An Empirical Study on the Improvement of College Students’ Positive Mental Characters through the Sandplay Course

Abstract

In recent years, psychological crisis events have occurred frequently in colleges. Therefore, cultivating students’ rational and calm, positive and upward attitude is the current focus of mental health education in colleges. This study aims to explore the intervention effect of sandplay courses on students’ positive mental characters. Through the voluntary registration and matching of the public elective course platform, 35 students from a university were selected as subjects, including 17 students in the experimental group and 18 students in the control group. From March to July 2024, 16 weeks of sandplay course intervention was carried out in the experimental group, while no intervention was done in the control group. The scores of the Positive Mental Characters Scale for Chinese College Students (PMCSCCS) and the Positive Mental Characters Self-Assessment before and after the intervention were statistically analyzed. Both the scale test (t = -3.62, P < 0.01) and self-assessment (t = -3.86, P < 0.01) of the experimental group had significant improvement in positive mental characters after the intervention, while the control group had no significant difference in positive mental characters scores before and after the intervention. The sandplay course can effectively improve the level of positive mental characters of college students. Schools and families should pay attention to and explore various channels to actively cultivate positive mental characters of college students, so as to lay a solid foundation for their future development and growth.