Hope for a better future: using positive psychology to empower female migrant domestic workers to create sustainable, and successful futures

Hope, a key construct in positive psychology, is comprised of agency, and pathways thinking. Agency thinking is the ability to initiate, and sustain motivation, while pathways thinking is the ability to generate the multiple strategies needed to attain goals. Higher levels of hope facilitate positive life changes. Nurturing hope in women who face many challenges when trying to escape poverty may coincide with the acquisition of other valuable skills. aidha, a not-for-profit organization in Singapore, provides entrepreneurial skills training to female migrant domestic workers from the Philippines, and Indonesia, and appears to foster hope. It was hypothesized that aidha’s “Managing Your Money” course increases hope by activating agency, and pathways thinking, and that adding ajoumaling exercise to focus on their future goals would further increase hope. Scores on the Hope Scale significantly increased for both the agency, and pathways thinking subscales. However, the journaling exercise did not enhance this effect. Implications, and future applications are discussed.