Mi Salud Mental: A Co-Produced Positive Psychology Intervention Embedded in University Language Teaching

Abstract By embedding activities aligned with the PERMA model of psychological wellbeing (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) into a Spanish curriculum for fourth-year undergraduate students, the Mi Salud Mental (My Mental Health) intervention sought to promote students' mental wellbeing. This protocol describes the mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design, which incorporated co-production principles to ensure relevance and feasibility, and its implementation and evaluation. Pre- and post-surveys were gathered at the beginning of the fall term and the end of the spring term, respectively. For the intervention condition, 32 fourth-year Spanish students completed both pre- and post-surveys. For the control condition, 32 second-year Spanish and fourth-year students in other language programmes completed both pre-and post-surveys. Using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) framework, barriers and enablers to students’ engagement were examined through 13 interviews, and behaviour change techniques (BCTs) were identified to refine the intervention. While quantitative findings showed no significant positive changes in student wellbeing, engagement, and classroom community for the intervention condition, qualitative data revealed influences on student engagement, including students’ understanding, perceptions, and feelings about the positive psychology content; curriculum delivery and classroom climate; language skills and peer dynamics. Strategies to increase engagement focus on providing a clearer induction, expanding the range of topics and activities, and fostering a positive, inclusive, and well-scaffolded classroom climate. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature suggesting that curriculum-embedded wellbeing approaches may offer subtle but meaningful benefits to student mental health when they are thoughtfully designed and delivered.