Enhancing Young Adults’ Cognition, Self-Efficacy, and Well-Being Through Leisure Makerspace Interventions

Individual competencies that transcend traditional academic skills are essential for success in today’s complex and interconnected world. These competencies enable young adults to navigate personal and professional challenges effectively. Given the limited research on structured interventions that foster these competencies, this study examined the effectiveness of the leisure makerspace (LMS)—a recreative intervention designed to develop personal competencies and enhance well-being—using a rigorous quasi-experimental Solomon four-group design. The intervention was implemented for 120 min per week over 6 weeks, engaging participants in creative, active, and emotional leisure activities. A total of 111 young adults (aged 19–24) with limited work experience participated from Mersin University, serving as a controlled context for testing the intervention’s theoretical propositions. Results revealed significant improvements in cognitive restructuring, self-efficacy, and well-being across experimental groups, with consistent observed through both within-group and between-group analyses. Additionally, session-by-session assessments of emotional expressions indicated increased positive affect and reduced negative emotional communication, providing indirect evidence of the intervention’s fidelity. Overall, the findings provide exploratory yet replicable evidence that the LMS intervention can serve as a scalable framework for enhancing well-being and competency development among young adults through structured leisure-based experiences.