Single-factor interventions to promote resilience in tertiary education students: a systematic review

The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate practices that improve psychological resilience in tertiary education students. The current systematic review uses poly-strengths theory (Hamby et al., 2018)to compare stress management research from multiple psychological disciplines to determine the factors thatimprove mental health outcomes and improve resilience among tertiary education students. The resultsfound that paying attention to the present moment had the largest reported effect size for reducing anxietysymptoms and that engaging in personally meaningful and enjoyable activities led to large reductions innegative affect. Positive relations with others, exercise, humor, and acceptance of difficult circumstanceswere also effective for relieving negative symptoms. It was also found that 15 of the reviewed studiesreported only one mental health outcome measure. The majority of reviewed intervention studies did notinclude measures of positive functioning, making it difficult to determine which intervention types have thelargest effects on promoting positive mental health. It is recommended that future intervention studiescontain a larger range of mental health outcome measures to better inform preventative mental healthpractices. The study concludes that of the reviewed interventions, engaging in enjoyable and personallymeaningful activities, focusing attention on the present moment, exercise, positive social interactions,humor, and acceptance in difficult circumstances have the largest effects on improving resilience in tertiaryeducation students