Co-designing and implementing an inclusive wellness room to promote mental health in a Canadian university: a mixed-methods study.

Objective

Universities face psychological distress, while mental health services remain inaccessible to marginalised populations. This highlights the need for low-threshold mental health interventions beyond clinical care. Wellness rooms offer spaces for stress reduction, yet few have been developed through participatory approaches or evaluated systematically. This study documents the co-design and restricted implementation of an inclusive, multisensory wellness room in a Canadian university.

Participants

University students and staff participated in the co-design and implementation process.

Methods

Guided by Living Lab and action-research principles, the project was conducted in two phases using a mixed-methods design. Analyses examined feasibility, acceptability, facilitators, and barriers to implementation and use.

Results

Facilitators included multisensory environments, flexible usage, and participatory design. Implementation challenges highlighted organizational and contextual constraints affecting accessibility and sustainability.

Conclusions

Findings support wellness rooms as low-threshold mental health promotion interventions and underscore the importance of participatory, context-sensitive approaches to their implementation in university settings.