University of Twente Student Theses
The Effectiveness of a Well-Being Intervention in Improving Student's Well-Being, Loneliness and Perceived Stress and the Role of Sense of Belonging
Matkares, Roxane (2022) The Effectiveness of a Well-Being Intervention in Improving Student's Well-Being, Loneliness and Perceived Stress and the Role of Sense of Belonging.
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| Abstract: | Background: Research of the last years focussing on university student’s state of mental health points to a high prevalence of mental illness and a lack of mental well-being among this population. Following this string of evidence, a survey was conducted at the University of Twente, Enschede in 2019 and produced similar results. Moreover, it identified factors influencing mental well-being and assessed their prevalence as well. To improve the students’ mental health, a short online well-being course was offered to psychology students in the spring of 2021. Aim: This paper focusses on assessing the intervention’s effect on students’ mental well-being and the related factors loneliness, perceived stress, and sense of belonging. It aims to 1) assess the intervention’s effectiveness on improving mental well-being and reducing loneliness and perceived stress and 2) identify whether the intervention increased sense of belonging and if that had an impact on the intervention’s effectiveness on all three outcomes. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted measuring the sample’s (N=49) levels of mental well-being, loneliness, perceived stress, and sense of belonging at three timepoints during the short well-being course. Students’ levels of the four factors over the course of the intervention were calculated. The intervention’s effect on sense of belonging was determined by a paired ttest. A repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine the intervention’s effect on the three outcomes and to measure the impact of sense of belonging on the intervention-effect. Results: Student’s mental well-being levels increased over the course of the intervention, while levels of loneliness and perceived stress decreased. Sense of belonging slightly decreased as well. The paired t-test showed no significant effect of the intervention on sense of belonging. Results of the repeated measures ANCOVA showed significant effects of the intervention on mental well-being, loneliness, and perceived stress. The impact of sense of belonging was significant only for the intervention-effect on perceived stress. Conclusion: The well-being course showed to have effectively increased students’ mental wellbeing and reduced their loneliness and perceived stress, and sense of belonging impacted the intervention’s effect on perceived stress. The intervention did not have an increasing effect on sense of belonging, probably due to the online-nature of the intervention and the pandemicrelated lockdown. Future research should consider replicating the course with physical contact on campus to enable the feeling of a group membership. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/89499 |
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