Can Students Learn to Optimize Their Need-Based Experiences and Mental Health During a Stressful Period? Testing a Need-Crafting Intervention in Higher Education

Abstract

Abundant research has shown that the support of students’ basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence contributes to higher motivation and mental health. Yet, whether students themselves can craft their own need satisfactions and be trained herein has rarely been examined. The findings of the present online intervention study among university students indicates that a brief 7-day training on need crafting during a stressful period suffices to foster greater need satisfaction and well-being, while reducing need frustration and ill-being, with enhanced need crafting accounting for the training benefits. These effects were somewhat stronger for participants who were more actively engaged in the program, but did not depend on participants’ type of motivation to initiate the training, the self-chosen pacing of the training or their use of WhatsApp during the training. Yet, more autonomously motivated participants, those using WhatsApp and choosing the fast track were less likely to drop-out of the training. The discussion focuses on the role of need crafting as a pro-active skill that fosters well-being and resilience in students.