Mood Lifters for Graduate Students and Young Adults: A Mixed-Methods Investigation into Mechanisms of Change in Online Group Therapy

Mood Lifters (ML) is a dimensional, group-based, peer-led mental health program that has shown efficacy in mitigating psychopathology and promoting wellness within a variety of populations. There is not yet evidence for mechanism(s) driving these changes. Qualitative data exploring the lived experiences of participants may be a unique way to develop hypotheses about the potential mechanisms driving change. The current study used qualitative and quantitative data from the ML for Graduate Students (ML-GS) and Young Adults (ML-YA) studies to generate hypotheses regarding potential mechanisms of changes experienced in ML. Seventy-nine graduate students and fifty-nine non-student young adults provided quantitative and qualitative feedback after participating in a 12-week virtual ML program. Inductive qualitative analysis was conducted within a reflexive thematic framework. Descriptive statistics of quantitative measures were also calculated. Three themes suggest potential directions for future mechanism research on virtual ML programs. Most participants emphasized the social connections built in groups as the most potent and powerful aspects of ML, while others focused on the design or content of the program. Quantitative data presented contextualize the lived experiences of participants. Future ML research should explore the three themes identified within this study through continued qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. NCT05078450.