104
M. K. Puteri Zarina et al.
undergraduates’ understanding of the concepts of mental health and mental wellbeing, they can be guided to seek assistance for handling difficulties related to their
well-being.
Keywords Mental health · Mental well-being · Adolescents · Maritime
undergraduates
11.1 Introduction
Students at the tertiary institutions are commonly faced with numerous phases of
transition and challenges [1]. These challenges come in various forms: having to
live away from family perhaps for the first time ever in their lives, learning ways to
be independent, forming new friendships, being financially decisive in addition to
handling examination and assignments. Being adolescents, these students are bound
to undergo a critical stage of psychological and biological transformations which are
normally influenced by the continuation or adoption of health-related behaviours.
According to Kang [2], a person’s wellness transcends mere physical health [2].
It embodies the combined states of physical, mental and spiritual well-being of a
person comprising six interrelated dimensions. These six dimensions are social wellness, emotional wellness, spiritual wellness, environmental wellness, occupational
wellness and intellectual wellness. Each of them shapes the quality of our lives:
– Social wellness is one’s successful connection with others. This encompasses the
ability to create and sustain healthy relationships with those around us.
– Emotional wellness is the ability to understand oneself and cope with the challenges in life. The ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness
or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our
emotional wellness.
– Spiritual wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. The
ability to develop congruency between values and actions and to realise a common
purpose that binds creation together contributes to our spiritual wellness.
– Environmental wellness is the ability to recognise our own responsibility for the
quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. The ability to make a
positive impact on the quality of our environment is in our homes, our communities
or our planet contributes to our environmental wellness.
– Occupational wellness is the ability to get personal fulfilment from our jobs or
our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. Our desire to
contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organisations we work
in and to society as a whole leads to occupational wellness.
– Intellectual wellness is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community
betterment. The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges
in pursuit of lifelong learning contributes to our intellectual wellness.
M. K. Puteri Zarina et al.
undergraduates’ understanding of the concepts of mental health and mental wellbeing, they can be guided to seek assistance for handling difficulties related to their
well-being.
Keywords Mental health · Mental well-being · Adolescents · Maritime
undergraduates
11.1 Introduction
Students at the tertiary institutions are commonly faced with numerous phases of
transition and challenges [1]. These challenges come in various forms: having to
live away from family perhaps for the first time ever in their lives, learning ways to
be independent, forming new friendships, being financially decisive in addition to
handling examination and assignments. Being adolescents, these students are bound
to undergo a critical stage of psychological and biological transformations which are
normally influenced by the continuation or adoption of health-related behaviours.
According to Kang [2], a person’s wellness transcends mere physical health [2].
It embodies the combined states of physical, mental and spiritual well-being of a
person comprising six interrelated dimensions. These six dimensions are social wellness, emotional wellness, spiritual wellness, environmental wellness, occupational
wellness and intellectual wellness. Each of them shapes the quality of our lives:
– Social wellness is one’s successful connection with others. This encompasses the
ability to create and sustain healthy relationships with those around us.
– Emotional wellness is the ability to understand oneself and cope with the challenges in life. The ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness
or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our
emotional wellness.
– Spiritual wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. The
ability to develop congruency between values and actions and to realise a common
purpose that binds creation together contributes to our spiritual wellness.
– Environmental wellness is the ability to recognise our own responsibility for the
quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. The ability to make a
positive impact on the quality of our environment is in our homes, our communities
or our planet contributes to our environmental wellness.
– Occupational wellness is the ability to get personal fulfilment from our jobs or
our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. Our desire to
contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organisations we work
in and to society as a whole leads to occupational wellness.
– Intellectual wellness is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community
betterment. The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges
in pursuit of lifelong learning contributes to our intellectual wellness.