Hirshberg Matthew J, Colaianne Blake A, Greenberg Mark T, Inkelas Karen Kurotsuchi, Davidson Richard J, Germano David, Dunne John D, Roeser Robert W
Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 625 W. Washington Ave., Madison, Wisconsin USA 53703.
The Pennsylvania State University, Human Development and Family Studies, HHD Building, University Park, Pennsylvania USA 16801.
Mindfulness (N Y). 2022 Sep;13(9):2243-2256. doi: 10.1007/s12671-022-01952-1. Epub 2022 Jul 23.
Significant concerns have been raised about the "mental health crisis" on college campuses, with attention turning to what colleges can do beyond counseling services to address students' mental health and well-being. We examined whether primarily first-year (89.1%) undergraduate students (651) who enrolled in the Art and Science of Human Flourishing (ASHF), a novel academic and experiential for-credit elective course on human flourishing, would demonstrate improved mental health and strengthen skills, perspectives, and behaviors associated with flourishing relative to students who did not enroll in this course.
In a two-wave, multi-site, propensity-score matched controlled trial (ASHF =217, Control =434; =651), we used hierarchal linear models and false discovery rate corrected doubly robust estimates to evaluate the impact of the ASHF on attention and social-emotional skill development, flourishing perspectives, mental health, health, and risk behavior outcomes.
ASHF participants reported significantly improved mental health (i.e., reduced depression) and flourishing, improvements on multiple attention and social-emotional skills (e.g., attention function, self-compassion), and increases in prosocial attitudes (empathic concern, shared humanity; Cohen's s 0.18-0.46) compared to controls. There was no evidence for ASHF course impacts on health or risk behaviors, raising the possibility that these outcomes take more time to change.
This research provides initial evidence that the ASHF course may be a promising curricular approach to reduce and potentially prevent poor mental health while promoting flourishing in college students. Continued research is needed to confirm these conclusions.
大学校园里的“心理健康危机”引发了人们的高度关注，目光转向大学除了咨询服务之外还能做些什么来解决学生的心理健康和幸福问题。我们研究了主要为一年级（89.1%）的本科生（651人），他们选修了“人类繁荣的艺术与科学”（ASHF）这门关于人类繁荣的新颖学术性且可获得学分的体验式选修课程，与未选修该课程的学生相比，是否会展现出心理健康状况的改善，以及在与繁荣相关的技能、观点和行为方面得到强化。
在一项两阶段、多地点、倾向得分匹配的对照试验中（ASHF组 = 217人，对照组 = 434人；共651人），我们使用分层线性模型和错误发现率校正的双重稳健估计来评估ASHF课程对注意力和社会情感技能发展、繁荣观点、心理健康、健康状况以及风险行为结果的影响。
与对照组相比，ASHF课程的参与者报告称心理健康状况（即抑郁减轻）和繁荣程度显著改善，在多项注意力和社会情感技能方面有所提升（如注意力功能、自我同情），亲社会态度（共情关注、共同人性；科恩效应量为0.18 - 0.46）有所增强。没有证据表明ASHF课程对健康状况或风险行为有影响，这增加了这些结果需要更多时间来改变的可能性。
这项研究提供了初步证据表明，ASHF课程可能是一种有前景的课程方法，可减少并潜在预防大学生的心理健康问题，同时促进其繁荣发展。需要进一步的研究来证实这些结论。
