Faced with interpersonal communication challenges, college students often experience social anxiety disorders. This study aims to investigate the potential of constructing pathways for ideological and political education and mental health within universities to alleviate social anxiety disorders among college students.

A one-semester intervention study was conducted. The intervention group, consisting of 100 college students, received a combined approach of ideological and political education and mental health pathways. In contrast, the control group, comprising 100 college students, followed conventional mental health education methods. Data were collected using the Social Anxiety Inventory (SAI) and the College Student Ideological and Political Quality Scale (PQCS). Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed using SPSS20.0.

After an intervention, the SAI score of the intervention group was significantly lower than that of the control group, indicating a significant improvement in social anxiety. At the same time, the scores of the intervention group on the ideological and political quality scale were significantly higher than those of the control group, indicating that ideological and political education and mental health pathways have the effect of improving the ideological and political quality of college students.

The results indicate that the combination of ideological and political education in universities and mental health pathways can effectively improve the social anxiety status of college students and enhance their ideological and political qualities.