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open access
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E-ISSN : 2733-4538
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of positive psychology intervention (PPI) on psychological health and post-traumatic growth in trauma-exposed university students. The PPI examined here was a structured 8-session group program aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviors, and positive cognitions. The PPI program consisted of 8 weekly sessions. Thirty participants in the PPI group completed the measures of resilience, posttraumatic growth, mental well-being, meaning in life, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, and posttraumatic negative cognitions at pre-intervention, after the fourth session, at post-intervention, and 1 month after the intervention; conversely, 33 participants in the non-treatment control group completed the same assessment instruments three times (at pre-intervention, after the fourth session, and at post-intervention). Compared to the participants in the non-treatment control group, those in the PPI group showed significant improvements in resilience, posttraumatic growth, mental well-being and meaning in life, as well as reductions in depressive symptoms and post-traumatic negative cognitions. These effects of PPI were maintained at 1-month follow-up. However, a decrease in post-traumatic stress symptoms was not significantly different between the two groups. In conclusion, these findings suggest that PPI may be efficacious in enhancing resilience, post-traumatic growth, and positive mental health, as well as ameliorating depressive symptoms in trauma-exposed university students. Finally, implications of this study and directions for future research based on its limitations were discussed.
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