Does an Online Positive Psychological Intervention Improve Positive Affect in Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Open accessAbstract
Meta-analyses indicate that positive psychological interventions are effective at increasing positive affect, as well as reducing anxiety and depression; however, it is unclear how well these effects generalize during periods of high stress. Therefore, the current study tested whether a 2-week online positive psychological intervention delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, a naturalistic stressor, (1) increased positive affect; (2) improved psychological well-being, optimism, life satisfaction, perceived social support, and loneliness; (3) and reduced negative affect in college students, a group known to have high pandemic distress. Participants ( N = 250; 76.9% female) ages 18–45 were recruited from the University of Pittsburgh undergraduate subject pool between September and November of 2020. Participants were randomized to the online positive psychological intervention or active control condition and stratified by trait positive affect, sex, and year in college. Participants in both conditions completed one writing activity every other day for two consecutive weeks. Control participants documented their activities for that day (e.g., meals, going to gym). Intervention participants chose from six positive psychology activities. All outcome variables were assessed pre- and post-intervention by validated questionnaires. Across both conditions, positive and negative affect decreased from pre- to post-intervention. No other psychological factor differed by condition, time, or their interaction. The current null findings are in line with a more recent meta-analysis indicating that positive psychological interventions may have smaller effects on psychological well-being and depressive symptoms than was reported pre-pandemic. Study findings may suggest reduced efficacy of virtual positive psychological interventions under highly stressful circumstances.
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Almost all of the psychological interventions targeting youth mental health had positive results on one or more mental health outcomes, but a minority of the studies did not find that the interventions were effective for any of the measured mental health outcomes.
“Overall, almost all of the psychological interventions targeting youth mental health had positive results on one or more mental health outcomes, but a monitory of the studies did not find that the interventions were effective for any of the measured mental health outcomes [44,50,51,67].”
From Psychological Interventions and Those With Elements of Positive Psychology for Child and Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Literature Review, Lessons Learned, and Areas for Future Knowledge Dissemination (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredStudies with negative findings did not describe details of the mindfulness program or vaguely described informal mindful photography practice with acts of kindness or mind-body movement with breathing rather than relying on evidence-based structured programs with mindfulness techniques described in greater detail.
“For example, they did not describe the details of the mindfulness program [50] or vaguely described informal mindful photography practice with acts of kindness [51] or mind-body movement with breathing [44] rather than relying on evidence-based structured programs with mindfulness techniques that were described in greater detail.”
From Psychological Interventions and Those With Elements of Positive Psychology for Child and Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Literature Review, Lessons Learned, and Areas for Future Knowledge Dissemination (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
The Method (Intervention Conditions; page unavailable) lists both acts of kindness and savoring with mindful photography, and the Discussion reports that the intervention did not improve positive affect. But the Method says the activities were selected based on prior evidence and directs readers to supplementary materials for specific prompts; it does not support characterizing the practice as vaguely described or lacking an evidence base. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAlmost all interventions were digital, with the majority delivered through a web-based mobile health app-based platform.
“Almost all of interventions were digital, with the majority being delivered through a web-based mobile health app-based platform [45-47,49-56,58-68,70-73,76,79-82].”
From Psychological Interventions and Those With Elements of Positive Psychology for Child and Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Literature Review, Lessons Learned, and Areas for Future Knowledge Dissemination (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
The Method (General Procedures and Intervention Conditions) says this intervention was administered online through REDCap, with text messages linking to surveys. It supports this paper as an example of a digital, web-based intervention, but not as evidence that a majority of interventions used a mobile health app; the Discussion describes phone apps as similar to, rather than the platform used by, this study. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe 2-week RCT (N=250) by Dupont et al focused on small acts of kindness, gratitude, and mindful photography, although the study did not have significant effects on any mental health outcomes of interest.
“The 2-week RCT (N=250) by Dupont et al [51] focused on small acts of kindness, gratitude, and mindful photography, although the study did not have significant effects on any mental health outcomes of interest.”
From Psychological Interventions and Those With Elements of Positive Psychology for Child and Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Literature Review, Lessons Learned, and Areas for Future Knowledge Dissemination (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
The Methods (Intervention Conditions) list acts of kindness, a gratitude letter, and mindful photography among the activities; Results (Participant Characteristics) report 250 enrolled for the two-week trial, with 225 analyzed. The Discussion reports no improvement in the main mental-health outcomes relative to control, but Results (Positive Affect) report significantly higher calmness in the intervention group (p = .049), so 'no significant effects on any mental health outcomes' is too broad. That calmness difference was not a significant change over time. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeveral studies were of mindfulness-based interventions or included mindfulness components.
“Several studies were of mindfulness-based interventions or included mindfulness components [43,44,46,50-52,56,57,60,66-69].”
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psychological effects of a virtual reality-based treatment
Kunst, M. H., Silva, E. D. H., Costa, W. D. L., Peres, F. F. F., Maurício, C. R. M., Nunes, F. L. S., Correia, W. F. M., & Teixeira, J. M. (2026) · Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society · doi:10.5753/jbcs.2026.8227
- Authors
- DuPont, C. M., Pressman, S. D., Reed, R. G., Manuck, S. B., Marsland, A. L., & Gianaros, P. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- DuPont, Caitlin M.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Affective Science
- Published
- 2022-10-21
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 101-117
- ISSN
- 2662-2041 (ISSN-L)
- 2662-205X
- PMC
- PMC9589760
- OpenAlex
- W4307297870
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4
- FWCI
- 2.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Affective Science (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL07560)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- positive psychology interventions, positive affect, negative affect, COVID-19 pandemic, online intervention, university students, psychological well-being, optimism, life satisfaction, social support, loneliness, writing activities, stress, intervention efficacy
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