Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-13T00:47:56.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A feasibility study on a novel well-being intervention for university students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2021

E. Hunt Open the ORCID record for E. Hunt [Opens in a new window]  and
L. Coombes
E. Hunt*
Affiliation:
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University College Cork/Academic Advisor UCC Graduate Attributes Programme, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
L. Coombes
Affiliation:
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
*
Address for correspondence: Dr E. Hunt, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, G24, Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, UCC, College Road, Cork, Ireland. (Email: e.hunt@ucc.ie)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives:

Challenging transitions, increased stress and mental ill health can affect students’ academic performance and their capacity to remain in higher education. Prevention and early treatment of mental health problems in college students is therefore a key public health priority, nationally and internationally. Developing a range of evidence-based interventions targeting the mental health of students is critical. We examined the feasibility and acceptability of a new universal time use and well-being intervention, the ‘Everyday Matters: Healthy Habits for University Life’ digital badge (EMDB), a co-curricular micro-credential for first-year college students.

Methods:

This study used a single-arm, pre–post design for first-year undergraduate students. The EMDB comprised eight 1-hour lunchtime sessions on brain development and time-use habits across the 24 hours of the day including sleep, self-care, leisure, study and work. Validated measures of occupational competence and value, mental well-being, sleep health, mindset, self-compassion and gratitude were completed, along with an evaluation questionnaire.

Results:

Eight first-year undergraduate students completed the demographic questionnaire and pre- and post- measures, with one additional student completing only the evaluation questionnaire. There was significantly improved levels of well-being, self-compassion and growth mindset following the intervention. Many of the challenges reported by participants related to occupational issues such as managing finances and having a satisfying routine. Participants appreciated the practical relevance and scientific underpinnings of the programme content. The sense of belonging within the group and having insightful conversations with other group members were particularly valued by participants.

Conclusions:

This study offers preliminary evidence that an occupational therapy based universal time-use and well-being intervention was feasible to deliver and acceptable to first-year undergraduate students. The results of this study and the participant acceptability support further development and evaluation of the EMDB intervention.

Keywords

Feasibility studymental healthoccupational therapystudent health servicestransitions
Type
Short Report
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , First View , pp. 1 - 5
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auerbach, RP, Mortier, P, Bruffaerts, R, Alonso, J, Benjet, C, Cuijpers, P, Demyttenaere, K, Ebert, DD, Green, JG, Hasking, P, Murray, E, Nock, MK, Pinder-Amaker, S, Sampson, NA, Stein, DJ, Vilagut, G, Zaslavsky, AM, Kessler, RC, WHO WMH-ICS Collaborators (2018). WHO world mental health surveys international college student project: prevalence and distribution of mental disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 127, 623–638.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, A, Bunting, B, Daugherty, D, Lewis, L, Steenbergh, T (2020). Promoting Belonging, Growth Mindset, and Resilience to Foster Student Success. University of South Carolina/National Resource Center for the First Year Experience & Students in Transition: Columbia, SC.Google Scholar
Brown, JSL (2018). Student mental health: some answers and more questions. Journal of Mental Health 27, 193–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crider, C, Calder, CR, Bunting, KL, Forwell, S (2015). An integrative review of occupational science and theoretical literature exploring transition. Journal of Occupational Science 22(3), 304–319. DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2014.922913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuijpers, P, Auerbach, RP, Benjet, C, Bruffaerts, R, Ebert, D, Karyotaki, E, Kessler, RC (2019). The World Health Organization world mental health international college student initiative: an overview. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 28, 1–6.Google ScholarPubMed
De Castella, K, Byrne, D (2015). My intelligence may be more malleable than yours: the revised implicit theories of intelligence (self-theory) scale is a better predictor of achievement, motivation, and student disengagement. European Journal of Psychology of Education 30, 245–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health (2020). Sharing the vision: a mental health policy for everyone (https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2e46f-sharing-the-vision-a-mental-health-policy-for-everyone/). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar
Dooley, B, O'Connor, C, Fitzgerald, A, O'Reilly, A (2019). My world survey 2: national study of youth mental health in Ireland. Dublin: UCD and Jigsaw. http://myworldsurvey.ie/.Google Scholar
Duffy, A, Saunders, KEA, Malhi, GS, Patten, S, Cipriani, A, McNevin, SH, MacDonald, E, Geddes, J (2019). Mental health care for university students: a way forward? The Lancet Psychiatry 6, 885–887.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ecclestone, K (2019). The relationship between well-being, mental health and pedagogy. Summary of workshop for the SMaRteN project (https://www.smarten.org.uk/uploads/1/2/0/8/120879546/smarten_pedagogy_workshop_july_10th_2019_final_version_8th_august_2019_.docx). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar
Evans, SR (2010). Clinical trial structures. Journal of Experimental Stroke & Translational Medicine 3, 8–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gedik, Z (2019). Self-compassion and health-promoting lifestyle behaviors in college students. Psychology, Health & Medicine 24, 108–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gewurtz, RE, Moll, SE, Letts, LJ, Larivière, N, Levasseur, M, Krupa, TM (2016). What you do every day matters: a new direction for health promotion. Canadian Journal of Public Health 107, 205–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, A (2019). Finding our own way: mental health and moving from school to further and higher education (https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-01/CentreforMH_FindingOurOwnWay.pdf). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar
Higher Education Authority (2018). Age of all full-time undergraduate new entrants at 1 January 2018 in all HEA-funded institutions. https://hea.ie/statistics-archive/.Google Scholar
Higher Education Authority (2020). National student mental health and suicide prevention framework (https://hea.ie/policy/policy-development/mental-health-framework/). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar
Hill, M, Farrelly, N, Clarke, C, Cannon, M (2020). Student mental health and well-being: overview and future directions. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine 27, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houghton, AM, Anderson, J (2017). Embedding Mental Wellbeing in the Curriculum: Maximising Success in Higher Education. New York: Higher Education Academy.Google Scholar
Hudziak, JJ, Tiemeier, GL (2017). Neuroscience-inspired, behavioral change program for university students. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America 26, 381–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, G (2020). Supporting student wellbeing through curriculum design and delivery (https://lta.hw.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Guide-NO20_Supporting-Student-Wellbeing-Through-Curriculum-Design-and-Delivery.pdf). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar
Hunt, E (2020). Everyday Matters – healthy habits for college students (https://thriveglobal.com/stories/everyday-matters-healthy-habits-for-college-students/). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar
Hunt, E. (Ed.) (2021). Showcasing a tiered public health Occupational Therapy approach to supporting student participation, health, wellbeing and success in higher education. National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education https://bit.ly/3tHgpwJ.Google Scholar
Hunt, E, McKay, EA, Dahly, DL, Fitzgerald, AP, Perry, IJ (2015). A person-centred analysis of the time-use, daily activities and health-related quality of life of Irish school-going late adolescents. Quality of Life Research 24, 1303–1315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
IBM Corp (2020). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27.0. IBM Corp: Armonk, NY.Google Scholar
Keptner, KM (2017). Long-term follow-up of an occupation-based group addressing occupational performance and satisfaction in University Freshmen. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health 33, 308–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keptner, KM (2019). Relationship between occupational performance measures and adjustment in a sample of university students. Journal of Occupational Science 26, 6–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keptner, KM, McCarthy, K (2020). Mapping occupational therapy practice with postsecondary students: a scoping review. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy 8, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoesen, R, Naudé, L (2017). Experiences of flourishing and languishing during the first-year at university. Journal of Mental Health 27, 269–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Long, R, Kennedy, M, Malloy Spink, K, Lengua, LJ (2021). eEvaluation of the implementation of a well-being promotion program for college students. Frontiers in Psychiatry 12, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCullough, ME, Emmons, RA, Tsang, JA (2002). The grateful disposition: a conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82, 112–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Medical Research Council (2008). Developing and evaluating complex interventions: new guidance (www.mrc.ac.uk/complexinterventionguidance). Accessed 20 September 2010.Google Scholar
Moll, SE, Gewurtz, RE, Krupa, TM, Law, MC, Larivière, N, Levasseur, M (2015). “Do-Live-Well”: a Canadian framework for promoting occupation, health, and well-being. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy 82, 9–23. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0008417414545981.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neff, K (2011). Scales for researchers: self compassion (https://self-compassion.org/self-compassion-scales-for-researchers/). Accessed 23 April 2021.Google Scholar
Paunesku, D, Walton, GM, Romero, CL, Smith, EN, Yeager, DS, Dweck, CS (2015). Mindset interventions are a scalable treatment for academic underachievement. Psychological Science 26, 784–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popova, ES, Ostrowski, RK, Wescott, J, Taylor, RR (2019). Development and validation of the Occupational Self-Assessment-Short Form (OSA-SF). American Journal of Occupational Therapy 73, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, A, Smith, HA (2019). Union of Students in Ireland National Report on Student Mental Health (https://usi.ie/mentalhealthreport/). Accessed 23 April 2021.Google Scholar
Raes, F, Pommier, E, Neff, KD, Gucht, DV (2011). Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the Self-Compassion Scale. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy 18, 250–255. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21584907/.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravyts, SG, Dzierzewski, JM, Perez, EN, Donovan, EK, Dautovich, ND (2021). Sleep health as measured by RU SATED: a psychometric evaluation. Behavioral Sleep Medicine 19, 48–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royal College of Occupational Therapists (2018). Getting my life back: occupational therapy promoting mental health and wellbeing in England (https://www.rcot.co.uk/sites/default/files/Getting-my-life-back_England.pdf). Accessed 23 April 2021.Google Scholar
Salkind, NJ (2010). Encyclopaedia of Research Design, vol. 1-10. SAGE Publications, Inc: Thousand Oaks, CA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smeets, E, Neff, K, Alberts, H, Peters, M (2014). Meeting suffering with kindness: effects of a brief self-compassion intervention for female college students. Journal of Clinical Psychology 70, 794–807.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spencer, B, Sherman, L, Nielsen, S, Thormodson, K (2017). Effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for students with mental illness transitioning to higher education: a systematic review. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health 34, 151–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tennant, R, Hiller, L, Fishwick, R, Platt, S, Joseph, S, Weich, S, Parkinson, J, Secker, J, Stewart-Brown, S (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 5, 63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilcock, AA (1998). An Occupational Perspective of Health. Slack Inc: Thorofare, NJ.Google Scholar
Worsley, J, Pennington, A, Corcoran, R (2020). What interventions improve college and university students’ mental health and wellbeing? A review of review-level evidence (https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3089948/1/Student-mental-health-full-review%202020.pdf). Accessed 29 April 2021.Google Scholar