Hope in Healthcare in an Era of Hopelessness

Background: We need more Hope in healthcare settings. Hopelessness, is at an all time high with 3 out of 5 young girls endorsing persistent feelings of hopelessness and nearly 48% of Americans endorsing feelings of hopelessness. Scientists have found many grave adverse consequences associated with hopelessness, and the the single consistent predictor of completed suicide is hopelessness. Suicide and suicide attempts cost America nearly $70 billion per year in medical and work-loss costs alone. Hope, the antidote of hopelessness, is a teachable and learnable skill with many positive health-related outcomes. Those with higher levels of hope are more likely to achieve their goals, subsequently improving their well-being, and that goals are met because these individuals have high agency-related hope thoughts (i.e., belief that they can attain their goals and are successful in life) and pathways-related hope thoughts (i.e., belief that they can overcome barriers and develop alternative solutions to goal a when needed).

Program background: It is not enough to know the science behind Hope and hopelessness; we must also activate Hope by disseminating the skills on how to Hope. Through the research of Kathryn Goetzke and leading experts on Hope, the Hopeful Minds curricula were developed. Hopeful Minds uses the Five Keys to SHINE Hope. SHINE is a simple pneumonic that stands for Stress Skills, Happiness Habits, Inspired Actions, Nourishing Networks, and Eliminating Challenges. Basically, the SHINE framework teaches people of all ages how to create, maintain, and grow a Hopeful Mindset. Through the Hopeful Minds curricula, we aim to equip students, teachers, and parents with the tools they need to define, learn, and grow a Hopeful mindset and prevent hopelessness around the world. We have two Hopeful Minds curriclas: An Overview and Deep Dive. Moreover, we aim to activate communities by sharing interventions from our Hopeful Cities program, which provides information on how to activate Hope in various settings (e.g., government, education, art, awareness, science, and the workplace), with free materials for all.

Evaluation Methods and Results: To evaluate our Hopeful Minds curricula, multiple studies have been implemented using various youth samples to determine whether our Five Keys to SHINE framework increases Hope level following course completion. Our findings supported our hypothesis that the curricula improved Hope levels.

Conclusions: In conclusion, the importance of hope in healthcare settings cannot be overstated, and the development and dissemination of Hopeful Minds curricula provide an effective way to teach and learn the skill of hope. The findings of the evaluation studies indicate that the Five Keys to SHINE framework is a useful tool to increase hope levels in youth and college students. The implications for research and practice are to continue to promote and expand the use of the Hopeful Minds program to equip individuals and communities with the tools needed to foster a hopeful mindset and prevent hopelessness.

Implications for research and/or practice: Hope is a strategy with many benefits, but we are not taught the ‘how’ to Hope. We must work to disseminate the skills so everyone can proactively move from hopelessness to hope.