College student gratitude: A silver lining while evaluating a yearlong bathroom stall messaging campaign.

PSYCHOLOGY of college students; SOCIAL support; MENTAL health; SURVEYS; HEALTH; COMMUNICATION; RESEARCH funding; EMOTIONS; THEMATIC analysis; EDUCATIONAL counseling; GOAL (Psychology)

Mental health concerns of college students are on the rise, prompting a need for communication campaigns to address ways to assist students. The current campaign utilized weekly bathroom stall messaging to address five key themes developed by a university's mental wellness task force. Participants: Undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. Methods: A survey at pre and post-campaign implementation. Results: No significant shifts in attitudes, and only one significant behavioral increase (i.e., reaching out to academic advisers), were revealed. One silver lining was that college students were found to express gratitude to someone new a median of 5 times per month. Gratitude tended to be displayed most recently to those in their social circles, and primarily for receiving instrumental support. Conclusions: Narrowing the focus of future mental wellness campaigns is recommended. Additional recommendations for developing future mental wellness campaigns are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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