While happiness can indeed be learned, the key to sustaining its benefits lies in continuous practice, according to new research published in Higher Education. The study’s findings, centered on the “Science of Happiness” course at the University of Bristol, suggest that adopting evidence-informed habits like gratitude, exercise, meditation, and journaling can significantly boost wellbeing, but only if these practices are maintained over time.
The Science of Happiness course, based on the Yale University course “Psychology and the Good Life,” is designed to enhance mental wellbeing through the lens of scientific inquiry. Launched in 2018, this course eschews traditional exams and coursework, focusing instead on imparting knowledge about what contemporary peer-reviewed research in psychology and neuroscience reveals about the nature of happiness.
Covering a range of topics from the biological and environmental determinants of happiness to practical advice on fostering mental well-being, the course encourages students to engage with evidence-based activities — or “happiness hacks.” This approach aims not just to educate but to equip students with tools to actively enhance their own mental health.
Prior studies have suggested that psychoeducational courses can boost psychological well-being in the short term, yet it’s been uncertain if these improvements endure over the long haul.The researchers embarked on the current study to explore whether engaging in a structured educational program like the Science of Happiness course could offer a sustainable way to improve students’ mental wellbeing.
By systematically examining the long-term effects of such psychoeducational courses, the team sought to uncover whether the initial benefits observed in students’ wellbeing could be maintained over time.
For their study, the researchers collected data from students who had taken part in the Science of Happiness course and responded to follow-up surveys. Initially, invitations were sent to a pool of 905 students who had either participated in pre-course or post-course wellbeing surveys in previous years, of which 638 had complete pre- and post-course data available. Out of these, 228 students responded to the long-term follow-up survey, which occurred between 12 to 29 months after the course had ended.
To measure wellbeing, the study employed several well-validated instruments. The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale was used to gauge general mental wellbeing. This scale is widely recognized for its reliability and validity in measuring positive aspects of mental health. For anxiety, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7) was utilized, while. loneliness was assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale 3-item version.
Initially, students who participated in the course reported a significant improvement in their overall wellbeing, with an observed increase of 10 to 15% in their scores on the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. This immediate boost highlights the course’s effectiveness in enhancing students’ mental health in the short term.
Approximately half of the respondents (50.67%) reported continuing with at least one of the happiness-enhancing practices introduced in the course, such as expressing gratitude, practicing mindfulness or meditation, engaging in regular physical activity, keeping a journal, or performing acts of kindness. Among these, gratitude was the most frequently continued practice.
When the researchers conducted follow-up evaluations up to 29 months after the course’s conclusion, a nuanced picture emerged. The uplift in wellbeing experienced by the students was not inherently lasting. Only those who actively continued to practice the “happiness hacks” learned during the course managed to maintain the improved levels of wellbeing over the long term.
“This study shows that just doing a course – be that at the gym, a meditation retreat or on an evidence-based happiness course like ours – is just the start: you must commit to using what you learn on a regular basis,” explained Bruce Hood, the senior author of the study and professor of developmental psychology in society at the University of Bristol.
“Much of what we teach revolves around positive psychology interventions that divert your attention away from yourself, by helping others, being with friends, gratitude or meditating. This is the opposite of the current ‘selfcare’ doctrine, but countless studies have shown that getting out of our own heads helps gets us away from negative ruminations which can be the basis of so many mental health problems.”
The study highlights the importance of a proactive approach to mental health. But the research has some limitations, such as the potential for response bias and the challenges of ensuring a representative sample over long-term follow-ups. These caveats pave the way for future research to further refine our understanding of how to effectively sustain mental wellbeing through psychoeducational courses.
The study, “Long‑term analysis of a psychoeducational course on university students’ mental well‑being,” Catherine Hobbs, Sarah Jelbert, Laurie R. Santos, and Bruce Hood.
