Abstract

Sustainable well-being is "happiness that contributes to individual, community and/or global well-being without exploiting other people, the environment or future generations" (O'Brien, 2010, p. 2). Sustainable well-being education may encourage environmentally sustainable behavior while also teaching people how to live meaningful lives. However, there is currently a lack of research-based disseminable courses for teaching sustainable well-being. We hypothesized that taking the course would result in lower eco-anxiety and higher well-being, as well as increased pro-environmental self-efficacy and pro-environmental values. We used a randomized crossover repeated measures research design to assess pre and post effects. Quantitative results indicated that participating in the course led to significant reductions in eco-anxiety and increases in hedonic well-being, but did not lead to significant increases in overall well-being, or pro-environmental values or behavior. Qualitative results indicated that participants found the course engaging and useful. Future directions for research on sustainable well-being courses are discussed.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2025-03-03

Document Type

Dissertation

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13545

Keywords

Sustainable well-being, eco-anxiety, acceptance and commitment therapy, pro-environmental behavior, values, climate-distress, randomized control design

Language

english

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