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

TL;DR

This paper explores integrating mental health, well-being, and sustainability into software engineering education through projects and classroom activities, aiming to foster responsible and human-centered future developers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining technical projects and reflective activities to embed well-being and societal concerns into software engineering curricula.

Findings

Students developed a human-centered perspective.

Increased team discussions on mental health.

Recognized well-being as inspiration for societal benefit.

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.