Efficacy of the intervention based on the comprehensive model of the lived experience of adjustment on academic, psychological and social well-being

Inspecting the first-year students' mental health reveals that most of them cannot adapt emotionally, and they experience mental health problems comprising irrational beliefs, emotional, motivational, communication, and social issues and learning, along with a significant failure in academic performance. Nonetheless, none of the interventions has been based on the lived experience of the students who have the most problems adapting to the university.

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the educational program based on the comprehensive model of the lived experience of adjustment (CMLEA) on the academic, psychological and social well-being of maladjusted first-year students.

The present research was conducted with a quasi-experimental design of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The sample consisted of 40 freshmen who scored lower than the average in the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (Baker & Siryk, 1986). The convenience sampling method was used to select the students. Then they were assigned to two experimental and control groups. In the present research, academic well-being (Tuominen-Soini et al., 2012), social well-being (Keyes, 1998), and psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989) scales were used. After the pre-test, the experimental group received 18 one-hour sessions of university adaptation training. After two months, a follow-up study was done. The data were analyzed using mixed analysis of variance method.

The results revealed that the intervention program significantly impacted students' academic, psychological and social well-being (P<0.01) so that the scores of the well-being components significantly increased in the post-test stage and remained stable in the follow-up stage.

Results from the intervention indicated that the educational program based on the CMLEA with amending students' problems in adapting to the university leads to an increase in their well-being components in the first year.