An Exploratory Analysis of a Three-Minute Sense of Belonging Intervention on First-Year Students of Color at a Predominantly White University

This article measured sense of belonging in college among fifty-five underrepresented students of color enrolled in a four-week summer bridge program at a predominantly White institution (PWI), using a nonrandomized, quasi-experimental pre-/post- test design, assessing the efficacy of a three-minute academic intervention. Results indicate statistically significant intervention effects (0.50 < n2 < 0.27adj) that persist even controlling for differences in gender, age, and pre-college academic performance. Specifically, when students utilize the intervention, at least three times daily, their sense of belonging in college increases about 26 percent over a four-week period. Gaining medium effects from a novel, brief web-based belonging intervention is promising, since this design is low-cost, replicable, scalable, and easily administered via social media and the internet. Implications for research, practice, and theory are discussed.