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. 2025 Apr;73(4):1837-1846.
doi: 10.1080/07448481.2025.2452968. Epub 2025 Feb 5.

Can the virtual implementation of a college course on human flourishing improve student flourishing during COVID-19? A multi-university study

Blake A Colaianne  1 , Matthew J Hirshberg  2 , Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas  3 , John D Dunne  2 , David Germano  3 , Mark T Greenberg  1 , Richard J Davidson  2 , Robert W Roeser  1
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Can the virtual implementation of a college course on human flourishing improve student flourishing during COVID-19? A multi-university study

Blake A Colaianne et al. J Am Coll Health. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate student effects of participating in an undergraduate academic course, Art and Science of Human Flourishing, that was offered in a synchronous, virtual format during the Fall 2020 semester at three universities.

Participants: Three combined cohorts of undergraduate students from three universities (n = 168).

Methods: A pre/post/5-month follow-up, propensity-score matched evaluation was conducted. Measures assessed attention skills, social-emotional skills, flourishing, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality.

Results: Relative to comparisons, students in the course reported significant improvements in proximal outcomes related to mindfulness, compassion, and common humanity, as well as decreases in depressive symptoms. Improvements in distal outcomes of flourishing and depressive symptoms were significant at post-course but did not maintain significance at five-month follow-up.

Conclusions: The academic study of human flourishing and contemplative education offers a promising and unique approach to supporting undergraduate mental health and well-being, even in virtual settings.

Keywords: Flourishing; emerging adulthood; holistic education; mindfulness; wellbeing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interest Statement

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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