longitudinal quasi-experimental study of a pedagogical approach to supporting undergraduate well-being and mental health: digital interdisciplinary accredited elective mental health literacy university course.

BACKGROUND: Entry to higher education coincides with a period of accelerated psychosocial and brain development. Student need for acceptable and accessible well-being and mental health support is straining university resources. AIMS: To evaluate the acceptability and impact of a digital mental health literacy course tailored for undergraduates and delivered as an accredited interdisciplinary elective. METHOD: Analyses included pre-post course survey data from enrolled students and longitudinal U-Flourish Well-Being Survey data from a comparison sample of non-course takers over the same period (2021-2024). Linear mixed-effects models examined associations between course participation and 12-week changes in mental health literacy, psychosocial risk factors, well-being and common mental health concerns. RESULTS: Pre-post course survey data (N = 2884) supported high acceptability, improvements in resilience (+0.06; 95% CI 0.03-0.08, p < 0.001) and self-compassion (+0.65; 95% CI 0.46-0.84, p < 0.001), and a reduction in brooding (-0.31; 95% CI -0.44 to-0.18, p < 0.001). Taking the course was associated with a reduction in anxiety (β = -0.41; 95% CI -0.55 to -0.27, p < 0.001) and cannabis use (proportional odds ratio 0.82; 95% CI 0.75-0.90, p < 0.001), improvement in sleep quality (β = 0.79; 95% CI 0.61-0.97, p < 0.001) and evidence of a protective effect on well-being (β = 0.24; 95% CI 0.11-0.36, p < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (β = -0.37; 95% CI -0.52 to -0.21, p < 0.001), compared with non-course takers. Effects differed by gender, with women benefitting most, but were comparable across minoritised student subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health literacy delivered as an accredited undergraduate interdisciplinary course is highly acceptable and associated with improvement in psychological coping and positive effects on student mental health and well-being. Future research should focus on more diverse student samples, underlying mechanisms and sustained effects.