The Faculty of Psychology’s Public Relation — The launch of a book entitled “Well-Being: Concept, Research, and Its Application in Indonesia” has been officially carried out. On Saturday, November 19, 2022, the book was launched via Zoom meeting platform and was attended by lecturers and people who contributed to this book. The activities carried out include; remarks by the Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Padjadjaran University, Mrs. Zahrotur Rusyda Hinduan, MOP, Ph.D., Psychologist, followed by the submission of the book by Mrs. R. Juke Siregar as head of the Academic Leadership Grant (ALG) to the Dean of Fapsi Unpad. After that, there was also a book review session which was thoroughly discussed by the book’s chief editor, namely Dr. Zainal Abidin, M.Psi. It did not stop there, the next activity was a book discussion session which was presented by three speakers namely, Prof. Arief Anshory Yusuf, Ph.D who is a Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business at Padjadjaran University, Dr. Bagus Takwin, Psychologist who is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia, and Dr. Nani Nurrachman Sutojo who is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, Atmajaya Jakarta University. They each explained the background to the creation of this book and complemented each other from various aspects, in terms of Economics and Business as well as Psychology.
Launching of a book entitled “Well-Being: Concept, Research, and Its Application in Indonesia”
Photo: Humas Fapsi
The book was compiled by a team of writers from 13 best universities in Indonesia (30 authors) from lecturers to students, and this is a form of the Padjadjaran University’s Faculty of Psychology efforts to improve well-being in Indonesia which is expected to bring benefits to society, from Psychology to general public. The process of making this book is the result of all series of activities starting from research, collaboration with outsiders from Padjadjaran University, interventions, to publication. However, intervention for communities were forced to not be carried out due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, but with the efforts and support of many parties, the publication of this book was still possible.
Book Review Session with Dr. Zainal Abidin, M.Psi as the chief editor, guided by Fitri Ariyanti Abidin, M.Psi., Psikolog as the moderator.
Photo: Humas Fapsi
During the contents reviewing session, it was said that there are six parts to the contents of the book, namely the concept of well-being, measurement of well-being, well-being in cultural and societal contexts, well-being in the context of education and work, well-being in specific contexts, and interventions to improve well-being. The material in this book was obtained through webinar speakers from the ALG team which consisted of members of the ALG team and a number of academics and practitioners from various universities in Indonesia, Netherland, and Spain. Apart from the source person, there were also book material donations from colleagues of the Padjadjaran University’s Faculty of Psychology who had conducted well-being research and applications.
The reason behind the creation of this book is the Covid-19 Pandemic situation which has a considerable impact on the well-being of every human being. The impacts are first, the decrease in the quality of welfare community members due to experiencing stress, which is supported by the research that has been conducted and the non-return of well-being due to the transition process (new normal) that is occurring. Second, through a survey conducted by BPS regarding the people happiness index, since 2014 Indonesia hasn’t received attention and referrals from the government, corporations, and society regarding its index. In fact, happiness is the main indicator in measuring the success of development carried out by the government. Third, well-being is an important material to be researched, developed and improved in Indonesia so that aspects of individual, social, cultural and political life have a positive effect. Finally, well-being is positively correlated with education, which basically means that students need teachers who are happy, so that they can motivate students to learn.
Explanation of Well-being and its Relation to Economic Aspects by Prof. Arief Anshory Yusuf, Ph.D.
Photo: Humas Fapsi
After a few words from the chief editor, the event was continued with a more detailed discussion, started with Prof. Arief Anshory Yusuf, Ph.D. Well-being is an experience of health, joy, and prosperity in which individuals have good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress. This well-being book has a high urgency, is comprehensive, made based on scientific data and facts so that the academic quality would be decent, as well as becoming a supporter for humans — especially in Indonesia, a developing country which needs good management and resources. Prof. Yusuf also sees how Indonesia always has great targets ahead such as being one of the best 5 countries in the world, fostering economic growth, and ideas like these are called growth obsession. These are essential and would indeed support the country, but even until now all the steps are still incomplete. When we see it through the perspective of the economy, we would realize that though financial is an important one, money is not the only main thing. Countries whose happiness indexes are high are indeed the wealthy ones, but besides financial income, there are still other important factors such as health, education, generosity, etc. Therefore, besides objective well-being which sees the general condition of a community, subjective well-being is also an important one for a wide community. In this case, the community also includes the elderly, people who live in remote areas, groups which are vulnerable and susceptible to receive unpleasant treatment.
Book Discussion Session with Academics and Other Practitioners from Various Campuses in Indonesia
Photo: Humas Fapsi
Dr. Bagus Takwin, Psikolog also gives insight from Psychology’s point of view. In his opinion, Psychology can make a meaningful contribution to human life and cultivate knowledge with a justified and adequate scientific basis, applicable in helping people to be happy. This well-being book is a very good one because it was manifested from concepts, research, and areas that existed in Indonesia at a time when there were many translations/research from overseas only. Well-being for both society and individuals has a significant influence. When someone has a good condition, they will also be more resilient to stress, lead a positive and meaningful life, be able to build relationships, and carry out prosocial activities. This also grows the strength that empowers humans in developing civilization and culture. Promoting well-being also requires effective systematic actions and initiatives in Indonesia. This effort certainly must be carried out thoroughly and massively. We expect that besides subjective well-being inside of ourselves, a sense of wanting to participate and feeling mutually valued and connected to the social environment grow in community and social groups.
As previously mentioned, Dr. Nani Nurrachman Sutojo also said that subjective well-being is also important for change and social movement, especially in our country and its current condition. This well-being book also describes how our current conditions are closely related to culture which is a research variable in these communities. So to interpret local knowledge, of course, we require expertise from experts. The concept of well-being can also be used as a principle and basis for the development of intervention modules because it is viewed from the perspective of Biopsychology and Neuroscience as well. It is hoped that in the future this book can also become an intervention module that initiates more new related studies. In addition, it would also be very good if in the future a multidisciplinary meta-scientific collaboration was held so that more new things were revealed, new discoveries and knowledge were discovered, and could be of benefit to a wider audience. *(H/SKN)