Infusing social-emotional skills into a career and life planning course for college adults: A qualitative analysis and quantitative summary of student perceptions at post-course and at post-college follow-up

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is important for the healthy functioning of emerging adults. This research presents the qualitative themes and quantitative evaluations emerging from student perceptions of a college Career and Life Planning course that was enhanced with social emotional skill-building opportunities. Students (N = 52) enrolled in one of four consecutive sections of this course and provided open- and closed-ended survey responses at the end of the semester (post-course, or “post”) and at six months after graduating (post-college follow-up, or “follow-up”; which ranged from 6 to 22 months after completing the course, depending on each student’s semester of enrollment). A thematic analysis uncovered students’ perceptions of the value and relevance of course content and skills as well as of the intervention delivery through six broad themes: practicality and usefulness, self-discovery, sense of fortitude, sense of community, personal opinions/relevance, and content dissemination methods. Descriptive statistics, based on responses to closed-ended questions, substantiated the themes and further highlighted the impact of students’ positive course experiences on their personal and professional lives. This research highlights both barriers to and facilitators of SEL integration into higher education curricula in order to nurture and support emerging adults as they become leaders and modelers of SEL for the next generation.

Impact statement

This study examines students’ feedback about a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention integrated into a college Career and Life Planning course. Through a thematic analysis, we found students commented on the value and relevance of course content and skills they learned, and also shared their thoughts on how the intervention was delivered. Numerical data show students were generally satisfied with the course content and had feedback about how the course and SEL curriculum design could be improved. This work offers practical advice for effective research-practice collaborations and policy changes to support long-term use of SEL in higher education.