intervention, the Be Well Plan ( BWP ), which enables participants to create a personalized, flexible well‐being str...

This guide can be used by services and supports to build mental wellbeing as an important part of improving mental health. Mental wellbeing includes positive aspects of how people feel, function, and reflect on their lives, including experiencing positive emotions, connection and a sense of meaning and purpose. All people can experience mental well...

The dual-continua model of mental health suggests that psychological distress and mental wellbeing operate on two distinct yet related continua, both uniquely contributing to overall mental health. Previous literature provides support for the dual-continua model; however, inconsistent methodologies lacking a common theoretical underpinning have led...

The nature of the relationship between mental health and mental illness is complex and depends on the way we measure and define each concept. A recent article in the Journal of Positive Psychology raises an important question: will positive psychology be better served by a bipolar or bivariate conceptualization of the relationship between well-bein...

A growing literature supports the expansion of mental health assessment to include indicators of mental wellbeing; however, the concurrent use of measures of wellbeing and distress introduces potential sources of measurement error. The current study examines whether the mental health continuum short form is invariant to the level of participants’ p...

BackgroundA growing literature supports the use of internet-based interventions to improve mental health outcomes. However, most programs target specific symptoms or participant groups and are not tailored to facilitate improvements in mental health and well-being or do not allow for needs and preferences of individual participants. The Be Well Pla...

Mental wellbeing is an increasingly relevant outcome in clinical psychology, and rigorous measurement tools are required to ensure high quality data. This study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the factor structure of a popular measurement tool of mental wellbeing, the Mental Health Continuum—Short Form (MHC-SF). The systematic revie...

BACKGROUND A growing literature supports the use of Internet-based interventions to improve mental health outcomes. However, most programs target specific symptoms or participant groups, and are not tailored to facilitate improvements in mental health and wellbeing, or do not allow for needs and preferences of individual participants. The Be Well P...

Background: A growing literature supports the use of internet-based interventions to improve mental health outcomes. However, most programs target specific symptoms or participant groups and are not tailored to facilitate improvements in mental health and well-being or do not allow for needs and preferences of individual participants. The Be Well...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the Australian government implementing strict international border closures. However, research has not yet investigated the mental health status of individuals impacted negatively by these international border closures. Methods The present study was a cross-sectional online survey of 3968 adults who rep...

Increasing the saliency of existing sources of meaning and purpose in life could be a practical focus area for innovative wellbeing interventions. This randomised controlled study aimed to assess the impact of a brief seven-day technology-based intervention on meaning in life, life satisfaction, and affect compared to a waitlist control group. A mo...

Replicating or distilling information from psychological interventions reported in the scientific literature is hindered by inadequate reporting, despite the existence of various methodologies to guide study reporting and intervention development. This article provides an in-depth explanation of the scientific development process for a mental healt...

Carers of veterans tend to put their own physical and psychological well‐being needs behind the needs of the person they are caring for and often do not seek assistance for their own physical and psychological well‐being. Combined, these factors lead to increased risk of acute and chronic illness and mental health issues. It is acknowledged that ph...

BACKGROUND During COVID-19, the mental health of the general population has been precarious, making it pivotal to determine the impact of complementary internet-based psychological interventions on psychological distress and mental wellbeing. Both types of outcomes represent distinct dimensions of our mental health and congruent changes in outcomes...

Background During COVID-19, the psychological distress and well-being of the general population has been precarious, increasing the need to determine the impact of complementary internet-based psychological interventions on both positive mental health as well as distress states. Psychological distress and mental well-being represent distinct dimens...

This paper reports on an investigation of the psychometric properties of the PERMA Profiler—a popular measure of well-being—with a large sample of Australian adults (n = 1942). We assessed the factor structure, scale reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the Profiler. Theory and evidence point to a second-order factor structure w...

Prisoners display significantly higher rates of mental disorders and lower mental wellbeing than the general population. The integration of positive psychological interventions in offender supervision has received recent advocacy. The aim of the current pre-post pilot study was to determine the short-term effects of group-based resilience training...

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is expected to have widespread and pervasive implications for mental health in terms of deteriorating outcomes and increased health service use, leading to calls for empirical research on mental health during the pandemic. Internet-based psychological measurement can play an important role in collectin...

There is an ever-increasing focus on the importance of addressing the mental health of students across the higher education sector. Measuring psychological distress or symptoms of common mental disorders as a proxy for mental health does however provide a limited picture of someone’s mental health status. There is a need to comprehensively measure...

High levels of positive mental health protect individuals from mental illness. This study investigates longitudinal change in positive mental health as a predictor of mental illness recovery in a cohort group. Using data from the 1995 and 2005 Midlife in the United States cross-sectional surveys (n=1,723), logistic regression was used to estimate...

Objectives: To test the effect of a community wellbeing intervention, delivered by community partners, on the wellbeing, resilience, optimism, and social connection of older adults in the general population (Study 1) and older adult carers (Study 2), a population at risk for low wellbeing. Methods: Participants self-selected to take part in an 8-w...

Background: Studies report that up to 80% of individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may struggle with symptoms of depression. However, this major comorbidity in COPD is rarely managed effectively. A number of recent studies indicate that left untreated, COPD-related depression is associated with worse quality of life, worse...

Objective Health services staff work in a stressful environment, which can negatively impact their mental health and wellbeing, and as a result can affect psychosocial and professional functioning. The implementation of resilience training aims to provide staff with basic psychological skills to improve mental health outcomes. The aim of the curren...

Cigarette smoking costs Australia and New Zealand billions of dollars per year and is the single most preventable risk to health. Though governments have initiated numerous public health policies which have reduced the incidence of smoking, current usage remains around 15 percent. Making further inroads is likely to require augmenting these interve...

Longevity is a valuable resource for society, as older people are increasingly looking for new ways to contribute after retirement. Their contribution is however dependent upon their physical health, mental health and wellbeing. The potential role that mental health and wellbeing, two separate but interrelated constructs, play often are both under-...

Currently, the evidence for mobile health (mHealth) smoking cessation interventions is limited and heterogeneous, warranting the need for innovative rigorously developed solutions. The aim of this study was to describe the development of a smoking cessation smartphone application (app) developed using evidence based principles. The app (Kick.it) wa...

(1) Background: While the prevalence of tobacco smoking in the general population has declined, it remains exceptionally high for smokers with severe mental illness (SMI), despite significant public health measures. This project aims to adapt, pilot test and evaluate a novel e-health smoking cessation intervention to assist relapse prevention and e...

Introduction: Mental health interventions disseminated via, or accessed using, digital technologies are an innovative new treatment modality for managing co-morbid depression and substance use disorder. The present systematic review assessed the current state of this literature. Methods: A search of the Cochrane Library, Embase, Pubmed, PsycINFO a...

Background: For management of pneumothorax that occurs without underlying lung disease, also referred to as primary spontaneous pneumothorax, simple aspiration is technically easier to perform than intercostal tube drainage. In this systematic review, we seek to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of simple aspiration versus intercostal tube...

Background: Mass media interventions can be used as a way of delivering preventive health messages. They have the potential to reach and modify the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of a large proportion of the community. Objectives: To assess the effects of mass media interventions on preventing smoking in young people, and whether it can redu...

Background: In the recent years, a variety of bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) procedures have emerged that may provide a treatment option to participants suffering from moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objectives: To assess the effects of BLVR on the short- and long-term health outcomes in participants...

Background: Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) performed to treat patients with severe diffuse emphysema was reintroduced in the nineties. Lung volume reduction surgery aims to resect damaged emphysematous lung tissue, thereby increasing elastic properties of the lung. This treatment is hypothesised to improve long-term daily functioning and qua...

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To assess the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions for the treatment of depression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To assess the effectiveness of psychological therapies for the treatment of depression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: The aim of this review is to objectively evaluate the short- and long-term impact of BLVR health outcomes in patients with moderate to severe COPD.

Introduction/Aim: to determine the facilitators and barriers for the use of a smartphone app as a smoking cessation method by smokers and health professionals (HP’s). Method: Qualitative interviews involving a focus group and semi-structured interviews were conducted with current and ex-smokers as well as HP’s at two hospitals in South Australia....