University belonging: addressing the gaps in intervention research through systematic review

Since Goodenow (1993) and Baumeister and Leary (1995) belonging has evolved into a well-researched construct positively associated with psychological wellbeing, prosocial outcomes, and academic achievement markers (Davis et al., 2019). Belonging in the classroom has become the focus of higher education to promote student success and retention. Despite the concept of belonging being extensively researched as a necessary component of collegiate wellbeing, few intervention studies have been conducted, with randomized control trials being exceedingly rare. There is a continuous gap which is necessary to address to advance university belonging research into the next stages. This paper session addresses those gaps and examines the current available experimental and quasi-experimental designs currently published on university belonging as an analysis of current methods.