Work, Social Enterprise and Mental Health Promotion : A psychology of religious analysis of work as a mental health promotion activity

The intent of this paper is to investigate social enterprise, and the Swedish work environment regulations as expressed in the Organizational and social work environment provisions of the Swedish Work Environment Authority (AFS 2015:4) within the context of mental health promotion. This investigation will generate hypotheses regarding how social enterprises and the individuals working in these environments utilize work in creating mental health promotional activities. The theoretical approach to be used in this paper is twofold: Attachment Theory and Meaning Making Theory. In order to deepen our understanding of work as a mental health promotional activity the phenomena of social enterprise and AFS, 2015:4 were subjected to a textual analysis in the form of a focus group interview and followed with a semi-structured interview. The research design was transformational, and the method was mixed combining literature review, text analysis, a focus group interview and several semi-structured interviews. The population interviewed was employees and management within social enterprises in Uppsala, Sweden. The conclusion reached was that the ability for a work environment to promote health was in correlation to the quality of social relationships and the ability to understand and experience the activity of work as meaningful and meaning making. Based upon this conclusion hypothesis were generated for further research