Student Mental Health in Higher Education: A Mixed Methods Approach to Evaluating the Impact of a Positive Psychology Course

Abstract

More than 30 years of research has documented concerning trends in the mental health of university students. To address this issue, universities now recognise the importance of both reducing psychological distress and disorder, and enhancing wellbeing among students. As a result of this recognition, several high profile universities have incorporated positive psychology courses, which educate students about wellbeing theory, research, and practice, as a standard part of their curricula. However, high quality research into the impact of these courses on students' mental health is limited. Consequently, the current program of research aimed to: first, identify the students most in need of mental health support within universities; second, to investigate the impact of a comprehensive positive psychology course on students' mental health; third, to explore potential moderators of course efficacy; and fourth, to understand students' perspectives of this course. These aims were achieved in two key studies. The first of these studies surveyed students completing a positive psychology course and students completing standard arts or science courses offered in the same semester at three points in time (the beginning of the semester, end of the semester, and six months later) over three consecutive years. The survey included self-report measures of wellbeing and psychological distress as outcomes of interest, and of basic demographic information and social identification with the university as potential predictors of these outcomes and moderators of course efficacy. The results indicated that students who identified less strongly with the university were the most vulnerable to experiencing deteriorations in mental health. Specifically, lower psychological distress and depression were observed at the beginning and end of the academic semester among students with higher social identification with the university, irrespective of their course condition. In addition, comparing courses indicated that the positive psychology course had a significantly greater positive impact than the standard courses at the end of the academic semester in terms of generalised psychological wellbeing and distress, as well as for specific aspects of these constructs including autonomy, environmental mastery, and depression, with longer-term improvements observed specifically for overall psychological wellbeing and environmental mastery. Finally, greater environmental mastery was found among positive psychology students with higher social identification with the university, relative to students from standard courses, at the end of the semester. The second study sought to enhance our understanding of the beneficial aspects of this positive psychology course, and achieved this using a qualitative approach to explore students' experiences within the course. After completing the course, students participated in focus groups to discuss various positive and negative aspects of the course. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, three superordinate categories (and 14 subcategories) were identified, namely, interest in wellbeing, beneficial to wellbeing, and balancing competing needs. Together, the main findings of this thesis provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for the beneficial impact of positive psychology courses on wellbeing and psychological distress over time, which may stimulate future research into the efficacy and the implementation of these courses as one strategy in a whole-of-university approach to promoting wellbeing in higher education.