Multisensory Environments and College Students’ Perceived Stress, Anxiety, and Environmental Restorativeness

Multisensory environments (MSEs) have been incorporated on college campuses to support student wellbeing, yet limited research has examined which sensory features are most effective for undergraduate students. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of a multisensory environment grounded in play theory, attention restoration theory, and sensory design principles on undergraduate students’ perceived stress, anxiety, and restoration. A secondary purpose was to identify sensory preferences associated with stress and anxiety reduction. A 270 sq ft windowless room was converted into an experiential MSE that included auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile stimuli incorporating features such as a water fountain, bubble tube, oil diffuser, and textural pillows. A swing chair, bean bag, fiber optic lighting, moss inspired flooring, and floral inspired mural are a few of the elements that depict play and restoration theory. A convenience sample of 48 undergraduate students at a mid-sized public university in the southeastern United States participated in a quasi-experimental study. The MSE intervention occurred between pre- and post-tests measuring perceived stress, anxiety, and restoration. While perceived stress scores decreased from pre- to post-test, there was no statistical significance (t(43) = 0.939, p = 0.353); yet 43.2% of participants experienced a decrease in stress when exposed to the MSE. Anxiety scores remained relatively consistent from pre- to post-test and were not statistically significant (t(43) = −0.356, p = 0.723). One-third of participants (38.6%) reported reduced anxiety, 27.3% had no change, and 34.1% had an increase in anxiety. Mean restoration scores ranging from 0 (not at all) to 6 (completely) were 4.34 indicating that participants generally perceived the MSE as restorative. Lighting, music and sounds, and water features were identified most frequently as supporting stress and anxiety reduction. Participants also emphasized the importance of choice and control, suggesting that the effectiveness of multisensory environments may depend as much on user autonomy as on specific sensory features.