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

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
E. Hunt ◽  
L. Coombes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Universal Time ◽  
First Year ◽  
Evaluation Questionnaire ◽  
Self Compassion

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.

Using the WHO–5 Well-Being Index to Identify College Students at Risk for Mental Health Problems

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Downs ◽  
Laura A. Boucher ◽  
Duncan G. Campbell ◽  
Anita Polyakov
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Students At Risk

scholarly journals Mental Health and Academic Success of First-Year College Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy Jordan Wyatt ◽  
Sara B Oswalt ◽  
Yesenia Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Health ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Mental Health Issues

The prevalence and severity of mental health issues are increasing among college students, and such issues pose a threat to health and academic performance. Responses from 66,159 undergraduate students about mental health and academics from the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II were examined using regression analyses. Differences in mental health diagnoses were found by classification with first-year students reporting higher rates of self-injury and seriously considering suicide. Upperclassmen reported higher rates of academic impact from mental health factors. Findings indicate one’s first-year of college as the prime time to promote awareness of and strategies to prevent mental health issues or negative academic effects; implications for first-year experience programs are discussed. 

Mental Health and Well-Being

2017 ◽  
pp. 21-37
Author(s):  
Jean Mockry ◽  
Melissa Martin ◽  
Alison Puliatte ◽  
Denise A. Simard ◽  
Maureen E. Squires
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
American Life ◽  
Medical Issues ◽  
Health And Well Being

In this chapter, the authors provide a brief overview of the distinction between flourishing and non-flourishing mental health and well-being for people not diagnosed with a clinical mental disorder. While recognizing that genetics and personality impact the well-being of people, research supports the profound impact of societal constructs in American life. As part of a team of faculty who work with undergraduate students in Teacher Education, the authors feel this distinction is essential to understand as medical issues require diagnostics by people trained in that area. The book's focus is to examine what the college community can do to promote flourishing mental health in its social construction in classrooms, on campus and beyond. Dominant influences for non-flourishing mental health and well-being for college students rest in ideologies, happiness seeking and digitalization within American life, membership in groups that are underrepresented and well-intentioned but enabling parenting that ill prepares children for adult responses in life.

scholarly journals Time Use, Gender, and Mental Health of Older Adults in Rural China

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 863-863
Author(s):  
Zhiyong Lin ◽  
Feinian Chen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Socially Isolated

Abstract Time use is considered a valuable descriptor of people’s lifestyles, and studying how people spend their time is critical for understanding the determinants and consequences of individual well-being. In this study, we first develop a time use typology to characterize how older adults in rural Chinese families allocate their time in later life, and then examined how older adults’ time allocation influenced their mental health, with a special focus on differential implications for older women and men. Data derived from 2015 and 2018 waves of a longitudinal study of 1,007 older adults, aged 60 and older, living in rural areas of Anhui Province, China. We specifically focused on how social and solitary dimensions of time use, as well as time spent within and outside households, impacted depressive symptoms of older adults. Using the K-means cluster analysis, we identified four time use categories: “work-oriented,” “socially-active,” “homemaker/ caretaker,” and “socially-isolated.” Results from fixed-effects regression analysis demonstrated that older women involved in “socially-active” time-use category tended to report better mental than those in other time-use types, while the time spent on housework and caregiving was harmful to their mental health. For older men, more time spent on paid activities outside households (“work-oriented”) was associated with better psychological outcomes while solitary leisure time (“socially-isolated”) was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. These findings will be helpful for health policymakers and practitioners who seek to better identify vulnerable subpopulations and to design effective intervention strategies to reduce mental health problems.

scholarly journals Effects of Shinrin-Yoku Retreat on Mental Health: A Pilot Study in Fukushima, Japan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Kotera ◽  
Dean Fido
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
University Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Common Humanity ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
The Mean

Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) is a cost-effective healing practice, and has attracted the interest of scientists. Recently, its effects on mental health has been increasingly reported. Japanese university students suffer from high rates of mental health problems, and the number of suicides remain high, despite the total number of suicides in Japan has been decreasing. Effective mental health approaches are sought after for Japanese students, however healthful treatment has not been identified to date. Accordingly, this pre-post pilot study evaluated the levels of mental wellbeing, self-compassion, and loneliness among 25 Japanese undergraduate students who participated in a three-day shinrin-yoku retreat in Fukushima, before, straight after and two weeks after the retreat. The mean scores of mental wellbeing increased significantly from pre-retreat to post-retreat; self-compassion and common humanity increased significantly from pre-retreat to follow-up; and mindfulness increased significantly from pre-retreat to post-retreat, and from pre-retreat to follow-up. The mean scores of loneliness did not make any significant changes. As self-compassion has been found strongly associated with mental health of university students, shinrin-yoku retreat should be evaluated with a larger sample and in a shorter time frame.

scholarly journals Analytical psychodrama with college students suffering from mental health problems: Preliminary outcomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Biolcati ◽  
Francesca Agostini ◽  
Giacomo Mancini
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
Group Psychotherapy ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Outcome Evaluation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Pre Treatment

The aim of this work was to assess the therapeutic efficacy of analytical psychodrama groups for college students with psychological problems. Analytical psychodrama, as a form of group psychotherapy, is an integral part of the program of treatment of young adults in the Counselling Center of the University of Bologna, which provides a free service for its students, aimed at delivering psychological support. Thirty patients (22 females) from 20 to 26 years old (mean age 22.33, standard deviation±1.75), suffering from mental health problems, who completed one year of psychodrama, were assessed before and after group psychotherapy. The Italian validation of Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure was used as test-retest questionnaire for clinical outcome evaluation. The results demonstrated the efficacy of the treatment in terms of symptom decrease and improvement of patients’ well being. After the treatment (40 sessions, once a week), patients showed a statistically significant reduction in clinical outcomes scores compared with pre-treatment scores. Moreover, the analyses of Reliable and Clinical Significant Change index showed that about 30% of patients improved, and this improvement was reliable and/or clinically significant. Our preliminary findings revealed that analytical psychodrama is a suitable treatment for college students, as it actually reduces young adults’ symptoms. These results contribute to the topic of the validity of psychodrama interventions to encourage research regarding the specific psychotherapeutic effects of its method.

Mental Health and Well-Being

2021 ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Jean Mockry ◽  
Melissa Martin ◽  
Alison Puliatte ◽  
Denise A. Simard ◽  
Maureen E. Squires
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
American Life ◽  
Medical Issues ◽  
Health And Well Being

In this chapter, the authors provide a brief overview of the distinction between flourishing and non-flourishing mental health and well-being for people not diagnosed with a clinical mental disorder. While recognizing that genetics and personality impact the well-being of people, research supports the profound impact of societal constructs in American life. As part of a team of faculty who work with undergraduate students in Teacher Education, the authors feel this distinction is essential to understand as medical issues require diagnostics by people trained in that area. The book's focus is to examine what the college community can do to promote flourishing mental health in its social construction in classrooms, on campus and beyond. Dominant influences for non-flourishing mental health and well-being for college students rest in ideologies, happiness seeking and digitalization within American life, membership in groups that are underrepresented and well-intentioned but enabling parenting that ill prepares children for adult responses in life.

scholarly journals Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of humor styles in US and Russia

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.I. Khramtsova ◽  
T.S. Chuykova
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Western World ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Humor Styles ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Compassion Scale

Mindfulness and self-compassion are increasingly coming into mainstream psychological research in the Western world as they correlate with and predict various aspects of mental health and positivity. However, little is known about their relationship to another construct that is also associated with well-being, that is, humor. The unique contribution of the present study is in exploring whether mindfulness and self-compas- sion would predict the use of adaptive and maladaptive humor styles and whether this prediction will be the same across cultures. 90 U.S. and 106 Russian college students responded to a survey consisting of three measures: Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF; Raes, Pommier, Neff, & Van Gucht, 2011), and Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ; Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, & Weir, 2003). Our findings suggest that mind- fulness and self-compassion can serve as predictors of humor styles, that is, more mind- ful and self-compassionate participants tended to use more adaptive humor styles and less maladaptive styles. However, the contribution of these two variables to the vari- ance in humor styles depended on the culture.

scholarly journals Changes in Undergraduate Students’ Psychological Well-Being as They Experience University Life

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 2864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinqiao Liu ◽  
Siqing Ping ◽  
Wenjuan Gao
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
College Students ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Normal Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Severity Scores ◽  
University Life

The onset of most lifetime mental disorders occurs during adolescence, and the years in college, as the final stage of adolescence in a broad sense, deserve attention in this respect. The psychological well-being of undergraduate students can influence not only their academic and professional success, but also the development of society as a whole. Although previous studies suggested psychiatric disorders are common in the adult population, there was little consistent information available about undergraduate students’ mental health problems. This research aimed to describe the changes in depression, anxiety, and stress of Chinese full-time undergraduate students as they experienced university life using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). The main conclusions of our study were as follows: (1) on average, students’ severity scores of depression during the four academic years varied between 7.22 and 7.79, while stress scores ranged from 9.53 to 11.68. However, the anxiety scores of college students in the first three years turned out to be 7.40, 7.24 and 7.10, respectively, slightly overtaking the normal threshold of 7. These results indicated that Chinese college students, in general, were mentally healthy with regard to depression and stress, but their average anxiety levels were beyond normal in the first three years. (2) As for the proportions of students with different degrees of severity, approximately 38% to 43% of college students were above the normal level of anxiety, about 35% above the normal level of depression, and around 20% to 30% above the normal level of stress. (3) There were significant differences in the psychological health states of students of different years, especially among the sophomores, juniors, and seniors; the highest score of depression, anxiety, and stress all appeared in the first or second year on average, but some improvements were achieved in the third and last years. The findings suggested that colleges and universities need to pay special attention to psychologically unhealthy students, and with concerted efforts by the government, formulate mental health policies in the prevention, detection, and treatment of students’ psychiatric disorders, rather than just focusing on their average levels of mental health.

Risk Factors for COVID-19 in College Students Identified Using Physical, Mental, and Social Health Reported During the Fall 2020 Semester: An Observational Mobile Health Technology Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Gilley ◽  
Loubna Baroudi ◽  
Miao Yu ◽  
Izzy Gainsburg ◽  
Niyanth Reddy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
College Students ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Student Population ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Health Crisis

BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic triggered a seismic shift in education, to online learning. With nearly 20 million students enrolled in colleges across the U.S., the long-simmering mental health crisis in college students was likely further exacerbated by the pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study leveraged mobile health (mHealth) technology and sought to: i) characterize self-reported outcomes of physical, mental, and social health by COVID-19 status; ii) assess physical activity through consumer-grade wearable sensors (Fitbit®); and iii) identify risk factors associated with COVID-19 positivity in a population of college students prior to release of the vaccine. METHODS Detailed methods were previously published in JMIR Res Protocols (Cislo et al). After completing a baseline assessment (i.e., Time 0 [T0]) of demographics, mental, and social health constructs through the Roadmap 2.0 app, participants were instructed to use the app freely, to wear the Fitbit®, and complete subsequent assessments at T1, T2 and T3, followed by a COVID-19 assessment of history and timing of COVID-19 testing and diagnosis (T4: ~14 days after T3). Continuous measures were described using means (M) and standard deviations (SD), while categorical measures were summarized using frequencies and proportions. Formal comparisons were made based on COVID-19 status. The multivariate model was determined by entering all statistically significant variables (P<0.05) in univariable associations at once and then removing one variable at a time by backward selection until the optimal model was obtained. RESULTS During the fall 2020 semester, 1,997 participants consented, enrolled, and met criteria for data analyses. There was a high prevalence of anxiety, as assessed by the State Trait Anxiety Index (STAI), with moderate and severe levels in N=465 (24%) and N=970 (49%) students, respectively. Approximately, one-third of students reported having a mental health disorder (N=656, 33%). The average daily steps recorded in this student population was approximately 6500 (M=6474, SD=3371). Neither reported mental health nor step count were significant based on COVID-19 status (P=0.52). Our analyses revealed significant associations of COVID-positivity with use of marijuana and alcohol (p=0.020 and 0.046, respectively) and lower belief in public health measures (P=0.003). In addition, graduate students were less likely and those with ≥20 roommates were more likely to report a COVID-19 diagnosis (P=0.009). CONCLUSIONS Mental health problems were common in this student population. Several factors, including substance use, were associated with risk of COVID-19. These data highlight important areas for further attention, such as prioritizing innovative strategies that address health and well-being, considering the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on college students. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04766788) INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.2196/29561

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