Can self-guided colouring improve university student wellbeing, mental health, and mindfulness?
Emma C Palmer-Cooper1, Rose Seneviratne1, Evie Woodford1
1Centre for Innovation in Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Background:
Mindfulness-based interventions can successfully improve wellbeing in young adults. Mindful colouring is an applied mindfulness practice and improves short-term wellbeing. Less evidence is available about the effectiveness of regular, self-guided colouring. We investigated a self-guided two-week colouring intervention for university student wellbeing.
Methods:
One-hundred and forty university students completed a minimum of 10-min self-guided colouring, six times over two weeks. Participants were assessed at baseline and two-week follow-up using self-report measures of wellbeing, relating to quality of life, perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and mindfulness.
Results:
Colouring significantly improved all measures of mental health, wellbeing and mindfulness in students who completed at least six sessions of self-guided colouring.
Conclusion:
Colouring is an accessible activity that can improve student wellbeing when carried out regularly over two weeks. Future research should investigate the impact of longer-term colouring practice on wellbeing, and the effect of this intervention in the general adult population.
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