Background

 The Air Force Academy offered, for the first time, an Applied Positive Psychology course as an experiment. How would such a topic be received at a military academy? Besides the objective of students learning about the science of positive psychology, however, the focus of the course was to create a petri dish in which the practice of positive psychology could be grown. Did the course meet it's goals? This session will share the outcomes of what grew from this course.  

Aims

This presentation will describe the format and layout of a college level applied positive psychology course and how the experiential format of the course impacted the personal, group, and institutional outcomes.  

Method

The course outline and syllabus will be shared along with both qualitative and quantitative results from the students taking the course. Audience members will have an opportunity to participate in some of the experiential based exercises to gain awareness of techniques and content of the course. 

Results

 All students experienced increases in multiple measures of wellbeing and had decreases in measures of loneliness and negative affect. All measured outcomes, based on accepted self-assessments, changed in the desired directions, some to a statistically significant level. The qualitative feedback from the students indicated life changing impact with the start of positive habits. The outcomes impressed the institution enough to allow for a second semester course to be offered. Further data will be collected in the spring of 2023. 

Conclusion

 One semester of a positive psychology course can impact the wellbeing of students enrolled in the college course. The course may be a good fit for military academies with the challenges of such institutions and may contribute to the wellbeing of future leaders.