Development of the Mindfulness, Nature, Wilderness, and Spirituality Program (MNWSP): A Novel Approach to College Student Wellness

Abstract

College students worldwide report experiencing the adverse effects of stress that come with the various challenges of being a college student (Chen et al., 2013; El Ansari et al., 2014; Garett et al., 2017; Hintz et al., 2015; Larcombe et al., 2016; Othieno et al., 2014; Robotham, 2008). There has been a steady uptick in recent years of mental illness on college campuses, resulting in growing demands on college counseling centers and highlighting the need for preventative interventions (Golightly et al., 2017). The researcher of this dissertation has developed the Mindfulness, Nature, Wilderness, and Spirituality Program (MNWSP) program with the hope of targeting stress in the college student population and becoming a preventative measure for mental illness and other health concerns. The program aims to reduce perceived stress and its adverse effects and increase college students' flourishing, well-being, and sense of meaning and purpose. The MNWSP program is based on the literature on cognitive behavior therapies (CBTs), mindfulness, positive psychology, wilderness and nature therapy, nonreligious spirituality, and Catholic-Christian spirituality. The presented program is designed as a 6-week series, in-person group. The proposed program does not assume any religious beliefs on the part of the student and is open to anyone interested in participating in the program. There is a parallel spirituality module that contains a Catholic-Christian message. A small-scale pilot study was conducted during the program's initial development to evaluate its acceptability and perceived efficacy through a 1-hour introductory workshop developed for the pilot study. The future directions section of the dissertation contains a proposed program evaluation to establish the program's effectiveness.