Gan Tzyy Yang, Beevi Zuhrah, Low Jasmine, Lee Peter J, Hall Deborah Ann
Foundation Programmes, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Department of Psychology, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 4;13:827517. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.827517. eCollection 2022.
Higher education is starting to embrace its role in promoting student wellbeing and life skills, especially given the concerning levels of poor mental health and uncertainties in the future job market. Yet, many of the published studies evaluating positive educational teaching methods thus far are limited to interventions delivered to small student cohorts and/or imbedded within elective wellbeing courses, and are focussed on developed Western countries. This study addressed this gap by investigating the effectiveness of an institution-wide compulsory course informed by the principles of Seligman's Wellbeing Theory. The course was delivered at a British university in a developing country in Southeast Asia. It purposefully sought to nurture growth-oriented outcomes (including self-awareness, positive emotions, and personal effectiveness) and was taken by an entire cohort of year one undergraduate students. We tested the effectiveness of the curriculum content and staff coaching style in achieving life skills, and evaluated how these perceptions influenced students' subjective wellbeing. A convergent mixed-methods design was used with 350 survey respondents and 11 interviewees. Perceived life skills scores showed a 2.5% improvement at the end of the course. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling tested the predicted relationships between variables. All relationships were statistically significant, but the influence of course design and educators' style on life skills acquisition (50.8% of the variance) was moderate, while the effect on subjective happiness and life satisfaction (4-5% of the variance) was very weak. Qualitative data indicated that while quantifiable benefits to wellbeing might not be immediate, students did anticipate longer-term benefits for happiness and life satisfaction. This finding suggests that such a novel educational approach is well-received by Asian students and may sow the seeds for future benefit by positively impacting on their skills, behaviours, attitudes, and values. To achieve optimal flourishing at university, we recommend exploring teaching practises that combine positive education with coaching psychology practises.
高等教育开始认识到其在促进学生幸福感和生活技能方面的作用，尤其是考虑到令人担忧的心理健康水平以及未来就业市场的不确定性。然而，迄今为止，许多评估积极教育教学方法的已发表研究仅限于针对小部分学生群体进行的干预措施和/或纳入选修的幸福课程中，并且集中在西方发达国家。本研究通过调查一门基于塞利格曼幸福理论原则的全校性必修课的有效性来填补这一空白。该课程在东南亚一个发展中国家的一所英国大学授课。它有意培养以成长为导向的成果（包括自我意识、积极情绪和个人效能），并且由整个一年级本科生群体修读。我们测试了课程内容和教师指导风格在培养生活技能方面的有效性，并评估了这些认知如何影响学生的主观幸福感。采用了收敛性混合方法设计，有350名调查受访者和11名受访者。感知生活技能得分在课程结束时提高了2.5%。偏最小二乘结构方程模型测试了变量之间的预测关系。所有关系在统计上都是显著的，但是课程设计和教育者风格对生活技能习得的影响（方差的50.8%）适中，而对主观幸福感和生活满意度的影响（方差的4 - 5%）非常微弱。定性数据表明，虽然对幸福感的可量化益处可能不会立竿见影，但学生确实预期会对幸福感和生活满意度产生长期益处。这一发现表明，这种新颖的教育方法受到亚洲学生的欢迎，并且可能通过对他们的技能、行为、态度和价值观产生积极影响，为未来的受益播下种子。为了在大学实现最佳的蓬勃发展，我们建议探索将积极教育与教练心理学实践相结合的教学方法。
