Six-Week Online Multi-component Positive Psychology Intervention Improves Subjective Wellbeing in Young Adults

Miranda R. Chilver and Justine M. Gatt ()
Additional contact information
Miranda R. Chilver: Neuroscience Research Australia
Justine M. Gatt: Neuroscience Research Australia

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2022, vol. 23, issue 3, No 18, 1267-1288

Abstract: Abstract Improving mental wellbeing has a range of benefits for society, including increased productivity, longevity, and resiliency. However, interventions designed to improve mental wellbeing are often only compared to waitlist controls, leaving uncertainty regarding the mechanisms of their effectiveness. The current study in 326 participants assessed a six-week positive psychology intervention against an active control (n = 163) in an online randomized control trial. Outcome measures included life satisfaction, wellbeing (subjective and psychological wellbeing), stress, depression and anxiety symptoms, and self-compassion. The potential moderating effect of participating during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was also explored. The intervention group showed greater improvements in life satisfaction by week six (β = 0.18, p = .014) and were maintained through to 7 weeks post-baseline (β = 0.23, t = 3.07, p = .002) and remained significant when accounting for COVID-19 restrictions. An improvement in composite wellbeing from baseline to 7 weeks post-baseline was detected when accounting for COVID-19 restrictions. Composite wellbeing and total depression and anxiety symptoms improved significantly more in the intervention group for participants with low baseline resiliency resources. These findings support the efficacy of using online multi-component positive psychology interventions in boosting wellbeing and reducing distress symptoms particularly in individuals with fewer resiliency resources who may need added support.

Keywords: COVID-19; Randomized control trial; Resilience; COMPAS-W; Stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-021-00449-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:23:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10902-021-00449-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-021-00449-3

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().