Reimagining Student Wellbeing: A Preregistered, Quasi-Experimental, Mixed Effects Analysis on the Impacts of a Third-Wave Positive Psychology Course for Undergraduate Students

Student wellbeing remains significantly lower than that of the general population. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated longstanding academic and financial stressors, now further compounded by a global ‘polycrisis’, including the impacts of economic instability, geopolitical uncertainty, artificial intelligence, and the climate crisis. While positive psychology has shown promise for enhancing wellbeing in higher education, traditional curricula have overemphasised individual wellbeing, neglecting wider considerations. To address this, a third-wave positive psychology course, grounded in a modern meta-framework of wellbeing, was developed, integrating individual, collective, and planetary domains. The current, pre-registered, quasi-experimental, mixed-effects study analysed data from 324 participants recruited across five academic cohorts (2020/21 to 2024/25) to determine the impact of the course on multiple wellbeing measures. A protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework. Analysis involved mixed-effects ANOVAs, Bayesian outputs, internal random split-half replication, and mediation analysis. Results demonstrated significant improvements in wellbeing among intervention participants compared to controls. Critically, these findings were robust to various sensitivity analyses including internal replication using random split-half sub-sampling and across pandemic and non-pandemic cohorts. Significant increases in self-transcendence were also observed among intervention participants, partially accounting for wellbeing gains. These findings provide empirical support for a scalable, holistic wellbeing intervention that is robust to contemporary challenges, laying the foundations for inner development on which positive sustainable futures may be promoted.