BACKGROUND: Occupational therapy graduate students report poor well-being during their educational experience.
OBJECTIVE: This convergent mixed-methods study (quantitative approach presented) examined the effectiveness of an occupation-based intervention in promoting well-being.
METHODOLOGY: Forty-one entry-level doctorate students (intervention = 18, control = 23) completed four standardized measures at three timepoints. The manualized intervention included six 45-minute virtual synchronous sessions, once per week. Data were analyzed using two-way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA).
RESULTS: Statistically significant differences in well-being ( = .024, = .09), self-compassion ( = .006, = .12), and engagement in meaningful occupations ( = .014, = .10) between groups, indicating intervention effectiveness.
CONCLUSION: Intervention study participants were self-compassionate and intentional about promoting their well-being; therefore, increasing their participation in a variety of meaningful occupations moved them toward more occupational balance and improved well-being. This occupation-based intervention could be offered to promote student well-being through engagement in meaningful occupations.
