Background

Brief online positive psychology interventions (PPIs) may provide a useful resource to protect and promote student wellbeing (Francis et al., 2021). PPIs are defined here as activities intended to protect and promote social, emotional or psychological wellbeing, and ameliorate anxiety or depressive symptoms. PPIs can build the vocabulary, knowledge and skills to feel better and function better, including understanding and managing emotions. Typically measures of PPI efficacy rely on subjective measures of wellbeing. However, emotional literacy development (Francis et al., 2020) and objective physiological states of wellbeing, are rarely examined and can provide additional valuable information regarding program efficacy. Moreover, mechanisms that result in improved self-reported wellbeing remain poorly understood. Examining the relationship between  subjective and objective measures of wellbeing may guide future research exploring the possible mechanisms.

Aims

To examine the efficacy of a brief online PPI among primary school students in Victoria Australia, by observing change over time in emotional literacy development, subjective wellbeing, and objective wellbeing.

Method

Twenty teachers were instructed to use a brief online PPI over six weeks, three days per week, for 10 minutes each day. Twenty classes of students (209 students), from country and city schools, engaged in the brief online PPI. Students completed pre and post subjective SPANE and EPOCH surveys, physiological galvanic skin response measures and measures of emotional literacy.

Results

Overall students’ emotional literacy improved. Their physiological wellbeing also improved as evidenced by the objective measures, with students displaying greater calm and less stress at post measure. Measures of subjective wellbeing did not significantly improve, however a small positive relationship was evident between the Pip and SPANE.

Conclusion

Efficacy of interventions designed to promote wellbeing including emotion regulation strategies may be more accurately measured using physiological measures, in addition to existing tools. Further study examining mechanisms for wellbeing change is recommended, such as examining if change in wellbeing literacy and/or physiological wellbeing are mechanisms for improved subjective wellbeing.