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Efficacy of the Fun For Wellness Online Intervention to Promote Multidimensional Well-Being: a Randomized Controlled Trial

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Abstract

Subjective well-being refers to people’s level of satisfaction with life as a whole and with multiple dimensions within it. Interventions that promote subjective well-being are important because there is evidence that physical health, mental health, substance use, and health care costs may be related to subjective well-being. Fun For Wellness (FFW) is a new online universal intervention designed to promote growth in multiple dimensions of subjective well-being. The purpose of this study was to provide an initial evaluation of the efficacy of FFW to increase subjective well-being in multiple dimensions in a universal sample. The study design was a prospective, double-blind, parallel group randomized controlled trial. Data were collected at baseline and 30 and 60 days-post baseline. A total of 479 adult employees at a major university in the southeast of the USA were enrolled. Recruitment, eligibility verification, and data collection were conducted online. Measures of interpersonal, community, occupational, physical, psychological, economic (i.e., I COPPE), and overall subjective well-being were constructed based on responses to the I COPPE Scale. A two-class linear regression model with complier average causal effect estimation was imposed for each dimension of subjective well-being. Participants who complied with the FFW intervention had significantly higher subjective well-being, as compared to potential compliers in the Usual Care group, in the following dimensions: interpersonal at 60 days, community at 30 and 60 days, psychological at 60 days, and economic at 30 and 60 days. Results from this study provide some initial evidence for both the efficacy of, and possible revisions to, the FFW intervention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kinesiology, College of Education, Michigan State University, IM Sports Circle, Room 201, 308 W Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Nicholas D. Myers

  2. School of Education and Human Development, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Isaac Prilleltensky, Ora Prilleltensky, Adam McMahon & Samantha Dietz

  3. Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Carolyn L. Rubenstein

Authors
  1. Nicholas D. Myers
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  2. Isaac Prilleltensky
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  3. Ora Prilleltensky
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  4. Adam McMahon
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  5. Samantha Dietz
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  6. Carolyn L. Rubenstein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas D. Myers.

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Funding

The project described was supported by funds from the Erwin and Barbara Mautner Endowed Chair in Community Well-Being at University of Miami School of Education and Human Development.

Conflict of Interest

Adam McMahon and Isaac Prilleltensky are partners in Wellnuts LLC, which may commercialize the FFW intervention described in this study.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The institutional review board at the University of Miami provided necessary permission to conduct this study, IRB no. 20150237.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. More specifically, immediately after passing the inclusionary criteria, screened respondents were presented with the IRB-approved consent form to read and sign electronically. Those who clicked “decline to consent” were locked out of the remaining program activities.

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Myers, N.D., Prilleltensky, I., Prilleltensky, O. et al. Efficacy of the Fun For Wellness Online Intervention to Promote Multidimensional Well-Being: a Randomized Controlled Trial. Prev Sci 18, 984–994 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0779-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0779-z

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