Study · Adults, students
University students
An integrated wellbeing sprint for students, run with the university that also measures it, so the participant pool and the measurement partner are the same institution.
01The Study
The student cohort is the cleanest fit for the whole design. The university is both the pool of participants and the partner that owns the measurement, so the independence between the people teaching and the people scoring is built into the setting rather than arranged around it. Campus labs make the biomedical channel more affordable, and the academic calendar provides natural enrolment waves for the staggered baseline.
Students take part through a cohort that blends in-person sessions and digital practice. Recruitment runs through student wellbeing services and courses, and through broader outreach so that the cohort is not only those already seeking help. A nominated friend carries the informant channel, which is easy to arrange at this age, and each student sets goals across academic, relational and personal life that the sprint is scored against.
No student is asked to wait. Waves begin at different points in the calendar, and that difference in timing, not a withheld control group, is what lets the analysis separate the programme from term-time and season.
02Measurement
Five channels, tuned to this cohort.
Biomedical markers
Heart-rate variability, diurnal cortisol slope and sleep, with an inflammatory marker where campus labs allow.
Self-report
Validated wellbeing, perceived-stress, emotion-regulation, resilience and flourishing measures.
MABERT leader report
Structured observation of each student across the six capacities, session by session.
Friend or informant report
A nominated friend rates observable change, reducing reliance on self-report alone.
Goal movement
Goal Attainment Scaling, with personalised goals scored on a fixed scale across the sprint.
03The Six-Week Split
What this sprint reports, and what waits for the long arm.
Reported at six weeks
- Wellbeing and perceived stress
- Emotion regulation
- Heart-rate variability and sleep
- Movement on personal goals
- Friend and leader-observed capacity change
Reported from the long arm, with the reason
- Inflammatory markers such as hs-CRPLong biological latency and high day-to-day noise. Needs three months or more and a larger sample, so it is read from the long arm.
- Durability across a full academic yearWhether gains survive exams, breaks and the pressures of a year is a follow-up question, measured at three and six months.
04Goals & Ethics
Personalised goals, no one withheld.
Goals. Set by each student across academic, relational and personal life, scoped to the sprint.
Multiple baseline across enrolment waves, timed to the academic calendar. No student is placed on a waitlist arm. Consent and, where relevant, assent are taken before anything begins, under an approved ethics protocol. Our stance is stated plainly: we do not withhold the programme in the name of research.
This study is in design. The right partner shapes it before it begins.