Kindness as an Intervention for Student Social Interaction Anxiety, Affect, and Mood: The KISS of Kindness Study

Abstract

This study assessed the incremental impact of performing acts of kindness, beyond the benefits seen from providing a resource booklet on stress management (that is available to all students at the host institution) with regard to the affect, social interaction anxiety, and mood of undergraduate students. This repeated-measures mixed methods study involved 69 full-time undergraduate students allocated to the intervention (kindness + stress booklet; n = 35) or comparator (stress booklet; n = 34) condition. The Brief Mood Introspection Scale, the International-Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Short Form, and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale-Straightforward were administered at pre-and immediate post-intervention. Inductive content analysis was performed on open-ended questions exploring participants' experiences with the study. No statistically significant results were found. Several themes highlighted self-perceived improvements in the wellbeing of intervention group participants. This study was perceived as a positive experience by many participants and demonstrated promise for a larger-scale university-based intervention. Keywords Kindness. Social interaction anxiety. Mood. Affect. Undergraduate students In recent years, the mental health of post-secondary students has been increasingly recognized as critical to understand (Auerbach et al. 2016; Blanco et al. 2008; Bruffaerts et al. 2018). This may, in part, be due to the many mental health issues that develop during young adulthood (Gibbons et al. 2018). In fact, some researchers

A cross-sectional examination of Canadian adults’ prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“…Based on these findings, it is possible that individuals view following public health measures as acts of kindness toward others and more research into this might be appropriate. Thus, while Ontario's public health mandates could have restricted participants from engaging in some prosocial acts once deemed "common" (e.g., holding a door for a stranger, offering to help someone carry groceries; Shillington et al, 2020), it is possible that they prompted a different type of prosocial behavior in the wake of COVID-19one that keeps people safe and healthy. Alloway et al (2014) indicate that social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Zoom, Twitter, Instagram) might provide individuals with unique opportunities to act prosocially.…”

“…Many of the constructs overlap to the point that they are often used synonymously. Specifically, kindness can be understood as actions intended for others' betterment (Curry et al, 2018) and can include activities such as holding the door open for others, shoveling snow from a neighbor's driveway, or greeting strangers (Shillington et al, 2020). Not surprisingly, these activities are also considered to be prosocial (Sanderson & McQuilkin, 2017).…”

A Systematic Review: What’s Kindness in School and How to Grow It?

“…Furthermore, students who said three kindnesses had 1.5 times more friends than students who visited three places [7]. Qualitatively, kindness has a meaningful impact as an intervention in students with social interaction anxiety although statistically were not significant [19]. The desire to help and friendship bonds are also connected to teachers' and students' kindness [20].…”

Prosocial Interventions and Health Outcomes

“…We identified 24 randomized clinical trials, 12, 3 nonrandomized studies, 52-54 and 3 mixedmethods studies. [55][56][57] Most of the studies (17 [56.7%]) analyzed mental health and well-being as the primary health outcome. 12,[29][30][31]34,36,38,41,45,[47][48][49][50][51]53,56,57 Other studies examined disease screening…”

“…[55][56][57] Most of the studies (17 [56.7%]) analyzed mental health and well-being as the primary health outcome. 12,[29][30][31]34,36,38,41,45,[47][48][49][50][51]53,56,57 Other studies examined disease screening…”