Effectiveness of an online positive psychology intervention among Tunisian healthcare students on mental health and study engagement during the Covid‐19 pandemic
Open accessAbstract
Research indicates that university students present higher levels of psychological distress compared with non‐student age‐matched youth. These levels are higher among healthcare students, and even higher during the Covid‐19 pandemic. Therefore, cost‐effective large‐scale interventions are needed in order to prevent further development of psychological distress during this period, and more generally. The aim of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of an 8‐week Internet‐based positive psychology intervention for healthcare students in Tunisia. A two‐armed randomized controlled trial was conducted among a sample of 366 health care students (183 in the experimental group and 183 in the control group), with a majority of women (94%). The average age was 20.74 years (±1.64). The participants completed the following online questionnaires at three time‐points (before the program, immediately after, and three months later): stress, anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, optimism, hope, study engagement, and well‐being. Repeated‐measures ANOVAs revealed significant positive effects of the intervention on all the measured variables for the experimental group. The results showed a significant improvement immediately after the intervention compared to the control group, which was maintained three months later. This program may thus be considered as a promising means of improving students' mental health and study engagement.
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It was demonstrated in this review that psychoeducation is a way to improve mental health.
“It was also demonstrated in this review that psychoeducation is a way to improve mental health (29, 34, 41, 44, 45, 51, 55).”
From Digital resilience interventions for healthcare workers: a systematic review (2025) · cites this paper as [41]
The Intervention: The CARE program section identifies psycho-education as one component of an online program, and the Discussion reports significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and stress. The study tested the multi-component program, not psychoeducation on its own, so it does not establish that psychoeducation independently improves mental health. Our copy provides no page numbers for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe study by Krifa et al found that multiple positive psychological interventions may be superior for youth mental health by combining compassion, positivity, and meaningful engagement in a digital intervention.
“The study by Krifa et al [53] found that multiple positive psychological interventions may be superior for youth mental health by combining compassion, positivity, and meaningful engagement in a digital intervention.”
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 [53]
The “Intervention: The CARE program” section describes an online, multi-component program combining attention to positive aspects of life, compassion and self-compassion, and meaningful action. The Results report mental-health improvements among Tunisian healthcare students compared with controls, but the study did not compare the combined program with individual positive psychology interventions or establish superiority for youth mental health generally. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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].”
Many of the studies that measured depression found that the interventions improved depression, but a minority did not find that the interventions assisted with depression.
“Many of the studies that measured depression found that the interventions improved depression [43,45,53,54,58,59,61,65,66,68,71,73,74,77,80], but a minority not find that the interventions assisted with depression [62,64].”
A few studies combined several different positive psychological components, such as positivity, compassion, and meaningful engagement or self-care, compassion, and meditation.
“Additionally, a few of the studies combined several different positive psychological components, such as positivity, compassion, and meaningful engagement [53] or self-care, compassion, and meditation [47].”
Among studies demonstrating effectiveness for anxiety, one was a multicomponent positive psychological intervention, several were mindfulness-based interventions, and several were CBT-based.
“Of the studies that demonstrated effectiveness, one was a multicomponent positive psychological intervention [53], several were mindfulness-based interventions [43,52,64,66,70,72,82] as well as CBT based [54,55,58,59,63,64,73,74,77].”
Youth scored higher on various emotional facets and character traits, including positive affect, hope, optimism, emotional regulation, forgiveness, and life satisfaction.
“Youth also scored higher on various emotional facets and character traits, including positive affect [45], hope, optimism, emotional regulation [53], forgiveness [60], and life satisfaction [60].”
Well-being was higher in the intervention arms relative to the control groups in a few studies that assessed it.
“Well-being was also higher in the intervention arms relative to the control groups in a few studies that assessed it [45,46,53].”
Several studies found that the interventions were effective for decreasing both depression and anxiety.
“Several studies found that the interventions were effective for decreasing both depression and anxiety [43,53,54,58,59,66,73,74,77].”
One multicomponent 8-week positive psychology RCT involving 366 participants found reductions in depression and anxiety.
“one study was a multicomponent 8-week positive psychology RCT involving 366 participants and found reductions in depression and anxiety [53].”
One study found that participants had higher levels of emotional regulation, but it did not assess knowledge levels.
“Although one study found that participants had higher levels of emotional regulation, it did not assess knowledge levels [53].”
The impact on anxiety was more prominent in some studies for the treatment group than for the control group.
“The impact on anxiety was more prominent in some studies for the treatment group than for the control group [19,59-61,66,68].”
Reduced symptoms of depression were found in several studies.
“Reduced symptoms of depression were found in several studies [47,55,58,59,61-63,68], with superiority of the intervention group found in some [47,55,58,59,62,63,68].”
Only 3 studies were eligible for a meta-analysis analyzing the treatment effect on well-being.
“Only 3 studies [64,65,68] were eligible for a meta-analysis analyzing the treatment effect on well-being.”
Superiority of the intervention group for depressive symptoms was found in some studies.
“Reduced symptoms of depression were found in several studies [47,55,58,59,61-63,68], with superiority of the intervention group found in some [47,55,58,59,62,63,68].”
Several studies found increased well-being.
“Several studies found increased well-being [47,57,60,65,67,68].”
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Riboldi, I., Cavaleri, D., Calabrese, A., Capogrosso, C. A., Piacenti, S., Bartoli, F., Crocamo, C., & Carrà, G. (2023) · Revista de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental · doi:10.1016/j.rpsm.2022.04.005 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
“The structure of negative emo- tional states: comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress IN+ModelR ntal 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 ARTICLEPSM-610; No. of Pages 12 Revista de psiquiatría y salud me Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories.”
InfluentialZuo, X., Tang, Y., Chen, Y., & Zhou, Z. (2023) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1259250 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Grand Challenges for Positive Psychology: Future Perspectives and Opportunities
van Zyl, L. V., & Rothmann, S. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.833057 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“Further, attempts at replicating the effects of popular positive psychological interventions have failed in various studies (Efendic and Van Zyl, 2019; Khanna and Singh, 2019;Mongrain and Anselmo-Matthews, 2019; Krifa et al., 2021).”
BackgroundDigital Mental Health Interventions for Young People Aged 16-25 Years: Scoping Review
Potts, C., Kealy, C., McNulty, J. M., Madrid‐Cagigal, A., Wilson, T., Mulvenna, M. D., O’Neill, S. M., Donohoe, G. J., & Barry, M. M. (2025) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/72892 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Taylor, M. E., Liu, M., Abelson, S., Eisenberg, D., Lipson, S. K., & Schueller, S. M. (2024) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-024-01545-w · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Fischer-Grote, L., Fössing, V., Aigner, M., Fehrmann, E., & Boeckle, M. (2024) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/46637 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Only 3 studies [64,65,68] were eligible for a meta-analysis analyzing the treatment effect on well-being.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSaboor, S., Medina, A., & Marciano, L. (2024) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/56045 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“The systematic review is based on 35 studies (Multimedia Appendix 1 [77-94 , 96-112 96-112 ]).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialМалинаускас, Р. К., & Malinauskiene, V. A. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19159199 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“All 10 studies mentioned intervention providers (through online formats), which were categorized as follows: Isha Hatha yoga teacher [32]; college counselor [33]; instructor [34,41]; expert [40]; psychologist [35,39]; mindfulness teacher [37]; multidisciplinary team, including a study member and a mindfulness teacher,…”
BackgroundInfluentialHui-li, Y., & Yan-ping, R. (2025) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105104 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Editorial: Positive psychological interventions: How, when and why they work: Beyond WEIRD contexts
Duan, W., Klibert, J., Schotanus-Dijkstra, M., Llorens, S., van den Heuvel, M., Mayer, C., Tomasulo, D., Liao, Y., & van Zyl, L. E. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1021539 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“These PPIs are shown to have significant short- and medium-term effects which increased their popularity in practice (Jorgensen-Graupner and van Zyl, 2019; Krifa et al., 2021; Van Zyl et al., 2021).”
BackgroundInfluence of Lifestyle and Dietary Habits on the Prevalence of Food Allergies: A Scoping Review
Rennie, G. H., Zhao, J., Camus‐Ela, M., Shi, J., Jiang, L., Zhang, L., Wang, J., & Raghavan, V. (2023) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods12173290 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“fluenced by changes in behavior, lifestyle, and eating habits [11].”
BackgroundTheurel, A., Witt, A., & Shankland, R. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph191610442 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Despite the call for digital mental health prevention programs to face the adverse psychological effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic [52,53], few studies tested the specific usefulness of such digital prevention approaches for university students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis [54,55].”
BackgroundResultSelf-citationMalighetti, C., Bernardelli, L., Pancini, E., Riva, G., & Villani, D. (2023) · Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2022.0246 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Grit Across Nations: The Cross-National Equivalence of the Grit-O Scale
van Zyl, L. E., Heijenk, B., Klibert, J., Shankland, R., Verger, N. B., Rothmann, S., Cho, V., Feng, Y., See-To, E. W. K., Roll, L. C., et al. (2022) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-022-00543-0 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effects of positive psychology interventions in Arab countries: A systematic review
Basurrah, A. A., Blasi, Z. D., Lambert, L., Murphy, M. F., Warren, M. A., Setti, A., Baddar, M. K. A.-H., & Shrestha, T. (2022) · Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1111/aphw.12391 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Pastore, O. L., & Fortier, M. (2023) · Health Promotion International · doi:10.1093/heapro/daad107 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Shavaisi, F., Heydarpour, S., Jalilian, N., Jalali, A., & Rezaei, M. (2024) · BMC Women s Health · doi:10.1186/s12905-024-03333-3 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“Another critical aspect is that fostering positive emotions, engagement, and meaning has the potential to reduce the impact of illnesses [33].”
BackgroundSriati, A., Kurniawan, K., Senjaya, S., Khoirunnisa, K., Muslim, R. N. I., Putri, A. M., Armansyah, N. A., & Fitriani, N. (2023) · Journal of Holistic Nursing · doi:10.1177/08980101231162990 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“…worry, emotional fatigue, PTSD, and CPTSD, and can improve students ’ resilience, emotional regulation competence , self-compassion, and self-esteem (Bruhns et al., 2021; Celia et al., 2021; Dumarkaite et al., 2021; Harrer et al., 2021; Krifa et al., 2021; Lahtinen et al., 2021; Lerardi Figure 1.”
Savoring life during pandemic: an online intervention to promote well-being in emerging adults
Villani, D., Pancini, E., Pesce, F., & Scuzzarella, L. (2023) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01225-z · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Digital resilience interventions for healthcare workers: a systematic review
Larsson, M., Ho, D. M., Kirschner, M., Seifritz, E., & Manoliu, A. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1519670 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Chi, D., Zhang, Y., Zhou, D., Xu, G., & Bian, G. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1045400 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“, 2021), three were in undergraduates (Krifa et al., 2021; MacDonald and Neville, 2022; Rackoff et al., 2022), and others were in the general population (Al-Refae et al.”
BackgroundChin, G., & Chow, K. K. N. (2023) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3610211 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Pascoe, M. C., Dash, S. R., Pogrmilović, B. K., Patten, R. K., & Parker, A. G. (2022) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076221117746 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Some prior work engaging students in digital interventions during COVID-19 has not reported the acceptance rate of invited students,(10) while other work has reported a much high acceptance rate than in the current study (86%– 87%).(9,11) A key difference between these previous studies and the current study is the pop…”
BackgroundResultTönis, K. J. M., Kraiss, J. T., Drossaert, C. H. C., Karreman, J., Oostinga, M. S. D., Kloos, N., Austin, J., & Bohlmeijer, E. T. (2024) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-024-00793-0 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“…studies on the effects of (online) PPIs during the Covid-19 pandemic on psychological well-being, depression and anxiety in healthcare students (Krifa et al., 2022 ), resilience, depression and anxiety in police officers (Brouzos et al., 2022 ) and adults in the general population (Brouzos et…”
Juniar, D., van Ballegooijen, W., Kleygrewe, G., van Schaik, A., Passchier, J., & Riper, H. M. (2025) · Frontiers in Digital Health · doi:10.3389/fdgth.2025.1603389 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Changqing, S., Han, J., Zhu, Z., Zhang, Q., Wang, P., Zhang, P., Qin, Y., Yang, L., Xue, W., Sun, D., et al. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-03181-2 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Positive psychological interventions have illustrated efficacy in alleviating adverse emotional states and augmenting scholarly engagement [15].”
Liu, Y., & Li, Z. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15097459 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Lyzwinski, L., Zwicker, J. D., Mcdonald, S., & Tough, S. (2024) · JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting · doi:10.2196/59171 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“This included character, positive emotions, meaning, happiness, purpose, life satisfaction, social relationships, affect, and mental health [28,52,53,61,62].”
BackgroundInfluentialPastore, O. L., McAllister, S., & Fortier, M. (2023) · Discover Psychology · doi:10.1007/s44202-023-00082-6 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Three additional studies demonstrated that online positive education improved university students’ SWB [32, 65, 67], while two others showed that participating in an in-person undergraduate positive psychology course brought about increases in student SWB [41, 58].”
BackgroundJurišová, E., Pivková, L., Ráczová, L., Sollár, T., & Romanová, M. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1151027 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Long, L. J., Viana, A. G., Zvolensky, M. J., Lü, Q., & Gallagher, M. W. (2024) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.23746 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Nixon, L., Slattery, B. W., Cassese, A., & ten Hoor, G. A. (2023) · International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology · doi:10.1007/s41042-023-00114-5 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“In line with earlier digital well-being interventions (e.g., Harrer et al., 2019; Lambert et al., 2019; Krifa et al., 2022; Davies et al., 2014), our online intervention (POWR and Move) was successful in changing student well-being scores compared to a control group at week 2, with a small effect…”
McDonald, I., & Nanni, A. (2023) · Psychology in the Schools · doi:10.1002/pits.22930 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Cole, M. L., Shankland, R., Nel, M., Knoop, H. H., Chen, S., & van Zyl, L. E. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015064 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationFu, M. (2024) · Journal of Education Humanities and Social Sciences · doi:10.54097/3g493r69 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“(Krifa et al., 2021) [28] A 12-week collective intervention aimed at promoting well-being.”
BackgroundAbdulla, A. (2023) · International Journal of Wellbeing · doi:10.5502/ijw.v13i3.2799 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Onur, Ç., & Karaaziz, M. (2024) · ALPHA PSYCHIATRY · doi:10.5152/alphapsychiatry.2024.231292 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“44 These improvements were maintained for at least 3 months.”
BackgroundGao, Q., Yao, Y., Wang, R., Zhang, X., Gudenkauf, L. M., Xu, G., Harrison, S., Zheng, L., Wang, J., Chen, G., et al. (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1455174 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Wang, C., Shen, L., Shields, J. L., Huang, Q.-C., Wu, Y., Yin, J.-W., & Zhao, J. (2024) · Research on Social Work Practice · doi:10.1177/10497315241229667 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Blasi, Z. D., O’Doherty, M., & van Zyl, L. E. (2024) · International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology · doi:10.1007/s41042-023-00138-x · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Terzioğlu, Z. A., & Çakır, S. G. (2025) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.70034 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“An examination of the existing research indicates that multiple factors contribute to explaining psychological well ‐ being, with online interventions serving as crucial tools for promoting well ‐ being (Krifa et al. 2022).”
Tornquist, M., Herrmann, E., & Chiappe, D. L. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-05276-8 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Initial research has proposed that positive psychology interventions may indeed promote mental wellbeing during COVID-19 (Fekete & Deichert, 2022; Fishman, 2020; Krifa et al., 2022; Kumar et al., 2022).”
The simultaneous impact of interventions on optimism and depression: A meta‐analysis
Schutte, N. S., & Malouff, J. M. (2024) · Mental Health Science · doi:10.1002/mhs2.79 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Future Horizons in Positive Psychology: Challenges and Prospects
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Chen, X., & Kim, H. K. (2024) · International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies · doi:10.4018/ijwltt.338716 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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Positive Psychology Interventions Among Freshmen in Universities: An Integrative Literature Review
Monda, E. A., Mose, E. K., & Omare, J. M. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-72520-3_10
Positive psychology-based group work for youth living in Turkey: a randomized controlled trial
Özcan, B. E., Özkalay, Ç. C., & Kara, Y. (2025) · Social Work With Groups · doi:10.1080/01609513.2025.2486443
“Krifa et al. (2022) positive psychology-based interventions study for university students found that stress, anxiety and depression levels decreased; It has been proven that optimism, hope and well-being are increased.”
Eco-anxiété, changement climatique et santé mentale
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The Digital Five Ways to Wellbeing Intervention: Long-Term Change in Life Satisfaction
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“Studies show reduced stress, anxiety, and depression [39,40], including in Greek healthcare professionals [41].”
Theurel, A., Martinie, M., Krifa, I., Witt, A., Fournier, A., Mathieu, Z.-A., Macedo, M. F., Vigouroux, S. L., Flaudias, V., Millot, I., et al. (2026) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2026.101002
Self-citation
- Authors
- Krifa, I., Hallez, Q., van Zyl, L. E., Braham, A., Sahli, J., Ben Nasr, S., & Shankland, R.
- Affiliations
- Hôpital Farhat Hached (TN)
- Université Lumière Lyon 2 (FR)
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences University of Eindhoven Eindhoven Netherlands
- Laboratory of Research Quality of Care and Management of Maternal Health Services, Faculty of Medicine of Sousse University of Sousse Sousse Tunisia
- Mental illness Epidemiology Research Laboratory University of Sousse Sousse Tunisia
- Laboratory DIPHE, Department of Psychology, Education and Vulnerabilities Université Lumière Lyon 2 Lyon France
- Venue
- Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-12-22
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1228-1254
- ISSN
- 1758-0846 (ISSN-L)
- 1758-0854
- OpenAlex
- W4200361453
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 11
- FWCI
- 10.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- TU/e Research Portal (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- positive psychology interventions, online intervention, health professions students, student mental health, study engagement, COVID-19 pandemic, psychological distress, stress, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, optimism, hope, well-being, Tunisian students
- MeSH terms
- Psychology, Positive, COVID-19, Delivery of Health Care, Humans, Mental Health, Students, Universities, Pandemics
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