University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program
University Students’ psychological well-being can impact their health, academic performance, retention, and ability to complete university. Participation in peer mentoring well-being programs has been found to help improve student outcomes. This study aimed to explore student mentors’ experiences of...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2025
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/97908 |
| _version_ | 1848766335594528768 |
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| author | Whitehorne-Smith, Patrice Simpson, Phoebe Hayden-Evans, Maya Liu, Gillian Girdler, Sonya Milbourn, Ben |
| author_facet | Whitehorne-Smith, Patrice Simpson, Phoebe Hayden-Evans, Maya Liu, Gillian Girdler, Sonya Milbourn, Ben |
| author_sort | Whitehorne-Smith, Patrice |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | University Students’ psychological well-being can impact their health, academic performance, retention, and ability to complete university. Participation in peer mentoring well-being programs has been found to help improve student outcomes. This study aimed to explore student mentors’ experiences of a co-designed university student peer-to-peer well-being program, the “Comfort Corner”. The study utilised a sequential mixed methods design collecting survey and interview data from student mentors about their experiences, knowledge and attitudes about psychological well-being as well as their skills and confidence to support the psychological well-being of their peers. Thirteen student mentors completed pre-post program surveys which revealed higher post-program scores on assessments related to their perceived communication skills (pre-test M=84.3, SD=13.7, post-test M=86.7, SD=11.5) and their knowledge about psychological well-being (pre-test M=10.9, SD=5.4, post-test M=15.6, SD=2.7). All 8 student mentors who completed a post-program satisfaction survey indicated that the peer-mentoring program improved their skills and was very useful (100% respectively). Thematic analysis of interviews conducted with 10 student mentors revealed 2 themes, 1) understanding psychological well-being and, 2) knowing how to engage and help others as accounting for improvements in student mentors’ skills and knowledge. Student mentors described their experience with Comfort Corner under a central theme, ‘fostering a community of support for students on campus’, they felt Comfort Corner provided welcoming, safe, and supportive space for students. These findings revealed the benefits of co-design using a student as partners framework for a peer mentoring well-being program in improving areas of student mentors’ skills and knowledge as well as promoting a sense of belonging and connection for students enrolled in higher education. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:49:31Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-97908 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:49:31Z |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-979082025-07-16T03:25:17Z University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program Whitehorne-Smith, Patrice Simpson, Phoebe Hayden-Evans, Maya Liu, Gillian Girdler, Sonya Milbourn, Ben University Students’ psychological well-being can impact their health, academic performance, retention, and ability to complete university. Participation in peer mentoring well-being programs has been found to help improve student outcomes. This study aimed to explore student mentors’ experiences of a co-designed university student peer-to-peer well-being program, the “Comfort Corner”. The study utilised a sequential mixed methods design collecting survey and interview data from student mentors about their experiences, knowledge and attitudes about psychological well-being as well as their skills and confidence to support the psychological well-being of their peers. Thirteen student mentors completed pre-post program surveys which revealed higher post-program scores on assessments related to their perceived communication skills (pre-test M=84.3, SD=13.7, post-test M=86.7, SD=11.5) and their knowledge about psychological well-being (pre-test M=10.9, SD=5.4, post-test M=15.6, SD=2.7). All 8 student mentors who completed a post-program satisfaction survey indicated that the peer-mentoring program improved their skills and was very useful (100% respectively). Thematic analysis of interviews conducted with 10 student mentors revealed 2 themes, 1) understanding psychological well-being and, 2) knowing how to engage and help others as accounting for improvements in student mentors’ skills and knowledge. Student mentors described their experience with Comfort Corner under a central theme, ‘fostering a community of support for students on campus’, they felt Comfort Corner provided welcoming, safe, and supportive space for students. These findings revealed the benefits of co-design using a student as partners framework for a peer mentoring well-being program in improving areas of student mentors’ skills and knowledge as well as promoting a sense of belonging and connection for students enrolled in higher education. 2025 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/97908 10.5539/hes.v15n2p211 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Whitehorne-Smith, Patrice Simpson, Phoebe Hayden-Evans, Maya Liu, Gillian Girdler, Sonya Milbourn, Ben University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program |
| title | University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program |
| title_full | University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program |
| title_fullStr | University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program |
| title_full_unstemmed | University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program |
| title_short | University student mentor experiences of the Comfort Corner well-being program |
| title_sort | university student mentor experiences of the comfort corner well-being program |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/97908 |