Sexual and gender minority (SGM) emerging-adult college students experience unprecedented rates of psychopathology. They are also more likely to experience barriers to accessing traditional mental health resources and spiritual support groups and are more apt to seek support in alternative ways, such as through campus LGTBQIA+ support groups and online communities. Spiritual-mind-body (SMB) group wellness programming may fill an important role as a more accessible service for SGM students and as an adjunct to individual mental health services.
The primary aim of the present study is to investigate the utility of Awakened Awareness for Adolescents and Emerging Adults (AA-A), a group SMB wellness intervention designed to support spiritual individuation and mental health, to support SGM college student spirituality, mental health, psychological, and psychosocial wellness.
A secondary aim was to examine differences in SGM students’ response to AA-A when delivered online versus in-person using exploratory analyses. Participants were 116 non-clinically referred, self-selected undergraduates aged 18-25. Self-report measures captured spiritual well-being, psychological well-being, psychosocial well-being, and symptoms of psychopathology. SGM students’ rate of enrollment in AA-A was compared to broader university and national college demographics using chi-square analyses.
SGM and non-SGM student engagement in AA-A was measured by the average number of sessions attended and compared using an independent sample t-test. SGM and non-SGM student pre-intervention wellness was compared using independent sample t-tests. Changes in wellness at post-intervention were assessed using paired sample t-tests, and differences in post-intervention changes in wellness were analyzed as a function of ethnicity and SGM status using independent sample t-tests and ANOVAs of change scores. Exploratory two-way ANOVAs were conducted and interactions between SGM status and AA-A delivery method on well-being change scores were analyzed to determine whether SGM students responded uniquely from their peers to the online delivery format.
SGM students had greater spiritual and wellness support needs at pre-intervention as compared with their non-SGM peers and were twice as likely to enroll in AA-A, and more likely to stay and engage in the program. SGM students had statistically parallel rates of improvement across most measures of well-being, and statistically even greater rates of improvement on some psychological and psychosocial measures of well-being capturing negative self-talk and self-concept. Among students who participated in AA-A delivered online and during the COVID-19 pandemic, SGM students benefitted more than their non-SGM peers.
Findings support the feasibility and acceptability of the AA-A intervention to support SGM college student spiritual well-being and mental health across both in-person and online delivery methods, and exploratory analyses indicate that the online delivery method may be a particularly helpful format for SGM students to engage.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/yp1e-tx32 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Mistur, Elisabeth Joy |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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