Positive psychology pioneers: Ryan Niemiec's power and potential to influence mental health nursing

Abstract

This article is the fourth in a series that celebrates the work of positive psychologists and how their work has the power and potential to influence mental health nursing practice. This article discusses Professor Ryan Niemiec and his work on character strengths. The practical activities provided will help the reader increase their own awareness of character strengths to develop their use and transferability within their own life.

Full text

British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032 1
PRACTICEPRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
Introduction
Professor Ryan M Niemiec (pronounced ‘knee-mick’) is a contemporary American
researcher and the world’s foremost authority on the science, practice and teaching of
character strengths, considered to be the backbone of positive psychology. He is currently
the Education Director of the Values in Action (VIA) Institute on Character, a non-prot
making organisation that leads the global advancement of the science of character strengths
and funds the development of VIA classication research. He lectures at the Universitiy
of Pennsylvania and at universities across the globe. He has authored 11 books, over
100academic papers and several hundred user-friendly articles. Since 2008, he has been a
Charter Member and became a Fellow of the International Positive Psychological Association
(IPPA). In 2022, he presented Character strengths and education at the World Happiness
Summit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdemHog6jBo).
This resumé is evidence enough of his merit to be included as a pioneer in this series,
but he also understands what it means to be in clinical practice. He is an award-winning
psychologist, receiving the Distinguished Early Career Award from the American
Psychological Association in 2011 and continues to apply his work to develop the eld of
mental health and wellbeing (Hershberg et al, 2022), pathways to peace (Niemiec, 2022),
disabilities (Umucu et al, 2022) and COVID-19 (Waters et al, 2022).
Early days
Niemiec was born in Detroit in 1974 as the rst-born of three children in a compassionate
family environment. His parents encouraged him to nd his own way in life and allowed
him to make his own choices, supporting him along the way. As a teenager, he spent more
time reading in bookshops than at parties. He was interested in the self-development,
psychology, philosophy and spirituality sections, because of an innate desire to not only
strengthen himself, but to also benet others.
Niemiec graduated from Michigan State University in 1997, having studied English and
Psychology. He then decided to specialise in psychology, attaining a Master’s degree in
1999 and achieving his doctorate in clinical psychology in 2001. This timeline coincided
with the birth of the positive psychology movement as we now know it, by the founding
fathers including Professor Martin Seligman (Macfarlane, 2022a), Professor Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi (Macfarlane, 2022b), Professor Ed Diener (Macfarlane, 2022c) and Dr
Neal Mayerson, among others. There were also founding mothers that deserve recognition:
Professor Barbara Fredrickson, who developed the broaden-and-build theory of positive
How to cite this article:
Macfarlane J. Positive
psychology pioneers: Ryan
Niemiec’s power and potential
to inuence mental health
nursing. British Journal of
Mental Health Nursing. 2022.
https://doi.org/bjmh.2022.0032
Positive psychology pioneers: Ryan Niemiec’s
power and potential to influence mental
health nursing
JanMacfarlane
Author details can be found
at the end of this article
Correspondence to:
Jan Macfarlane;
jm24@bolton.ac.uk
Abstract
This article is the fourth in a series that celebrates the work of positive psychologists and
how their work has the power and potential to inuence mental health nursing practice.
This article discusses Professor Ryan Niemiec and his work on character strengths.
The practical activities provided will help the reader increase their own awareness of
character strengths to develop their use and transferability within their own life.
Key words: Character strengths; Flourishing; Happiness; Mental health nursing;
Mindfulness; Positive psychology

2 British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032
PRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
emotions (2001), and Sonya Lyubomirsky’s work with subjective happiness and positive
affect (Lyubormirsky and Lepper, 1999).
Dr Neal Mayerson worked as a psychotherapist, specialising in mental health issues.
In 1999, he offered to help fund positive psychology projects to discover and build upon
what is good in life. In collaboration with Professor Martin Seligman, they agreed to
develop a manual of good character strengths, accompanied by a questionnaire that was
able to measure them (Seligman, 2018). Thus, the classication of character strengths and
virtues, along with the surveys on character strengths (Peterson and Seligman, 2004), was
conceived. At the same time the VIA Institute on Character was created, making these
surveys free on its website. These tools are deemed to be among the most important outputs
in positive psychology, having generated hundreds of scientic articles, and millions of
people worldwide have discovered their character strengths and how to use them to improve
their lives and the lives of others.
In 2004, Niemiec was a practicing clinical psychologist in St Louis, working in areas
such as outpatients and pain management clinics, when he discovered the VIA classication
by Peterson and Seligman (2004) and was attracted by its holistic nature. He also saw its
potential to provide a future career plan for himself that he perceived as a calling (Niemiec,
2018). He initially applied its positive theoretical framework to study a range of lms from
a character strength and positive psychology perspective (Niemiec and Wedding, 2014)
and began introducing it into clinical practice. Soon after, Niemiec and his wife Rachelle, a
child psychologist, decided to return closer to their family roots in Cincinnati, and realised
that the VIA Institute on Character was also based there. Mayerson interviewed and hired
him, and consequently Niemiec became one of the VIA Institute’s rst employees.
Current activities
Niemec has since collaborated with other notable senior scientists at the VIA, including
Dr Robert McGrath (2015a, b; McGrath et al, 2022) and Professor Willi Ruch (Ruch and
Stahlma, 2019; Ruch et al, 2020). This has allowed them to research and further develop
the foundation of knowledge relating to character strengths. Other VIA consultants Niemiec
has worked with include Tayyab Rashid (Niemiec et al, 2012; Rashid and Niemiec, 2020)
and Michelle McQuaid (McQuaid et al, 2018).
Niemiec’s purpose to develop others has continued decades later as he still works as
a psychologist across multiple settings, collaborates with a wide range of international
research groups, delivers a multitude of presentations on positive psychology through varied
media sources and blogs for Psychology Today. He continues to sustain his developing
journey with the VIA Institute.
Mindfulness
Niemiec’s initial contact with mindfulness practices began in the 1990s and he quickly
tuned in to the benets of how he could successfully and meaningfully apply them to his
daily life to provide fullment. This linked him to other established scientically based
mindfulness tutors, such as Jon Kabat-Zinn (2021), and practically based leaders, such
as Thich Nhat Hanh (2008), and enabled him to study at a time when this topic was still
relatively new to the general population.
It was not until Niemiec successfully secured his post as education director with the
VIA Institute in 2009 that he was able to explore strengths research in greater detail and
connected with other international specialists in this eld. Here he linked mindfulness as
a mechanism for working with strengths (Niemiec, 2013; Bretherton and Niemiec, 2018),
Box 1. Activity
Watch this 20-minute YouTube video where Ryan Niemiec discusses mindfulness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ686gc50jk

British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032 3
PRACTICEPRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
which had been successfully used to help people deal with mental health problems, so it
seemed obvious that it could be used to help individuals to ourish.
Niemiec explains that merging mindfulness and character strengths brings a synergy of
awareness to our best qualities (Ivtzan et al, 2016). Mindfulness offers the consciousness
to notice these qualities, and character strengths provide the contextual areas we can be
mindful about. He is the rst scholar to integrate these two paths of self-development and
ourishing by creating mindfulness-based strengths practice, an evidence-based 8-week
programme that integrates mindfulness and character strengths practices, which represents
the rst structured character strengths programme. This was followed by the innovation
of the VIA Institute’s rst certication programme – a certication in mindfulness-based
strengths practice. These courses explicitly focus on what is the best in people and allow
others to be trained in this area to ensure sustainability. Over the last couple of decades,
Niemec has continued to lead on several hundred mindfulness meditation groups for both
clinical and non-clinical populations, as well as delivering mindfulness retreats, seminars
and workshops to a wide range of professions, including doctors, counsellors, religious
groups and the general public. Appropriately, his given lineage name in the Zen tradition
of Thich Nhat Hanh is ‘Fullest Breath of the Heart.’(Niemiec, 2014).
Niemiec still lives in Cincinnati with Rachelle and their three young children: Rhys,
Ryland and Maya. Despite living such a full academic life, he successfully manages quality
time with his family and pursues his hobbies of Tai Chi, playing chess, basketball, and
guitar. He enjoys watching Michigan State athletics, the American post-apocalyptic horror
television series ‘The Walking Dead’ and positive psychology-linked lms. Niemiec’s
passion for his study continues, and there are future publications planned relating to
character strengths and disability and an updated version of Mindfulness and Character
Strengths, which will be accompanied by a practical guide.
Box 2. Enhanced learning
You can explore some of Ryan Niemiec’s contribution to positive psychology through these books:
■ Positive Psychology at the Movies (Niemiec and Wedding, 2014). This book systematically discusses each of the
24-character strengths, balancing lm discussion, related psychological research and practical applications
■ Mindfulness and Character Strengths (Niemiec, 2014). This hands-on resource is for mindfulness-based strengths
practice, the rst structured programme to combine mindfulness with the character strengths.
■ Character Strengths Interventions (Niemiec, 2018) This book is the epitome of positive psychology: it takes the
backbone of positive psychology character strengths and builds a substantive bridge between the science and practice
■ The Power of Character Strengths (Niemiec and McGrath, 2019). This book guides the reader through their 24 strengths
to discover how to appreciate what is best in them and champion strengths in the people they care about most
■ The Strengths-Based Workbook for Stress Relief (Niemiec, 2019). This book provides a science-based viewpoint on
how stress can be seen as an opportunity
■ The Positivity Workbook for Teens (Bocci and Niemiec, 2020). A toolkit for nding inner strengths and using those
strengths to accomplish real positivity.
Box 3. Further useful resources
■ VIA survey of character strengths self-assessment and other related research topics: https://www.viacharacter.org:
■ A blog focusing on what is best in human beings: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/what-matters-most
■ A poem entitled The world needs you - all 24 of your character strengths: https://via-assets.global.ssl.fastly.
net/76d1ea39-a4eb-4270-b9dc-899653415f8f/assets/TheWorldNeedsYou_12_2021_r_logo.pdf
■ A video entitled The World Needs All Of You: https://www.viacharacter.org/resources/videos/the-world-needs-you-video
■ Free articles on new ndings on character strengths: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-matters-
most/202105/just-released-new-ndings-character-strengths

4 British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032
PRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
Relevance to mental health nursing
What are character strengths?
Character strengths are an individual’s capacity for thoughts, emotions and behaviours
and when these are in balance, they help people to ourish in life (Peterson and Seligman,
2004). Niemiec (2018) summarises the science with this multidimensional denition of
character strengths, they are positive personal traits that:
■ Reect your core identity
■ Produce positive outcomes for yourself and others (such as building wellbeing and
managing suffering)
■ Contribute to the collective greater good.
Peterson and Seligman (2004) classied 24 distinct character strengths, which were
categorised into six larger virtues; this system is called the VIA Classication and is
measured by the VIA Inventory of Strengths (Box 5). These strengths were agreed and
shown to be valued through sex, age, class and culture, with a recognition that these
traits will also vary individually in different degrees and within contexts. All 24 character
strengths matter and they can all be used to improve self-development. The character
strengths in the VIA Inventory of Strengths were found to be similar across 75 countries
(McGrath, 2015a) with over 5 million people from all over the world, who together spoke
over 37 languages, completing the free online version as a psychometric measure that
emerged with the original classication.
From the 24 character strengths identied, the most important aspect is identication of
the top ve signature strengths, as these are the most important to the individual’s identity.
These are the strengths that are the most natural t to the person and harmonious to use
in everday life. Gander et al (2013) carried out early randomised controlled studies that
found that by using these signature strengths in a new way each day, there were signicant
reductions in depression and increases in happiness. Following on from this study, Gander
et al (2021) demonstrated that character strengths and emotional wellbeing are related
when studying individuals’ day-to-day experiences.
Strengths are thought to be relatively stable over time, but can change depending on
events, so it is recommended to take the survey yearly to get an ever-increasing fuller
picture of the real person. Niemiec (2018) cited that his own signature strengths are hope,
love, curiosity, fairness and honesty.
Clinical application
Schutte and Malouff (2019) found that people with depression who use their strengths
improved their mental health. They posited that a focus on character strengths may bolster
mental health by helping one to identify and use their best qualities, or signature strengths,
Box 4. Activity
Watch this 25-minute YouTube video where Niemiec explains character strengths, how they
can be used and how organisations can benet from this knowledge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV7otW4K9-8
Box 5. A classication of VIA character strengths and virtues
Wisdom Courage Human ity Justice Temper ance Tran scendence
Creativity Bravery Love Teamwork Forgiveness Appreciation of beauty
and excellence
Curiosity Perseverance Kindness Fairness Humility Gratitude
Judgement Honesty Social intelligence Leadership Prudence Hope
Love of learning Zest Self-regulation Humour
Perspective Spirituality
Source: https://www.viacharacter.org

British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032 5
PRACTICEPRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
in new ways, thus boosting their wellbeing, energy, and connectedness. Littman-Ovadia
and Freidlin (2020) replicated earlier studies with clients with psychological disorders, and
found that the overuse and underuse of character strengths was connected with negative
variables (eg less ourishing, more depression) and conrming that optimal use related to
positive outcomes. Niemiec (2019) was largely responsible for the theory on the overuse,
optimal use, underuse concept, in character strength theory.
Workplace
Although, there are many aspects to Niemiec’s work that can be applied to developing the
eld of mental health nursing, Niemiec noted that there are only a few studies on character
strengths in the areas of health and medicine (Niemiec and Pearce, 2021).
There are studies that look at character strengths in healthcare workers. Macfarlane
et al (2017) collated strength ratings from health and social care students through a series
of workshops. Although this was not initially anticipated as an important measure, it
highlighted that overall there was a signicant pattern of strengths, with kindness, honesty,
fairness, love and teamwork being strongest in all cohorts. These can be seen as natural
Box 6. Activity
Identify your top ve character strengths:
1. Log onto this website www.viacharacter.org
2. Read the top tabs and click on character strengths
3. Register online (make note of details so you can access again!)
4. Complete questions, save and download/print out your sheet
5. Look at the related information and enjoy the realisation of your positive qualities
6. Consider your thoughts and feelings – are there any surprises, are you excited and pleased by the ones shown?
7. Choose one strength from the top 5 and think about how you could use it more to afrm it and improve your wellbeing.
Box 7. Activity
Watch this 19-minute YouTube video where Ryan Niemiec discusses a universal language that describes what is
best in us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWck0mKGWc&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
The main theme here is the importance of nding strengths that feel natural and energising, then using them to spread
positivity to others.
Box 8. Activity
We often take for granted what we have. The following exercise can help you to really value your uniqueness:
1. Choose the strength that you feel is most positive and meaningful for you
2. Think about how you have used it in achievement and happy moments in your life
3. Now imagine that you could not use it or have the ability to use it
4. Reect on the difference this would bring to your life.
Source: Niemiec (2018)
Box 9. Activity
To improve self-awareness:
1. Show the list of your character strengths to a range of people who know you from home, work, community, friends
2. Ask them to identify the ve they think most suit you and give an example of when it was demonstrated
3. Collate the feedback and compare it to your own results and pick up any themes
4. Put this new self-awareness to work.
Source: Niemiec (2018)

6 British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032
PRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
strengths at rst glance but may also be important markers of signature strengths in this type
of care worker. Further analysis is still being carried out, but reection on the increasing
evidence suggests that these data could be used further to enhance the individual, team
and organisation’s performance and success.
Grinhauz et al (2022) afrm that character strengths constitute a valuable resource for
nursing students given their role as predictors of the ability to adapt to university life.
Furthermore, Ding et al’s (2022) study encouraged nurses to foster their character strengths
and improve their level of work engagement for their subjective wellbeing. They further
recommended that nursing managers be aware of the importance of using character strengths
in clinical work to promote engagement and wellbeing. However, there are no studies
that show a direct link between character strength research and mental health nursing.
Having the agency to control and develop our positive mental wellbeing as mental
health nurses may be a skill we take for granted, but the potential ability to extend this
is benecial and exciting. However, it may also be a challenge, as mental health nurses
are used to identifying others’ strengths and abilities as part of an assessment within
person-centred care.
Niemiec (2020) stated that character strengths psychology can and should continue to
be a modernising inuence in humanising the workplace, as it demonstrates measurable
psychological benet to employees, and this is of particular benet for mental health nurses.
He advocated that character strengths psychology has the power to be both reective and
self-critical. Niemiec (2020) noted character strengths help to contribute to the full range
of human experiences by creating positive opportunities to ourish, steering us through
the difculties, as well as tolerating the tedious.
Understanding Niemiec’s contributions to research can be aligned to the Standards of
Prociency for Registered Nurses (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2018a). Particularly in
relation to Platform 1: Being an accountable professional in demonstrating understanding of
research methods to practice safely and promote good practice by thinking critically when
applying evidence. It also afliates with the nurse’s Code of Conduct Section 6 on practising
effectively on the best available evidence (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2018b).
It is encouraging to see that the topic of character strengths is now being included in
textbooks for those working in mental health practice (Trenoweth, 2022). However, given
the extensive body of research undertaken in this area, there is much more that could be
done and this is an area ripe for future development (Macfarlane, 2019).
Conclusions
Ryan Niemiec’s prolic body of work continues to fascinate and challenge us. He is able
to bring important insights to mental health nurses using an academic, yet user-friendly
approach that stimulates interest in learning more and helps us belong to this research
community. Character strengths can help us individually and in practice to help live our
lives optimally, tailoring them to our own needs and applications. Despite this, there
remains a clarion call to researchers and mental health nurses, particularly in the UK, to
add to the body of evidence and help advance the knowledge for our own authenticity
and to benet others.
Author details
Faculty of Health and Well-Being, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Professor Jerome Carson for comments on an earlier version
of this paper.
Conicts of interest
The author declares that they have no conicts of interest.
Funding
No funding was received for this work.

British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032 7
PRACTICEPRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
References
Bocci GS, Niemiec RM. The positivity workbook for teens: skills to help you increase optimism,
resilience, and a growth mindset. Oakland (CA): New Harbinger Publications; 2020
Bretherton R, Niemiec RM. Character strengths as critique: the power of positive psychology to humanise
the workplace. In: Brown NJL, Lomas T, Eiroa-Orosa FJ (eds). The Routledge international handbook
of critical positive psychology. Oxford: Routledge; 2018:315–336
Ding X, Kan H, Chu X, Sun C, Ruan F. A study of character strengths, work engagement and subjective
well-being in Chinese registered nurses. Med Pr. 2022;73(4):295–304. https://doi.org/10.13075/
mp.5893.01203
Fredrickson BL. The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: the broaden-and-build theory of
positive emotions. Am Psychol. 2001;56(3):218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218
Gander F, Proyer RT, Ruch W, Wyss T. Strength-based positive interventions: further evidence for their
potential in enhancing well-being and alleviating depression. J Happiness Stud. 2013;14(4):1241–
1259. https://doi.org/10.007/s10902-012-9380-0
Gander F, Wagner L, Amann L, Ruch W. What are character strengths good for? A daily diary study
on character strengths enactment. J Posit Psychol. 2021:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743976
0.2021.1926532
Grinhauz AS, Azzara SH, Azzollini S. Can character strengths predict college adjustment? A study carried
out in nursing students in the Argentine Republic. Trends Psychol. 2022:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s43076-022-00215-1
Hanh TN. The miracle of mindfulness: an introduction to the practice of meditation. 4th edn.
London: Rider; 2008
Hershberg RM, Niemiec RM, Kula I. The ourishing congregations project: character strengths pathways
to enhance well-being beyond the individual. In: Tay L, Pawelski JO (eds). The Oxford handbook of
the positive humanities. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2022
Ivtzan I, Niemiec RM, Briscoe C. A study investigating the effects of mindfulness-based strengths practice
(MBSP) on wellbeing. Int J Wellbeing. 2016;6(2):1–13. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v6i2.557
Kabat-Zinn J. The liberative potential of mindfulness. Mindfulness. 2021;12(6):1555–1563. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s12671-021-01608-6
Littman-Ovadia H, Freidlin P. Positive psychopathology and positive functioning: OCD, ourishing and
satisfaction with life through the lens of character strength underuse, overuse and optimal use. Appl
Res Qual Life. 2020;15(2):529–549. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-018-9701-5
Lyubomirsky S, Lepper HS. A measure of subjective happiness: preliminary reliability and construct
validation. Soc Indic Res. 1999;46(2):137–155. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006824100041
Macfarlane J, Mackey C, Carson J. A positive psychology workshop for trainee assistant practitioners.
British Journal of Healthcare Assistants. 2017;11(7):342–347. https://doi.org/10.12968/
bjha.2017.11.7.342
Macfarlane J. Exploring how awareness of character strengths can benet mental health nurses. British
Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 2019;8(3):145–152. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2019.8.3.145
Macfarlane J. Positive psychology pioneers: Professor Martin Seligman's power and potential to inuence
mental health nursing. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 2022a;11(1):1–8. https://doi.
org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0004
Macfarlane J. Positive psychology pioneers: Mihaly Csiksentmihalyi’s power and potential to inuence
mental health nursing. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 2022b;11(2):1–8. https://doi.
org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0012
Macfarlane J. Positive psychology pioneers: Ed diener’s power and potential to inuence mental health
nursing. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 2022c;11(3):1–9. https://doi.org/10.12968/
bjmh.2022.0026
McGrath RE. Character strengths in 75 nations: an update. J Posit Psychol. 2015a;10(1):41–52. https://
doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.888580
McGrath RE. Integrating psychological and cultural perspectives on virtue: the hierarchical structure
of character strengths. J Posit Psychol. 2015b;10(5):407–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/174397
60.2014.994222
McGrath RE, Han H, Brown M, Meindl P. What does character education mean to character education
experts? A prototype analysis of expert opinions. J Moral Educ. 2022;51(2):219–237. https://doi.org/10
.1080/03057240.2020.1862073
McQuaid M, Niemiec RM, Doman F. Character strengths-based approaches in positive psychology
coaching. In: Green S, Palmer S (eds). Positive psychology coaching in practice. Abingdon:
Routledge; 2018:71–84

8 British Journal of Mental Health Nursing | 2022 | https://doi.org/10.12968/bjmh.2022.0032
PRACTICE
© 2022 MA Healthcare Ltd
Niemiec RM. VIA character strengths: research and practice (the rst 10 years). In: Knoop H, Delle
Fave A (eds). Wellbeing and cultures. cross-cultural advancements in positive psychology. Dordrecht:
Springer; 2013:11–29
Niemiec RM. Mindfulness and character strengths. Boston: Hogrefe Publishing; 2014
Niemiec RM. Character strengths interventions: a eld guide for practitioners. Boston: Hogrefe
Publishing; 2018
Niemiec RM. The strengths-based workbook for stress relief: a character strengths approach to nding
calm in the chaos of daily life. Oakland (CA): New Harbinger Publications; 2019
Niemiec RM. Six functions of character strengths for thriving at times of adversity and opportunity:
a theoretical perspective. Appl Res Qual Life. 2020;15(2):551–572. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s11482-018-9692-2
Niemiec RM. Pathways to peace: character strengths for personal, relational, intragroup, and intergroup
peace. J Posit Psychol. 2022;17(2):219–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.2016909
Niemiec RM, Wedding D. Positive psychology at the movies: using lms to build virtues and character
strengths. Boston: Hogrefe Publishing; 2014
Niemiec RM, McGrath RE. The power of character strengths: appreciate and ignite your positive
personality. Cincinnati (OH): VIA Institute on Character; 2019
Niemiec RM, Pearce R. The practice of character strengths: unifying denitions, principles, and
exploration of what’s soaring, emerging, and ripe with potential in science and in practice. Front
Psychol. 2021;11:590220. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.590220
Niemiec R, Rashid T, Spinella M. Strong mindfulness: integrating mindfulness and character strengths. J
Ment Health Couns. 2012;34(3):240–253. https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.34.3.34p6328x2v204v21
Nursing and Midwifery Council. Future nurse: standards of prociency for registered nurses. London:
Nursing and Midwifery Council; 2018a
Nursing and Midwifery Council. The code: professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses,
midwives and nursing associates. London: Nursing and Midwifery Council.; 2018b
Peterson C, Seligman ME. Character strengths and virtues: a handbook and classication. Oxford: Oxford
University Press; 2004
Rashid T, Niemiec RM. Character strengths. In: Maggino F (ed). Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-
being research. Cham: Springer; 2020
Ruch W, Stahlmann AG. 15 years after Peterson and Seligman (2004): a brief narrative review of the
research on the 12 criteria for character strengths–the forgotten treasure of the VIA Classication. In:
Brohm-Badry M, Peifer C, Greve JM, Berend B (eds). Zusammen wachsen – Förderung der positiv-
psychologischen Entwicklung von Individuum, Organisation und Gesellschaft. Lengerich: Pabst
Science Publishers; 2019:142–172
Ruch W, Niemiec RM, McGrath RE, Gander F, Proyer RT. Character strengths-based interventions: open
questions and ideas for future research. J Posit Psychol. 2020;15(5):680–684. https://doi.org/10.1080/1
7439760.2020.1789700
Schutte NS, Malouff JM. The impact of signature character strengths interventions: a meta-analysis. J
Happiness Stud. 2019;20(4):1179–1196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-9990-2
Seligman ME. The hope circuit: a psychologist's journey from helplessness to optimism. London:
Hachette; 2018
Trenoweth S. Understanding mental health practice for adult nursing students. London: SAGE
Publications; 2022
Umucu E, Lee B, Genova HM et al. Character strengths across disabilities: an international exploratory
study and implications for positive psychiatry and psychology. Front Psychiatry. 2022;13. https://doi.
org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.863977
Waters L, Algoe SB, Dutton J et al. Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building
mental health. J Posit Psychol. 2022;17(3):303–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1871945