| Enhancing students' strengths and psychological resources provides an opportunity to address the precipitous rise in the prevalence of psychological problems on college campuses. This study assessed the effectiveness of a brief intervention focused on building students' Psychological Capital (PsyCap; Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007), comprised of hope, resilience, optimism, and efficacy to provide students with useful tools and techniques that would positively impact their psychological well-being. Using an experimental posttest-only waiting-list control group design, 41 students from a private, faith-based institution were randomly assigned to either a treatment (N = 19) or a control (N = 22) condition. Students in the treatment condition participated in an intervention composed of 2 face-to-face 60-minute sessions. The dependent variable was students' scores on Ryff's (1989b) psychological well-being scales, comprised of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. A MANCOVA with pretest PsyCap scores as covariates was conducted to determine treatment fidelity and provided evidence that participants in the treatment condition scored significantly higher in PsyCap and its components of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism after the intervention than did the control group (Wilks' Lambda = .633, F(4, 32) = 4.635, p < .01, partial &eegr;2 = .367). A MANCOVA to assess the effect of the intervention on hope, resilience, optimism, efficacy, and psychological well-being demonstrated that although there was a significant multivariate effect (Wilks' Lambda = .507, F(10, 26) = 2.526, p < .05, partial &eegr;2 = .493), there were no significant group differences in total psychological well-being scores as a result of the intervention. However, univariate analyses revealed that the intervention significantly affected students' scores on the environmental mastery aspect of psychological well-being, as well as their psychological capital, hope, resilience, and optimism; and this effect was relatively sustained over time. The major implication for practice is that a brief PsyCap intervention can bolster students' ability to manage their time, resources, and environmental challenges during the college years, enabling institutions to provide preventive tools through advising, the co-curriculum, and outreach programs to enhance psychological well-being. |
