Promoting social inclusion, school engagement and reducing stress among newcomer university students: an online social-emotional learning pilot programme

Purpose This study evaluated a two-month online SEL pilot programme promoting the social inclusion of newcomer students in Canadian universities. It assessed how changes over time in social inclusion predicted changes in school engagement and academic stress. Design/methodology/approach Participants included university students in Canada (N = 40, 50% control). They completed pretest–posttest and follow-up measures on perceived levels of social inclusion (i.e. relationships, interactions, consciousness and acceptance), school engagement and academic stress. Findings Structural equation modelling results showed among programme participants changes in relationships increased school engagement and decreased academic stress; changes in acceptance decreased stress but did not increase engagement; changes in consciousness decreased engagement while increased stress; changes in interactions did not predict either outcome. The control group showed decreased engagement and increased stress associated with changes in interactions, with no significant associations found for changes in relationships, acceptance or consciousness. Originality/value Theoretically, this project expands the use of SEL theory among newcomers and introduces an original evidence-based SEL intervention deeply integrated with digital technologies. Practically, this research describes a real-life application of SEL.