Background

Purpose, first addressed by ancient philosophers, popularized by Viktor Frankl, and encapsulated in the question “Why am I here?”, has only recently begun to be examined in the scientific world. Developing purpose has shown great promise as a psychological asset, improving positive affect, life satisfaction, and overall health (Datu & Mateo, 2015; Hill & Turiano, 2014; Hill et al., 2018). Our team developed an online purpose intervention on the My Best Self 101 website to fill the gap in the literature on purpose interventions. Our intervention offers a new, more accessible way to learn about purpose in an approach that is personalized and adaptive. The course presents a natural flow of practical information to guide individuals through various purpose practices. 

Aims

We expect to find significant differences in well-being and purpose between intervention and control groups; specifically, we anticipate that those in the intervention group will have higher levels of well-being and purpose than the control group from pre- to post-test.

Method

Participants were recruited from the undergraduate population at Brigham Young University and the community. They were randomly assigned to a control or intervention group. Both groups completed identical pre- and post-tests that included various measures of well-being and purpose. Intervention group participants were asked to review purpose materials from the aforementioned website (https://www.mybestself101.org/purpose) and engage in purpose practice for 21 days. Progress was monitored through a shared spreadsheet and accountability surveys, sent at the end of each week. 

Results

Results are pending. We anticipate finding significant, small to moderate effect sizes in the difference in subjective well-being and purpose from pre- to post-test for the intervention group, but not for the waitlist control group. 

Conclusion

Our study will expand the field of purpose interventions by offering more support of their benefit and feasibility in an online setting. This study provides empirical support for a widely available and easily accessible program for increasing well-being and purpose.