Symposium Summary:

The positive effects of flow in daily life and work performance are well-known, but the salutary effects upon education and mental health are still being catalogued, as are the mechanisms by which these benefits occur. In this symposium, a global set of researchers will add highlights to these areas with a view to deepening our understanding of how flow works and the spaces in which flow can be part of an intervention that improves quality of life. A Danish team of researchers will present qualitative and quantitative data showing that connecting reading to flow experiences has the potential to improve reading skills and habits. On the mental health side, a group of Italian researchers will present a longitudinal study tracking how flow experiences can be used as part of a mental health assessment to track improvements in wellbeing and as part of a potential intervention, as well. Shifting to the mechanisms that underlie the power of flow experiences, an American scientist will present studies that assess the differences between flow experiences and mindful experiences, which will include a look at the relationship between positive experiences and intense focus. Expanding the mechanisms of flow at the team level, a Dutch scientist will present qualitative and quantitative research showing specific methods for promoting team flow and tools that coaches, leaders, and team members can use to track, foster, and enhance team performance through team flow. All four presentations will review further implications for how flow is operationalized, its mechanisms, and new and exciting ways in which flow can be used to improve mental health, education, and daily living.

Symposium Presentation 1: Using flow to understand how to improve reading skills and habits

Presenter: Frans Ørsted Andersen

Five Danish Libraries with around 15 librarians (and two researchers) tried during two years, 2016-2018, to improve and increase reading skills, time spent on reading and reading habits among a large group of readers (= aims of project). The target group were people "who used to read a lot but no longer can find time". This group consist of 700.000 Danes, around 200 of these were sampled to participate in the trials and the attached research. The methods to reach the aims included implementing and using flow "triggers" and other recommendations from the EFRN, European Flow Researchers Network. Methods of research consisted of surveys and interviews. The research show that the trials and the methods used to some extent were efficient to reach the aims. The conclusion thus is that you can "turn the tide" of declining reading skills among large groups of the population by using the methods in this project. The project was prolonged by some follow up interviews (following the end of the corona crisis) in 2021-2022, confirming the mentioned results.

Symposium Presentation 2: The longitudinal investigation of mental health and daily experience among persons with Major Depressive Disorder in remission before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Presenter: Veronica Pirola, Niccolò Cassina, Monica Bosi, Anna Colombo, Alberto Varinelli, Caterina Viganò, Antonella Delle Fave, Marta Bassi

Research highlighted the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, showing increased depressive symptoms and psychological distress in the general population and specifically in persons with depression. Longitudinal surveys exploring the pandemic mid-term effects however suggested a progressive adaption to a “new normal” condition. This longitudinal study investigates the daily experience reported before (T0) and during the pandemic (T1) by persons diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in remission, through an integrated approach jointly assessing clinical and well-being dimensions, as well as individuals’ experience in daily contexts. Participants were eight adults (Mage=50,37; 62,5% women). They filled out the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF), completed two weekly sessions of Experience Sampling Method (ESM), providing 432 real-time self-reports (54 each on average) about daily experience and contexts, and had regular psychiatric check-ups. Descriptive analyses of MHC-SF data detected stability in mental health diagnosis over time for 2 flourishing participants, 1 languishing and 4 moderately healthy ones; only 1 participant moved from languishing to moderate mental health. Clinical symptoms increased at T1 in 4 participants and decreased in the remaining 4. ESM data highlighted unique individual experiential profiles, based on the challenge/skill ratio evaluated through the Experience Fluctuation Model. From T0 to T1, 4 participants shifted from a predominant negative experience of boredom to the positive ones of relaxation, control and flow; 3 reported higher frequency of worry and anxiety; 1 participant reported a stable fluctuation between boredom and arousal. A global stability in daily activity distribution was observed across participants at T0 and T1. These complex individual patterns suggest the importance of jointly evaluating positive and negative indicators of mental health, together with the experience associated with daily contexts, in order to tailor clinical interventions according to individuals’ characteristics and to promote positive states such as flow.

Symposium Presentation 3: A focus on focusing in the fun times of flow

Presenter: Orin C. Davis

One of the longstanding questions about flow is precisely which features of the experience are necessary components of the whole and which may be an enhancement or an irrelevant aspect of flow. While early conceptions of flow focused exclusively on the challenge-skill balance (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 1975), other researchers suggested alternative primary indicators of flow, such as the merging of action and awareness (Quinn, 2005). As Abuhamdeh (2020) pointed out, there is very little consensus within the research about what, exactly, constitutes a flow experience (or even whether it is a state or experience!). But, nearly all of the research (at least, all of the research that tests for a fuller battery of flow characteristics [cf., Jackson et al., 2008; Abuhamdeh, 2020]) finds that there is a retrospective positive view of the experience, a degree of autotelicity to the activity involved, and immersion in the experience. In this series of studies, we focused on the absorption aspect of flow, looking at how experiences involving deep focus (e.g., mindful attention; cf. Davis & Ludwig, 2016) differ from flow experiences in terms of their emotional valence, autotelicity, and value ascribed to the time spent. Pilot studies have also shown that the deep focus aspect of flow explains a large percentage of the variance of several other characteristics (e.g., loss of reflective self-consciousness). In one study, we conduct a replication of these effects to assess preliminary evidence that we may be able to reduce the number of variables required to measure the flow experience, which can save significant explanatory power in future studies and change the way flow is both viewed and measured. We will also discuss implications for finding flow in daily life and creating interventions for increasing the frequency and depth of flow experiences.

Symposium Presentation 4: How to spark team flow in professional organizations

Presenter: Jef J.J. van den Hout

An important question in the field of team research is how teams deliver optimal collaboration. When team members who are collaborating towards a common purpose experience flow together, the team, as a performing unit, improves its performance and delivers individual happiness to its members. From a practical perspective, an intervention protocol for fostering team flow could guide teams toward optimal team functioning. The conception of team flow can help optimize various aspects of team functioning simultaneously. That makes team flow a highly relevant indicator of team functioning, which in turn makes monitoring team flow a valuable management tool for diagnosing and/or improving team (dys)function. The aim of this study is therefore first to get more insight into how the elements of team flow emerge (study 1) and second how an intervention protocol that includes measurements with the Team Flow Monitor can help team members, coaches, and leaders to sustain a healthy team dynamic by structuring the elements of team flow within their unique organizational context (study 2). For study 1 we conducted 50 interviews with team members, team leaders, and team experts and for study 2 20 teams from 6 companies were over a period of 6 months monthly assessed by the Team Flow Monitor and further inquired by semi-structured interviews with their team leaders/coaches. The results indicate that teams that discussed the monthly output of the Team Flow Monitor were able to overcome obstacles for team flow, set prerequisites to emerge team flow, and increase the experience of team flow.