A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study
Increasing rates of mental illness among college students over the past 10 years suggest a collective deficit in meaning and purpose unattended to by many university campuses. Psychopathology among young adult college students is associated with developmental tasks such as spiritual individuation, s...
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2020-09-01
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doaj-7be8bce5538848a5afb5a3c0689fa5af2020-11-25T01:55:10ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442020-09-011146646610.3390/rel11090466A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment StudySuza Scalora0Micheline Anderson1Abigail Crete2Jennifer Drapkin3Larissa Portnoff4Aurélie Athan5Lisa Miller6Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USASpirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USASpirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USASpirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USADepartment of Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USADepartment of Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USASpirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USAIncreasing rates of mental illness among college students over the past 10 years suggest a collective deficit in meaning and purpose unattended to by many university campuses. Psychopathology among young adult college students is associated with developmental tasks such as spiritual individuation, suggesting that interventions aimed at spiritual wellbeing may support the stated need for comprehensive mental health services. The aim of this pilot service assessment study is to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and helpfulness of spiritually integrated programs at a Spirituality Mind Body (SMB) Wellness Center at a graduate-level academic institution. Wellness Center demographic and attendance data of <i>N</i> = 305 adult graduate students (<i>M =</i> 27.7 years, <i>SD</i> = 6.05) were used to assess acceptability and feasibility. To evaluate helpfulness, measures assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress (PTS), spirituality, mindfulness, and psychological inflexibility were completed before and after eight-week programs on a subset of participants (<i>n</i> = 141). SMB users completed a total of 64% of sessions and reported significant pre/post gains in spirituality and mindfulness and decreases in psychological inflexibility, symptoms of depression and PTS. The preliminary findings of this open-trial are encouraging but inherently limited by the design; foremost, the results offer support for future research, which might draw on a larger sample and a study design involving a comparison group.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/9/466spiritualityreligiositypositive psychologycollege studentsmental healthcollege student wellness |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Suza Scalora Micheline Anderson Abigail Crete Jennifer Drapkin Larissa Portnoff Aurélie Athan Lisa Miller |
spellingShingle |
Suza Scalora Micheline Anderson Abigail Crete Jennifer Drapkin Larissa Portnoff Aurélie Athan Lisa Miller A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study Religions spirituality religiosity positive psychology college students mental health college student wellness |
author_facet |
Suza Scalora Micheline Anderson Abigail Crete Jennifer Drapkin Larissa Portnoff Aurélie Athan Lisa Miller |
author_sort |
Suza Scalora |
title |
A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study |
title_short |
A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study |
title_full |
A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study |
title_fullStr |
A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Spirituality Mind-Body Wellness Center in a University Setting; A Pilot Service Assessment Study |
title_sort |
spirituality mind-body wellness center in a university setting; a pilot service assessment study |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Religions |
issn |
2077-1444 |
publishDate |
2020-09-01 |
description |
Increasing rates of mental illness among college students over the past 10 years suggest a collective deficit in meaning and purpose unattended to by many university campuses. Psychopathology among young adult college students is associated with developmental tasks such as spiritual individuation, suggesting that interventions aimed at spiritual wellbeing may support the stated need for comprehensive mental health services. The aim of this pilot service assessment study is to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and helpfulness of spiritually integrated programs at a Spirituality Mind Body (SMB) Wellness Center at a graduate-level academic institution. Wellness Center demographic and attendance data of <i>N</i> = 305 adult graduate students (<i>M =</i> 27.7 years, <i>SD</i> = 6.05) were used to assess acceptability and feasibility. To evaluate helpfulness, measures assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress (PTS), spirituality, mindfulness, and psychological inflexibility were completed before and after eight-week programs on a subset of participants (<i>n</i> = 141). SMB users completed a total of 64% of sessions and reported significant pre/post gains in spirituality and mindfulness and decreases in psychological inflexibility, symptoms of depression and PTS. The preliminary findings of this open-trial are encouraging but inherently limited by the design; foremost, the results offer support for future research, which might draw on a larger sample and a study design involving a comparison group. |
topic |
spirituality religiosity positive psychology college students mental health college student wellness |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/9/466 |
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