Strengthening mental health of students: key predictors and their changes by an interdisciplinary teaching course

Objective: Supporting students’ mental health is increasingly important, as many experience psychological difficulties. This preregistered quasi-experimental study evaluated an interdisciplinary university course to promote mental health. The course aimed to enhance mental health literacy, insight orientation, mental health promotion intentions, and health-related behaviours (study and off-study crafting, and coping). Methods and Measures: Across two semesters (Autumn 2024, Spring 2025), 196 students participated (79 intervention; 117 control), completing validated measures at the beginning and end of each semester. We examined associations between determinants and mental health outcomes (well-being, stress, depression, anxiety), and tested whether the intervention group showed greater pre-post improvements than the control group. Results: Insight orientation, study and off-study crafting were positively associated with well-being and negatively with stress, depression, and anxiety. Mediation analyses suggested that insight orientation was linked to outcomes via study and off-study crafting. Compared with controls, the intervention group showed greater increases in mental health literacy and insight orientation. Conclusion: The findings underscore the importance of equipping students with skills to support their mental health. While both mental health literacy and insight orientation improved, only insight orientation was consistently associated with all outcomes, suggesting that fostering insight may be a promising target for university-based interventions.