Integrating Mental Health, Well-Being, and Sustainability into Software Engineering Education

2026-03-25

AI Summary

This study addresses the widespread neglect of mental health, well-being, and sustainability in contemporary software engineering education, which often leaves students lacking a human-centered perspective. To bridge this gap, the project systematically integrates these themes into the curriculum through two complementary interventions: first, by designing software projects explicitly focused on social well-being, prompting students to develop technological solutions for psychological or societal challenges; and second, by embedding reflective discussions and team-building activities into classroom instruction to foster sustained engagement with well-being issues. Employing a student-centered pedagogical approach grounded in reflective practice and collaborative development, the intervention involved 60 students whose feedback indicated a marked enhancement in human-centered engineering awareness, more frequent team conversations about mental health, and a reconceptualization of well-being as a core driver of software’s societal impact.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Software Engineering
• Humans and AI: Teamwork, Team formation
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Sustainability of Web economics
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Sustainability and carbon-aware systems for Web, mobile, and WoT

Abstract

Mental health and well-being are major concerns in higher education and professional fields such as software engineering, yet are often overlooked in curricula. This paper describes our approach to include mental health, well-being, and sustainability in software engineering education in two ways: (1) well-being-focused software projects that ask students to design technical solutions or research addressing mental health and sustainability or societal challenges, and (2) brief classroom interventions such as short reflective discussions and team-building activities. We argue that this combination can help students see software engineering more broadly while creating healthier learning environments. Our analysis of reflections from 60 students found several positive outcomes: students gained a more human-centred perspective, had more team discussions about mental health, and began to see well-being as inspiration for using software to benefit society and individuals rather than merely as a technical or business tool. By combining technical skills with awareness of well-being, we argue that software engineering education can prepare future developers to be both skilled programmers and responsible professionals who care about human well-being.

Problem

• mental health
• well-being
• sustainability
• software engineering education
• human-centred perspective

Innovation

• well-being-focused software projects
• classroom interventions
• human-centred perspective
• software engineering education
• mental health integration