Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, Vol 11(4), Dec 2025, 585-595; doi:10.1037/stl0000368
Health psychology is becoming an increasingly popular and relevant subdiscipline of psychology in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is limited research on the psychological outcomes of completing an undergraduate health psychology course. This study examined whether taking part in an experientially based health psychology course improved U.S. college students’ reported ability to manage their health and life stressors. In a quasi-experimental study (n = 51), undergraduate students enrolled in a health psychology or research methods in psychology (control) course completed measures during the first and last week of classes. At the end of the academic quarter, the health psychology students reported significantly greater health self-efficacy and lower psychological stress, relative to the beginning of the quarter and relative to the control group. This research points to one avenue through which U.S. colleges and universities could promote the well-being of undergraduate students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)