New Research Finds Hope Emerges as a Teachable Skill for College Students
*CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2024 / *As college campuses grapple with a growing mental health crisis, characterized by alarming rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among students, a groundbreaking study offers hope. New research has unveiled significant increases in hope among college students who completed a 10-week hope curriculum, underscoring the pivotal role of hope in promoting mental well-being on the college campus.
According to the Healthy Minds Study, a staggering 44% of college students in the United States reported symptoms of depression, with 37% grappling with anxiety disorders. Shockingly, suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death among college students, claiming approximately 1,100 lives each year, and 40% of college students reported knowing someone who attempted suicide. The underlying theme across these conditions is hopelessness.
"Persistent hopelessness, both a feeling of despair and sense of helplessness, is a pervasive challenge affecting individuals across all walks of life," remarks Kathryn Goetzke, Founder of iFred and CEO & Chief Hope Officer of The Shine Hope Company. "Yet, we are not taught what hopelessness is, and how to get to hope. This is particularly alarming given the predictive nature of hopelessness for a myriad of detrimental outcomes, from addiction to violence to early death."
In response to this pressing need, the Shine Hope Company has developed Hopeful Mindsets for the College Campus, an evidence-based curriculum designed to equip students and educators with the skills to cultivate hope proactively. Rooted in the Five Keys to *Shine Hope*^TM framework, the ten-lesson course empowers participants to develop *S*tress Skills, cultivate *H*appiness Habits, take *I*nspired Actions, cultivate *N*ourishing Networks, and Eliminate Challenges (those negative thinking patterns that get in the way of hope).
New research published in the Journal of American College Health found that students who participated in the Hopeful Mindsets for the College Campus curriculum experienced significant improvements in their hope scores by the end of the semester. Dr. Crystal I. Bryce, Associate Dean of Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine, shares how the research sheds light on the transformative impact of hope-building interventions.
"Our previous research has shown the importance of hope for college students' retention," said Dr. Bryce. "Our research published in Learning and Individual Differences found that first-year, first-semester students who enter college with high hope are more likely to enroll in their second year of college. This newly published research confirms that hope is teachable, so we can equip all college students with these skills to help prevent worsening mental health on campus."
Hope emerges as a strategy to promote mental health and well-being amongst college campuses as researchers have found students with higher levels of hope are related to (1) increases in positive emotions and life satisfaction throughout a semester, (2) increased college retention, (3) increased academic achievement, (4) improved adjustment to the college environment during the first semester, (5) increased healthy behavior engagement, (6) decreased anxiety, depression, and suicide.
"Hopeful Mindsets introduces a holistic approach to well-being, integrating insights from world-renowned experts with real-life strategies and stories from resilient college graduates," explains Dr. Bryce. "From enhancing academic achievement to reducing anxiety and depression, the benefits of hope cultivation extend far beyond the individual, fostering a culture of resilience and empowerment within college communities."
Hopeful Mindsets on the College Campus is a 10-module video course from The Shine Hope Company that equips students with crucial hope skills through expert insights and real-life stories. The course features experts from Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia, with insights from recent college graduates that offer real-life practical strategies and stories from their experiences with homelessness, mental health diagnoses, death, violence, and everyday challenges at school. The video course is available for individual purchase at www.hopecourses.com. Colleges can also bulk license the course for their entire campus, or companies and philanthropists can sponsor entire college activations to ensure all students at university know the ‘how' to hope.
"We must be innovative about how we activate campuses", remarks Goetzke. "I see and hear about so many kids struggling, and so much of it is preventable. Through our research, we learned these kids are learning the materials we teach in our course for the first time. This is unacceptable, as the skills we teach are ones every child needs to live a healthy, engaged life. So if you care about the mental health of students, please get in touch and get involved."
*About The Shine Hope Company*™*:*
The Shine Hope Company empowers individuals by teaching scientifically informed and evidence-based methods to cultivate hope through workplace activations, public health campaigns, educational resources, courses, training, keynotes, and consulting. The Shine Hope Company manages all programming for Shine Hope, Hopeful Minds, Hopeful Cities, and Hopeful Mindsets, and supports the work of iFred to deliver activations to vulnerable populations. Visit www.theshinehopecompany.com to find out more.
*Media Contact:*
For media inquiries, please contact:
Anna Termulo Montances
anna@theshinehopecompany.com
734-355-6716
*SOURCE:* The Shine Hope Company
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