Running a university course on positive psychology during the pandemic appeared to have a ¡°protective effect¡± on first-year students¡¯ mental well-being, even though it was run online.

Researchers at the University of Bristol compared the well-being of undergraduates who took the institution¡¯s ¡°Science of Happiness¡± course remotely with a control group of students who were due to take the course later in the year.

They found that while those in the control group ¡°showed a decline in mental well-being and an increase in anxiety¡±, those taking the course did not see the same deterioration.

The study was conducted over the first semester starting in the autumn of 2020, a period when most students were forced to study online and when periodic lockdowns were affecting daily life.

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Bristol¡¯s optional programme, which was?the first such course?to be offered in the UK when it launched in 2018, was modelled on?Yale University¡¯s psychology and the good life class, which became the?most popular course in the US institution¡¯s history.

Studies into the effects?of the in-person version?had already suggested that students had ¡°markedly better mental health¡± than peers who did not take the programme. The Bristol team had also begun to test its impact in tackling well-being during Covid, including running a shorter version online.

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But by testing the effects of the full 11-week online course with a control group, the study suggests that teaching the programme remotely still had positive effects during a time when students¡¯ mental health was under severe strain.

¡°Our findings suggest that the online-administered ¡®Science of Happiness¡¯ course delivered during the Covid-19 pandemic was associated with a protective effect on mental well-being,¡± says the paper, published in on 16 February.

¡°Our results suggest that online psychoeducational courses might provide a relatively cheap, flexible, and efficient means of providing support as part of an integrated approach [to student mental health].¡±

Course leader and co-author, Bruce Hood, professor of developmental psychology in society at Bristol, said that even in a world without Covid restrictions, delivering the course partly online could have the benefit of boosting participation.

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¡°A mixed model of online and live interaction is the most feasible solution in my opinion ¨C especially when you¡¯re trying to reach as many students as possible,¡± he said.

He added that running in-person meetings alongside the digital lectures ¨C such as Bristol¡¯s ¡°happiness hubs¡± where students meet in mentor-led small groups ¨C also avoided the problems associated with massive open online courses (Moocs), which had ¡°very high attrition rates with most signing up but not completing¡±.

simon.baker@timeshighereducation.com